Stopping a War/Chapter 3
3. Food for Cannon and Food for Thought
During the years that preceded 1914, millions of workers all over Europe had striven to prevent another war. One of the greatest leaders in this movement, the Frenchman, Jean Jaurès, gave his energy and finally his life in the struggle against war and militarism.
After four years of carnage, the reasons for anti-war activity were plainer than ever, and while it was true that many of the militants had died and many more had lost faith, among those who remained the hatred of war was stronger than ever. As for the masses, they were learning that if the workers were to prevent a repetition of the horror of 1914 they must be prepared to act in their own behalf.
France was one of the chief sufferers during the World War. With her million and three-quarters of soldiers killed on the field of battle, with her long lines of mutilated men, with her ruined cities, her desolated countryside and the intolerable burden of debt heaped upon the people as a result of the struggle, Frenchmen had good reason to know the costs of war.
Among the workers peace sentiment is always strong. They know from bitter experience that they must not only do the fighting at the front, but that at home, when the blood-letting is over, they and their descendants must pay for the war. To the intelligent worker in modern Europe war cannot be justified without a lot of explaining.
Home and country seemed to be threatened in 1914. The World War easily became a war of defence in the minds of French workers and peasants.
The Riff War of 1925 was clearly a war of aggression. The soil of France was neither invaded nor threatened by the Riffs. The Riff campaign was a part of the effort of French imperialism to extend its power over North Africa and particularly over the Riff minerals. The majority of French workers and peasants were not even remotely concerned in the outcome of such a conflict.
Had there been no working class press in France and no understanding of the sweep of modern historic forces these facts might never have reached the French masses, But the French workers had learned their lesson in the bitter days following 1914, and in 1917 the Russian Revolution had broken across the world.