For the first time in the history of the French Chamber, by the voice of Marcel Sembat, an attack was openly made on the idea of country; and in the German Reichstag the voice of Bebel responded to him like an echo.
The veteran of the German social democracy declared, with brutal conciseness, to the chancellor of the empire: "Take care! If you maintain the German fatherland in such a state that the German workman begins to doubt whether it is to his interest to defend it, then take care not to land us in a foreign war, for on that day you are lost."
I have said enough, gentlemen of the jury, for you to see clearly that our propaganda, carried on as it is on both sides of the frontier, will not lead to an invasion or to a dismemberment of your country by the German army, but to a simultaneous rising of the French and the German workers against their rulers.
Mr. Advocate-General, you have said to me: "So much the worse for Herve if your ideas spread among the people."
No, Mr. Advocate-General, not so much the worse for me, but so much the worse for you and for your class.
Our threat, moreover, as you are all aware, is only a conditional threat, like our threat to the officers who give the order to fire on strikers, since it depends on the rulers, as it depends on the officers, whether our threats will be put into execution.
Yes, so much the worse for the ruling classes of France and Germany if they commit the crime of provoking an international war.
Gentlemen, I have spoken, as you have seen, without any anxiety to avoid prison, with not enough concern, perhaps, for the liberty of my fellow-defendants. I beg them to excuse me.
Moreover, I do not ask you, gentlemen, to approve of my ideas, nor am I so simple-minded as to ask the Advocate-General to do so: but I am sure that you will carry away with you the impression that our ideas—which, once
