Comrades, friends and fellow-workers, for this very cordial greeting,
this very hearty reception, I thank you all with the fullest
appreciation of your interest in and your devotion to the cause for
which I am to speak to you this afternoon.
To speak for labor; to plead the cause of the men and women and
children who toil; to serve the working class, has always been to me a
high privilege; a duty of love.
I have just returned from a visit over yonder, where three of our most loyal comrades are paying
the
penalty for their devotion to the cause of the working class.
They have come to realize, as many of us have, that it is
extremely dangerous to exercise the constitutional right of free speech
in a country fighting to make democracy safe in the world.
I realize that, in speaking to you this afternoon, there are
certain limitations placed upon the right of free speech. I must be
exceedingly careful, prudent, as to what I say, and even more careful
and prudent as to how I say it. I may not be able to say all
I think; but I am not going to say anything that
I do not think. I would rather a thousand times be a free
soul in jail than to be a sycophant and coward in the streets. They may put those boys in jail - and
some of the rest of
us in jail - but they can not put the Socialist movement in jail.
Those prison bars separate their bodies from
ours, but their souls are here this afternoon.
They are simply paying the penalty that all men have paid in all the
ages of history for standing erect, and for seeking to pave the way to
better conditions for mankind.
If it had not been for the men and women who, in the past, have
had the moral courage to go to jail, we would still be in the jungles.
This assemblage is exceedingly good to look upon. I wish it were
possible for me to give you what you are giving me this afternoon.
What I say here amounts to but little; what I see here is
exceedingly important. You workers in Ohio, enlisted in the
greatest cause ever organized in the interest of your class, are making
history today in the face of threatening opposition of all kinds -
history that is going to be read with profound interest by coming
generations.
There is but one thing you have to be concerned about, and that is
that you keep foursquare with the principles of the international
Socialist movement. It is only when you begin to compromise
that trouble begins. So far as I am concerned, it does not
matter what others may say, or think, or do, as long as I am sure that I
am right with myself and the cause. There are so many who
seek refuge in the popular side of a great question. As a Socialist, I
have long since learned how to stand alone. For the last
month I have been traveling over the Hoosier State; and, let me say to
you, that, in all my connection with the Socialist movement, I have
never seen such meetings, such enthusiasm, such unity of purpose; never
have I seen such a promising outlook as there is today, notwithstanding
the statement published repeatedly that our leaders have deserted us.
Well, for myself, I never had much faith in leaders.
I am willing to be charged with almost
anything, rather than to be charged with being a leader. I am suspicious
of leaders, and especially of the intellectual variety. Give
me the rank and file every day in the week. If you go to the city of
Washington, and you examine the pages of the Congressional Directory,
you will find that almost all of those corporation lawyers and cowardly
politicians, members of Congress, and misrepresentatives of the masses -
you will find that almost all of them claim, in glowing terms, that they
have risen from the ranks to places of eminence and distinction. I am
very glad I cannot make that claim for myself. I would be
ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be
with the ranks, and not from the ranks.
When I came away from Indiana, the comrades said: "When you cross
the line and get over into the Buckeye State, tell the comrades there
that we are on duty and doing duty. Give them for us, a hearty greeting,
and tell them that we are going to make a record this fall that will be
read around the world."
The Socialists of Ohio, it appears, are very much alive this year.
The party has been killed recently, which, no doubt, accounts
for its extraordinary activity. There is nothing that helps
the Socialist Party so much as receiving an occasional deathblow.
The oftener it is killed the more active, the
more energetic, the more powerful it becomes.
They who have been reading the capitalist newspapers realize what
a capacity they have for lying. We have been reading them lately. They
know all about the Socialist Party - the Socialist movement, except what
is true. Only the other day they took an article that I had
written - and most of you have read it - most of you members of the
party, at least - and they made it appear that I had undergone a
marvelous transformation. I had suddenly become changed -
had in fact come to my senses; I had ceased to be a wicked Socialist,
and had become a respectable Socialist, a patriotic Socialist
- as if I had ever been anything else.
What was the purpose of this deliberate misrepresentation? It is
so self-evident that it suggests itself. The purpose was to sow the
seeds of dissension in our ranks; to have it appear that we were divided
among ourselves; that we were pitted against each other, to our mutual
undoing. But Socialists were not born yesterday. They know
how to read capitalist newspapers; and to
believe exactly the opposite of what they read.
Why should a Socialist be discouraged on the eve of the greatest
triumph in all the history of the Socialist movement? It is
true that these are anxious, trying days for us all - testing days for
the women and men who are upholding the banner of labor in the struggle
of the working class of all the world against the exploiters of all the
world; a time in which the weak and cowardly will falter and
fail and desert. They lack the fiber to endure the revolutionary test;
they fall away; they disappear as if they had never been. On the other
hand, they who are animated by the unconquerable spirit of the social
revolution; they who have the moral courage to stand erect and assert
their convictions; stand by them; fight for them; go to jail or to hell
for them, if need be - they are writing their
names, in this crucial hour - they are writing their names in faceless
letters in the history of mankind.
Those boys over yonder - those comrades of ours - and how I love
them! Aye, they are my younger brothers; their
very names throb in my heart, thrill in my veins, and surge in my soul.
I am proud of them; they are there for us; and we
are here for them. Their lips, though
temporarily mute, are more eloquent than ever before; and their voice,
though silent, is heard around the world.
Are we opposed to Prussian militarism?
Why, we have been fighting it since the day
the Socialist movement was born; and we are going to continue
to fight it, day and night, until it is wiped from the face of the
earth. Between us there is no truce - no compromise.
But, before I proceed along this line, let me recall a little
history, in which I think we are all interested.
In 1869 that grand old warrior of the social revolution, the elder
Liebknecht, was arrested and sentenced to prison for three months,
because of his war, as a Socialist, on the Kaiser and on the Junkers
that rule Germany. In the meantime the Franco-Prussian war broke out.
Liebknecht and Bebel were the Socialist members in the Reichstag. They
were the only two who had the courage to protest against taking
Alsace-Lorraine from France and annexing it to Germany. And for this
they were sentenced two years to a prison fortress charged with high
treason; because, even in that early day, almost fifty years ago, these
leaders, these forerunners of the international Socialist movement were
fighting the Kaiser and fighting the Junkers of Germany.
They have continued to fight them from that day to this.
Multiplied thousands of Socialists have languished in the
jails of Germany because of their heroic warfare upon the despotic
ruling class of that country.
