KARL LIEBKNECHT MILITARISM Class XX f s i'' ^ W fopyrightl^^. CDJKRIGHT DEPOSITS MILITARISM MILITARISM ^^..,...'-..^..1 ^T fF KARL LIEBKNECHT NEW YORK B. W. HUEBSCH MCMXVII COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY B. W. HUEBSCH First printing. October. 1917 Second printing, October. 1917 iibh fVvsT PBXKTED IH THE TTNITBD STATES OF AUStXCA NOV 26 I8!7 |.cU4r^^39 ,^^ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I The Nature and Significance of Mili- tarism 1 Origin and Foundation of Forms of Social Domination 3 Some Facts from the History of Militarism lo II Capitalistic Militarism . . . . . . 21 Preliminary Remarks 21 "Militarism for Abroad," Navalism and Colonial Militarism. Possibilities of War and Disarmament 22 The Proletariat and War 33 Fundamental Features of "Militarism for Home" and its Purpose ..... 38 Army Systems of Some Foreign Countries 41 Conclusions. Russia ...... 50 III Means and Effects of Militarism . . 58 The Immediate Groal 58 Military Pedagogy. Training Soldiers 59 Semi-Official and Semi-Military Organ- ization of the Civil Population • • « 79 Other ways of influencing the Civilian Population in a Military Direction 82 Militarism as Machiavellism and as a Political Regulator .90 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE IV Concerning Some Cardinal Sins of Mili- tarism ..... 95 Maltreatment of Soldiers or Militarism as a Repentant, Yet Unreformed Sinner. Two Dilemmas 95 The Costs of Militarism or La dovAoureuse 107 The Army as a Weapon Against the Pro- letariat in the Economic Struggle . . .118 Soldiers as the Competitors of Free Work- ers 120 The Army and Strike-Breaking . . .122 The Rule of the Sabre and Gun in Strikes 124 Italy 127 Austria-Hungary .. . . . . . . 130 Belgium .. ... . .. . 133 France 136 United States of America . . . . .140 Canada .......... 146 Switzerland . 147 Norway 152 Germany 152 .Veterans' Associations and Strikes . . . 156 The Army as a Weapon Against the Pro- letariat in the Political Struggle, or the Rule of the Cannon 160 Veterans' Associations in the Political Strug- gle 170 Militarism, a Menace to Peace . . . .171 The Obstacles of the Proletarian Revolutioa 177 KARL LIEBKNECHT "He sowed the seed that freedom men might reap." This book, which is now presented to American readers for the first time, has a unique history, and forms a vital part of Liebknecht's long struggle against militarism. In September, 1906, Dr. Karl Liebknecht, the author, delivered a lecture on "Militarism" at a conference of young people in Germany. The revised lecture was published in book form and the most important portions appear in the following pages. For some time, the German authorities paid little heed to it, and it was not until April 23, 1907, that the book was confiscated and the author charged with trea- son. Liebknecht's trial began on the ninth of Oc- tober, 1907, and lasted three days. The defend- ant was found guilty and sentenced to a year and a half of imprisonment. In sentencing him, the ii INTRODUCTION Imperial Court declared that Liebknecht aimed at the abolition of the standing army, and that this army was an integral part of the nation's con- stitution. In one statement, made in the latter part of his lecture, he had theorized concerning the possible future activities of the troops in be- half of the coming revolution, asserting that these activities might be regarded as the logical result of the demoralization of the military spirit. From this statement, which was a purely theoretical hy- pothesis, the Imperial Court cc«acluded that Lieb- knecht's intention was to injure the morale of the army. The destruction of this morale, it de- clared, could be brought about only by forcible means, and the use of such means was but the first step in the destruction of the constitution. The court paid absolutely no attention to the statement of the author that only lawful means should be used in bringing about the change, and that no agitation should be conducted which would incite the soldiers directly or indirectly to disobedience. The Socialist Party, Liebknecht had maintained, as in the past, should energetic- INTRODUCTION iii ally defend the private soldiers and the non-com- missioned officers, should represent their material and professional interests in the press and in par- liament and should endeavor tactfully to win the sympathies of these circles. In such remarks a German Imperial Court discovered high treason! The trial was one of the most sensational ever held in Europe. The Kaiser, it was afterwards learned, was kept constantly in touch with the progress of the trial by a special wire. The at- torney general urged the accused to plead guilty and promised, if this were done, to ask the court for clemency. To this plea, Liebknecht quickly retorted, *T take entire responsibility for every word I have written." On the second day of the trial, the defendant declared in open court that he was convinced that a verdict of guilty had already been decided on. His address to the judges was one of the clearest, most incisive and boldest attacks ever made against German mili- tarism. "The aim of my life," he declared, "is the over- throw of monarchy, as well as the emancipation IV INTRODUCTION of the exploited working class from political and economic bondage. As my father, who appeared before this court exactly thirty-five years ago to defend himself against the charge of treason, was ultimately pronounced victor, so I believe the day not far distant when the principles which I repre- sent will be recognized as patriotic, as honorable, as true." Liebknecht's courageous stand on this occa- sion was rewarded by a sentence of a year and a half in a military prison, as before stated. As a sharp rebuke to this sentence, the working peo- ple of Berlin promptly nominated and elected him, while still in prison, as their representative for the Prussian Landtag. It was in the Landtag that Liebknecht started his real campaign against Prussian militarism. His attacks against the sys- tem were bitter. Time without number he was called to order by the chair; frequently he was removed from the floor of the chamber. He represented the working people of Berlin, as well, in the Common Council, and in 1912, the citizens of Potsdam-Spandau who were em- INTRODUCTION y ployed for the most part in government am- munition works, selected him as their representa- tive in the Reichstag. I saw Liebknecht during the great campaign preceding his election. He described the methods employed by the govern- ment to defeat him. The government endeav- ored to show that he was anti-patriotic, because he had failed to uphold its hands in the Morocco affair. To this the workers gave a deaf ear. The next move was an attempt to terrorize the state employes. The authorities even went so far as to make a ruling prohibiting them from voting for him — on the ground that he was an enemy of the state. However, the dissatisfaction with the gov- ernment was great. The campaign of intimida- tion failed and Liebknecht was elected by an over- whelming vote, to the intense joy of those who knew and loved him. I saw the surging crowd before the office of the Berlin Vorwdrts the night of the election, and heard the wild applause when announcement of his election was made. A young workingman exclaimed to those who were around him: "The vi INTRODUCTION new voice of freedom will be heard from now on in the Reichstag." The words were prophetic. This body never heard stronger protests against the domination of the civil mind by the military than those which this new apostle uttered. He issued his invectives against the armament trust, and showed its corrupting influence over govern- ment officials and press. He gave to the public the story of a late Prussian general, who lived by borrowing — a not infrequent habit of these of- ficers — and by trading in government medals and positions and honorary titles. The general had been in the good graces of the Kaiser, and the story did little to increase the prestige of the lat- ter or of the military caste. The man about to be selected by the Kaiser as war secretary was ex- posed by the anti-militarist member of Parlia- ment as an ordinary swindler and the honesty of the military group was thereby further brought into question. Liebknecht also raised his voice in behalf of a German Republic