whatever their size or military strength.^43 Third, as the incarnation of
order and hierarchy, and often as the privileged realm of the aris-
tocracy, the army was rarely a cherished institution on the left. Typ-
ically, progressives sought to reduce military expenditures, increase
parliamentary control over the army, and democratize recruitment
and promotions. Armies, remarked historian Alfred Vagts, “have seen
their enemies on the Left, just as the Left has come to view them as
foes.”^44
When threatened, a progressive regime would be best defended not
by a traditional army, but by the nation itself. “The ‘nation in arms’,”
stated French socialist Jean Jaures in 1914, “represents the system best calculated to realize national defense.”^45 As the expression of dem- ocracy, the “nation in arms” would pursue just ends and contribute to bring peace. The best approach, however, was still to avoid military engagement. Up to July 1914, Jaures advocated a general strike to
oppose France’s entry into war. At the end of that month, however,
the socialist leader was assassinated by a right-wing militant and,
soon after, his party rallied to support the national war effort like the
rest of the left in Europe.^46 In the 1930s, most on the left also accepted,
albeit reluctantly, the necessity to fight Nazi Germany, a regime that
embodied a radical form of right-wing authoritarianism, racism, and
militarism. In parallel, in the Soviet Union, Stalin used the doctrine of
“socialism in one country” to reconcile the internationalist roots of
the revolution with the more proximate goals of consolidating the
regime and preparing for total war, in a context of impending military
threat.^47
Overall, the inclination of liberals, social-democrats, and socialists
remained to resist militarism and war, in opposition to parties of the
(^43) Ibid., p. 149.
(^44) Alfred Vagts,A History of Militarism: Civilian and Military, New York, Free
45 Press, 1967, p. 315.
Jean Jaure`s, quoted in Sigmund Neumann and Mark von Hagen, “Engels and
Marx on Revolution, War, and the Army in Society,” in Peter Paret (ed.),
Makers of Modern Strategy; From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, Princeton
46 University Press, 1986, p. 280.
47 Eley,Forging Democracy, pp. 124–27.
Condoleezza Rice, “The Making of Soviet Strategy,” in Paret (ed.),Makers of
Modern Strategy, pp. 660–63; Robert W. Cox, “‘Real Socialism’ in Historical
Perspective,” in Robert W. Cox, with Timothy J. Sinclair (eds.),Approaches to
World Order, Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 212–15.
94 Left and Right in Global Politics