Let us come down the line a little farther. You remember that, at
the close of Theodore Roosevelt's second term as President, he went over
to Africa to make war on some of his ancestors. You remember that, at
the close of his expedition, he visited the capitals of Europe; and that
he was wined and dined, dignified and glorified by all the Kaisers and
Czars and Emperors of the Old World. He visited Potsdam
while the Kaiser was there; and, according to the accounts published in
the American newspapers, he and the Kaiser were soon on the most
familiar terms. They were hilariously intimate with each
other, and slapped each other on the back. After Roosevelt
had reviewed the Kaiser's troops, according to the same accounts, he
became enthusiastic over the Kaiser's legions and said: "If I had that
kind of an army, I could conquer the world." He knew the
Kaiser then just as well as he knows him now. He knew that
he was the Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin. And yet, he permitted himself to
be entertained by that Beast of Berlin; had his feet under
the mahogany of the Beast of Berlin; was cheek by jowl with the Beast of
Berlin. And, while Roosevelt was being entertained royally
by the German Kaiser, that same Kaiser was putting the leaders of the
Socialist Party in jail for fighting the Kaiser and the Junkers of
Germany. Roosevelt was the guest of honor in the white house
of the Kaiser, while the Socialists were in the jails of the Kaiser for
fighting the Kaiser. Who then was fighting for democracy?
Roosevelt? Roosevelt, who was honored by the Kaiser,
or the Socialists who were in jail by order of the Kaiser?
"Birds of a feather flock together."
When the newspapers reported that Kaiser Wilhelm and ex-President
Theodore recognized each other at sight, were perfectly intimate with
each other at the first touch, they made the admission that is fatal to
the claim of Theodore Roosevelt, that he is the friend of the common
people and the champion of democracy; they admitted that they were kith
and kin; that they were very much alike; that their ideas and ideals
were about the same. If Theodore Roosevelt is the great champion of
democracy - the arch foe of autocracy, what
business had he as the guest of honor of the Prussian Kaiser? And when
he met the Kaiser, and did honor to the Kaiser, under the terms imputed
to him, wasn't it pretty strong proof that he himself was a Kaiser at
heart? Now, after being the guest of Emperor Wilhelm, the
Beast of Berlin, he comes back to this country, and wants you to send
ten million men over there to kill the Kaiser;
to murder his former friend and pal. Rather queer, isn't it?
And yet, he is the patriot, and we are the traitors. I
challenge you to find a Socialist anywhere on the face of the earth who
was ever the guest of the Beast of Berlin, except as an
inmate of his prison - the elder Liebknecht and the younger Liebknecht,
the heroic son of his immortal sire.
A little more history along the same line. In 1902 Prince Henry
paid a visit to this country. Do you remember him? I do,
exceedingly well. Prince Henry is the brother of Emperor Wilhelm. Prince
Henry is another Beast of Berlin, an autocrat, an aristocrat, a Junker
of Junkers - very much despised by our American patriots. He came over
here in 1902 as the representative of Kaiser Wilhelm; he was received by
Congress and by several state legislatures - among others, by the state
legislature of Massachusetts, then in session. He was invited there by
the capitalist captains of that so-called commonwealth. And when Prince
Henry arrived, there was one member of that body who kept his
self-respect, put on his hat, and as Henry, the Prince, walked in, that
member of the body walked out. And that was James F. Carey, the
Socialist member of that body. All the rest - all the rest
of the representatives in the Massachusetts legislature - all, all of
them - joined in doing honor, in the most servile spirit, to the high
representative of the autocracy of Europe. And the only man who left
that body, was a Socialist. And yet, and yet they have the
hardihood to claim that they are fighting autocracy and that we are in
the service of the German government.
A little more history along the same line. I have a distinct
recollection of it. It occurred fifteen years ago when Prince Henry came
here. All of our plutocracy, all of the wealthy representatives living
along Fifth Avenue - all, all of them - threw their palace doors wide
open and received Prince Henry with open arms. But they were not
satisfied with this; they got down and grovelled in the dust at his
feet. Our plutocracy - women and men alike - vied with each other to
lick the boots of Prince Henry, the brother and representative of the
"Beast of Berlin." And still our plutocracy, our Junkers,
would have us believe that all the Junkers are confined to Germany. It
is precisely because we refuse to believe this that they brand us as
disloyalists. They want our eyes focused on the Junkers in Berlin so
that we will not see those within our own borders.
I hate, I loathe, I despise Junkers and junkerdom. I have no
earthly use for the Junkers of Germany, and not one particle more use
for the Junkers in the United States.
They tell us that we live in a great free republic; that our
institutions are democratic; that we are a free and self-governing
people. This is too much, even for a joke. But
it is not a subject for levity; it is an exceedingly serious matter.
To whom do the Wall Street Junkers in our country marry their
daughters? After they have wrung their countless millions from your
sweat, your agony and your life's blood, in a time of war as in a time
of peace, they invest these untold millions in the purchase of titles of
broken-down aristocrats, such as princes, dukes, counts and other
parasites and no- accounts. Would they be satisfied to wed
their daughters to honest workingmen? To
real democrats? Oh, no! They scour the markets of Europe for vampires
who are titled and nothing else. And they swap their
millions for the titles, so that matrimony with them becomes literally a
matter of money.
These are the gentry who are today wrapped up in the American
flag, who shout their claim from the housetops that they are the only
patriots, and who have their magnifying glasses in hand, scanning the
country for evidence of disloyalty, eager to apply the brand of treason
to the men who dare to even whisper their opposition to Junker rule in
the United Sates. No wonder Sam Johnson declared that "patriotism is the
last refuge of the scoundrel." He must have had this Wall Street gentry
in mind, or at least their prototypes, for in every age it has been the
tyrant, the oppressor and the exploiter who has wrapped himself in the
cloak of patriotism, or religion, or both to deceive and overawe the
people.
They would have you believe that the Socialist Party consists in the
main of disloyalists and traitors. It is true in a sense not at all to
their discredit. We frankly admit that we are disloyalists and traitors
to the real traitors of this nation; to the gang that on the
Pacific coast are trying to hang Tom Mooney and Warren Billings in spite
of their well-known innocence and the protest of practically the whole
civilized world.
I know Tom Mooney intimately - as if he were my own brother. He is
an absolutely honest man. He had no more to do with the
crime with which he was charged and for which he was convicted than I
had. And if he ought to go to the gallows, so ought I. If he
is guilty every man who belongs to a labor organization or to the
Socialist Party is likewise guilty.
What is Tom Mooney guilty of? I will tell you. I am familiar with
his record. For years he has been fighting bravely and without
compromise the battles of the working class out on the Pacific coast. He
refused to be bribed and he could not be browbeaten. In spite of all
attempts to intimidate him he continued loyally in the service of the
organized workers, and for this he became a marked man. The henchmen of
the powerful and corrupt corporations, concluding finally that he could
not be bought or bribed or bullied, decided he must therefore be
murdered. That is why Tom Mooney is today a life prisoner, and why he
would have been hanged as a felon long ago but for the world-wide
protest of the working class.
Let us review another bit of history. You remember Francis J.
