50 Years Ago: Science, Production and War

Today we hear unceasing talk of the need in this and other countries for improved industrial methods, and of the necessity for taking pattern from our more studious and scientific ‘enemies’ from Dusseldorf and other towns in the German manufacturing districts. Yet what does all this mean even if carried out? It must lead to one thing— and here the socialist explodes that nonsensical piffle anent the formation of a ‘League of Nations’—it must mean competition in a more intensified form than anything hitherto endured, and as a natural sequence, more terrible struggles over trade routes and markets.

 

The rapid advance in machinery means the creation of an ever-growing surplus of commodities. The need for foreign markets for the disposal of this produce is the cause of almost every international dispute.

 

So long, therefore; as capitalism survives must we endure warfare. Socialisation of the means and instruments of production and distribution in the interest of the whole people is the only viable solution, and this can only be achieved by the working class itself.

 

(From an article by B.B.B. in the Socialist Standard, November, 1917)