The roots of the Bolshevik Revolution are in Switzerland. Vladimir Lenin spent considerable time there, living in Geneva, Bern, and Zurich for long periods and developing his revolutionary theories in Swiss libraries. After the fall of the Romanov monarchy, he and his associates traveled from Switzerland to St. Petersburg in a sealed railway car in order to undermine and then topple the Provisional government.
Lenin was allowed to enter Switzerland in 1914 claiming that he was neither a deserter nor a coward, but a political exile. Unlike other socialists across Europe he was opposed to the war from the start — and he initially found like-minded people among Swiss Social Democrats.
But at conferences in Zimmerwald and Kiental in 1915 and 1916, it turned out that the Swiss were “social pacifists” whereas Lenin was far more bloody-minded: he wanted a workers’ uprising, a civil war, and a war to establish socialism around the world. He got all three once he arrived to Russia.
Switzerland, on the other hand, is the best advertisement for lasting peace. It is not a pacifist country but rather it maintains armed neutrality—and it has not known war for more than two centuries. Thanks to its formidable defense establishment (which is, unlike that of many other countries, strictly defensive), and also to its forbidding mountainous landscape, Switzerland has not been dragged into the last century’s two bloody international conflicts. This alone conferred on it tremendous benefits and laid the foundations for its wealth.
By staying out of World War I Switzerland preserved its young men born in the final decade of the 19th century, a generation that was almost entirely lost to all warring nations. Even Americans, despite entering the war late, suffered severe casualties.
By staying out of World War II Switzerland avoided the massive loss of life and destruction which plunged into poverty its victors and losers alike. In fact, Basel may be the only German-speaking city on the Rhein to have remained intact in its medieval aspect after the Allies’ air war.
Wars inflict physical harm on the countries’ population and economic infrastructure and impose heavy costs on society. They are also damaging in many other, more subtle ways. Warring countries often make decisions under the influence of their generals who are, with all the respect due to their service, are rarely the sharpest tools in the toolbox and are not well-versed in civilian affairs.
Wars leave deep psychological scars on former combatants. Returning veterans are often resentful of civilians who didn’t fight and therefore don’t understand them, don’t appreciate their sacrifices and don’t sufficiently honor their fallen comrades. They miss the simplicity of purpose, the discipline and the hierarchy of the war. They have trouble returning to their civilian jobs and to their families.
All too often they become a disruptive force in their war-traumatized nations.
German veterans of WWI trenches made up the backbone of the early Nazi movement, and even the literature of Hitler’s opponent Erich Maria Remarque is imbued with disdain for civilian life and nostalgia for the camaraderie and honesty of the war.
Countries that fight foreign wars and maintain large standing armies also need a substantial underclass from which to draft soldiers or draw volunteers willing to risk their lives for questionable causes. They tend to be plagued by considerable social tensions and radical political movements thanks to the existence of that underclass.
Swiss neutrality and absence of wars form the foundation not only for its wealth and social peace but for the peaceful coexistence of the German, French and Italian cantons even as nations by the same name were at each other’s throats for at least one hundred years before the end of World War II.
For much of their history Europeans were the most belligerent and aggressive people on the globe, fighting endless wars among themselves and invading, subjugating and colonizing other continents. But since the end of the last major war in Europe, the character of European nations began to change. Now, after seven decades of peace, Europe has developed a social democracy that ensures social peace at home as well. Unlike the 1930s, serious economic crises which erupted in recent years have not led to a radicalization of the continent’s political life.
But since the terrorist attacks in 2001, the United States has undergone rapid militarization. Some 3 million Americans have fought in George W. Bush’s misguided wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Together with their families, they represent up to 3% of the US population.
The radicalization of US society and a shift toward extreme anti-democratic right-wing ideology can be traced to those conflicts. While immediately after 9/11 there was a definite sense of us all, regardless of skin color, creed or national origin, being Americans and being in that battle together, the United States has now seen an explosion of racism and nativism that hark back directly to Nazi Germany. Military personnel voted strongly for Trump in 2016 and veterans — but not active duty men and women — seem to have retained their affection for him in 2020. Veterans are also prominent in treasonous right-wing militias and were well-represented among the anti-American insurgents of Jan. 6, 2020.
Lenin left Switzerland and got to Russia in April 1917. There, he started his worker rebellion, his civil war and his revolutionary war to spread communist around the world.
As I wrote last week, both those wars are being waged by the state he created even though the Leninist ideology has been long dead. As a result of those two wars not only Russia, despite its immense natural and human resources, but also the countries it used to rule (including unfortunately Ukraine) are by far the poorest in Europe, plagued by low quality of life, corruption, misgovernment, polluted environment, crummy infrastructure, inadequate social services, etc.
