ABSTRACT
The author attended a dinner where competent socialists were to discuss the future of the International. One of the speakers was Mr. Louis Boudin, generally regarded as the ablest Marxian scholar in America. Mr. Boudin has a reputation for hardheadedness, and his writings are full of scorn for those who deal in "ideologies" and pretty hopes. He denounced the nationalism of European workingmen, he asserted that the "economic basis" of internationalism existed, he arraigned the leaders of socialism for disloyalty to the gospel, he called them politicians, and he ended by shouting that the real International must be based on real internationalism. Judged by the applause, Mr. Boudin met the situation splendidly. Yet his evasion was obvious. The fact was that internationalism had failed in the test; that the leaders of socialism, professing it in their speeches, had failed to make it a reality.