at a time when those who now declare that the only way to end the war is INTRODUCTION vii by making Germany a republic, supported and encouraged the Geraian monarchy. On one memorable occasion, in a debate in the Prussian Landtag over the building of the new opera house, Liebknecht took the floor and declared: "The opera house for which we are asked to vote the necessary funds, should last for many generations. We trust that it will last long after it has lost its character as a Royal Opera House." This daring statement brought upon his head scathing denunciations from the majority of the members, who were unable to imagine how one could dare suggest a republic in a Prussian parlia- ment. And this pronouncement was issued long before kings and presidents dreamed of fighting to make the world safe for democracy, for hu- manity. When the European war broke out, a meeting was called of the Social-Democratic members of the Reichstag, for the purpose of deciding what stand the party should take on the war. Karl Kautsky, the theoretical leader of Socialism, was also invited. It was, perhaps, the stormiest meet- viii INTRODUCTION ing ever held by that group. The majority con- tended that this was a war of defense; that Ger- many was attacked by Russia; that, although there was little liberty in Germany, there was still less in Russia, and that Socialists should, there- fore, vote for the war budget. Furthermore, some argued, by this action it will be possible for Socialists to secure further rights from the government. Should they take the opposite course, the funds of the labor unions will be con- fiscated, and the Socialist press and movement, built up through long years of painful endeavor, will be destroyed. Finally, as Socialists do not constitute the majority, the war budget will, in any case,^ be passed whether they support it or not. A second group, represented by Kautsky, ad- yised that the party abstain from voting alto- gether. A vote against the war budget might leave the country defenseless. The Socialist, it was understood, would defend the country in case of attack, especially should such attack come from such a country as Russia. Germany, this group INTRODUCTION ix believed, was then being attacked by the forces of the Czar. By taking the middle-of-the road posi- tion, and voting neither for nor against the budget, the Socialist would not be voting against the de- fense of his country, and on the other hand, would not be assuming responsibility for all of the acts committed by his government prior to the war. Since then, it may be said in passing, Kautsky has taken a more militant position against the war. The third group was represented by Liebknecht. "This war," argued Liebknecht and his followers, "is an imperialist war for domination of world markets, and for the benefit of bankers and manu- facturers. It is also a war tending to destroy the growing labor movement. It is not a war of defense. It is therefore our plain duty to vote against the war budget." The first position won out, and according to the rules governing the organization of the group, the minority had to bow to the decision of the majority. It was for this reason that the en- tire Social Democratic delegation voted for the war budget at the first open meeting of the Reichs- X INTRODUCTION tag after the outbreak of the war. At the second session in December Liebknecht was the only man who dared to stand up in the Reichstag against the decision of all parties and vote against the budget. He not only cast his vote, but he also dared to state in an open meeting of the Reichstag to a Germany then apparently victorious, that the Ger- mans were the aggressors in the war, and that it was an imperialistic war provoked by his coun- try and Austria. He protested against the viola- tion of Belgium and Luxembourg; against the military dictatorship; against Prussian and Ger- man autocracy. Whether one agrees or disagrees with his position, one cannot but admit the cour- ageous character of the act, — which is bound to be recorded as one of the most heroic of the world drama. On May i, 1916, Liebknecht participated in a May Day Peace demonstration in Berlin. It was on this occasion that he delivered the peace address which brought to him an imprisonment of four years and one month of hard labor. "We Germans in Prussia," he declared, ''have INTRODUCTION xi three cardinal rights: the right to be soldiers, to pay taxes, to keep our tongues between our teeth. "Poverty and misery, need and starvation, are ruling in Germany. Belgium, Poland and Ser- bia, whose blood the vampire of imperialism is sucking, resemble vast cemeteries. The entire world, the much praised European civilization, is falling into ruin through the anarchy which has been let loose by the world war. "Those who profit from the war desire war with America. To-morrow, perhaps, they may order us to aim weapons against new groups of our brothers, against our fellow workers in America. Consider well the fact: as long as the German people do not rise and enforce their own will, the assassination of the people will continue. Let thousands of voices shout: 'Down with the shameless extermination of nations ! Down with those who are responsible for these crimes !' " Immediately after his anti-war address, Lieb- knecht was arrested. He claimed parliamentary immunity, but this claim was not allowed. While in prison awaiting trial, he sent two letters xii INTRODUCTION to the military court, containing the reasons why- he opposed the German government, militarism and the war. These letters are powerful indict- ments against these institutions as well as against international capitalism — the breeder of war. "The cry of 'down with the war'' is meant to give voice to the fact that I thoroughly condemn and oppose the present war because of its his- torical nature ; because of its general social causes ; the particular way in which it was brought about; the manner in which it is conducted and the object for which it is fought. I oppose it also in the be- lief that it is the duty of every representative of the proletariat to take part in the international class struggle for the purpose of putting an end thereto. As a Socialist, I am a thorough-going opponent of the existing military system as well as of this war. I have always supported with all my power the battle against militarism. Its over- throw is a particularly important task for the working class of all countries to perform ; in fact, it is a matter of life and death to them. "In partnership with the Austrian govern- INTRODUCTION xiii ment," he declared, "it [the German govern- ment] plotted to bring about this war and thus burdened itself with the principal responsibility for its immediate outbreak. It began the war by misleading the masses of people, and even by mis- leading the Reichstag — compare, among other things, the concealment of the ultimatum to Bel- gium, the make-up of the German White Book, the elimination therefrom of the dispatch of the Czar on July 29, 1914, etc. — and it continues to maintain war sentiment among the people by the use of reprehensible methods." Those letters show Liebknecht in his true light. He is not only, as some try to paint him, an op- ponent of this war, but is an opponent of all wars. He is not only committed to the fight against re- action at home, but to that against autocracy, wherever it exists. On June 28, 1916, Karl Liebknecht was sen- tenced to thirty months' penal servitude. The trial was secret. When the public prosecutor asked for this secrecy Liebknecht exclaimed : *Tt is cowardice on your part, gentlemen. Yes, I re- xiv INTRODUCTION peat, that you are cowards if you close these doors. You should be ashamed of yourself." Despite this protest the public was excluded. When the news of the sentence was conveyed to the people crowding outside of the court room, a cry went forth, "Our Liebknecht has been con- demned to two years and a half imprisonment. Long live Liebknecht !" An appeal was made, but resulted only in an increase in the term of sentence to one of more than four years, and further appeal was denied. At present, Liebknecht is in prison making shoes, presumably, some one asserted, to help the Prus- sian government to stand on its feet. Sentenced, as he is to penal servitude, it is impossible for him to practice law