Capitalism — thy name is hypocrisy.

The world, we are told (by the propagandists), wants peace and the way to guarantee peace is through the maintenance of a strong standing army. A modern nation must be prepared to fight in order to meet its economic requirements — fight or go under in the fierce dog-eat-dog struggle of capitalism today. Modern war is the clash between nations (or groups of nations) over the protection of existing economic markets and the sources of raw materials.

All wars have economic causes. Without a single exception, all wars are wars for trade. They are caused by bankers, merchants and business men. As business is the cause of wars, it may be well to say that business is hell. Wars are caused by conflicting commercial interests. In all countries to-day, whatever may be the outward forms of their governments, whether supposedly ruled by President, Mullah, or King, the real rulers are those who control the industrial resources of the nations. The stand of the Socialist Party is when we are robbed and the robbers fight over the booty, that fight is none of our business. When nations fall foul over the spoils, or over the wealth taken from labour, the fight is none of labour’s business. This is a ruling class quarrel and there is no interest at stake requiring that the workers take sides. The duty of the working class is to line up in the Socialist Party for the abolition of capitalism and the establishment of socialism. Only then will wars and the prospect of wars be ended. The real cause of war cannot be found either in accident or in ideology. There is a much more basic reason both for war and for the weapons necessary to wage it and this reason can be summed up in two words, economic rivalry. It is the clash in the markets of the world, the mad scramble for cheaper sources of raw materials, the attempt to oust each other from spheres of influence, that is responsible for the mounted missiles of destruction. Only by getting rid of capitalism in all of its forms, with its need for markets and exploitation of labour can war be eliminated from the world. Whether "accidental" or not, the sole responsibility for the next war, as for all modern wars, is capitalism.

We can apply our understanding of the causes of struggle to an effort to change the world. Rather than attempting to adapt to conditions in the struggle for survival, the task is one of changing the conditions in order that the conflicts and strife which are an everyday feature of today shall be resolved. The question of nuclear weapons or chemical and biological weapons as opposed to "conventional" weapons is irrelevant. The only weapon required to save the world from obliteration is the weapon of knowledge, in the hands and heads of the majority. Search it out and obtain it, for with it we shall begin to live as human beings rather than as pawns in a life and death struggle for domination over the resources of the world. With the proper application and use of understanding, these resources will be restored to humanity as a whole. We, who are not consulted today, shall with our knowledge and our political action decree that the means of life shall be commonly owned by all mankind and that mankind shall finally be released from the horror of war and the horror of capitalism, in general. That's what we can do about it!

The way to genuine peace lies through an awakening by the working class of the world to its class interests. When enough working people realise there is nothing but death, mutilation, and destruction for them and their families in fighting their masters' wars, they will take steps to organise a sane system of society — a system of society based upon production for use rather than for sale on a market. The working class in each nation, on the other hand, owning nothing but its ability to produce and being forced to sell this ability to the capitalists or the capitalist state, has nothing tangible to gain from warfare. War is not in the interest of the working people. No war is. The social forces which cause war are an inexorable part of the economic competition associated with capitalism. For a world without war, we must change from a system of competition to a system of co-operation — socialism.