War and Why. The Cause and the Remedy

 

The ruling class have shown on many occasions that they are past-masters in the art of inducing self-deception among the workers. The art of lying is one of the chief characteristics of capitalism everywhere. The main task is to present the lie in such a manner as to make it appear to be true. This, unfortunately, is easy. The working class, from childhood onwards, are trained in such a manner best calculated to make it difficult for them to separate truth from falsehood. This deception is aided by the reformist movement. Clear evidence of this can be seen today. The capitalist class cleverly conceal their real aims behind lofty phrases, so that today we hear from all quarters the words and slogans, "Peace,” “Democracy,” "Collective Security,” etc. With these slogans, capitalism is stampeding the masses into war hysteria.

There is a clear indication that working people and their families may expect to go through in the next thieves' quarrel between their capitalist masters. Briefly, the Socialist Party’s case is that all wars by capitalist States are undertaken for the purpose of protecting foreign investments, securing markets and of securing fresh sources of raw material. Judge each war by the result, and it will be seen that this is the result of nearly every war during the last century. Workers have nothing to gain as the result of war, whether the State in which they happen to be born is victor or vanquished.

The Marxian analysis of capitalist production lays bare the cause of all wars,. The worker produces commodities of a far greater value than his or her wages enable them to buy back. Out of the struggle for this surplus comes the struggle for markets at home and abroad, and with the capitalist development, trade barriers are erected. The struggle grows keener, finally, the tension reaches breaking point, and war is declared. War is, then, a quarrel between the various sections of the capitalist class over the disposal of the surplus wealth stolen from the workers in the course of their exploitation. It 'is, therefore, a quarrel in which the workers have no concern, and to end it they must remove the cause, i.e., the class ownership of the means of production. This they can do by organising to capture political power from the master class and to establish a system of society based upon the common ownership and democratic control of the means of production—in short, socialism. The capitalist is the enemy, and, whether he appears as a democrat or a dictator, he can offer nothing but wage slavery to the working class. 

Socialists everywhere oppose the principles of socialism to the war plans of the ruling class in such a way that the class issue is kept clear and the real aims of the ruling class exposed. Our battle cry is: “ Working men of all countries unite.” The worker replies to the war threat of capitalism by lining up for socialism. Without this fundamentally class-conscious outlook, capitalist wars, and consequently working class slaughter, will always be a riddle to members of our class whose discontent with the present order of things need socialist understanding to give direction and effectiveness to that discontent. We members of the Socialist Party proceed towards our objective, firstly, by educating ourselves, and, secondly, by passing on that education to our fellow workers.

The reason organised peace movements have failed is that they have all consented to the power structure which creates war. War is neither democratically begun nor democratically prosecuted. It is therefore facile to contend for wars to be fought on the terms of moralistic teachings. These pleas, no matter from how many mouths they come, are lame.

Nothing in human history is inevitable. We are not living and organising society according to any pre-ordained schemes. We are masters of our own history, not slaves of it. We can do what we choose. But you know that these are not the sort of ideas that we are encouraged to develop. On the contrary, we are encouraged to think of ourselves as slaves to the present order of things. Although another world war is not inevitable if the present state of society is allowed to continue then it is a distinct possibility. The profit system is an unstable and volatile method of organising society and armed to the back teeth as many states are, the recipe is being mixed for an armed conflict. History is ripe for socialism and there are clear reasons for its vital urgent establishment.

Troops Out - No War in Ukraine

 

Don’t die for capitalism, Live for socialism

 

‘The main enemy of every people is in their own country' - Karl Liebknecht

If you are opposed to war and all that it represents—as any right-thinking person should be—you will advocate policies and take actions that will make war impossible, by removing its causes. That is, you will seek to transform society in the interests of human beings as a whole, without restriction to so-called race, nationality or gender, by establishing socialism in place of capitalism. Like many other problems thrown up by capitalism, war has produced a group of people intent upon solving or ending it within capitalism, not recognising that this and other problems are inevitable under the present social order. The tenor of many pacifist arguments is that we can do nothing constructive until this war is ended

 The class struggle, in its varied aspects, exists and continues because capitalism divides mankind into warring classes, those who live by owning the means of production and distribution, and those who are propertyless and must sell their labour-power to the former.  Capitalism gives the ruling class the incentive to protect vested interests bound up in trade routes, sources of raw materials, and areas of foreign investment. Control of the machinery of government gives them the power to wage war. The only sure road to peace is the road that leads to socialism, the conquest of the powers of the government by a politically organised socialist majority. The so-called peace movements have all failed to understand the nature of the forces against which they pit themselves. They are stuck in the rut of nationalism, just as are those to whom they appeal. None of them can see any further than capitalism, even though some of them sometimes use phrases that might give a different impression.

