The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-05-13

1
admiration for the First District of
Wisconsin that sent him to Congress- .
Berger hit the Mellon tax bill, the
housing shortage, child labor, the COM
ing unemployment, the Teapot graft
ers in both parties, the world war, the
bi-partisanship of Wall Street, and
then offered this advice to the old
party representatives of Big Business:
"If you want to defend property and
make sure Of property rlghts-and
that, gentlemen, seems to be your aim
--see to It that everybody in our coun-
try gets property"
A plea that the big profiteers divide
little of their swag with the workers
and farmers--a fiivver and free pass
to the movies for the city workers,
perhaps, with few acres of unmort-
gagged ground, and an extra Sears
Roebuck catalog for farmers. Berger
cites the 100000 peasant owners in
France now" but somehow fails to
show how French capitalism is i'm
mune from Communism as he claims
under his scheme. The big capitalists
would laugh at Berger's dividing up"
scheme No doubt some of them are
laughing at it now.
DERGER'S speech is a confession
. that the socialist party is not a
class party, that he does not pretend
to speak for the robbed and exploited
workers and farmers. He was most
blunt about this when he said:
There is so little difference be-
tween the socialists and the progress
sives, and the so-called radicals of
every description, that / cannot I'M
derstand why they do not get to-
gether."
And again:
There is not much difference be-
tween honest progressives and the
socialists. .. There is virtually no
reason why honest progressives
should stay out of the socialist party"
n LII Of which has put the Bergers
~ and the Hillquits, with their So
Icialist party in a dilemma. While they
fiirt around with the alleged progress
sives, these remain in the old parties,
while the thinking workers and farm
ers are demanding class Farmer-La-
Dor Party. 1t is thus that the mem
berless socialist party goes to the
progressive convention at Cleveland,
July 4th, while all class conscious
elements turn to st. Paul, for the Jsrne
18th Farmer-Labor gathering.
MOST pathetic of all is the fact that
lVA Berger, in his speech, and else
where, tries to traffic with the 2O-year
prison sentence imposed upon him for
alleged violation of the espionage act.
His declaration sounds like the out
bursts of Edwin DENLY, deposed secre-
tary of the navy, the other day, that if
he had to choose between being shot
and repudiating his part in the Teapot
Scandal, he would rather be shot. But
there is no danger of that.
So with the Milwaukee socialist
Referring to his trial and conviction,
he confesess, ''If had to do it over
again, would do it all over again, as
sure as my name is Victor Berger"
But capitalism will not trouble Ber-
ger again. He is safe, for them.
VENTS during the past five years,
- since Berger joined with others in
expelling the Communists from the
socialist party, have shown that Ber-
ger was inspired by pro-Germanism
during the war, and since, rather than
by anti-capitalism.
During the war Berger wanted to
save German supremacy from Wall
Street. Now he wants to save Wall
Street from Communism. He lost dur
ing the war because world imperialism
is more powerful than narrow nation
alism. And he will lose again, no mat