The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1912-08-09
DON'T WASTE YOUR LEAF.
LET'S.
By @. NJ. Madsen.


means of socialist propaganda, because
it reaches the greatest number of people
in the shortest possible time.
That being the case it follows that we
should use the most efficient method of
distribution, for only by the best meth
DDS can we get the desired results.
A thing is valuable according to
whether or not it reaches the place where
it properly belongs. Dirt is merely
matter in the wrong place. A piece of
socialist literature placed in the hands
of thinking man or woman is a mighty
weapon for the emancipation of the
working class. In the front yards and
on the public streets the same piece of
literature is-dirt.
Taking walk through ward where
socialist literature is being distributed
on a Sunday morning gives you a good
opportunity to observe the different
methods in vogue.
You step into the hallway of an apart
ment building. There, on the wall, you
find six letter boxes, each yearning to
receive piece of socialist literature, but
on the floor, trampled down and dirty,
you find four or five or eight pieces of
literature, without being folded or even
counted, simply dropped there in a heap,
and all through that precinct you find
literature in Railways, yards and on the
sidewalks, and the comrade who has thus
got rid of three or four hundred leaflets
imagines that he has been distributing
socialist literature; whereas, as a matter
of fact, he has merely been making a
public nuisance of himself littering his
neighborhood with so much rubbish.
And then you cross the boundary line.
You are in another precinct.
Here is a comrade who is on to his
job. He does not merely grab bundle
of literature, folding it as he goes along
which in most cases means not folding
it at all-he goes to work the night be-
fore, folding his literature as neatly as
possible, making it up into packages of
fifty or less with a rubber around each;
he knows to dot how many pieces it
takes to cover his precint he places each
piece in a mail box or, if no box is
available, pushes it carefully under the
door, always folded and presenting as
neat an appearance as possible to the
one who is expected to read it.
He does not stray into territory which
does not belong to him, distributing fiji
teen pieces of literature and giving the
fellow in that precinct an excuse to lay
down on the job, explaining that his pre-
cinct had already been covered.
He takes care of his own territory.
He-or she, for in many cases this work
is done by woman-is the comrade
who will be on the job watching at the
polls on election day, looking after the
harvesting as well as the planting of
seeds, and in such precinct the social
list vote will grow.
The more care we take in presenting
our message to the people the better
our chance of having it read. The COM
rade who crumples up his piece of itera-
ture so that it looks like paper napkin
used at a picnic tucks it in between the
door knob and the jamb, and then ex-
poets his republican or democratic neigh
Dor to carefully smooth out the wrinkles
in order to decipher the message of So
cialism printed on its pages, is expecting
a little too much of the other fellow.
Poor methods bring poor results.
The fact that we are not conducting
our campaign in an able and efficient
manner will not tend to impress upon
the mind of the average citizen that our
claim that we should be put in charge
of the government is justified.
The fact that we spend the hard
earned money of our comrades in
wasteful and useless throwing away of
literature will not tend to make the av-
erage citizen believe that, if intrusted
with the powers of government, we would
spend the taxpayers money in an eff
Gent way.
To fill mans front yard with rub
bish is poor way to convince him that,
if elected to office, we would keep his
alley clean.
We talk and write and read about 30
eialism being inevitable, about socialism
being the next step in the evolution
of human society. Evolution works
through the minds Of men and women,
and whether or not socialism viii DO
the next form Of society will depend
upon whether or not the workers, while
engaged in their task Of feeding and
clothing and housing the world, will be
able TO educate their class in the prin-
cipleB Of socialism-to 80 impress upon
the minds of men and women the neces-
sity for united working class action
that they win Join hands 10 an effort 70
lose their chains and gain the world
This educational work Is our part in
the evolutionary process. That Is our