Preface

We published a pamphlet War and the Working Class in 1936 and a more detailed study in 1950, with the title The Socialist Party and War. Both are now out of print. The present publication is a revised edition dealing with more recent events and developments.

Since the formation of the Socialist Party of Great Britain in 1904 many changes have taken place. Armaments have become more costly and vastly more destructive. Old empires have shrunk and been replaced by new ones and new nations have been formed, all prepared to wage war. Two world wars led to the creation of, first, the League of Nations and then the United Nations, both supposed to be dedicated to the preservation of peace, and there have been scores of disarmament conferences and anti-war campaigns, all of them utterly futile as a means of preventing war. Smaller wars have continued and a third world war is an ever present threat.