power. He owns no tools; the tools are great machines. He can't compete
against them with his bare hands. He has got to work. There is only one
condition under which he can work and that is when he sells his labor
power, his energy, his very life currents, and thus disposes of himself
in daily installments. He is not sold from the block, as was the chattel
slave. He sells ten hours of himself every day in exchange for just
enough to keep himself in that same slavish condition.
The machine he works with has to be oiled, and he has to be fed, and the
oil sustains the same relation to the machine that food does to him. If
he could work without food his wage would be reduced to the vanishing
point. That is the status of the workingman today.
What can the present economic organization do to improve the condition
of the workingman? Very little, if anything. If you have a wife and two
or three children, and you take the possibilities into consideration,
this question ought to give you grave concern. You know that it is the
sons of workingmen who become vagabonds and tramps, and who are sent to
jail, and it is the daughters of workingmen who are forced into houses
of shame.
You are a workingman, you live in capitalism, and you have nothing but
your labor power, and you don't know whether you are going to find a
buyer or not. But even if you do find a master, if you have a job, can
you boast of being a man among men?
No man can rightly claim to be a man unless he is free. There is
something godlike about manhood. Manhood doesn't admit of ownership.
Manhood scorns to be regarded as property.
Do you know whether you have a job or not? Do you know how long you are
going to have one? And when you are out of a job what can your union do
for you? I was down at Coalgate, Oklahoma, on the Fourth of July last,
where six hundred miners have been out of work for four long months.
They are all organized. There are the mines and machinery, and the
miners are eager to work. But not a tap of work is being done, and the
miners and their families are suffering, and most of them live in houses
that are unfit for habitation. This awful condition is never going to be
changed in capitalism. There is one way only and that is to wipe out
capitalism, and to do that we have to get together, and when we do that
we will find the way to emancipation.
You may not agree with me now, but make note of what I am saying. The
time is near when you will be forced into economic and political
solidarity.
The republican and democratic parties are alike capitalist parties. Some
of you may think that Mr. Bryan, if elected, will do great things for
the workers. Conditions will remain substantially the same. We will
still be under capitalism. It will not matter how you may tinker with
the tariff or the currency. The tools are still the property of the
capitalists and you are still at their mercy.
Now let me show you that Mr. Bryan is no more your friend than is Mr.
Taft. You remember when the officials of the Western Federation of
Miners were kidnaped in Colorado, and when it was said they should
never leave Idaho alive. It was the determination of the Mine Owners'
Association that these brave and loyal union leaders should be foully
murdered. When these brothers of ours were brutally kidnaped by the
collusion of the capitalist governors of two states, every true friend
of the working class cried out in protest. Did Mr. Bryan utter a word?
Mr. Bryan was the recognized champion of the working class. He was in a
position to be heard. A protest from him would have tremendous weight
with the American people. But his labor friends could not unlock his
lips. Not one word would he speak. Not one.
Organized labor, however, throughout the length and breadth of the land,
took the matter in hand promptly and registered its protest in a way
that made the nation quake. The Mine Owners' Association took to the
tall timber. Our brother unionists were acquitted, vindicated, and stood
forth without a blemish upon their honor, and after they were free once
more, Mr. Bryan said, "I felt all the time that they were not guilty."
Now if your faithful leaders are kidnaped and threatened to be hanged,
and you call upon a man who claims to be your friend, to come to the
rescue and he refuses to say a word, to give the least help, do you
still think he is your friend? Mr. Bryan had his chance to prove his
friendship at a time when labor sorely needed friends, when organized
labor cried out in agony and distress. But not a word escaped his lips.
Why did not Mr. Byran speak? He did not dare. Mr. Bryan knew very well
that the kidnapers of those men were his personal friends, the
association of rich mine owners, who had largely furnished his campaign
funds. For Mr. Bryan personally I have always had a high regard. I am
not attacking him in any personal sense at all.
But the extremity to which a man is driven who tries to serve both
capital and labor! It can't be done. Mr. Bryan did not dare to speak for
labor because if he had he would have turned the mine owning capitalists
against him. He is afraid to speak out very loudly for capitalists for
fear the workers will get after him. He has compromised all around for
the sake of being president.
You have heard him denounce Roger Sullivan. Mr. Bryan, four years ago,
in denouncing this corruptionist, at the time of the nomination of Alton
B. Parker, said he was totally destitute of honor and compared him to a
train robber. Notwithstanding this fact, Mr. Bryan recently invited
Sullivan to his home in Lincoln, took him by the hand and introduced him
to his family. Mr. Bryan also invited Charley Murphy, the inexpressibly
rotten Tammany heeler of New York. Mr. Bryan had him come to Lincoln so
as to conciliate Tammany, and they were photographed together shaking
hands.
