There is a Latin saying "cui prodest"—"who benefits?" When it is not immediately clear which political or social groups, forces, magnitudes are defending certain proposals, measures, and so forth, one should always pose the question: "Who benefits?"

It is not what matters who directly defends a given policy—for under the modern noble system of capitalism, any rich man will always be able to "hire" or buy, or attract any number of lawyers, writers, even deputies, professors, priests, and so on, to defend any views whatsoever. We live in a commercial age, when the bourgeoisie does not hesitate to trade in honor and conscience. There are also simpletons who, through lack of understanding or blind habit, defend the views prevalent in a given bourgeois milieu.

No, in politics it is not so important who directly defends certain views. What matters is who benefits from these views, these proposals, these measures.

For example, "Europe," the states that call themselves "civilized," are now engaged in a mad steeplechase of armaments. In a thousand different ways, in thousands of newspapers, from thousands of platforms they cry and shout about patriotism, about culture, about the homeland, about peace, about progress—and all of this for the sake of justifying new expenditures of tens and hundreds of millions of rubles on all manner of instruments of destruction, on cannons, on "dreadnoughts" (armored ships of the latest type), and so forth.

Dear public!—one wants to say in response to all these phrases of "patriots." Do not believe the phrases; look rather at who benefits!

Recently the famous English firm "Armstrong, Whitworth and Co." published its annual report. The firm produces chiefly all manner of armament goods. The balance sheet came to 877 thousand pounds sterling, that is, approximately 8 million rubles, with a dividend of 12½ percent!! Approximately 900,000 rubles was placed in reserve capital, and so on and so forth.

There is where the millions and billions, wrung from workers and peasants for armaments, go. Dividends of 12½ percent—this means doubling of capital in 8 years. And all manner of compensation for directors and such is not even counted here. Armstrong in England, Krupp in Germany, Creusot in France, Cockerill in Belgium, and how many of them are there in all the "civilized" countries? And a darkness of darkness of suppliers?

There is who benefits from the fanning of chauvinism, the prattle about "patriotism" (cannon patriotism), about the defense of culture (by means of instruments that destroy culture), and so forth!

*Pravda* No. 84, April 11, 1913. Signature: V.

Printed from the text of the newspaper *Pravda*