The Social Theory of W.E.B. Du Bois by Philip Zuckerman

Author:Philip Zuckerman [Zuckerman, Philip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781506317892
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2004-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

10. “Peace is Dangerous”

Published in 1951 as a pamphlet by National Guardian

Peace is dangerous; not to all folk, but certainly to those whose power and standard of living depend on war. The danger of war to the majority of men is all too obvious: The killing and maiming of the young; the destruction of property and interference with normal reproduction; the distortion of culture patterns and discouragement of creative effort. When we realize that at least thirty million of the best specimens of the world’s youth have been killed in wars since 1914, and many more millions crippled in body and soul, we can get some partial idea of the loss to modern civilization through war.

Why then does war persist? What decisive interests promote and continue it against irretrievable loss on the part of the majority of men? Those who gain from war and suffer from peace are easily discernible at cursory glance: The munition makers and those who furnish war materials and machines. Not so readily seen are those who profit by the financial changes which war inevitably brings about. Still further in the background are investors and workers whose income is raised by war industries.

Even these large and important groups do not explain the popularity of war or at least the weak resistance to war hysteria. For explanation of this phenomenon we must look further to that vast number of Americans to whom present conditions bring comfort and satisfaction. This mass of intelligent persons either know or fear that if the present system of social and industrial organization prevalent in Western Europe and North America undergoes any essential change, they may not be able to enjoy what they consider the “American way of life”. This standard of living does not necessarily call for luxury or conspicuous expenditure. It asks for a comfortable home, enough suitable clothing and sufficient nourishing food; not necessarily an automobile, but convenient transportation facilities, a telephone, medical care, vacations, education for children and provision for a decent old age.

That is what the average American expects from the “American way of life,” or wants to be able to expect. It is not, to be sure, what the average American gets. Probably two-thirds of American families do not get it and half of these do not dare hope for it, although it remains their ideal. But a large and influential part of the American middle class do get these things. They believe they deserve them and they are willing to fight to keep them.

The basic question now is: Must this way of life, actual or believed possible for a large minority or even a majority of Americans, be defended by war or is it seriously endangered by peace? Our fear today undoubtedly is that peace is dangerous for this way of life for a large number of Americans and for the hope of it by the majority of our citizens.

This furnishes the reason behind the huge majority of the nation now rushing toward a third and final world war.

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