The disloyal pacifist, the complacent intellectual, and the war state, in Randolph Bourne’s critique of the First World War

Abstract

This paper looks into Randolph Bourne’s cultural critique at the time of the United States entry into World War I. As one of the few dissident intellectuals at the time, Bourne brought into light the interdependence between war and the State: “War is the health of the State” is his phrase and has resonated ever since. He looked well beyond nationalist hysteria and economic imperialism to examine the reasons for the State to support militarism, but he also sought pacifist alternatives to the U.S. intervention in the war, namely an educational service that could prepare the nation for creative rather than destructive action. Although Bourne wrote a hundred years ago, the questions he raised remain true and therefore deserve to be revisited.