Antimilitarism is a doctrine commonly found in the anarchist and socialist movement, which may be both characterized as internationalist movements. It relies heavily on a critical theory of imperialism and nation-states, and was officially found in the First and Second International. Whereas pacifism is opposition to war in general, a doctrine historically associated with faith in a transcendent principle, such as "God" or "the Humanity", antimilitarism is an atheistic doctrine based on the critical analyze of the military state institution and the concept of nation-states' sovereignty. Gandhi, for example, justified his pacifism by an idea of redemption, and Martin Luther King by his faith, whereas antimilitarism is often connected to anti-statism, as military power is an essential attribute of the modern nation-state's sovereignty. Followers of this doctrine oppose militarism in general: wars between states and the existence of armies, not necessarily violence in itself. Therefore, antimilitarism shouldn't be mistaken with the doctrine of civilian control of the military, which is more interested in achieving a political (or civilian) control on the military institution when it comes to a country's strategic decision-making than to stop inter-state wars. Anarchism is a generic term describing various political philosophies and social movements that advocate the elimination of hierarchy and imposed authority. ... The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... Internationalism is a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation between nations for the benefit of all. ... Imperialism is a policy of extending control or authority over foreign entities as a means of acquisition and/or maintenance of empires, either through direct territorial conquest or through indirect methods of exerting control on the politics and/or economy of other countries. ... Max Barry set up Jennifer Government: NationStates, a game on the World Wide Web inspired by, and promoting, his novel Jennifer Government. ... The International Workingmens Association, sometimes called the First International, was an international organization which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing political groups and trade union organizations which were based on the working class. ... The phrase Second International has two meanings: For the international association of socialist parties of the late 19th century, see Second International (politics) and a successor organization, the Socialist International For one of the Merriam-Webster dictionaries of American English, see Websters New International Dictionary, Second Edition This is... Pacifism is opposition to war. ... War is essentially the opposite of peace. ... Transcendental in philosophical contexts In philosophy, transcendental experiences are experiences of an exclusively human nature that are other-worldly or beyond the human realm of understanding. ... God is the term used to denote the Supreme Being believed by monotheistic religions to exist and to be the creator and ruler of the Universe. ... Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ... For information about the band, see Atheist (band). ... Militarism expounds that the foundation of a societys security is its military capacity, and claims that the development and maintenance of the military to ensure that capacity is the most important goal for that society. ... Max Barry set up Jennifer Government: NationStates, a game on the World Wide Web inspired by, and promoting, his novel Jennifer Government. ... Sovereignty is the exclusive right to exercise supreme authority over a geographic region, group of people or oneself. ... Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948) (Devanagari: मोहनदास करमचन्द गांधी, Gujarati મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી), called Mahatma Gandhi, was the charismatic leader who brought the cause of Indias independence from British colonial rule to world attention. ... Redemption can mean several things: Redemption is a term in Christianity synonymous with salvation; or delivery from sins. ... Martin Luther King, Jr. ... Anti-statism refers to all philosophies that in some degree reject or oppose the establishment of a state, or territorial national governments. ... Militarism expounds that the foundation of a societys security is its military capacity, and claims that the development and maintenance of the military to ensure that capacity is the most important goal for that society. ... An army comprises all of a nations land-based military forces or a specific large military force. ... Violence refers to acts —typically connotative with aggressive and criminal behaviour —which intend to cause or is causing of injury to persons, animals, or (in limited cases) property. ... U.S. President Abraham Lincolns active involvement in the conduct of the American Civil War, which frequently involved pressing his generals to undertake more aggressive actions, set a precedent for the power of the civilian Commander-in-Chief. ...

"Criticisms of violence" (Zür Kritik der Gewalt) (1920)

Following Hegel's exploration of the relationship between history and violence, antimilistarists argue that there are different types of violence, some of which can be said legitimate and other non-legitimate. Georges Sorel advocated the use of violence as a form of direct action, calling it "revolutionary violence", which he opposed to the violence inherent in class struggle. Walter Benjamin, in his Criticisms on Violence (1920) would also establish a difference between "violence that founds the law", "violence that conserves the law", and an additional last type, "divine violence" which breaks the "magic circle" between both types of "state violence" ^[1]. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (August 27, 1770 - November 14, 1831) was a German philosopher born in Stuttgart, Württemberg, in present-day southwest Germany. ... One of the most famous quotations about history and the value of studying history, by Spanish philosopher, George Santayana, reads: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ... Georges Eugène Sorel (2 November 1847-29 August 1922) was a French philosopher and theorist of revolutionary syndicalism. ... George Bush may refer to: People: George W. Bush, George Walker Bush, the 43rd and current President of the United States of America (2001–present) George H. W. Bush, George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st President of the United States (1989–1993), and father of George W. Bush George P. Bush... Class struggle is class conflict looked at from a Marxist, libertarian socialist, or anarchist perspective. ... Walter Benjamin (July 15, 1892-September 27, 1940) was a German Jewish Marxist literary critic and philosopher. ...

War, as violence, can be distinguished into traditional war (between states) and civil war, in which case class struggle is, according to antimilitarists theorists, a primordial component. Hence, Marx's influence on antimilitarist doctrine will come upon as no surprise, even though it would be doubtful to make Marx accountable for the whole antimilitarist tradition. However, it would also be unwise to believe in the myth of an eternal antimilitarist spirit, present in all places and time, since modern military institution is a historic achievement, related to the formation, in the 18th and 19th centuries, of nation-states. Prussian militarism, for example, was reveeled by a huge majority of 19th century social theorists. In their times, sovereignty theorists, such as Rousseau, even thought the creation of the military institution as a form of education for the people, which has been meditated by Foucault's in his book Birth of prison, which led to the creation of the concept of "disciplines", "disciplinary institution" and "disciplinary society". A civil war is a war in which the competing parties are segments of the same country or empire. ... Marx is a common German surname. ... The term German Empire commonly refers to Germany, from its foundation as a unified nation-state on January 18, 1871, until the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II on November 9, 1918. ... Rousseau is a French surname. ... General sites (updated regularly): Foucault, info Michel Foucault Resources - excellent site by Clare OFarrell Foucault resources - at Theory. ...

