Why Men Fight: A method of abolishing the international duelRussell, Bertrand
Philosophy
Why Men Fight: A method of abolishing the international duel
Russell, Bertrand
Liberty; Property; Social problems; State, The; War
Much of what is to be said against militarism in the State is also
to be said against capitalism in the economic sphere. Economic
organizations, in the pursuit of efficiency, grow larger and larger,
and there is no possibility of reversing this process. The causes of
their growth are technical, and large organizations must be accepted
as an essential part of civilized society. But there is no reason
why their government should be centralized and monarchical. The
present economic system, by robbing most men of initiative, is one
of the causes of the universal weariness which devitalizes urban and
industrial populations, making them perpetually seek excitement, and
leading them to welcome even the outbreak of war as a relief from the
dreary monotony of their daily lives.
If the vigor of the nation is to be preserved, if we are to retain any
capacity for new ideas, if we are not to sink into a Chinese condition
of stereotyped immobility, the monarchical organization of industry
must be swept away. All large businesses must become democratic and
federal in their government. The whole wage-earning system is an
abomination, not only because of the social injustice which it causes
and perpetuates, but also because it separates the man who does the
work from the purpose for which the work is done. The whole of the
controlling purpose is concentrated in the capitalist; the purpose of
the wage-earner is not the produce, but the wages. The purpose of the
capitalist is to secure the maximum of work for the minimum of wages;
the purpose of the wage-earner is to secure the maximum of wages for
the minimum of work. A system involving this essential conflict of
interests cannot be expected to work smoothly or successfully, or to
produce a community with any pride in efficiency.
Two movements exist, one already well advanced, the other in its
infancy, which seem capable, between them, of effecting most of what
is needed. The two movements I mean are the coöperative movement and
syndicalism. The coöperative movement is capable of replacing the wage
system over a very wide field, but it is not easy to see how it could
be applied to such things as railways. It is just in these cases that
the principles of syndicalism are most easily applicable.
If organization is not to crush individuality, membership of an
organization ought to be voluntary, not compulsory, and ought always
to carry with it a voice in the management. This is not the case with
economic organizations, which give no opportunity for the pride and
pleasure that men find in an activity of their own choice, provided it
is not utterly monotonous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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