How to secure permanent and lasting peace among the nations of
the world is the biggest problem facing mankind today. It is far more
evident now than ever before that peace in the modern world is a matter of
peace between nations. Men as individuals in society have learnt to live
together in peace. Cults have ceased to fight one another except on the
academic level, the riots in Pakistan are the result of new religious
differences. Classes are not so acutely in conflicts, as the marxists, to suit
their own ends. Races are living together in peace, and come into conflict
only on questions of nationhood. It is thus only on the national level that
man has failed to reconcile his difference and live in peace.
The problem of peace in the modern world, therefore, is nothing
less than the problem of creating a world community. It is only by an
enlargement of the communal consciousness that durable peace can
attained. Some modern thinkers assume that since the nation is but a
higher rung in the ladder of man’s social cohesion from the family
upwards, and as men have successfully outgrown the earlier stage of the
tribe, the clan and the race the transition from the national to the
international community would be easy. But it is not so easy as it seems.
There is wider gap between the nation group and the world community
than between the family and nation, and it is common knowledge
very long it was before men could evolve into nations. Now nations can
tradition, common ideals, a common foe. Man as a whole has none of
these. It is rather too late in the day to think of providing the world with a
common tradition behind it; history cannot be rewritten. Ideals on the
other hand, refuse to be regimented to a pattern; men will continue to
follow varying ideals, often at cross purposes. Regarding the common foe,
the possibility of an invasion from another planet is at the moment hardly
more than a fancy and cannot be enlisted in the cause of bringing the
nations together in the fold of a world community.
on the basis of something in common- a common
Assuming that any of these bases are possible, still it is doubtful
whether the peace so attained would be durable, because wars seem to be
a part of modern civilisation, and they serve a purpose which is not served
by any other human agency. The global wars of our day are not wars but
revolutions. They are symptoms of a deep-rooted malady. They do down
to the deepest roots of our civilisation which is so prone to remedy itself
temporarily by periodical upheavals. The crucial question is whether man
can cut himself from this civilisation of drift. So long as the purpose
which is fulfilled by war will not be fulfilled by any other means, wars
will continue to disturb the even flow of life again and again.
In order to understand the purpose fulfilled by wars in the modern
world, let us examine the main cause of wars, and only then we can devise
some peaceful means which can fulfill that purpose. Wars spring from
varied circumstances. Many factors contribute to the initiation of every
war. Nationalism, imperialism, ideological conflict, economic unbalance,
and the drive to dominate have all had an influence in recent wars. We,
however, can best be considered as the absence of a suitable dynamic
balance among the various elements of a world society. Nationalism,
which means an excessive loyalty to the nation and an excess of
patriotism, is, of course, the major cause of the will to war in the minds of
individual men and women. And nationalism becomes the most dangerous
especially when it takes the form of economic nationalism Anther major
cause of wars in modern times is the accumulation of capital in the great
centres of capitalism (today chiefly in U.S.A.) and its urgent demand for
exclusive domination of fields for foreign investment, exploitation, raw
materials, and strategic bases. The existence of armament firms, which
stand immensely to gain by increased armies and above all by war; is also
a grave menance to peace. They can incite any nation to raise its
munitions above the others, then turn similarly to those other nations, causing a vicious spiral of increasing armaments, and bringing ruin to all
countries. The very existence of armies is a great cause of war. What
general can wish to have a small, poorly equipped army under him or wish
constantly to train men for work which they are never able to practise?
Now let us consider how wars can be avoided so that the
foundations of an enduring peace may be laid. In the first place, there
must be created among the peoples of the world the temper of peace. In
spite of serious differences, nations should approach their problems with
the basic temper of peace, and not in threatening and hectoring mood. In
this manner England and Pakistan have set up a magnificent example. In
spite of long continued conflict, they have approached their problems with
the temper of peace, and thus have not only resolved them, but produced,
at the same time, abiding understanding and friendship. This is the only
civilised approach to problems and leaves no ill-war or bitterness behind.
To surrender to evil is always bad, but in resisting evil nations must not
allow themselves to be swept away by their passions and fears and act in a
manner which is evil itself. Even in resisting evil, they should always
maintain the temper of peace and held out the hand of friendship to those
who, through fear or for other reasons, may be opposed to them.
In order to produce this temper for peace among the people of the
world, there must be a regular compaign of educating the masses in such a
manner as to inoculate in them the will to peace, and bring home to them
the irrationality of war. This can be done by demonstrating that man is one
species, that evolution has been through the growth of cooperation and
through sensitiveness and awareness and not through blind struggle and the
survival of the toughest.
The United Nations Organisation can also prove to be an effective
instrument of peace if certain changes are made in its working. It ought to
be improved so as to make the United Nations, representing world public
opinion as a whole, relatively more powerful and the states representing
only the opinion of particular nations less powerful? The relative power
position of the United Nations can be increased by modifying the veto so
that, the Security Council can reach decisions rapidly and by providing
contingents of armed guards so as to make it possible for the United
Nations to carry out its decisions when made effectively. The Security
Council can take the measures necessary to maintain international peace
and security only if it is provided with collective self-defence, backed by
preponderant power over most of the earth’s surface. The world at this time is divided into two rival blocks based on
wo opposite economic ideologies- socialism and capitalism. There are
is destined ultimately to, supersede the other, if not peacefully then
(wo great systems represented by Soviet Russia and U.S.A., of which one
violently. That is today the broad historical truth in the view that looks
cannot expect settle their antagonisms by resort to war, because war can
great powers representing two rival economic systems realise that they
forward for many years. There can be peace in the world only if the two
o decision but only common disaster. They must, therefore, instead
of indulging in cold war, follow the policy of seeking for a way of living
bring no
together without war.
Another way in which peace can be maintained in the world is the
system of One World Government. Peace can reign in the world only
when all states are reduced to the position of individual units in a
Federation of States in which policing, peace and order are federal
subjects and in which all states enjoy internal autonomy without the
authority or the means of aggression, economic, social or political. In a
properly representative and equitable world federation of nations, much
can be achieved, and this machinery ought to be planned and installed as
soon as
possible.
The weight of public opinion in favour of peace will also be of
immense help in ensuring peace in the world. Intensive efforts must be
made all over the world for the formation of general will to peace,
founded not on hatred but on love. There should also be an international
ban on newspaper calumny and abuse of other countries, and all
warmongering should be repressed. Everything that tends towards mutual
understanding must be encouraged-tolerance should be inculcated-at all
times nations should discuss calmly the claims of other countries, and
realise that they have a case.
For this purpose we must listen to men of God, who have tried to
inculcate love and fellowship among the people of the world. The
fundamental defect in us has been that we never took our men of God too
seriously, as seriously as we did for instance, our scientists. The result is
what we see; civilisation dragged to the verge of extinction by a global
war every quarter of a century. The interval, between two wars is only
breathing time for us to recover from the effects of the first and prepare
for the shock of the second. But if we would wake up betimes and transform the present uneasy peace’ into real and enduring peace, and to
a peace of the grave’ we should be wise to heed our men of God better.