60 THE CLASS STRUGGLE THE CLASS STRUGGLE 61 We should contemplate with amazement surgeons and nurses attempting to save lives, and at the same time working in co operation with murderous men, equipped with the newest appliances of science, bent upon destroying lives all zealously striving together. Society will some day look back with wonder upon the anachronism of surgical skill, with its infinite possibilities for human service, occupied day and night in restoring to efficiency the butchers of men, that they may be returned to their cruel pursuit.
Neither surgeon nor nurse should refuse to help the injured.
The hand of mercy should not be stayed. But the surgeon who saves the life of a soldier, has given that soldier life; and as a recompense the surgeon may demand that that soldier shall not use his life again for the purpose of destroying others. If the surgeon does not make this the condition upon which he gives life to the soldier, he himself becomes a belligerent and is no more worthy of the consideration of neutrality than is any other accomplice of the fighting man. And the soldier is not worthy of life if he betrays the gift of life and the giver, It is true that the military surgeon will care for the wounded enemy. He will do the thing necessary to save his life. But he will do it voluntarily only on condition that the enemy is a captive and that the life which he restores remains captive and is not permitted to return to its murderous business. The surgeon, on the other hand, will only save the enemy who is to return to duty when he himself is a prisoner, deprived of liberty of life, and compelled to perform the service. Surgeons, nurses and other Red Cross non combatants are belligerents on one side or another, lending their offices for the military success of that side. They are the agents of militarism. Their status should be that of the soldier.
The forces which give respectability to International warfare are anti social forces. If the Red Cross carries succor to soldiers, it behooves it also to organize a branch to provide comforts for hangmen. These gentry are the agents of governments, performing brutal, unnecessary and shameful functions, as does the soldier. The hopeful sign is that they are not glorified. That is an indication that we shall soon be rid of them. As soon as we let the soldier go to his brutal, unnecessary and shameful business with no more applause than we bestow upon the hangman, we shall soon be rid of him. God help us when the ladies knit socks and stomachers for the hangman!
Red Cross doctors, who are participating in war, should not beguile us with the claim that they are non combatants, and inspired only by love of humanity. We shall not be deceived.
They are a part of the program of war.
When it is over, we shall find them parading among its heroes and accepting the recognition which is accorded to those who went forth to kill.
We saw the Red Cross Society go to Mexico, ostensibly to give aid to the people, but in fact to promote the propaganda to bring about war between the United States and that country.
This is scarcely a neutral or non combatant function.
Were the impelling motive behind the Red Cross workers one of love for humanity and a burning zeal to sacrifice themselves for mankind, there are ample fields yet unoccupied in the struggle for life in every land. In our own country the preventable deaths in the economic warfare for livelihood and for profits are quite as appalling to the discerning eye as those of the European charnel. Here are the unaided hurt, crying for help hurt by machines and dust and poisons and rotten railroad ties and insufficient food and crowded slums hurt because somebody is making money by with holding rightful human protection from them and robbing others of the wealth which they create.
These suffering and dying millions of workers go down to their graves without the stain of their fellows biood upon their hands.
They are soldiers in the world warfare against the forces of nature, enlisted to make the world more pleasant and life more livable. They stand for life, and not for death. They need all the surgeons, nurses, Red Cross stockings, and shirts that are now consumed by the blood thirsty men who go forth to slay the husbands of innocent wives, the sons of guiltless mothers and the fathers of weeping babes.
Here is the answer to this social riddle: War is a ruling class game. It is the affair of kings, ministers, imperialists, and the