SOLDIER'S THOUGHTS ON WAR & PEACE

I am just one hundred per cent a believer against war. I believe the enormous sacrifices that have been brought about by the scientific methods of killing have rendered war a fantastic solution of international difficulties.

In war, as it is waged now, with the enormous losses on both sides, both sides will lose. It is a form of mutual suicide. . .

You have got to understand the history of war; you have got to understand that in the beginning it was a sort of gladiatorial contest in which, when the opposing parties disagreed, they would agree to abide by the decisions of [the] contest. I suppose the beginning was the David and Goliath story in the Bible. It progressed from that into small professional armed forces, which would fight in some obscure corner of the world, but the results of that would be accepted in the chancelleries of the world, and the peace would be written.

Gradually, with the scientific methods which have made mass destruction reach appalling proportions, war has ceased to be a sort of the roll-of-the-dice to determine . . . which should be the winner and dictate the terms. It has become an all-out effort. It has involved every man, child and woman in the whole world ... It is inherently a failure now. The last two wars have shown it. The victor had to carry the defeated on his back ... If you have another world war you are going to get such destruction and destructiveness [that]--I think it was a philosopher who said--under such conditions only those will be happy that are dead.

Now, the masses of the world are far ahead of their leaders, I believe, in this subject. I believe it is the massed opposition of the rank & file against war that offers the greatest possible hope that there shall be no war.

It is the confession of defeatism in our civilization to say that war is inevitable.

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