War is Organised Murder

War is a Racket

Letters from Vienna #116

War is Organised Murder

War is a Racket

“War is organised murder and nothing else,”[1] Harry Patch, who was conscripted in 1916, stated shortly before his death; its prime function has always been to maintain the power of the establishment.

Only a year after winning the Military Cross for gallantry Siegfried Sassoon penned the words: “I believe that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest.” When this apt insight was aired publicly he was promptly declared “ill” and sent to Craiglockhart in Edinburgh to recover his frayed nerves.[2] The First World War was more than merely a war of aggression and conquest: it was a perfect opportunity for the ruling oligarchy to destroy Germany, cull the populace and make a nice, tidy profit while doing so.

“As matters stood in early August 1914,”[3] Jim Macgregor & Gerry Docherty tell us “had the short sharp defeat of Germany been genuinely desired, a close blockade of North Sea ports provided the very best chance of success. That was not what the Secret Elite intended. The utter destruction of Germany required much more than a quick victory and an armistice. The aim was not merely to destroy the German army and navy, but the country’s entire financial commercial and industrial infrastructure. That would require a long war.”[4]

“Despite the blockade, and the absence of a German merchant fleet, food and raw materials of every conceivable kind were exported to Germany from North and South America in British, American and other neutral vessels. Since the cargoes could not be carried directly into Germany, they were conveyed to neutral Scandinavian ports, then re-routed. That in itself was contrary to the international laws of blockade, since the doctrine of “Continuous Voyage” meant that, even if the ships were docking and unloading in neutral Scandinavian ports, it was the ultimate destination of the cargo that was the test of contraband. Massive quantities of food and essential war materials were sent to Scandinavia after August 1914. Though fully aware that much of it was immediately being transferred onto trains bound for Germany, the Foreign Office allowed this scandal to go unchecked.”

“The British government’s lame excuse was that it dared not interfere with the transatlantic trade between neutral states because it would risk losing the support of America, Holland, Denmark and Sweden. In reality, there was never any likelihood of that happening. Official trade statistics proved that direct trade between the United States and Germany declined from $169 million in 1914 to $1 million in 1916, but the figure was deliberately massaged to mislead. America certainly lost direct access to the German markets but regained much more by trading indirectly with Germany through neutrals. Desperate German importers were willing to pay high prices, and ruthless American, Scandinavian and even British traders were willing to abandon any sense of propriety or patriotism to take advantage of the rich pickings. In addition, between 1914-1916, American trade with the Allies rose from $824 million to $3 billion.”

“American industry produced whatever goods the Allies wanted and their business boomed. Financial credit was duly arranged through Wall Street banks linked to the Secret Elite, and the United States became “the larder, arsenal and bank” for Britain and France. The United States thus acquired a direct interest in an Allied victory, and any other outcome would have spelled disaster for them.”[5]

“The United States shipped 3,353,638 one-hundred-pound bales of cotton to Scandinavia and Holland during the first five months of 1915 while previous shipments to these countries had averaged only 200,000 bales. The vast bulk of the excess was forwarded to Germany. British businessmen were quick to take advantage of the bonanza and made large profits by boosting the cotton trade to neutral countries which bordered Germany. Huge amounts of American cotton were also imported into Britain for munitions manufacture, but between January and May 1915, cotton dealers in England re-exported 504,000 one-hundred-pound bales of that cotton to Scandinavia. This was around fifteen times higher than a previous five-month period. For example, between April and May 1915, Sweden imported 17,331 tons of cotton (pre-war imports for the same time-period averaged 3,900 tons) of which 1,500 tons came directly from Britain. Holland virtually doubled her cotton imports during the month of April to 16,217 tons, of which 5,352 tons were exported from Britain. At the same time British re-exports to countries which did not border Germany were considerably reduced. It was a scandal. Before any finger is pointed at others who profiteered from the war, the first and most disgusting culprits came from Britain herself.”[6]

“From the very first days of war, merchants and importers in Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsingborg and Malmo found themselves inundated with orders from Germany to supply thousands of tons of animal feed, foodstuffs, ores, cotton and coal. Purchased from the Americas, North, Central and South, from Britain and the British Empire, from other neutral countries world-wide these imports literally bounced from the quay-sides and dockyards to the goods trains and canal boats that ferried them to their final destination, Germany.”

“Scandinavian merchants made profits beyond their wildest dreams because Germany was willing to pay grossly inflated prices to guarantee these vital supplies. Denmark, and Holland too, became Germany’s sea-based importers while Sweden served additionally as her workshop. In an international game of charades, neutral ships were moderately inconvenienced in the North Sea gateways to and from the Atlantic, but the loss of time was more than compensated by the immense profits that were made in America, in Scandinavia, and, we must not forget, in Britain.”

“The volume of trade that was permitted to pass across the North Sea exceeded all previous quantities. British trade with Scandinavia was justified by the government on the grounds that guarantees were in place to ensure that Germany would not benefit by these exports. The given pledges were worthless. Government departments knew precisely what was happening. The evidence was presented to them, but to no avail. As the British Naval attaché in Scandinavia stated: “All representations … authentic statements of facts, supported by trustworthy analysis [presented to the British government] were disregarded.”[7]

“Despite the desperate need at home, British coal continued to be exported to neutral countries. In September 1914, Sweden alone received 633,000 tons, a seventh of her whole yearly requirement. Scandinavian ships, using British bunkers, began to pour millions of tons of re-exports into Germany through Scandinavian ports. The total amount of British coal exported to Scandinavia, from the outbreak of war up to the end of 1917, was 21,632,180 tons. How many innocents froze to death in slums and hovels in the poorer quarters of British cities, or in remote and isolated villages during those awful war winters, victims too of the mercenary instincts of the coal profiteer?”[8]

Over a hundred years on the same pattern is repeating itself. Energy costs are soaring, profits for companies exploding and the poor are dying of cold and hunger. In the case of the Ukraine: soldiers are expected to buy their own equipment while the billions sent by Western taxpayers mysteriously disappear. In over a hundred years on: nothing has fundamentally changed.

War is a racket

One can understand, for example, the outrage of Major General Smedley Butler when he penned the words:

“War is a racket. It always has been.”

“It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.”

“A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”

“In the World War I a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.”

“How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?”

“Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few – the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.”[9]

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[1] https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKpatchH.htm

[2] pp.266-267 Wilfred Owen, Dominic Hibberd  

[3] Prolonging the Agony, Jim Macgregor & Gerry Docherty

[4] p.71 Ibid

[5] pp.80-81 Ibid

[6] p.87 Ibid

[7] pp.91-92 Ibid

[8] p.94 Ibid

[9] p.23-24 War is a Racket, Brigadier General Smedley Butler