From ‘The Blast’, Vol.1, No.5, San Francisco, February 12, 1916, edited and published by Alexander Berkman
The fundamental cause of all wars is undoubtedly to be found in the military organization of society. The formation of an army is always prompted by the intention of an aggressive or a defensive war. To be a real military man one has to give up every ideal of human right, and have no other goal than the duty of authority. The primary condition for the strength and efficiency of an army is discipline, by which is meant the absolute submission of the individual will to the order of a leader. In other words, the man becoming a soldier ceases to be a man, and becomes a machine.
But human personality cannot be destroyed altogether, especially in the partly civilized epoch in which we are living. If you take away from the individual the spiritual force that underlies every deep human emotion, you must give him some other basis for his activity. For this purpose, the evil genius of despotism has invented for the soldier the glory and the honor of the flag. With that, it satisfies the idealism that grows in every heart. This gives a noble and holy glamor to the sacrifice which is demanded from the soldier, and at the same time forges the strongest link in the long chain by which despotism holds the nation in slavery.
The monotonous life in the barracks doesn’t fulfil this purpose. It therefore becomes necessary to stimulate the courage and ambition of the soldiers by inspiring the hope of great battles and wonderful victories over the enemy. When the defender of the home country is thus excited to the proper patriotic pitch, thinking and dreaming only of murder, blood and violence, in order to win a medal or a title, it merely remains to cry: “Down with the Prussians!”, “Down with the French!” These wild mottoes are repeated everywhere by peoples who — far from having any cause for mutual destruction — in reality have every reason to love each other. Instead, their passion of hatred is aroused by telling them that one nation has injured the honor and glory of some other.
Periodic wars are therefore primarily the product and forced result of military organization.
To Work, Rebels!
From ‘The Blast’, Vol.1, No.5, San Francisco, February 12, 1916, edited and published by Alexander Berkman
Get on the job, you militant workers. Forget your pet schemes for a while. A great menace is facing you. It is gaining momentum with every passing day. Your inactivity lends it courage and strength.
O that I might paint for you the monster of militarism, to show you its true face in all its horrible nakedness. To picture to you the thousands upon thousands of dead, the numberless widows and orphans, the millions of maimed and crippled, the wretched remnants of what once were healthy, strong human beings, the hopeless misery and woe. To show you your chains riveted tenfold stronger than they are even now, your slavery more galling and degrading.
Will you keep silent while all this is coming about? Rouse yourselves! Raise your voice from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Let it resound in every village, city and State till it circles this wide land, East and West, North and South, carrying terror into the hearts of the enemies of Man, the craven politician and the profit greedy masters that fatten on your brawn and blood.
To work, then! Organize mass meetings, speak from street corners. send your agitators through the length and breadth of the land. Let your motto be, Not a man for militarism; our lives for Liberty!
See also:
As to Militarism, by Emma Goldman (1908)
Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty, by Emma Goldman (1910)
If We Must Fight, Let It Be For The Social Revolution, from Mother Earth (1914)
In Reply to Kropotkin, by Alexander Berkman (1914)
Preparedness, the Road to Universal Slaughter, by Emma Goldman (1915)
Anti-War Manifesto, by The Anarchist International (1915)
Why War?, from The Blast (1916)
The Promoters of the War Mania, by Emma Goldman (1917)
No Conscription!, by the No-Conscription League of New York (1917)
Speeches Against Conscription, by Emma Goldman (1917)
Articles in the New York Times on the No Conscription League of New York (1917)
The Deadly Parallel, by the Industrial Workers of the World (1917)
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