The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1931-03-27
AS TO PROGRESSIVES

ton and are holding the pass against further en-
crOachmencs on the rights and Liberties of the
people guaranteed to them by what is left of the
constitution. The masses could be under no great
.er illusion.
The objective aim of liberal and progressive pol
icy is to make capitalism appear the best possible
system for the producers. These elements repre-
sent in the main the middle classes who suffer
from the eactiOnS of the big bourgeosie but dread
the rule of the workers and farmers much more
than they do the rule of Big Business. Now at
least they get some of the crumbs that fall from
the rich mans table-crumbs wrung out of the
blood and sinew of the exploited prOducers-but
under workers rule they would have to go to work
an pain of starvation.
liked by the shameful role allotted to them by
historical evolution, as the funkeys of the plutOc
racy and fearful of their fate should the proletar
lat come into its Own-as it is destined tO-they
fit around moaning and grooming and making fu-
tile threats to do something awful unless Big Bus
mess mends its evil ways. While they make
trouble for Big Business they don't hurt the CAPT
talist system but they cause damage to the inter
ests of labor by deluding the workers into the be-
lief that what this country needs is progressive
liberal administration and Intellectual liberal
president, instead of reactionary fathead like
Hoover.
We already dealt briefly with the recent pro-
gressive conference in Washington. The pathetic
Senator Norris handed over the progressive leader
ship to Robert M. LaFolette, son of the late
"Fightin' Bob who would lead us back to 1776,
after holding for decades in the tolls of his old
friend Boise Penrose of Pennsylvania. Those rel
ics of the pioneer days of American democracy
are ineffective politically TO solve the problems
created by modern capitalism as a sanity shin
bone is as a cure for the seven-year-itch They
would reform economic system that cannot be
reformed. They would deflate the arrogance OF
a dominant ruling class that is bound to become
more arrogant and cruel as it sees clearer and
clearer the message of its approaching doom writ
ten large in the pages of current history
Our contention is that the liberals are hand
maidens of the capitalist system and will defend
it sincerely in times of crisis as the most rabd
and consistent reactionary The McDonalds and
the Snowdens of Great Britain the prototypes
of the Wizards and LaFollettes of the United
States. And Mcdonald is riding hard on the In
dian masses today while Snowden is sick worry
ing over the financial problems of British imperi-
:alism The role of the Social Democrats in Ger
many, France and other countries is similar. They
ARE all liberals, perhaps bit more radical in
italy they are the same.
We are returning to this question because it is
possible that many of readers may not under
stand why we criticise the so-called progressives
while there so many other open enemies of
the masses running around in no-man's-land
Types like Congressman Fish, the red-baiter and
Senator Moses the jackass of jackasses. There
Is reason as per grape nuts
The leading spirits at the progressive conference
IN Washington rallied against partisan politics"
an infantile and futile protest Political par
r<ies, every little boy and girl should know
represent certain economic interests. The Repub-
Nican party has for decades represented the inter
'ests of Big Capital. The Democratic party was
primarily the political organ of the middle class
Today it is like harlot plying its trade before
the money sanctums of Wall Street on the Side
Walks of New York But the Transformation of
the Democratic party does not alter the fact that
both parties represented rival captastic interests
and still do 50 to certain extent.
The progressives would reform those parties and
continue the fiction Of representative government
We never had representative government in this
country. We have always had government Of
the dominant ruling class. At all times the OPP
pressive apparatus of the government was used
yourself. Those political sky pilots who would
have US retrace our steps to 1776-impossible even
If desirable simply long for the days when the
petty racketeer, today known as the small bust
ness man, had better opportunity to get by with
out having to punch clock than he has now
The Nation, chief organ of American liberalism
has delivered several eulogistic orgasms on the
progressive conference Yet the current issue of
The Nation cOngratulates Hoover for making a
trip TO Porto Rico and halls governor Theodore
Roosevelt of that unfortunate colony of Wall Street
for making marked progress in winning the con-
fldence of the people and in dealing with some Of
their problems" Of course! The liberal aim is tc
have "Our" slaves kidded along into believing that
American Imperialism is all right provided we
ge4 the right kind of flunkeys to administer its
1o0Jing activities.
Paul 7. Anderson frequent contributor TO The
Nation and Washington correspondent of the st.
Louis Post-Dispatch wakes lyrical over the con-
ference. He quotes the windy Borah's plea for "a
political party-Or if not political party, then
s'c--eel voces-that will do some worrying about
~ per Ger - reople who own only 20 per cent