Peace — And Again War. (1919)

Editorial from the July 1919 issue of the Socialist Standard

As we always said they would, our masters, who gave us war in 1914 without in any way consulting the wishes of the people, have given us "peace" in their own good time in an equally nonchalant manner. They have made no pretence of consulting the workers, though that, of course, need not prevent them claiming that they have done so. But one thing needs to have special attention drawn to it.

Already our insolent and arrogant masters have booked up our lives for a fresh war. In 1914 they told us that the country was bound by no pledge, which proved to be a damned lie, but, in the triumph of their militarism, they make no bones about the business this time. They resort to no subterfug : the workers, drunk with their masters' victory, are not of sufficient importance to be deceived in the matter. All that they have to do is to jubilate over the fact that the signing of the Peace Treaty sets their masters free to proceed with their exploitation on lines dictated by the condition of things

But there it is. If the reports of the capitalist Press prove correct, our democratic bosses have made the engagement, over and above the heads of the people, and when the time comes will call upon them to honour the pact, in the making of which they have not been consulted, and have taken no part, and to which they can therefore owe no allegiance.

But there is another aspect of the case. What becomes of the "League of Nations"? Is this pact an admission that the "League" is a mere phantasm, a spineless, parchment entity which can have no power or influence in the real world —the world of strife for economic interests ? Is it a recognition that when the next great struggle for commercial supremacy takes place the "League of Nations" will "bust up" into two opposing sections, according to those economic interests, and is it, therefore, indicative of the future stand of France, Greater Britain, and America against the world, and hence an attempt to secure commercial supremacy for these ?