New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-09-01

He Declares, Too, That the Fear of Bankruptcy
and the Laborer's Belief That War Is AL
ways to His Disadvantage Have Alone
Preserved the Peace of Europe.

! differed from the big agitaticns Of former
years The trade union movement Is now
more fully developed than It was then.
and so Joint action has become easier. out
that has nothing whatever to do with
syndcallsm.
There Is no syndicalist movement ia
England, and I venture TO predict there
Is not going 10 be any.
The British workman is too shrewd 10
! fight the employers through the strike
| and leave the political machine IN the
control Of the bosses.
Sabotage will never appeal to the Eng
lish workman. He is not built that way.
Even II II should, II is one OF those
weapons which are more likely 10 Injure
the person using II than the enemy
against whom 1t is supposed to be d.
rected. The strike, even when backed
/ by sabotage. cannot permanently free the
working class from the bondage Of capt
talsm. The strike can win some tenn
porary reform, but only political action
/ can realize socialism. We have the In
! dustriai Workers OF the World I'm Great
Britain, but II appears to exist only for
the purpose Of lampoqning and libelling
those that don't see eye 10 eye with II IN
every particular II has no following.
The international socialist movement
, has now achieved degree OF unity and
solidarity hitherto unknown. In its early
stages it was q matter Of cliQues and
factions and great personal rivalry.
AnarchIsm, communism and socialism
were all struggling for supremacy. There
was misunderstanding between the differ
ent countries, and the uppermost thought
In the minds of the leaders In those
days q am referring 10 half century
| ago., was an organized uprising OF the
people The experience of ls4s and again
OF 1871 in Paris, led Karl Marx and
other prominent members of the inter
| national to realize that the day OF the
armed uprising was over; that revolution
always led to reaction; that small, en-
lightened, determined minority could
force the pace for a time, but in the
! end were always defeated by the huge.
: unwieldy, unenlightened majority. From
that time on 1t has been realized that
socialism can never be achieved by the
minority, but only by the enlightened con-
sent of the majority and that means
political action. The process is not so
snowy as the so-called revolution, but
its results promise 10 be more abiding.
The whole international movement now
stands for political action. and for the
evolution OF socialism, and at the great
international congresses, which meet
every third year, there is q growing feel
ing of comradeship and sinking Of tho
L., IIe w Is
encouraging
The awakening Of the East, with tile
dangers which certain statesmen appre-
hend therefrom, has its origin entirely ~
! the determination Of European and Amer
lean capitalists 10 exploit these countries.
Japan realized az q very early stage thst
either she had to become Europeanized
or submit 10 being mercilessly exploited
She chose the former, with results known
10 all the world and now China is fol
lowing suit. whether we are 10 have
peace or war between the Orient and the
Occident depends entirely upon whether
we allow these Eastern people TO develop
their own national life in their own way
or whether we seek 70 force them TO lend
themselves to the enrichment OF the cap
ualist class OF America and Europe. IL
is quite impossible TO make any predic-
lion az 20 what the result is going to be-
but the Eastern people are peace LOVING
and will not resort TO war unless driven
into IL by sheer oppression.
think that in the end socialism is
more likely 10 come as world movement
than piecemeal The capitalist class anu
ali that they stand for will not hkeiy ley
60 their grip and will act tosether inter
nationally TO prevent any one country
Coating an example OF socialism. At the
same time | can quite conceive that
country ike France or even Great Britain
might become socialist without the rest
Of Europe necessarily doing SO. Every
thing depends upon the degree OF class
consciousness developed by the working
| class.