Jean Jaurès and the wars of 1911-1913

6 november 1911 : Italy, encouraged by secret treaties which are a dark monument to immorality, and for which our policies are responsible, has launched herself on Tripolitania with an inexcusable act of violence, and they have not even taken the trouble to hide its odiousness behind pretexts that would sustain a moment's argument....The Muslim world, everywhere under attack or threatened, seems, country by country, to be coming together in solidarity, and preparing serious plans for a Europe lost to unbridled greed; the odious summary executions of Arabs in Tripoli by the Italian troops have sewn deep resentment in the souls of the Muslims.

28 november 1911 : How painful it is to think that our dark lust for Morocco, destined furthermore to result in cruel disappointment, has condemned us or constrained us everywhere to beg for support and complaisance, to give a sweet half smile to the savage and scandalous Italian expedition in Tripolitania.

06 october 1912 : The current policy consists simply in rewarding the iniquity of some through the iniquity of others. It is the last word in injustice and disorder. It is a filthy ocean which has no shore. Ah, you went to Morocco! I am going to Tripolitania! Ah, you went to Tripolitania, you, Italy! I, Montenegro, I, Serbia, I, Bulgaria, I Greece, I am aiming only for Turkey. For me, Macedonia! For me, Albania! For me the Archipelago Islands! Where will it all end ?

12 october 1912 : Events are developing with an implacable logic.... Morocco led to Tripolitania, and that let loose the war in the Balkans, which carries a grave risk of general war.....Italy has a double interest in confusing the issue in the East. In Tripolitania she suffered serious reverses.....Furthermore, the expedition to Tripolitania was above all a diplomatic coup for the Papacy. Pius X has seen the operation against the Infidel as a means of returning the Catholic party to the 'great politics' of Italy, to reconcile and meld the chauvinism of an angry people with the interests of Catholic propaganda.

16 october 1912 : [Europe] is doubly responsible. It is she who, in tolerating the red sultan Abdul-Hamid and in seeking valuable concessions in the ports and railways, has neglected for a generation to demand the necessary guarantees for the Balkan people. It has then been she who, in a frenzy of conquest, has multiplied her attacks on the Islamic world, robbing the new regime in Turkey of Bosnia-Herzegovina, promoting disorder in Persia in order to better absorb it, raiding Morocco, usurping Tripolitania......

Source : Jean Jaurès, L'Intégrale des articles de 1887 à 1914 published in La Dépêche, Toulouse, Privat, 2009.