24 THE SCIENCE OF POWER 



international war was universal military conscrip- 

 tion. It has to be remarked that the first object 

 at which the leaders of labour with the same supreme 

 instinct of the fight upon them aimed in the West, 

 indicated an insight equally clear. The first demand 

 of labour was for nothing less than the compulsory 

 organization of its own class throughout all the 

 nations. Those who do not understand the magni- 

 tude of the position towards which the proletariat 

 of the West has attempted to move in our 

 times, and who do not therefore perceive the 

 vitality to labour not only of organization but of 

 compulsory organization, often miss the peculiar 

 but fundamental feature of the struggle which has 

 been opened. A study of the democratic State as 

 it has been in history no longer supplies us with 

 any clue to the future. It is the state of war 

 between nations which henceforward furnishes 

 the only parallel for enlightenment on the prin- 

 ciples which control the existing class war in the 

 West. 



In many parts of the Western world the observer 

 sees labour still under the old conditions of its 

 struggle with capital, using the weapon of the local 

 strike, throwing down its tools and engaging in 

 feats of endurance to obtain by collective bargaining 

 better terms than could be obtained by individuals. 