again, and his legal career seems thus a thing of the past. The German ruling class has now accomplished its object. It has Karl Liebknecht, one of the noblest and truest fighters for democracy and freedom, safely behind prison bars. In all his agitation against war and militarism, and against political despotism, Karl Liebknecht INTRODUCTION xv has proved a worthy son of a great sire. When- ever he enters a fight which he deems a righteous one, he throws into it his whole being, regardless of personal consequences. His unfailing cour- tesy and hospitality are recognized by all who know him. "To meet him is to love him," is a phrase not inappropriately bestowed when ap- plied to this fighter for democracy. A brief sketch of Liebknecht may be of inter- est. He was born in Leipzig in August, 1871, the same year that his father was arrested on the charge of high treason. He studied first in Leip- zig and then in Berlin, where he attended the University. From this institution he received his doctor's degree in political economy and law. Liebknecht began his career of social enlighten- ment by organizing literary societies for the study of social problems. Later in Berlin he became ac- tive in the Socialist movement. His law office — he had three partners, of whom two were his broth- ers — was always a mecca for the oppressed. Al- most any day, waiting in that office for Liebknecht who would reach there after his duties were over xvi INTRODUCTION at the Reichstag, the Landtag or the Common Council, one would find audiences of many kinds. Some would be there to consult him on legal mat- ters; some were students from home and abroad desiring personal advice and material help. Here was one looking for a position; another, desiring Liebknechf s help in getting articles published in the Socialist press; a third seeking information about entrance conditions at the university; still another anxious to be spared from police perse- cution. All were received with the utmost cour- tesy. All obtained a word of advice and help from "our Karl," as his friends call him. In private life, Liebknecht has proved a fond husband and a loving father. His present wife • — his first is deceased — is a Russian by birth, a graduate of the University of Heidelberg, and is an ideal life companion. Liebknecht's vison has often proved prophetic. I remember well the conversation I had with him in 1912, just after the outbreak of the first Balkan war when all Europe was on the qui vive, expect- ing momentarily that the Balkan war would INTRODUCTION xvii spread throughout the continent. I arrived in Berlin rather late in the evening, immediately went to Liebknecht's office, and while traveling home with him discussed the political situation. Bethmann-Hollweg had delivered a speech in the Reichstag that very day. "This speech," remarked Liebknecht, in a tone filled with seriousness, "has made it clear to me that Germany will back up Austria under all cir- cumstances." "How long would it take Germany to mobi- lized" I asked him. "About thirty-six hours," he declared. And from Liebknecht's tone one could see that he had the picture of the world tragedy before his eyes. I asked him what position the Socialists would take. He paused long and finally answered the question with a grave "It depends." There was something in the man's face and tone that haunted me, that now makes me certain that Liebknecht then had a very clear vision of the dark days ahead for the socialist movement and for the world. What the future holds in store for Liebknecht, xviii INTRODUCTION no one can tell. It may be predicted with some degree of assurance, however, that his activities are by no means over. The world, with justice, expects much from him in the days that are to come. The foregoing constitutes but a brief and in- adequate sketch of the activities of Liebknecht by a personal friend who believes that in him the world will recognize one of the fnost heroic figures of the present crisis and that the day is near when all Germany will proclaim him the man above all others who "sowed the seed that freedom men might reap," and that not only in Germany. A Personal Friend of Karl Liebknecht MILITARISM CHAPTER I. THE NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF MILITARISM. Militarism! There are few catch-words which are so frequently used to-day. There is scarcely another one which signifies something so com- plex, many-sided, Protean, or expresses a phe- nomenon so interesting and significant in its origin and nature, its means and effects — a phe- nomenon so deeply rooted in the very nature of societies divided in classes, and which yet can adopt such extraordinarily multifarious shapes in societies of equal structure, all according to the physical, political, social, and economic condi- tions of states and territories. 2 MILITARISM Militarism is one of the most important and energetic manifestations of the life of most so- cial orders, because it exhibits in the strongest, most concentrated, exclusive manner the na- tional, cultural, and class instinct of self-preser- vation, that most powerful of all instincts. A history of militarism, carried out with fun- damental thoroughness, would comprise the very essence of the history of human development, lay bare its main-springs; and an investigation of capi- talistic militarism would bring to light the most deeply hidden and delicate root-iibres of capi- talism. Again, the history of militarism would be the history of the strained relations and jeal- ousies between nations and states, arising from their desires for political and social power or eco- nomic advantage; at the same time it would be the history of class-struggles within nations and states for the same objects. This is not even an attempt to write such a his- tory; only some universal historical facts will be pointed out. NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE 3 ORIGIN AND FOUNDATION OF FORMS OF SOCIAL DOMINATION. In the last analysis the superiority of physical force is the decisive factor in social domination. In its social aspect such physical force does not appear as the greater bodily strength of some in- dividuals; it rather presupposes the equality of bodily strength of men, taken in the average, su- periority thus resting purely with the majority. Such a numerical relation does not necessarily cor- respond with the numerical relationship existing between groups of people having interests op- posed to each other. Inasmuch as not everybody knows his own real interests, especially not his fundamental interests, and inasmuch as not every- body knows and recognizes the interests of his class as his own individual interests, it is mate- rially determined by the extensive and intensive development of class-consciousness, which in its turn depends upon the mental and moral stage of evolution reached by a class. Again, that men- tal and moral stage of evolution is determined by 4 MILITARISM the economic position of the various groups of in- terests (classes), whilst the social and political condition presents itself rather as a consequence — as a consequence, it is true, which also has strong reactions — as an expression of social domi- nation. The purely economic superiority also helps to cause directly a shifting and confusing of that numerical relation, inasmuch as economic pressure not only influences the mental and moral stage of development and therefore the ability to recog- nize class-interest, but also produces a tendency to act in opposition to. a class-interest which is more or less recognized. That also the political machinery provides that class in whose hands it is with further means of domination with which to "correct" that numerical relationship in favor of the ruling group of interests is shown by four in- stitutions well known to all — police, law courts, schools, and church, which latter must also be reckoned among these institutions which the po- litical machinery creates in its legislative function in order to exploit them for the application of the NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE 5 law and administrative purposes. The first two act chiefly by means of threats, deterrents and force; the school makes it its business to stop as effectively as possible the channels through which class-consciousness might find a way to hearts and