The World in Chains: Some Aspects of War and Trade

A series of argumentative essays examines the moral paradox of modern war, contrasting expanding ideals of universal obligation with the continued social acceptance of organised mass killing. It argues that state boundaries, diplomacy, and inherited manners institutionalise armed conflict even as public conscience broadens. Economic chapters analyse armament interests, wartime trade dynamics, and how profits concentrate with large capital and employers while national loss and civilian hardship increase. The work critiques imperialism and capitalism as engines of aggression, surveys cultural and propagandistic justifications, and proposes socialist and political reforms as means to reshape moral and economic relations toward wider human solidarity.