The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-04-03
SOCIALISTS NOW
YELLOW, SAYS
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Victor Berger Totes
Bourgeois Mentality

That capitalist writer's who do not
take their information concerning the
revolutionary movement from the fink
agencies are becoming convinced that
the socialist parties Of the world are
no longer at war with the capitalist
system, but on the contrary, are Its
strongest and most loyal supporters,
is becoming more apparent every day.
1t is not often, however, that one of
them, comes out so openly as "Scru-
tator" the radical" expert of the
Chicago Tribune.
Writes to Suit.
"Scrutator" is a renegade radical
and while his slam at Marxism is
about all that could be expected from
a Shiny creature who writes to suit
his boss, his picture of the socialists
in the role Of conservatives is cor
reot. In proportion as the yellow So
cialists turn to the right the masses,
whose exploitation continues with
greater intensity desert them and
turn to the Communists. Scrutator's
article in The Chicago Tribune of
April l, follows:
If any one had predicted ten years
ago that the worlds financial centers
would feel reassured by an increase of
the socialist vote in any country he
would have thrown doubt upon his
own sanity.
Yet the showing of the social dem
ocratic party in the German elections
probably carries such reinsurance,
and a victory for the out and out con-
servatives would have caused alarm,
as it would have been felt that the
measure of European settlement al
ready achieved would be imperiled.
Yes, the world changes-and so
does socialism.
Nothing has been more marked than
the shift of German socialists from
class consciousness to state conscious
ness, since they began to participate
IN power after the German revolution.
A German socialist today, like VIC
tor Berger, mostly imagined that he is
a socialist, while in fact he has a most
respectable bourgeois mentality.
A complete socialist government of
Germany probably would amount to
nothing more radical than a socialist
government in Milwaukee, which has
long ago become a commonplace.
A political platform usually is the
last place to look for a change in a
party's mind. Usually the old slogans
are carried in the preamble and reso-
lutions long after the stuff is dead.
Witness the democratic party of dry
southern states reafarming Jefferson
and Jackson after eight years of VIII.
sonian federal autocracy that would
have shocked Hamilton.
But the present program of the So
cialist party Of Germany reveals a
great change. Adopted in 1921 on
the reuniting Of the party after the
war split, it is conspicuous for its
abandonment of many pet MARKHAM
dogmas, including the disappearance
Of the middle classes and the impover-
ishment and appropriation of the
working Glasses. Even a faith SO
fanatical as that of Marx couldn't re-
tain these old formulas in the face of
years and years Of history that show
ed that they were not true, and that
they were becoming less true as time
passed. II German socialism has been
thus weakened and diluted despite ma
tional defeat, poverty, and reduction
Of living standards resulting from the
war. need we be surprised that every
where else it is becoming more and
more practical and opportunist-"yel-
low instead of red"
At its present rate Of progress to.
ward reformism and away from revo-
luton socialism will be politically less
radical than the populist party Of 1892
in a few years. And half or more of
the pop" stuff is now the law of the
land.
But as insidious reformism, sapping
the springs Of individual enterprise,
socialism may prove more dangerous
to civilization than in its older form.
in which it caused alarm and stiffened
resistance.