25
parties in its ranks, but it would have morally decayed. It was the trial of forces, and we insist that it is the pride of the Communist International that it did not waver at that moment, but said firmly and a resolutely: If this must be so, if we must lose a great mass of Italian workers for a time, let it be so; we are going to win them back. But not a step, not a single step backwards, because otherwise the Communist International would go to pieces. The purity of the International and the principles of communism were at stake, And we are really very sorry that some leading groups as, for instance, individual German comrades, who possess great merits, the question was not clearly understood. But the Communist International, as a whole, as an international association of the workers, very quickly understood that what we have really lost was but an illusion, and though we have sustained considerable loss, nevertheless, for the sake of the Communist principle we must hold out to the end.
Serati has begun to sing a different tune. Formerly he was the strict one, and demanded that no concessions be given to the Freemasons. It has all changed now. Serati came forward with a theory of equality. He demands equality between Italy and France. Why were more concessions made to the French comrades than to the Italian comrades? I shall have something to say on the French Party. It is our duty to treat every party according to the concrete conditions prevailing in the particular country. We must take into consideration the history of the Labour movement and the stage of maturity of the revolutionary situation. We cannot treat the French, American, Italian, Lettish and Czecho-Slovak parties according to one pattern. The internationalism of our Executive consists in the fact that we consider every party from the standpoint of concrete circumstances, and we define our attitude towards it only upon such a basis. We maintained
