Antimilitarism

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It Shoots Further Than He Dreams. Antimilitarist cartoon by John F. Knott. First published in March 1918. It Shoots Further Than He Dreams.jpg
It Shoots Further Than He Dreams. Antimilitarist cartoon by John F. Knott. First published in March 1918.

Antimilitarism (also spelt anti-militarism) is a doctrine that opposes war, relying heavily on a critical theory of imperialism and was an explicit goal of the First and Second International. Whereas pacifism is the doctrine that disputes (especially between countries) should be settled without recourse to violence, Paul B. Miller defines anti-militarism as "ideology and activities...aimed at reducing the civil power of the military and ultimately, preventing international war". [1] Cynthia Cockburn defines an anti-militarist movement as one opposed to "military rule, high military expenditure or the imposition of foreign bases in their country". [2] Martin Ceadel points out that anti-militarism is sometimes equated with pacificism—general opposition to war or violence, except in cases where force is deemed necessary to advance the cause of peace. [3]

Contents

Distinction between antimilitarism and pacifism

Pacifism is the belief that disputes between nations can and should be settled peacefully. It is the opposition to war and the use of violence as a means of settling disputes. It can include the refusal to participate in military action. [4]

Antimilitarism does not reject war in all circumstances, but rejects the belief or desire to maintain a large and strong military organization in aggressive preparedness for war. [5] [6]

Criticisms on violence

Cover of the Piano Score for the light opera The Chocolate Soldier, based on George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man - both of which make fun of armies and militarist virtues and present positively a deserter who runs away from the battlefield and who carries chocolate instead of ammunition. Detail of the Piano Score of Oscar Straus' The Chocolate Soldier.jpg
Cover of the Piano Score for the light opera The Chocolate Soldier , based on George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man – both of which make fun of armies and militarist virtues and present positively a deserter who runs away from the battlefield and who carries chocolate instead of ammunition.

Syndicalist Georges Sorel advocated the use of violence as a form of direct action, calling it "revolutionary violence", which he opposed in Reflections on Violence (1908) to the violence inherent in class struggle. [7] Similarities are seen between Sorel and the International Workingmens' Association (IWA) theorization of propaganda of the deed.

Walter Benjamin, in his Critique of Violence (1920) demarcates a difference between "violence that founds the law", and "violence that conserves the law", on one hand, and on the other hand, a "divine violence" that breaks the "magic circle" between both types of "state violence". What distinguishes these two kinds of violence fundamentally is their mode of operation; whereas law-establishing and law-preserving violence operate instrumentally on a continuum of means and ends, wherein the means of physical violence justify the political-juridical ends of the law, the Benjaminian concept of 'divine violence' is unique insofar as it is a bloodless violence 'of pure means' through which the law itself is destroyed. The example Benjamin provides in his essay is that of a General Strike, the latter of which is a key element of Sorel's Reflections on Violence (cited in this essay by Benjamin). The "violence that conserves the law" is roughly equivalent to the state's monopoly of legitimate violence. The "violence that founds the law" is the original violence necessary to the creation of a state. "Revolutionary violence" removes itself from the sphere of the law by shattering its instrumental logic of violence (i.e. its deployment of violence as a means of instituting, preserving and enforcing its own authority). [8]

Giorgio Agamben showed the theoretical link between the law and violence permitted Nazi-thinker Carl Schmitt to justify the "state of exception" as the characteristic of sovereignty. Thus indefinite suspension of the law may only be blocked by breaking this link between violence and right.

Henry David Thoreau's anti-military views

Mihaly Zichy painting "The Victory of the Genius of Destruction", made for Paris Exposition of 1878, was banned by French authorities because of its daring antimilitarist message. Mihaly Zichy The Triumph of the Genius of Destruction 1878.jpeg
Mihály Zichy painting "The Victory of the Genius of Destruction", made for Paris Exposition of 1878, was banned by French authorities because of its daring antimilitarist message.

Henry David Thoreau's 1849 essay "Civil Disobedience" (see text), originally titled "Resistance to Civil Government", can be considered an antimilitarist point of view. His refusal to pay taxes is justified as an act of protest against slavery and against the Mexican–American War, in accordance with the practice of civil disobedience. (1846–48). [9] He writes in his essay that the individual is not with obligations to the majority of the State. Instead, the individual should "break the law" if the law is "of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another." [10]

Capitalism and the military–industrial complex

Capitalism has often been thought by antimilitarist literature to be a major cause of wars, an influence which has been theorized by Vladimir Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg under the name of "imperialism". The military–industrial complex has been accused of "pushing for war" in pursuit of private economic or financial interests. [11]

