Imperialism and War

Anonymous posted a comment on my Anzac Day argument a couple of days ago disputing my comment that people died for what they believed in. He or she argues that you can look at war, and in particular the First World War (a great war if ever there was one), through a pseudo-Marxist perspective. That is - soldiers served their imperialist governments because the governments deceived them.

Although I initially agreed with Anonymous, I've flip-flopped and changed my mind. There are a couple of points I would like to raise.

Firstly, war is the most abhorrent activity known to man (and woman). I doubt anyone reading this would argue the war is good. However, there are situations where there are no other courses of action available and one must resort to armed conflict for individual survival. I acknowledge that some might dispute it - although I would argue that Gandhi never ruled out violence completely. He used the image of a mouse sitting before a cat. There was no use, Gandhi argued, in the mouse sitting passively while the cat devoured it. The mouse, in this situation, should fight to live peacefully another day. Incidentally, Gandhi believed that the cat could only be taught the error of its ways by a large number of mice sitting peacefully in front of it. The cat might then learn to feel guilt and remorse after eating several (although, hopefully, none).

Anyway - war bad but there are occasions when it might be necessary to resort to armed conflict.

Secondly, I acknowledge that there could be a case for a Marxist perspective on the First World War. I'm not an expert in WWI studies so I'm not going to have a strong opinion either way. I do believe, however, the the assassination of Jean Jaurés in 1914 virtually ensured war between France a Germany - and that the generation killed during the 1914-18 conflict was more inclined to socialism than subsequent generations.

Thirdly. Even if you believe that soldiers fought in a war due to a misplaced sense of duty, patriotism or whatever - even if you believe that they were exceedingly stupid and daft and unable to read between the lines of their own government's propaganda - this does not detract from the bravery inherent in fighting for ones beliefs. The soldiers that volunteered for the first world war may have been 'tricked' by their 'imperialist' governments and patriotism - but they did believe in it and fought for it and therefore, in my opinion, can be respected for their bravery. Just as Ormund Burton or Archibald Baxter can be respected for their bravery in choosing not to fight.

Finally, the argument that soldiers in the past
"served as cannon fodder for imperialist armies", others "succumbed to the propaganda of government machinery", still others "had no real idea what they were fighting for, but turned up anyway out of a misplaced sense of duty and have suffered for it ever since"
runs dangerously close to an anachronistic argument. Why? The inherent argument is that individuals had not capacity to act as independent thinking citizens. It removes the possibility of agency - which is both absurd and intellectually lazy. Ormund Burton and Archibald Baxter both chose not to go to war - and suffered the consequences. My Great-Great Uncles chose to go to war - and suffered the deadly consequences. They all had agency.

Frankly, I find the idea that soldiers in the past were all tricked in to fighting to be insulting - although that is strictly a personal opinion for personal reasons. They may have been fighting for ideals you may not believe in - but the argument that they didn't really know what they were doing, were wrong, or were tricked into it ... it seems smug. I dislike smug.

This sort of thing still happens now - Iraq is a case in point. And regardless whether you think that the U.S. soldiers are moronic imbeciles tricked by a sinister imperialist government or the defenders of freedom and liberators of Iraq - the fact remains that they are in Iraq risking their lives for whatever they believe in. And while I do not agree with the war in Iraq, the First World War etc etc, I still remain impressed with the individual bravery of the individual soldier.

Ergo, agreement rescinded.