The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1912-10-18

democratic and republican mayors order
the police to fire upon striking men and
women. How, then, can any man. true
to himself and to his family who works
for a living, how can that man vote for
any man running ON The republican or
democratic ticket2 am putting these
questions plain to you, republicans and
democrats l hope there are good
many here, my message is to you.
Who Has the Vacations?
As said little while ago orr condi-
ton is due to the fact that this small
group of capitalists control the machin-
cry of production and the sources from
which the raw material comes Last
year you men and women who worl; pro-
duced thirty billion dollars in wealth,
cousumeable wealth. Now figures rs a
rule are not very interesting unless they
happen to have dollar mark in front
of them and the dollars belong to you.
This thirty billion dollars in consumable
wealth, representing the lives of the men
and women of this country, belongs to
you. Why don't you enjoy it? Every
body else is enjoying the good things
and the socialist party comes to you and
says to you that you too should have
some of the pleasures of his life. If I
should ask those of you who went on. a
vacation last summer to hold up your
hands in this large audience how many
would go up? Let us see how many of
you women had a vacation from the toll
and grind of your lives last summer.
Not any, The women who took va
cations-perhaps they haven't got back
yet Some comrade suggests Glow many
of you didn't go?" (Lois of hands.)
Why do you know that 1geu the CAPT
talist employer, the en-. se The ma
chimes, recognizes that his machine must
have some rest. Isn't that right, you
mechanics? 1t is only the human ma
chine who gets no vacation under this
arrangement. The horse and the mule
they get a rest from labor. It is only
the tired men and women who must toll
without ceasing. Now we are going to
stop that That is the historic mission
of this movement. How are we going
to do it Well, if our condition is due
to the fact that the machinery needed
to produce this wealth is owned by these
few capitalists, privately owned, then we
must change the ownership of that ma
chine. There is only one other form of
ownership and that is collective owner
ship, ownership by the entire people.
Naturally you inquire how are you GO
ing to make a change from private own
ership to collective ownership? I will
tell you in one word-confiscation.
Direct Action.
An eminent Catholic father in New
York City, in his attack upon this move
ment, said that if a man was hungry
and could not get work that he had a
right to take what he needed. I agree
with the fathers statement, but let us
look and see what would happen to an
individual who followed the fathers adj
vice He would be arrested and thrown
into Jail and the church would condemn
him to hell. But suppose in our col
lective capacity we took what we want,
who is there to throw us into jail? Yes
I am a direct actionist but before max
ing a move of that kind I think it would
be wise for us to pin red button on
every policoman's coat and take those
black gowns off the judges aud give
them crimson robes.
Political Power First.
Political government as we know it
today is class government and with the
disappearance of classes the political
state as we know it today will disap-
pear. As matter of fact, friends, we
have an industrial government today.
These politicians that parade mp and
down the country every four years are
mere puppets doing the bidding If their
masters. We want to change taat indus
trial government by taking it ont of the
hands of the capitalist class and put
ting it in the hands of the working class.
So ] say in order to save our heals let
MS first use the political power i'm oar
hands
The Disfranchsed Worker
The objection is sometimes made shat
the working class Is being di=frauehi-al