Reply #36: I was a Gangster for Capitalism

[seemslikeadream]

There are only two reasons to go to war, Butler said: 1) the defense of our homes; 2) defense of Bill of Rights: Every other reason for the murder of young men is a racket, pure and simple.”

An Amendment For Peace

Butler proposed an Amendment to the Constitution:

1) Complete prohibition against removing land forces from Continental limits of US and Panama Canal Zone.

2) Navy vessels must stay within 500 miles of the US coastline, except on missions of mercy. 3) Military aircraft must stay within 750 miles of coastline.

If the US homeland is attacked, all would rise to defend it regardless of race, color or creed. The US should let all territories and dependencies go. This means Puerto Rico, Virginia Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Wake and Midway Islands.

Hawaiian Island and Alaska would be defended by economic sanctions. Armed forces should be withdrawn.

Laws to take profit out of war or supporting neutrality, or creating a referendum on war or implementing total disarmament can easily be removed from the statute books. All these measures can be evaded. Even participants in a limited plebiscite could be persuaded by propaganda to vote against their own interests.

Smedley Butler’s answers was a Constitutional Amendment For Peace. This would take a long time to repeal, giving the nation time to come to its senses.

The Corporate Fascist Putsch

In 1931, General MacArthur routed and dispersed the WWI veterans who came to Washington and set up crude encampments called Hoovervilles . These vets were asking for the bonuses promised for their services in WWI.

Also in 1931, Smedley Butler was imprisoned for telling a story about Benito Mussolini that the fascist dictator denied. Butler was to be court-martialed but strong public reaction to his trial caused the charge to be dropped entirely.

The fascism of both Mussolini and Hitler was much admired in pre-WW II America – especially by the elite leadership in business, industry and the government.

The Fascists were very effective at suppressing labour and socialist demands for better wages and relief from the devastation brought on by the breakdown of capitalism.

Certain Wall Street banking houses such as J.P. Morgan and National City Bank, along with the Duponts, approached Smedley Butler in 1934 and asked him to lead the American Liberty League. This was a fascist offshoot of the American Legion. The proposal was to raise and arm a 500,000-man force of veterans to march on Washington in order to overthrow the government or at least force Roosevelt to back down on his New Deal program.

Smedley Butler exposed this plot in Congressional testimony before the McCormack-Dickstein Committee.

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