The Northwest worker. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1915-1917, 1915-08-19


old party voters cannot be won over
to your attitude for any practical
purposes for the present It would
be folly, of course, for the Socialist
Party to adopt your policy for pres
ent-day action under conditions in
which only a helpless minority can
follow your lead. You cannot reason
ably expect that about sixty millions
of our hundred millions of inhabitants
will readily adopt your policy. Mel
Their can you expect that about fifteen
million of our twenty million voters
will do so. In fact, you must know
that they will not Do you intend to
hurl an unframed and badly armed mi
nority against a well trained, well Of
ficered, well supplied and well armed
majority that can easily control the
main lines of transportation and COM
munication? II you do, then the up
shot of your policy Is to lead the ac-
|, tive Socialist minority to certain de-
struction, provided, Of course, that
your policy could be realized. II you
do not, then your manifesto Is a
bluff.
You must know that neither you nor
the Socialist Party can command the
necessary means to arm, supply, train,
officer and lead any forces into a civil
war with any chances of success.
Without such a preparation, any vio-
lent resistance to martial law must
necessarily be disorderly, inefficient
and hopeless. If only few Socialist
Locals were to act like that for the
sake of fanatical loyalty to miscon-
ceived pure principle, the Socialist
Party would lose only few unbal-
anced hotheads, but If the whole So
cialist Party adopted this policy, the
immediate net result would be disrup-
would be the certain destruction Of
the active Socialist Party membership.
fail to understand wherein these
results would be a benefit to the So
cialist movement of the world.
On the other hand, If we have the
moral courage to face the facts and to
admit honestly that we cannot carry
out the threats implied in your policy,
we shall not only save our party from
ha 1tof If no iv,u n
the hour of the final test, but we
shall also save the lives of the vast
majority of our membership. 1t is
true that in case of enforced enlist
ment and of war against foreign
country, many Socialists would be
among the killed. But no old men,
women and children would be led to
slaughter, as they would be in civil
war, and the percentage of Socialists
killed in foreign war could be no
greater than the percentage Of old
party voters killed. 1t might even be
less, because the capitalist govern
ment has at present no means of
picking out the Socialists, except a
few ill-kept lists. These do not re-
veal the names and locations of the
vast majority of Socialist voters and
sympathizers.
In case Of war, then, the capital
ist government will first call for volun-
teers and will get the bulk of them
from the ranks of the old party voters
because most Socialists will not care
to enlist, so long as the existence Of
the American nation is not at stake.
To offer special resistance to such a
measure under such circumstances
would mean a needless challenge to
the powers that can force us to enlist,
lif they cannot get enough volunteers
in any other way
The policy advocated by your Local
is not only more dangerous to the So
cialist Party than that advocated by
the National Committee, but it is also
in no way special Socialist policy.
For you hope for the help of millions
of people who are not Socialists, and
thereby you admit that opposition to
war and militarsm is not confined to
the Socialists. For this reason you
have little cause to cast reflections up
on the majority of our National Com
mittee, because they advocate a GER
tain peace program, which requires
the support OF the anti-militarist ele-
ments in the old parties.
The main point is merely that old
party voters are more likely to sup
port the program of our National Com
mittee than your own, but this does
not prove that your policy is more
truly Socialist than theirs. 1t merely
proves that yours is more impractical
under present-day conditions, and,
therefore, more unscientific, because
more at variance with the sober study
of the actual facts.
In short, there is nothing distinctly
Socialist either about your own posi-