Was is a racket

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War Is a Racket (see Racketeering , literally German : War is a trickery , more in the sense: War is a dirty business ) is a treatise published in 1935 by Smedley D. Butler , in which the retired major general of the US Marine Corps criticized the US -Docussed interventions in the banana wars , their gunboat policy and the entry of the USA in World War I and currently warned of a war against Japan .

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The manuscript is based on a shorter version of the speech, probably from 1933. A first printed version of the speech appeared in "Forum" no. 92 in September 1934, and in 1935 the extended book was published by Round Table Press in New York . It has five chapters:

  1. War is a racket (war is a dirty business)
  2. Who makes the profits? (Who deserves it?)
  3. Who pays the bills? (Who pays the bills?)
  4. How to smash this racket! (How to Smash This Business!)
  5. To hell with war! (To hell with the war!)

Butler criticizes the fact that US involvement in World War I produced 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires in the United States, but hardly any of them served on the front lines. Now a new war is in sight in Europe and on the Pacific . From 1898 (the Spanish-American War ) the USA occupied territories outside of the American continent - and forgot George Washington's warning to get involved in “entangling allicances” that run the risk of being drawn into wars against one's own interests to become.

American industries and other sectors of the economy would have made huge profits during the war. The wages would have doubled and tripled in some cases. The American taxpayers and especially the American soldiers pay the bill . Those who do not believe this can look around battlefield cemeteries (in France ) or visit veterans' hospitals in the US, which still have 50,000 inpatient soldiers, most of whom were recruited at the age of 18. In the government hospital in Milwaukee alone , 3800 of these "living dead" are quartered. The mortality among World War II veterans is three times as high as among those who stayed at home. In the government hospital in Marion, 1,800 mentally damaged veterans are housed like in a prison .

Butler criticized the war propaganda particularly sharply , which only served to win soldiers and did not even shy away from bringing God into play, which, however , was not alien to German pastors either. Also be ideals been touted as "war for (the) war to end" ( "was to end wars") or by war, the world safe for democracy to make ( "was to make world safe for democracy"). In fact, the war serves a different purpose:

No one told them that dollars and cents were the real reason ... they were just told it was to be a “glorious adventure” ... Thus, having stuffed enough patriotism down their throats, it was decided to make them help pay for the war , too. So we gave them the large salary of $ 30 a month! All they had to do for this munificent sum was to leave their dear ones behind, give up their jobs, lie in swampy trenches, eat canned willy (when they could get it) and kill and kill and kill ... and be killed.

Nobody told them dollars and cents were the real reason ... they were just told it was going to be a "glorious adventure" ... When they had enough patriotism it was decided that they should join the war too. So we gave them the great salary of $ 30 a month! For this generous sum all they had to do was leave loved ones behind, quit their jobs, lie in swampy trenches, eat canned meat (if there was any) and kill, kill and kill .... and get killed.

Butler did not believe that this "deal" could be ended by disarmament conferences , but called instead

1. The recruitment of management personnel in the armaments industry as well as bankers and speculators for military service for $ 30.00 analogous to ordinary soldiers.

2. A vote on the war by those who should wage it, that is, the soldiers.

3. The limitation of everything military to the self-defense of the USA. Butler saw in the fleet armament programs of "swivel-chair admirals" as armaments lobbyists the great danger that a war of aggression could be waged by the USA far beyond its borders and took the example of the battleship Maine , through its explosion in Havana in 1898 the USA was drawn into the Spanish-American War. He therefore called for the stationing of American warships to be limited to a zone of 200 miles off the American coastline. The US Army should not even leave its own national territory, but only be stationed within the states.

At the end of the treatise, Butler returned to the United States' entry into the world war. President Woodrow Wilson , who promised never to intervene in the European war when he was elected in 1916, had been blackmailed by France, Great Britain and Italy to join the war on their side. Without the USA, the Allies would be certain of defeat by the Central Powers . As losers, it is impossible for them to repay the five to six billion dollar bonds to the banks in the USA. Therefore Wilson decided to go to war.

Butler's most famous quote:

"... I was a racketeer for Capitalism ..."

definitely does not come from War Is a Racket and has not yet been specifically proven. On the other hand, Butler's quote about his work in the Banana Wars comes from an issue of Common Sense magazine :

I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a Dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street . The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-12. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras “right” for American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested… Looking back on it, I feel I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three city districts. We Marines operated on three continents.

I helped make Mexico, and Tampico in particular, safe for US oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank guys to bag in revenue. I helped rape half a dozen republics in Central America on Wall Street . The records of those rip-offs are long. I helped clean up Nicaragua for the Brown Brothers international banking house in 1909-12. I brought light to the Dominican Republic on American sugar interests in 1916. In 1903 I helped make Honduras "suitable" for American fruit companies. In China in 1927 I helped pave the way for Standard Oil ... Looking back, I think I could have given Al Capone some tips. The best he could do was do his rip-offs in three parts of the city. We marines fought on three continents.
Smedley D. Butler: America's Armed Forces , in: Common Sense, 4/11 (November 1935), quoted from Schmidt, Maverick Marine , pp. 231, 278, note 44.

Despite these statements, Butler did not see himself as a pacifist , but as a patriot and an anti-imperialist .

See also

literature

  • Hans Schmidt: Maverick Marine. General Smedley D. Butler and the Contradictions of American Military History , Lexington, KY (University of Kentucky Press) 1987, paperback edition 1998. ISBN 0-8131-0957-4
  • Smedley D. Butler: War Is a Racket . The antiwar classic by America's most decorated general, two other anti-interventionists tracts, and photographs from The Horror of It . Introduction by Adam Parfrey, Los Angeles (Feral House) 2009. ISBN 0-922915-86-5

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