brains; the church has a most effective way in providing men with blinkers, arousing their de- sires for a make-believe heavenly bliss and ex- ploiting their fear of an infernal chamber of torture. But not even the numerical relation thus altered can be considered as deciding the form of social domination. An armed man multiplies his physi- cal power by means of his weapon. The extent of such multiplication depends upon the develop- ment of armament, including fortification and strategy, the forms of which result mainly from the development of armaments. The intellectual and economic superiority of one group of interests to another transforms itself directly, in consequence of the armament or better armament of the su- perior class, into a physical superiority and thus creates the possibility of a class-conscious majority 6 MILITARISM being completely dominated by a class-conscious minority. Though class-division is determined by economic conditions the relative political power of the classes is only in the first line determined by the economic condition of the various classes, in the second line by numerous intellectual, moral and physical means of exercising power, which in their turn pass into the hands of the ruling economic class by reason of its economic position. All these methods of exercising power can not influence the continued existence of classes, as that existence is safeguarded by a situation which is independent of them and which by necessity forces and main- tains certain classes (even if these form a majority) in economic dependence on other classes, which may be a small minority, without the class-struggle or any means of political power being able to change it.^ THe class-struggle can tJius only he a struggle to develop class-consciouS' ^"In the social production of their life men enter certain necessary economic relations which are independent of their will, conditions of productions corresponding to a certain stage of the development of their material forces of production." — Marx. NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE 7 ness, including a readiness for revolutionary action and sacrifice in the interest of the class ^ among its members^ and a struggle for obtaining those means of power which are important for creating or sup' pressing class-consciousness^ as well as those bodily and intellectual means of power the pos- session of which signifies a multiplication of phy- sical force. All this makes it clear what an important role the development of armament plays in social struggles. It decides whether it is not, or no longer, an economic necessity that a minority should continue, at least for a time, to rule over a majority against the will of the latter by military action, that "most concentrated political action." Apart from class-division the evolution of the forms of domination is actually everywhere closely bound up with the development of armament. As long as virtually everybody, even those in the most disadvantageous economic position, can pro- cure arms of essentially equal value under prac- tically the same difficulties, democracy, the reign of the majority principle, will as a rule be the 8 MILITARISM political form of the society. That ought to be true even in societies divided in economic classes if only that one condition mattered. But in the natural course of development class-division, the result of economic evolution, runs parallel with the development of arms (including fortification and strategy), the manufacture of arms becoming thereby more and more a special skilful profes- sion, and, as class rule corresponds as a rule with the economic superiority of one class, and the im- provement in the manufacture of armament makes it continually more difficult and expensive to pro- duce arms,^ the manufacture of arms becomes gradually a monopoly of the ruling economic class, whereby that physical basis of democracy is done away with. And then we begin to hear the word: Possess and you are in the right. Even when a class possessing the political means of 2 To the arms, properly speaking, to munition and defensive implements of all kinds, including lighting arrangements, to fortresses and war vessels, are added, for instance, the mili- tary means of communication (horses, wagons, bicycles, con- struction of roads and bridges, inland navigation, railroads, automobiles, telegraphy, wireless telegraphy, telephones), not forgetting the telescope, air-ships, photography and war dogs. NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE 9 power loses its economic ascendancy it can at least for a time maintain its political rule. It need scarcely be explained here that it is thus . not only the form and nature of political domina- tion which is partly conditioned by the develop- ment of armament, but also the form and nature of the prevailing class-struggles. However, it is not sufficient that all citizens are equally armed and carry their arms in order to safeguard the continued existence of the rule of democracy, for the equal distribution of arms does not exclude the possibility, as the events in Swit- zerland have proved, that such distribution is abolished by a majority which is becoming a minority, or even by a minority which is organized in a better, more efficient manner. The equal arming of the whole population can only endure and not be done away with when the -production of arms can be carried on universally. In his curious Utopia, "The Coming Race," Bul- wer described in an ingenious way the democra- tizing part which the development of armament can play. He imagines a stage of scientific de- 10 MILITARISM velopment at which every citizen, provided with an easily procurable little staff charged with a mysterious force similar to electricity, is able at any moment to produce the most destructive effects. Indeed, we may expect science, the easy mastering of the most tremendous natural forces by man, to reach such a stage, however distant that time may be, at which the application of the science of murder on the battlefield will become an impossibility because it would mean the self- destruction of the human race, and at which the exploitation of scientific progress is transformed again as it were from a plutocratic into a demo- cratic, universally human possibility. SOME FACTS FROM THE HISTORY OF MILITARISM. In the lowest civilizations where class-division is unknown, arms, as a rule, serve as implements of labor. They serve for the acquisition of food (for the chase, for digging roots), also as a pro- tection against wild animals, as a defence against hostile tribes and for attacking the latter. They NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE ii are of such primitive nature that everybody can procure them easily at any time (stones and sticks, spears with flint heads, bows, etc.). The same is true of the means of defence. As there is not yet any division of labor worth mentioning, — ex- cept for the most primitive of all divisions of labor, that between man and woman, — all mem- bers of the community performing approximately the same social function exercised by their respec- tive sexes; thus, as there do not yet exist any economic or political forms of domination arma- ment cannot be the prop of such forms of domi- nation within the community. Even if forms of domination existed arms could not support them. With armament in its primitive stage of develop- ment only democratic forms of rule are possible. In those lowest civilizations arms can at most be used within the community for settling indi- vidual conflicts, but a change takes place as soon as class-division and the art of manufacturing arms develop. The original communism of the lower agricultural peoples with their gynarchy (rule of women) knows no social, and therefore 12 MILITARISM as a rule, also no political domination of classes. In general, militarism can not develop; external complications, it is true, force such peoples to be prepared for war and produce temporarily even military despotism, a very frequent phenomenon with pastoral peoples on account of the warlike situations they encounter and because they regu- larly divide in classes at an earlier time. We next remind the reader of the constitution of the Greek and Roman armies in which they find, according to class-division, a purely military hierarchy, organized