scue
of the policeman when the latter is overpowered."[537]

Voluntary armies of the British type are quite as objectionable to
Socialists as are the national armies of the compulsory type raised on
the Continent of Europe. "We are told that the advantage of our
present military system is that it is not compulsory, that people are
free to join the service or not as they please. The freedom of the
average recruit to join the army is about on a par with the freedom
of an unemployed workman to work for lower wages than the recognised
rate of wages, or the freedom of the prostitute."[538] "Your soldier,
ostensibly a heroic and patriotic defender of his country, is really
an unfortunate man driven by destitution to offer himself as food for
powder for the sake of regular rations, shelter, and clothing."[539]
"A standing army of professional soldiers is the most effective
instrument in the hands of the dominant class, the greatest menace to
democracy and popular liberty, and the most effective barrier to
revolutionary change that could possibly be devised. And surely, too,
the antithesis to that is the Armed Nation--every citizen a soldier
and every soldier a citizen."[540]

The ideal army from the Socialist point of view is the armed nation.
It is, as we shall see in the following, an army composed of Socialist
workmen and commanded by Socialist leaders. It is not an army for
national defence, but one for attack on the existing order; it is a
revolutionary army, an army of plunder. The very natural desire of
Socialists to create such a force is, as a rule, disguised under the
demand for a democratic army and universal military training. "We
Socialists advocate the military training of all citizens and the
abolition of professional armies, as ensuring the maximum of military
efficiency and the minimum of menace to democratic principles and
popular rights. We propose that every man should undergo a thorough
military training so as to be equal to any other man. A professional
army is maintained in the main for the defence and maintenance of the
master class. A professional army is a specialised class or caste,
divorced from civil life, hostile to the general body of the
community, and maintained as an instrument to serve the purpose of the
master class. That purpose is as often the suppression of popular
movements at home as aggression abroad. If it were possible to abolish
all military organisations, the remedy would be simp