For the bankers and industrialists, for the oil magnates, for the munitions makers and stock exchange speculators for all the capitalist vultures, war is an opportunity to make billions out of human carnage. In public, in the media, they yearn for peace and say they have nothing to gain by war, but they have waited for years, prepared for it and they had secretly wished and hoped for it to happen even if they did cloak themselves in the guise of peace. The production of war materials can now incentify the bankers and industrialists into investing in manufacturing again, bring back the idle factories; bring back the idle billions resting in the coffers of the banks into the process of circulation. The droves of capitalists and their lobbyists are swarming around governments in order to solicit weapon orders.
Their hirelings in the media are all striving unselfishly to accomplish one great common end, the defence of the nation against a dangerous outside enemy to camouflage the real character of this merciless plundering and unprecedented pilfering of the people’s pockets, to fill the bosses' bank balances.
The socialist, who has learned to understand the essence of capitalism, sees also clearly the cause of this war. International conflict is a product of capitalism; we cannot destroy the one without overthrowing the other. The socialist struggle against economic slavery at home cuts at the roots of war. The socialist version of internationalism is based, first and foremost, upon the abolition of the capitalist system and exploitation. Socialists have a different job: to bring to the fore the necessity for a SOCIALIST world before humanity’s hopes of peace and security can be achieved.
It is clear then that working people must be opposed to every war. They look upon the workers of foreign lands as their brothers and sisters, their comrades, but upon the owning class of their own country as their enemies and oppressors. Class-conscious workers desire to carry on the class struggle in order to abolish capitalism and to establish a cooperative community, a socialist society. Workers without class consciousness are easily tricked by the old catchwords, love of nation and patriotism. Thus the war was made popular among the working class. Yet, in pursuit of capitalist self-interest, members of the working class are routinely regarded by their rulers as disposable.
An understanding of the dynamics of society brings the awareness of class interests and how workers should respond to them. That is why we stand out against capitalism's wars. Modern war is fought to settle the squabbles of capitalism’s master class; it does not involve the interests of the ordinary people except that it brings them nothing but suffering. If the working class refuse to fight—as we say they should—it should be on these grounds—and this would apply to all wars.
The Socialist Party’s case against war arises from an analysis of capitalism and our opposition to it. Capitalism, based on class ownership of the means of wealth production and distribution, generates a relentless search by the various capitalist powers for markets and sources of raw materials. These are essential ingredients in the ever-growing chase for profits — the lifeblood of the system. The capitalist class tries to solve this antagonism between powers by diplomatic measures, or the turning of the screw by the more powerful on the weaker. But if this fails then war can be the outcome, and even in this age of nuclear annihilation the threat of war still dominates the foreign policies of in particular the major powers. So the socialist opposition to war is not a pacifist or a moral one but an inescapable conclusion of our general case. M The total abolition of war and the threat of war will only be realised with the overthrow of capitalism and the restructuring of society on the basis of common ownership and production solely to meet human needs.
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