on the basis of class, the ar- mament of each file depending upon the class to which the soldier belonged. Let the reader also remember the armies of the feudal knights, with their following of much worse armed and pro- tected squires who, according to Patrice Laroque, played rather the part of assistants to the com- batants than that of combatants. The reason why the rulers in those times allowed and even brought about the arming of the lower orders is to be sought much less in the small degree of general security which the state could offer to the interests NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE 13 of the individual which it recognized (a want of security which thus made the arming of all neces- sary in a certain sense), than in the necessity of arming the nation or state for attack and defence against the foreign foe as well as was possible. The difference in the armament of the various classes of society assured at all times the possi- bility of employing the science of arms for the maintenance or the establishment of rule. The Roman slave wars exhibit this side of the question in a remarkable light. The subject is also strongly illuminated by the German Peasants' War and the wars of the Ger- man cities. Among the chief direct causes of the unhappy outcome of the German Peasants' War must be reckoned the better military equipment of the clerico-feudal armies. However, the wars car- ried on by the cities in the XlVth century against those very armies were successful, not only because the art of making fire-arms was in an extraordi- narily undeveloped stage as compared with the time of the Peasants' War of 1525, but above all because of the great economic power of the cities. 14 MILITARISM As locally organized social spheres of interest, they concentrated the members of those spheres, without any appreciable admixture of elements with different interests, in a narrow space; again, on account of their construction the cities occu- pied at the outset a tactical position of about the same importance as the feudal lords possessed, as Church and Emperor had in their castles and for- tresses (this is likewise an element of military art — fortification) ; and, finally, the cities were themselves the chief producers of arms. Their citizens were indeed the superior representatives of the technical arts which annihilated the army of the knights.^ Particular attention must be paid to a result of the study of the Peasants' War and the wars of the cities, namely, to the importance of the various social classes living either in local separation or locally mixed. Where class-division corresponds with local division the class-struggle is facilitated, 3 The Italian development in the XVth century is also of the greatest interest in this connection and allures the investigator into absorbing studies. It confirms throughout our fundamen- tal conception. Cf. Burckhardt, "Kultur der Renaissance in Italien," 9th edition. NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE 15 not only because class-consciousness is promoted thereby, but also because, from a purely technical point of view, the military concentration of the members of a class, as well as the production and the supply of arms are made easier. That happy local grouping of classes has favored all bourgeois revolutions ; * it is almost lacking in the case of the proletarian revolution.^ The armies of mercenaries, which existed up to our own time, exhibit, like the question of arma- ment, the direct transformation of economic power into physical power according to the Mephisto- phelian prescription: "If I can purchase stallions six Are not their powers mine a-plenty*? I journey on and am a mighty man As if I had legs four and twenty." *This also applies to the Russian revolution (of 1905) in its first stage. A characteristic instance, among innumerable others, is the armed rising in Moscow in December, 1905, the astonishing tenacity of which finds an explanation in the cooperation of the mass of the urban population with the fight- ing revolutionaries who, by the way, were not numerous. The tactics of the urban guerilla method, splendidly developed in Moscow, will be epochal. 5 The working together in factories, etc., and the living to- gether in the "working-class neighborhood" have however to be taken into account. MILITARISM Together with the further maxim, divide et impera^ it is also being followed in establishing the so-called elite of an army. On the other hand, the example of the Italian condottieri, like that of the prsetorian guards of earlier times, plainly demonstrates how much political power can be wielded through the possession of arms, military practice and the art of strategy. The mercenary boldly seized the crowns of princes, tossed them hither and thither, and became the natural candidate for the highest power in the state,^ a phenomenon repeatedly witnessed in times of excitement and war when military power is readily manipulated by individuals, even in our own age, e. g., Napoleon and his generals, also — Boulanger ! The history of the German "Wars of Liber- ation" furnishes important information about the influence of the external political situation on the development of armies and militarism. When, after the pitiful failure of the wars of the Coali- tion against the French Revolution, the feudal « Cf. Burckhardt, I, p. 22. NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE 17 armies of Frederick the Great had been crushed as in a mortar by the citizen army of France in 1806, the helpless German governments confronted the alternatve either to surrender unconditionally to the Corsican conqueror or to vanquish him with his own weapon, with a citizen army, constituted by the general arming of the people. Their in- stinct of self-preservation and the spontaneous im- pulse of the people forced them to choose the sec- ond path. Then began that great period of the democratization of Germany, especially Prussia, brought about by external pressure, a period in which the political, social and economic strains in the interior were temporarily alleviated. Money and enthusiastic fighters for liberty were wanted. The human being increased in value. His social function as a creator of values and presumptive payer of taxes and his natural physical quality as the embodiment of strength, intelligence and en- thusiasm gained a decisive importance, and caused his value to rise, as is ever the case in times of general peril, whilst the influence of class-differen- tiation diminished. The Prussian people had i8 MILITARISM "learned to suppress all strife under the long en- dured foreign yoke," to use the jargon of the military weekly gazette. As has so often been the case, the financial and military questions played a revolutionary part. Many economic, social and political obstacles were removed. Industry and commerce, financially of chief importance, were promoted as far as it was possible with the ped- dling democratic spirit of Prussia-Germany. Even poliitcal liberties were introduced or at least promised. The people rose in arms, the storm burst forth, the army of Schamhorst and Gnei- senau, the army of the general arming of the peo- ple chased the "hereditary enemy" across the Rhine in the great Wars of Liberation, and pre- pared a miserable end for the world conqueror who had undermined the France of the Great Revolution, though that army was not even the democratic institution Schamhorst and Gneisenau had wanted to create. The German people, like the Moor in "Fiesco," having done their duty, duly received the "thanks of the House of the NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE 19 Habsburgs." The Carlsbad resolutions'' fol- lowed the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig, and after the pressure from without had been removed and all the demons of reaction had been let loose again on the people, one of the most important measures of the Metternich ^ system of perjured and accursed memory, was the destruction of the democratic army of the Wars of Liberation. The highly civilized regions of Germany might have been ripe for that army, but it collapsed abruptly, together with nearly all the fine things the great popular rising had brought, under the leaden weight of the junker barbarism, having its seat east of the Elbe. A superficial glance at the development of 7 Resolutions adopted at a conference of German princes and their representatives at Carlsbad, in iSig. These resolu- tions concerned stringent police measures against the so-called demagogues, especially professors and students who had the temerity to remind the German princes of their promises to grant constitutions to their peoples, promises made when the princes were in great trouble. Those police persecutions lasted for a whole generation and found innumerable victims among the democratic elements of Germany. The period is generally described as the demagogue chase. — Translator. 