The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1918-03-01


might be classed with one or the other
according to the radicallsm of the classi-
tier.
There are very many who daily labor
with their hands to earn livlihood, but
who have also accumulated more or less
property. Sometimes this property has
been accumulated by hard labor, some
times 1t is the necessary accessory to the
labor, as for instance the small farmer.
Then there are the small business men,
like the merchants and small manufact-
urers. also the professional and semi-pro.
fesslonal people. There are also very
large classes of persons who mix little
property, some brains and considerable
manual labor in supporting themselves
and families. 1t ls evident that these
classes of people will be hard to place
when the division occurs, if it ever does
occur. Over in Russia they changed the
Testament rule and there they say ''To
him that hath not shall be given, and to
him that hath shall be taken away that
which he hath," but strict application
of such rule will make all property
sort of "revolving fund" that will not
belong to anybody for any definite length
of time. The same rule if applied to
this country, would dlspossess the aver
age farmer Of his holdings and give his
lands to the I. w. w.
The basic doctrines of the "Bolshe.
Wiki" of the world is that all rich shall
be compelled to share their property
with the poor.
That no man can acquire fortune
honestly. That the fact of fortune is
prlma facie evidence of wrong to fellow
men.
That the rich have combined to mon-
opolze all political power and that all
governments are the products of capital
and are controlled by capitalists.
The extreme factions of the world
"Bolsheviki'' are anarchists. If they
are right IN their conceptions and doc
trines they are logically right IN their
remedy. They believe that bullets not
ballots will cure the diseases of the body
polite. If the division has already been
made 10y the capitalists as avowed, then
there is no remedy other than surgical
operation. Ballot boxes full of political
pills cannot cure such cancerous grow
tbs. That is the way the Russian I. w.
w. has ''cured" capitalism in his coun-
try, though it is really little too soon
TO say the patient is out of danger.
But in this country and in this state
we have class of people who think they
are not of the extremes but believe fully
in the doctrines of labor VS. capital as
applied to their own particular environ
ments and conditions and propose to
cure with milder means. They them
selves are 'capitalists" according to
"Bolsheviki" definitions. as they are
classed as Oppressive employers" by
the 1. w. w. but because they labor
with their hands, they class themselves
as "laborers." Thus their first difficulty
arises in proper status; are they CAPT.
ta]ists or are they of the laboring class?
In some ways they have gone to even
greater extremes in this sort of dividing
than even the "Bolshevlki" of the world
have done. They have made new divi-
ding lines. On one side are the "bona
tide farmers" and on the other side the
rest of us.
Their avowed doctrine is to rule the
different state governments, the Con-
gress, and later the world in the interest
of farmers. No one is admitted to their
caucuses or councils except "bona fide
farmers. Their war cry is "farmers VS.
the world.''
Their complaints and grievances as
printed in their newspapers are practi-
cally the same as that of the other "Bol-
sheviki" people. 1t consists of a univer-
sal howl against Capitalism monopo-
lists. speculation, big-biz, and all sorts
of business except farming. Just now
they are financing scheme to put all
local merchants and newspapers out of
business. Boycott is an open and auth
orized weapon.
Politically, this self-divided class
mourn over the rape of Belgium, but use
the kaiser's Inscriptions methods in in.
vading the neutral political parties.
They want to hang the I. w. w. who
puts iron scraps in wheat sheaves, but
have pursnaded their own consciences
that it is perfectly proper to destroy by
similar methods the political separators.
They declare that they are Nonpartisans
and also that they are either Republi.
cans or Democrats.
The only real difference between these
and the "Bolsheviki" Of the world is
that the latter are more liberal in their
classifications. The "Bolsheviki" pro-
Tess to take in all the oppressed Of the