Heney, special investigator of the state of California, who was shot
down in cold blood in the courtroom in San Francisco. You remember that
dastardly crime, do you not? The United Railways, consisting of a lot of
plutocrats and highbinders represented by the Chamber of Commerce,
absolutely control the city of San Francisco. The city was and is their
private reservation. Their will is the supreme law. Take your stand
against them and question their authority, and you are doomed. They do
not hesitate a moment to plot murder or any other crime to perpetuate
their corrupt and enslaving regime. Tom Mooney was the chief
representative of the working class they could not control.
They own the railways; they control the great industries; they are the
industrial masters and the political rulers of the people. From their
decision there is no appeal. They are the autocrats of the Pacific coast
- as cruel and infamous as any that ever ruled in Germany or any other
country in the old world. When their rule became so corrupt
that at last a grand jury indicted them and they were placed on trial,
and Francis J. Heney was selected to assist in their prosecution, this
gang, represented by the Chamber of Commerce; this gang of plutocrats,
autocrats and highbinders, hired an assassin to shoot Heney down in the
courtroom. Heney, however, happened to live through it. But that was not
their fault. The same identical gang that hired the murderer to kill
Heney also hired false witnesses to swear away the fife of Tom Mooney
and, foiled in that, they have kept him in a foul prisonhole ever since.
Every solitary one of these aristocratic conspirators and would-be
murderers claims to be an arch-patriot; every one of them insists that
the war is being waged to make the world safe for democracy. What
humbug! What rot! What false pretense! These autocrats, these tyrants,
these red-handed robbers and murderers, the "patriots," while the men
who have the courage to stand face to face with them, speak the truth,
and fight for their exploited victims - they are the disloyalists and
traitors. If this be true, I want to take my place side by side with the
traitors in this fight.
The other day they sentenced Kate Richards O'Hare to the
penitentiary for five years. Think of sentencing a woman to the
penitentiary simply for talking. The United States, under
plutocratic rule, is the only country that would send a woman to prison
for five years for exercising the right of free speech. If
this be treason, let them make the most of it.
Let me review a bit of history in connection with this case. I
have known Kate Richards O'Hare intimately for twenty years. I am
familiar with her public record. Personally I know her as if she were my
own sister. All who know Mrs. O'Hare know her to be a woman of
unquestioned integrity.' And they also know that she is a
woman of unimpeachable loyalty to the Socialist movement.
When she went out into North Dakota to make her speech, followed by
plain-clothes men in the service of the government intent upon effecting
her arrest and securing her prosecution and conviction - when she went
out there, it was with the full knowledge on her part that sooner or
later these detectives would accomplish their purpose. She made her
speech, and that speech was deliberately misrepresented for the purpose
of securing her conviction. The only testimony against her was that of a
hired witness. And when the farmers, the men and women who were in the
audience she addressed - when they went to Bismarck where the trial was
held to testify in her favor, to swear that she had not used the
language she was charged with having used, the judge refused to allow
them to go upon the stand. This would seem incredible to me if I had not
had some experience of my own with federal courts.
Who appoints our federal judges? The people? In all the history of
the country, the working class have never named a federal judge. There
are 121 of these judges and every solitary one holds his position, his
tenure, through the influence and power of corporate capital. The
corporations and trusts dictate their appointment. And when they go to
the bench, they go, not to serve, the people, but to serve the interests
that place them and keep them where they are.
Why, the other day, by a vote of five to four - a kind of craps
game - come seven, come 'leven - they declared the child
labor law unconstitutional - a law secured after twenty years of
education and agitation on the part of all kinds of people. And yet, by
a majority of one, the Supreme Court a body of corporation lawyers, with
just one exception, wiped that law from the statute books, and this in
our so-called democracy, so that we may continue to grind the flesh and
blood and bones of puny little children into profits for the Junkers of
Wall Street. And this in a country that boasts of fighting
to make the world safe for democracy! The history of this
country is being written in the blood of the childhood the industrial
lords have murdered.
These are not palatable truths to them. They do not like to hear
them; and what is more they do not want you to hear them. And that is
why they brand us as undesirable citizens, and
as disloyalists and traitors. If we were actual traitors - traitors to
the people and to their welfare and progress, we would be regarded as
eminently respectable citizens of the republic; we would hold high
office, have princely incomes, and ride in limousines; and we would be
pointed out as the elect who have succeeded in life in honorable
pursuit, and worthy of emulation by the youth of the land. It is
precisely because we are disloyal to the traitors that we are loyal to
the people of this nation.
Scott Nearing! You have heard of Scott Nearing. He is
the greatest teacher in the United States. He was in the
University of Pennsylvania until the Board of Trustees, consisting of
great capitalists, captains of industry, found that he was teaching
sound economics to the students in his classes. This sealed his fate in
that institution. They sneeringly charged - just as the same usurers,
money-changers, pharisees, hypocrites charged the Judean Carpenter some
twenty centuries ago - that he was a false teacher and that he was
stirring up the people.
The Man of Galilee, the Carpenter, the workingman who became the
revolutionary agitator of his day soon found himself to be an
undesirable citizen in the eyes of the ruling knaves and they had him
crucified. And now their lineal descendants say of Scott Nearing, "He is
preaching false economics. We cannot crucify him as we did his elder
brother but we can deprive him of employment and so cut off his income
and starve him to death or into submission. We will not only
discharge him but place his name upon the blacklist and make it
impossible for him to earn a living. He is a dangerous man for he is
teaching the truth and opening the eyes of the people." And the truth,
oh, the truth has always been unpalatable and intolerable to the class
who live out of the sweat and misery of the working class.
Max Eastman has been indicted and his paper suppressed,
just as the papers with which I have been connected have all been
suppressed. What a wonderful compliment they pay us! They are afraid that
we may mislead and contaminate you. You
are their wards; they are your guardians and they know what is best for
you to read and hear and know. They are bound to see to it
that our vicious doctrines do not reach your ears. And so in our great
democracy, under our free institutions, they flatter our press by
suppression; and they ignorantly imagine that they have silenced
revolutionary propaganda in the United States. What an awful mistake
they make for our benefit! As a matter of justice to them we should
respond with resolutions of thanks and gratitude. Thousands of people
who had never before heard of our papers are now inquiring for and
insisting upon seeing them. They have succeeded only in arousing
curiosity in our literature and propaganda. And woe to him who reads
Socialist literature from curiosity! He is surely a goner. I
have known of a thousand experiments but never one that failed.
John M. Work! You know John, now on the editorial staff of the
Milwaukee Leader! When I first knew him he was a lawyer out in Iowa. The
capitalists out there became alarmed because of the rapid growth of the
Socialist movement. So they said: "We have to find some able fellow to
fight this menace." They concluded that John Work was the man for the
job and they said to him: "John, you are a bright young lawyer; you have
a brilliant future before you. We want to engage you to find out all you
can about socialism and then proceed to counteract its baneful effects
and check its further growth."
John at once provided himself with Socialist literature and began
his study of the red menace, with the result that after he had read and
digested a few volumes he was a full-fledged Socialist and has been
fighting for socialism ever since.