8 Metternich, the Austrian statesman, was the head of Ger- man and European reaction. This evil genius of Germany 20 MILITARISM armies shows the strong dependence of the consti- tution and size of an army not merely on social organization, but also, and in far greater measure, on the development of armament. The revolu- tionizing effect which, for instance, the invention of fire-arms had in that direction is one of the most conspicuous facts in the history of war. dominated the affairs of Germany until 1848, when he tremblingly fled to London before the infuriated people of Vienna. — ^Translator. II. CAPITALISTIC MILITARISM. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Militarism is not specifically a capitalistic insti- tution. It is, on the contrary, an institution pecul- iar and essential to all societies divided in classes, of which capitalist society is the last. It is true that capitalism develops, like every other society divided in classes, a kind of militarism peculiar to itself,^ for militarism is in its nature a means to an end, or to several ends, which differ with the kind of the society and which are to be attained in various ways according to the different charac- ters of the societies. That fact appears not only in the constitution of the army, but also in the remaining substance of militarism which mani- 1 Bernstein [the prominent German Socialist leader] wrongly stated in Vie socialiste of June 5, 1905, that modern military institutions were only the heritage of the more or less feudal monarchy. 21 22 MILITARISM fests itself in the tasks militarism has to accom- plish. Best adapted to the capitalistic stage of de- velopment is the army built on universal military service which, though an army constituted by the people, is not an army of the people, but an army against the people, or becomes increasingly con- verted into such a one. Now it appears in the shape of a standing army, now as a militia. The standing army,^ which is likewise not an institution peculiar to capitalism, appears as its most developed, and even its normal form; this will be shown in the following pages. ''militarism for abroad," navalism and colonial militarism. possibilities of war and disarmament. The army of the capitalist order of society serves a double purpose, like the army of the other social systems. 2 One need only consider Russia where, however, entirely peculiar circumstances which did not arise from interior con- ditions helped to bring about the result. Standing armies CAPITALISTIC MILITARISM 23 It is, in the first place, a national institution destined for attack abroad or for the protection against a danger coming from abroad, in short, designed for international complications or, to use a military catch-phrase, against the foreign enemy. That function has in no way been done away with by more recent developments. For capi- talism war is indeed, in Moltke's phrase, "a part of God's world order." ^ It is true that there exists in Europe itself at least a tendency to elim- inate certain causes of war, and the probability of a war originating in Europe itself decreases more and more, in spite of Alsace-Lorraine, the anxiety about the trio, Clemenceau, Pichon, Picquart, in resting on a basis different from that of universal military- service are, for instance, the mercenary armies. In the Italian cities of the XVth century militias were also known (Burck- hardt, p. 327). 3^ In his well-known letter to Bluntschli (December, 1880) we read: "Eternal peace is a dream, and not even a beau- tiful one, and war is a part of God's world order. In it are developed the noblest virtues of man, courage and abnega- tion, dutifulness and self-sacrifice at the risk of life. With- out war the world would sink into materialism." A few months earlier Moltke had written: "Every war is a national misfortune" (Collected Works, V, p. 193 and p. 200), and in 1841 he even wrote in an article that appeared in the Augs- burger Allgemeine Zeitung: "We confess openly to be in favor of the much derided idea of a general European peace." 24 MILITARISM spite of the Eastern Question, in spite of pan- islamism, and in spite of the revolution going on in Russia. In their place, however, new and highly dangerous causes of friction have arisen in consequence of the desires for commercial and political expansion* cherished by the so-called "civilized nations," desires which are mainly re- sponsible for the Eastern Question and pan-islam- ism, and in consequence of world politics, espe- cially colonial politics which, as Chancellor Biilow frankly recognized in the Reichstag, on November 14, 1906,^ contains innumerable pos- sibilities ^ of conflict and forces to the front ever more vigorously two other forms of militarism — navalism and colonial militarism. We Germans can tell a story of that ! *The value of the entire foreign trade of the world rose, according to Hiibler's tables, from 75,224 million marks in 1891 to 109,000 million marks in 1905. ^ "What complicates our situation to-day and renders it more difficult are our oversea pursuits and interests." 6 Moltke's views in this respect were highly fantastic. Ac- cording to him the times when wars were resolved upon by cabinets were indeed past, but he considers the political party leaders to be wicked and dangerous provokers of war. The party leaders and — the stock exchange! It is true that here and there he has a deeper view of things (Collected Works, 3, pp. I, 126, 135, 138). CAPITALISTIC MILITARISM 25 Navalism^ militarism on sea, is the natural brother of land militarism and shows all its repul- sive and vicious traits. It is in a still greater degree than land militarism is at present not only an effect, but also a cause of international dan- gers, of the danger of a world war. Some good folk and deceivers want to make us believe that the strained relations between Ger- many and England '^ are merely the result of some misunderstandings, agitations of mischievous jour- nalists, the braggings of unskilful diplomatists; but we know better. We know that these strained relations are a necessary result of the increasing economic competition between Germany and Eng- land in the world's markets, a direct result of the unbridled capitalistic development and inter- national competition. The Spanish-American' War for Cuba, Italy's Abyssinian War, England's - South African War, the Chinese-Japanese War, the Chinese adventure of the Great Powers, the Russian-Japanese War, all of them, however dif- 7 Characterized by that fantastic abortion, entitled, "The Invasion of igio." 26 MILITARISM f erent their special causes and the conditions from which they sprung might have been, yet exhibit the one great common characteristic feature of wars of expansion. And if we remember the strained relations between England and Russia on account of Thibet, Persia and Afghanistan, the disagreements between Japan and the United States in the winter of 1906, and finally the Morocco conflict of glorious memory with the Franco-Spanish cooperation of December, 1906,^ we must recognize that the capitalistic policy oi^ colonization and expansion has placed numerous' mines under the edifice of world peace, mines whose fuses are in many hands and which can ex- plode very easily and unexpectedly.