Chapter XVIII: Section 9: ,—“The militia, when called into actual service of the United (2)

That “parades, so far as circumstances permit, be through or
near ... sections [of the city] ... where they may encourage
enlistment among a ... class of prospective recruits ... instead of
on Riverside Drive [where the ‘better classes’ live], to which the
public has access with difficulty and which is not frequented by the
class of young men to whom the National Guard appeals.... These
suggestions reflect the views of many citizens ... with whom the
writer has conferred.”

The writer also points out that bright-colored uniforms for the paraders have excellent effect on the imagination of the prospective recruits.

There can be no doubt that the masters are well aware of the hypnotizing influence of marching loud, gay-colored bands, festively uniformed infantry, and fascinating cavalrymen through the streets where they may be seen and admired by the working class, admired by many thousands of ill-fed, ill-clothed, meanly sheltered young men and women whose lives are dull and sad, consumed with the killing monotony and hurry of the factory. A cavalry captain in the United States Army, a part of whose business is to wheedle the gullibles into the dreary army life, has this to say of parades:

“The good influence in popularizing the army by having it stationed
in large cities is exemplified in London. The various guards and
other bodies of troops marching through the streets, preceded by
their gorgeously dressed bands, all the uniforms recalling
traditions of brave, gallant deeds, gain friends every time.”

The best known butcher of modern times (Napoleon) also understood this matter.

“You call these toys? Well, you manage men with toys!” said that red-stained egoist, speaking of the ribbons and crosses and other gewgaws of his Legion of Honor.[234]

When at the street-side a boy of seven, watching a military parade, shouts in gleeful admiration and claps his small hands in happy hurrahs, Mars, the bloody god of war, begins to fasten his clutches on the little fellow, the child’s imagination takes fire with visions and hopes, his soul begins to thrill with the kill-lust, then and there he is being prepared to enlist—when he “gets big.” How different it would be for the small boys if, when soldiers were marched through a city, these armed slayers of their kind should march at night with all lights out and with the rumble of drums and the frequent boom of cannon in the darkness making the air tremble. The working class mother might well consider this matter. She has all to lose.[235]

In the average parade-and-review the workingman is made ridiculous. Did you ever see prominent bankers or other “better class” business men in large numbers trudging along afoot in the middle of the dusty or muddy street, marching and sweating miles and miles past a gay-colored reviewing-stand to be “reviewed” and grinned at by a bunch of sugar-coated crooks in the “reviewers’ stand”? No! And you never will. The trudging and the sweating, as usual, are handed over to the “common people,” chiefly the wage-slaves. When the “very _best_ people” do take part in the parading before the “grand-stand,” they ride, up front, in carriages or on horseback. They laugh and chat and gaily enjoy the stupid gullibility of the working men as the humble fellows are thus “bell-weathered” through the dirt and heat. On the occasion of a recent great parade in New York City a well-known capitalist gliding along in a handsome automobile swaggeringly called out, “We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men, and we’ve got the money too!” A seedy, hungry-looking young man proudly answered back, “You bet we have!” On the same occasion thousands of ten-dollar-a-week clerks and factory workers were charmed into hand-clapping as the gaudily dressed soldiers marched by carrying the very rifles they were ready to use to crush the admiring toilers if they should strike and struggle for justice.

The usual “review” is a pompous occasion on which hundreds or thousands of meek, ill-fed, cotton-lined, callous-palmed working men “hoof it” for an hour or so past a “reviewing-stand” occupied by some grinning, well-fed, silk-lined, lily-fingered, decorated “great” men who scorn even the thought of the working class having a political party of their own for their own self-defense.

(=31=) A great many fathers and sons are thinking a good deal about an “era of peace” to be ushered in mainly through the good offices of peace societies. The Hague Peace Conference is, in the judgment of many people, “the hope of the world.”[236]

The first meeting of the Hague Conference was called—in Jesus’ name, of course—by the most infamous blood-stained butcher of feeble old men and women and thoughtful, aspiring young men and women, in all the world,—that is, by the Tsar of Russia. The sincerity of this crowned murderer may in some measure be realized by a brief study of his gross inconsistency in the year 1903 and in the years immediately preceding. (See Chapter Six, and Sixth Illustration.)

The second meeting of the Society was held in 1907, and another is scheduled for the year 1915.

