The Irish standard., 1904-11-19
ARE WE TO HAVE A SOCIALIST PARTY,

ARE WE TO HAVE A SOCIALIST PAkTY7
The American Federation of Labor.
now in session in San Francisco, has n
question of great import to deal with.
The large vote thrown in the last cleo
ton for the Socialist candidates ad-
vances the question as to whether we
are to have in this country strong
Socialist party such as has grown up in
the German empire. Labor unions in
Germany and Italy form the greater
part of the Socialist party. To be true,
large number Of the small shop
keepers are Socialists, but nearly all
the Socialist party in European coun-
tries is composed of trade unionists
So far In this country the labor unions
have preserved their independence by
refusing to ally themselves with any
political party. At this time, however,
those who are so vigorously pushing
the Socialistic propaganda are max
ing a determined effort to force the
labor unions into Socialism. There are
many reasons for believing that they
will not succeed. The American labor
uniOnfst is far superior in intelligence
to the European labor unionist. This
is true not because the American la
borer has greater intelligence or great
err strength than the European, but be-
cause the conditions which surround
labor here are far superior to the con-
ditions surrounding European labor.
Notwithstanding the large vote cast
for the Socialist candidates, we are
not inclined to believe that distinc-
tive class party such as the Socialistic
party, has any place in American poll
tics. There were peculiar conditions
present during the last campaign
which led to the large Socialist vote
A large number of Democrats were
dissatisfied with their party platform
and party candidates. The radical
Democrats, and these comprise a
large number Of the labor unionists
felt that this year there were two Re
publican candidates for the presidency
They felt as though there was no Dem
ocratc candidate in the field. Tens
Of thousands of these people voted for
Debs as a protest against the action
of the Democratic party at st. Louis,
while other thousands voted directly
for Theodore Roosevelt in order to in
crease his majority and make the de-
feat Of Parker more crushing. There
are not in this country to-day 100000
Socialist votes; nor anywhere near that
number. The only thing that could
produce strong Socialist party in
this country would be the failure Of
one or the other Of the present politi-
cal parties to take up the cause of
liberalism as against conservatism. If
the Democratic party from this time
ON takes its place as the liberal party
In American politics there will be
no growth Of Socialism, for there is
no demand as yet in this country for n
party based wholly upon Glass; and it
is to be hoped that the necessity for
such party will never arise. 1t
would be great mistake for labor
unionism to formally sanction the So
cialist party at this time. The labor
unions are in position to bring about
notable results. The last election pro-
duced at least two such results: The
defeat Of Governor Peabody in Colora-
do by decisive majority, while
Roosevelt carried the state shows what
the labor union can do. Governor Pea
body had made himself the target for
labor unions all over the country be-
cause of his arbitrary use of the state
militia to brighten and subdue the
sympathizers of the miners in the dis
affected mining districts of that state.
The other instance of the power Of the
labor union was the election of w, T..
Douglas for governor in the state of
Massachusetts. President Roosevelt
carried the state by 10000. while w.
l.. Douglas, the Democratic candidate,
was elected by more than $4,000. The
chief feature in Mr.. Douglas election
was the labor unions. This millionaire
shoe manufacturer has always been a
close friend to labor, having come up
from the workbench himself. His
views upon labor have not changed,
and he is the idol of labor unionists
all over the country.