The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-04-04
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CONDUCTED : ~ TLSeSk S,puNG WORKERS LEAGUE
SPORTS-AN ADJUNCT
OF CAPITALIST MILITARISM

world for democracy" And then, e
the two should happen to meet up
with a class-conscious soldier IA
Crouch or Trumbull, let US say-a
little Qualification, agitation and Or
ganization would result. And were
this repeated on large enough scale
then the Russian soldiers might not
have been the only ones to turn the
"imperialist war into revolutionary
war against the exploiters." So we
see the major knew whereof he speaks
when later on he says:
Athletics and sports helped a.
much to win the war for America, I
might assert, as the movies, the rec
reation huts and the lectures COM
bined."
Developing Fighters for Morgan.
But physical efficiency and mental
stultifiGation are not the only require
ments of good soldier in capitalist
war. He must also be combative,
cruel and ruthless, and he must be
possessed by an insane hatred Of the
enemy, coupled with desire to main
and kill. In order to train the soldiers
in this spirit football and boxing were
encouraged, as both tend to develop
lust for bodily injury, in addition to
passion for victory in combat. Re-
ferring to the use of boxing in this con-
nection, Major Woodson. in an article
in the A. E. F., wrote:
''The boxing instructors place u
with the division until we are ready
to occupy the trenches, and, indeed,
afterwaPd, to keep up the mems spirit
and their desire for battle, for his
work among the men has aroused
their fighting spirit more than any
thing else"
And further on he writes: There
are over million men Systematically
engaged in athletic activity, and the
primary purpose of it all is to educate
the men to be better fighting organ
isms."
In view of these facts it is under
standable why sports were so extern
sively developed In the United States
army during the war. Both in the
VI CdulPb dt anu III lu0
reserve and rest camps in France ath-
lstics was regular and important fea-
ture of the training routine. Millions
of dollars were spent in promoting the
sports activities Of the men in France
alone. Enormous amounts of athletic
parapharnalia, literally shiploads of It,
were sent "over there" In one in
stance alone an order for over a quar-
ter million dollars worth of goods was
placed. Included in this order were
$500 sets of boxing gloves and 10000
soccer and rugby footballs alone.
Build the Workers Sports Movement.
Besides supplying this equipment,
special athletic building was erected
in every camp of over thousand.
Special athletic instructors were put
in charge of the activities carried on
in each camp. Boxing tournaments,
supervised in many instances by pro-
fessional pugilists, were frequently
and regularly staged. The raw re-
cruits were compelled to participate
in these bouts in order to get their
first taste of war and to have the
.softness knocked out of them" In one
large camp over two hundred football
teams were organized, and the casual
ties from the incessant scrimmaging
necessitated the setting up of a min
iature hospital. Thousands Of base
ball teams were set up and competi-
I on ran rife for company and regiment
championships. So marked were the
results achieved by the United States
army in the use of athletics as q
means of training the soldiers and
keeping them in the proper fighting
frame Of mind that France and Italy
introduced similar methods in their
armies. We are far from being paci-
fists and can also make good use OF
the bosses fighting methods. Build
the workers. sports movement to de-
velop hard, strong fighters for the
working class.