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SMAD. An Organ of Student Opinion. 1936. Volume 7. Number 5.

Nutshell Knowledge — II. War

Nutshell Knowledge

II. War.

It will save you a lot of trouble if you put your trust in the League of Nations, for that will ease your conscience and you won't want to do anything else to prevent a war. Wars are caused by armament manufacturers. Haven't you read in the papers about their profits, and the various government inquiries into their dishonest methods? It won't be long before the private manufacture of arms is abolished, and then we'll have peace for ever. It's a pity, though, that these armament people are so many thousands of miles away. Now if only wars were caused by something right at home, say the capitalist system we'd all be able to help prevent the Second World War.

This talk about the economic causes of war makes me sick, and I hope it will make you sick, too. What economic grudges have we against the student's of other countries? And how ridiculous that soldiers should fight for markets, because then almost all the spoils would go, ot to them, but to a few rich people; the soldiers ought to know what they're fighting for, and it must be for something that's valuable to them personally-liberty and honour, perhaps, but obviously not anything economic like markets

The nations of the world ought to disarm, and they would if only Zaharoff and Co. would let them. Take, for instance, the rulers of the British Empire. They don't need armaments for internal purposes, but just so that they can police the world and keep it safe for democracy. The workers at Home andthe colonial and subject peoples abroad are not kept down by force; they're too loyal to think of altering the status quo. That's the glory of the British Empire.—