The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-03-05
Working Women and War
BY IDA DAlLEs.

N AAs@AAND GPC(t0C@C - OOAh5 pa
"A scented on the world Stage for the
benefit of the working class by those
greatest showmen the world has ever
known, the statesmen of world CAPT
talism. The newspapers are flooded
with stories about the world court
the league Of nations, and various
elaborate schemes for the preserva-
ton of the peace OF nations"
WITH the establishment of private
ownership and production for
profits came the expansion of the
capitalist nations beyond their home
boundaries. Surplus products had to
be disposed of, cheaper labor had to
be found, new sources of raw mate
rial had to be conquered.
Thus began the search for new mar
kets. Armed with bibles, guns and
whiskey, the knights of capitalism set
out on their holy mission. Bloody
wars of conquest made slaves Of mil
lions of backward people and divided
the world up among the great CAPT
talist powers. Finally the capitalist
nations entrenched themselves in
every corner of the globe.
But the system is such that it can
not stop of itself. Capitalism seeks
ever greater fields of exploitation
what the statesmen call espheres of
influence. /" So the struggle turned
from the search for new markets to
the striving for domination in the
world market. And such a struggle
means war-the sacrifice of millions
of workers in the unholy cause of sat
isfying the greed of the capitalist
class.
ITO make war requires men and
\ money. The working class fur
nishes both. But the capitalists can
not go before the workers and say:
I'VE need you on the battlefield. You
must kill for us and be killed for US.
Our position on the world market is
threatened and we must cripple the
country that holds this threat over
us. For the sake Of our profits: Go
forth! Kill and be killed." No, such
frankness would be impossible. No
worker would lift hand-except, per-
haps to strike down those who would
speak these words. Yet this is the
reality back of the grand slogans with
which the workers are driven to muir
der their brother-workers of other
lands. To cover up the reality the
press-agents Of capitalism get busy
and turn out grand. idealistic slogans,
gagged in promoting some noble cause
TT is not necessary to go over In
4 detail the history of the years since
the war. These years have brought
bitter establishment to those work
ers who were fooled by the lies of
the capitalists = years that have
thrown into the scrap-heap all the
glittering paste Jewels which dazzled
their eyes.
ALI the little" wars that have been
going on, the STRINGS of protest in
the East, the enslavement OF the
German working class by the Dawes
Plan, the tricky behavior OF the
French franc, widespread unemploy-
ment in England with no signs of per-
manent relief-all these and many
other signs point to the fact that the
problems of world capitalism are far
from settled.
History has taught us our lessons.
II Is easy to see that another world
war is threatening. This time war
more horrible and more destructive
than any other that went before--with
highly perfected poison gases. aero
planes to wipe out city in a night,
new and more powerful instruments
OF murder being invented every day.
In this country. the propaganda for
Cfffzanas Military Trafning Con,ns co.