Montana labor news., 1935-05-23
An Interview With
Major-G General Smedley Butler

81 would like to see a general strike of the
workers against war. In fact, | wish the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor would right now call
a one-day protest strike against the naval name
uvers in the Pacific and against the criminal
efforts of Hearst, big business men and jingos
to involve us in a war with Japan"
Who is speaking?
None other than Major-General Smedley D.
Butler, retired commander of the I. S.. Marines,
only person ever to receive twice the Congress
ional Medal of Honor for bravery under fire, and
a veteran OF more f%ront-line fighting than any
living U. S. military officer. He was twice
wounded.
The generals plea for militant mass resistance
to was made at a Chicago conference of the Eel
lowship of Reconciliation, a pacifist organiza-
ton, last weekend.
81 spent thirty-fwe years with the biggest
bill-collecting agency in the world, the U. 5.
Marines, before l began to wake up" he said.
q served in every rank, from private to gen
eral, and half that time was spent in fighting on
foreign soil for the benefit of american bankers.
But now | have sworn that I'll never fight again
in a war outside our borders, nor let my three
sons fight, even if have to shoot the conscrip-
ton officer that comes to take us"
In the course of his speech, and in an inter
view, General Butler also declared his hatred of
Fascism, praised the student strike against war,
expressed his keen disappointment in Roosevelt
and the New Deal, and said that he himself was
Frankly and Wholly on the Side of Labor"
Author of a recently published book, War Is
a Racket" the general vigorously assailed bank
ers, munitions makers, publishers of the Hearst
stripe, and %strutting peacocks in uniform who
drag the working people to slaughter for their
own wealth and glory"
"The business rulers of this country, and the
politicians who dance to their tune, are now pre-
pairing the greatest war in history.
"Old Charlie Schwab, the biggest racketeer of
them all, recently came back from shooting dice
with Sir Basil Zaharoff at Monte Carlo, to col
lect his quarter million dollar salary from Beth
lehem Steel and to say he saw no danger of war.
Hes a hypocrite like the rest Of the crowd.
Does he expect us to believe that 100000 men
in Europe and America are armed for knitting
They are armed for one thing only TT War"
General Buffers approval of a general strike
against war was voiced in answer to a question
by Ernest Erber, leader of the Chicago Young
Peoples Socialist League.
"But let's don't wait until a general strike is
necessary" he urged. Fight war now. Get
out on the streets and parade. Don't let the war
crowd have the show to themselves"
He praised the student strike against war on
April II, and warmly congratulated Al Hamilton,
national chairman of the Student League for
Industrial Democracy, who led the strike in the
Chicago district. Only militant action by youth,
the workers and the churches could stop the APP
preaching war, he declared.
The general asked for mass pressure to force
a congressional hearing on the Ludlow bill.
introduced by Congressman Ludlow of Indiana,
the bill would initiate a constitutional amend
ment depriving congress of the power to declare
war. War could be declared only by popular
referendum, requiring at least 90 days, and only
those persons eligible for active service would
be permitted to vote.
AS he explained it, only those who do the
dying could declare war"
He admitted that the war crowd, during the
referendum, would have the advantage in pro-
paganda, through the press and radio, but added,
you've got to start now organizing against
them
"The American people would not have sup
ported the LIST war if they'd had a chance to vote
on it. | was on the inside of that war and | can
testify that between the war declaration on
April 6 and the beginning Of consumption at the
end Of the month only $4,000 persons volunteer
ed. The war department got SCARED and in
stituted the universal draft" he continued.
The basic cause of war, in the view of "O1d