The serene confidence the world’s rulers have in the Society is easily seen in their frantic efforts to increase their armies and navies. They are bleeding their people white with taxes to make the enormously expensive preparations for what is likely to be the most vast and terrible butchering of the working class by the working class that has ever horrified mankind. Secretly the crowned and uncrowned ruling butchers of the world have nothing but contempt for the Conference at The Hague. Very naturally, however, they are all shrewd enough to make a large and beautiful profession of faith and desire for peace through the Conference, while at the same time they all “want for soldiers young men who are not only willing, but anxious to fight.” The man who inaugurated the Conference promptly scorned the Conference when he believed his interests would be served by a war with Japan. The famous French anti-militarist G. Hervé shrewdly pointed out the hopelessly weak place in the “authority” of the capitalist Hague Peace Court:[237]

“Governments so far are unanimous in _withdrawing from The Hague Tribunal all questions affecting ‘the honor and vital interests of the country,’_ a convenient formula permitting them to _refuse_ arbitration when they please.”

And here is a frank admission:

“The Hague Tribunal has nothing compulsory about it; all its members
are left in perfect freedom as to whether they submit questions to
it or not.... In all treaties hitherto the Great Powers have
retained power to withhold submission of questions affecting ‘their
honor or vital interest.’”[238]

“Honor and vital interests,”—convenient phrase—a matter of business—cash and commerce, “plain dollars and cents,”—under capitalism.

It is of interest to note that another peace society, The Peace Society, founded in London in 1816, has been busy for almost a hundred years trying to mop up the blood, so to speak, never daring, or not knowing how, to uncover the fundamental cause of war.

In at least some respects a “Conference” of The Hague Peace Society is, itself, hopelessly ridiculous and, in appearance, wickedly insincere. For example, at the “Conference” of 1907 the delegates learnedly and laughably discussed the “Humanizing of War,”[239] and, after much brain-fagging effort, the delegates to the fakirs’ feast duly and heavily concluded as follows:

“It is especially prohibited to employ poison or poisoned arms.”

WELL BE IT KNOWN:—

THAT KLEPTOMANIACS’ PERIODICAL LUNCHEON, OR “THIEVES’ SUPPER,” CALLED THE HAGUE CONFERENCE, WOULD HAVE NO MORE WORK TO DO FOR THE NEXT THOUSAND YEARS, WOULD NEVER AGAIN HAVE ANYTHING WHATEVER TO MEET FOR, IF ALL BULLETS AND ALL SWORDS AND ALL BAYONETS USED IN ALL THE ARMIES WERE DIPPED IN A DEADLY POISON; FOR, IN THAT CASE, THE WORKING CLASS OF THE WHOLE WORLD WOULD FLATLY REFUSE TO VOLUNTEER OR BE DRAFTED TO SERVE IN ANY WAR ANYWHERE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. AND, OF COURSE, THE SOFT-VOICED, WELL-FED “HUMANIZERS OF WAR” WOULD NOT GO TO WAR—POISON OR NO POISON. THE UNIVERSAL USE OF POISONED BULLETS, SWORDS AND BAYONETS WOULD MAKE WAR ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE, BECAUSE THE INAUGURATION OF SUCH A POLICY WOULD MAKE THE WORKING CLASS THINK.

A thinking slave is the terror of the plunder-bloated rulers of the world—always.

When the workers once think about war they will promptly do two things:

_First_, They will refuse to go to war;

_Second_, They will find the cause of war, and will remove it.

Of course, it requires the deep and prayerful investigation of “great” and “prominent Christian” gentlemen in peace conference assembled to discover that it _is_ wrong for men to butcher men with swords and bullets dipped in poison, but that it is _not_ wrong for men to destroy men with clean lead and clean steel, their souls charged with hate as an adder’s fang jetting venom into its victim’s flesh; to discover that it _is_ wrong to have soldiers thrust poison-dipped bayonets into one another’s stomachs, but that it is _not_ wrong for a “Christian business men’s” government to feed its soldiers on poisoned canned beef. The poor dupes who butcher one another at the word of command are, of course, too “common” and ignorant to understand the logical legerdemain of these prayerfully discovered distinctions; but the learned and prominent gentlemen in peace conference assembled, far, far from the battle line, smoking 50–cent cigars, quaffing the world’s costliest champagne—these noble braves, these bottle-scarred heroes, can tell us all about it.

Certainly.

With thoughtful tenderness many Christian governments, influenced by peace societies, have made an international agreement that, in case of war, no bullet used weighing 14 ounces or less shall be an explosive bullet,—that is, a bullet that easily expands, flattens and shatters _when it strikes flesh_. However, these same “more refined and civilized” nations are all at perfect liberty to use a cannon bullet, or shell, weighing hundreds of pounds, charged with explosives, flesh-tearing materials and deadly gases, arranged with time-fuses in order to explode over the heads of, or among, a great body of men on the field, or in the midst of men when it has pierced the armor of a war vessel.