 While nationalist feelings prevail, it will be relatively easy for the propaganda machine to persuade workers that “if the country is good enough to live in, it is good enough to fight for.” Nationalism is a big help to the ruling class in getting support for armaments and ultimately for war. As long as workers think in terms of “the country,” it is logical for them to be prepared to defend it. Thus all the horror weapons become “necessary” in the name of “defence.”

The capitalist classes of the major power blocs maintain their military machines for the purpose of protecting or expanding their spheres of profitable influence, nationally and internationally. This minority of people own the factories, the land and all those assets which go to make up the country. At the same time the majority of people—the working-class—own nothing to fight about. Workers in all parts of the world have a common interest to get rid of the social system which condemns them to exploitation. They cannot do this in ignorance; they must realise what capitalism means and how to change it. If you really care about people you will want to campaign for their enlightenment, for an absence war—in a word, for socialism.

While the Socialist Party’s immediate task is to impart socialist knowledge to the working class, the pacifist's immediate anti-war work is to attempt, by any means, to end the war. Their views arise, in general, from looking at the war in isolation and not realising that peace of any description, as it will leave the capitalist basis of society intact, will carry with it the seeds of a future war. They ignore the fact that so long as we have capitalism,.with its competitive struggle over commercial matters, such as trade routes, sources of raw material, control of relatively undeveloped areas of the world, so long will we have war. While the working class lack socialist knowledge and support capitalism they will support the wars that occur; this support is given because war, at the time of crisis, appears to them as the only possible policy for "their" government or country to pursue. We know that this war will end before we have socialism, but lasting peace cannot be gained without socialism. The question of its being remote is therefore entirely irrelevant. As we have shown, socialism is an urgent necessity, a practical and immediate policy for today, and we have yet to be shown how by deferring it until some future date the working class can benefit.

The Reason Why

 

Keeping up with current affairs has become very largely a question of following the moves in the conflict between the Great Powers. Vladimir Putin, unable to keep his pledges of prosperity for the Russian workers, shatters the superficial harmony of Europe by sending troops into Ukraine, qualifying him for the role of the World’s villain, following Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein. The capitalist class set the armed forces in motion only to defend capitalist interests. 

 

We cannot just decide to end wars. What we can do, though, is decide to establish a society in which war is inconceivable. What is needed is a clear analysis of why humans go to war. It is not because of our genes, our natures or our beliefs. It is because capitalists make themselves richer and more powerful by obtaining more exploitable populations and raw materials. And until capitalism is abolished, its ruthless, competitive drive for profits will condemn workers to die needlessly in wars.  Although governments can ignore "public opinion" over going to war, hoping to win people over once it's started, they'd like to have this support from the start. One way to achieve this is to glorify the armed forces and present them as heroes doing their duty to defend the rest of us. But it is equally logical for socialists to reject and combat such militarist propaganda because we don't want workers to kill workers from other countries in pursuit of capitalist interests. We want the members of the armed forces to be seen for what they really are: mercenaries for the ruling, the capitalist class. We can conceive of any situation in which we would give our support to either side in capitalism’s armed struggles. We decline to single out one or two aspects of war – particular atrocities or types of weapons  – we oppose the system that gives rise to these things.

 

Where diplomacy fails there remains the threat of force of arms to get what is wanted. From time to time this clash of interests breaks out in open warfare. It will not be questioned by any socialist that it is his or her duty to oppose the wars of the ruling class of one nation with the ruling class of another, and refuse to participate in them. An anti-war campaign, as such, is, from the working class standpoint, absurd. Just as the class struggle cannot be abolished save by abolishing classes, so it is impossible for capitalist nations to get rid of the grim spectre of war, for capitalism presupposes economic conflicts which must finally be fought out with the aid of the armed forces of the State. The only solution to war and the myriad other problems that face the workers of the world is to abolish capitalism and replace it with socialism.

The only way to help yourself in the matter is to do all you can to help bring in a system of society where "international” conflicts are totally unnecessary, where YOU can live a life of peace is the SOCIALIST system; nothing short

 Why do humans continually wage war on each other, despite the constant efforts of diplomats and the development of ever more frightening weapons capable of killing millions? Actually, the cause of war is never found in the people that actually fight them. Throughout human history, wars have been fought and paid for by the poor, who ironically are the ones who always come out the loser of every conflict, no matter who claims victory. It isn't even correct to blame the people who start the wars, the ruling or owning class, because even they answer to a higher authority which goads them to hurl bodies and bullets at their so-called enemies. If you really want to understand why wars are fought, simply look at what is actually being fought over - the answer invariably ends up some form of property. Wars can be stopped forever by simply removing the reasons for their existence.