^ It is cer- tainly thinkable that a time may come when the division of the world has progressed to such an extent that a policy of placing all possible colo- nial possessions in trust for the colonial empires s On account of the quarrel about Morocco France spent, in 1906, far more than a hundred million for the military protec- tion of her eastern frontiers. ® About the alleged, not yet fully explained plan of Semler, the Reichstag representative of the Hamburg shipowners, to capture Fernando Po in the Jameson manner, see the budgetary debates of the Reichstag of December, 1906. CAPITALISTIC MILITARISM 27 becomes feasible, thus eliminating colonial compe- tition, as has been accomplished in regard to pri- vate capitalist competition to a certain extent by the combines and trusts. But that is a distant possibility which the economic and national rise of China alone may defer for an incalculable space of time. All the alleged plans for disarmament are thus seen to be for the present nothing but foolery, phrase-making and attempts at deception. The fact that the Czar was the chief originator of the comedy at the Hague puts the true stamp on all of them. Indeed, in our own days the bubble of an al- leged English disarmament burst in a ridiculous fashion. Secretary for War Haldane, the alleged promoter of those intentions, came out in strong words as an opponent of each and every reduction of the active military forces and showed himself as a true military hotspur,^^ whilst at the same 10 That is not disproved because he declared for the time being against universal military service, which is regretted by the Kreuzzeitung [the junker organ], of November 29, 1906, because, according to the paper, universal service would edu- 28 MILITARISM time the Anglo-French military convention ap- peared above the horizon. Moreover, at the very hour when preparations were being made for the second "Peace Conference," Sweden increased her fleet, America ^^ and Japan saw their military bud- gets mount higher and higher, and the Clemenceau government in France demanded an increase of 208 millions,^^ dwelt upon the necessity of a strong army and navy, the Hamburger Nachrich' ten [an important semi-official German news- paper] was describing the unshakeable faith in the holy savior Militarism as the quintessence of the feeling dominating Germany's ruling classes, and the German people were treated by their govern- ment to increased military demands ^^ which were cate the English people into a better understanding of the seriousness of war. In Germany, of course, universal mili- tary service has only the importance to force the people to make sacrifices in blood and money, in conformity with the will of the noble knights of the Kreuzzeitung, whilst the de- cision about peace and war rests with those for whom the seriousness of war exists least. They can even appreciate democracy for abroad! — Concerning the strong tendency in England and America towards a universal militia, see p. 51. ^1 Cf. p. 51 and Roosevelt's message of December 4, 1906. 12 Chiefly motivated by the Morocco conflict. 13 Twenty-four and three-fourths millions for the navy, 51 millions for the army, 7 millions for interest — a total increase CAPITALISTIC MILITARISM 29 greedily grasped at even by our Liberals/* Such facts give us a measure of the naivete displayed by the French Senator, d'Estournelles de Constant, a member of the Hague Tribunal, in an essay on the limitation of armaments.^^ Indeed, in the imagination of this political dreamer it needs not even the proverbial swallow to make the summer of disarmament, a simple sparrow will do. After that it is almost refreshing to encounter the honest brutality with which the great powers at the con- ference dropped Mr. Stead's proposals and re- fused even to place the question of disarmament on the agenda of the second conference. of some 83 million marks as compared with the budget of 1906-7. Fine prospects of further extravagant naval arma- ments were held out by an evidently inspired article that ap- peared in the Reichshote, on December 21, 1906. To all that must be added the enormous expenses for colonial wars (454 millions for the China Expedition, 490 millions already for the rebellion in Southwest Africa, 2 millions for the rebellion in East Africa, etc.) ; the question of footing those bills led, in December, 1906, to a conflict and the dissolution of the Reichstag. 1* See Berliner Tageblaff of October 27, 1906. Note above all the notorious resolution handed in by Ablass, December 13, 1906, and the Liberal platform for the Reichstag elections of January 25, 1907. 1-5 La Revue, October i, 1906. The "actual results achieved" by the movement for disarmament, are a well preserved se- cret of the editorial board of the Revue. 30 MILITARISM A few more remarks must be made about the third offspring of capitalism on the military side, viz., colonial militarism. The colonial army (by this is meant not the colonial militia, ^^ as planned for German Southwest Africa, still less the en- tirely different militia of the almost independent British colonies) is of extraordinarily great im- portance for England, and its importance is also increasing for the other civilized countries. Whilst for England it not only fulfils the task of oppressing and keeping in check the colonial "in- terior enemy," i. e., the natives of the colonies, but also constitutes a weapon against the exterior colo- nial enemy, Russia, for instance, it serves the other colonizing powers, especially America and Ger- many, often under the names of "Schutztruppe" (protective troops) or foreign legion, ^^ almost ex- 16 Germany's colonial expenditure is in a greatly preponder- ating measure of a military nature, even according to Dern- burg's memorial of October, 1906, in spite of all his cooking of accounts. i'^ Since December 31, igoo, France possesses a real colonial army which has brought her the saddest disappointments. See the Hamburg Correspondent, December 7, 1906 (No. 621), also note 18 on next page and p. 72. In Germany they are busily engaged in creating a colonial army. We are ap- proaching it at the double quick. CAPITALISTIC MILITARISM 31 clusively for the first named purpose, that of driving the miserable natives to slave in the bag- nios for capitalism, and to shoot and cut them down and starve them without pity whenever they attempt to protect their country against the foreign conquerors and extortioners. The colo- nial army, which frequently consists of the scum of the European population, ^^ is the most brutal and abominable of all the tools employed by our capitalistic states. There is hardly a crime which colonial militarism and savage tropical brutality [Tropenkoller^ the Germans call it], directly cul- tivated by it, have not produced/^ The names of Tippelskirch, Woermann, Podbielski, Leist, Weh- lau, Peters, Ahrenberg, and others testify and prove it for Germany, too. They are the fruit by which the nature of the policy of colonization can 18 See Peroz, France et Japan en Indochine; Fanin, I'armee coloniale; E. Reclus, in his Patriotisme et Colonisation; Daumig, Schlachtopfer des Militarismus, in Neue Zeit, vol. 99/00, p. 365, about the bataillons d'Afrique, p. 369. Regard- ing Germany see the speech of Roeren, member of the Reichstag, of December 3, 1906, Reichstag debates. 19 Military punishment, too, here adopts a peculiarly brutal form. About France's foreign legion and bataillons d'Afrique see Ddumigj cited above ; about the abolition of the "binbiri," p. 53. 32 MILITARISM be known, that colonial policy which, pretend- ing ^^ to spread Christianity of civilization or to protect national honor, piously practises usury and fraud for the advantage of capitalists interested in colonies; which murders and violates defence- less human beings, bums down the possessions of the defenceless, robbing and pillaging them, mocking and disgracing Christianity and civiliza- 20 This hypocritical and, at the same time, shamefaced ex- cuse is now being dropped with frank cynicism; see the arti- cle, signed by G. B., in the monthly magazine, Die deutschen Kolonien (October, 1906), and the remark made by Strantz at the pan-German convention (September, 1906), where he said: "In the colonies we don't want to convert people into Christians; they are to work for us. This humanitarian soft- headedness is downright ridiculous. German sentimentality has deprived us of a man like Peters." Again, Heinrich Hartert wrote in the Tag, December 21, 1906, that it is "the duty of the missions ... to adapt themselves to given cir- cumstances"; but they had succeeded "in frequently becom- ing a nuisance to the commercial man." It is at this point that the principal friction arises between the German Clerical Party and the Government in regard to colonial policy; this alone explains the furious fight entered upon in December, 1906, by the merchant Dernburg against the so-called col- lateral government of the Clerical Party. — For America the Kreuzzeitung (September 29, 1906) preaches: "The simple extermination of whole tribes of Indians is so inhuman and unchristian that it cannot be defended under any circum- stances, especially as it is in no way a question of existence for the Americans." But where it is such a question whole tribes may be "exterminated" even by the believer in Christian charity — according to the views of the colonial Christian. CAPITALISTIC MILITARISM 33 tion.