The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1911-06-17


working class cannot expect adequate
relife from any reform Of the pre-
sent order from the dominant class
of society 5. ssfa M ss.,;
; ,sa The wage workers therefore the
trusts, pools and combinations. the
Stagonists of the ruling class. They
are also the class which suffers most
from the curse Of class rule. The
fact that small number OF capi-i
talists is permitted to use all the
5country's resources and social tools
for their individual profit, and to
make the production of the neces-
saries of our lives the object Of their
competitive private enterprises and
speculations, is at the bottom of all
the social evils of our time.
Modern Industry Painless.
In spite of the Organization Of
trusts, polls and combinations, the
capitalists are powerless to regulate
production for social ends. Indus
tries are largely conducted in a plan
less manner. Through periods of
feverish activity the strength and
health of the workers are mercilessly
undermined, and during periods of
enforced idleness the workers are fire.
Quently reducteI to starvation. y
The !climaxes of this chaotic sys-
tenn of production are the regularly
recurring industrial depressions' and
crises which paralyze the nation
every fifteen or twenty years.
+. In its mad and reckless race for
profits the capitalist class is bound to
exploit the workers to the very limit
Of their endurance and to sacrifice
their physical, moral and mental
welfare to it's own Unsuitable greed.
Capitalism keeps the masses of work.
1ngmen in poverty. restitution, ply
steal exhaustion and Ignorance. It
drages their wives from their homes
to the mill and factory. 1t snatches
their children from the playground
and schools and grinds their slender
bodies and uniformed minds into cold
dollars. 1t wantonly disfigures,
mains and kills hundreds of thou
sands of workingemmen annually in
mines, on railroads and in factories.
It drives millions of workers into
the ranks of the unemployed and
forces large numbers of them into
beggary, vagrancy and all form Of
crime and vice.
Public Intelligence Corrupted.
To maintain their rule over their
fellow men, the capitalists must keep
in their fellow all organs of the pub
-Aic powers, public mind and public
conscience. They control the DOM
mating parties and through them
. the elected public officials. They
latures and corrupt our courts of
justice. They own and censor the
press. They sway our educational
institutions. They own the nation
politically and intellectually just as
they own it industrially.
The struggle between wage work.
ers and capitalists grows ever fiercer
and has become the only vital issue
before the American people. The
wage working class, therefore, has
the most vital and direct interest
i'll abolishing the capitalist system.
But in abolishing the present system.
the workingmen will free not only
their own class, but also all other
classes Of modern society! The small
farmer, who Is today exploited by
large capital more indirectly but not
less effectively than is the wage la
borer; the small manufacturer and
trader, who is engaged in desperate
and losing struggle for economic in
dependence in the fact of the all
conquering power of concentrated
capital; and even the capitalist him.
self, who Is the slave of his wealth,
rather than it's master. The struggle
Of the working class against the capt.
talist class, while it is class struggle,
is thus at the same time a struggle
for the abolition of all classes and
class privileges.
Must Conquer the Political Power.
The private ownership Of the land
and means of production used for
exploitation is the rock upon which
ment is its indispensable instrument.
The gaze workers cannot be freed
from exploitation without conquer
ing the political power and substitute
ing collective and democratic admin
istration for private ownership of
the land and the means of production
used for exploitation.
The basis for such transformation
is rapidly developing within the very
bosom of present capitalist society,"
The factory system, with it's immense
machinery and mbinuate division of
labor. is rapidly destroying all YES
tiges of individual production in
manufacturing. Modern production
is already very largely collective
and social process, while the great
trusts and monopolies which have
sprung up in recent years have had
the effect of organizing the work and
management of some of our main
industries on a national scale, and fit
ting them for national use and oper-
alton.
An End to Glass Rule.
In the struggle for freedom the
interests of the workers of all ma
tons are Identical. The struggle is
not only national, but International
1T embraces the world and will be
carried to ultimate victory by the
united workers Of the world. -
j To unite the workers of the nation