Oppose All Wars

 The Socialist Party is against any and every war. It’s task is to work to turn that war into a class war. 

Before being able to combat evil, one must know its cause. Thus, seeking the primary cause of war is the first step in preventing it. It is impossible to understand modern wars without understanding the class basis of society. 

 

It is a paradox. The world and its people have never been so closely inter-connected than today, yet there are more fences and walls separating them than ever before. With almost 200 states that insist on their national sovereignty, effective international action and regulation are hard, if not impossible, to achieve. We are in the middle of a struggle between the forces of autocracy and nationalism on the one hand and democracy and global awareness on the other. World unification is no longer a philosophical consideration. It is becoming a practicable possibility. The people of the world need a global democracy and a global administration that represents all citizens of the world. Intergovernmental organisations such as the UN or the WHO are only as effective as their member states allow them to be. Otherwise, their hands are tied. The UN does not represent humanity. It is an exclusive club of government executives whose job it is to pursue national interests. It is time that global institutions be equipped with the power they need to deal with global threats and manage global commons. If the people of the world unite behind this vision it can soon be at the top of the political agenda.

Socialists predict the inevitability of war if capitalism is not overthrown. The real roots of the war can be seen in the class system of society. A study of the nature and causes of modern war proves that war is an essential part of capitalism. The contradictions and conflicts of capitalism lead and must lead to war. A common misconception is the wide-spread belief that the anti-war is independent of the class struggle in general, that a broad alliances of all sorts of persons from every political group can be formed around the issue of fighting war, since – so the reasoning goes – these persons may be all equally opposed to war whatever their differences on other points.  War is thus removed from its social base, considered apart, from its causes and conditions. War is not the cause of the troubles of society. The opposite is true. War is a symptom and result, of the irreconcilable troubles of the present form of society, that is to say, of capitalism.

The only way to fight, against war is to fight against the causes of war. Since the causes of war are part of the inner nature of capitalism, it follows that the only way to fight, against war is to fight against: capitalism.

 

It is of little use to cry out against war while we tolerate a social system that breeds war. No one can uphold capitalism – whether directly, as an open adherent of the capitalists, or indirectly, from any shade of liberal or reformist position – and be against war, because capitalism means war. Only a socialist can fight against war, because only a socialist takes the road to the overthrow of capitalism. To suppose, therefore, that socialists can work out a common platform “against war” with non-socialists is an illusion. There is only one anti-war policy: the programme for revolution.

The socialist revolution can and will eliminate war because, by overthrowing capitalist economy and supplanting capitalism with a socialist economy, it will remove the causes of war. With socialism there will no longer exist the basic contradictions that lead to war. The expansion of the means of production, under the ownership and control of society as a whole, will proceed in accordance with a rational plan adjusted to the needs of the members of society. Socialism will remove the limits on consumption, and hence permit the scientific and controlled development of production. Thus, with socialism, war will disappear because the causes of war will have been removed.

 

We have no flag. We have no country. Our enemy is in my own country, and this enemy is the same for all the workers of the world. The enemy is capitalism. The Socialist Party calls for the replacement of capitalist society by a just and better word based on the socialist cooperative commonwealth of the workers of every country. 

The future is ours to build or to destroy

 

Mors tua vita mea is the precept the capitalist operates by - your death is my life.

Many workers of all nationalities realise that the death cult of nationalism is indeed tragic futility so far as working people are concerned, and the spirit of international co-operation and solidarity, though slowly, is surely growing up amongst them. Our aim is to see established a democratic world community without frontiers.

 

Among the capitalists, there is continual friction arising out of their competition and rivalry each nation trying to oust the other.  When their vested interests are threatened by another state, tanks and troops are rushed to fend off any encroachment on zones of influence. All of which goes to prove there can be no peace, in either a military or economic sense.

 

It follows then, as the day follows night, that if we would do away with war, we must eliminate the conditions from which it has arisen. In this way alone lies the path to peace. After all, it is not in the power of statesmen to end wars as they belong to the class to whom war is necessary and inevitable. Fellow workers alone can alter the circumstances that bring such untold misery and ruin to their homes, by organising for the complete overthrow of the wage system. Then only can there be peace throughout the world.

The Socialist Party is opposed to the system of society in which we live today. Any national flag is not our flag. It is the Red Flag of socialism that we march behind singing the workers' anthem, ‘The Internationale’. We, socialists, extol the Red Flag as the symbol of kinship and revere it as an augury of worldwide peace, harmony, and brotherhood. We are proud of the Red Flag. Our allegiance to it is open and honest.

