From the anarchist newspaper ‘War Commentary’, February, 1941, London
WOODROW WILSON, in his message to Congress in 1917, said, “The world must be made safe for Democracy. America is privileged to shed her blood for the principles that gave her birth.”
WALTER H. PAGE, U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, in a cable to Wilson on March 5th, 1917, one month before America entered the war, said, “The pressure of the approaching crisis has gone beyond the ability of the Morgan Financial Agency. The only way of maintaining our pre-eminent trade position is by declaring war on Germany.”
Now that President Roosevelt enters his third term and that the fever of the elections is over the United States can dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to their vast rearmament programme.
Those measures are apparently intended to prevent war just as war preparations were supposed to stop war in France and in England. But when a country arms itself to the teeth, conscripts its men, organises its production according to war needs, it is folly to hope that war will not follow.
The U.S.A. seems to come every day nearer the moment when they will be involved in conflict with German and Japanese imperialisms. If the struggle has not started yet it is because conflicting interests cause American indecision. The situation is similar to that of Britain before the war. It was obvious that in the long run German imperialism would clash with the British. But the policy of democratic imperialism is always a short term policy.
A long term policy would mean sacrificing in part the immediate interests of the capitalists for the interests of capitalism as a whole. This was not done. That is why iron ore and machines were sent to Germany, loans were made which allowed them to rearm etc. In the same way the interests of the capitalists in the U.S. pursuing a short term policy do not come into conflict with the interests of German imperialism.
England used to menace them to a much greater extent. That explains the indecision of American policy during the last few years and even now. In spite of the fact that Japan, for example, is considered as a potential enemy they have received from her ample supplies of oil and scrap iron. In spite of the sympathy for England a blockade of material going to Germany has not been made effective, as is shown by the enormous increase of exports to neutral countries such as Russia for example. Other examples could be given of American support for the German air industry (see “Left” for October 1940).
However the recent German victories oblige America to take a less immediately profitable, but, in the long run, wiser policy. They seem to realize now that an arrangement between German and American imperialisms is impossible. Germany will never conform to the rules of the imperialist game as England, for example, did. Its economic structure is too different from the American for a compromise to be made. Germany disregards the most fundamental rule — that of the respect due to gold. They discovered (they were forced to) that a nation, in order to gain the respect of the world, had less need of immense reserves of gold than of a powerful army and a centralized economy; that an efficient ministry of propaganda could obtain better results than a bank director with loans.
Such a conception cannot be too popular in a country which possesses about 80 per cent of the world’s gold stock.. The last world war had already increased considerably American gold reserves. From a debtor country it became the largest creditor in the whole world. Since the beginning of this war European gold has gone to increase these gold reserves still further. During the first seven months it increased by 11 per cent. On July 25th. it amounted to 20,400,000,000 dollars worth of monetary gold (Times) and this does not include the foreign gold put in safety In the U.S.A . What is to be done with that Immense quantity of gold hoarded in the mountains of Kentucky? How can it be put into circulation again?
Various remedies have been proposed such as that of M. Van Zeeland, for the redistribution of gold. But this redistribution can only be made by credit and it would impose an unbearable burden on the countries which would have to accept it, i.e. those which have suffered most in the war. The economic situation of the European countries after the war will be such that they will have little enough products to exchange against American gold.
The Treasury secretary Mr. Morgenthau declared last year that the immense reserves of gold possessed by the U.S. will allow them to undertake the role which they ought to play in the reconstruction of the world, which must follow the mad destruction of the war. “Reconstruction” meaning investment of capital, it is obvious that the only solution for America would be to lend her gold and to make the whole world her debtors. But “reconstruction” could be markedly hampered by German competition. If Hitler dominates Europe gold will find no employment there, nor in the countries under German influence outside Europe where the method of barter employed in Central Europe would probably be adopted. If Japan follows in Germany’s steps America will find it difficult to employ her gold and the world will run the risk of being overflowed with American gold watches in the same way as it has been with German aspirins!
The present rearmament programme will, however, thanks to the great expenses involved, partly solve the American problem by starting a redistribution of the gold reserves. At the same time it will provide America with the necessary military strength to allow her to help in the “reconstruction” of post-war world.
Diplomacy and propaganda are the other means used to increase her zone of influence. The first to fall under her protection are of course the countries of South America and Mexico. “Under the cover of the “good neighbour” policy and the “defence” of Latin-America against fascism, Uncle Sam is cracking the whip over Mexico, and the new Camacho regime there shows every sign of capitulation,” says the American paper “The Call” (2nd Nov. 1940) and adds: “The whip being used over the backs of the Mexican people is the $500,000,000 loan which is being dispensed in Latin-America through the U.S. Export-Import bank. Without settlement of the oil controversy on terms ‘satisfactory’ to American oil firms — which means reimbursements of those interests which have drained Mexico’s resources for years— the State Department has made it dear that U.S. loans would not be forthcoming.
It is obvious however that the State Department interest with Mexico at the moment does not stop with its concern for the profits of American oil firms. The United States is exacting a political as well as a monetary price for its paternalism. The basic aim of the State Department is to force Avila Camacho (who is far more of an opportunist politician than Cardenas ever was) far to the right of the radical reform program instituted by Cardenas. Its real aim is to undermine the Mexican Revolution, making Mexico safe for American exploitation and a strong link in the American imperialist system. The finishing touches are expected to be put on this job when Camacho visits the United States shortly after the U.S. elections.”
Another means of obtaining the surrender of Camacho was the boycott of Mexican oil. The U.S. government refused to buy the petrol of the American companies selling Mexican oil in spite of the fact that they were selling it at a cheaper price than the Standard Oil opponents of the Mexican government. Left without a market for its petrol the Mexican government had to make peace with the Standard Oil according to the terms dictated by it.
Intrigue was also used. After the elections the U.S.A. harboured Almazan the fascist candidate who pretended that the elections had been faked to its disadvantage. In the U.S. he proclaimed his right to the presidentship and provoked sedition in Mexico. The American press exaggerated these reports so as to make out that Camacho regime was in danger. But when Camacho in fright gave in, all agitation ceased, Almazan renounced his aspirations and returned to Mexico the same day as Henry A. Wallace the American envoy arrived. Employing methods similar to those that Germany used in order to arm itself against British Imperialism, America prepares itself to crush its rivals. The clash between the old form of imperialism represented by the United States and the new represented by Germany and Japan seems inevitable. Only the abandonment of both forms of imperialism can prevent it. Will the working class be able to impose it?
M.L.B.
Also:
Neither East Nor West, by Marie Louise Berneri
Marie Louise Berneri poster (artist: Kree Arvanitas) from Open Road #6, Spring 1978
Letter in memory of Marie Louise Berneri, from George Padmore (1949)
Ten Years a Soldier, from War Commentary (1944)
Zionism, by War Commentary (1944)
Manifesto of the Anarchist Federation on War (1943)
The Lebanon Crisis, by War Commentary (1943)
Man-Made Famines, by Marie Louise Berneri (1943)
The Yankee Peril, by Marie Louise Berneri (1943)