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From Socialist Appeal, Vol. IV No. 29, 20 July 1940, p. 4.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghanfor ETOL.
Too many class-conscious workers accept and spread the idea that since the war now raging in Europe is an imperialist war, therefore it is not a war in which the American workers should be interested. All that the American workers should do is to struggle for better conditions in this country and forget about what is going on across the Atlantic.
Such an attitude towards the war might be termed working-class isolationism. As sincere as this attitude is, it is far from being correct.
It is obviously true that the war is a bankers’ war, a war in which rival imperialist forces have hurled millions of human beings into terrible misery and cruel slaughter for nothing more than their own profits. It is obviously true that the working masses will gain nothing out of their sacrifices by the victory of either side.
But it is not true that the American workers should not be interested in the war. It is not at all correct to say to the American workers: Let them fight and die over in Europe; we here are interested only in the struggle against the boss.
That is a form of isolationism to which the American workers dare not fall victim. If they do they are doomed to be sucked into the very imperialist war which they fear so much and which they think they can avoid by simply concentrating their efforts on the struggle at home.
If there is one simple truth that should sink into the mind of every worker it is that capitalism has developed to a point where not a single capitalist nation in the world can erect a wall around itself and thus succeed in leading its own existence without taking into consideration what is going on in the rest of the world. Before Hitler came to power he shouted loudly about autarchy, about making Germany a self-sufficient nation, but now he demands more and more living room by which is meant more and more countries to exploit. Imperialism has bound the whole capitalist world together economically and he who does not see that is blind to reality.
Three types of isolationism exist in this country. The only type that is really entitled to the name is the one represented by the sincere person who thinks that the United States proper is perfectly able to shut itself off from the rest of the world and to create a self-sufficient economy with democracy prevailing in every loophole. According to these people, who have eyes that do not see, a beautiful paradise can be created in our country keeping fascism and social revolution beyond the frontiers.
If you talk to them about capitalism with its surplus products, its unemployment, markets, the necessity for investment of capital and such other regrettable but real things, they can only shrug their shoulders and point to the riches of this country as evidence; that it needs no contact with the rest of the world. These people are completely oblivious to the real forces dominating the capitalist system.
The other types of isolationism are in reality forma of American imperialism. Most modest of all “isolationists” is the one who is satisfied with the Western Hemisphere. He would leave Asia, Europe and Australia strictly alone.
The third type of “isolationist” insists on adding the Far East as a section of the world designated by God and nature as specially reserved for American imperialism.
The world is, however, too small to permit the American “isolationists” peacefully to retain control over the Western Hemisphere and the Far East. There are other imperialist countries to reckon with. The far-seeing capitalists and their intellectual henchmen understand that any kind of isolationism is impossible and that the interests of American capitalism extend throughout the world. As against any of the isolationists” Roosevelt, whose policies are clearly based on the supposition that the United States must play a dominating role in the whole world, is one thousand per cent correct.
Workers understanding and accepting the international character of the capitalist system will of course not accept Roosevelt’s policies even though they reject the idea that isolation is possible for American capitalism. Understanding the true nature of capitalism, advanced workers will not counsel the masses to interest themselves only in their struggles for better conditions and to pay no attention to the war in Europe.
For it is as certain as anything can possibly be that if the workers permit the capitalist system to exist in this country, the war which is now confined to Europe will engulf them. If it will not be the present war it will be a continuation of it – in the form of a third imperialist war.
It is therefore necessary for every worker to think seriously of the problem of how to stop the war in Europe. This can not be done by an attitude of indifference; by simply saying that we must stay out of it and concentrate our attention on the struggle for better conditions in this country.
We must of course fight for better conditions. It goes without saying that we must exert effort to prevent the capitalist government from dragging us into the war. Yes, we must do our utmost to prevent any social gains from being destroyed under any pretext.
But to confine ourselves to that struggle is not sufficient. Should the workers accept the idea that it is simply their task to fight the boss here and not pay any attention to the war they will end up where the French and British workers finished. They will have the war whether they like it or not and they will lose all their gains in addition.
The American workers must face the bitter truth. They must intervene in the war in Europe. They must try to transform that war into a real war against fascism. And that can be done only by destroying capitalism in the United States.
Yes, this is a bankers’ war. But it is a war killing millions of workers; it is a war which is bound to reach us. It is a war which we must stop. And we can stop it only by overthrowing the capitalist system which is responsive for it.
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