It is not definitely known how these wise Christian statesmen and scholars discovered that a three-hundred pound explosive bullet might properly and lovingly be used by gently sensitive Christian butchers, but that a thirteen-ounce explosive bullet might not with propriety be used by these loving followers of the gentle Jesus. Possibly the discovery was made by some deep-seeing pot-house statesmen and scholars after a prayerful study of the Sermon on the Mount,—with champagne on the side.

War is “human” or “inhuman” according to the orations, discussions, confusions, delusions, conclusions, decisions and provisions of these perfumed, patent-leathered fighters after a long fast—on terrapin, porter-house and “Mumm’s Extra Dry.”

The eloquence of the Hague Peace Conference literature concerning its long list of extremely “glorious achievements” would lead the uninstructed to suppose that till this organization came on the field there had never been a dispute settled without war. It modestly claims everything in view.

Note here the fact that:

_“There is no period known to history in which instances are not found of arbitration as a substitute for force, and we can only wonder when we consider the historical antiquity of the former that the latter should have maintained its hold so long, so constantly and so fiercely.”_[240]

“Where are thy portents, Peace?
What sign on land or sea
Of thy great coming, of thy rule to be?
The fighting and the drumming do not cease;
Gun-thunder smites the air,
And shakes the earth beneath.
Bait we not the war-dogs in their lair,
And toil at harvesting of dragon’s teeth?...

Must it forever be a poet’s dream—
The land secure, the mind at rest,
The cut-throat tamed and laboring at an oar,
The braggart silent and ashamed,
The toiler as a monarch seem,
The woman with her baby at her breast,
Aglow with joy that war shall be no more?...”
—J. I. C. Clarke, in New York _Times_.

Prominent people—prominent chiefly because they are elevated upon the shoulders of the working class—have been _talking_ about peace for a long time. But peace born of _justice_, peace founded upon _fairness_,—that is neither thought of nor talked of, by the ruling class, in the pompous and pretentious peace conferences; it is not on the program.

Father and the boys of the working class will themselves have to place peace on the program of mankind. And one of the first things to do is to bring up the subject of war and peace in every working class organization in the world—_for discussion_. (See pages 272, 283–289. Index: “Carnegie.”)

=A Special Notice to the Hague Peace Society:=

As to “limited armaments”—whether the swords are long or short, the
working class more and more clearly see that you intend that the
working class shall continue to do all the fighting in case of war.

=A Special Challenge to the Hague Peace Society:=

That all delegates to the Conferences shall discuss, not the
problems of “disarmament,” but (1) the problem of striking the bands
from the wrists of the wage-slaves; (2) the artificial arbitrary
restriction placed upon the consuming power of the wage-earners, out
of which fact grows the imminent world-struggle for the
“world-market.”

=A Second Special Challenge to the Hague Peace Society:=

That the Society shall frankly announce in all its Conferences, in
all its Reports, in all its leaflets, in all its lectures and
sermons, that the Socialist Party’s method of preventing war is to
frankly and loudly WARN THE VICTIMS OF WAR, the working class, just
what war always means to the working class; and that this method has
succeeded in preventing two wars in recent years in cases where the
Hague Peace Society was powerless.

=A Third Special Challenge to the Hague Peace Society:=

That the Society shall explain why the Capitalist masters of the
Hague Peace Society will not _permit_ their vassals in the
Conferences to accept the Second Challenge.

The author of WAR—WHAT FOR?, in the summer of 1910, attended a
National Peace Conference in New York City. The Conference was
attended by some of the most distinguished peace-wishers in the
United States, including capitalists, orators and college
professors. The author was given the floor to address the
Convention. Everything went well until the author began to urge that
all who want peace should make every possible effort to WARN THE
VICTIMS of war, the working class, of what war means to the working
class. Instantly there was manifest discomfort all through the
audience, and very soon the chairman left his seat, came close to
the speaker and urged that the speech be concluded at once. No other
speaker was thus interrupted.

-----

Footnote 182:

Charles Seignobos: _Political History of Europe Since 1815_, p. 819.

Footnote 183:

Similar practice was common in our Civil War.

Footnote 184:

But see Index: “Four Historic Events.”

Footnote 185:

May 21, 1909. Italics mine. G. R. K.

Footnote 186:

Report of the United States Pullman Strike Commission: Carroll D.
Wright, Chairman.

Footnote 187:

See Chapter Ten on “What Shall We Do About It?”

Footnote 188:

See article by Labor Commissioner C. D. Wright: _North American
Review_, June, 1902; also R. T. Ely: _Outlines of Economics_, Edition
of 1908, pp. 397–98.

