The Washington socialist. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1914-1915, 1914-04-22
REFORM PARTIES
(By Carl Ulonska.)

MuulCipai IeloEH ptTtleS, We iihu
them in nearly every small city and
town election!
They pretend to represent "the peo-
pie" but they are only mask by
which the capitalist politicians seek
to lead the workers astray.
In every city and town where the
Socialists have control or partly con.
troll, a citizens ticket or a peoples
party ticket was always placed
against the Socialist party in order to
defeat them for reelection.
The citizens ticket or any other
municipal ticket is only the mongrel
hybrid of the two old parties>
They seek to mslead the workers by
advocating municipal water. light, gas,
soup kitchens and what not.
But remember IL has only been
through the increasing power of the SO.
cialist party In that locality that mas
forced them to do this.
Under the mask of the reform ticket
the upper class and the lower class
join hands to defeat the workers in
every election,
Those old party politicians offer all
sorts of reforms to catch the votes of
the working class. they promise every
thing, but they will not get off the
backs of the workers, the Socialist
party cares more for the adjustment
of the wage system than for any
amount of reform. In municipal part
les there are many fallicies but the
following two are most noticeable;
First. reform parties usually include
the same gang of ringsters and polite
ians who boss the city or town cleo
lions in which the reform ticket is
placed, for years thus instead of elect
ing one gang of politicians to manage
offices you elect mixture of both
gangs and the result is that more jobs
are created, salaries are increased, and
taxes raised materially.
Second. reform parties have been an
absolute failure in municipal govern
ments New elections and recalls
usually follow a reform administra-
ton"
Frances Willard, a great temperance
worker and reformer, declared on her
deathbed that had she her life to live
over again she would devote it to So
cialism.
The Duchess of Switzerland, of Eng
land, was recently converted to So
cialism while engaged in reform work
among the pottery workers of South
ern England.
Some one has very aptly said that
every reform they give you is bone
thrown you to keep you from taking
back all that belongs to you"
Municipal reform parties do not and
cannot solve the great economic in
justice of today. The old party poll
ticians are beginning to realize that
the workers are waking up and are
hence using the reform ticket as a
last effort to shiled themselves. The
reform ticket is merely the same re-
dictionary Democratic or Republican
ticket saturated with reform cologne
to once more fool the workers. The
reform ticket-"a goodly apple rotten
at the heart" For as long as one class
is forced to exist on dry bread while
another class surfeit on porterhouse
steaks, as long as the children of one
class are forced to wear shoddy cloth
ing, denied an education, and forced to
slave in the mills and factories while
the children of another class revel in
all the Injuries riches can procure just
so long will the Socialist party con-
tinue to stand as the only remedy for
this economic injustice.