Towards an enduring peace : $b A symposium of peace proposals and programs 1914-1916
History
Towards an enduring peace : $b A symposium of peace proposals and programs 1914-1916
Peace; World War, 1914-1918 -- Peace
If this theory had been true it would have followed that the interests
of capital would make for war and the interests of labor would make
for peace. The day laborer, with no money in the bank, would not be
interested in capital investments in Morocco, Manchuria, or Asia Minor.
He would have no national interests whatever. But, as we may read in
the admirable book on “Socialists and the War,” by William English
Walling, a few Socialists have for some time begun to recognize that
wage-earners do have special national interests and that these interests
may be directly opposed to the interests of wage-earners in an adjoining
country. If Serbia is completely shut off from the sea, her wage-earners
suffer as acutely as do her peasants. If Switzerland is surrounded by a
wall of hostile tariffs, if Holland and England are deprived of their
colonies, the loss is felt not only by great capitalists but by the man
who works with a trowel or a lathe. The ultimate interests of German and
British wage-earners are identical, but if their immediate interests
conflict, there will grow up a spirit of nationalism in both countries,
and wage-earners will clamor for a national policy which may lead to war.
This seems to shut a door that leads to peace. But in shutting this
door the newer Socialist thought has opened another. It assumes that
the capitalists themselves are increasingly likely to profit by
peace, to desire peace, and to achieve peace. According to the German
Socialist, Karl Kautsky, we are approaching a new stage in the industrial
development of the world. At first capitalists exploited the resources
of their own country. Then they competed nationally for the exploitation
of colonies and dependencies, and this policy led to imperialism and
war. Now they are beginning to unite for the joint exploitation of all
backward lands. Competitive imperialism is making way for imperialism
by combination, just as competitive industry gave way to the trust.
English, French, German, and Belgian capitalists will unite to exploit
dependencies, will have joint spheres of influence, and the result will
be peace with profits. Imperialism in the old sense will die out, and its
place will be taken by a pacific super-imperialism, a higher imperialism.
[Sidenote: This higher imperialism fraught with dangers.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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