in the present national campaign.
Let me say at the very threshold of this discussion that the workers
have but the one issue in this campaign, the overthrow of the capitalist
system and the emancipation of the working class from wage-slavery.
The capitalists may have the tariff, finance, imperialism and other
dust-covered and moth-eaten issues entirely to themselves.
The rattle of these relics no longer deceives workingmen whose heads are
on their own shoulders.
They know by experience and observation that the gold standard, free
silver, fiat money, protective tariff, free trade, imperialism and
anti-imperialism all mean capitalist rule and wage-slavery.
Their eyes are open and they can see; their brains are in operation and
they can think.
The very moment a workingman begins to do his own thinking he
understands the paramount issue, parts company with the capitalist
politician and falls in line with his own class on the political
battlefield.
The political solidarity of the working class means the death of
despotism, the birth of freedom, the sunrise of civilization.
Having said this much by way of introduction I will now enter upon the
actualities of my theme.