The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1910-04-07
REVOLUTION
(By Jack LondOn.)


| received a letter the other day
II was from q man in Arizona. 1t
began. Dear Comrade." 1t ended,
You're for the Revolution. ! re-
piled to the letter, and my letter De-
gan. Dear Comrade." It endeo'
Yours for the Revolution" In the
United States there are 100000 men,
If men and women nearly 1,00o,ooo,
who begin their letters Dear Com-
nade.s and end them, Yours TOR one
1 Revolution" In Germany there are
scot, 900 men who begin onear 4ev'0is'
Yours for the Revolution; III
France. 100000 men; in Austria
800 900 men; in Belgium, 3oo'ooo
men: in Switzerland, 10000 men; IN
denmark, $1,000 men; in Sweden oo'-
600 men: in Holland, 100000 men; IN
Spain, 10000 men-comrades ALL Anu
reyolutionists.
These are numbers which dwarf
the grand armies of Napoleon anu
xarxes But they are numbers, not
II conquest and maintenance OF the
established order, but OF conquest
and revolution. They compose, wnen
The roll ls called, an army OF 7'ooo'-
900 men. who, in accordance with the
conditions OF today, are lighting "lun
III their might for the conquest Oh
3hhe wealth Of the world and TOR che
complete overthrow OF existing 81
ctety. ,.,-o
There has never been anything ike
this revolution in the history Oh the
world. There Is nothing analogous
between it and the American revolu-
ton or the French revolution. 1t Is
UNIQUE. colossal. Other revolutions
compare with it as asteroids COM
mare with the sun. It is alone OF It's
kind. the first world1revolution in
world whose history is replete with
! reyolutions. And not only this, for
I Il Is the first organized movement OF
men to become a world-movement,
& limited only by the limits OF the
planet. ,
This revolution Is unlike all other
revolutions in many respects. 1t Is
not sporadic. 1t is not flame OF
popular discomfort, arising in day
\ and dying down in a day. 1t is older
Il than the present generation. 1t has
history and traditions, and mar
tyr-roll only less extensive possibly
than the martyr-rou of Christianity.
\ It has also literature a myriad
times more imposing, scientific and
scholarly than the literature of any
previous revolution.
They call themselves comrades
these men comrades in the socialist
revolution. Nor lis the word empty
and meaningless, coined OF mere lip
service. 1t knits men together as
brothers, as men should be KNIT to-
h gether who stand shoulder to shout
4 der under the red banner of revolt.
This red banner, by the way, sym
bolizes the brotherhood of man, and
does not symbolic the incendiarism
that instantly connects itself with the
red banner in the affrighted bourgeois
mind The comradestip OF the rev.
olutionists lis alive and warm 1t
passes over geographical lines, tran
scends race prejudice, and has even
proved itself mightier than the
Fourth of July, spread-eagle Ameri-
canism of our forefathers. The
French socialist workingmen and the
German, socialist workingmen forget
Alsace and Lorraine, and, when war
threatens, pass resolutions declaring
that as woringmen and comrades
they have no quarrel with each other.
Only the other day, when Japan and
Russia sprang at each others threats,
the revolutionists of Japan addressed
the following message to the revolu-
tDonists OF Russia: Dear Comrades
Your government and ours have re-
/ Gently plunged into war to carry out
their imperialistic tendencies, but for
us socialists there are no boundaries,
race, country, or nationally. We are
comrades, brothers and sisters, and
have no reason to fight. Your enc
mes are not the Japanese people, but
our mdlitarism and so-called patriot
ism. Patriotism and militarism are
our mutual enemies.
In January, 1905, throughout the
United States the socialists held mass
meetings to express their sympathy
for their struggling comrades, the
revolutionists of Russia, and, more to
the point, to furnish the sinews OF
war by collecting money and cabling
It to the Russian leaders.
The fact of this call for money, and
the ready response, and the very
wording of the call, make q striking
and practical demonstration OF the
international solidarity of this world
revolution: "Whatever may be the
immediate results of the present re-
volt in Russia, the socialist propa-
ganda IN that country has received
from 1T an impetus unparalleled in
the history of modern class wars.
The heroic bate for freedom is be-
ing fought almost exclusively by the
Russian working class under the In
tellectual leadership of Russian so