Lenin and the Second International

Lenin had been living as an emigra for most of the past 17 years. Shortly after the outbreak of world war one, lenin had been packed up and shipped off to switzerland. He was shocked when he started getting word at the beginning of the war that all the principal leaders of european socialism were supporting their national war efforts. Their collective retreat into national chauvinism was so unexpected that at first lenin thought it was german propaganda. But these guys didn't just become blind, flag waving super patriots. They had decent, strategic reasons for thinking that sticking to an internationalist anti war policy would be suicide.