How stupid and shortsighted the ruling class really is! Cupidity
is stone blind. It has no vision. The greedy, profit-seeking exploiter
cannot see beyond the end of his nose. He can see a chance for an
"opening"; he is cunning enough to know what graft is and where it is,
and how it can be secured, but vision he has none - not the slightest.
He knows nothing of the great throbbing world that spreads out in all
directions. He has no capacity for literature; no appreciation of art;
no soul for beauty. That is the penalty the parasites pay for the
violation of the laws of life. The Rockefellers are blind. Every move
they make in their game of greed but hastens their own doom. Every blow
they strike at the Socialist movement reacts upon themselves. Every time
they strike at us they hit themselves. It never fails. Every
time they strangle a Socialist paper they add a thousand voices
proclaiming the truth of the principles of socialism and the ideals of
the Socialist movement. They help us in spite of themselves.
Socialism is a growing idea; an expanding philosophy. It is
spreading over the entire face of the earth: It is as vain to resist it
as it would be to arrest the sunrise on the morrow. It is coming,
coming, coming all along the line. Can you not see it? If not, I advise
you to consult an oculist. There is certainly something the matter with
your vision. It is the mightiest movement in the history of mankind.
What a privilege to serve it! I have regretted a thousand times that I
can do so little for the movement that has done so much for me.
The little that I am, the little that I am hoping to be, I
owe to the Socialist movement. It has given me my ideas and
ideals; my principles and convictions, and I would not exchange one of
them for all of Rockefeller's bloodstained dollars. It has
taught me how to serve - a lesson to me of priceless value. It has
taught me the ecstasy in the handclasp of a comrade. It has enabled me
to hold high communion with you, and made it possible for me to take my
place side by side with you in the great struggle for the better day; to
multiply myself over and over again, to thrill with a fresh-born
manhood; to feel life truly worthwhile; to open new avenues of vision;
to spread out glorious vistas; to know that I am kin to all that throbs;
to be class-conscious, and to realize that, regardless of nationality,
race, creed, color or sex, every man, every woman who toils, who renders
useful service, every member of the working class without an exception,
is my comrade, my brother and sister - and that to serve them and their
cause is the highest duty of my life.
And in their service I can feel myself expand; I can rise to the
stature of a man and claim the right to a place on earth - a place where
I can stand and strive to speed the day of industrial freedom and social
justice.
Yes, my comrades, my heart is attuned to yours. Aye, all our
hearts now throb as one great heart responsive to the battle cry of the
social revolution. Here, in this alert and inspiring assemblage
our hearts are with the Bolsheviki of Russia.
Those heroic men and women, those unconquerable
comrades have by their incomparable valor and sacrifice added fresh
luster to the fame of the international movement. Those Russian comrades
of ours have made greater sacrifices, have suffered more, and have shed
more heroic blood than any like number of men and women anywhere on
earth; they have laid the foundation of the first real democracy that
ever drew the breath of life in this world. And the very
first act of the triumphant Russian revolution was to proclaim a state
of peace with all mankind, coupled with a fervent moral appeal, not to
kings, not to emperors, rulers or diplomats but to the people of all
nations. Here we have the very breath of democracy, the
quintessence of the dawning freedom. The Russian revolution proclaimed
its glorious triumph in its ringing and inspiring appeal to the peoples
of all the earth. In a humane and fraternal spirit new Russia,
emancipated at last from the curse of the centuries, called upon all
nations engaged in the frightful war, the Central Powers as well as the
Allies, to send representatives to a conference to lay down terms of
peace that should be just and lasting. Here was the supreme opportunity
to strike the blow to make the world safe for democracy. Was
there any response to that noble appeal that in some day to come will be
written in letters of gold in the history of the world? Was
there any response whatever to that appeal for universal peace?
No, not the slightest attention was paid to it by the
Christian nations engaged in the terrible slaughter.
It has been charged that Lenin and Trotsky and the leaders of the
revolution were treacherous, that they made a traitorous peace with
Germany. Let us consider that proposition briefly. At the time of the
revolution Russia had been three years in the war. Under the Czar she
had lost more than four million of her ill-clad, poorly-equipped,
half-starved soldiers, slain outright or disabled on the field of
battle. She was absolutely bankrupt. Her soldiers were mainly without
arms. This was what was bequeathed to the revolution by the Czar and his
regime; and for this condition Lenin and Trotsky were not responsible,
nor the Bolsheviki. For this appalling state of affairs the Czar and his
rotten bureaucracy were solely responsible. When the Bolsheviki came
into power and went through the archives they found and exposed the
secret treaties - the treaties that were made between the Czar and the
French government, the British government and the Italian government,
proposing, after the victory was achieved, to dismember the German
Empire and destroy the Central Powers. These treaties have never been
denied nor repudiated. Very little has been said about them in the
American press. I have a copy of these treaties, showing that the
purpose of the Allies is exactly the purpose of the Central Powers, and
that is the conquest and spoilation of the weaker nations that has
always been the purpose of war.
Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder.
In the Middle Ages when the feudal lords who inhabited the castles whose
towers may still be seen along the Rhine concluded to enlarge their
domains, to increase their power, their prestige and their wealth they
declared war upon one another. But they themselves did not go to war any
more than the modern feudal lords, the barons of Wall Street go to war.
The feudal barons of the Middle Ages, the economic
predecessors of the capitalists of our day, declared all wars. And their
miserable serfs fought all the battles. The poor, ignorant serfs had
been taught to revere their masters; to believe that when their masters
declared war upon one another, it was their patriotic duty to fall upon
one another and to cut one another's throats for the profit and glory of
the lords and barons who held them in contempt. And that is war in a
nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars; the subject
class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to
gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to
gain and all to lose - especially their lives.
They have always taught and trained you to believe it to be your
patriotic duty to go to war and to have yourselves slaughtered at their
command. But in all the history of the world you, the people, have never
had a voice in declaring war, and strange as it certainly appears, no
war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people.
And here let me emphasize the fact - and it cannot be repeated too
often - that the working class who fight all the battles, the working
class who make the supreme sacrifices, the working class who freely shed
their blood and furnish the corpses, have never yet had a voice in
either declaring war or making peace. It is the ruling class that
invariably does both. They alone declare war and they alone make peace.
Yours not to reason why;
Yours but to do and die.
That is their motto and we object on the part of the awakening
workers of this nation.
If war is right let it be declared by the people. You who have your
lives to lose, you certainly above all others have the right to decide
the momentous issue of war or peace.
Rose Pastor Stokes! And when I mention her name I take off my hat.