The Second International was opposed to the participation of the working classes in war, which was analyzed as a competition between different national bourgeois classes and different state imperialisms. The assassination of French socialist leader Jean Jaurès days before the proclamation of World War I resulted in massive participation in the coming war. [12] [13] In Mars; or, The Truth About War (1921), Alain criticizes the destruction brought about by militarism, and demonstrated that it wasn't patriotism that forced the soldiers to fight, but the bayonets behind them. [14]

After World War II, US President Eisenhower's 1961 issued a warning on the influence of the "military–industrial complex". [15]

Right-wing antimilitarism in the United States

American right-wing antimilitarists draw heavily upon the statements of Thomas Jefferson and other Founding Fathers condemning standing armies and foreign entanglements. [16] Jefferson's beliefs on maintaining a standing army are as follows: "There are instruments so dangerous to the rights of the nation and which place them so totally at the mercy of their governors that those governors, whether legislative or executive, should be restrained from keeping such instruments on foot but in well-defined cases. Such an instrument is a standing army." [17]

Right-wing antimilitarists in the United States generally believe that "A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country", as stated by James Madison. [18] To this end, there is much overlap between the Militia movement and right-wing antimilitarists, although the two groups are not mutually inclusive. The term "well regulated" in the foregoing quote (and in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution) is taken by such antimilitarists not to mean "regulated by the state" but rather "well equipped" and "in good working order", as was a common usage of the word "regulated" in the late 18th century.

An argument based on eugenics and racism was advanced by David Starr Jordan, ichthyologist and founding president of Stanford University, who believed that war killed off the best members of the gene pool, and initially opposed US involvement in World War I. [19]

Antimilitarism in Japan

After World War II Japan enacted its postwar constitution which, in Article 9, stated that "The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes." Such antimilitarist constitution was based on the belief that Japan's military organizations were to blame for thrusting the country into World War II.

In Yasuhiro Izumikawa's article "Explaining Japanese Antimilitarism: Normative and Realist Constraints on Japan's Security Policy", the evidences for the constructivist's belief in the existence of the single norm of antimilitarism in Post war Japan are introduced. [20] These evidences include the Yoshida Doctrine, adopted after the World War II, which emphasized the importance of Japan's economic development and acceptance of the U.S. security umbrella. Also, the institutional constraints imposed on Japan's security policy after World War II and Japan's Three Non-Nuclear Principles which is about not possessing, producing, or permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japan are mentioned as the evidence for antimilitarism. In contrast to the constructivist's view, in Izumikawa's article, the realists are said to believe that the postwar security policy in Japan is a combination of pacifism, antitraditionalism, and the fear of entrapment rather than just being based on the single norm of antimilitarism.

However, the postwar constitution on which Japan's antimilitarism is based has seen some proposed amendments, and article 9 has been renounced by the Liberal Democratic Party. Some new legislation allows Japan's Self Defense Forces to act more like a conventional army, reinterpreting the constitutional restrictions. This legislation has been strongly opposed by Japanese opposition parties, especially the Japanese Communist Party, which is strongly opposed to militarism.

Antimilitarist groups

Until its dissolution, the Second International was antimilitarist. Jaurès' assassination on July 31, 1914, marks antimilitarism's failure in the socialist movement. The American Union Against Militarism is an example of a US antimilitarist movement born in the midst of the First World War, from which the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) formed after the war. In 1968, Benjamin Spock signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. [21] He was also arrested for his involvement in anti-war protests resulting from his signing of the anti-war manifesto "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority" circulated by members of the collective RESIST. [22] The individuals arrested during this incident came to be known as the Boston Five. [23]

Some Refuseniks in Israel, who refuse the draft, and draft resisters in the US can be considered by some to be antimilitarist or pacifist.

War Resisters' International, formed in 1921, is an international network of pacifist and animilitarist groups around the world, currently with 90 affiliated groups in over 40 countries.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacifism</span> Philosophy opposing war or violence

Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism or violence. The word pacifism was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ahimsa, which is a core philosophy in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. While modern connotations are recent, having been explicated since the 19th century, ancient references abound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World peace</span> Ideal of freedom, peace, and happiness among and within all nations and people

World peace is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would come about.

Anarcho-pacifism, also referred to as anarchist pacifism and pacifist anarchism, is an anarchist school of thought that advocates for the use of peaceful, non-violent forms of resistance in the struggle for social change. Anarcho-pacifism rejects the principle of violence which is seen as a form of power and therefore as contradictory to key anarchist ideals such as the rejection of hierarchy and dominance. Many anarcho-pacifists are also Christian anarchists, who reject war and the use of violence.

