#title The Burden of War
#subtitle “Menace of the Militarist Program” (1915)
#author Helen Keller
#SORTauthors Helen Keller;
#date 2003
#source [[https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/362-fall-2003/the-burden-of-war]]
#lang en
#pubdate 2017-09-26
#notes Fifth Estate #362, Fall, 2003

The burden of war always falls heaviest on the toilers. They are taught that their masters can do no wrong and go out in vast numbers to be killed on the battlefield. And what is their reward? If they escape death they come back to face heavy taxation and have their burden of poverty doubled. Through all the ages they have been robbed of the just rewards of their patriotism as they have been of the just rewards of their labors.

The only moral virtue of war is that it compels the capitalist system to look itself in the face and admit it is a fraud. It compels the present society to look itself in the face and admit that it has no morals it will not sacrifice for gain.