p The ideologists of the exploiting classes have been trying to make people believe that the causes of war lie in the very nature of man, who, they say, has been bellicose ever since time 138 immemorial. In proposing this preposterous idea they endeavoured and continue to endeavour to absolve themselves of the responsibility for wars, for the sufferings and horror experienced by nations plunged into the bloody abyss of war by the reckless policy of the ruling classes.

p Marxism-Leninism has been the only social science that revealed the real causes and essence of wars. War is not eternal. It is a historical phenomenon engendered by the appropriate social and economic factors. In primitive times, when neither classes nor states existed, when production was at such a low level as to rule out the possibility of private appropriation, there were no wars. The further development of production led to the emergence of private ownership and classes. The causes of war are rooted in the nature of a society with antagonistic classes, in the economic foundation of this society—private ownership and the unresolvable contradictions inherent in it. “War,” Lenin wrote, “does not contradict the fundamentals of private property—on the contrary, it is a direct and inevitable outcome of those fundamentals.”  [138•* 

p Wars are engendered only by a society with antagonistic classes, only by the interests of the exploiting classes. Wars are a continuation of the policy of the ruling classes. Exploiters oppress the working masses, frequently using weapons to enforce this oppression. In their drive for profits they conquer and enslave the peoples of other, particularly backward, countries and continuously fight among themselves. As long as society is ruled by exploiters, as long as they hold the destiny of world politics in their hands, sanguinary tragedies will be the unavoidable companions of mankind.

p This is proved by facts. Jean Jacques Babel, the Swiss researcher, has calculated that in the course of 5,559 years there were 14,513 wars, which cost the lives of 3,640 million people, which is more than the world’s entire present population.

Mankind moved forward in its development, and weapons became more formidable and devastating. Wars became more and more expensive, costing more and more human 139 lives and destroying more and more material values. Recall the enormous loss of life and material wealth in only the two world wars. If world thermonuclear war is not averted, its consequences will be even more appalling.