The Northwest worker. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1915-1917, 1917-02-22
on 'itEVOLUTION-
ERN" PARTIES

Sometimes the truth is better left
Iunsaid, hut if we continue to ignore
! the truth and act hlindly in our poll
/ teal activities we will, sooner or later
run ny against the grim truth
Ncaliring that the root cause of
Ian the evils Of present day society
.ls fo.j That the ownership of
Ne maebiu rv VI wealth production,
vested III he interests of an exploit
class, enables that class to cuslavc tho
working class, and that the exploit
ing class is enabled to continue that
ownership through control of the
forces of government, we, the Social
list Party. have been endeavoring TO
educate the working class to that
fact to the end that the working
class might, by intelligent action,
gain control of the forces of govern
ment and of the machinery Of wealth
production.
We have jeered at reformers and
!
antagonisei thousands whose immed-
late interests forced them to seek for
immediate relief from the burdens of
! society. We have split our own
forces and helped divide the workers
into dozen coutending factions. We
have voted and talked and written at
times in favor of municipal and gov
eminent ownership and then we have
turned right around and opposed it
and allowed Tom Jones and Dick
| Smith to get into office on this kind
of platform all the time knowing,
consciously or unconsciously, that had
the legislative powers been vested in
our hands that it would have helped
Us gain the confidence of the masses.
We have thrown to the winds, hun
dreds of chances to be at the helm
Of the ship of state, because we had
faith in the idea that some day the
working class would be intelligent
enough to vote for our ticket.
We ignored the fact that we are
political party out for political power
ana the sooner we realize that fact
the sooner will we put an end to the
slaughter of our class, the eXnloita-
ton Of our class, and the hopeless
i.viding Of our class.
The revolutionary tactics have been
ried and found wanting. BY this
We do not mean that we are to ignore
he one and only solution to the stop
Ding of exploitation, we mean that
he one aim alone has not met with
he success that it should have met
The Socialist Labor Party in their
inst political campaign polled zoos
otes and in 1890 they polled 1904
'otes. In 1900 the Socialist Party of
/ America got into the political arena
with little broader platform than
he S. L. p and the S. L. p. i'm
mediately launched into a campaign
against the S. p. claiming that it was
reform party, and has continued
! those tactics ever since. The fact,
however, was that the S. P. was
afraid of reforms. They were on the
fence as it were. The propaganda
that has been turned out has made
more reformerS than anything else
ever could but we have jeered at those
reformers and never received their
support.
Now, if there is anything worth
while in the revolutionary attitude Of
the S. L. P, why is it that that party
only increased their vote by 694 votes
in 26 years? At that rate it will
take about million years to accom-
plish the revolution by revolutionary
tactics. The same thing can be said
Of the Socialist Party of Canada This
party calls the S. P. of A. reform
party and boldly proclaims that it is
the second most revolutionary in the
world. But what about it's growth 4?
We find that in every contested cleo
ton during the past two years that it
lost from one half to eight tenths Of
the votes Of four and eight years
previous. And yet the governments
Of both countries have changed hands
to other capitalist parties.
This is certainly food for thought
If the Socialist party is afraid to go
after the office, because they might
be elected by workers who are not
class conscious, then we might just
as well let somebody else get in and
DO the job while we look on and
jeer. But let US choose with care our
standard bearers and then 90 after
the office and we will get control of