The growth of social organization is now beginning to open up
possibilities which a few years ago would have seemed Utopian. It
cannot remain limited within merely national bounds. It is concerned
with the things of which all have a common need, and the interests of
nations are here inextricably intertwined. This must sooner or later
result in the formation of international tribunals, and this again will
have decisive results in relation to war--a method of dispute rapidly
becoming antiquated. Twenty-eight millions of men, ready to be put into
the field (is not this a suggestive euphemism?) at a moment’s notice,
in a corner of the world! Take a _plébiscite_ of the adult population
of Europe, of whose life-blood these twenty-eight millions are,
to-morrow--and what would the _régime_ of militarism be worth? We must
certainly expect to see the same process repeated between nations which
has everywhere taken place among individuals. When a strong power to
which appeal can be made is established, individuals cease to fight and
become litigants; this was seen in the Middle Ages, and again, as Maine
pointed out, when a strong British executive was established in India.
As soon as a sufficiently strong tribunal is formed, nations who once
went to war must in the same way become litigants. This again will have
its reaction on democracy and social life.
Along another line we may observe the approaching disappearance of
war. The wars of modern times have, to a large extent, had commercial
causes at their roots. The downfall of unrestricted competition,
and the organization of industrialism, will remove this cause of
war. In the profoundly interesting movement, witnessed to-day in the
direction of trusts and syndicates, we see the natural and inevitable
transition to a new era. Like all transitions, it can only be effected
with much friction. From one point of view it is the last barricade
of capitalism; from a wider stand-point it is the forging of a huge
instrument to be taken up eventually by a vast international community
who will thus control the means of providing for themselves by methods
of simple and uneventful routine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account