Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward

the greatest 'good' for the greatest number, the 'dignity' of the'

individual, the desirability of maximum health and longevity, and other such wishful premises as axiomatic values necessary for the justification of a study of peace issues. We have not found them so. We have attempted to apply the standards of physical science to our thinking, the principal characteristic of which is not quantification, as is popularly believed, but that, in Whitehead's words,'... it ignores all judgments of value; for instance, all esthetic and moral judgments.'1

The major conclusion of the report was that, in the past, war has been the only reliable means to achieve that goal. It contends that only during times of war or the threat of war are the masses compliant enough to carry the yoke of government without complaint. Fear of conquest and pillage by an enemy can make almost any burden seem acceptable by comparison. War can be used to arouse human passion and patriotic feelings of loyalty to the nation's leaders. No amount of sacrifice in the name of victory will be rejected. Resistance is viewed as treason. But, in times of peace, people become resentful of high taxes, shortages, and bureaucratic intervention. When they become disrespectful of their leaders, they become dangerous. No government has long survived without enemies and armed conflict. War, therefore, has been an indispensable condition for 'stabilizing society.' These are the report's exact words:

The war system not only has been essential to the existence of nations as independent political entities, but has been equally indispensable to their stable political structure. Without it, no government has ever been able to obtain acquiescence in its

'legitimacy,' or right to rule its society. The possibility of war provides the sense of external necessity without which no government can long remain in power. The historical record reveals one instance 1- Leonard Lewin, ed., Report from Iron Mountain on the Possibility and Desirability of Peace (New York: Dell Publishing, 1967), pp. 13-14.

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THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND

after another where the failure of a regime to maintain the credibility of a war threat led to its dissolution, by the forces of private interest, of reactions to social injustice, or of other disintegrative elements. The organization of society for the possibility of war is its principal political stabilizer.... It has enabled societies to maintain necessary class distinctions, and it has insured the subordination of the citizens to the state by virtue of the residual war powers inherent in the concept of nationhood.

A NEW DEFINITION OF PEACE

The report then explains that we are approaching a point in history where the old formulas may no longer work. Why? Because it may now be possible to create a world government in which all nations will be disarmed and disciplined by a world army, a

condition which will be called peace. The report says: 'The word

peace, as we have used it in the following pages,... implies total and general disarmament.'2 Under that scenario, independent nations will no longer exist and governments will not have the capability to wage war. There could be military action by the world army against renegade political subdivisions, but these would be called peace-keeping operations, and soldiers would be called peace keepers. No matter how much property is destroyed or how much blood is spilled, the bullets will be 'peaceful' bullets and the bombs—even atomic bombs, if necessary—will be 'peaceful'

bombs.

The report then raises the question of whether there can ever be a suitable substitute for war? What else could the regional governments use—and what could the world government itself use—to legitimize and perpetuate itself? To provide an answer to that question was the stated purpose of the study.

The Report from Iron Mountain concludes that there can be no substitute for war unless it possesses three properties. It must (1) be economically wasteful, (2) represent a credible threat of great magnitude, and (3) provide a logical excuse for compulsory service to the government.

A SOPHISTICATED FORM OF SLAVERY

On the subject of compulsory service, the report explains that one of the advantages of standing armies is that they provide a 1. Ibid., pp. 39,81.

2. Ibid., p. 9.

DOOMSDAY MECHANISMS 519

place for the government to put antisocial and dissident elements of society. In the absence of war, these forced-labor battalions would be told they are fighting poverty or cleaning up the planet or bolstering the economy or serving the common good in some other fashion. Every teenager would be required to serve—especially during those years in which young people are most rebellious against authority. Older people, too, would be drafted as a means of working off tax payments and fines. Dissidents would face heavy fines for 'hate crimes' and politically incorrect attitudes so, eventually, they would all be in the forced-labor battalions. The report says:

We will examine ... the time-honored use of military institutions to provide anti-social elements with an acceptable role in the social structure.... The current euphemistic cliches—'juvenile delinquency'

and 'alienation'—have had their counterparts in every age. In earlier days these conditions were dealt with directly by the military without the complications of due process, usually through press gangs or outright enslavement....