PREFACE XIII
which they are trying to force a decision. But unless
some great moral force emerges to prevent war altogether,
or if it comes, to keep its aims clearly defined, some force
that endures unchanged through all events, however
frightful or overwhelming, victory cannot be won, or,
if won, signifies nothing. Such a force is only to be found
in the popular masses, the common people, the workers.
Theirs are the fundamental feelings : love of peace, desire
for social justice, respect for humanity, the sense of
brotherhood which are the mainsprings of humanity.
Naturally these feelings do not predominate all the time ;
they have often to be unearthed, and they can be
suppressed or deflected. But not a single man of the
people in any country really believes that war is " the
hygiene of the world," or joins in the jeers of the fascist
leaders at the massacres of Addis Ababa or the martyrdom
of the children of Madrid. He has to be educated up to
this stage, trained to forget his genuine impulses.'
HERMAN FINER