Here we have another heroic and inspiring comrade. She had
her millions of dollars at command. Did her wealth restrain her an
instant? On the contrary her supreme devotion to the cause outweighed
all considerations of a financial or social nature. She went out boldly
to plead the cause of the working class and they rewarded her high
courage with a ten years' sentence to the penitentiary. Think of it! Ten
years! What atrocious crime had she committed? What frightful things had
she said? Let me answer candidly. She said nothing more than I have said
here this afternoon. I want to admit - I want to admit
without reservation that if Rose Pastor Stokes is guilty of crime, so am
I. If she is guilty for the brave part she has taken in this testing
time of human souls I would not be cowardly enough to plead my
innocence. And if she ought to be sent to the penitentiary for ten
years, so ought I without a doubt.
What did Rose Pastor Stokes say? Why, she said that a government
could not at the same time serve both the profiteers and the victims of
the profiteers. Is it not true? Certainly it is and no one can
successfully dispute it.
Roosevelt said a thousand times more in the very same paper, the
Kansas City Star. Roosevelt said vauntingly the other day that he would
be heard if he went to jail. He knows very well that he is taking no
risk of going to jail. He is shrewdly laying his wires for the
Republican nomination in 1920 and he is an adept in making the appeal of
the demagogue. He would do anything to discredit the Wilson
administration that he may give himself and his party all credit. That
is the only rivalry there is between the two old capitalist parties -
the Republican Party and the Democratic Party - the political twins of
the master class. They are not going to have any friction between them
this fall. They are all patriots in this campaign, and they are going to
combine to prevent the election of any disloyal Socialist. I have never
heard anyone tell of any difference between these corrupt capitalist
parties. Do you know of any? I certainly do not. The situation is that
one is in and the other trying to break in, and that is substantially
the only difference between them.
Rose Pastor Stokes never uttered a word she did not have a legal,
constitutional right to utter. But her message to the people, the
message that stirred their thoughts and opened their eyes - that must be
suppressed; her voice must be silenced. And so she was promptly
subjected to a mock trial and sentenced to the penitentiary for ten
years. Her conviction was a foregone conclusion. The trial of a
Socialist in a capitalist court is at best a farcical affair. What ghost
of a chance had she in a court with a packed jury and a corporation tool
on the bench? Not the least in the world. And so she goes to the
penitentiary for ten years if they carry out their brutal and
disgraceful graceful program. For my part I do not think they will. In
fact I feel sure they will not. If the war were over tomorrow the prison
doors would open to our people. They simply mean to silence the voice of
protest during the war.
What a compliment it is to the Socialist movement to be thus
persecuted for the sake of the truth! The truth alone will make the
people free. And for this reason the truth must not be
permitted to reach the people. The truth has always been dangerous to
the rule of the rogue, the exploiter, the robber. So the truth must be
ruthlessly suppressed. That is why they are trying to destroy the
Socialist movement; and every time they strike a blow they add a
thousand new voices to the hosts proclaiming that socialism is the hope
of humanity and has come to emancipate the people from their final form
of servitude.
How good this sip of cool water from the hand of a comrade! It is
as refreshing as if it were out on the desert waste. And how good it is
to look into your glowing faces this afternoon! You are
really good looking to me, I assure you. And I am glad there
are so many of you. Your tribe has increased amazingly since first I
came here. You used to be so few and far between. A few
years ago when you struck a town the first thing you had to do was to
see if you could locate a Socialist; and you were pretty lucky if you
struck the trail of one before you left town. If he happened to be the
only one and he is still living, he is now regarded as a pioneer and
pathfinder; he holds a place of honor in your esteem, and he has
lodgment in the hearts of all who have come after him. It is far
different now. You can hardly throw a stone in the dark without hitting
a Socialist. They are everywhere in increasing numbers; and
what marvelous changes are taking place in the people!
Some years ago I was to speak at Warren in this state. It happened
to be at the time that President McKinley was assassinated. In common
with all others I deplored that tragic event. There is not a Socialist
who would have been guilty of that crime. We do not attack individuals.
We do not seek to avenge ourselves upon those opposed to our faith. We
have no fight with individuals as such. We are capable of pitying those
who hate us. We do not hate them; we know better; we would
freely give them a cup of water if they needed it. There is
no room in our hearts for hate, except for the system, the social system
in which it is possible for one man to amass a stupendous fortune doing
nothing, while millions of others suffer and struggle and agonize and
die for the bare necessities of existence.
President McKinley, as I have said, had been assassinated. I was
first to speak at Portsmouth, having been booked there some time before
the assassination. Promptly the Christian ministers of Portsmouth met in
special session and passed a resolution declaring that "Debs, more than
any other person, was responsible for the assassination of our beloved
President." It was due to the doctrine that Debs was
preaching that this crime was committed, according to these patriotic
parsons, and so this pious gentry, the followers of the meek and lowly
Nazarene, concluded that I must not be permitted to enter the city. And
they had the mayor issue an order to that effect. I went there soon
after, however. I was to speak at Warren, where President McKinley's
double-cousin was postmaster. I went there and registered. I was soon
afterward invited to leave the hotel. I was exceedingly undesirable that
day. I was served with notice that the hall would not be opened and that
I would not be permitted to speak. I sent back word to the mayor by the
only Socialist left in town - and he only remained because they did not
know he was there - I sent word to the mayor that I would speak in
Warren that night, according to schedule, or I would leave there in a
box for the return turn trip.
The Grand Army of the Republic called a special meeting and then
marched to the hall in full uniform and occupied the front seats in
order to silence me if my speech did not suit them. I went to the hall,
however, found it open, and made my speech. There was no interruption. I
told the audience frankly who was responsible for the President's
assassination. I said: "As long as there is misery caused by robbery at
the bottom there will be assassination at the top." I showed
them, evidently to their satisfaction, that it was their own capitalist
system that was responsible; the system that had impoverished and
brutalized the ancestors of the poor witless boy who had murdered the
President. Yes, I made my speech that night and it was well received but
when I left there I was still an "undesirable citizen."
Some years later I returned to Warren. It seemed that the whole
population was out for the occasion. I was received with open arms.
I was no longer a demagogue; no longer a fanatic or an
undesirable citizen. I had become exceedingly respectable simply because
the Socialists had increased in numbers and socialism had grown in
influence and power. If ever I become entirely respectable I shall be
quite sure that I have outlived myself.
It is the minorities who have made the history of this world. It
is the few who have had the courage to take their places at the front;
who have been true enough to themselves to speak the truth that was in
them; who have dared oppose the established order of things; who have
espoused the cause of the suffering, struggling poor; who have upheld
without regard to personal consequences the cause of freedom and
righteousness. It is they, the heroic, self-sacrificing few who have
made the history of the race and who have paved the way from barbarism
to civilization. The many prefer to remain upon the popular side. They
lack the courage and vision to join a despised minority that stands for
a principle; they have not the moral fiber that withstands, endures and
finally conquers. They are to be pitied and not treated with contempt
for they cannot help their cowardice. But, thank God, in every age and
in every nation there have been the brave and self-reliant few, and they
have been sufficient to their historic task; and we, who are here today,
are under infinite obligations to them because they suffered, they
sacrificed, they went to jail, they had their bones broken upon the
wheel, they were burned at the stake and their ashes scattered to the
winds by the hands of hate and revenge in their struggle to leave the
world better for us than they found it for themselves. We are under
eternal obligations to them because of what they did and what they
suffered for us and the only way we can discharge that obligation is by
doing the best we can for those who are to come after us.
