1. Marx argues that the source for peace is in the economy because he sees capitalism as an entity that creates inequality among the people. Private ownership of companies is an issue because the factories aren’t own by employees and owners, but rather owners only. These owners are constantly trying to get a bigger profit and cut wages, while the working people are trying to increase their wages. This creates a conflict between the workers from the owners, and also introduces social classes. Economics were the driving force for Marx and the only way to achieve peace is to remove this inequality and remove social classes, and have shared property.
2. Peace is not achievable according to Tilly’s argument “war makes states and states make war.” States falsely legitimate their own authority, and gave themselves the right to start wars. They gave themselves power through a real or imagined threat and gave themselves the legitimacy to kill. States do things that criminals do and get away with it because they gave themselves the authority. They choose what they want to legitimize and what not to legitimize. As long as these states will claim authority to kill, there will be no peace.
3. The article does have a peace message. The article does a wonderful job at exposing capitalism and the consequences. The oil companies did everything they could to get more profit, regardless of the consequences. There was class struggle, the capitalist oil companies made money while the