Perhaps it is difficult to find another equally monstrous phenomenon in the life of human society, which is war. The armed confrontation between countries and peoples results in innumerable calamities, hardships, death and destruction. Is it possible to justify military action, who needs a war and why?
War as a way of conducting politics
Regardless of the historical era, all wars have common features. The classics of Marxism, who most seriously approached the question of the nature, causes and significance of wars in the history of mankind, adhered to the definition of the Prussian military specialist Clausewitz, who pointed out that war is just a continuation of politics by violent means.
States use armed forces in war to achieve their political goals.
Any war is a social and political phenomenon that is inherent in states that are at the class stage of their development. Under the primitive communal system, there was no centralized state, therefore, armed clashes between tribes cannot be considered wars in the proper sense of the word, although there is an external similarity between these phenomena. In those distant times, clashes occurred mainly due to contradictions that arose during the division of hunting and fishing areas. The battles for resources were necessary for the survival of the family.
Who needs wars?
The objective content and essence of war determines the policy of the group of people in whose interests it is being waged. In a class state, this policy is determined by the ruling class. Its representatives have their own interests and motives, which may radically differ from the interests of the people, who make up the majority of the population of the belligerent countries.
The dominant political elites in society skillfully use the means of propaganda to give the war a fair character in the eyes of the population.
Indeed, wars can be both just and unjust. If a war is aimed at liberation from social or national oppression, then it is waged in the interests of the broad masses of the population and is progressive. Wars of conquest waged by reactionary circles of aggressive states aimed at conquering new territories and resources should be considered reactionary. Clarification of the nature of a particular war depends on the answer to the question: "Who benefits from this war?"
But even the fairest war of liberation is a huge disaster that most people don't need. In the modern world, when the means of destruction have acquired a planetary scale, it is very important for governments and peoples to learn how to resolve controversial issues by means of economic and political influence, avoiding bloodshed and large-scale military actions. Social movements based on the progressive forces of individual states can play an important role in the cause of peace.