No man can serve both capital and labor at the same time.
You don't admit the capitalists to your union. They organize their union
to fight you. You organize your union to fight them. Their union
consists wholly of capitalists; your union consists wholly of
workingmen. It is along the same line that you have got to organize
politically. You don't unite with capitalists on the economic field; why
should you politically?
You have got to extend your class line. You can declare yourselves in
this convention and make your position clear to the world. You can give
hope and inspire confidence throughout the state.
And now in closing, I wish to thank you, each of you, from my heart, for
your kindness. I appreciate the opportunity you have given me to address
you and whether you agree with me or not, I leave you wishing you
success in your deliberations and hoping for the early triumph of the
labor movement.
* * * * *
The convention passed a unanimous rising vote of thanks at the close of
the address.
POLITICAL APPEAL TO AMERICAN WORKERS.
Opening Speech of National Campaign, Riverview Park, Chicago, June 16,
1912.
Friends, Comrades and Fellow-Workers: We are today entering upon a
national campaign of the profoundest interest to the working class and
the country. In this campaign there are but two parties and but one
issue. There is no longer even the pretense of difference between the
so-called Republican and Democratic parties. They are substantially one
in what they stand for. They are opposed to each other on no question of
principle but purely in a contest for the spoils of office.
To the workers of the country these two parties in name are one in fact.
They, or rather, it, stands for capitalism, for the private ownership of
the means of subsistence, for the exploitation of the workers, and for
wage-slavery.
Both of these old capitalist class machines are going to pieces. Having
outlived their time they have become corrupt and worse than useless and
now present a spectacle of political degeneracy never before witnessed
in this or any other country. Both are torn by dissension and rife with
disintegration. The evolution of the forces underlying them is tearing
them from their foundations and sweeping them to inevitable destruction.
We have before us in this city at this hour an exhibition of capitalist
machine politics which lays bare the true inwardness of the situation in
the capitalist camp. Nothing that any Socialist has ever charged in the
way of corruption is to be compared with what Taft and Roosevelt have
charged and proven upon one another. They are both good Republicans,
just as Harmon and Bryan are both good Democrats--and they are all
agreed that Socialism would be the ruination of the country.
_Puppets of the Ruling Class._
Taft and Roosevelt in the exploitation of their boasted individualism
and their mad fight for official spoils have been forced to expose the
whole game of capitalist class politics and reveal themselves and the
whole brood of capitalist politicians in their true role before the
American people. They are all the mere puppets of the ruling class. They
are literally bought, paid for and owned, body and soul, by the powers
that are exploiting this nation and enslaving and robbing its toilers.
What difference is there, judged by what they stand for, between Taft,
Roosevelt, La Follette, Harmon, Wilson, Clark and Bryan?
Do they not all alike stand for the private ownership of industry and
the wage-slavery of the working class?
What earthly difference can it make to the millions of workers whether
the Republican or Democratic political machine of capitalism is in
commission?
That these two parties differ in name only and are one in fact is
demonstrated beyond cavil whenever and wherever the Socialist party
constitutes a menace to their misrule. Milwaukee is a case in point and
there are many others. Confronted by the Socialists these long pretended
foes are forced to drop their masks and fly into each other's arms.
_Twin Agencies of Wall Street._
The baseness, hypocrisy and corruption of these twin political agencies
of Wall Street and the ruling class cannot be expressed in words. The
imagination is taxed in contemplating their crimes. There is no depth of
dishonor to which they have not descended--no depth of depravity they
have not sounded.
To the extent that they control elections the franchise is corrupted and
the electorate debauched, and when they succeed in power it is but to
execute the will of the Wall Street interests which finance and control
them. The police, the militia, the regular army, the courts and all the
powers lodged in class government are all freely at the service of the
ruling class, especially in suppressing discontent among the slaves of
the factories, mills and mines, and keeping them safely in subjugation
to their masters.
How can any intelligent, self-respecting wage-worker give his support to
either of these corrupt capitalist parties? The emblem of a capitalist
party on a working man is the badge of his ignorance, his servility and
shame.
Marshalled in battle array, against these corrupt capitalist parties is
the young, virile, revolutionary Socialist party, the party of the
awakening working class, whose red banners, inscribed with the inspiring
shibboleth of class-conscious solidarity, proclaim the coming triumph of
international Socialism and the emancipation of the workers of the
world.
