The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1912-09-06


blottcr. Get in control within limita
ton and then beein the real work in q
SMALL way aud in due course of time you
are going to sweep Washington, and
unless | am mistaken Washington is 90.
ing to be one among the first that is
going to float the socialist flag.
Anna Maley for Governor
You socialists have honored yourselves
in nominating for your standard bearer
for the governorsbip Anna A. Malcy, as
/ true socialist and as noble a woman
as there is to be found anywhere in this
or any other country. ! know her rec
ord. her work and / know that in all her
sclf.dcuying life she never yet has failed
in a single instant to serve the working
class to the full extent of her power.
She is working woman who has a
clear head and a warm heart and a great
soul. and while we are not in the habit
Of culogizing individuals, it is perfectly
in order to say that Aanno A. Malcy is
/ the incarnation OF the spirit of working
class revolt against wage slavery and
she is the typical representative of the
working class and a noble expression Of
its aspiration to be free.
We wait and we watch and we work.
/ How the skies have frightened since the
sun Of socialism has arisen. Long be-
fore this great white light came into my
life there was something lacking. For
years and years | had tried to organize
the workers and | met with defeat.
repeated the efforts with the same re-
suits for | appeared to be in the
quicksand. There was no solid founda.
tion and finally there came a time when
the work of many years was subjected
to very severe test and the fruit of
those years of labor was swept away. I
found myself in jail, and strange as it
may seem, in the darkness of a prison
cell found the light. 1t was there that
became a socialist and from that time
to this, no matter how trying the ordeal
has been, how hopeless to good many
others, have known that my feet were
upon the rock and that my head was
amongst the stars.
And so we have the strength for any
fate and it matters not what it has in
store for us, we are prepared for it all
and we shall at last triumph over it all
4 And, this is some value to us. 1t is
worth all and more than it costs. /
would not exchange it for all of the ma
of that at the price of what have
would have nothing. I would be poor
indeed but with these clear ideas and
with those lovely ideals and with these
comrades who never fail, what have
to wish for?
Do Socialists Sell Out?
They sometimes ask us if it is not
true that socialists are also capable of
selling out. What for2 Do you sup
pose that John D. Rockefeller has any
thing that I want, except to relieve him
of his burden and give him a chance !?
If it were a permanent condition does
anyone suppose that | would exchange
places with him and give him what |
have and accept what he has? Money
is not wealth, it is not riches. True
riches are of the spirit and of the soul.
The Man of Galilee, the carpenter of
Nazareth, the despised working man of
twenty centuries ago, had not a dollar.
He was infinitely richer than Rockefeller.
We make the claim that this system
has no beneficiaries in any real sense
of that term; that even those who sue
coed. under the prevailing standards fail
and fall at last. There is a moral as
well as a physical law that is just as
memorable, the fruit of exploitation turns
to ashes upon the leaves at last. No
human being will ever be free until all
are free. Emerson was never nearer the
| philosopher when he said: eff you seek
the other end of the chain that binds the
slave you will find it riveted to the wrist
of his master"
Lincoln said: "For the reason | OBJ
iect to being a slave I object to be a
master; one is just as degrading and as
immoral as the other"
Capitalist Ignorance.
The successful capitalist who is your
economic master and political ruler has
great power but he is not a highly de-
veloped human being. Place one of them
on this platform this afternoon and al
low some socialist working man here to
ask him few simple questions about
the history of his own country about
economies, science and you will be
amazed to see how densely ignorant he
is. He has not time to accumulate true
knowledge; his mind is abnormally de-
veloped. In this sharp, fierce competi-
tive struggle his conscience is destroyed
and he has a clear eye only for an open
ing to make profits. He is crafty but
not intelligent. The dollar mark is on
each of his three million brain cells