The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-09-14
CBy j. W. BroWn.l

Every tCOlOLulC lTuSB Is a pO-
litical struggle, and back of every po-
litical struggle is again an economic
struggle" They are simply TWO eX-
pressions of one and the same phe-
nomina, the onward march OF the hu-
man race, ever pressing its way up
ward and onward towards 4 higher,
a grander and a Hobler civilization.
All revolutions OF the past have
been brought about as the result of
changed economic conditions. When
the economic conditions surrounding
the daily lives and homes of the peo-
pie have changed, il brings about a
corresponding change in the social
and political world. When this
change does not take place peaceably,
and in harmony with the change III
the economic or industrial world as
we speak today, then, a revolution
brings it about.
In the one hundred mt thirty-four
years that the United States has trav-
elled as a nation, we have passed
through a complete revolution i'm the
economic conditions of the people. 1t
is this evolution which now seeks eX-
preston in the social and political
world. Not finding a natural scien-
titic expression here, ii breaks out in
strikes, riots, lockouts. s~hutdowns,
financial a1d commercial panics and
dcprcSSions, all along the line. a
careful study of the newspaper dis
patches for but one single day reveals
the whole terrible conflict in all it's
hideous and Ike dcformity. So
ciety is rent in twain. On one side
stands the Capitalist who OWNS all
the factories, all the mills, all the
mines. all the railways, and who
through Il malicious system of coupon
clippings has grown so rich and pow
eriul that ten men out of ninety mill
lion dominate and dictate the politi-
cal, industrial and military policy of
the entire nation.
On The other side stands the work
crs who have beer divorced from the
tools, and who are today reduced in
telcctually and morally as well as
materially to the minimum of human
existence, where the struggle for
bread has become so keen hat almost
any crime has a virtue II every viz
u a crime; and where, with brain
and muscle, rushed and bruised, up
on the alters of superstition and ceas-
less turning wheels of toll he must
whirl on and on, the mere animated
part of a great monstrous industrial
machine, a machine that has become
SO brutalized by the spirit of greed
that it, spares neither soul nor body,
tender childhood, weakness of old
age, delicacy OF motherhood, nor the
appealing sanctity of pregnancy.
1t is vain to close our eyes to these
conditions. They must be met, they
must be ~fearlessly confronted, they
must be overcome, if the future
American citizen is to be Il free citi-
zen instead of an Industrial serf as
our ancestors were feudal serfs.
The corruption of our Legislative
bodies by great financial and corpor-
ate interests; the usurpation of our
courts and their subServancy to the
interests OF the Capitalist class-@J
witness the sweep of the modern in
junction.: the uubriddlcd sway of that
class over the constitutional rights
and guarantees of our common citi-
zenship-aS note the kidnapping of
the representatives of the labor UNI
ions at the instigatiGl of the Capital
list class-must make it apparent to
all who have ears to G and eyes to
sec that the time has finally come
when the common people must take
a more active and intelligent part III
the affairs of state which rule ovc
and control the dcStinics of our lives
1t requires but IL very little study
on the part of The average working
man before he will become convinced
for himself that we are once more
involved III Il great economic struggle
which sooner or later must take OIL
Il definate political character, and i
SHOULD require no study at all to con
vince the wayfaring man that though
he were Il fool. that there is nothin!
within the platforms nor the philoso
ply of either of the two old politica
parties that promises any measure o
relief for the working class.
The Socialist Party is the onl,
party in the political arena tsda,
bottom of the question. Al
ter a careful and impartial analyst
of our present capitalistic industria
order, we unhcsitatingly %pronounc
its foundation false; its justice
mockery: its worship hypocracy. an
its glory darkness, and we offer yo
Il new bases for a new. a higher an
Il grander and a nobler civilization.
And what is the nature of til;
basis? 1t - Democracy pure an