 

No state will exist in a socialist society since all differences between classes will disappear. Socialists consider the state as the organisation of the ruling classes, an instrument of oppression and violence. It is only natural that it cannot then speak of a future state. In this future, there will be no classes, no class oppression, therefore no instrument of this oppression and no state power. A "class-free state" is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. Socialism is a Commune without police, without an army, without a bureaucracy’s officialdom.

 

A money-free, state-free world commonwealth is the only framework within which current social problems can be permanently solved since it is only on this basis that production can be oriented towards satisfying human needs. This social revolution can only be carried out when once a majority of working people throughout the world want it, fully understand its implications, and organise democratically and politically to achieve it. No more masters and no more wage-slaves: every person free and equal. No more one against all and all against one, but one for all and all for one. It is the simplest expression of our revolutionary ideal.

 

Socialism, and only socialism, will create a true world community, a world without national barriers, without international rivalries, without master and slave nations and, hence, a world without war.  Its primary duty will be to conduct the affairs of the world with the aim of eliminating poverty, homelessness, hunger and general instability. Its sole criterion would be the needs of the people. Socialism will guarantee peace, security and freedom and prevent the destruction of humanity. The Socialist Party’s goal is the union of the workers of the whole world in a common struggle for emancipation. Our socialism is anti-nationalist in that we oppose everything which comes under the head of national chauvinism, patriotism, jingoism, and imperialism. Our war is the class war.

Peace between the people! War against the exploiters!

Capitalism - Humanity’s Enemy

 

"I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me." Abraham Lincoln 

Our task as socialists is to persuade others that our analyses of current events reflect reality and that our vision of the future is desirable. In other words, we aim to seduce our fellow workers with a consistent case for socialism. Peace is possible but not unless we put an end to the cause of war by organising to uproot the capitalist system.

The Socialist Party does not accuse individuals of deliberate efforts to engineer wars. Instead, we say the capitalist class generally, will do whatever they believe is necessary to protect, strengthen and preserve the capitalist system, the system that in the final analysis is the cause of war. For it is the economic facts and factors that control leaders and their actions - leaders rarely control events, or at any event, not for long.

Conflicts are propelled by forces beyond the immediate control of individuals, regardless of the prior hopes and intent of individuals, leading to a termination of the precise nature of which even the most far-visioned cannot perceive at this moment.

 

We believe that  working people must come to understand that the competitive capitalist system is, in fact, the basic cause of the present state of world anarchy, and of wars, declared and undeclared. Militarism is integral to the capitalist system. Accordingly, an effective antidote to militarism can only be fashioned by a working-class movement that organises workers to effect a basic transformation of society. This is the programme of the Socialist Party - to organise workers into mass organisations capable of wresting control over society from the capitalist minority and of creating a worker-controlled economy that will serve our collective needs and free us once and for all from the unspeakable horrors of militarism. To avoid future wars, therefore, capitalist society must be abolished.

 

Sympathy and emotion for the anti-war cause are laudable. But without a sound premise and attainable goal, they can only lead to failure and despair. The crying need of our time is not protest marches for peace. but determined, unrelenting action to awaken the working class to the imperative need for a socialist reconstruction of society, and to enlighten them on the principles and programme for accomplishing that social change in a peaceful, civilised manner. At this late hour, it is the only way to strike a decisive blow for peace and freedom for the workers of all nations. All else is futile and hopeless.

We want peace instead of violence and destruction. We want security instead of insecurity. Without capitalism and capitalist profit, we can put an end to these horrible wars caused by nationalist rivalry and by the lust of every capitalist to dominate the wealth of the world. Our marvellous machinery performed the terrible miracles of weapon production. We can make it perform far greater miracles to provide plenty for all, homes fit to live in, comforts and prosperity, self-respect and human dignity.

Those are the things we all want. They are the things socialism stands for. They are the things that we, the Socialist Party, stand for.

Socialist Standard March 2022

 

• Editorial – The cost of living crisis

• Pathfinders – You are now in Capitalist Economic Time

• Letters

• Cooking the Books 1 + 2

• Bird’s Eye View

• Sri Lanka: capitalism unable to provide economic security

• The almost-war in Ukraine

• Hunter-gatherers: Who are they? What do they tell us?

• PDF Version here]

  Abolish the Wages System and …

• What’s in a word?

• Inequality Kills

• The rules of capitalism

• Proper Gander – Where the wealth went

• Book Reviews – The Pound and the Fury / The British Left and Ireland / Ripe for Revolution: Building Socialism in the Third World

• 50 Years Ago – The Thirteen Derry Dead

• Meetings

• Life and Times – The Beer Festival