The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-19
A LETTER TO AMERICAN WORKINGMEN

victims of the world war died a
righteous death, that those Of the civil
war were sacrificed for criminal
cause.
But the proletariat, even now, in
the midst Of the horrors of war, is
learning the great truth that all revo-
lutions teach, the truth that has been
handed down to US by our best teach
ers, the founders of modern Social
ism. From them we have learned
that successful revolution is incon-
ceivable unless it breaks the resist
ance of the exploiting class. When
the workers and the laboring peas
ants took hold Of the powers of state,
| it became our duty to quell the re-
sistance Of the exploiting class. We
are proud that we have done it, that
we are doing It. We only regret that
we did not do it at the beginning,
with sufficient frmness and decision.
Force Must Be Met With Force
We realize that the mad resistance
Of the bourgeoisie against the social
ist revolution in all countries is I'M
avoidable. We know too, that with
the development of this revolution,
this resistance will grow. But the
proletariat will break down this re-
sistance and in the course Of its
struggle against the bourgeoisie the
proletariat viii finally become ripe
for victory and power.
Let the corrupt bourgeois press
trumpet every mistake that is made
by our revolution out into the world.
We are not afraid of our mistakes.
The beginning of the revolution has
not sanctifed humanity. It is not
to be expected that the working class
which has been exploited and forcibly
held down, by the clutches Of want,
Of ignorance and degradation for
centuries should conduct its revolu-
ton without mistakes. The dead
body of bourgeois society cannot SIM
ply be put into a coffin and buried.
It rots in our midst, poisons the air
we breathe, pollutes our lives, .clings
to the new, the fresh, the living with
thousand threads and tendrils of
old customs, of death and decay.
We Learn Bv Mistakes
But for every hundred of our mis-
takes that are heralded into the world
by the bourgeoisie and its sycophants,
there are ten thousand great deeds
of heroism, greater and more heroic
because they seem so simple and I'M
pretentious, because they take place
in the everyday life Of the factory
districts or in secluded villages, be-
cause they are the deeds of people
who are not in the habit of proclaim
ing their every success to the world,
who have no opportunity to do so.
But even If the contary were true
Il know, of course. that this is not
so-but even if we had committed
10000 mistakes to every 100 wise
and righteous deeds, yes, even then
our revolution would be great and
invincible. And it will go down in
the history of the world as tri-
umphant. For the first time in the
history of the world not the minor
ity, not alone the rich and the edu-
Gated, but the real masses, the huge
majority of the working class itself,
are building up new world, are ce-
Gliding the most difficult questions of
social organization out Of their own
experience.
Every mistake that is made in this
work, in this honestly conscientious
cooperation Of ten million plain
workingmen and peasants in the re-
creation Of their entire lives every
such mistake is worth thousands and
millions Of "faultless" successes OF
the exploiting minority in outwitting
and taking advantage Of the labor
ing masses. For only thru these
mistakes can the workers and peas.
ants learn to organize their new ex.
istence, to get along without the
capitalist class. Only thus will they
be able to blaze their way thru thou
sands of hindrances to victorious
socialism.
Mistakes are being made by oul
workmen in their revolutionary acti
witty, who, in few short months
have placed practically all of the
larger factories and works under
state ownership, and are now learn
,rc f,oro 1ov ~ low updar fhs