tion may be the result of the material interests of a class or group to which he belongs or which produced that ideal. For example: The ruling class of Japan needs new markets for its expanding industries. Russia is in its way because the ruling classes of Russia for some reason or other need the same markets. Japan and Russia go to war for the control of these markets. This begets a high patriotic fever in both countries, and thousands and tens of thousands of people sacrifice their lives willingly for the high ideal of "My country forever." Among those thousands there are very few who are directly "interested" in the issue of the war, and even these would probably never give away their lives for those "interests" if it were put up to them as a mere business proposition. Most of those who will sacrifice their lives in this war for the "honor" of their country will be people who have no "interest" in the war, who may be even affected injuriously by the war, but they sacrifice their lives for the high ideal born and begotten of the interests of their class, or of the ruling class under whose moral and intellectual tutelage their class stands. While the actions of the individual participants in the war are, therefore, the result of ideal motives, the historic event itself, the war, is the result of material interests, which are in their turn the result of economic conditions.
Aside from the confusion, however, between the motives of individuals and the motive powers of History, this objection also rests on the further confusion of "conditions" with "interests." The Marxists never claimed that material "interests" control the course of History. They always use the expression, "material conditions" in formulating their theory; and material conditions are something entirely different from material interests. Material conditions usually beget material "interests," which shape the course of History, but not always and not necessarily so. Sometimes material conditions will bring about historical phenomena which are not the result of any "interest" in
