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Smedley D. Butler

War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier Paperback – April 1, 2003

by Smedley D. Butler (Author), Adam Parfrey (Introduction)

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Originally printed in 1935, War Is a Racket is General Smedley Butler’s frank speech describing his role as a soldier as nothing more than serving as a puppet for big-business interests. In addition to photos from the notorious 1932 anti-war book The Horror of Itby Frederick A. Barber, this book includes two never-before-published anti-interventionist essays by General Butler.
The introduction discusses why General Butler went against the corporate war machine and how he exposed a fascist coup d’etat plot against President Franklin Roosevelt. Widely appreciated and referenced by left- and right-wingers alike, this is an extraordinary argument against war – more relevant now than ever.

Print length

80 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Feral House
Publication date

April 1, 2003
Dimensions

5.38 x 0.2 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

0922915865
ISBN-13

978-0922915866
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“There is little likelihood one will encounter a putdown and discounting of armed service, while questioning the reason for it, by a top experienced commander, anywhere within a light year of Marine General Smedley D. Butler’s WAR IS A RACKET. And there is utterly nothing comparable to the grim anthology of photographs devoted to the unspeakable hideousness of the bloody gore of modern – since Napoleonic times – warfare, THE HORROR OF IT. The American public recoiled from these two works when they were published, in close sequence, two generations ago… We can hope that this dual masterpiece at hand, in quite a different context, does a better job of reducing the level of ignorance.” ― James J. Martin

“Butler is scathing in his description of how the U.S. government wasted the lives of those soldiers who died but also of those who survived… A stunning condemnation of U.S. militarism and it ends with a demand that rings true down to today – ‘To hell with war.’” ― Ashley Smith, Socialist Worker

“America had seen its own attempt at a Fascist coup. Why, then, is this incident in U.S. history not better known? Why don’t children learn in school about the plot to seize the United States government?… The time has obviously come for Smedley Butler to have his moment in the sun. Butler’s attack on the military-industrial complex does more than expose war for the racket it is: It also gives the antiwar movement unmatched credibility.” ― Ken Mondschein, corporatemofo.com

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Feral House; Revised ed. edition (April 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 80 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0922915865
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0922915866
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.56 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.38 x 0.2 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #261,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #137 in War & Peace (Books)
- #211 in Nationalism (Books)
- #267 in United States Military Veterans History

Customer Reviews:
445 ratings

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T. wilson

The Butler Did IT! Unmasking the War Racket!

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2018

Verified Purchase

Required reading for the current time and times past. Smedley Butler was a brave, rousing, American soldier. His experiences and observations from the 1930s, echo into many foreign and domestic policies and hotspots making headlines today. It's sort of like a confession of an economic hitman 40 years before John Perkins wrote his book. It's daring and threadbare in showing the unvarnished aftermath and policies that guided men and nations to war then, before then, and today. Until the 1950s, this book was in American classrooms. It still ought to be. Since it printing, little of its force has been lost.

19 people found this helpful

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Doctor S 457337

War Is a Racket

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

A great book -- short, to the point. War is a racket that profits banks and corporations and not the people who fight or pay for the wars.

The one thing I found out of order with this book ... the front cover erroneously states that the following quote by Butler is from War is a Racket:

"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer; a gangster for capitalism."

That quote is actually not found in the book; it was published in a magazine article written by Butler. The full quote:

"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer; a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

What a most courageous and honest admission.

You will find that the book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins parallels and reinforces the writings of Smedley Butler.

Also of interest is The Creature from Jekyll Island by C. Edward Griffin, which details the way in which Wall Street banks and corporations led us into World War I.

Without a doubt, these and other books like them give us the most important teachings by which Americans can benefit. If we are wise we will heed these lessons by which we can evolve to the next level; but if we do not, we could continue being victimized by those who continue to profit from our ignorance.

7 people found this helpful

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John Bell

80 years since publication in 1936 ... remains the best analysis on war. A winner!

Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2016

Verified Purchase

I’d heard of this book >25 years ago but only recently opened it. It is a powerful dissertation on the ultimate causes of war (financial enrichment), the payers (taxpayers), the winners (bankers & politicians), the losers (every human, even of the winning side). Instead of bring booty and riches war always brings debt & broken bodies … all well discussed.

The writing is tight and direct. Butler, having personally witnessing war doesn’t mince words in discussing and horror of it all. His dissertation is dropped right into the reader’s lap disallowing him to squirm away. Although written over 80 years ago it remains tops in the ultimate analysis of war.

Not discussed is Butler’s transition from warmonger to peacemaker. Also not discussed is how war breeds anger-hatred-xenophobia and primes the people of the winning side for the next war.

