Defeatism
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Defeatism is acceptance of defeat without struggle. In everyday use, defeatism has negative connotation and is often linked to treason and pessimism, or even a hopeless situation such as a Catch-22. The term is commonly used in the context of war: a soldier can be a defeatist if he or she refuses to fight because he or she thinks that the fight will be lost for sure or that it is not worth fighting for some other reason. The term can also be used in other fields, like politics, sport, psychology and philosophy. The term originates from France during World War I.
Political defeatism
Some governments charged dissidents with "defeatism" for opposing the war or other government policies. For example:- Luigi Fabbri (1877 – 1935), an Italian militant anarchist, was charged with defeatism during the World War I.
- Elizabeth von Thadden (1890 – 1944), a teacher and an anti-Hitler activist from Morąg, was sentenced to death for defeatism and attempted treason.
- Daniil Kharms (1905 – 1942), a Russian writer, was charged with defeatism and jailed during the Siege of Leningrad. He starved to death in prison.
Revolutionary Deafeatism
A concept made most prominent by V.I.Lenin in the First World War, Revolutionary Defeatism is based on the Marxist idea of class struggle. Arguing that the proletariat (working class) could not win or gain in a war, Lenin saw its true enemy as the imperialist leaders who sent their lower classes into battle. Workers would gain more from their own nations' defeats, he argued, if the war could be turned into civil war and then international revolution. Initially rejected by all but the more radical at the Zimmerwald Socialist Conference in 1915, the concept appears to have gained support from more and more socialists, especially in Russia in 1917 after it was forcefully reaffirmed in Lenin's 'April Theses' and Russia's war losses continued.See also
- Shikata ga nai (It cannot be helped)
- Damned if you do, damned if you don't
- Estragon, a character from the play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
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