Workmen's advocate., 1890-06-14
THE COMING ISSUE.
WASHINGTON NATIONALlSTS AND SOCIALISTS WORKING OUT TOGETHER THE
 GREAT PROBLEM.

"ls NatiOnalism a Middle. Class Move
 ment!"-The Fact that there 1.
 War Must be organ
 ized Labor Unconscious of Wha
 It Is Going To De-" Yet Will
 Do lL-Prof. Newcomb Chal
 lenged to Public Debate.
 At a public meeting of Nationalist Club No. 1 of Washington, D. C., beld last week, the question, "Is Nationalisn a Middle Class Movement?" came fol discussion from a previous evening, when It had first been presented in a paper read by Mir. Max Georgii. The discus. sion, however, was not confined to the limits of the question itself, but took a wide range.
 Mr. Smart was the first speaker He thought the subject deserved serious con- sideration. Is this movement to be like that of the Socialists, which identifies itself with the working classes and recog nizes state of war between employers and employees? Should we sympathize with the workers in this sense? While he was in sym .hy with the purposes Of Nationalist, md Socialists, he was not in favor of war. The working classes are working under the system which now exists, and there was no remedy excep' through the destruction Of that system and it's displacement by another, and one thoroughly National istic. We want true idea of property to take the place of the present idea, which Is that of private ownership, and that true idea is public ownership. The only way in which we can get this con- trol of property is by total abolition of the present system.
 MT. Steiner thought the answer to the question depended upon the poina of view in which it was considered. No man in comfortable circumstances, who has read Looking Backward" but asks. "What are you going to do about it 2" We are living in transition state, the possibilities of which are apparent to comparatively few. Everybody is feel ing there is something wrong in our present system. How is it that, with all our resources, there is so much pov- erty in the world? The present aspect of the industrial world is making an inn pression upon the people? This tran sition state indicated a war of ideas, which makes social revolutions possible. Existing conditions must be modified. There are some things charming In Nationalism. It recognizes industry as the basis of the civilization of the fu- ture.
 The president, (Mr. Pechin), referring to a remark of Mr. Smart, tha, Nation. alists did not cooperate with wage- workers because the latter did not recog- nize and act upon Nationalist principles, suggested that there were representa- tives of labor present, and they might, perhaps, state how far workingnen went in this direction. Were they con tent with the present status, or were they desirous of changes in the direc- tion of Nationalism?
 Mir. Schmidt, president of the club, called upon Mir. Spier to respond.
 Mir. Spier, in response, said he did not believe organized labor was conscious of what it is going on to do. Still, if | the movement were to be judged by it's platform, he did not think there was any plank of the Nationalists that was not covered by the Knights of Labor. The ultimate attack will be the co-opera- tive mode of production; that is, the CO., operative commonwealth. The nine- teenth paragraph of tie k. of L. plat form sought to establish co operative institutions which should tend to su- persede the wage system. We were compelled by the very necessity of the times to go ahead; 1t was no matter of choice. It was useless to talk on the question as to whether there should be war or not; there is war, and there are ten thousand organi. ,tions in this coun. try formed for this p, 'se, because the capitallstlc class, sE by compe- tition, are compelling yorkingmen to fight in self defens Id under this pressure labor organii :. The whole world not directly connected with labor organizations sees there is something wrong, and when book like Bellainv's is written, like spark it goes ove- the whole country, and the Nati list movement springs up and, in the st -- CTS opinion, is doing an immense amou.