And this is the high purpose of every Socialist on earth. Everywhere
they are animated by the same lofty principles; everywhere they have the
same noble ideals; everywhere they are clasping hands across national
boundary lines; everywhere they are calling one another Comrade, the
blessed word that springs from the heart of unity and bursts into
blossom upon the lips. Each passing day they are getting into closer
touch all along the battle line, waging the holy war of the working
class of the world against the ruling and exploiting class of the world.
They make many mistakes and they profit by them all. They encounter
numerous defeats, and grow stronger through them all. They never take a
backward step.
The heart of the international Socialist never beats a retreat.
They are pressing forward, here, there and everywhere, in all the
zones that girdle the globe. Everywhere these awakening workers, these
class-conscious proletarians, these hardy sons and daughters of honest
toil are proclaiming the glad tidings of the coming emancipation,
everywhere their hearts are attuned to the most sacred cause that ever
challenged men and women to action in all the history of the world.
Everywhere they are moving toward democracy and the dawn; marching
toward the sunrise, their faces all aglow with the light of the coming
day. These are the Socialists, the most zealous and enthusiastic
crusaders the world has ever known. They are making history
that will light up the horizon of coming generations, for their mission
is the emancipation of the human race. They have been reviled; they have
been ridiculed, persecuted, imprisoned and have suffered death, but they
have been sufficient to themselves and their cause, and their final
triumph is but a question of time.
Do you wish to hasten the day of victory? Join the Socialist
Party! Don't wait for the morrow. Join now! Enroll your name
without fear and take your place where you belong. You cannot do your
duty by proxy. You have got to do it yourself and do it squarely and
then as you look yourself in the face you will have no occasion to
blush. You will know what it is to be a real man or woman. You will lose
nothing; you will gain everything. Not only will you lose
nothing but you will find something of infinite value, and that
something will be yourself. And that is your supreme need - to find
yourself - to really know yourself and your purpose in life.
You need at this time especially to know that you are fit for
something better than slavery and cannon fodder. You need to
know that you were not created to work and produce and impoverish
yourself to enrich an idle exploiter. You need to know that you have a
mind to improve, a soul to develop, and a manhood to sustain.
You need to know that it is your duty to rise above the animal
plane of existence. You need to know that it is for you to know
something about literature and science and art. You need to know that
you are verging on the edge of a great new world. You need to get in
touch with your comrades and fellow workers and to become conscious of
your interests, your powers and your possibilities as a class. You need
to know that you belong to the great majority of mankind. You need to
know that as long as you are ignorant, as long as you are indifferent,
as long as you are apathetic, unorganized and content, you will remain
exactly where you are. You will be exploited; you will be
degraded, and you will have to beg for a job. You will get just enough
for your slavish toil to keep you in working order, and you will be
looked down upon with scorn and contempt by the very parasites that live
and luxuriate out of your sweat and unpaid labor.
If you would be respected you have got to begin by respecting
yourself. Stand up squarely and look yourself in the face
and see a man! Do not allow yourself to fall into the predicament of the
poor fellow who, after he had heard a Socialist speech concluded that he
too ought to be a Socialist. The argument he had heard was unanswerable.
"Yes," he said to himself, "all the speaker said was true and I
certainly ought to join the party." But after a while he allowed his
ardor to cool and he soberly concluded that by joining the party he
might anger his boss and lose his job. He then concluded: "I can't take
the chance." That night he slept alone. There was something on his
conscience and it resulted in a dreadful dream. Men always have such
dreams when they betray themselves. A Socialist is free to go to bed
with a clear conscience. He goes to sleep with his manhood and he
awakens and walks forth in the morning with his self-respect. He is
unafraid and he can look the whole world in the face [applause and
laughter], without a tremor and without a blush. But this poor weakling
who lacked the courage to do the bidding of his reason and conscience
was haunted by a startling dream and at midnight he awoke in terror,
bounded from his bed and exclaimed: "My God, there is nobody in this
room." He was absolutely right. There was nobody in that room.
How would you like to sleep in a room that had nobody in it?
It is an awful thing to be nobody. That is certainly a state
of mind to get out of, the sooner the better.
There is a great deal of hope for Baker, Ruthenberg and
Wagenknecht who are in jail for their convictions; but for the fellow
that is nobody there is no pardoning power. He is "in" for life. Anybody
can be nobody; but it takes a man to be somebody.
To turn your back on the corrupt Republican Party and the still
more corrupt Democratic Party - the gold-dust lackeys of the ruling
class counts for still more after you have stepped out of
those popular and corrupt capitalist parties to join a minority party
that has an ideal, that stands for a principle, and fights for a cause.
This will be the most important change you have ever made
and the time will come when you will thank me for having made the
suggestion. It was the day of days for me. I remember it well. It was
like passing from midnight darkness to the noontide light of day. It
came almost like a flash and found me ready. It must have been in such a
flash that great, seething, throbbing Russia, prepared by centuries of
slavery and tears and martyrdom, was transformed from a dark continent
to a land of living light.
There is something splendid, something sustaining and inspiring in
the prompting of the heart to be true to yourself and to the best you
know, especially in a crucial hour of your life. You are in the crucible
today, my Socialist comrades! You are going to be tried by fire, to what
extent no one knows. If you are weak-fibered and fainthearted you will
be lost to the Socialist movement. We will have to bid you goodbye. You
are not the stuff of which revolutions are made. We are sorry for you
unless you chance to be an "intellectual." The
"intellectuals," many of them, are already gone. No loss on our side nor
gain on the other.
I am always amused in the discussion of the "intellectual" phase
of this question. It is the same old standard under which the rank and
file are judged. What would become of the sheep if they had no shepherd
to lead them out of the wilderness into the land of milk and honey?
Oh, yes, "I am your shepherd and ye are my mutton."
They would have us believe that if we had no "intellectuals" we
would have no movement. They would have our party, the rank and file,
controlled by the "intellectual" bosses as the Republican and Democratic
parties are controlled. These capitalist parties are managed by
"intellectual" leaders and the rank and file are sheep that follow the
bellwether to the shambles.
In the Republican and Democratic parties you of the common herd
are not expected to think. That is not only unnecessary but might lead
you astray. That is what the "intellectual" leaders are for. They do the
thinking and you do the voting. They ride in carriages at the front
where the band plays and you tramp in the mud, bringing up the rear with
great enthusiasm.
