The great self-evident truth which must be adopted, and by whose light one must proceed in such inquiries, is that war will not disappear unless its causes disappear. In vain do we try to mislead ourselves and mislead others by saying that this greatest of social diseases can be cured by a superficial, external remedy. The disease is deep and deep-rooted, and it will not be destroyed unless its roots are cut and its causes removed.
The causes of wars in this age of ours, as bare historical and social reality shows them, are of two principal kinds: the first political, the second economic and social:
External Sovereignty
First — The world is divided into political blocs called 'states,' independent one of another, each bearing the responsibility of defending its own existence and survival, and the interests of the human groups gathered under its banner. Each of these blocs has the right to form a military force, to be used in attacking others or in warding off attack from itself, and the right to pursue a foreign policy drawn from its own particular interests, not from the interests of human society at large. If, then, one of these states attains a degree of strength that matches or surpasses the strength of the rest, its soul tempts it to aggression against them, and its neighbors think of breaking its power before the matter grows too grave. This is what happened in 1914 and in 1939, and what had happened in the wars before them: one state threatening to dominate, and other
states fearing for their dominance. Certain philosophers have given this political occurrence the name 'the struggle for survival,' supposing it a natural law among human groups as it is a natural law in the life of individuals. The truth is that this 'struggle for survival' is, up to a point, a desirable thing; and in the life of individuals it has been regulated, thanks to the courts, the administration, and the forces of order, so that most of its evil consequences have vanished, and it has become forbidden to individuals to trespass upon the rights of others, on pain of punishment. But in international relations it has not yet been regulated. External sovereignty is a fundamental principle among those on which the present order of the world rests. It is, no doubt, a progressive principle if measured against the past and viewed from its negative side, its intent being that no nation should be placed under the rule of another. But it is a very dangerous principle if viewed from the positive side — namely, that every state on earth, and their number runs above sixty, should pursue whatever foreign policy it pleases, without being bound by the interests of human society at large. To acknowledge in every 'independent' state the right to form military forces of its own is nothing else than to concede to it the right to back its 'independent' foreign policy with force, and the right to resort to violence to impose that policy upon others. Were there in the world a
supreme political body, fortified with mighty military forces, to which the states might bring their causes as individuals bring theirs to the ordinary courts for the settlement of the disputes that arise among them, war would not occur.
Individual external sovereignty is therefore the first of the obstacles that must be surmounted if peace is to be secured — an obstacle never yet surmounted in the history of mankind since its beginning. Yet the modern world is moving toward surmounting it, and will doubtless surmount it in the future. The only two attempts worthy of mention that have been made to establish a supreme international body, to oversee world politics and prevent resort to war, are both of recent date: the first is the 'League of Nations,' founded in 1919, which failed utterly because it was not a serious attempt; the second is the 'United Nations Organization,' founded at the 'San Francisco' conference last year.
The compass of this issue of "The Woman's Voice" is too narrow for us to speak of the 'United Nations Organization,' to see what hopes we may pin upon it and what fears it stirs, and to pursue the inquiry into the economic and social causes of wars; so we defer their consideration to the coming issue.
