All of the slave catchers and holders, all of the oppressors of man, all
of the enemies of the human race, all of the rulers of Siberia, where a
large part of this earth’s surface has been transformed into a hell—all
have spoken in the name of the Great God and in the name of the Holy
Bible.
There will be a change one of these days. The world is just beginning to
awaken, and is soon to sing its first anthem of freedom. All the signs
of the times are cheering. Twenty-five years ago there was but a handful
of Socialists; today there are a half million. When the polls are closed
next fall you will be astounded. The Socialist movement is in alliance
with the forces of progress. We are today where the abolitionists were
in 1858. They had a million and a quarter of votes. There was dissension
in the whig, republican and free soil parties, but the time had come for
a great change, and the republican party was formed in spite of the
bickerings and contentions of men. Lincoln made the great speech in that
year that gave him the nomination and afterward made him president of
the United States.
If you had said to the people in 1858, “In two years from now the
republican party is going to sweep the country and seat the president,”
you would have been laughed to scorn. The Socialist party stands today
where the republican party stood fifty years ago. It is in alliance with
the forces of evolution, the one party that has a clear-cut,
overmastering, overshadowing issue; the party that stands for the
people, and the only party that stands for all the people. In this
system we have one set who are called capitalists, and another set who
are called workers; and they are at war with each other.