"Certainly, we can, without contradicting our principles and without failing in the class war, listen to the cry of our pity; in the revolutionary struggle we can keep our human compassion: to remain Socialists, we are not obliged to flee away from Humanity.
"And Dreyfus himself, condemned falsely and criminally, becomes, whatever was his origin and whatever may be his fate, a sharp protest against the social order. By the fault of the society which insists on using violence, deceit and crime against him, he becomes an element of revolution.…
"That is what I might reply; but I add that Socialists who wish to get to the very bottom of the secrets of shame and of crime contained in this affair, if not occupied with a workman, are occupied with the whole working class.
"Who is most menaced to-day by the arbitrary action of the generals, by the always glorified violence of military repression? Who? The People. It has therefore an interest of the first order in punishing and in discouraging the illegalities and violence of the Councils of War before they become a sort of habit.…"
In these words Jaurès surely gave his comrades more than a justification for all he did for Dreyfus. It was a great service in the cause of Humanity, and an honour to the cause of Socialism.
