WAR
(vii) Of the economic causes of war the first in historical
importance is the desire of one nation to possess itself of
fertile territory belonging to another nation. Hitler, for
example, has stated that the Germans need new territory
in which to accommodate their surplus population. If
Germany goes to war with Russia it will be, in part at
least, to satisfy this real or imaginary craving for more
and better land.
In modern times wars have been fought not so much
for fertile lands as for the possession or control of raw
materials indispensable to industry. The iron ore of
Lorraine has been a bone of contention between France
and Germany. Japan's activities in Manchuria and Northern
China can be explained, at least in part, by need for
minerals. Italian and German participation in the Spanish
Civil War has not been exclusively motivated by ideo-
logical considerations. The two Fascist dictators have
their eyes on the copper of Rio Tinto, the iron of
Bilbao, which before the outbreak of war were under
English control.
(viii) Under capitalism all highly industrialized countries
need foreign markets. The reason for this is that, where
production is carried on for profit, it is difficult or impossible
to distribute enough purchasing power to enable people to
buy the things they themselves have produced. Defects
in domestic purchasing power have to be made up by
finding foreign markets. The imperialistic activities of the
great powers during the nineteenth century were directed
in large measure towards securing .markets for their pro-
ductions. But—and this is one of the strangest paradoxes
of the capitalist system—no sooner has a market been
secured, either by conquest or peaceful penetration, than
the very industrialists who manufacture for that inarket
proceed to equip the conquered or peacefully penetrated
country with the machinery that will enable it to dispense
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