“Civilisation is, par excellence, the society of War, for in it the passion for private property finds classic expression and development. We have only to turn to any history of society to realise at a glance that Mars is the god of Civilisation. And by the side of Mars we see for the the first time in clearest personification Eris, or the goddess of Discord, the symbol of the strife between the propertied and propertyless classes. Engels (The Family, p. 216) well says: “Exploitation of one class by another being the basis of Civilisation, its whole development involves a continual contradiction.” This contradiction finds its expression in the wars and revolutions of the three phases of Civilisation-slave, feudal, and capitalist. The school of Eros, finding Civilisation engaged in constant warfare, falls into despondency at this point. What is to be done? they ask. How can we save Civilisation, and at the same time abolish War? For they, as well as many other misguided souls, believe that Civilisation is eternal, that it is not a category of history….”

The Evolution of War: A Marxian Study by Emanuel Kanter. Charles H. Kerr Publishers, Chicago. 1927.

Contents: Preface, Introduction, Savagery and War, Barbarism and War, Civilization and War, Slave Civilization and War, Feudalism and War, Capitalism and War, Conclusion. 136 pages.

The Charles H Kerr publishing house was responsible for some of the earliest translations and editions of Marx, Engels, and other leaders of the socialist movement in the United States. Publisher of the Socialist Party aligned International Socialist Review, the Charles H Kerr Co. was an exponent of the Party’s left wing and the most important left publisher of the pre-Communist US workers movement. It remains a left wing publisher today.

PDF of full book: https://books.google.com/books/download/The_Evolution_of_War.pdf?id=M6FYAAAAMAAJ&output=pdf