Laski Fears War Coming to Capitalist World; Asks U.S. Cooperation Abroad

Ominous predictions of a major conflict which will embroil all nations of Europe in the near future and a strong plea for American cooperation in world affairs were made in an interview by Harold J. Laski, Professor of Political Science in the University of London.

"War is not preventable within the framework of capitalism in its present imperialist phase", claimed the British Laborite. "There will be war because the whole relation of production is out of gear with the power of governments."

In countries where economic hardships have driven the people to desperation, he said, the masses have the idea that wealth lies beyond their borders. Because it is probable that Spain will not prove the actual occasion for warfare, the aggressive move it likely to be made by Germany.

The British socialist claimed that the coming crisis will break up the League, but, he continued, "If it didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent one." Although the present attempt may be premature, "we can't run an interdependent world without international organization."

Because the desire for peace is not universal today, Laski asserted, a world conference, led by President Roosevelt, would be useless and only a "heroic gesture." But, concerning the aloofness of the U. S. toward international affairs, he said, "I don't think America should wash its hands of responsibility as an effective impact in world problems."

On the basis of popular opportunity Soviet Russia takes the lead in democratic government today. Not on the standard of the comfortable peasant of the United States are Russian workers well off, declared the lecturer, but in contrast to the sharecropper in Arkansas they have a "richer, fuller life; they have hope."