There are 4 quotes not mentioned in this book that needs ventilation

• I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell. Sherman

• Of all the enemies of liberty, war is the most dreaded, because it is the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these precede debts and taxes; and armies, debts, and taxes are the instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war the discretionary power of the Executive is extended — all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. Madison, 1787

• To convince the people that war is necessary all you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peace makers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country. H. Goering

• Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is presented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac. Orwell

War is the ultimate malignancy.

31 people found this helpful

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The Professor

This book gives the background of the original edition

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2021

Verified Purchase

This 80 page reprint of a 36 page booklet first published in 1935 covering WWI makes the case that everyone loses in war except the 21,000 people who became millionaires and billionaires from manufacturing the tanks, guns, planes and bombs and sold them to both sides. He lists many examples of companies that made a fortune from war, including Ford Motor Company, Du Pont, Bethlehem Steel, Anaconda Coper, International Nickel ,and Central Leather who made billions. Young men die fighting old men’s wars. The waste in lives, war materials and resources is enormous. As a Brigadier General who spend much of his life leading the troops to battle, he saw firsthand the horrors of war. Smedley Butler’s booklet is still very relevant today. War is irrational, group crime, and very profitable for the corporations. The only way to stop it, Butler opines, is to take the profit and glamor out of it on both sides. Also remove the false claims, such as war maintains freedom in the home country, a claim both side often repeat.

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Luc REYNAERT

Profit explosions for the few, heavy burdens for the many

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 16, 2016

Verified Purchase

In this vehement and all-important pamphlet Brigadier General Smedley Darlington Butler unveils the real winners behind the war machine: the owners of the corporations producing the war machinery (from food for the soldiers to mining companies, weapon producers and their bankers).

The author stigmatizes war as a perfect racket by the very few at the expense of the very many, where ‘the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives and taxes’. The general public shoulders the bill: ‘newly placed gravestones, mangled bodies, shattered minds, broken hearts and homes, economic instability and back-breaking taxation for generations’.

‘Not the people – not those who fight and pay and die – are looking for war, only those who remain safely at home to profit’. But, war propaganda makes people war and murder conscious. Even clergymen join in the clamor to kill: ‘God is on our side … on both sides!’

S. D. Butler proposes a draconian, but unfortunately, utopian solution to stop the racket: let the high-powered executives of factories, companies and banks who profit in wartime, be conscripted at the same wage as the lads in the trenches and the workers in their plants; and, let the generals and the politicians be restricted to a total monthly income not to exceed a soldier’s pay.

Politically, Smedley D. Butler vehemently believes that three measures should be imposed: take profit out of war; permit the youth who would bear arms to decide whether or not there should be war and, limit our military forces to home defense purposes only.

This violent diatribe is a must read for all men and women of good will.

7 people found this helpful

Dr. Michael J. Cross

An exposure of the purpose for war... even world war.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 29, 2014

Verified Purchase

This books rings true and reminds me of conversations between my parents when I lived in London 60 years ago. At that time they discussed the way certain insignificant businesses built them selves up on wartime supplies to become quite large by the end of the war. The implication of this was that profiteering was taking place during the Second World War, which makes me wonder whether this was done with the connivance of the government.

When they state (in 2014) that we are "all in it together", naturally it is a reference to the fact that they "All have their fingers in the till together". It is not realistic to suppose that the corruption that we all see so plainly in African countries does not take place here in the UK. I remember a Nigerian saying to me when I commented on problems with corruption in Nigeria, that "We had very good teachers", referring to the British in Nigeria having their hands in the till before the Africans got there.

Hence the book explains the opportunity that a war provides for ripping off the public, and if you read material elsewhere, you will discover that both world wars were started by rich people for that precise purpose... to enrich themselves. This was discussed extensively during my early childhood, and we were not a politically-connected family.

10 people found this helpful

joe c

Essential reading for anyone who wonders why we fight so many wars.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 18, 2018

Verified Purchase

A short, but effective book detailing the real reason we send young men to fight and die in unnecessary wars. Butler outlines his opinion with authority, and I think this book is essential reading - if a fraction of our leaders had this man's integrity, bloody conflicts for greed and hegemony would be a thing of the past.

One person found this helpful

RickyB

Interesting viewpoint.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2014

Verified Purchase

A good introduction about what goes on behind the scenes once war starts. Also an explanation of why the USA should stay out of wars. Having said this I feel it was a book written for its time. The world is a different place from the two World Wars. Still a very good read.

D. Black

Excellent expose of the "elite" central bankers

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2015

Verified Purchase

Should be read by everyone - so they realise that we live in a nasty world - run by psychopathic central banksters.

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