St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-10-24

Nj 4
gEzZS4S pleasure, sir. But do you
ZNSS1 Q wish to gain the InfOrma-
EIHNVE& ton only for yourself. or
z MANY for somebody elSe?"
" " W.. Il am reporter of the
MIX ~ GLOBE, the paper that
IMAM has given you, believe,
the 1ai.c,. deal, and l wish to know what
YOU understand by social democracy"
well. what [ understand by social de-
mocracy is this: The complete emancipa-
ton of labor by the interference OF govern
ment without the aid of when labor never
will be redeemed, as history hassclearly
proven"
But the Jeffersonian democracy, Mr..
NymanOver, doesn't that include what you
and other labor organizers are asking
fOr?"
.Jeffersonian democracy? No. 1t
established liberty it is true, and most
solemnly declared mans rights. too, but It's
objects were not those at which the follow
erS of social democracy AIM"
What were its objects them"
''The political expression Of independ-
enee"
What do you mean by thiS?
81 mean the overthrow of English pO-
litical supremacy. which, by no means
means the overthrow of English social
supremacy. 1t accomplished about the
same result as the French revolution OF
1879, establishing political liberty plus
home rule"
''Well, isn't that all we need?"
s'No. Political liberty is all right if all
men were honest, but as they are not,
some sort of a check must be placed on
their liberty, just as men doing wrong
things get arrested"
what is the nature of that check you
prOpoSe?"
Il propose, as the remedy for existing
evils that the state lays its hand Oh prop
erty. 1t is property and its interests that
throne in every political convention, be it
Democratic or Republican. 1t is the deyo-
ton to property that brings out mans
worst qualities by its stimulating MIN to
struggle with his fellows for the relative
improvement of his own position. rather
than for the absolute advancement of the
interests of all
The Democratic party is the party-incar-
nation Of liberty, and so far is all right,
but it seems to me to never have conceived
of the fact that man is imperfect, that is,
not fully developed. and consequently is
very likely to use his liberty in the way of
can prove by pointing you to the fact that
out of Jeffersonian Democracy has grown
up the Republican party, the party COM
posed of American parvenues."
You look upon the Republican party,
then, as CLASP"
Yes, l dO.'
But is not the struggle which precedes
and heraldS your policy, as social demo-
crat, one of selfish class interests in the
same way?"
by no means, sir; socialists do not aim
at the supremacy of a class or section of
the community at the expense of other
sections"
.''Al right. But do they wish the work
ers to control the state?"
Certainly and most assuredly they do"
SIS not this the supremacy of a ciasS?"
mo; for they insist that every able
bodied person of sound mind should do a
fair share of necessary work. When all
are workers, the workers will be no longer
class, but nation"
What then, will become of the class
selfishneSs of the workers."
''SelfiShneSS, my dear sir, will then become
public spirit when the motives which for
merly led men to work for the interest and
advancement of themselves alone, operate
for the benefit Of the whole human race
with which their class has become identi-
fed"
Good; but don't you know, Mr.. Nyman-
over, that the..Democratic party took in the
labor question in its platform this fall
l mean the Democratic party of Mime
sota?"
Yes, 1 know; and 1 believe when
doing this it was in earnest. For that very
reason did resolve to side with the Demo
Gratis in this campaign. But alas for the
labor question! 1t took in as a plank the
resolutions of the local Knights of Labor, OF
the Farmers alliance. etc.; but remember
what Prof. Ely says in the October number
of the North American Review about the
labor problem. He says: The labor prob
lem is scarcely more than another name
for the larger half of that old mysterious
problem of human life OH earth, with which
men have been battling for 5000 years OF
more. 1t is the old problem in a new guise,
because we have entered upon a new era III
the development of the race. The en-.
tire life of man, in all his relations to his
fellows, is involved | admit this; at the
same time l also claim that the labor cues.
ton. politically, is the question of property
and the question of property is the socia
4NANONACAA'
wrong course in politics NAV prove itself
very fatal to labor and its cause. "
Then the Democratic party of Mime
sofa has allied itself with the policy OF
yours"
TO certain extent it has. But the
carnal point in our platform has no place
IN the Democratic resolutions, as adopted
at the convention in st. Paul. And thi:
point or paragraph reads as follows: we
demand that the land, the instruments OF
production machines. factories, etc. anC
the products OF labor become the common
property Of the whole people, and that al
production be organized comparatively. as,
also, the cooperative distribution of tn,
products. To realize these demands w,
strive to gain control of the political powe
by means OF agitation and the ballot box
When the Democrats adopt this plank il
their platform then they become socia
Gemocrats.'J
well. isn't that anarchism, Mr.. Nvm
anover?"
''Anarchism? No. not at all. 1t is tn,
very antipode Of anarchism, AS societ,
now is. it is anarchistic. Socialists demand
liberty plus regulation. anarchists libert,
alone. Socialists wish the improvement O
human society, anarchists the destruction O
human society. L, therefore, say that al
men in this country declaring themselve
against regulation" are anarchists, and al
men declaring themselves not against regu
lation, but against liberty" are Republic
ans and Republican-Prohibi So
cialism is conservative in the best sense
I'll tell you, sir, that look with great con
sternation upon the growing cleft betweel
the rich and the poor upon the cynical in
difference Of tho ono Gloss and tho broOdin
discomfort of the other, and l sternly TAX
the clergy to task for squandering time i
doctrinal bubbles and neglecting the para
mount issues of the time.'
''Do you expect the time distant for SO
ciai democracy in America2v