^^ Even the fame of a Cortez or a Pizarro fades before India and Tongking, the Congo, Ger- man Southwest Africa and the Philippines. THE PROLETARIAT AND WAR. If the function of militarism was above defined as being a national one directed against the for- eign enemy it must not be understood to mean that it is a function answering the interests, welfare and wishes of the capitalistically gov- erned and exploited peoples. The proletariat of the whole world can not expect any profit from the policies which make necessary the "militarism for abroad"; its interests are most sharply op- posed to such policies. Directly or indirectly those policies serve the exploiting interests of the ruling classes of capitalism. They are policies which prepare more or less skilfully, the way for the world-wide expansion of the wildly anarchical mode of production and the senseless and mur- derous competition of capitalism, in which process 21 See the memorable debates of the German Reichstag be- tween November 28 and December 4, 1906, where the " abscess was lanced." 34 MILITARISM all the duties of civilized man towards the less developed peoples are flung aside; and yet noth- ing is really attained except an insane imperiling of the whole existence of our civilization in conse- quence of the warlike world complications that are conjured up. The working-class, too, wel- come the immense economic developments of our days. But they also know that this economic de- velopment could be carried on peacefully without the mailed fist, without militarism and navalism, without the trident being in our hand and with- out the barbarities of our colonial system, if only sensibly managed communities were to carry it on according to international understandings and in conformity with the duties and interests of civil- ization. They knew that our world policy largely explains itself as an attempt to fight down and confuse forcibly and clumsily the social and politi- cal home problems confronting the ruling classes, in short, as an attempt at a policy of deceptions and misleadings such as Napoleon III. was a mas- ter of. They know that the enemies of the work- ing-class love to make their pots boil over the CAPITALISTIC MILITARISM 35 fires of narrow-minded jingoism; that the fear of war in 1887, unscrupulously engineered by Bis- marck, did excellent service to the most dangerous forces of reaction; that according to a nice little plan, lately revealed,^ ^ and hatched by a number of highly placed personages, the Reichstag suf- frage was to be filched from the German people in the excitement of jingoism, "after the return of a victorious army." They know that the advan- tages of the economic development which those policies attempt to exploit, especially all the ad- vantages of our colonial policies, flow into the ample pockets of the exploiting class, of capi- talism, the arch-enemy of the proletariat. They know that the wars the ruling classes engage in for their own purposes demand of the working-class the most terrible sacrifice of blood and treasure, ^^ for which they are recompensed, after the work has been done, by miserable pensions, beggarly grants to war invalids, street organs and kicks. 22 See Hamburger Nachrichten, November 3, 1906. 23 The number of the victims of the wars between 1799 and 1904 (excluding the Russo-Japanese War) is estimated at about 15,000,000 men killed. 36 MILITARISM They know that after every war a veritable mud- volcano of Hunnic brutality and baseness sends its floods over the nations participating in it, re- barbarizing all civilization for years.^* The worker knows that the fatherland for which he is to fight is not his fatherland; that there is only one real enemy for the proletariat of every coun- try — the capitalist class who oppresses and ex- ploits the proletariat; that the proletariat of every country is by its most vital interests closely bound to the proletariat of every other country; that all national interests recede before the common inter- ests of the international proletariat; and that the international coalition of exploiters and oppressors must be opposed by the international coalition of the exploited and oppressed. He knows that the proletarians, if they were to be employed in a war, would be led to fight against their own brethren and the members of their own class, and thus against their own interests. The class-conscious proletarian therefore not only frowns upon that 24 Cf. Moltke, p. 24, note 6, of this book, and "Moltke's Collected Works," II, p. 288. In his opinion war is supposed to promote virtue and efficiency, especially moral energy. CAPITALISTIC MILITARISM 37 international purpose of the army and the entire capitalist policy of expansion, he is fighting them earnestly and with understanding. To the pro- letariat falls the chief task of fighting militarism in that direction, too, to the utmost, and it is more and more becoming conscious of that task, which is shown by the international congresses; by the exchange of protestations of solidarity between the German and French Socialists at the outbreak of the Franco-German War of 1870, between the Spanish and American Socialists at the outbreak of the war about Cuba, between the Russian and Japanese Socialists at the outbreak of the war in eastern Asia in 1904; and by the resolution to de- clare a general strike in case of war between Sweden and Norway, adopted by the Swedish Social Democrats. It was further shown by the parliamentary attitude of the German Social Democracy towards the war credits of 1870 and during the Morocco conflict, as also by the atti- tude taken up by the class-conscious proletariat towards intervention in Russia. 38 MILITARISM FUNDAMENTAL FEATURES OF "MILITARISM FOR home" and its PURPOSE. Militarism does not only serve for defence and attack against the foreign enemy; it has a second task,^^ one which is being brought out ever more clearly with the growing accentuation of class an- tagonism, defining ever more clearly the form and nature of militarism, viz., that of protecting the existing state of society, that of being a pillar of capitalism and all reactionary forces in the war of liberation engaged in by the working-class. Here it shows itself purely as a weapon in the class struggle, a weapon in the hands of the ruling classes, serving, in conjunction with the police and law-courts, school and church, the purpose of ob- structing the development of class-consciousness and of securing, besides, at all costs to a minority the dominating position in the state and the lib- erty of exploiting their fellow-men, even against the enlightened will of the majority of the people. 2!5 That task of bolstering up the existing interior order of things devolves upon militarism not only in the capitalist order of society, but in all societies based upon class-division. CAPITALISTIC MILITARISM 39 This is modem militarism, which attempts nothing less than squaring the circle, which arms the people against the people itself; which, by try- ing with all means to force upon social division an artificial division according to ages, makes bold to turn the workman into an oppressor and an enemy, into a murderer of members of his own class and his friends, of his parents, sisters and brothers and children, into a murderer of his own past and future; which pretends to be democratic and des- potic, enlightened and mechanical, popular and anti-popular at the same time. It must, however, not be forgotten that mili- tarism can also turn the point of its sword against the interior national, and even the interior ^^ re- ligious ^'enemy" (in Germany, for instance, against the Poles,^'^ Alsatians and Danes), and can moreover be employed in