The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1913-01-31

I This doctrine received ltp flrat inI
portant Jolt when The English people
stepped in Is prevent further murder
of the children OF the poor in that m
ton by the rapucious manufacturer
IN whose factories they were dylng
/ like flies During the last half cen
/ fury social legislation has been max
/ ing steady progress In the face Of the
obstruction Of those whose selfish In
terosts made II logical FOR them IL
hold fast 10 the reRotionary doctrine
OF the past. In the past decade this
advance has been tremendous. In
Ohio, for instance, constitutional am.
endments have been adopted provid.
Ing for the regulation OF hours of la
Dor, compensation OF injured work.
ers, and for legislation 10 protect the
health and comfort Of those employed
IN the industries of the state. II ia a
fact that not only have the people
at large overridden the ancient doc
trine of laissez-faire, but the capital
lists themselves have abandoned It..
Poor old laissez-faire has got so bad
ly battered that today the small bust
ness men and merchants are crying
for government interference TO save
them from the monsters which the
system they wish continued has ere.
ated-the great trusts and corpora
tions. In some instances the great
capitalists themselves are calling for
government regulation of industry in
order to save themselves from more
drastic measures.
This growth of the social spirit
the demand that all who are depend
ent upon industry be given voice in
its management, did not come into ex-
istence as the result of the great Wis
ion of some individual. Nor did the
people grab the idea out of the air.
ut is not the consciousness of men,"
Marx wrote, (which determines their
existence, but, on the contrary, it is
their social existence which deter
mines their consciousness"
1t was natural that feudalism and
the early centuries of capitalism
should give birth to the doctrine of,
non-interference with industry Pro
duction was individualistic and this
naturally gave birth to individualistic
ideas of political economy.
Capitalism has evolved from the in
production of feudalism
to the social production of our day.
Production today is a cooperative eff
fort. We work together, and through
our collective work we bring into ex-
istence the necessities and luxuries
of our civilization.
Let the miners go on strike for a
long enough period Of time ana prac-
tically all industry will stop. Let the
railroad men refuse to work in order
to enforce demands they make and
production would be thrown into con-
fusion and the life Of all the people af-
fected.
1t is this social production which
has given birth to our ideas of social
control.
That this progressive spirit must
crystalline into a demand for a reor-
ganization of our system of produc-
ton to fit the facts of social produc-
tion is the basic principle of socialism.
Already We have an effort by the
capitalists to seize upon this progress
i've spirit and to use it to establish a
benevolent feudalism, in which the
parasitic capitalist class will continue
to receive its interests and dividends,
in the organization of the national
party.
To educate and organize the work
ing class SO that this transformation
may result in an industrial democracy
is the object of socialism.
"Progressiyism" today stands mere
ly for government regulation of the
relations between the workers and the
industrial masters. Industrial democ-
racy means ownership of the tools of
production by the workers and their
own regulation of the work of produc-
ton and distribution