The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1913-07-03

Sence That makes for economic con-
troll of the world and this form of in
telligence enables him to buy other
forms as commodities on the market.
1t was Karl Marx who first bur
rowed his way into the inner workings
of the capitalist system of production
and revealed how the social intelli-
gence of the world is directed by the
capitalist class to produce surplus
value. The fat heads who loll in their
offices or fly their kites at Monte
Carlo may know no other facts in the
great library of human history but the
small group of facts by which they
maintain their power. 1t is the mas
terry Of thes essential facts, these eco
nomic and industrial facts, that makes
them masters of the world. And it is
the requirement of this form of knowl-
edge by the working class that will
make for it's emancipation.
The stories that we might learn of
the great paintings of Raphael or
Michael Angelo, the wonder and the
color of Rubens, or the sweep of land
scape by Turner-all these items of
intelligence are inspiring. But the in
telligence that we need today in this
our hour of persecution is intelligence
that makes for industrial control We
have seen that this fragment of
knowledge possessed by the master
class is the tap-root of their power.
Let us possess ourselves of this field
of knowledge.
Old Horace Mann, grand old peda-
gogue that he was, Numbered into the
ears of the world this motto: "Knowl-
edge is power" We have now come
to the point where we know that SOME
knowledge is power. knowledge of
Greek roots or Sanskrit lore may be
very handsome knowledge but knowl-
edge of the ways in which we are
robbed in the making of shoes is more
essential and comes nearer home.
SO by the process of elimination we
are forced to modify Mann's great
educational slogan and assert that:
Economic knowledge is power" How
shall we set about to get this economic
knowledge? BY study, patient and
laborious study. That is just it. And
this year all over this state we are 60
ing to have study clubs to which you
may invite your neighbors and toI
which you will take the young folks
and the school teachers and every
body. The Socialist Educational bu-
reau will furnish lesson plans but you
may modify them to suit your climate.
These plans are not yet matured and
suggestions are in order from COM
rades everywhere.
Just a word to the wise. | have
seen socialists who would sniff at such
an idea as their having to study any
more. They have graduated they as
sert. May the good Lord help them
for they know not what they say! Il
can put my hand on a dead local where
such comrades have held sway very
long. The living locals are those that
contain the students, those who not
only read the papers but read the
BOOKS through the weary evening
hours We graduate from no field OF
knowledge for each year brings forth
a new and varied foliage of facts and
mystifying relationships The thinking
reyolutionist puts the question mark
on everything and then proceeds with
joyful energy to master its every mys-
terry. The men and women in the
working class that the masters fear
the most are they who have not yet
permitted the eternal WHY OF child
hood to be silenced in their souls.
He who is not himself a student Is
unfit TO teach socialism or anything
else That is why the formation OF
these study circles is a prime neces-.