I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor
That’s not my business
I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone
I should like to help everyone if possible
Jew, Gentile, Black Man, White
We all want to help one another, human beings are like that
We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery
We don’t want to hate and despise one another
And this world has room for everyone, and the good Earth is rich and can provide for everyone
The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way
Greed has posioned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed
We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in
Machinery that gives us abundance has left us in want
Our knowledge has made us cynical
Our cleverness, hard and unkind
We think too much, and feel too little
More than machinery, we need humanity
More that cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness
Without these qualities life will be violent, and all will be lost
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together
The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men – cries out for universal brotherhood – for the unity of us all
Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world – millions of despairing men, women, and little children – victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people
To those who can hear me, I say – do not despair
The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed – the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress
The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people
And so long as men die, liberty will never perish
Soldiers!
Don’t give yourselves to brutes – men who despise you – enslave you – who regiment your lives – tell you what to do – what to think and what to feel!
Who drill you – diet you – treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder
Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men – machine men with machine minds and machine hearts!
You are not machines!
You are not cattle!
You are men!
You have the love of humanity in your hearts!
You don’t hate!
Only the unloved hate – the unloved and the unnatural!
Soldiers!
Don’t fight for slavery!
Fight for liberty!
In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” – not one man nor a group of men, but in all men!
In you!
You, the people have the power – the power to create machines
The power to create happiness!
You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure
Then – in the name of democracy – let us use that power – let us all unite
Let us fight for a new world – a decent world that will give men a chance to work – that will give youth a future and old age a security
By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power
But they lie!
They do not fulfill that promise
They never will!
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people!
Now let us fight to fulfill that promise!
Let us fight to free the world – to do away with national barriers – to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance
Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness
Soldiers!
In the name of democracy, let us all unite