_The Two Political Forces._
Contrast these two political forces and the parties through which these
forces find concrete expression! On the one side are the trusts, the
corporations, the banks, the railroads, the plutocrats, the politicians,
the bribe-givers, the ballot-box stuffers, the repeaters, the parasites,
retainers and job-hunters of all descriptions; the corruption funds, the
filth, slime and debauchery of ruling class politics; the press and
pulpit and college, all wearing capitalism's collar, and all in concert
applauding its "patriotism" and glorifying in its plundering and
profligate regime.
On the other side are the workers and producers of the nation coming
into consciousness of their interests and their power as a class, filled
with the spirit of solidarity and thrilled with the new-born power that
throbs within them; scorning further affiliation with the parties that
so long used them to their own degradation and looking trustfully to
themselves and to each other for relief from oppression and for
emancipation from the power which has so long enslaved them.
Honest toil, useful labor, against industrial robbery and political
rottenness!
These are the two forces which are arrayed against each other in deadly
and uncompromising hostility in the present campaign.
_Corrupt Capitalist Politics._
We are not here to play the filthy game of capitalist politics. There is
the same relative difference between capitalist class politics and
working class politics that there is between capitalism and Socialism.
Capitalism, having its foundation in the slavery and exploitation of
the masses, can only rule by corrupt means and its politics are
essentially the reflex of its low and debasing economic character.
The Socialist party as the party of the working class stands squarely
upon its principles in making its appeal to the workers of the nation.
It is not begging for votes, nor seeking for votes, nor bargaining for
votes. It is not in the vote market. It wants votes, but only of those
who want it--those who recognize it as their party and come to it of
their own free will.
If, as the Socialist candidate for president, I were seeking office and
the spoils of office I would be a traitor to the Socialist party and a
disgrace to the working class.
To be sure we want all the votes we can get and all that are coming to
us but only as a means of developing the political power of the working
class in the struggle for industrial freedom, and not that we may revel
in the spoils of office.
_Political Power._
The workers have never yet developed or made use of their political
power. They have played the game of their masters for the benefit of the
master class--and now many of them, disgusted with their own blind and
stupid performance, are renouncing politics and refusing to see any
difference between the capitalist parties financed by the ruling class
to perpetuate class rule and the Socialist party organized and financed
by the workers themselves as a means of wresting the control of
government and of industry from the capitalists and making the working
class the ruling class of the nation and the world.
The Socialist party enters this campaign under conditions that could
scarcely be more favorable to the cause it represents. For the first
time every state in the union is now organized and represented in the
national party, and every state will have a full ticket in the field;
and for the first time the Socialists of the United States have a party
which takes its rightful place in the great revolutionary working class
movement of the world.
Four years ago with a membership of scarcely forty thousand we succeeded
in polling nearly half a million votes; this year when the campaign is
fairly opened we shall have a hundred and fifty thousand dues-paying
members and an organization in all regards incalculably superior to that
we had in the last campaign.
We are united, militant, aggressive, enthusiastic as never before. From
the Eastern coast to the Pacific shore and from the Canadian line to the
Mexican gulf the red banner of the proletarian revolution floats
unchallenged and the exultant shouts of the advancing hosts of labor are
borne on all the breezes.
_There Is But One Issue._
There is but one issue that appeals to this conquering army--the
unconditional surrender of the capitalist class. To be sure this cannot
be achieved in a day and in the meantime the party enforces to the
extent of its power its immediate demands and presses steadily onward
toward the goal. It has its constructive program by means of which it
develops its power and its capacity, step by step, seizing upon every
bit of vantage to advance and strengthen its position, but never for a
moment mistaking reform for revolution and never losing sight of the
ultimate goal.
Socialist reform must not be confounded with so-called capitalist
reform. The latter is shrewdly designed to buttress capitalism; the
former to overthrow it. Socialist reform vitalizes and promotes the
social revolution.
_The National Convention._
The national convention of the Socialist party recently held at
Indianapolis was in all respects the greatest gathering of
representative Socialists ever held in the United States. The delegates
there assembled demonstrated their ability to deal efficiently with all
the vital problems which confront the party. The convention was
permeated in every fiber with the class-conscious, revolutionary spirit
and was thoroughly representative of the working class. Every question
that came before that body was considered and disposed of in accordance
with the principles and program of the international movement and on the
basis of its relation to and effect upon the working class.
The platform adopted by the convention is a clear and cogent
enunciation of the party's principles and a frank and forceful statement
of the party's mission. This platform embodies labor's indictment of the
capitalist system and demands the abolition of that system. It proclaims
the identity of interests of all workers and appeals to them in clarion
tones to unite for their emancipation. It points out the class struggle
and emphasizes the need of the economic and political unity of the
workers to wage that struggle to a successful issue. It declares
relentless war upon the entire capitalist regime in the name of the
rising working class and demands in uncompromising terms the overthrow
of wage-slavery and the inauguration of industrial democracy.
