Have the Leopards Changed Their Spots?

From ‘Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism’, October 1914, London, UK

Although statesmen, pressman, and parsons are unanimous in telling us that this is a war for Britain’s honour and the independence of little nations, a very slight knowledge of the methods of the ruling classes of all nations should be sufficient to cause us to doubt the sincerity of this statement. Whilst such emphasis is laid on the question of the independence of Belgium and the awful tragedies enacted on her soil, we are in danger of losing sight of the fact that that was not the primary and immediate cause of the war. As is known, the pretext was Austria’s insistence on the humiliation of the Servian Government. Russia, the self-constituted “protector” of the Slavs, came to the assistance of Servia, as she had promised, her military prestige being at stake; and when Germany went to Austria’s assistance, both France and Britain were automatically drawn in, the French Government being pledged to support Russia, and the British Government being pledged to support France. None of the peoples was consulted in this matter of life and death — they never are — therefore, when I speak of “France,” “Russia,” etc., the ruling clique in each country is meant.

But this war was “inevitable,” if ever one was. Powerful financial forces had ranged themselves under the flags of the various countries, and were using the Governments to support their interests. To safeguard their power to exploit the peoples — black, white, or yellow — they were quite prepared to make a slaughter-house of Europe. Add to this the intrigues of the ambitious military caste, and the enormous growth of armies and armaments, and the necessary ingredients for an explosion were at hand.

Russia, with the financial aid of England and France, had reorganised her army since the war with Japan, and was only too glad to get an opportunity to show off her military strength to the kinglets of the Near East. France, knowing she was sure of the support of Russia and Britain, was also ready to show she was not a negligible quantity, the reactionaries, led by Millerand, having stirred up the martial spirit during the last few years. Germany, the land of militarism par excellence, knew that as soon as her enemies were ready they would tear away from her the provinces she had stolen from France in 1871. And Britain, who holds one-fifth of the world’s surface, finding her commercial and maritime supremacy challenged by Germany, was ready to take advantage of the first opportunity to deliver a smashing blow at her rival. For this purpose, she had allied herself with the most reactionary Government in the world.

But surely the Allies are not so brutal as the Germans some one will say. Let us see. How has the British Empire been built up? By the same methods as all empires were built up — by brute force. Take India and Africa, for example, and you will find that the bullet and the bayonet, combined with cunning, were the principal factors in “persuading” those countries to come into the Empire. The politicians have not always been so jealous of our “national honour” as they seem to be just now. They promised to lead the Indian people to a system of self-government, but those three hundred millions have no share whatever in the governing of their country. The politicians pledged our national honour to retire from Egypt, but have not done so; and as recently as 1907, with Russia, we guaranteed the independence and integrity of Persia; but when Russia hanged many of the leading Persians, and made Northern Persia practically a Russian province, the British Government never lifted a finger.

Then look at the “Colossus of the North.” Speaking seriously, can any one imagine the Tsar and his advisers going to war in the name of Liberty? Remember, Finland, Persia, and Manchuria; and remember the 150,000 political prisoners at present in Russian gaols, besides the thousands flogged and tortured to death, Remember the “Black Hundreds” and their pogroms, for which their leaders were personally decorated by the Tsar. We have heard a lot about the regeneration of Russia after the war, but the arrest of the too-confiding Bourtzeff shows that the leopard has not changed its spots at present. The promise of a united and independent Poland, under the Tsar, was really a notification, to their Allies that they had earmarked that country as their share of the spoil.

Since France was defeated in 1870-71 she has annexed 1,678,000 square miles of territory in Asia and Africa, with a population of 30,000,000. So in spite of her fear of Germany, her army managed to do something besides protecting her frontiers.

Now, with records like this, can any one believe that the Governments of the Allies went into this war to liberate Europe from tyranny?

The more I study the evidence, the more certain I am that the growing commercial as well as military power of Germany was a challenge to Britain and the Allied Powers, and the supremacy of one or the other is the sole point at issue. And the workers are slaughtering each other to decide it. They will gain nothing by this war; whatever the result may be, they must lose.

T. H. KEELL