The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-10-04
FOSTER AFRAl To
TELL his VIEWS
Steel Strike Leader Cuts
Ridiculous Figure on
the Stand.

WASHINGTON, oc. 4.-William
q. Foster, Secretary Of the General
COMMITTEES conducting the steel
strike, confronted yesterday before
the Senate Labor Committee with his
writings advocating various forms OF
revolutionary socialism declared IN
der a grilling fire of questions that hds
views had changed.
How much they had changed, Fos'
ter declined to tell the Senators, I'M
less they excluded newspaper CORE
spopdents from the room while he
did It. This the committee did not do.
Armed with books which Foster had
written during his career in labor
circles which advocated revolutionary
socialism and sabotage and with
copies Of the |. w. w. organ "solid-
arity,' containing articles contrtbut-
ed BY him from Europe where he went
in 1911 as a representative OF that
organ, Foster was pressed into a
lengthy explanation Of the doctrines
and views he advocated in 1914 and
earlier years,
Foster first attempted to parry the
questions at the outset rsf6sing to
answer until newspaper reporters
were excluded from the room, on the
ground that "lying, prejudtced, news
papers have misconstrued and misre'
presented my personal opinions with
the whole idea Of injuring the cause
OF 100000 steel workers. ;"
He was finally crowded into a dec
laration, where Senator McKellarr
Democrat of Tennessee, reading many
quotations from his works demanded
trat he say whether or not he. still
adhered to his beliefs.
"Those are not my views now" ne
said in a subdued tone after listening
to his own words repeated, declaring
"the state to be a capitalist institu.
tion," and advocating strikes and
calm acceptance of bloodshed as nee
essary to the forwarding OF the re-
evolutionary cause.
President Gompers, of the Amer
lean Federation Of Labor broke into
the examination in irritated fashion
at one point, where Foster was stand
ing on his objections to newspaper
reports of his testimony,
"Well, they can't say anything
worse about you than they have" the
aged head of the labor federation ad-
jured him.
Foster would not, however, com.
pletely adjure his old works, and
faced with one line to the effect "that
the syndacalist worker will not be
held bac,s pm direct action by the
capitalistic code of ethics, duty, hon
or, patriotism" he told the commit
tee.
put quotation marks around some
of those and III stand by them yet
They'll. show how tie words are
used"
Other excerpts from later writings
stating that government as we know
it, will shrivel up and die, and lin
dustries. now in the hands of the
state, municipalities and the natior
will be given completely over to thG
workers in them" he was quite vel
! prepared to defend.
81 have my own ideas about gov
eminent, he said Of the first and Of
the second:
"fhat's not so r4eSSling nowadays
"Well, that's syndicalism, pure ant
simple, isn't itT Senator Sterling
Republican, of, South Dakota, one Of
his most persistent interrogators, de
manded.
The witness endorsed his own ad
vocacy of race suicide with the state
ment that cit is fooltshness for work
ing men to undertake to raise big
families.
President Gompers with apparent
amusement listened to Senator Reet
read Fosters essays on the American
Federation Of Labor written before
wherein he asserted that "the Amer
lean labor movement is infested witt
hordes Of dishonest officials and la
Dor fakirs. These men must co. He
explained today he considered thu
blanket charge not tenable.