In this platform of the Socialist party the historic development of
society is clearly stated and the fact made manifest that the time has
come for the workers of the world to shake off their oppressors and
exploiters, put an end to their age-long servitude, and make themselves
the masters of the world.
To this end the Socialist party has been organized; to this end it is
bending all its energies and taxing all its resources; to this end it
makes its appeal to the workers and their sympathizers throughout the
nation.
_The Capitalist System Condemned._
In the name of the workers the Socialist party condemns the capitalist
system. In the name of freedom it condemns wage-slavery. In the name of
modern industry it condemns poverty, idleness and famine. In the name of
peace it condemns war. In the name of civilization it condemns the
murder of little children. In the name of enlightenment it condemns
ignorance and superstition. In the name of the future it arraigns the
past at the bar of the present, and in the name of humanity it demands
social justice for every man, woman and child.
The Socialist party knows neither color, creed, sex, nor race. It knows
no aliens among the oppressed and down-trodden. It is first and last the
party of the workers, regardless of their nationality, proclaiming their
interests, voicing their aspirations, and fighting their battles.
It matters not where the slaves of the earth lift their bowed bodies
from the dust and seek to shake off their fetters, or lighten the burden
that oppresses them, the Socialist party is pledged to encourage and
support them to the full extent of its power. It matters not to what
union they belong, or if they belong to any union, the Socialist party
which sprang from their struggle, their oppression, and their
aspiration, is with them through good and evil report, in trial and
defeat, until at last victory is inscribed upon their banner.
_Fighting Labor's Battles._
Whether it be in the textile mills of Lawrence and other mills of New
England where men, women and children are ground into dividends to gorge
a heartless, mill-owning plutocracy; or whether it be in the lumber and
railroad camps of the far Northwest where men are herded like cattle and
insulted, beaten and deported for peaceably asserting the legal right to
organize; or in the conflict with the civilized savages of San Diego
where men who dare be known as members of the Industrial Workers of the
World are kidnaped, tortured and murdered in cold blood in the name of
law and order; or in the city of Chicago where that gorgon of
capitalism, the newspaper trust, is bent upon crushing and exterminating
the pressmen's union; or along the Harriman lines of railroad where the
slaves of the shops have been driven to the alternative of striking or
sacrificing the last vestige of their manhood and self-respect, in all
these battles of the workers against their capitalist oppressors the
Socialist party has the most vital concern and is freely pledged to
render them all the assistance in its power.
These are the battles of the workers in the war of the classes and the
battles of the workers, wherever and however fought, are always and
everywhere the battles of the Socialist party.
When Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone were seized by the brutal mine owners
of the western states and by their prostitute press consigned to the
gallows, the Socialist party lost not an hour in going to the rescue,
and but for its prompt and vigorous action and the resolute work of its
press another monstrous crime against the working class would have
blackened the pages of American history.
_Persecution of Loyal Leaders._
In the unceasing struggle of the workers with their exploiters the truly
loyal leaders are always marked for persecution. Joseph Ettor and Arturo
Giovannitti would not now be in jail awaiting trial for murder had they
betrayed the slaves of the Lawrence mills. They were staunch and true;
their leadership made for industrial unity and victory, and for this
reason alone the enraged and defeated mill-owners are now bent upon
sending them to the electric chair.
These fellow-workers of ours who are now on trial for murder are not one
whit more guilty of the crime with which they are charged than I am. The
man who committed the murder was a policeman, an officer of the law; the
victim of the crime was as usual a striker, a wage-slave, a poor working
girl. Ettor and Giovannitti were two miles from the scene at the time
and when the news came to them they broke into tears--and these two
workingmen who would have protected that poor girl's life with their own
are now to be tried for her murder.
Was ever anything in all the annals of heartless persecution more
monstrous than this? Have the mill-owners gone stark mad? Have they in
their brutal rage become stone-blind? Whatever the answer may be, it is
certain that the Socialist party and organized labor in general will
never see these two innocent workers murdered in cold blood, nor will
their agitation and protest cease until they have been given their
freedom.
_The Campaign Now Opening._
In the great campaign now pending the people, especially the toilers and
producers, will be far more receptive to the truths of Socialism than
ever before.
Since the last national campaign they have had four years more of
capitalism, of political corruption, industrial stagnation, low wages
and high prices, and many, very many of them have come to realize that
these conditions are inherent in the capitalist system and that it is
vain and foolish to hope for relief through the political parties of
that system. These people have had their eyes opened in spite of
themselves. They have been made to see what the present system means to
them and to their children, and they have been forced to turn against it
by the sheer instinct of self-preservation.