The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-29
MAKING SOCIALIST CONVERTS.
STORY or THE AVERAGE MAN
WHO JOINS THE PARTY.
Caught by Cart Tail 0raiory and Then
Educated Carefully IN socialist Theo-
rles-School OF Socialism Opened This
Ninter-Al the Year Round Canvass.

Ninter-An the Year Round canvass.
Though election is past, though another
election will not occur for months, the
workers Of the Social Democratic party
are laborlng as hard as they did last octo-
Der 10 make converts They carry on their
canvass all the year round.
Go down on the East Side in summer or
early autumn. On truck OF park bench
you will see a bright eyed man Of a foreign
type speaking
He may be talking in English, although
the language varies with the locality About
Seward Park it ia likely to be Yiddish' or
perhaps Bohemian or Polish.
Even il you don't understand the language
you can tell from his gestures and his
periods that it is fierce. fervent, redhot
grafton. If it is in English It sounds mighty
revolutionary.
Comrades. rise!' he says. you have
nothing to lose but your chain. and the
world TO gain! They're trembling, our
oppressors, they're trembling They sec
the dawn of the time when the people will
own the earth and there will be no more
room for the thief in high places. Sweep
them OF the earth comradesl You can
do i'll"
Cheap cap-trap you say. But presently
the orator rests, and the discussion is
brown open TO the house And some
sidewalk wit, or a serious minded auditor
who takes issue with the orator, puts in a
word OF objection.
Right there the orator surprises you
He has his subject at his fingers ends.
He knows the economic basis Of his opinion.
He can give a good reason for anything
and everything. You may listen to Social
ist cart tail orators year and day and
never zee them etumped for an answer.
As a matter Of fact. those street meetings
with their wild oratory. are the glittering
bait by which the party catches its con-
verts. The orator knows better, just "a
the party stump speaker does. 1t is after
they've caught their man, got him inter-
ested, that they begin the work Of educa-
ton.
Take the average convert as an example
He may be, usually Is, workingman and
a trade unionist.
He fingers after the meeting to get a
card OF the William Morris circle or the
FORWARD circle or some other group of the
Socialists. Or perhaps the man at the
next bench talks him into it. Next Sunday
night ne goes 10 inc meeting.
They take him in with the cordiality OF
n Methodist church welcoming a convert.
There Is an orator on hand, possibly the
cart tail man, moro probably man from
the central organization.
Tho talk Is a plain lecture on economic
principles-political economy in words Of
one syllable. 1t Is made ~ interesting as
possible. but there Is none OF the street
corner claptrap.
In nine cases out OF ten tho new convert
never saw the inside Of n book on econom-
les He learns for the first time what wealth
means, what are production and distribution
and consumption. II the lecturer knows his
business. there Is not too much Of this kind
OF thing. II is sweetened and washed down
by promises Of a remedy-a big new sys-
TEN which the convert doesn't understand
as yet but which he will know in time.
Before he goes the new man receives
q bunch Of rds-of-one-syllable PAM
phlets, printed in the language which he
reads best. whether English, Ylddish, Polish
or German.
The circle will probably meet again dur
ing the week for debate and general dis
cussion. There he hears more Of the sci
ence Of economies, there he may ask ques-
tons about the points in the pamphlets which
puzzle him.
Three months Of this treatment, with
supplementary reading, and he is an out
and out Socialist. If he stays with il a
year be really knows more about economies
than the average university graduate
and knows it great deal harder.
He has been promoted to the study OF
Karl Marx by that time. and in the meet
inss Of the oirole has heard every objection
to the system met by answers which are
unans werabe-from the Socialist point OF
view; for unless you are well grounded
in economies. sound or unsolnd. you are
unwise 10 enter upon an argument with a
New York Socialist.
he will fairly push you of the boards.
He would say that this is because Of the
inherent justice Of his cause. It is really
because he knows the game through and
through; and II he cant find answers Of his
own, he has heard every one of your argu-
ments met in the meetings and can repeat
the answers.
In that year the Socialist cult has taken
such firm root in the mind Of the convert
that II can hardly be torn away. From
that time forth he is incapable Of looking
at affairs in their broad aspects, except
with a Sooialistic bias.
That Of course, is not the history OF every
SOCIALIST in New York. There are those,
especially among the Germans and the Rus
sian Hebrews, who caught it in Europe and
brought it with them. There are uni
versity men who have worked it out from
their economic studies. But ii Is pretty
nearly the intellectual history OF most Of
the 1900 who increased the Social Demo-
crat vote at the last election.
Perhaps, after he has been going TO meet
ings, reading. debating for two or three
years, the convert discovers extraordinary
ability or unusual zeal He is material
for cart tail speaker; he has the making
OF good propaganda.
The leaders have had their eyes on him.
So he is picked as material for the School OF
Socialism and showed along for finishing
course.
Although the work done in this finishing
school has been going on under other forms
for two OF three years. 1t was not crystal
lied into a regular institution until this
winter. II is running now with about 800
students.
The sessions are held every Tuesday
evening II is just like university two