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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Roger Martin du Gard: Selections on war
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Roger Martin du Gard
From Summer 1914 (1936)
Translated by Stuart Gilbert
“A defensive war! A war that’s forced upon us! A just war! Don’t you realize they’re throwing dust in our eyes – as they’ve always done? Are you, too, going to let yourself be fooled? It’s only three hours since the mobilization order came out, and you’re backing down already! You’re giving way to those brutal passions that the press has been working up to fever-pitch for the last week, passions that the army leaders will exploit to the utmost! Who’ll stand up against this wave of madness if even Socialists like you give in?”
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Jacques thought: “Nine Frenchmen out of ten are like that today. Eager to exculpate their country and convince themselves that their enemies have foisted this war on them – so as to justify the reactions of their combative instinct. And as a matter of fact one can’t help wondering if young fellows like these don’t get a sort of gloomy satisfaction out of suddenly feeling at one with an outraged nation, breathing the heady atmosphere of collective hatred.” And it struck him that nothing had changed since the days when Cardinal de Retz made bold to write: “Nothing is of greater consequence in handling a nation than to make it appear to them, even when one attacks, that one has only self-defence in mind.”
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“It’s a curious thing,” Jacques said, “I’ve always believed – I’ve said it dozens of times – that wars have nothing to do with emotion, that they’re inevitable due to a clash of conflicting economic interests. Well, when I see today how every class of society, without distinction, has worked itself up so easily into a patriotic frenzy, I’m almost beginning to wonder if wars aren’t, rather, the result of some instinctive, uncontrollable upsurge of emotions and if the conflict of interests isn’t merely a pretext for letting the instincts have their run.” He broke off, letting his thoughts run on before he spoke again. “And the most grotesque thing of all is the need they feel, not only to justify themselves, but to proclaim that if they’ve given in they’ve done so for good reasons and of their own accord! Their own accord! All these poor wretches who yesterday were fighting doggedly to stave off a war and now are dragged into it against their will are resolutely putting up a show of acting on their own initiative.” Again he paused before continuing. “It’s positively tragic that all those shrewd, sharp-witted men should suddenly become so gullible once their patriotic emotions are played on. Tragic and almost incomprehensible. Perhaps it’s simply this: the average man identifies himself unthinkingly with his country, his nation, and his government. He gets into the habit of saying: ‘We Frenchmen…’ or ‘We Germans…’ And, as each individual genuinely desires peace, it’s impossible for him to admit that his country is out for war. Almost one might say that the more a man is keen on peace, the more inclined he is to exonerate his country and his countrymen and the easier it is to convince him that all the provocations come from the foreigner; that his government isn’t to blame and he belongs to a community which is being victimized, and that if he fights for it he’s acting in self-defence.”
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“Do you know what struck me most?” Jacques said after another silence. “It was the look in their eyes, the tone of their voices, a sort of involuntary exhilaration one couldn’t help noticing in their behaviour. In fact, one can’t help wondering, supposing they were to hear tonight that orders had been issued for demobilization, whether their first reaction wouldn’t be one of disappointment. And the most tragic thing of all,” he went on in the same breath, “is the tremendous amount of energy expended by them in the service of war. The courage, the contempt of death. The waste of so much steadfastness of spirit, a hundredth part of which would have been enough to stop war from breaking out if only it had been employed, while there was still time, in the service of peace!”
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