The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1920-05-07
The Black Sheep.

science or Of a science of sociology.
The terms of these sciences are as
we'll defined as any other descriptive
or experimental science. In the realm OF
sociology and economics we are dealing
with human interests and human af-
fairs, and our concept of what consti-
tutes our interest differes with temper
ament as well as economic conditions
That is the reason it is physically and
socially impossible to unite the masses
of mankind upon any set of principles
no matter how we'll founded they may
be in the facts Of life.
The best brains in the working class
differ according to temperament and
will be followed by those who love
and opposed by. those who hate any
given temperament regardless of the
principle involved. 1t has been said
that Jesse James had as many ad-
mirers in the United States as Billy
unday. That does not mean that people
are either religious fanatics or crlmi-
nails; it simply proves that they fol-
low those who are aggressive according
to temperament. The mass follows men.
They dc not recognize principle as
big as an elephant. To the crowd it is
not truth, expedience. or mutual aid
that determines conduct, but rather
the attitude Of their chiefs. 81 am
for Paul, I am for Apollos, I am for
Wilson. for Roosevelt, for Debs, for
Haywood !" or for who not. The sheep
follow the wethers. Economic circuni-
stances cause power to gravitate in the
direction of certain individuals and the
masses to follow economically deter
miner leaders or newspapers until hum
ger exposes both leaders and papers
1 as mere creatures of circumstance.
Even as the two friends in the
cabin who loved and trusted one
another could not agree upon so
fundamental an issue as what consti-
tuted the working class so the great
mass of mankind with all their diff
ferent phases Of mentality due to
heredity and environment can not be
expected to ever cooperate to any
great extent except they be forced to
DO so by stong central authority
which recognizes the economic neces-
sity for such cooperation. But am
DEPRESSING from the story.
Another source of continual contro-
versy between these two friends was
> the question whether a worker had
1 anv interest in the national life of
the land of his birth or adoption. /
call attention to this because it is
also question which agitates the
minds Of all radicals and constitutes
the blind rock upon which many a
socialist ship has stranded. On this
question they were agreed consciously
and yet subconsciously they were
miles apart.
They both derided the sentiment of
patriotism as being jingoistic fanat.
,cism and in the very next breath
Rudolph would be telling Collins that
the United States had no such plains
and woods as Russia, or that the life
of the individual in the realm Of the
q Gar. was far richer, in color and .ex.
periencc than that Of the average
VI American. To which Collins would
reply with recital Of Russian Po-
groms and the horrors Of Siberia, the
ferocity of the wolves and the litter.
acy of the people, and as many other
r upleasant things as his fertile brain
9 could think of. Ard Rudolph would
. return to the assault with descrip-
Y tion of American egotism claiming
e that the world over, the very name
r American was a synonym for "wind
bag" He would then point out that
S Americans as such were absolutely
s unorgani7able for any real social bet
r terment; that the1 labored under the
r same delusions q freedom and de-
t mocracy as theft forefathers of a
n hundred years ago. Thus unconsclously
each sung the praises of their native
land from beyond the din Of their
wordy internationalism re-echoed the
words of Scott "Breathes there the man
II with soul so dead. who never to him
$ self has said this is my own my
9 native land +" Even as the silver
u horde goes back to the waters Of it's
y nativity, so these men were each de-
: fending and idealizing the land of
their birth.
ol Their internationalism was intellect.
II lMally sincere. Our intellect however is
a growth of later years. Man has
T. 'lstruggled on and up thru the countless
!, jpre-intellectual ages and carries within
!, his brain the impressions of these ages.
u They have become an integral part Of
u his subconscious being. They are facts
!. of emotion which the play Of intellect
y may obscure but can never eradicate
y and which when the proper irritation
2 is applied will triumph over the intel
y lect as the tidal wavc will overflow
e the low land.
. Radical education had made these
u men internationalists, yet basically
y they were tied as all men are tied
SHY their heartstrings to the soil Of
7 their birth. If Rudolph had ;;een pos.
y sessed Of the power he would have
Russianized (not Czarized) America.
y And yet in him this instinct was not
y the strongest. He was Jew and the
J, jew has for ages been a waudcrer with
y out land which he might claim as
o his own. Yet he was born in Russia,
a the steppes Of Russia were in his
;. blood, slavic speech was music to his
y ears. Enough Of Russia had entered his
. being to make him Russian.
IL all this was true Of Rudolph il
y was doubly ture of Collins, although
y both would have gone to the stake or
J the gallows defending their interna.
y tionalism under certain conditions. yet
o. under others Collins would have proven
!, American ready to Americanize (not
:. capitalizc) the world.
" Thus II was that they argued without
end alternately accusing the other Of
dullness or wilful obstinacy. Both try