第 30 节
作者:一意孤行      更新:2021-10-16 18:41      字数:9321
  means of groups which are jealous of their privileges and determined to
  preserve   their   autonomy;   even   if   this   should   involve   resistance   to   laws
  decreed by the State; when these laws interfere in the internal affairs of a
  group in ways not warranted by the public interest。 The glorification of the
  State; and the doctrine that it is every citizen's duty to serve the State; are
  radically against progress and against liberty。 The State; though at present
  a source of much evil; is also a means to certain good things; and will be
  needed so long as violent and destructive impulses remain common。 But it
  is MERELY a means; and a means which needs to be very carefully and
  sparingly used if it is not to do more harm than good。 It is not the State;
  but the community; the worldwide community of all human beings present
  and future; that we ought to serve。 And a good community does not spring
  from     the  glory   of   the  State;  but   from    the  unfettered    development      of
  individuals:     from   happiness     in  daily   life;  from   congenial    work    giving
  opportunity      for   whatever     constructiveness      each   man    or   woman      may
  possess; from free personal relations embodying love and taking away the
  roots of envy in thwarted capacity from affection; and above all from the
  joy   of   life   and   its   expression  in   the   spontaneous   creations   of   art   and
  science。 It is these things that make an age or a nation worthy of existence;
  and these things are not to be secured by bowing down before the State。 It
  is the individual in whom all that is good must be realized; and the free
  growth   of   the   individual   must   be   the   supreme   end   of   a   political   system
  which is to re…fashion the world。
  CHAPTER VI
  INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
  THE main objects which should be served by international relations
  may   be   taken   to   be   two:   First;   the   avoidance   of   wars;   and;   second;   the
  prevention of the oppression of weak nations by strong ones。 These two
  objects do not by any means necessarily lead in the same direction; since
  one   of   the   easiest   ways   of   securing   the   world's   peace   would   be   by   a
  combination        of   the  most    powerful      States   for   the   exploitation    and
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  oppression of the remainder。 This method; however; is not one which the
  lover of liberty can favor。 We must keep account of both aims and not be
  content with either alone。
  One of the commonplaces of both Socialism and Anarchism is that all
  modern   wars   are   due   to   capitalism;   and   would   cease   if   capitalism   were
  abolished。 This view; to my mind; is only a half…truth; the half that is true
  is important; but the half that is untrue is perhaps equally important when
  a fundamental reconstruction of society is being considered。
  Socialist   and Anarchist   critics   of   existing   society   point;   with   perfect
  truth; to certain capitalistic factors which promote war。 The first of these is
  the   desire   of   finance   to   find   new   fields   of   investment   in   undeveloped
  countries。 Mr。 J。 A。 Hobson; an author who is by no means extreme in his
  views; has well stated this point in his book on ‘‘The Evolution of Modern
  Capitalism。'''55' He says:
  '55' Walter Scott Publishing Company; 1906; p。 262。
  The economic tap…root; the chief directing motive of all the modern
  imperialistic expansion; is the pressure of capitalist industries for markets;
  primarily markets for investment; secondarily markets for surplus products
  of   home   industry。   Where   the   concentration   of   capital   has   gone   furthest;
  and     where     a  rigorous     protective    system     prevails;    this  pressure     is
  necessarily   strongest。   Not   merely   do   the   trusts   and   other   manufacturing
  trades that restrict their output for the home market more urgently require
  foreign     markets;    but   they  are   also   more    anxious    to  secure    protected
  markets; and this can only be achieved by extending the area of political
  rule。 This   is   the   essential   significance  of   the   recent   change   in American
  foreign policy as illustrated by the Spanish War; the Philippine annexation;
  the Panama policy; and the new application of the Monroe doctrine to the
  South American States。 South America is needed as a preferential market
  for investment of trust ‘‘profits'' and surplus trust products: if in time these
  states   can   be   brought    within   a   Zollverein   under   the   suzerainty   of   the
  United States; the financial area of operations receives a notable accession。
  China as a field of railway enterprise and general industrial development
  already begins to loom large in the eyes of foresighted American business
  men; the growing trade in American cotton and other goods in that country
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  will    be  a   subordinate     consideration      to  the   expansion     of   the  area   for
  American       investments。      Diplomatic      pressure;    armed     force;   and;   where
  desirable;  seizure of   territory  for  political   control;  will be   engineered   by
  the financial magnates who control the political destiny of America。 The
  strong     and    expensive       American      navy     now     beginning      to   be   built
  incidentally   serves   the   purpose   of   affording   profitable   contracts   to   the
  shipbuilding and metal industries: its real meaning and use is to forward
  the aggressive political policy imposed upon the nation by the economic
  needs of the financial capitalists。
  It should be clearly understood that this constant pressure to extend the
  area   of   markets   is   not   a   necessary  implication of   all   forms   of   organized
  industry。   If   competition   was   displaced   by   combinations   of   a   genuinely
  cooperative   character   in   which   the   whole   gain   of   improved   economies
  passed; either to the workers in wages; or to large bodies of investors in
  dividends;   the   expansion   of   demand   in   the   home   markets   would   be   so
  great as to give full employment to the productive powers of concentrated
  capital;    and    there    would     be   no   self…accumulating        masses     of   profit
  expressing themselves in new credit and demanding external employment。
  It   is  the  ‘‘monopoly''      profits   of  trusts   and   combines;      taken    either  in
  construction;       financial    operation;    or   industrial    working;      that  form     a
  gathering      fund    of  self…accumulating        credit   whose     possession      by   the
  financial     class   implies     a  contracted     demand      for   commodities       and    a
  correspondingly restricted employment for capital in American industries。
  Within certain limits relief can be found by stimulation of the export trade
  under cover of a high protective tariff which forbids all interference with
  monopoly   of   the   home   markets。   But   it   is   extremely   difficult   for   trusts
  adapted to the requirements of a profitable tied market at home to adjust
  their methods of free competition in the world markets upon a profitable
  basis   of   steady   trading。   Moreover;       such   a  mode   of    expansion   is    only
  appropriate       to  certain    manufacturing       trusts:   the   owners      of  railroad;
  financial   and   other trusts   must look   always   more   to   foreign   investments
  for    their  surplus    profits。   This    ever…growing       need    for  fresh   fields   of
  investment for their profits is the great crux of the financial system; and
  threatens   to   dominate   the   future   economics   and   the   politics   of   the   great
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  Republic。
  The     financial    economy       of   American      capitalism      exhibits    in  more
  dramatic      shape    a   tendency     common       to   the   finance    of   all  developed
  industrial   nations。   The   large;      easy   flow   of   capital   from   Great     Britain;
  Germany; Austria;   France;   etc。;   into   South   African   or   Australian   mines;
  into    Egyptian     bonds;     or  the   precarious     securities    of   South    American
  republics;   attests   the   same   general   pressure   which   increases   with   every
  development of financial machinery and the more profitable