Montana labor news., 1937-12-02
FALSE NEUTRALITY

AASk EvkO NAkf2E
The U. S. Congress hurriedly
passed the so-called Neutrality Act
on April %, 1897. This Act made
permanent the resolutions passed in
1885 and 1886 for an embargo on
shipments of arms or ammunition
from the United States to nations at
var. It included in the embargo
law any iereign state where "a state
Of civil war exists"
By special resolution on January
z, 1887, Congress had already speci-
fically applied its neutrality" to the
struggle in Spain. It denied to the
recognized Spanish government the
right to purchase munitions in this
country. This action put the fascist
rebels and the recognized govern
ment on an identical footing. Efforts
to have the arms embargo applied
also to Italy, Germany and Portugal,
who have been supplying arms and
men to the Spanish faseists, have
so far failed.
Such Interpretation Of neutral
ity' is contrary to historic American
policy and to requirements of inter
national law. These have always
given recognized governments the
right to maintain normal commercial
relations, including purchase of war
supplies.
Why the United States as a great
capitalist nation can never be neu-
trail in any war is explained in The
Tragic Fallacy, a thorough-going
economic analysis of war and its
causes, by Mauritz A, Hallgren.
(Knopf, New York, 1887. 474 PIP, So
The author is on the editorial staff
of the conservative Baltimore Sun.
His earlier books were Seeds of Re-
volt and The Gay Reformer, the
best book about our navy loving
President.
Any consistent embargo against
shipment Of goods to nations at war,
Hallgren shows, would cut off
Americas foreign trade. All capt.
talist business interests oppose such
an embargo. If carried out, it would
result in a depression more devas-
tating than that which started in
1929.
IF the curtailment of foreign
trade were long continued, the entire
domestic economic structure might
possibly be pulled down." Halgren
states. In the resulting impasse,
there would almost certainly emerge
and triumph-a fascist war party,
advocating abolition of embargo laws
and a return to war trade and to
war.
Hallgren gives a sound and funda-
mental analysis of Imperialism as
leading to war. Briefly it is that
Capitalism in each country is COM
PEELED in ever greater measure to
look abroad for outlets for its sur
plus capital and for markets for its
surplus goods. Conquest of mar
kets and raw materials is no longer
possible except at the expense of
other powers. And that means war"
The same thesis explains why the
Soviet Union, because it is a socialist
country, maintains a genuine and
f%ar-reaching policy of peace, Says
Hallgren: "The Russian military
forces alone are truly defensive, for
the Soviet economy does not need
the markets that are indispensable
to the profit economies Of other
powers. Russia is arming itself sole
ly in defense against the market
starved Nazis and land-hungry
japanese"
This invaluable study of Americas
wal policies includes chapters on the
Army and Navy, the story of much
that went on behind the scenes in
the World War, details Of present
war preparations and a careful
analysis of the Industrial Mobiliza-
ton Plan (see also Labor Notes, No
vember, 1886. Author concludes
that the next war will see both
Europe and Asia swept by success
full communist revolution. Nothing
in the future can be more certain
than that" This is a provocative,
penetrating and important book.