Λεπτομέρειες

Stergios

English

10 Δεκεμβρίου 2012

Written by Leonardos Kottis in July 2000 on the island of Paros, Greece, as the preface of the book of K. Speras «The Strike of Serifos, that is narration of the bloody scenes of 21 August 1916 in the mines of Megalo Livadi of Serifos». This book was published in Athens, Greece, in 2001 by the Libertarian Historical Archive and the Vivliopelagos Editions.

Translation in English by Dimitris Troaditis, in February 2005 in Melbourne, Australia. Editing by Paul Pomonis. Notes by Leonardos Kottis and Dimitris Troaditis.

THE POLITICAL SITUATION OF THE PERIOD (1904-1918)

«...It was a war between satisfied and hungry robbers

in order to divide the world anew...»

Agis Stinas

When in 1904, the two big European camps, the Central Forces and the Entente were formed, the preconditions for the slaughter of peoples in the first worldwide capitalistic confrontation were also set.

The extremely rapid industrial growth led to the strengthening of national bourgeoisies. Overproduction created the urgent need for the opening of new markets that would offer bigger profits and power. The need for raw materials, mainly for oil, led the national bourgeoisies to turn to the East. The big banking institutions contributed to that direction by lending huge sums to the European governments. Their aim was on the one hand to harvest the profits from the investment of capital in the military industries and on the other to control the financially underdeveloped countries.

From 1910 onwards, the Great Powers undertook an unprecedented operation of militarisation of their own peoples through the continuous renewal of their military equipment and the introduction of mass conscription and extended military service. The peoples had to be taught discipline and obedience.

The will of the international bourgeoisie for economic and political power, conveniently misnamed «national vision», eventually led millions to the slaughterhouses of the battlefields and the trenches.

The socialist movement, through the Second International, stood unable to defend the principles and the visions of the working class. The socialists and social-democrats, followed their acceptance of parliamentarism and their participation in the established power structure, with the espousal of nationalism, turning themselves into social-patriots. In the anti-militarist camp only the anarchists and anarhosyndicalists, the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, the Dutch council communists, the Italian Bordiguists of the Socialist Party and the German Spartakists remained. The Second International collapsed and Rosa Luxemburg declared ironically: «Proletarians of all countries, unite in times of peace and cut the throats of one another in times of war».

The murder of the successor of the Austro-Hungarian throne Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo (28/6/1914) provided the pretext. In the following four years sixty declarations of war were announced and peoples started killing each other on four fronts: the Western, the Eastern, the Italian-Austrian and the Balkan fronts.

In October 1914, Turkey entered the war on Germany’s side and the Great Powers started offering territorial acquisitions in return for the enlistment of the Balkan countries to their camps. Entente’s plan for a tripartite alliance...

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