The capitalist system affects to have great regard and reward for
intellect, and the capitalists give themselves full credit for having
superior brains. When we have ventured to say that the time would come
when the working class would rule they have bluntly answered "Never! it
requires brains to rule." The workers of course have none. And they
certainly try hard to prove it by proudly supporting the political
parties of their masters under whose administration they are kept in
poverty and servitude.
The government is now operating its railroads for the more
effective prosecution of the war. Private ownership has broken down
utterly and the government has had to come to the rescue. We have always
said that the people ought to own the railroads and operate them for the
benefit of the people. We advocated that twenty years ago. But the
capitalists and their henchmen emphatically objected. "You have got to
have brains to run the railroads," they tauntingly retorted. Well, the
other day McAdoo, the governor-general of the railroads under government
operation; discharged all the high-salaried presidents and other
supernumeraries. In other words, he fired the "brains" bodily and yet
all the trains have been coming and going on schedule time. Have you
noticed any change for the worse since the "brains" are gone? It is a
brainless system now, being operated by "hands." But a good
deal more efficiently than it had been operated by so-called "brains"
before. And this determines infallibly the quality of their
vaunted, high-priced capitalist "brains." It is the kind you can get at
a reasonable figure at the market place. They have always given
themselves credit for having superior brains and given this as the
reason for the supremacy of their class. It is true that they have the
brains that indicates the cunning of the fox, the wolf, but as for
brains denoting real intelligence and the measure of intellectual
capacity they are the most woefully ignorant people on earth. Give me a
hundred capitalists just as you find them here in Ohio and let me ask
them a dozen simple questions about the history of their own country and
I will prove to you that they are as ignorant and unlettered as any you
may find in the so-called lower class. They know little of
history; they are strangers to science; they are ignorant of sociology
and blind to art but they know how to exploit, how to gouge, how to rob,
and do it with legal sanction. They always proceed legally for the
reason that the class which has the power to rob upon a large scale has
also the power to control the government and legalize their robbery. I
regret that lack of time prevents me from discussing this phase of the
question more at length.
They are continually talking about your patriotic duty. It is not
their but your patriotic duty that they are concerned about. There is a
decided difference. Their patriotic duty never takes them to the firing
line or chucks them into the trenches.
And now among other things they are urging you to "cultivate" war
gardens, while at the same time a government war report just issued
shows that practically 52 percent of the arable, tillable soil is held
out of use by the landlords, speculators and profiteers. They themselves
do not cultivate the soil. They could not if they would. Nor do they
allow others to cultivate it. They keep it idle to enrich themselves, to
pocket the millions of dollars of unearned increment. Who is it that
makes this land valuable while it is fenced in and kept out of use? It
is the people. Who pockets this tremendous accumulation of value? The
landlords. And these landlords who toil not and spin not are supreme
among American "patriots."
In passing I suggest that we stop a moment to think about the term
"landlord." "LANDLORD!" Lord of the Land! The lord of the land is indeed
a superpatriot. This lord who practically owns the earth tells you that
we are fighting this war to make the world safe for democracy - he who
shuts out all humanity from his private domain; he who profiteers at the
expense of the people who have been slain and mutilated by multiplied
thousands, under pretense of being the great American patriot. It is he,
this identical patriot who is in fact the archenemy of the people; it is
he that you need to wipe from power. It is he who is a far greater
menace to your liberty and your well-being than the Prussian Junkers on
the other side of the Atlantic ocean.
Fifty-two percent of the land kept out of use, according to their
own figures! They tell you that there is an alarming shortage of flour
and that you need to produce more. They tell you further that you have
got to save wheat so that more can be exported for the soldiers who are
fighting on the other side, while half of your tillable soil is held out
of use by the landlords and profiteers. What do you think of that?
Again, they tell you there is a coal famine now in the state of
Ohio. The state of Indiana, where I live, is largely underlaid with
coal. There is practically an inexhaustible supply. The coal is banked
beneath our very feet. It is within touch all about us - all we can
possibly use and more. And here are the miners, ready to enter the
mines. Here is the machinery ready to be put into operation to increase
the output to any desired capacity. And three weeks ago a national
officer of the United Mine Workers issued and published a statement to
the Labor Department of the United States government to the effect that
the 600,000 coal miners in the United States at this time, when they
talk about a coal famine, are not permitted to work more than half time.
I have been around over Indiana for many years. I have often been in the
coal fields; again and again I have seen the miners idle while at the
same time there was a scarcity of coal.
They tell you that you ought to buy your coal right away; that you
may freeze next winter if you do not. At the same time they charge you
three prices for your coat Oh, yes, this ought to suit you perfectly if
you vote the Republican or Democratic ticket and believe in the private
ownership of the coal mines and their operation for private profit.
The coal mines now being privately owned, the operators want a
scarcity of coal so they can boost their prices and enrich themselves
accordingly. If an abundance of coal were mined there would be lower
prices and this would not suit the mine owners. Prices soar and profits
increase when there is a scarcity of coal.
It is also apparent that there is collusion between the mine
owners and the railroads. The mine owners declare there are no cars
while the railroad men insist that there is no coal. And between them
they delude, defraud and rob the people.
Let us illustrate a vital point. Here is the coal in great
deposits all about us; here are the miners and the machinery of
production. Why should there be a coal famine upon the one hand and an
army of idle and hungry miners on the other hand? Is it not an
incredibly stupid situation, an almost idiotic if not criminal state of
affairs?
We Socialists say: "Take possession of the mines in the name of
the people." Set the miners at work and give every miner the
equivalent of all the coal he produces. Reduce the work day in
proportion to the development of productive machinery. That would at
once settle the matter of a coal famine and of idle miners. But that is
too simple a proposition and the people will have none of it. The time
will come, however, when the people will be driven to take such action
for there is no other efficient and permanent solution of the problem.
In the present system the miner, a wage slave, gets down into a
pit 300 or 400 feet deep. He works hard and produces a ton of coal. But
he does not own an ounce of it. That coal belongs to some mine-owning
plutocrat who may be in New York or sailing the high seas in his private
yacht; or he may be hobnobbing with royalty in the capitals of Europe,
and that is where most of them were before the war was declared. The
industrial captain, so- called, who lives in Paris, London, Vienna or
some other center of gaiety does not have to work to revel in luxury. He
owns the mines and he might as well own the miners.
That is where you workers are and where you will remain as long as
you give your support to the political parties of your masters and
exploiters. You vote these miners out of a job and reduce them to
corporation vassals and paupers.
We Socialists say: "Take possession of the mines; call the miner
to work and return to him the equivalent of the value of his product."
He can then build himself a comfortable home; live in it; enjoy it with
his family. He can provide himself and his wife and children with
clothes - good clothes - not shoddy; wholesome food in abundance,
education for the children, and the chance to live the lives of
civilized human beings, while at the same time the people will get coal
at just what it costs to mine it.
