The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-11-15
In Face of Disaster the Class
Struggle Goes On

The rabid editorial and news writer's of
the capitalist press cannot find words with
which to denounce members of the crew OF
the Vestris who are reported to have saved
themselves when the ship sank, instead OF
giving up their life-boats to passengers.
Such an attitude is quite in keeping with the
attitude of the ruling class toward the work
ing class. If the sailors and other members
of the crew did save themselves without re-
gard to the fate of the passengers it is to
their credit.
Victims of capitalism, among the most ex-
plotted and oppressed of wage slaves who
are compelled, in order to exist, to risk their
lives year in and year out on boats operated
for profit, the seamen are considered mere
menials whose mission in life is to live like
dogs in filthy, sinking quarters in order
that the tired capitalists and their families
may traverse the globe in search of pleasure
and in order that commerce may continue to
flow hither and thither for the benefit of
the ruling class.
Another ruling class tradition of the sea
is that it is the duty of seamen to die in
order that the first and second class pas
sengers, the bourgeoisie and petty-bour-
If the crew of the Vestris did try to save
themselves first they are to be congratu-
lated for having done SO. Such an act is
phase Of the class struggle. All the talk of
the reptile press about class lines being
wiped out in face of disaster is so much pif-
file to fool the working class. Even in the
open sea, face to face with death, class lines
still exist and the class struggle goes on.
If the seamen of the whole world serve
notice on the ruling class who own the ships
that unless ample life-boats, life-preservers
and other protective measures are provided
so that crews as well as passengers can be
rescued, the passengers will go to the bot
tom and the crews will save themselves, it is
a certainty that the ruling class who do most
of the sea voyaging will, as matter of self
preservation, be forced to yield to the de-
mands of the masses who slave on ships at
sea.
The sinking of the Vestris with the re-
sultant loss of life is a most fragrant exam
pie of capitalist greed and avarice. Ample
facts are at hand to show that the boat was
not fit to sail the seas. Furthermore, after
the danger was imminent, the captain,
loyal lackey of the ship owners, refused to
send an S. 0. S. call because he did not want
the company to be forced to pay salvage on
a disabled ship. Instead he waited too long,
with the disastrous results already known
But primarily the governmental inspec-
tors are to blame for permitting a ship to
leave port that was obviously unfit and that
contained life-boats that were defective.
However, so long as capitalism exists such
conditions will prevail; ship companies can
afford to bride government officials rather
than place their ships in shape for voyages.
1t is probably cheaper in the long run to
pay the damages for death and occasional
loss of cargo than to make ships safe for
crews and passengers.
Consider for a moment the rotten tubs
that sail the seas under the flags of the
capitalist class governments and the new
Soviet ships that sail under the Red Flag
of the proletarian revolution. The new
Soviet ships reserve their best quarters, not
for so-called first-class passengers, but for
the ship crew. They sail under flag that
symbolizes the rule of the workers and
peasants and hence the welfare of the work
ers is the first consideration and the ques-
ton of commerce of secondary Importance
while on capitalist ships, like the Vestris,
the question of profits comes first, and the
lives of the crew last if at all.
When sailors become aware of these facts
they become class conscious revolutionaries,
who utilize their opportunities in the ports
of the world to fight for the abolition of
capitalism.