Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?, 1904-04-27

is a calm and well weighed state
ment of historical evolution through
class antagonisms, and no amount
of ingenuity can overthrow the testi-
mony of history, since the introduc-
ton of private property, which sub
stantiates this analysis.
1t is true, the authors of the
Communist Manifesto" speak of
revolution" and of force" But
in the first place, at the time when
the Communist Manifesto" was
written, there was no prospect of
solving this problem by peaceful
means in any European country
but England. In the second place,
Marx has later shown in his "Capi-
tai" that the capitalist class, by
revolutionizing industry through
concentration of wealth and indus
tries, through the expropriation of
the small competitors and of the
imass of the people, use more force
and destroy more property and lives
than will the revolution of the work
ing class, which is merely the birth
act of the new society.
! The history of the Socialist activ-
ity in the parliamcnts of the various
countries has amply shown that VIC
are the only element in present So
ciety who really and truly want
peace. And above all, we know
and declare that in a country with
the political liberties of the United
States, education and peaceful con-
| quest through the ballot must be
. the only means by which the class
, struggles shall be ended.
| wish | could say as much D:
capitalist class and their official
spokesmen.
The Socialist conception of the
class struggle is the ethical code of
the working class. 1t teaches the
working class to educate itself 1t
endeayors to subdue the evil pas
, sions which the economic conditions
( of capitalist society create, and to
prevent the outburst of the untrain-
ed and untutored masses which
capitalist production inevitably
produces. Instead of sowing the
/ seeds of a bloody revolution, we
are straing every nerve to arouse
the intelligence of the masses and
: to make reason the master of blind
fury.
1t is the capitalist class that in
cites to class hatred by the vulgar
. display of wealth in the face of the
8 suffering multitude. 1t is the capi-
talist class that destroys the homes
and families of the workers, and
confscates the property of the mil
lions. 1t is the injunction, the riot
bullet, the bull pen, the police club,
and the militia laws that speak the
, language of hatred and passion.
No Socialist makes any single cap
isalist or their whole class response
bic for their deeds. We recognize
that the capitalist class cannot act
otherwise, because their own self in
terest forces them to concentrate
wealthy, form trusts and use the po-
/, litical power for their own ends But
we also recognize that the logical
counterpart of the trust is the trade
union, an organization which edu-
Gates the working class to class con-
sciousness in their economic dealings
with the capitalists. We also recog-
nize that the economic force exerted
by the capitalists inevitably begets
economic force on the part of orga-
: nized workingmen. Capitalist ethics
9 is powerless to bridge this chasm,
because it has no solution for his
class struggle between the capitalist
e class and the working class. But
the class struggle is itself an ethical
1 power. The very necessity to orga.
nize and to find a way out of the
capitalist labyrinth by themselves
acts as an education on the working
I class, and counteracts all attempts of
the capitalist class to create belief in
the harmony between capitalists and
e 'c0"''""f "a P's')