Thoreau's pacifism

Henry David Thoreau's 1849 essay "Civil Disobedience", originally titled "Resistance to Civil Government", can be considered an antimilitarist point of view, even though it would probably be mixed with pacifism (downright moral condemnation of all kinds of violence). However, Thoreau's latent anarchism and general anti-statism permits claims of ascendency from antimilitarists. His refusal to pay taxes was justified as an act of protest against slavery and against the Mexican-American War. Opponents of war considered as a major evil and as a cause of most of human kind's troubles may indeed be inclined to treat the modern idea of "nation-states" as one of the most dangerous invention, leading to endless nationalism and bellicism. Hence, antimilitarist argue that any true pacifist must also be at least cautious of the state's claim (this "cold monster" as Nietzsche had dubbed it) to impartial justice and eternal peace. Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862; born David Henry Thoreau) was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, pacifist, tax resister and philosopher who is famous for Walden (available at wikisource) on simple living amongst nature and Civil Disobedience (available at wikisource) on resistance to civil... The Buxton Memorial Fountain, celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, London. ... Combatants United States Mexico Commanders Strength 60,000 40,000 Casualties KIA: 1,733 Total dead: 13,283 Wounded: 4,152 25,000 (Mexican government estimate) The Mexican-American War was fought between the United States and Mexico between 1846 and 1848. ... // Nationalism is an ideology which holds that the nation, ethnicity or national identity is a fundamental unit of human social life, and makes certain political claims based upon that belief; above all, the claim that the nation is the only legitimate basis for the state, and that each nation is... Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 - August 25, 1900) was a highly influential German philosopher. ...

Antimilitarism and capitalism: the military-industrial complex & the nation-state

Antimilitarism has always been based on a political and social analyze of the state and the concept of sovereignty. Indeed, capitalism has often been thought by antimilitarist litterature to be a major cause of wars, an influence which has been theorized by Lenin and Rosa Luxembourg under the name of "imperialism". Historically, French socialist leader Jean Jaurès failed attempt to convince the masses not to enter World War I was based on an analyze of the coming war as a competition between the different national "bourgeois" classes, in which the labor movement was duped in participating (making perfect "chair-à-canon"). As a consequence of this abandon of antimilitarist spirit, the Second International dissolved itself during the war. Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Capitalism The page is about the economic system. ... Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ( Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин  listen?), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) ( April 22 (April 10 ( O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a Russian revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the founder of the ideology of Leninism. ... Rosa Luxemburg (March 5, 1870 or 1871 - January 15, 1919, in Polish language Róża Luksemburg) was a Polish and German Jewish Marxist politician, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary. ... Jean Jaurès Jean Léon Jaurès (September 3, 1859 – July 31, 1914) was a French Socialist leader. ... World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machine guns, and poison gas. ... Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century. ...

Hence, US President Eisenhower's 1961 warning on the influence of the "military-industrial complex" came as no surprise to many antimilitarist-minded people. However, it did underline the relationship between industrial power, economics policies, etc. (in other words, "capitalism"), and the making of wars. Dwight David Ike Eisenhower (October 14, 1890–March 28, 1969), American soldier and politician, was the 34th President of the United States (1953–1961) and supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, with the rank of General of the Army. ...

Antimilitarists groups

Until its dissolvement, the Second International, as the First 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 from after the war. July 31 is the 212th day (213th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 153 days remaining, as the final day of July. ... 1914 (MCMXIV) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... The American Union Against Militarism was an American pacifist organization active during World War I. In 1915 a group of New York pacifists organized the Anti-militarism Committee to combat the war spirit of the time. ... The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, is a non-governmental organization (NGO) whose stated goal is to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person . ...

Notes

1. ^  Walter Benjamin, Zür Kritik der Gewalt (1920) in Gesammelte Schriften, vol. II, 1 (1977) ("Criticisms on Violence").

See also

• Anarchism
• Socialism
• Second International
• Militarism
• Civilian control of the military
• The Just War Theory

Anarchism derives from the Greek αναρχία (without archons (rulers)). Thus anarchism, in its most general meaning, is the belief that rulers are unnecessary and should be abolished. ... Socialism is an ideology with the core belief that society should exist in which popular collectives control the means of power, and therefore the means of production. ... The phrase Second International has two meanings: For the international association of socialist parties of the late 19th century, see Second International (politics) and a successor organization, the Socialist International For one of the Merriam-Webster dictionaries of American English, see Websters New International Dictionary, Second Edition This is... Militarism expounds that the foundation of a societys security is its military capacity, and claims that the development and maintenance of the military to ensure that capacity is the most important goal for that society. ... U.S. President Abraham Lincolns active involvement in the conduct of the American Civil War, which frequently involved pressing his generals to undertake more aggressive actions, set a precedent for the power of the civilian Commander-in-Chief. ... Just War theory is an international law doctrine that postulates that a war can be just only if it satisfies a set of moral or legal rules. ...

References

• Karl Liebknecht's Preface to "Militarism and antimilitarism"
• John Palatella, "The War of Words"