The War Resisters League (WRL) is the oldest secular pacifist organization in the United States, having been founded in 1923.

The German Peace Society was founded in 1892 in Berlin. In 1900 it moved its headquarters to Stuttgart. It still exists and is known as the Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft - Vereinigte KriegsdienstgegnerInnen. It's an organisation consisting of political pacifists and war resisters. About four to six times a year, the DFG-VK is publishing its magazine Zivilcourage.

Peace churches are Christian churches, groups or communities advocating Christian pacifism or Biblical nonresistance. The term historic peace churches refers specifically only to three church groups among pacifist churches:

Peacemakers was an American pacifist organization founded following a conference on "More Disciplined and Revolutionary Pacifist Activity" in Chicago in July 1948. Ernest and Marion Bromley and Juanita and Wally Nelson largely organized the group. The group’s organizational structure adopted a multidivisional organizational structure with a loose hierarchy, prioritizing local committees including but not limited to the Tax Refusal and Military Draft Refusal Committee.

<i>Peace News</i> British pacifist magazine started in 1936

Peace News (PN) is a pacifist magazine first published on 6 June 1936 to serve the peace movement in the United Kingdom. From later in 1936 to April 1961 it was the official paper of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU), and from 1990 to 2004 was co-published with War Resisters' International.

The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee is an American activist coalition that promotes tax resistance as a way to protest against and/or disassociate from war and militarism.

Pacificism is the general term for ethical opposition to violence or war unless force is deemed necessary. Together with pacifism, it is born from the Western tradition or attitude that calls for peace. The former involves the unconditional refusal to support violence or absolute pacifism, but pacificism views the prevention of violence as its duty but recognizes the controlled use of force to achieve such objective. According to Martin Ceadel, pacifism and pacificism are driven by a certain political position or ideology such as liberalism, socialism or feminism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opposition to World War II</span>

Opposition to World War II was expressed by the governments and peoples of all combatant nations to various extents. Initial reluctance for conflict in the Allied democratic nations changed to overwhelming, but not complete, support once the war had been joined. Some politicians and military leaders in the Axis powers opposed starting or expanding the conflict during its course. However, the totalitarian nature of these countries limited their effect. Noncombatant nations opposed joining the war for a variety of reasons, including self preservation, economic disincentives or a belief in neutrality in upon itself. After the war the populations of the former Axis powers mostly regretted their nations' involvement. In contrast, the people of Allied nations celebrated their involvement and the perceived just nature of the war, particularly in comparison with World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opposition to World War I</span>

Opposition to World War I was widespread during the conflict and included socialists, anarchists, syndicalists and Marxists as well as Christian pacifists, anti-colonial nationalists, feminists, intellectuals, and the working class.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peace movement</span> Social movement against a particular war or wars

A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peace. Some of the methods used to achieve these goals include advocacy of pacifism, nonviolent resistance, diplomacy, boycotts, peace camps, ethical consumerism, supporting anti-war political candidates, supporting legislation to remove profits from government contracts to the military–industrial complex, banning guns, creating tools for open government and transparency, direct democracy, supporting whistleblowers who expose war crimes or conspiracies to create wars, demonstrations, and political lobbying. The political cooperative is an example of an organization which seeks to merge all peace-movement and green organizations; they may have diverse goals, but have the common ideal of peace and humane sustainability. A concern of some peace activists is the challenge of attaining peace when those against peace often use violence as their means of communication and empowerment.

The Manifesto of the Sixteen, or Proclamation of the Sixteen, was a document drafted in 1916 by eminent anarchists Peter Kropotkin and Jean Grave which advocated an Allied victory over Germany and the Central Powers during the First World War. At the outbreak of the war, Kropotkin and other anarchist supporters of the Allied cause advocated their position in the pages of the Freedom newspaper, provoking sharply critical responses. As the war continued, anarchists across Europe campaigned in anti-war movements and wrote denunciations of the war in pamphlets and statements, including one February 1916 statement signed by prominent anarchists such as Emma Goldman and Rudolf Rocker.

