But the burning and pressing question is: Why should we--we, the "enlightened and civilized" nations of Europe--get involved in these senseless wars at all? And surely _this_ war will, of all wars, force an answer to the question. Here, for the last twenty years, have these so-called Great Powers been standing round, all professing that their one desire is peace, and all meanwhile arming to the teeth; each accusing the others of militant intentions, and all lamenting that "war is inevitable." Here they have been forming their _Ententes_ and Alliances, carrying on their diplomatic cabals and intrigues, studying the map and adjusting the Balance of Power--all, of course, with the best intentions--and lo! with the present result! What nonsense! What humbug! What an utter bankruptcy of so-called diplomacy! When will the peoples themselves arise and put a stop to this fooling--the people who give their lives and pay the cost of it all? If the present-day, diplomats and Foreign Ministers have sincerely striven for peace, then their utter incapacity and futility have been proved to the hilt, and they must be swept away. If they have not sincerely striven for peace, but only pretended to so strive, then also they must be swept away, for deceit in such a matter is unpardonable. And no doubt the latter alternative is the true one. There has been a pretence of the Governments all round--a pretence of deep concern for humanity and the welfare of the mass-peoples committed to their charge; but the real moving power beneath has been _class_-interest--the interest of the great commercial class in each nation, with its acolyte and attendant, the military or aristocratic. It is this class, with its greeds and vanities and suspicions and jealousies, which is the cause of strife; the working-masses of the various nations have no desire to quarrel with each other. Nay, they are animated by a very different spirit.