Capitalism Sucks: Capitalism and World War III

Capitalism and World War III

An Interview with Wolf Larsen

Question: So, do you think that World War III is possible?

Answer: Yes, I do. In fact, not only do I think it's possible I think it's probable.

Q. Why do you think that a nuclear war is probable?

A. Look, the Cold War may be over, but the stockpiles of nuclear weapons are still sitting there. They're sitting there for a reason.

Q. What reason is that?

A. The stockpiles of nuclear weapons are sitting there waiting for World War III. It's impossible to say – or difficult to say – which countries will be on which side. But war is always. Under the capitalist system there is always war.

Q. Well, it's true that there has been a lot of war. The last century alone saw two world wars. But don't you think that because World War III will be so horrible – because of nuclear weapons and all – that therefore World War III will never happen? Because it will be too horrible?

A. The problem with that argument is that people made the same argument prior to World War I. In the years immediately preceding World War I there were those who were warning that a world war – or a war between the major European powers – was nearly imminent. Other people dismissed those warnings as being overly alarmist. These people argued that all the new advancements in warfare had made war unthinkable – and that therefore there would be no war. But these people were wrong. World War I happened anyway, and it turned out to be more horrible than anybody imagined.

Q. But the United States and Russia have just signed a treaty to reduce their weapons. Don't you think that with all the peace agreements and the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union that we will now be entering an era of peace?

A. That's just it! We haven't entered a period of peace! The Cold War is over yet still there is endless war! The United States right now is in two wars at the same time – in Afghanistan and in Iraq. As far as peace treaties go the period preceding World War I saw endless peace treaties and endless disarmament treaties and yet that didn't stop World War I from happening.

Q. You keep mentioning World War I. Why do you keep mentioning World War I?

A. I keep mentioning World War I because World War I was a horrible carnage! Many people considered it senseless. However, war is endless under capitalism. It's the nature of the capitalist system to bring endless war. In addition, the situation in the world today resembles the situation before World War I in many ways.

Q. You say the situation today resembles in many ways the situation before World War I. How is that?

A. Prior to World War I there was intense competition between the various powers of Europe for markets and economic domination and whatnot. Today it is not much different. There is intense competition between the major world powers for global markets. Trade wars lead to shooting wars. The origins of many wars are economic. The competition between two or more superpowers heats up and so they go to war. The collapse of the Soviet Union only made the economic competition between the various capitalistic powers even more intense. The major capitalist powers were united against the Soviet Union. But now all the major capitalistic powers do not have a common enemy. And the competition between the United States and its former allies on the other side of the Atlantic is heating up. Economic competition leads to economic wars which lead to shooting wars.

Q. Economic competition between different superpowers throughout history has led to war, that is true. But still, don't you think the use of atomic weapons would just be too horrible for anyone to consider using them first?

A. The war-mongering nuts in the White House have already used the atomic bomb – in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If they're crazy enough to use the atomic bomb once they're crazy enough to use it again. If the United States government is crazy enough to create a huge stockpile of nuclear weapons they're crazy enough to use it. The US government has never renounced the first use of nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union – back when it existed – did renounce the first use of nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union stockpiled nuclear weapons to defend itself from the United States. If the Soviet Union had not had that huge stockpile of nuclear weapons then the United States might have dropped the atomic bomb on cities like Moscow and also Hanoi in Vietnam.

Q. You really think that the US government would have dropped the atomic bomb on Hanoi in Vietnam?

A. Yes, I do believe so. Because the United States was losing the war. The only way that they could've brought the North Vietnamese government to their knees is dropping the atomic bomb on Hanoi. But, dropping the atomic bomb on Hanoi might have begun World War III with the Soviet Union.

Q. But doesn't the very fact that the United States government did not drop the atomic bomb on Hanoi prove that the US government is not crazy enough to use the atomic bomb again?

A. The US government decided it wasn't worth it to have a nuclear war with the Soviet Union over Vietnam. However, when the situation came much closer to home the United States was willing to have a nuclear war. John F. Kennedy brought the world to the brink of a nuclear holocaust during the Cuban missile crisis. It was Khrushchev that backed down, not Kennedy. If Khrushchev had not backed down during the Cuban missile crisis there might have been a nuclear war. And if there had been a nuclear war we would not exist today.

Q. I see, but even if there is a nuclear war do you think it will be as horrible as many say it will be? Isn't it possible that the human race will survive a nuclear war?

A. If there is a limited exchange – such as if India and Pakistan had a nuclear war – there would be widespread nuclear contamination and many people all over the world might get radiation sickness and cancer and die. But it's still doubtful that the entire human race would go extinct if the nuclear war is between countries with smaller arsenals of nuclear weapons like India and Pakistan. However, in the event of a nuclear war between two countries with heavy stockpiles of nuclear weapons like Russia and the United States then I do believe it's probable that the human race will go extinct. The people in the United States and Russia would die quickly – in many cases instantaneously. The rest of the human race – the people outside Russia and the United States – would die slowly, but they would all probably die. There would simply be too much nuclear radiation contaminating everything – including the air the water the ground and all the plants and fish and animals we eat as well. Everything would be contaminated with nuclear radiation. In addition, a major nuclear war would cause so much destruction and therefore cause so much dust in the atmosphere that it would block out the rays of the sun. This in turn would kill off the plant life and the large-scale die off of plant life across the world would cause a large-scale die off of animals – so all the animals and plants that we eat would be dead. So even if someone were lucky enough to be immune to all of the nuclear radiation in the sea and the air and the water they still wouldn't have anything to eat. So they would die. So a nuclear war would not only cause massive numbers of people to die of radiation poisoning, but it would also cause massive deaths from starvation. If you still doubt that a major nuclear war would cause human extinction then you should go to the Peace Museum in Hiroshima. See with your own eyes what one primitive nuclear bomb can do. Remember, today's nuclear weapons are far more powerful than the ones used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And only one nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and it destroyed a good part of the city.

