The Washington herald., 1918-06-23
Redeeming Socialism.

The perverted behavior of certain Socialist lead
ers in the United States has blackened the whole
movement in the eyes OF many Americans, and it
has been widely deplored as menace to the prog
ress of liberalism.
We refer to the curious, warped attitude that
these men have assumed towards the war, the
morbid antagonism they display towards the de-
tense of civilized rights against Prussianism, the
strangely recurrent peace twaddle in which they
indulge, their blindness to the moral aspects of the
war. their furtive belittlement of the allied cause
These leaders mainly the international So
cialists" men who traffic in a gaudy Americanized
version of Bolshevism, to whom the crush
ing of military autocracy means little, but the
spreading of the doctrine OF the torch great deal
They would sacrifice the fabric of Western democ-
racy to attempt internationalism OF the prole-
tariat to bring the world under rule that would
not be widely dissimilar to that of the Bolshevki
1t is important that Americans remember in
this trying period that not all Socialists of this
brand. Fer instance, there are John Spargo,
Charles Edward Russell and William English Wall
ing, all of whom cordially detest Germany and
regard her defeat as the paramount issue before
the world. II the Hilquitts and the Stokes and
the Debs' and the Bergers should be allowed to
con6scate utterly the good name of Socialism in
the United States. it would be sad day for the
lovers of free institutions everywhere.
Mr. Waling is always the alert to expose
the pachst Socialists, and deeply interested
in these words from him:
The purpose of the German military offensive
is to prepare the ground for a peace drive. The
purpose of the peace drive is reap the fruits of
military victory at the most favorable moment The
approaching offensive will probably be dated
just after the reassembling of the Austrian Para-
ment.
"Al the pacihst Socialists of the world are unit
ing in demanding an international Socialist confer
to stop the The three men in charge
OF this conference have declared that they intend
to call it Immediately alter the coming German
offensive-that is. at the moment desired by Ger
man militarism. 1t is obvious that any Socialist
who attends this conference favors it is
traitor to Socialism and internationalism.
"The democratic peace terms of America
indorsed by the interallied Socialists at London
a minimum These terms are thoroughly we'll
known to both the German Socialist parties and re-
jected by them. What then is the object of the
conference, if not to reach a compromise by per-
mtting the KaiscrS to retain part OF their con-
quests and still larger part OF the economic fruits
of their victories? Indeed, the pacihst Socialists
have everywhere confessed that the object OF the
conference is not to present the minimum demo-
cratic terms to the Germans. but to negotiate
compromise"
II anybody thinks that peace: talk" is dead in
the United States, let him minglc among the paci-
FIST Socialists in this free country for few days,
ahd find out how badly he is mistaken. The plain
truth is that these in the triumph of Great
Britain, France, Italy and the United States
greater buwark OF capitalism than the triumph OF
Germany. They think that world Socialism be
more effectively promoted through peace of COM
promise than clean-cut victory for what they call
capitalistic democracy. 1t is the poison OF these
Socialists German agents at heart if not in fact and
overt alliance, against which Americans must be
constantly on their guard Nor Americans alone.
The laborites in all the allied countries should be
uocuated against this cunning toxic infection. The
Labor party is to become increasingly powerful in
the war-it is commonplace that it already domi-
mates British politics-and it should not daily with
the kind of thought which is the most specous,
plausible and sinister in the allied world today.