The greatest bulwark of capitalism is militarism.

In Goldman’s anarchist critique, militarism is not merely a foreign-policy posture but a structural support for capitalist society. Standing armies, war preparations, and patriotic discipline help secure property relations by normalizing hierarchy, obedience, and coercion; they also divert public resources toward armaments and away from social needs. The quote condenses the argument that capitalism relies on organized force—both to suppress internal dissent (strikes, radical movements) and to pursue external expansion (markets, resources). It also implies that anti-capitalist politics must be anti-militarist: opposing war and conscription is, for Goldman, inseparable from challenging economic exploitation and state power.