The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1920-03-12

sow pessimism in the heart of jump
ing jack. know that you are wrong,
in fact I feel it, but I can't answer
you. At least not YETI
Jack smiled, "if what / say is
truth then how are we going to get
away from it. There is really no use
in fighting gravitation. l."
"But Jack see here, listen, ''Ru.
dolph broke in, waving his hands in
the all" our agitation, our education,
economic development, all will work
together to awaken labor to con.
sciouseess of its power. We will teach
them to recognize the tyranny Of
capital, and the benefits of co.operat-
i've efforts. We will teach them how tc
fill the world with peace and plenty,
how to fight the fires of ioy on the
lips Of love. 1t is the historic mission
of the working class to take possession
of industry. Karl Marx says so in the
first volume of capital, haven't you
read it. He proved it in the Commu-
mist Manifesto that labor must awak-
en- to q consciousness of its collective
l,ower, or as one of the poets put il.
"We shall laugh to scorn your pow.
er, that has held world in awe.
We shall trample on your customs,
and shall spit upon your law,
: We shall come up from life's des.
ert to your burdened banquet hall,
We shall turn your wine to worm
wood. and your honey into gall"
"Isn't it toe bad that natures
most beautiful flowers, those which
are so rich in color and fragrance do
never bear seeds Now if we could only
fill the world with souls such as Ru.
dolph then all our troubles would be
ever" commented Jack dryly. "But
the fact is that the mass Of mankind
does not look at things as he does. Is
| it we'll for us to range with science,
sloryirg in the time. While city
children soil a sickcn, Soul and sense
ir city slime.
And from the other cell Rudolph
continued the quotation, "Wbere the
master shrimps his haggard seamstress
of her daily bread, Where single sor.
did attic holds the living and the dead,
Where the smoldering fire of fever
crqwls across the rotted floor, and the
crowded couch holds incest, in the
warrens of the poor"
ooh, for Gods sake cut it, when
ever you try to talk sense your brain
takes fire, "Colins said" Let's get
back to the subject. History and evo-
luton both teach the progress of life
| is always in the direction of higher
and better organization. That fact
alone proves to me that labor's organiz-
alton must go and will go on until it
is perfected, and the perfection of
labor's organization will mean its
ownership and control of the socially
necessary means of life. When that is
accomplished, not only labor but the
world will be free, simply because
labor will be the world"
"Divinely free to work and love,
agreed Rudolph.
"1t sounds plausible, but to nv
mind there is a rattle in it. There is
something about it that is not true to
nature; it sounds too much like an
orthodox sermon. 1t is a statement of
the desires of your brain and not of
the facts Of existence " Said the boy,
Then after a pause he went on.
81 am willing to admit that / may
be mistaken, am not sufficiently
familiar with human history and
the evolution Of industrial processes,
to Ease an unqualified argument upon
them. But If ] am not mistaken, his
tory teaches us how successive genera
tions Of men have managed to sur.
vive, successive changes in environ.
ment. Industrial evolution teaches us
that the changes in production that
have taken place in the past are but
the logical outcome of mans in.
creasing need All history is but the
story of mans struggle to adapt him.
self to the changing order of things.
While ] am short on knowledge of
history, I do know something Of ma.
ture and natures methods. I have learn.
cd to observe things as they are and
since have been introduced to the
class struggle and you have told me
Of its history, T have noticed three
types in the human race. One type
whose object in life is to own and
control, another type whose object IL
is to produce and bring forth, and still
another between these two that sends
its members into both classes to re.
new and vitalize them when they
become old and stade. Nov l am will.
ling to admit that this thing may come
to an end. As I have said all things
come to an end, and the human race
is no exception. Still industrial mastery
will die out with the passing Of the