The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1877-04-21
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIBERTY

rived al in the United States, il seems
seems amazing mat it should have been
required so many weary centuries to bring
men forward to the point we occupied at
the time of our Revolution, when We threw
otf the divine right" Of kings, aristoc-
racies and State charities, and proclaimed
the right of man TO self-government, with
all the liberty, security, wealth and enjoy
ments connected with it, While the rest
Of the world is yet in bondage to the gov
ernmental frauds and tyrannies Of antiqui-
ty, our national experience has proved
conclusively that mere proclamation and
acknowledgment of rights is not sufficient
TO guarantee these rights to all.
! What is our condition to-day With
the freest and best form Of political gov
| eminent that man ever yet instituted, We
find the masses Of the people IN social
\ bondage d their fellow men. Millions Of
men and women toll hopelessly from year
to year IN Mines mills and workshops, in
T J
subsistence, exposed constantly to loss OF
employment and semi starV ation, pleading
yaInly to legislatures to shorten their houIs
Of toll; compelled 10 take Just such wages
as are offered to them marked and out
lawed from employment II they dare to
revolt against unbearabe oppression IN a
word, exposed to and suffering every
tyranny and social injustice. under our
free republic. which Is endured by the
king ridden populations Of Europe
Such is the distinction between our gov
ernmental theory and our social practice
And it arises from The fact that We merely
sought to engraft a free and new form Of
government on an ancient social system
hlled with tyranny and injustice The
two adverse systems cannot cualesce. and
the ola society Will overthrow the new and
free government, OF this new government
must reorganIze and adapt society into
correspondence with itself. The question
TO be decided by the masses is Shall y y
have social as well as political liberty or
shall We fossilze into political as well as
social slavery The contradictions between
the old society and the new form Of gov
erument were manifest even to the trainers
Of the Constitution. The one admitted Of
chattel slavery, while the other merely
prohibited political seryitude. The men
Of that day did all they could under the
circumstances, leaving it to posterity to
finish the good work which thew COM
menced
just look at it. The people were de-
clared free to govern themselves and all
visible forms Of despojism we're abolished
But the slave vas left exposed to the lash
III easter and the workman to the greed
Of an employer. No change in their rela-
tons was thought Of, nor vas it at that
time absolutely necessary. The slave and
the workman we're in some measure mem
bers Of the family. There were no lordly
corporations, with their hundreds Of labor
retainers. our milhonaires we're in en-
bryo. But now changed. The old society
i working out its legitimate results, and
gradually destroying the Republic, just as
It has in all past time destroyed every form
Of free government ever attempted.
Political liberty Is a sham unless accom-
panied by social liberty. And this social
liberty consists in the entire freedom Of
every individual to determine what he OF
she will work at, how many hours day
they will work; to have the exclusive regu-
lation Of their labor and its reward subject
to no form of plumber from outside classes
subject to no law, usage or authority but
that which is self-imposed. for the benefit
Of all. No such social liberty, or social
liberty Of any kind, can exist in connection
with an industrial system which subjects
the laboring millions Of men and women
TO the domination, Encouragement, tyran-
ny, and unscrupulous greed Of what is
termed capitalist class, which derives all
its interest, profit and pre- eminence ex-
clusively for the working class. The two
classes are necessarily antagonistic, for
the gains of capital are the losses If labor
The one is a taskmaster, and the other a
slave.
Our political liberty must be used for
the attainment Of social liberty. We have
the power, within the Constitution, to
make such laws and institute such wages
as may be necessary to establish new
social order in harmony with our political
freedom. We have the power to decree
what shall be termed money among US, and
the authority to loan tins money for
specific purposes. 1t can be furnished to
farmers and worklngmen as well as to what
what are now termed the monied classes.
AS the classes that control money are the
dominant classes, so a requisite amount Of
currency furnished to organized labor on
the farm or in the workshop will quietly
put an end to class supremacy. and inau-
gurate an industrial republic, with com
mon interest, common liberty, and an
equitable share of the good things Of life
for all
REHASHED NONSENSE.