Footnote 189:

_International Journal of Ethics_, April, 1908.

Footnote 190:

C. D. Wright: _Practical Sociology_, p. 38.

Footnote 191:

See Report of Secretary of War, 1908, p. 155. Italics mine. G. R. K.

Footnote 192:

An excellent edition of the law with notes, analysis, history, and
suggestions by Mr. Ernest Untermann, can be had for 5 cents, of any
Socialist literature agent.

Footnote 193:

London, March 21, 1908.

Footnote 194:

Miss Jane Addams: _Newer Ideals of Peace_, p. 232.

Footnote 195:

_Civil Liberty_, pp. 116–117.

Footnote 196:

G. Stanley Hall: _Adolescence_, Vol. I., pp. 222–23.

Footnote 197:

_The Rough Riders_, p. 139. Found in Edition of 1899, published by
Charles Scribner’s Sons; page 152, as published by G. P. Putnam’s
Sons.

Footnote 198:

_System of Ethics_, p. 660.

Footnote 199:

_Militarism_, pp. 60–61.

Footnote 200:

_William Shakespeare_, Pt. 3, Bk. 3, Ch. I.

Footnote 201:

See Chapter Eight, Section 11,—of special interest to women who
incline to be “perfectly delighted” with soldiers.

Footnote 202:

Quoted by Thomas E. Will, _Arena_, Dec., 1894.

Footnote 203:

_Moral Damage of War_, pp. 146–47.

Footnote 204:

_Education and the Higher Life_, p. 171.

Footnote 205:

_Works_, Vol. IV., Dresden Edition, p. 124.

Footnote 206:

“Lecture on War.”

Footnote 207:

_The Destiny of Man_, pp. 100–103.

Footnote 208:

Lester F. Ward: _Applied Sociology_, p. 264.

Footnote 209:

Bloomfield: “Farmer’s Boy.”

Footnote 210:

Pope’s Homer’s “Iliad.”

Footnote 211:

_Militarism_, p. 316.

Footnote 212:

Quoted by John A. Hobson: _John Ruskin: Social Reformer_, p. 346.

Footnote 213:

_Militarism_, p. 317.

Footnote 214:

See Chapter Eleven.

Footnote 215:

See Chapter Ten, also Index: “Revolution of Opinion.”

Footnote 216:

See McCabe and Darien: _Can We Disarm?_ p. 56.

Footnote 217:

See Index: “What War Decides”; also “Blood Cost of War.”

Footnote 218:

Thomas Carlyle: _Sartor Resartus_, Book II., Chapter 8.

Footnote 219:

See Index: “Parasites.”

Footnote 220:

Italics mine. G. R. K.

Footnote 221:

_Report_, 1907, p. 73.

Footnote 222:

See Report of Department of War, 1906.

Footnote 223:

See Annual Reports of the Secretaries of War for the years named; also
Preface of the present volume.

Footnote 224:

Italics mine. G. R. K.

Footnote 225:

See _Report of the War Department_, 1908, p. 21; see also Index:
“Insanity.”

Footnote 226:

_The World’s Work_, May, 1907.

Footnote 227:

Italics mine. G. R. K.

Footnote 228:

See Reports of the Department of War for the respective years.

Footnote 229:

_Report of the Secretary of War_, 1907, p. 72.

Footnote 230:

Mr. Roosevelt’s kill-for-pleasure hunting trip in Africa in 1909–10
included, according to the press reports, “a splendid time,” “a
corking time,” shooting monkies—murdering his ancestral cousins, so to
speak—“a careful count being kept of the exact number” of the jolly,
playful little creatures butchered for the brave and noble gentleman’s
amusement on his “old home” trip.

Footnote 231:

A private, writing from the Philippines, in _Everybody’s Magazine_,
April, 1908.

Footnote 232:

_Imperial Democracy_, p. 272.

Footnote 233:

_The Moral Damage of War_, pp. 150–51.

Footnote 234:

Quoted by Professor E. A. Ross, in his _Social Control_, p. 89.

Footnote 235:

See Chapter Eight: “For Mother and the Boys,” Section 1.

Footnote 236:

See Index: “Bankruptcy, Danger of.”

Footnote 237:

_The International_, July, 1908. Italics mine. G. R. K.

Footnote 238:

_Documents of the American Association for International
Conciliation_, 1907–08, p. 22.

Footnote 239:

See _The Peace Conference at The Hague_, pp. 93–120, and 151.

Footnote 240:

_Harper’s Magazine_, Vol. 87. See International Conciliation—Documents
of the American Association for International Conciliation, 1907–08:
Third Paper—“A League of Peace.”