The American Empire

by Scott Nearing

This is the obvious thing—a revolution in the form of political government—the kind of revolution with which history usually deals.

But there is another revolution proceeding in Europe, far more important because more fundamental—the economic and social revolution; the change in the form of breadwinning; the change in the relation between a man and the tools that he uses to earn his livelihood.

Every one knows, now, that Czars and Kaisers and Emperors did not really control Europe before 1914, except in so far as they yielded to bankers and to business men. The crown and the scepter gave the appearance of power, but behind them were concessions, monopolies, economic preferments, and special privilege. The European revolution that began in 1917 with the Czar, did not stop with kings. It began with them because they were in such plain sight, but when it had finished with them it went right on to the bankers and the business men.

War is destruction, organized and directed by the best brains available. It is merry sport for the organizers and for some of the directors, but like any other destructive agent, it may get out of hand. The War of 1914 was to last for six weeks. It dragged on for five years, and the wars that have grown out of it are still continuing. In the course of those five years, the war destroyed the capitalist system of continental Europe. Patches and shreds of it remained, but they were like the topless, shattered trees on the scarred battle-fields. They were remnants—nothing more. In the first place, the war destroyed the confidence of the people in the capitalist system; in the second place, it smashed up the political machinery of capitalism; in the third place, it weakened or destroyed the economic machinery of capitalism.

Each government, to win the war, lied to its people. They were told that their country was invaded. They were assured that the war would be a short affair. Besides that, there were various reasons given for the struggle—it was a war to end war; it was a war to break the iron ring that was crushing a people; it was a war for liberty; it was a struggle to make the world safe for democracy.

Not a single important promise of the war was fulfilled, save only the promise of victory. Hundreds of millions, aroused to the heights of an exalted idealism, came back to earth only to find themselves betrayed. With less promise and more fulfillment; with at least an appearance of statesmanship; with some respect for the simple moralities of truth-telling, fair-dealing, and common honor, there might have been some chance for the capitalist system to retain the confidence of the peoples of war-torn Europe, even in the face of the Russian Revolution; but each of these things was lacking, and as one worker put it: "I don't know what Bolshevism is, but it couldn't be any worse than what we have now, so I'm for it!"

Such a loss of public confidence would have proved a serious blow to any social system, even were it capable of immediately reëstablishing normal conditions of living among the people. In this case, the same events that destroyed public confidence in the capitalist system, destroyed the system itself.

The old political forms of Europe—the czars, emperors and kaisers, who stood as the visible symbols of established order and civilization, were overthrown during the war. The economic forces—the banks and business men—had used these forms for the promotion of their business enterprises. Capitalism depended on czars and kaisers as a blacksmith depends on his hammer. They were among the tools with which business forged the chains of its power. They were the political side of the capitalist system. While the people accepted them and believed in them, the business interests were able to use these political tools at will. The tools were destroyed in the fierce pressure of war and revolution, and with them went one of the chief assets of the European capitalists.

There was a third breakdown—far more important than the break in the political machinery of the capitalist system—and that was the annihilation of the old economic life.