War the Cause of Human Progress 9 



ended in the occasional vast battles of immense 

 nations, we must nevertheless admit that without it 

 the world would still have been inhabited only by 

 men of feeble types sheltering in caves and living on 

 wild food. 



If the world were still inhabited by men seeking 

 a shelter in caves, and if the great societies of 

 nations had never been formed, the progress of 

 the human race would not have taken place. 

 Progress, therefore, according to Herbert Spencer, 

 is due to war, — that is to say, to collective homicide. 



A possible objection that war and collective 

 homicide are not synonymous is met by Novikov 

 by an appeal to the actual facts : 



What takes place in war? The combatants of the 

 two armies come together. They commence to kill 

 each other with swords, rifles, and cannons. A battle 

 is a series of homicides, accomplished in the same way 

 and at the same time; therefore a collective assassina- 

 tion. The fact that the two adversaries may have 

 equal chances and attack each other openly does not 

 make any change in the essential nature of the action. 

 In an individual duel' the struggle may be accomplished 

 also, not only with complete fairness, but even with a 

 great display of courtesy. This does not change the 

 fact that when one adversary or both of them lose 

 their lives the duel is only, in fact, a homicide. In 

 war incidentally, it is not at all believed that one 

 is obliged to fight fairly. Surprises and ruses are 

 practised continually/ 



* La Critique du Darwinisme Social, p. 4. 



