V. I.

Lenin

Britain is one of the richest, freest and most advanced
countries in the world. The armaments fever has long afflicted
British “society” and the British Government, in exactly the same way as
it has the French, German and other governments.

And now the British press, particularly the labour press, is publishing
very interesting data, which reveal the ingenious capitalist “mechanics”
of arms manufacture. Britain’s naval armaments are particularly
great. Britain’s ship yards (Vickers, Armstrong, Brown and others) are
world-famous. Hundreds and thousands of millions of rubles are being spent
by Britain and other countries on war preparations, and of course it is all
being done exclusively in the interests of peace, for the preservation of
culture, in the interests of the country, civilisation, etc.

And we find that admirals and prominent statesmen of both parties,
Conservative and Liberal, are shareholders and directors of shipyards, and
of gunpowder, dynamite, ordnance and other factories. A shower of gold is
pouring straight into the pockets of bourgeois politicians, who have got
together in an exclusive international gang engaged in instigating an
armaments race among the peoples and fleecing these trustful,
stupid, dull and submissive peoples like sheep.

Armaments are considered a national matter, a matter of patriotism; it
is presumed that everyone maintains strict secrecy. But the shipyards, the
ordnance, dynamite and small-arms factories are international enterprises , in which the capitalists of the various countries work
together in duping and fleecing the public of the various countries, and making ships and guns alike for Britain against Italy, and for Italy
against Britain.

An ingenious capitalist set-up! Civilisation, law and order, culture,
peace—and hundreds of millions of rubles being plundered by capitalist
businessmen and swindlers in ship building, dynamite manufacture, etc.!

Britain is a member of the Triple Entente, which is hostile to the
Triple Alliance. Italy is a member of the Triple Alliance. The well-known
firm of Vickers (Britain) has branches in Italy. The shareholders
and directors of this firm (through the venal press and through venal
parliamentary “figures”, Conservative and Liberal alike) incite Britain
against Italy, and vice versa. And profit is taken both from the workers of
Britain and those of Italy; the people are fleeced in both countries.

Conservative and Liberal Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament
are almost all shareholders in these firms. They work hand in glove. The
son of the “great” Liberal Minister, Gladstone, is a director of the
Armstrong concern. Rear-Admiral Bacon, the celebrated naval specialist and
a high official at the Admiralty, has been appointed to a post at an
ordnance works in Coventry at a salary of £7,000 (over 60,000
rubles). The salary of the British Prime Minister is £5,000 (about
45,000 rubles).

The same thing, of course, takes place in all capitalist
countries. Governments manage the affairs of the capitalist class, and the
managers are well paid. The managers are shareholders themselves. And they
shear the sheep together, under cover of speeches about “patriotism....”

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