The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1902-01-25

Under Present Conditions.
The country we inhabit is generally
supposed to have been in a state of
peace since the close of the Civil War;
excepting the brief period required to
push the Spaniards off the western con-
tinent. And yet during this reign Of
so-called peace, more than score of
bloody battles have been fought on Am
erican soil, in every one of which, the
working class were beaten to the earth,
notwithstanding they outnumbered
their conquerors. and despoi!ers at least
ten to one, and notwithstanding in each
case they asked but a modest conces-
sion that represented but 1.-THE Of
what they were justly entitled to.
To recall the bloody scenes in the
Tennessee mountains, the horrors of
Idaho, the tragedies of Virden, Pana,
Buffalo, Chicago, Homestead, Latimer,
Leadville, and many others, is quite
enough to chill the heart of any man
who has such an organ, and yet above
the cloud and smoke of the battle there
shines forever the bow of promise, and
however fierce the struggle and gloomy
the outlook, 1t is never obscured to the
brave, self-reliant soul who knows that
victory at last must crown the cause
of labor.
Thousands have fallen before the fire
of the enemy, and thousands more are
doubtless doomed to share the same
fate but
"Freedom's battle one again
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son,
Though baffled Oft
Is ever Won."
The struggle in this and other lands
by the children of toll is a struggle be-
tween classes which in some form or
other has been waged since primitive
man first captured and enslaved his
weaker fellow being. Through the long
dark night of history, the man who
toiled has been in letters; though to-
him as securely in wage slavery, as if
they were forged of steel.
How the millions toll and produce!
How they suffer and are despised! Is
the earth forever to be a dungeon to
them? Are their offspring always to be
food for misery?
These are questions that confront the
workingmen of our day, and few at
least understood the nature of the
struggle, are conscious of their class
interests, and are striving with all their
energy to close up the ranks and con-
quer their freedom by the solidarity of
labor.
In this fight for freedom the organ
lied men in the western states have
borne conspicuous and an honorable
part. They have, in fact, maintained
better conditions on the whole, than
generally prevail, and this they have
done under the fire that would have re-
duced less courageous and determined
men. But, notwithstanding their or
ganized resistance they must perceive
that in common with all others who
work for wages, they are losing ground
before the march of capitalism.
It requires no specially sensitive nat
ure to feel the Tightening of the coils,
nor prophetic vision, to see the doom
of labor if the government is suf-
fered to continue in control of the CAPT.
talist class. In every crisis the shotted
guns of the government are aimed at
the working class. They point in but
one direction. In no other way could
the capitalists maintain their class SUI
premacy. Court injunctions paralyze
but one class. In fact, the government
of the ruling class today has but one
vital function, and that is to keep the
exploited class in subsection.
Labor unions most Of them with anti
quated methods are inadequate to cope
with the situation in any crisis, and
when the smoke of battle clears away,
their members lie stark and dead on
the field or languish in prison, or are
forced to leave wife and child to tramp
among strangers in quest Of job.
Every battle that has been fought
teaches the one lesson, that the work.
ers must unite upon class-conscious
ground, that they must vote as one
against every capitalist candidate even
though it be their best personal friend;
that they must nominate their own cam
didates up on a platform that recog-
nizes clearly and declares unequivocally
in favor of their interests, and to stand
by them until they make their own
class the governing class and abolish
the wage system and the countless
crimes that follow in it's train.
Let the labor unions staunchly con-
tend with all its power, for such con-
cessions are possible under the present
system, but at the same time let the
members who compose them open their
eyes to the fact that an industrial rev.
olution is in progress and that to Sc
cure inestimable blessings they must
make their class, the only class essen
tial to modern society, the governing
class, which means the abolition Of
class rule and wage slavery and the
Inauguration Of reign of freedom
Eugene V. Debs.