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


elevation through the education Of al
OF the masses 0f mankind, regardless
q race or nationality, creed, color, o.
sex he workers are clasping hands
across all boundary lines. They are
beginning 10 make common cause
They aIe developing the power, indus
tllal and political, that is to enamel
Pate them from the degrading thrall-
d9n1@ on past ages.
IN hussla they are making the sub
lime experiment of the Soviet govern
ment. Surrounded by all of the cap
lt9llsms Of the world. represented
m&hgned In every conceivable way
they still stand after five years, II
spite OF ali of the falseh0Ods, ali o.
the calumnieS that have been clrcu-
lated 70 dlscredit them. l do not make
t12 claim that they have made no mis-
takes; quite the contrary. | admit
some OF their excuses. / know they
are Just emerging from the bloody
rule OF the czars; and some OF our peo-
pie, exceedingly sensitive, are Mortified
when they read Of some OF the tales
that come from Russia. | wonder why
they were not so Mortified under the
reign OF the cars, where for hundreds
OF years the people were brutaliZed BE-
yond the power of language to charac-
telZe; where unoffending women We're
sent to the mines of Siberia and utter
ly de-humanized; where torture was
applied to every human being who
dreamed Of freedom. We recognized
the Gar then; and annually our pres
ldent could afford u send him cOngrat-
u'atlonS. But We are so sensitive, so
super-sensitive about what the Soviets
are doing that we can't afford to
recognize the Soviet government. Let
me say to you that the time will come
when this government will recognize
the Soviet government. As an eX-
cuse for refusing to recognize the gov
eminent that has been existence there
now for five years, our secretary of
state said that Russia was an econ
omlc vacuum. Think of the hundred
and sixty millions of people as a vac
uum. The vacuum is not in Russia;
it Is III our American craftsmanship;
that is where the vacuum is.
Yes, / am with those liberatorS. l
appreciate in some measure the sac
Iificcs they have freely made, not in
their own interests merely, but in the
interests Of all the workers of the
world. | have said, and say again
that the greatest thing that came out
Of the Void War was Leninc and the
Russian revolution.
] had friend who was in business
where l lived-a very excellent man
personally. He used to rebuke me for
wasting my time in senseless agita-
ton. He once said to me, There's
nothing in Socialism, dream. You'll
come to realize it sometime when it
is too late"
A Chicago capitalist came down
there, looking for place to invest a
great surplus he had accumulated. He
went into business there in the Same
line that my friend was engaged in.
Soon after he went into business, my
friend was out of business. He could
not compete. | was out of town at
the time. Returning, / found, as
met him on the street, that he had
undergone a tragic change, grown old
in q remarkably short time That is
the tragedy of capitalism, that men
grow old before they have had a
chance to be young; to have to strug-
gle to get living and make life in
its larger and finer and nObler mean
ing an impOssibility. whats the
matter % I asked him. Haven't you
heard ?" "Why no." "I'm out of bus
mess" "You are! How did it hap
pen?" He told me. care YOU still
satisfied with this system and believe
that every man-as YOU used to tell
get along if he only wanted
to? Are you still opposed to Social
ism =" He said, "No. not exactly. l
have changed my mind about that.
/ am reading some Socialist literature
now" 1t was not long until he was
in the Socialist party
I could not have persuaded his to
Join the Socialist party in a century,
| might as well have appealed to
wooden Indian. The logic of Social
ism failed to penetrate his mind, but
The logic, the iron logic of capitalism
did not fail to reach his pocket; and
when that was empty he was q con
vert. 1t is in this way that the great
body OF the people are being exploit
ed, appropriated, and dispossessed-
and they are the majority. When they
have been sufficiently dispossessed
they will realize that they are in the
same boat and that they have got to
change the system. This is how a de
caying social system prepares the
people for the social system that is
to follow next in order.
Now the thing that is Of supreme
Importance to the workers is that they
shall organize, industrially and polit-
icaily; develop the power in both
fields, the maximum pawer; and bring
it into action every day of the year.
| am advocating the industrial union
as against the craft union. There are
a good many labor leaders in this
country who can be dispensed with.
They have the workers divided into
of more or less ineffective
craft unions, pitted against one an
other, and used by their employers
against one another.
You saw this demonstrated in the
late railroad strike, where they had
them divided into sixteen different or
CARNATIONS under various leaderships;
and the railroad companies are shrewd
enough to ply them against one an
other. Part of them go out on strike,
and part of them stay at work, and
help to defeat their own fellow work.
cTc That g ~ o,Oapi zafiOn Tbo+