The Northwest worker. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1915-1917, 1916-04-06
OUR ANSWERS.
Is This a Free Country?

No country is either wholly free or
wholly enslaved. During the last
quarter of the sixteenth century the
colonies of this country were largely
made up of people who came to Amer
lea to escape religious persecution in
the Old World. There being so many
true" faiths, religious sects We're nu-
merous, and the whole bunch of pro
testants and catholics were forced to
agree to truce under which the mem
bers of each group of possessors of
the only true doctrine" could worship
according to their own consciences.
Thus was religious freedom establish
ed in this country.
Political freedom. or equality, the
right of manhood suffrage, came much
later, and for virtually the same pure
ly materialistic reason, namely, there
was no one economic group, or com
mercial faction, strong enough to
withhold the ballot from men whose
votes were needed by conflicting eco
nomic group. One faction decided
that it could enlist the support of the
wage-earners by granting them the
ballot, and therefore came over to the
popular cause. Neither the progress
sives" of the day nor the "conserva-
tives" gave up their control of the bal
lot through the wage-slave's mind.
The real struggle then, as today, was
over the question of which element of
the ruling class could control the
workers ballots through their brains
through control of their means of
information, or misinformation.
At all events, we have in this coun-
try what is on the surface religious
freedom and political freedom, or
equality. But the bosses still control
both the religious views and the votes
by owning and controlling the institu-
tons which mold the minds of the
workers.
Of industrial or economic freedom,
the wage-earners of this country, TAX
en- as whole, possess none. They are
free to leave one job and hunt for an
other, in most states, under ordinary
circumstances; but they are not free
to leave the capitalist class, excepting
by one or another form of suicide
And even this latter freedom" is il
legal, is crime, according to ruling
class law. I'm Colorado it is "crime"
to quit work without giving the state
authorities thirty days notice..
2. Are We Independent?
There can be neither freedom nor
independence in a country where one
class owns and controls the means
whereby another class live
3. Are We Our Own Boss?
Try this question out on the fore
man.
a. Do We Get What We Deserve?
Deserve" is an abstract word mean
ing anything or nothing. We get what
we have the intelligence and the power
Through organization to take. The
average Wage-earner gets what he
votes for, namely, economic servitude,
dependence upon the pleasure of the
ruling class for chance to earn an
honest living, an average yearly wage
of less than 5000, and a chance to 90
to the trenches for "Old Glory" if
there is any capitalist-class property
in danger.
5. Are All Men Created Equal?
Men are probably not "created" at
all; but they are born under various
conditions Of physical, mental and So
clal environment, some under favor
able, most of them under unfavorable
conditions Of development.
6. Who Has the Right to Tell Us
What We Should Do, and Who Gave
Him That Right?
Right" like Deserve" is merely
an abstraction,- having no existence