Patriotism A Bloody Monster – Caroline Nelson (1912)

From ‘Industrial Worker‘, March 28, 1912, Spokane, Washington

By Caroline Nelson

When Roosevelt sent the fleet around the world the general mass of people didn’t know what it was for. To say that the fleet had to be tried to see if it could navigate around the world is an absurdity. But those of us who happened to be in San Francisco when the fleet steamed in through the Golden Gate had no difficulty in finding out what it was for. Men, women and children fought with one another frantically to get a first glimpse of the murder machines. The papers for weeks had been lashing their minds into a fury of excitement, which for want of better name was called patriotism.

But perhaps patriotism, which originally meant a protector of the patriarch, the patrician or the lord, is as good a name as any; for it practically means the same today. Patriotism is inseparable from guns, swords and murder machines in general, because all our laws rest upon those “benevolent” tools. That is why they’re so sacred to our ruling classes. That is why our histories in schools consist chiefly of scenes of bloody murder frays enacted on a large scale. That is why such butchers as Napoleon and Nelson and Alexander and others of the same tribe are held up before the child-mind as the greatest heroes of the world. That is why a gun and a sword are the dearest things to a boy. That is why the workers’ boys consider it an honor to parade in a uniform with a knife stuck at the end of a gun. That is why they don’t hesitate to join the army and the militia, never realizing that any moment they may be called upon to stick that knife in the heart of their own father and brother.

When the militia boys in Lawrence were asked if they were not ashamed of their jobs. They said, yes. But when they enlisted they had not thought of what they would be called upon to do. And when they were called to Lawrence they had to go or get court-martialed. At Lawrence they had to act as snarling dogs to their fellow worker to carry out the orders of their superior officers.

Of course, patriotism is holy, Holy to whom? To the man that gets the lead and steel inside his guts; or to the man who sends it there; or to the wife and children left behind; or to the mother that gave birth to the murdered or the murderer. Don’t answer all at once, boys.

But here comes Johnny Simpleton. Listen to his solemn voice. “Patriotism protects the home and our country, and there is nothing holier than that.” Where are our homes? And, pray tell, where is our country? Are the houses we live in ours? No, not as a rule. A good many of us can’t afford to live in houses any more. We’re like “the Son of man.” We have not that to which we can lean our heads. And the powers that be have no more use for us than they had for the Son of man. Like him we are always agitating and saying mean things about the white-washed sepulchers full of rotten bones. As for our country? Whose country do we live in? All we have to do to find out is to ask our boss all in a bunch for a little more wages, and he’ll speedily show us whose country we live in. He’ll show us who owns the police, the judge, the militia and all the other patriotic implements.

Now aren’t we proud to raise our sons and daughters ready to stab us in the name of patriotism? Aren’t we proud to fight for the protection of a set of highway robbers such as the Carnegies, Morgans, Rockefeller et al? In England the revolutionary sentiment is far ahead of us in America. In their open air meetings thousands upon thousands of people assemble, where they make it hot for the police. Sometimes they cut down the horses under them. In the government paper with its millions of subscribers, the striking miners have inserted a circular letter, addressed to the soldiers of Britain, asking them not to shoot down the miners, because they are battling for bread, and are their own fathers and brothers.

This letter is headed by an explosion to show that it is treason against the government. In other words it is treason against the government of Britain for the soldiers not to kill the workers who are battling for bread. This is correct. It is so in every country. That is what patriotism means.

Now, don’t you think, fellow workers, that you had better let your bosses do the patriotic stunt? Let them practice patriotism among themselves. Let them kill each other if they like. If it is patriotism for the workers to kill each other officially, why don’t the same rules hold good for the parasites. They have nothing else to do anyhow. It might arouse and noble their jaded spirit, and bring out their manhood of which they’re so fond of speaking. No, you needn’t be afraid. In the wars past they have been busy fishing in the muddy waters for profit with embalmed beef, paper shoes, decayed transport vessels, shoddy uniforms and everything else. All this while they strung bunting in front of their houses and hollered for patriotism. In the last war it was only Teddy the terrible who had the courage to come out to shoot a fleeing Spaniard in the back. This supreme courage was backed up by an uncontrollable hunger for office.

But patriotism is not alone good for official murdering of the workers. It is a splendid means of keeping them separated. The workers of each nation are taught that they’re superior; that they’re a select brand compared to those of all other nations. It’s used here as a play upon human egotism and credulity. The upper class the world over associate together and inter-marry. They make fun of the, to them, lower classes with their narrow prejudice.

Well, you have perhaps heard about the peace movement. You have been invited to lectures where some highly respected professor talks about peace as against war. Andy Carnegie has given millions to this peace fund. But have you heard about any abatement in the luring of young men into the army? Have you seen the alluring posters taken down that pictures a soldier as a uniformed dandy? Also it promises him a compensation for life after so many year’s service. It tells him what a small chance he has to better himself outside the army. Have you heard about the different governments refusing to build any more murder machines? No. On the contrary you have heard of every one of them wanting to get money to increase the army and navy. What sincerity is there then in this peace movement? Simply this — the capitalists have found that they have to unite against the international rising working class. They begin to see that the worker the world over is getting on the job. They therefore want an international army and navy to protect their international interest.

We workers, on the contrary, want an international working class who will refuse to offer themselves up as food for cannons, who will fight to get homes for their families. Who will realize that every dollar is simply a check on their labor power and nothing more; that when they organize that labor power these checks become only ornamental in the hands of the financiers, because the workers can refuse to yield that power to make them valuable and use their product themselves.