Ten Years a Soldier – War Commentary (1944)

Anonymous contribution to ‘War Commentary: For Anarchism’, Vol.5, No.8, Mid-February, 1944

Ten years in the Army has changed me from a patriot, and a firm believer in God, King and Country, (all of which things are drummed into the ordinary working class person from the early age of five or so), into a believer in a society where the powers of the money trusts and governments are abolished; where the products of the earth are applied for the well-being of the entire human family instead of being used as a means of juggling for power by the select few, the ruling class.

I joined the Army in 1934 and immediately ceased to be a human being and an individual, and became something that had to be pushed, jostled, cursed, chased and scared into becoming an automaton, or cog in the machine known as the British Army, by people of my own class known as N.C.O.’s [Non-Commissioned Officers], who had been vested with the powers of tin gods, and given authority and power beneath the officers to enable them to turn me into something comparable to the ordinary British workman, who is in his or her turn a cog in the Capitalist machine.

With this difference: — Whereas the working class sell their labour, or part of their lives, which, unlike the Capitalists, is the only thing they have to sell, I sold my individuality, part of my life, my skill with arms; and also was expected to commit murder if asked to do so (Palestine Rebellion, 1936).

By the last item, I mean that when searching Arab villages, if perhaps some Arab became scared and ran, I was expected to shoot.

These ten years have taught me, and also my travels among ten or so different races, that only one course can ensure the future happiness not of one country, but every country, and that is the complete reorganisation of the entire social system of the world, entailing the elimination of Capitalism, with all its attendant evils such as Governments, Nobility, etc., and the formation of a society where man is no longer a wage slave, but a free individual who would be allowed to do the work he was best fitted for, and have as his recompense a fair proportion of the world’s produce, without having to sell part of his life for the absurdity of our complex civilisation, money, to enable him to buy what he is entitled to by the laws of nature though denied by the laws of the Capitalist regime.

I am only an uneducated man but I think my sentiments coincide with the subconscious ones of the masses, of which I am a part.

The difficulty is not to educate them or us to act to bring about a new world society, but to bring them to think; and it will come about by the universal will of the masses of the workers throughout the world.

To close, if the masses of the world could be brought together and taught each other’s way of living, Capitalism and Governments, and also the misdistribution of the earth’s goodness would be things of the past, evil memories in the minds of men.

Resource links:

About Face: Veterans Against The War

GI Rights Hotline

THREAD: As Veterans committed in the fight stop U.S. imperialist violence, we grieve the loss of Aaron Bushnell and honor his profound protest and sacrifice. We are taking the time we need to make a full statement, but we offer these suggestions for talking about Aaron’s action:
— About Face: Veterans Against the War (@VetsAboutFace) February 27, 2024