Howard Zinn on Propaganda and War

Historian Howard Zinn (1922 - 2010), delivers a powerful anti-war argument from the movie, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train.

War and violence, according to Zinn, is not natural to the human condition. Importantly, an argument that claims war is intrinsic to human nature is one with heavy political consequences. It is an argument which shifts the blame for wars onto individuals in a way that sustains the existing power structure.

Zinn contends that two requirements are necessary in order to mobilize a nation for war:

1. Propaganda: persuade the population that going to war is for "good."
2. Create consequences for those that do not comply with the propaganda model. For example, the state may punish individuals that do not comply with a draft by sending them to jail. In the same sense, political leaders may attempt to denounce pacifists for lack of patriotism, or for exposing the country to danger.

Zinn concludes that mobilizing a nation for war thus entails "inducements and threats." He states, "Wars don't take place out of a rush of a population demanding war. It isn't the population that demands war. It's the leaders that demand war and who prepare the population for war...And if you had a spontaneous urge for war, you wouldn't have to do that."

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News & Politics

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