Of course that would be socialism as far as it goes. But you are
not in favor of that program. It is too visionary because it is so
simple and practical. So you will have to continue to wait until winter
is upon you before you get your coal and then pay three prices for it
because you insist upon voting a capitalist ticket and giving your
support to the present wage-slave system. The trouble with you is that
you are still in a capitalist state of mind.
Lincoln said: "If you want that thing that is the thing you want";
and you will get it to your heart's content. But some good day you will
wake up and realize that a change is needed and wonder why you did not
know it long before. Yes, a change is certainly needed, not merely a
change of party but a change of system; a change from slavery to freedom
and from despotism to democracy, wide as the world. When
this change comes at last, we shall rise from brutehood to brotherhood,
and to accomplish it we have to educate and organize the workers
industrially and politically, but not along the zigzag craft lines laid
down by Gompers, who through all of his career has favored the master
class. You never hear the capitalist press speak of him nowadays except
in praise and adulation. He has recently come into great prominence as a
patriot. You never find him on the unpopular side of a great issue. He
is always conservative, satisfied to leave the labor problem to be
settled finally at the banqueting board with Elihu Root, Andrew Carnegie
and the rest of the plutocratic civic federationists. When they drink
wine and smoke scab cigars together the labor question is settled so far
as they are concerned.
And while they are praising Gompers they are denouncing the I.W.W.
There are few men who have the courage to say a word in favor of the
I.W.W. I have. Let me say here that I have great
respect for the I.W.W. Far greater than I have for their infamous
detractors.
Listen! There has just been published a pamphlet called "The Truth
About the I.W.W." It has been issued after long and thorough
investigation by five men of unquestioned standing in the capitalist
world. At the head of these investigators was Professor John Graham
Brooks of Harvard University, and next to him John A. Fish of the Survey
of the Religious Organizations of Pittsburgh, and Mr. Bruere, the
government investigator. Five of these prominent men conducted an
impartial examination of the I.W.W. To quote their own words they
"followed its trail." They examined into its doings beginning at Bisbee
where the "patriots," the cowardly business men, the arch-criminals,
made up the mob that deported 1,200 workingmen under the most brutal
conditions, charging them with being members of the I.W.W. when they
knew it to be false.
It is only necessary to label a man "I.W.W." to have him lynched
as they did Praeger, an absolutely innocent man. He was a Socialist and
bore a German name, and that was his crime. A rumor was started that he
was disloyal and he was promptly seized and lynched by the cowardly mob
of so-called "patriots."
War makes possible all such crimes and outrages. And war comes in
spite of the people. When Wall Street says war the press says war and
the pulpit promptly follows with its Amen. In every age the pulpit has
been on the side of the rulers and not on the side of the people. That
is one reason why the preachers so fiercely denounce the I.W.W.
Take the time to read this pamphlet about the I.W.W. Don't take
the word of Wall Street and its press as final. Read this report by five
impartial and highly reputable men who made their investigation to know
the truth, and that they might tell the truth to the American people.
They declare that the I.W.W. in all its career never committed as much
violence against the ruling class as the ruling class has committed
against the I.W.W.
You are not now reading any reports in the daily press about the
trial at Chicago, are you? They used to publish extensive reports when
the trial first began, and to prate about what they proposed to prove
against the I.W.W. as a gigantic conspiracy against the government. The
trial has continued until they have exhausted all their testimony and
they have not yet proven violence in a single instance. No, not one!
They are utterly without incriminating testimony and yet 112 men are in
the dock after lying in jail for months without the shadow of a crime
upon them save that of belonging to the I.W.W. That is enough it would
seem to convict any man of any crime and send his body to prison and his
soul to hell. Just whisper the name of the I.W.W. and you are branded as
a disloyalist. And the reason for this is wholly to the credit of the
I.W.W., for whatever may be charged against it the I.W.W. has always
fought for the bottom dog. And that is why Haywood is
despised and prosecuted while Gompers is lauded and glorified by the
same gang.
Now what you workers need is to organize, not along craft lines
but along revolutionary industrial lines. All of you workers
in a given industry, regardless of your trade or occupation, should
belong to one and the same union.
Political action and industrial action must supplement and sustain
each other. You will never vote the Socialist republic into existence.
You will have to lay its foundations in industrial organization. The
industrial union is the forerunner of industrial democracy. In the shop
where the workers are associated is where industrial democracy has its
beginning. Organize according to your industries! Get together in every
department of industrial service! United and acting together for the
common good your power is invincible.
When you have organized industrially you will soon learn that you
can manage as well as operate industry. You will soon realize that you
do not need the idle masters and exploiters. They are simply parasites.
They do not employ you as you imagine but you employ them to take from
you what you produce, and that is how they function in industry. You can
certainly dispense with them in that capacity. You do not need them to
depend upon for your jobs. You can never be free while you work and live
by their sufferance. You must own your own tools and then you will
control your own jobs, enjoy the products of your own labor and be free
men instead of industrial slaves.
Organize industrially and make your organization complete. Then
unite in the Socialist Party. Vote as you strike and strike as you vote.
Your union and your party embrace the working class. The Socialist
Party expresses the interests, hopes and aspirations of the toilers of
all the world.
Get your fellow workers into the industrial union and the
political party to which they rightly belong, especially this year, this
historic year in which the forces of labor will assert themselves as
they never have before. This is the year that calls for men and women
who have courage, the manhood and womanhood to do their duty.
Get into the Socialist Party and take your place in its ranks;
help to inspire the weak and strengthen the faltering, and do your share
to speed the coming of the brighter and better day for us all.
When we unite and act together on the industrial field and when we
vote together on election day we shall develop the supreme power of the
one class that can and will bring permanent peace to the world. We shall
then have the intelligence, the courage and the power for our great
task. In due time industry will be organized on a cooperative basis. We
shall conquer the public power. We shall then transfer the title deeds
of the railroads, the telegraph lines, the mines, mills and great
industries to the people in their collective capacity; we shall take
possession of all these social utilities in the name of the people. We
shall then have industrial democracy. We shall be a free nation whose
government is of and by and for the people.
And now for all of us to do our duty! The clarion call is ringing
in our ears and we cannot falter without being convicted of treason to
ourselves and to our great cause.
Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but be
concerned about the treason that involves yourselves. Be
true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good cause on earth.
Yes, in good time we are going to sweep into power in this nation
and throughout the world. We are going to destroy all enslaving and
degrading capitalist institutions and re-create them as free and
humanizing institutions. The world is daily changing before our eyes.
The sun of capitalism is setting; the sun of socialism is rising. It is
our duty to build the new nation and the free republic. We need
industrial and social builders. We Socialists are the builders of the
beautiful world that is to be. We are all pledged to do our part. We are
inviting - aye challenging you this afternoon in the name of your own
manhood and womanhood to join us and do your part.
In due time the hour will strike and this great cause triumphant -
the greatest in history - will proclaim the emancipation of the working
class and the brotherhood of all mankind.
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