The sun., 1919-09-23
The Thing with whIskers on 1t.

The Thing with whiskers on 1t.
THE SUN intends to be perfectly fair
to Mr.. WILLIAM z. FOSTER, just as 1t
hopes and intends to be entirely fair
to all men. Mr.. FOSTER, as his fellow
citizens are beginning to understand,
is not only the secretary and treasurer
of the committee organizing this strike
and apparently the prime factor in
the unparalleled movement now an
experimental fact; he Is also theorist
and propagandist and prophet of the
industrial revolution which demands
the olive branch from Judge GARY.
We have exhibited some interesting
and significant extracts from q red
covered pamphlet on Syndicalism said
to have been written by WILLIAM u.
FOSTER in collaboration with EARL @.
FORD and published at twenty-five
cents by Mr.. FOSTER himself his ad-
vertised place of business being 1000
South Paulina street, Chicago. A fur
Their showing of Mr.. Fosters senti-
ments and spirit may be instructive
at this time. OF direct action" as
contrasted with political action Mr..
FOSTERS treatise says:
1T is the interest Of the capitals
tic class to rob the workers of as
much Of their product as possible
and the interest OF the workers to
prevent this robbery as far as they
can. A guerrilla warfare-known as
the class struggle and evidenced by
many strikes, working class political
eruptions and the many acts of OPP
preston committed by capitalists upon
their workers-constantly goes on
between these opposing classes. The
capitalists, who are heartlessness and
cupidity personifed. being the domi-
nant class of society and the shape,s
of its institutions, have organized the
whole fabric of society with a view
TO keeping the working class in sla-
very. 1t is therefore evident that II
the workers are to become free 1t
must be through their own efforts
and directly against those of the capt.
talists. Hence the revolutionary slo-
gan, The emancipation of the work.
era must be wrought by the workers
themselves
1T goes without saying that for the
workers to overthrow capitalism
they must be thoroughly organized to
exert their combined might Ever
since the inception of the revolution
airy idea the necessity for this Or
ganization has been realized by pro-
gressive workingmen and they have
expended untold efforts to bring II
about
These efforts have been almost
entirely directed into the building of
working class political parties to
capture the State-it being believed
that with such a party in control of
the State the latter could be used to
appropriate the capitalists. The So
clalist parties in the various centres
have been laboriously built with this
among revolutionists, there has been
a pronounced revolution against this
programme. Working class political
action is rapidly coming to be recog-
nized as even worse than useless. II
Is being superseded by the direct ac-
ton OF unions
In a footnote Mr.. FOSTERS pam
phlet gives with amazing frankness
It's authors Interpretation Of the term
~dlrect action:
This much maligned term means
simply the direct warfare-peaceful
or violent. as the case may bs-of
the workers upon their employers, to
tho exclusion Of all third parties,
such as politicians. &C."
We do not apologize for the length
OF the extracts we are making from
Mr.. FosTER's little red book. To con.
dense or to paraphrase these utter
ances would perhaps be to misrepre-
sent him unintentionally and thus "a
do him injustice as thinker and ms
leader. Our readers are beginning
to get clear idea Of what Syndical-
ism means in the lexicon of revolu-
tionary labor and Of what direct &C,
ton" means as distinguished from
the methods Of organization and lie.
climate self-protection with which
the community has been more famil-
lar In the past. We now come to this
terse and significant indication OF
Syndicalism's goal;
''rhe syndiealsm movement is a
labor union movement. which. in ad-
dition to fighting the everyday bat
ties Of the working claAs, intends 70