The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-09-13

vent. the Socialists have turned it over
TO their sisters, the suffragists, who go
on with the argument as a plea for
woman suffrage.
The suffrage cause" thus acts as a sec
ond-hand clearinghouse for Socialist
preachments that experience has exposed
as ridiculous fallacies. and the franchise
enthusiasts almost provoke laughter and
tears as they pick up Socislsms dis
carded and dIsCredited tools of revolu-
ton. and Tepoint them with sweet rea-
sonableness. as they call ii, TO explain
how war would be impossible il women
had the vote.
On August S, 1914 the European So
ciaIists announced great convention rep
resenting 100000 workingmen" would
deliver an ''ultimatum" to all the great
powers. ordering them to cease mobiliza-
ton at once or bear the consequences of
the almighty general strike"
Strange to say, the general strike" did
no. even get a chance to formulate. The
revolutiOnaries were not even allowed to
continue the occupations they had in
tended to desert, but the would-be striker
was given a certain specified time in
which to forget his profession, his clerk
ship. or his labor. and to Join the colors
of his country. And he did, just as other
ClllZGnS ulQ. " ME Ills 1otldAlSA
rose in Reichstag. Chamber of Deputies,
and Parliament to shout with the loudest
for the Kaiser, Ia patrie, or the King!
But hope springs eternal in the radi-
calls dreams: in 1913 mo nation could gol
to war because the workingmen would
rise en- masse." In 1914 the workingmen
are rising-and falling-in larger masses
than ever gathered on the fields of battle
in the history of the world. But still
there is a chance for Socialism TO end
the war, they tell us.
How? Well. the New York Independent
asked William English Walling, the noted
American Socialist, to explain the action
of his party in the great war. NO
writer in the United States is more com
petent to discuss this question than he,
says the editor of the Independent.
Hear. then, from Mr.. Walling, how
Socialism is going to bring about peace,
now that its impotence in preventing war
has been demonstrated:
"First-Breaches in MISUNDERSTANDING
will be steadily undermined.
'Second-Single assertions and surren- !
der in groups already have been reported
in considerable numbers Some captured
soldiers in Belgium explained that they
did not know whom they were fighting: |
others that they had been butchered and |
starved: others merely that they were |
Socialists and opposed to war-au being
excuses for surrender.
"Third-As night attacks are becoming |
frequent. officers will be more and more |
shot by their own soldiers !
They may even be decimated in this way |
before the war is over, as happened in a |
number of Russian regiments In the |
japanese war"
Do the Socialists expect to succeed in |
bringing about peace, law. order. high |
wages, and ideal governments through |
the heroic agency Of the army anarchist !
who shoots his own leaders in the back !
under cover of darkness?
,
Mr.. Walling leaves us with that i'm |
nression He even quotes as his closing !
,r,rr,ert an editorial in the New York |
60, - 49,. oeoo+ ,b,+ cooio,is.s ,,,o,,1d |
49,. -'I-.,i.o.." -
De giad 10 see lne emu OF ClE"'%at ioh' !"
capitalism could ne involved IN the same
destruction.
Between what our German remon-
strants call Cossack domination and the
imperialism of Germany we |
have no choice" saws the Call I'VE |
should accent neither. and do our best
10 destroy both. With one or the other
dominant. our fight would go on Just
the same And that goes for capitalist
domination Of all the others as well, We |
have not the slightest interest in the So
called civilization that it is claimed one
7r other proup is 7ghting for If is the
same thing in ali cases-imperialism.
dominion. wage slavery ex-
oloitation. and capitalism
we stand for destruction-tbe de-
struction of canItaIisnn concludes the
Cali. and Mr. Mailing after assuring