The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1918-06-01
TWIN CITY NEWS
A Misleading Fal,aey.

Especially harmful was found its
fundamental maxim that Labor pro-
duces everything and is entitled to
take everything" Capitalists or their
shops and the management was taken
over by workingmen's committees,
with results which would be laughable
if they were not so painful. The
whole output of the factory was con-
verted into wages, without any re-
serve for either raw materials or the
maintenance of the machinery. In
some cases machinery was sold at a
sacrifice to purchase raw materials,
and for want of this machinery the
work of the factory could not be car
ried out. In many cases the man
ayers who had been driven out were
welcomed back to resume their duties
and wages were paid on the old foot
ing. In fact, this golden maxim of
MARKHAM economy was found to be an
unavoidable and misleading fallacy.
Another noteworthy fact was the
slackening of industrial effort under
the Socialist plan. Just as in the "Na-
tional workshops" which Louis
Blanc's party set up in Paris in 1884,
workmen lose the motive to strenuous
effort of any sort, lay aside their tools
to hold meetings and make speeches
and expect to be paid in full for their
times of idleness. Even in household
work the number required to do the
work of a family has to be doubled if
it is to be done at all. This is, next
to the unreplaced consumption of
capital, including machinery, the snag
upon which Socialism is sure to en-
counter shipwreck: The motive work
supplied by the hated "wage-system"
is taken away, and nothing is found
to replace it.
Russia's Counter-Revoution.
1t must be said that the capitalists
or bourgesie showed very little cour-
age or energy in maintaining their
rights. Had they rallied to Kerensky
and the other moderate revolutionists
the results of the movement might
have been very different.
And now we hear of an insurrection
of imperialists in Petrograd, apparent
ly with the purpose to restore the Car
or to put some other Romanoff on the
throne. We have few details as to
either the purpose or the power of
this "counter-revolution," which has
beensexpected even by the friends of
the Bolsheviki government. One of
the demands pressed months ago upon
a large employer was that he should
buy his workmen weapons to fight just
such a movement.
The CONDENSATION" has sew
eral elements in it's favor. One is the
attachment of the clergy to the Gear
as the head of church and state in the
fullest sense. Another is the deeply
implanted loyalty and affection of the
moujiks (peasants) to "the little
father" (batoushka), who ruled them
from the capital. Yet another, and the
most important, may be the disgust
of the soldiers and the laborers with
the anarchy and disorder, leading to
want, with which the Socialist state
has been conducted. 1t is therefore
possible that this uprising means a
restoration of the Romanoffs; possible
also that it is only another Intellectual
La Vendee, to be drowned in blood.
Of course the newsmongers, who
know nothing about it more than we
all do, have discovered that the Ger
mans are behind it ALL If so, they are
greater fools than I have taken them
for. The Bolshevik republic has done
everything they can ask It has al
lowed them to detach province after
province from the empire, converting
them into vassal states to Germany.
1t has thrown open to them all the
agricultural resources of the Ukraine.
So at last MARKHAM Socialism has
been tested. How has it stood the
test?