War Is A Racket!: And Other Essential Reading

by Smedley D. Butler

Institutions which give much greater opportunities to some classes than to others are no longer recognized as just by the less fortunate, though the more fortunate still defend them vehemently.

universal strife, in which tradition and authority are arrayed against liberty and justice.

Cooperation between the defenders of the old and the champions of the new has b...

The unquestioned authority of the Oriental despot found its religious expression in the omnipotent Creator, whose glory was the sole end of man, and against whom man had no rights.

This authority descended to the Emperor and Pope, to the kings of the Middle Ages, to the nobles in the feudal hierarchy, and even to every husband and father in his dealings with his wife and children. The Church was the direct embodiment of the Divine authority, the State and the law were constituted by the authority of the King, private property in land grew out of the authority of conquering barons, and the family was governed by the authority of the pater-familias.

The institutions of the Middle Ages permitted only a fortunate few to develop freely: the vast majority of mankind existed to minister to the few.

when rulers exceeded their theoretical powers, the victims were forced to realize that they themselves also had rights, and need not live merely to increase the glory of the few.

This absence of a common purpose has become a source of unhappiness.

One of the reasons which led many men to welcome the outbreak of the present war was that it made each nation again a whole community with a single purpose.

the Renaissance undermined the medieval theory, without, however, replacing it by anything but skepticism and confusion.

Luther's assertion of the right of private judgment and the fallibility of General Councils. Out of this assertion grew inevitably, with time, the belief that a man's religion could not be determined for him by authority, but must be left to the free choice of each individual.

It was in matters of religion that the battle for liberty began, and it is in matters of religion that it has com...

men choose, unconsciously, the theory which fits their case.

After centuries during which every disturbance of the peace of Europe began with a French or Swedish or Russian invasion of Germany,

Whether we are now seeing the end of the movement it is not yet possible to guess.

injustice once realized cannot be perpetuated without fundamental damage both to those who uphold it and to those who resist it.

Unimpeded growth in the individual depends upon many contacts with other people, which must be of the nature of free cooperation, not of enforced service.

While the belief in authority was alive, free cooperation was compatible with inequality and subjection,

None of our institutions can survive the application of this principle without great and fundamental changes;

The two chief sources of good relations between individuals are instinctive liking and a common purpose.

Biological groups, from the family to the nation, are constituted by a greater or less degree of instinctive liking, and build their common purposes on this foundation.

Instinctive liking is the feeling which makes us take pleasure in another person's company, find an exhilaration in his presence, wish to talk with him, work with him, play with him.

A common aversion is one of the most frequent causes of mild instinctive liking.

To Carlyle, at any rate in later life, most men and women were repulsive; they inspired an instinctive aversion which made him find pleasure in imagining them under the guillotine or perishing in battle.

whom he was

never weary of venting his scorn.

His morals and his po...

later life, were inspired through and through by repugnance to almost...

The sort of joy which most people feel only in those who are exceptionally beautiful or splendid Walt Whitman felt in almost everybody. Out of this universal liking grew optimism, a belief in democracy, and a conviction that it is easy for men to live together in peace and amity.

His philosophy and politics, like Carlyle's, were based upon his instinctive attitude towards ordinary men and women.

For this reason, we shall desire, if we can, to increase the amount of instinctive liking in the world and diminish the amount of instinctive aversion.

The other source of good relations between individuals is a common purpose, especially where that purpose cannot be achieved without knowing its cause.

Economic organizations, such as railway companies, subsist for a purpose, but this purpose need only actually exist in those who direct the organization: the ordinary wage-earner need have no purpose beyond earning his wages. This is a defect in economic organizations, and ought to be remedied.

One of the objects of syndicalism is to remedy this defect.

Instinctive liking, resulting largely from similar habits and customs, is an essential element in patriotism, and, indeed, the foundation upon which the whole feeling rests.

if as many as possible of their desires and needs are to be satisfied, political institutions must, as far as possible, embody common purposes and foster instinctive liking.

When a man's growth is unimpeded, his self-respect remains intact, and he is not inclined to regard others as his enemies.

when, for whatever reason, his growth is impeded, or he is compelled to grow into some twisted and unnatural shape, his instinct presents the environment as his enemy, and he becomes filled with hatred. The joy of life abandons him, and malevolence takes the place of friendliness.

Real freedom, if it could be brought about, would go a long way towards destroying hatred.

It is obvious that the instincts of celibates become profoundly different from those of other men and women.

Most of Carlyle's misanthropy is attributable to dyspepsia; probably a suitable medical regimen would have given him a completely different outlook on the world.

The defect of punishment, as a means of dealing with impulses which the community wishes to discourage, is that it does nothing to prevent the existence of the impulses, but merely endeavors to check their indulgence by an appeal to self-interest.

Through the industrial revolution, they have radically altered the daily lives of men; and by creating huge economic organizations, they have altered the whole structure of society.

It is not only more material goods that men need, but more freedom, more self-direction, more outlet for creativeness, more opportunity for the joy of life, more voluntary cooperation, and less involuntary subservience to purposes not their own.

the employment of force against foreigners is not regulated by any code of rules, and proceeds, with few exceptions, according to some real or fancied national interest.

in America no immigrant may land until he has professed disbelief in anarchism and polygamy,

in England men were sent to prison in recent years for expressing disagreement with the Christian religion

In time of war, all criticism, of the external policy of the State is criminal.

The State punishes, with impartial rigor, both those who kill their compatriots and those who refuse to kill foreigners.

The power of the State, which makes this impossible, is a wholly evil thing, quite as evil as the power of the Church which in former days put men to death for unorthodox thought.