Q. Have you been to the Peace Museum in Hiroshima?

A. Yes, I have. From the photographs it became obvious that the one primitive nuclear bomb used destroyed a good part of the city. In addition, the survivors had been asked to paint and draw what they saw immediately after the dropping of the atomic bomb. The pictures you see are a horrible scene. The drawings are of people with their arms spread away from their bodies because the flesh from their arms and their bodies was flowing down to the ground and if they had their arms next to their bodies then their arms would stick to their bodies. So all these people with their flesh oozing off of their bodies were walking in mass to the river as they groaned "Water! Water! Water!" over and over again and when they reached the river they drank and drank the water and then they died. There were massive numbers of corpses flowing down the river of Hiroshima. The nuclear bombs of today are so numerous and much much more powerful.

Q. But what about the possibility of a terrorist dirty bomb? Doesn't that seem far more likely than a major nuclear war?

A. I don't have a crystal ball. So it's impossible for me to say whether there will be a terrorist "dirty-bomb" or not. That would certainly be horrible. However, it will not cause the human race to go extinct. While the idea of a "dirty-bomb" is terrifying the idea of the extinction of the human race from a major nuclear war is also terrifying – far more terrifying. What's interesting is that our government – the United States government – uses the fear of a "dirty-bomb" and terrorism in general to justify limiting many of our civil liberties. What's ironic about all of this is that here's the United States government talking about the dangers of a possible nuclear bomb when in fact the United States government has the biggest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the entire world! The United States government is the biggest terrorist in the world. The huge stockpile of nuclear weapons of the United States government is the biggest threat to the survival of mankind, as well as the huge stockpile in Russia's hands as well. Homo sapiens have been the only humans on this planet for the past 30,000 years, because 30,000 years ago Neanderthal went extinct. Do you think we can survive another 30,000 years with the atomic bomb? So far, we've managed to survive some 65 years with the atomic bomb. Do you think we could survive another 650 years with the atomic bomb? Do you think we could survive another 6,500 years with the atomic bomb? Do we want our descendents to be destroyed in a nuclear war?

Q. So what do you think should be done to eliminate new weapons? Or rather, is it feasible to eliminate nuclear weapons?

A. We have to eliminate nuclear weapons, or otherwise eventually at some point in the future there will be a major nuclear war and the human race will go extinct. And even if the human race doesn't go extinct from a nuclear war civilization as we know it will cease to exist, and there will be huge die offs of human beings. The entire world would be contaminated with nuclear cancer-causing fallout. The number of births defects would be staggering. It would just be so horrible that we must do everything possible to eliminate nuclear weapons from the world. So you see, it is not a question of whether it's feasible or not to eliminate nuclear weapons – we must do it!

Q. But you didn't answer my first question. How do we eliminate nuclear weapons? Don't you think our own government – the US government – is doing its best to eliminate nuclear weapons? After all, our government is doing everything possible it can to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Our government is doing everything it can to stop Iran and North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons. And on top of that our government has signed a treaty with Russia to eliminate some of the nuclear weapons in both nations' stockpiles.

A. The key word there is some. The treaty only eliminates about a third of the nuclear stockpiles of Russia and the United States. So there will still be plenty of nuclear weapons there to kill off the entire human race – or to at least kill off most of the human race. Remember, the nuclear nuts in the White House have a bomb shelter to escape to. So maybe they think they can survive a nuclear war, I don't know, but the people running the world are a bunch of crazy war-mongering fools, and they certainly can't be trusted with the atomic button. As far as the anti-proliferation efforts of the United States government against North Korea and Iran is concerned it is rather hypocritical for the country with the highest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world to be telling other countries that they can't have nuclear weapons. Especially when our own government acts like a big bully threatening countries like North Korea and Iran those countries feel that they need to arm themselves with a nuclear bomb to protect themselves from an American invasion.

Q. Then what should be done to eliminate nuclear weapons – all nuclear weapons – from the world?

A. The solution is to get rid of capitalism. Capitalism brings endless war. We should take both the war-mongering Democrats and Republicans and throw them out of government and let them pick up garbage off the streets for food stamps. (Laughs) Or they can do something else for a living. But I tell you in order to bring about world peace the Democrats and Republicans will both have to get new jobs. We should throw them out of the government. Remember that it was the Democrats who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki – that was Harry Truman. Remember that it was the Democrats that brought the world to the brink of a nuclear holocaust during the Cuban missile crisis – that was John F. Kennedy. So either the Democrats and the Republicans might push the atomic button. The only solution is to kick the Democrats and Republicans out of office. What we need is a workers party. A workers party will bring peace. Once there are workers parties in power in countries throughout the world we will be able to eliminate nuclear weapons from the face of the earth.

Q. Only once the world is ruled by workers parties – and only then – will it be possible to eliminate nuclear weapons from the face of the earth? Really?

A. Yes, I believe so. Capitalism brings endless war. A socialist nation might need nuclear weapons in order to defend itself from capitalist nations, that is to keep the capitalist nations at bay. But once there are no more capitalist countries on the planet then it will be possible to eliminate nuclear weapons for good. Once capitalism no longer exists on the planet earth there will be no more war.