It has been written that a battle should not be seen as two armies trying to kill one another, but, rather, one army, committing suicide. If that is the case, we are in the midst of a species engaged in long, slow, mass suicide. That war becomes such a natural part of life shows in that voices are only raised against it when the casualties threaten to reach into the hundreds of thousands, rather than the usual hundreds.
If a fraction of the effort put into devising and creating means of death were put into securing the means of life, the scourge of war would be wiped out. The peace of mind of material security in life would become peace in the world. With an expansion of the practise of co-operating to mutual ends, would come and end to the fractious rivalries of property.
The Socialist Party calls upon the workers the world over to understand the basis upon which they oppose the war, and to understand the potential that it shows. To understand that mere opposition and pious moralising against the war is not enough, and that it lies within their hands to make the necessary changes.
The Socialist Party has always stood against war – asserting the urgency with which the workers must combat and stop any immediate instance of the ongoing global war, and the need to struggle against the system of exploitation and poverty which causes all these wars. We have asserted that war and organised violence are not the means by which a civilised society can be achieved. Where all other parties utter their sanctimonious opposition to war: “Of course, no right minded person wants war,” they say, but then turn round and lay down their plans for just that. Plans for achieving their policy ends by cold-blooded murder.
Consistently, the Socialist Party has counter-posed to war and violence the working class methods of co-operation, and rational application of our minds and imaginations. We have refused to fight, choosing, rather, to point the way to real peace.
As the slaughter once again escalates, therefore, we take this opportunity to avow our solidarity with the workers, of all nations, and their mutual cause. Further, we call upon the workers to organise consciously and politically to use the power at their disposal to bring the bloodshed to a standstill; and secure the space we need in order to build the co-operative world socialist commonwealth.
Pik Smeet
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