Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1889-11-02

been Dyed IN TINS blood by the oppreS-
sors of mankind throu ghout the world.
The speaker then re- viewed the work
Of the convention at Chicago and read
amid great applause the opening para
graphs of the PLATFORM. "These are"
he said, "the principles upon which the
Socialist Labor Party Stands before the
people of the United States Are they
un'American? Or are they the natural
logical, inevitable sequ ence and compile
ment of the principl es proclaimed by
the founders of the American Republic
in their Declaration Of Independence?
Don't we see every day that political
liberty is sham under a system of eco
nomic slavery? Why do the people of this
country, year after year send to their
legislative and execu tive bodies the
same corrupt servants of their oppres-
sors? Is it not because, under our eco
nomic system, they Ell ther become too
ignorant to understa nd the Cause of
their misery, or are he'd in such bond
age and surveillance. b. y their employers
that they must vote as they are told to
do? Suppose, as Hen ry George would
say, Robinson Crusoe and his man Fri
day on an island Bot h agree that po-
litical liberty, free spe ech and all that
shall forever remain unabridged; but
Robinson Crusoe reser YES to himself the
ownership of the land and of every in
Strument of labor. viii not Friday be
the slave of Crusoe in spite of his right
to talk and to vote? In this illustration
Robinson Crusoe synboIizes the few
thousands who own all the land and in
struments of labor in this vast country,
and Friday personifies the millions of
free citizens who are held in the most
abject economic depen dence.
"If, after what have said, there are
some who still believe that the princi.
| Piles of Socialism are I'm. American, or
can never take root in the American
soil, let me read to them this document"
Here the speaker read the declaration of
principles of the Natio nalist Clubs. lis
not this Socialism, pure and simple?
And who are the men who speak SO?
Are they foreigners? No; they are
Americans, whose faith ers, grandfathers
and great -grandfathers were Ameri-
cans. The world is moving, and
whether or not we live long enough to
see it, the time must come when the
economic fabric not of America alone,
but of the whole civilized world, will
rest upon these great p rinciples
| Again." continued the speaker,
"when we predict su ch change, and
when, taught by history, we predict
furthermore, that it M ay not take place
without bloody rev olution, it is stu
pidly by some and cum ningly by others
asserted that we are advocates Of force
and bloodshed. What would you think
of man who would hold the meteorol-
ogist of the Signal Service responsible
for the storms which tine latter PREDICTS?
There is says the poor scientist, "a
storm coming upon us with velocity
of eighty miles per hour. 1t will uproot
trees, tear houses down, carry roofs
away, etc. Bewarer Why, exclaims
the man, this meteorologist ought to
be dragged down fro IN his tall tower
and quartered forthwl tn. Hanging is
too good for him. He is preparing a
storm that will blow my house down
and bury me under its ruins You
would, trust, send such a man to the
lunatic asylum.
History" said the speaker in con-
clusion, teaches us that no privileged
class ever relinquished its privileges
without fighting, even unto death, for
their preservation. Every conquest of
liberty has been marked by bloodshed.
This Republic has been no exception to
the rule, and the most GLORIOUS pages of
its history are red with the blood of
those who fought a century ago for it's
independence, and of those who later
fought for the abolitio II of chattel slav-
cry. But while we Soc ialists do not de-
lude ourselves into the belief that wage
slavery will be abolished without a
great struggle, we do not advocate
tion and independent political action of
the wage-workers as a class. Let the
workingmen unite, and the day will
soon come when both the red flag and
the stars and stripes-the flag of the
nation and the flag of humanity-will
wave upon the homes Of a regenerated
and happy people"
Comrades Seubert and Reimer spoke
in German. They gave comprehen-
sive account of the work Of the Chicago
convention, and took he same ground
as Shevitch had taken m relation to the
flag question. Their Remarks we're fire.
quenlty received with t he most enthusi-
astic applause.
Hugo Vogt read the platform, and in
a few words commented upon the action
of the capitalistic press. He predicted
that the spaeches modo ar this n,aat;oor