The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-06-17
BY KARL RADEK


The meaning Of the speech which
Mr.. Norman Davis, the American
representative, delivered on May %
at the Geneva Disarmament Confer
ence, can be summed up briefly as
follows:
America does not undertake to, en-
ter into war against the violators OF
peace agreements, but it pledges it
self not to offer any resistance to
economic and political boycott against
the aggressor, that is to say. it
pledges itself to take part in such a
boycott.
In order to Judge the significance
Of this declaration we must call to
mind what President Wilson declared
in December, 1914, some months after
the outbreak Of the world war:
1--WE have nothing to do with this
war; its causes do not concern us"
The United States, after having
taken part in the war which did not
concern it, refused to put its sigma
ture to the Treaty of Versailles and
kept out of the League of Nations in
order not to be pledged to interfere
in European affairs. ''The United
States cannot subordinate It's de-
cisions to anybody standing higher
than its own AUTHORITY" was the
main argument of the Senate. In
the year 1890, at the Naval Disarma-
ment Conference in London, when
Stimson declared himself ready, pro-
vided France supported the decisions,
to take part in consultative pact,
he was openly disavowed by Hoover.
And now the United States wishes to
undertake to participate in an eco
nomic boycott against an attacking
countryl
What are the causes Of this change
in American policy?
u. S. Economic Interests Make
for War.
In the comprehensive literature on
the most recent history Of America,
we find almost nothing about the
causes which led the United States
to take part in the world war. The
writer's represent the matter as if
America had been concerned about
the fate of democracy, as if it en-
tered the war as protest against
the inhunan manner in which Ger
many conducted submarine warfare.
In reality, Americas decision to en-
ter the war was determined by the
fact that the British feet had sue
ceeded in cutting Germany off from
the American market. Americas
powerful industry, developed still
further during the war, was working
at full pressure for the Entente Pow
ers. When the Entente Powers had
exhausted their stocks of gold, their
foreign bills and their shares in
American undertakings, they received
huge credits from the American
banks. When Germany had built so
many submarines that it could COM
mence to blockade England and
France, the United States was faced
with the alternative, either to take
part in the war on the side of the
Entente, or to lose the credits
granted to England and France, to
let industry come to a standstill, ie.,
to be involved in a tremendous eco
nomic crisis as the price for avoid
ing war.
Americas Creditor Position.
The United States decided for war.
1t emerged from this war not only
with q powerful industry, with a
modern fleet, but also as creditor
nation. The petty-bourgeois masses,
disappointed by the war, demanded
that America should refuse to inter-
fere any further in European af-
fairs. OF course, this was not the
reason why the American capitalists
abandoned European politics. If
the leaders of American finance
capital succeeded in drawing Amer
lea into the war, they could also
have drawn America into the League
Of Nations. The leaders of American
finance capital thought, however,
that they had got the whole world
in their pockets and that they could
dictate their conditions to it. They
could not, however, submit to the
decisions OF a body in which Serbs,
Czechs, Lithuanians, etc, also had
say, not to speak of Chile and
Peru, which were the objects Of
American policy. Apart from the
war debts, the various countries owe
America 1900 million dollars So
called commercial debts. OF this
sum Europe owes $500 million, Can
ada 4,400 million, South America