War resistance in the United States encompasses activities related to war resistance by American citizens and other who oppose military action on the part of the United States. This includes opposition to, and evasion of, military duty. Such resistance may originate from pacifism, antimilitarism or non-interventionism, generally, and may include registration as a conscientious objector to military service, draft dodging, or desertion. Alternativelty, it may be directed towards specific military actions, as with opposition to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, opposition to the Iraq War, and the post–September 11 anti-war movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Friends Service Committee</span> Quaker organization

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends (Quaker)-founded organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by American members of the Religious Society of Friends to assist civilian victims of World War I. It continued to engage in relief action in Europe and the Soviet Union after the Armistice of 1918. By the mid-1920s, AFSC focused on improving racial relations, immigration policy, and labor conditions in the U.S., as well as exploring ways to prevent the outbreak of another conflict before and after World War II. As the Cold War developed, the organization began to employ more professionals rather than Quaker volunteers. Over time, it broadened its appeal and began to respond more forcefully to racial injustice, international peacebuilding, migration and refugee issues, women's issues, and the demands of sexual minorities for equal treatment. Currently, the organization's three priorities include work on peacebuilding, a focus on just economies, and humane responses to the global migration crisis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacifism in the United States</span>

Pacifism has manifested in the United States in a variety of forms, and in myriad contexts. In general, it exists in contrast to an acceptance of the necessity of war for national defense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacifism in Germany</span>

The existence of pacifism in Germany has changed over time, with the consistent feature of having diverse groups with a shared belief in an opposition to participating in war. These movements both individually and collectively, have historically been small in their numbers and have not been well organised. With a culture of war in the early history of Germany, pacifism was not a culturally significant group. This was driven by the government as they attempted to use the media in order to promote the expansion of Germany as a growing empire. The exception to this is during the Cold War with the Bonn demonstration with a large turnout of around 300,000 people. Christian peace groups have been the most consistent groups within the classification of pacifists as an opposition to violence is a key part of their faith. The size, whilst remaining small varies over the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. The reception from the public regarding pacifists also changes depending on the historical period.

References

  1. ↑ From Revolutionaries to Citizens : Antimilitarism in France, 1870–1914 by Paul B. Miller. Duke University Press, 2002, ISBN   0-8223-2757-0, p. 8.
  2. ↑ Cynthia Cockburn, Antimilitarism: Political and Gender Dynamics of Peace Movements. London, Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. ISBN   0230359752, p. 2.
  3. ↑ Martin Ceadel, 'Thinking about peace and war. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1987. ISBN   0192192000, p. 101.
  4. ↑ "pacifism". The Free Dictionary.
  5. ↑ "Antimilitarism is not pacifism or the total rejection of war". Lisa M. Mundy, American militarism and anti-militarism in popular media, 1945–1970. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2012. ISBN   9780786466504, p. 7.
  6. ↑ "militarism". The Free Dictionary.
  7. ↑ Caviness, Rochelle. "Reflections of Violence, by Georges Sorel – History in Review". www.historyinreview.org. Archived from the original on 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  8. ↑ Walter Benjamin, Zür Kritik der Gewalt (1920) in Gesammelte Schriften, vol. II, 1 (1977) ("Criticisms on Violence")
  9. ↑ "Anti-militarism in the 19th Century". 5 January 2014. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  10. ↑ "About Thoreau: Civil Disobedience | Walden Woods". www.walden.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  11. ↑ "War and Economic History". www.joshuagoldstein.com. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  12. ↑ "First World War.com – Who's Who – Jean Jaures". www.firstworldwar.com. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  13. ↑ Tharoor, Ishaan (2014-07-31). "The other assassination that led up to World War I". The Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  14. ↑ "Alain | French philosopher". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  15. ↑ "Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961". coursesa.matrix.msu.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-08-12. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  16. ↑ "The Civilian and the Military: A History of the American Antimilitarist Tradition". The Independent Institute. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  17. ↑ "Jefferson on Politics & Government: The Military". famguardian.org. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  18. ↑ "The James Madison Research Library and Information Center". madisonbrigade.com. Archived from the original on 2016-02-14. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  19. ↑ Abrahamson, James L (1976). "David Starr Jordan and American Antimilitarism". The Pacific Northwest Quarterly . 67 (2): 76–87. JSTOR   40489774. P. 79
  20. ↑ Izumikawa, Yasuhiro (October 2010). "Explaining Japanese Antimilitarism: Normative and Realist Constraints on Japan's Security Policy". International Security. 35 (2): 123–160. doi:10.1162/ISEC_a_00020. S2CID   57567503.
  21. ↑ "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" January 30, 1968 New York Post
  22. ↑ Barsky, Robert F. Noam Chomsky: a life of dissent. 1st ed. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, 1998. Web. < "Chapter 4: The Intellectual, the University, and the State". Archived from the original on 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2014-06-24.>
  23. ↑ Kutik, William M,. "Boston Grand Jury Indicts Five For Working Against Draft Law." Harvard Crimson. 08 Jan 1968: n. page. Web. 4 Jun. 2014. <http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1968/1/8/boston-grand-jury-indicts-five-for/
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