When I told him I had been a carpenter, he said he was a bridge-builder of Trieste, and he said, “I wish I was back at it; it is more to my liking to build things than to destroy them.”

I said I liked my old job better than this one, too, whereupon he broke out impatiently, “We’re fools to fight each other.  What spite have you and I at each other?”

I told him we had no quarrel with the German people, but we knew the military despotism of Germany had to be literally smashed to pieces before there could be any peace, and, naturally enough, the German people had to suffer for having allowed such a tyrant to exist in their country.  We were all suffering in the process, I said.

“It’s money,” he said, after a pause.  “It is the money interests that work against human interests every time, and all the time.  The big ones have their iron heel on our necks.  They lash us with the whip of starvation.  They have controlled our education, our preachers, government, and everything, and the reason they brought on the war is that they were afraid of us—­we were getting too strong.  In the last election we had nearly a majority, and the capitalists saw we were going to get the upper hand, so to set back the world, they brought on the war—­to kill us off.  At first we refused to fight—­some of us—­but they played up the hatred of England which they have bred in us; and they stampeded many of our people on the love of the Fatherland.  Our ranks broke; our leaders were put in jail and some were shot; it’s hard to go back on your country, too.

“But I don’t believe in nationalities any more; nationalities are a curse, and as long as we have them, the ruling class will play us off, one against the other, to gain their own ends.  There is only one race—­the human race—­and only two divisions of it; there are those who represent money rights and special privileges, and those who stand for human rights.  The more you think of it, the more you will see the whole fabric of society resolving itself into these two classes.  The whole military system is built on the sacrifice of human rights.”

I looked at him in astonishment.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I am just a bridge-builder,” he answered, “but I’m a follower of Liebknecht...  We can’t do much until the Prussian system is defeated.  There are just a few of us here—­the guard who got you the blanket is one of us.  We do what we can for the prisoners; sometimes we are caught and strafed....  There is no place for kindness in our army,” he added sadly.

“I must go now,” he said; “I heard one of the guards say we were going to be moved on to another camp.  I may not see you again, but I’ll speak to a guard I know, who will try to get the good soup for you.  The Sergeant of the guard is all right, but some of them are devils; they are looking for promotion, and know the way to get it is to excel in cruelty.  We shall not meet, but remember, we shall win!  Germany’s military power will be defeated.  Russia’s military power is crumbling now, the military power of the world is going down to defeat, but the people of all nations are going to win!”