The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-27
By ALEXANDER BITTELMAN

Freeman and slave, patrlclan and
plebeian, lord and serf, gulId-master
and journeyman, In a word, oppres-
sor and oppressed, stood In constant
opposition to one another, carried
on an uninterrupted, now hidden,
now open fight, a fight that each
time ended, either in a revolution
airy Reconstruction OF society at
large, OF In the common ruin Of the
contendina classes.
Thus spoke Karl Marx and Freder-
tck Engels. in the Communist Mani
testo," on the nature Of human soci.
ETY. and on the prime fundamental
forces that are making its develop
ment and shaping the changes in its
construction.
What is the story OF social life.
It is a story Of struggle. OF class
against class, of the oppressed against
the oppressor, struggle for political
power to reshape society-the owner.
ship and control of the wealth of the
nation-in the interests of the oppres-
sed masses.
The Last Struggle for Power.
In the past it was struggle of
slave against freeman, plebeian
against patrician, serf against lord
journeyman against guild-master.
Now it is struggle of worker against
capitalist. the proletariat against the
bourgeoise. And in this struggle of
today, the Banner of Social Revolt. is
carried by the Communist Interna-
tional-the spiritual and political sue
cessor to the First International
Social changes of former epochs re-
suited, as rule, in substituting one
ruling class for another. The slave
Of yesterday became the freeman and
master of today. The oppressed bour-
geoise under the feudal regime be-
came the powerful capitalist class of
today, holding under its iron heel
millions upon millions of toiling mass.
es. But when these in their turn sue
coed in overthrowing the rule of the
capitalists, the only new form of So
ciety that can result out of such a
revolution is. society of equals, a
society of Communist brotherhood.
Ours, therefore, is the last strug-
gle for power. The victorious work.
ing class can materialize its victory
over the bourgeoisie and realize in
measure the fruits of the social rev.
olution only in one way and that is
by abolishing classes altogether. That
is why the final aims of the proletar-
ian class struggle, in distinction from
the final aims of former aspirants to
power is not the perpetuation of class
rule but, on the contrary, its total
liquidation.
It's the final conflict. Let each
stand in his place. The Interna-
tionaI Party shall be the human
race.
The First international Has Shown
the Way.
But how shall we reach this goal?
The First international, founded in
London sixty years ago, has shown
the way. Through the medium of its
immortal leader, Karl Marx, the First
International has proclaimed the truth
that the seizure of political power by
the working class is the only road to
the abolition of capitalist exploita.
tion, to the abolition of classes alto
gether, and to the institution of a So
ciety Of human brotherhood.
The First International! Only an
incident in the great proletarian
struggle for freedom, was it not? And
yet what a significant, epoch-making
incident that was! Everything of i'm.
portance that happened to the work
ing class within the last sixty years
can be traced, directly or indirectly, TO
that memorable day in September
1864. upon which there first made its
appearance the International Work
ingmen's Association"
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