ENDS AND MEANS
sectarian fields the admirable work performed by the
Society of Friends and other purely religious organizations.
The result is that in England, in Holland, in the Scan-
dinavian countries, in America and to some extent in
Belgium and France, the public at large is beginning to
become aware, if only dimly and still theoretically, that
there exists a morally better and more effective alternative
to revolution, to war, to violence and brutality of every
kind.
Groups of war resisters, when sufficiently large and, in
the moment of crisis, sufficiently unanimous, can prevent
their government from going to war. This was clearly
shown in 1920, when the Council of Action compelled
Lloyd George to call off his threatened attack on the
Soviets. It is unfortunately quite clear that the official
leaders of the various left-wing parties of the world are
not likely, in the immediate future, to call for similar
passive resistance to any war which can be represented as
'a war of defence/ *a war to save democracy/ *a war
against Fascism/ even a 'war to end war/ This means
that, in the case of practically any war that is likely to
break out in the near future, organized labour cannot be
counted upon to work for peace. Without the aid of,
organized labour, war resisters have but the smallest chance
of actually preventing their governments from waging a
war. Nevertheless they can certainly do something to
make the process morally and perhaps even physically
more difficult than it would otherwise be. Peace can be
secured and maintained only by the simultaneous adoption
in many different fields of long-term policies, carefully
designed with this end in view. Meanwhile, however,
there is one short-term policy which every individual can
adopt—the policy of war resistance.
People of 'advanced views' often question this con-
clusion. The causes of war, they argue, are predominantly
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