The Case Against Conscription

The decision given by the referendum is a political matter in that the factors influencing the decision, and the way it is put into effect, and its immediate obvious effects, will be political. But when we consider all that these things imply, we see that the matter is much more than a political one.

It still seems to me significant to ask what right has any group of persons organised into a State, and still less of course any mythical "state," to ask any of its members to seek what that State regards as its welfare by the means of killing other human beings. These people are in essence the same sort of people as the members of the State who are being asked to kill. (It is always open to those who support such a State's policy to volunteer for active service.)