Capitalists in Brussels needed timely information and used passenger pigeons from other european cities. In France, Napoleon set up semaphore stations to transmit information quickly from the coast. An Italian, Marconi applied electronics to communications problems and invented the telegraph. American, English, Germans and Japanese have added telephones, television, computer technology and now, satellites over which are transmitted billions of business trans- actions daily. The half-life of information in a capitalist society is short indeed.
Capitalism requires peace.
Nationalism requires warfare on behalf of local capitalists, to be sure. Competition between workers and owners fuels strikes and much violence, to be sure. By itself, capitalism wants peace on land, sea and in the air. By itself, capitalism want peace in the factory, classroom and shop. By itself, capitalism wants violence, murder, and robbery off the streets.