New-York tribune., 1921-08-07
Soviets Condemned
Out Of the Testimony of
Their Own Mouths

CIT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS. BY
samuel Gompers. with the colIabora tjon
ef William English Walling. Published
@ T. r puitoD Company. Price 81.
Long before Hamlets time it was
at'ysroial sport "to have the engineer
rdlst with his own petard":. for Colo
n'n' the son of David, ages before,
nsd declared that Whose diggeth g pit
shsll fall therein" There is thus
h9!hng more satisfactory or convinc-
ING than to convict Bolsheyists liter
aliy cut Of their own mouths of the
ssVassry the despotism, and in the
PRESENT case, the implacable hostility
70 labor and to the common people
WITH which they have been charged.
1t Is understood that for several
years Mr. Gompers has been chiefly
''hceTned with defense of the Amer
nan Federation OF Labor against
sometimes insidious and sometimes
Vpen lnvasions and assaults Of soviet
sn' we need not srend time in weigh
1g als motives. Doubtless he resented
saa wished to protect himself against
'Ae menace to his own authority and
'saaefshlp, very human feeling. But
~ are net at all averse to believing
'aas entirely apart from selfish con-
''asfa'lons ne was and is opposed to
''sle1ism on general principles and
Sa' i's brutal and degrading despotism
sss revolving to him as it is to any
u 'ne "capitalistic class" with which
q. ana MS labor organization are SO
'''eh and so much in controversy.
Al any rate he and Mr.. Walling have
S'as an admirable service to the whole
aa'0n as we'll as to organized labor
putting forward this authentic digest
VI 'nc deyiltries of Bolshevist soviet
sn' on almost every page are given
NV 'psisslma verba of Bolshevist de-
a's' and records, as the Bolshevists
themselves set them down. A single
aampie: If some one were to saw.
Y'aaine IN general terms, that the
s''s's nao abolished trade unions and
'au made workmen virtual slaves of
as0aal despots, who were invested
W. 'ne powers Of life and death over
l'm' every glib parlor Bolshevist in
- snd would cry out, at ism. SOL"
~a's' 1ompers speaks not in general
n 4, an most specific terms. He quotes
- exact words of Schliapnikoff, the
l Sonmissar of Labor, as printed
49, 'ae soviet press on November 1s,
,..,,'a .ss' "a which, referring to presxisting
.s, s'''0as in Russian factories, that
s'asas amen Bolshevist statesman says:
sa ~ nose circumstances have COM
~ % to abolish the workingmen's
n. .A'''s and to place at the head of
A.. a0Ss important concerns special
.,.,.. 0i'' with unlimited powers and
s. .sss0 to dispose Of the life and
~ q the workmen."
j. y IN such fashion, with names.
1. 's snd dates. that every item in
:. Indictment of sovietism is again
sslh confirmed and that the true
Iser and purposes of the Third
a,., aa.lonale are exposed. 1t is to be
~. ~ /, mat because of Mr.. Gompers's
- as followers in all the divisions
as psstments Of organized labor
eiuily read the book. 1t is no
~. = % hoped that in spite of his
III !. sa'ss who most strongly disagree
s.s,.r 1ompers will also read and
as digest it. Fer this is a case
stat n the subject-matter of the
-. nmeasurably transcends any
y ~ authorship or editorship It u. is
wr. WESTON Of what Mr.. Gompers
,l,us Halling or any one else saws
.i,,,.. $ soyiets, bat of what the Boil
stss s. themselves say. 1t is a record
ss'.. ssssos be eonsroversed d and ,sSsbs the
'''set Of which cannot mot be be