50 Years Ago: The Question of Alsace Lorraine

The question of Alsace Lorraine has received considerable attention from the political and journalistic hirelings of the capitalist class. A vast amount of sloppy sentiment has been thrust upon us with the object of covering up the real facts at issue, a good example of which comes from Mr. Lloyd George. “However long the war may be”, says that worthy, “however great the strain upon our resources, this country intends to stand by her gallant ally, France, until she redeems her oppressed children from the degradation of a foreign yoke”.

Knowing the history of the capitalist class, Socialists reject with scorn their professed sympathy for the workers of any nation. Material interest dominates their every action, as the following demonstrates:

“If Germany could secure a peace based on her present military position”, says a writer in the Daily Chronicle 24.10.17. “the whole of this wealth of iron ore, estimated at some 5,000 million tons, would pass under her control . . . Liberate these provinces from her clutch with their 21,000,000 tons of iron ore a year, their 3,800,000 tons of iron smeltings, their 2,300,000 tons of steel smeltings, and useful coalfields of the Somme Valley, and a long step has been taken towards peace”.
“It is clearly an almost vital interest, both for France and Great Britain, that the formation of a huge Franco-German cartel, based on the reciprocal exchange of coal for ore, should be prevented, that we should ourselves supply France with the coke that will enable her to do her own smelting, and that we should take from her in return the iron ore that we now import from Sweden and from Spain”. (“Daily Chronicle”, 24.10.17.)

The evidence given shows the capitalists in their true character, as a cold-blooded, profit-seeking tribe, ready to slaughter millions of workers to gain an advantage over a commercial rival.

From the Socialist Standard, December 1917 Article by E. L. Wake.