The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1923-09-14

Roman patrician had the legal RIGHT
not only 20 take from his slaves ali
they produced but the legal right to
whip them, torture them, the LEGAL
right TO put them to death the same
as they did any domestic animal. IN
the Middle Ages for a thousand years
the workers were serfs, and not all
lowed under the law to own an inch
Of soil. They could work only ON con-
dition that they surrendered TO the
idle feudal aristocracy all they pro-
duced except just enough to keep them
in working and producing order.
They were the lower class and the
workers have always been the lower
class. From the very beginning of
organized society, all of our institu-
tions have been based upon the ex-
ploitation of the working class.
You workers here assembled TODAY
are no longer the slaves your an
cestoYes were in the ancient world. nor
vet the serfs they were in the Middle
Ayes. You are now wage workers
and nominally free. And vet YOU
haven't a job you can call your own.
You workers made all Of the machin-
cry there is in operation everywhere;
and you workers use all of the ma
chinery there is in operation every
where. You can also develop lntellI-
gence enough to make yourselves the
masters and the owners of that ma
! chinery, and TO use that machinery
not to produce millionaires and bill
! lionares, but TO produce wealth in
abundance for yourselves. That's the
! fundamental difference between capt.
] talism and socialism Capitalism
means industrial autocracy; Social
| ism means industrial democracy. The
difference between Socialism and cap
italism is the difference between free
dom and slavery.
Observe that the simple, individual
tool with which your grandfathers and
-grandfathers worked has long
| since been touched by the magic wand
Of invention; and as if by magic it has
! become a marvellous machine. Every
| cog, every wheel, every lever, every
spring in it proclaims it a social agen-
cy that came not to enslave but to
emancipate the workers Of the world.
Observe that not only has the tool
been sOcialiZed but production has al
so been socialized. Long ago the
worker had to cast aside his little in
dividual tool with which he employed
! himself and worked early and late to
produce just enough TO satisfy his
mere physical wants. He had to de-
sert that little shop and suffer himself
to be recruited into groups and regi-
ments and armies of hundreds, thOus-
ands, tens of thousands Of workers.
Work has been subdivided and spec
ialized; and now the workers of this
nation and Of all the nations of the
earth work together socially upon an
ever-increasing scale. They work with
: social tools, and they produce wealth
: in increasing abundance by their So
J cial labor. But the evolution is not
: yet complete for while the tools has
} been socialized and production has
5 been socialized, the ownership of those
| great social agencies is still vested il
/ the individual And here we have tht
t fundamental contradiction inherent il
e capitalistic society highly developed
, social production Of wealth upon thu
Y one hand, and upon the other the in
s dividual appropriation Of the socia
: product. This accounts fOg the fac
that we have up0n tho enc hand TIT
= multi-millionaires and upon the othe
), hand great masses Of impOverisheu
e workers.
am mot now addressing you work
y ers as a leader. / would not hay
8 YOU regard me in that capacity. | IN
n in the rank and file side by side wit
. YOU. There are those who claim tina
n they have risen from the ranks, fror
e the lower stations in life to position
e of eminence and distinction. | ca
u make no such claim for myself.
= have no ambition to rise in that way
When / rise-if | ever dot will b
with the ranks and not from the ranks
Let me call your attention to tn
fact this aftenoon-i,'s a matter c
vital Importance to you you ca
think as well as work. This grea
problem will not be solved by violenC
That is one Of the many reasons
am opposed to the capitalist system
because / am opposed to violence, an
the capitalist system is based upo
violence and breeds violence ar
makes violence inevitable. You ca
no more solve this great labor prol
lem, the problem of all mankind, /
violence than you can solve a problel
in Euclid with a policeman's club.
am addressing myself not to your pr
iudice but to your reason. ! won
not have you follow me. That wou
do YOU no good. would have W
think for yourself. 1t was EmersC
who said "When God turns a think,
4 loose. the earth trembes." The s.
4 cialist movement is turning thinke
1 loose among the working class, al
] the capitalist class is beginning
I tremble down to its foundations. The
| is nothing more magnificent thaS
thinker in overalls. An animal c;
fight. but it takes a man to think
4 stand erect in the majesty of your ov
4 manhood, your own womanhood, wi
you stand alone; to develop the c
( pacity for clear thinking-that is Il
duty YOU owe to yourself and will di
charge if you are true to yourse
no matter what others may say
\ think or do. You can face the wor
B unafraid, go to bed at night with 20
manhood and awaken and walk for
in the morning with your self-respe,
am appealing to the workers
realize first of all that they are in {