The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-07-13
II r sE
Loyalty to
Your Glass
BY Gordon Nye.
(New York Call \

better known as the capitalist class
that under forms of law has di-
Vlded among its members the lands
the mines, the factories and every
| thing OF value in the nation
| me second class is the oppressed
class. That large body of wage
! earners who are stripped by law of
every right to the common earth. of
every right to the labor created
| means of production, who own no
productive property: whose working
day is divided into two parts (neces-
sary time, labor and surplus la
Dor time), and who are compelled
to work on an average Of six hours
OF each day for the benefit of the
capitalist class.
Between these two bodies there is
IN 1ncessant struggle, known as the
class struggle. AS workingman and
member of society. you belong to
one of these two classes Some
lines you sympathiZe with the capi-
>allst class, other times you hold out
he hand of comradeship to labor
For that reason it is well that you
should understand your class inter-
ests and become brave enough to de-
:lare yourself.
This middle of the road or neutral
position now maintained by you is
OF no value to anybody. So you
must decide the question: Will you
SIDE with the depressing class, thus
proving false to the working class,
Or will you scorn the oppressors and
prove loyal to the wage workers?
Which will it be?
The present is no time for half
way men. Their time is history.
You must stand with the owning
class and fight for rent, interest and
profit, or you must choose the work
ing class as your party and help in
the gigantic work Of undermining
the capitalist system. based on pri-
Vate property and wage slavery.
Oftenhave we seen you go to the
shop of the brutal strikebreaking
employer wearing your best smile
and assuring him of your sympathy
and support Perhaps you needed
bread. but what OF it. Did not the
men on strike against brutal con-
ditions need bread as badly as you?
AT other tines you would take ii
back fpfop and rush to aid the
ranks of suffering labor, promising
to it your moral and financial sup
port.
Now that won't do You are
either for labor or you are against
it. The class struggle is mere, and
the sooner you learn to support one
side or the other with all your abil-
;ty the better it will be for all con-
cerned We will then know where
20 look for you.
This class struggle arises from the
fact that all the means indispensa-
BILE to human life are owned and
controlled by about one-tenth of the
population, who claim that the bus
iness of production. distribution,
ETC, is not the business of the other
nine-tenths, but "our" business to
BE carried on or not carried on
whenever. wherever or however
our" private opinions and inter
.sts may determine.
If you doubt that this class strug-
lie exists watch the daily reports of
he endless series of strikes between
he buyers of human labor power
ind the seller thereof These two
'lasses are the product of private
ownership of the means. without
which society cannot exist. Their
interests necessarily are permanent
ly and violently hostile to each other
Not all the old age pensions or the
profit sharing schemes now proposed
by the owning class for the benefit
of the working class can ever har-
monize them or establish peace
THERE CAN BE NO PEACE SO
LONG AS ONE CLASS is BEING
ROBBED BY THE OTHER CLASS
Now the only political party in
the nation that holds a remedy for
this evil is the Socialist party. and
here is its solution:
abolition of the wage system by
ending private or class ownership
of the social means of life and es-
tablishing in its place complete So
cial ownership and orderly organ
lied production for common use.
To quote from William Lieb-
knecht: ''On the ground of the
class struggle we are invincible: if
We leave it We are lost because we
are no longer Socialists. The
strength and power of Socialism
| rests in the fact that we are 1eadin =
a class struggle: that the laboring
class is exploited and oppressed by
the capitalist class; and that within
capitalist society effectual reforms
which will put an end to class gov
ernment and class explorations are
IMPOSSIBLE
Do You understand that clearly
Mr.. Halfway Man"
Ior NIt !, a ], tJ,o