The Second International In the present crisis, the Third, or
Communist, Inter- national has been silenced by the vigour-with which the U.S.S.R. prosecutes its policy of co-operation with capitalist governments. M. Litvinoff's thundering against the iniquities of Germany drowns all protests against the iniquities of capitalism. The -Second, or Socialist, International, together with the International Federation of Trades Unions, has, however, attempted to express the attitude orSocialism towards the crisis. The meeting on Wednesday was the first to be held -in London since the War ; what is significant is that there -is 'nothing in the attitude of international Socialism which distinguishes it from Liberalism or Radicalism. There is no longer any belief in independent action by the working class in the eyes of Sir Walter Citrine the general strike to prevent war is a discredited myth ; so far from representing the workers of the world, the Second International does not include the workers of the dictatorship countries, Russia, Germany, or Italy. The greatest effect it can hope- to have is by influencing Governments, not over- throwing them. In the international sphere, Socialists have never 'recovered from what seemed to most-of them an inevitable defection from their principles at 'the beginning of the Great War ; - today, the workers are as disunited as their Governments. . - . _
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