"If it is true that war is really a fight for national
existence, for freedom, if it is true that these priceless possessions can be
defended only by the iron tools of murder, if this war is the holy cause of the
people, then everything else follows as a matter of course, we must take
everything that the war may bring as a part of the bargain. He who desires the
purpose must be satisfied with the means. War is methodical, organized,
gigantic murder. But in normal human beings this systematic murder is possible
only when a state of intoxication has been previously created. This has always
been tried and proven method of those who make war. Bestiality of action must
find a commensurate bestiality of thought and sense; the latter must prepare
and accompany the former. Thus the Wahre
Jacob of August 28, 1914, with its brutal picture of the German thresher,
the party papers of Chemnitz, Hamburg, Kiel, Frankfort, Koburg and others, with
their patriotic drive in poetry and prose, were the necessary narcotic for a
proletariat that could rescue its existence and its liberty only by plunging
the deadly steel into its French and English brothers. These chauvinistic
papers after all a great deal more logical and consistent than those others who
attempted to unite hill and valley, war with humanity, murder with brotherly
love, the for voting war credits with socialist internationalism."
The Junius Pamphlet by Rosa Luxemburg has many different
points that encourage socialist reform. In this specific passage she provides
concrete examples as to one of the major problems with capitalism which is war.
Luxemburg shows that the bourgeoisie use the war to promote brotherly love, to
promote humanity when in reality it is actually the opposite of this. German is
fighting against their French and English brothers. Everybody is a human being
and everyone should be taking action to prevent war not cause hostility between
the countries because of the need to gain power.
Luxemburg puts a lot of emphasis on the fact that war is
murder. There is no difference to her between war and murder. “War is
methodical, organized, gigantic murder.” Here, she is showing how important it
is to understand that the government does not blindly go into war just as a
means of self defense. The government understands the full implications of war
and does not care that war is harmful to the target country but even to their
own country. As long as they achieve the outcome it does not matter to the
government that families lose fathers, brothers etc. Due to the need for
capitalistic gain, either in the form of money or power, the proletariats are
the ones who must suffer the consequences.
Many times war between countries is initiated for the
personal gain of a country. For example the War in Iraq was executed to ensure
that America will have access to the country’s oil however, it was masked as
war on weapons of mass destruction that were never found. Furthermore, in Crimea, where the Russians
have either used military force to annex Crimea or Crimea wanted to separate
itself from the Ukraine and join Russia, is a major political issue for America
and the European Union. It is quite frightening to think that larger military
countries are still able to expand imperialistically in today’s world.
As I read the part where you said that for Luxemburg, war and murder is the same thing and your quote, “War is methodical, organized, gigantic murder,” I was thinking on the fact that government are always "trying" to prevent violence among their citizens and implementing new law in order to prevent or punich murder. But, how hypocritical is this when they are the first example of violence and murder. They are teaching to their nation that war is the way the solve conflicts, so why should people avoid committing the same crimes if that is what they political representative do all the time? Unfortunately, war seems to be playing a major role in the history of our world.
ReplyDelete