A MODERN war differs from past struggles in the
greater dependence of the armed forces upon in-
dustrial plants. Consequently a war can be won or
lost not only on the field of battle but in the mines, mills,
and factories of the nation.

It is one of the ironies of history that contemporary
democracies are apt to be unwarlike and consequently un-
prepared when they are threatened. In fact, that lack of
preparation is symptomatic of a basic difference between
democracies and dictatorships and springs from the nature
of modern warfare as well as from the character of the two
forms of government. Preparation for war involves great
sacrifices that are not willingly or easily made unless danger
be imminent. Consequently, pressure groups that operate in
a democratic society are not apt to forfeit their prerogatives
while the nation is at peace. Willingness to follow policies
that maintain a balance in the price structure or yield up
materials that are needed for war purposes will be opposed
by special interests, and no manner of preventing the exer-
cise of such pressure during a period of peace exists.

In contrast, a dictatorship is organized for war. In fact,
characteristics taken on by a democracy during an inter-
national crisis -- such as limitation of free speech, greater
vigilance, hostility to criticism, limitation on freedom of
contract and enterprise -- are permanent and normal in a
dictatorship. For in a real sense a dictatorship is a form of
government in a state of permanent crisis, and the abnormal
and less attractive aspects taken on by democracies in the
hour of peril are the usual, commonplace characteristics
under a dictatorial regime. It is therefore not completely
fair to compare the war-making capacity of a democratic
and a dictatorial regime at the outbreak of hostilities, for, to
adapt a term of Trotsky's, dictatorships are organized for

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