The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-26
BY C. A. HATHAWAY

~ GOAllSSoiO1lI 10 d pcNSA11ovs A1C 10
one. who would have the working
class take blow on one cheek
and, then, without resistance,
meekly turn the other. He would
have us accept one wage-cut with
out fight in the hope that the
bosses, seeing the suffering brought
by the first, would Sympathetically
withhold a second. This middle
class, Gandhist nonsense is what
Thomas is propagating in this cleo
ton campaign.
In a speech recently delivered be-
fore the Commonwealth Club in
San Francisco, Thomas declared:
'Tf we are to keep class strife
from becoming literal class war
in a country of 100000 unem-
pIoyed there is no time to
lose. 1t is, as the one hope Of
orderly and peaceful social
change in America, that have
been so insistently pushing the
Socialist program and the Social
list organization in America"
In other words, the purpose OF
Norman Thomas in this campaign
is to prevent class strife" from de-
veloping into literal class war"
He is "insistently pushing the So
cialist program for that purpose.
NOT THE FIRST TIME
This is not the first time Norman
Thomas has put forward such a
view. On the Negro question, he
also declared against the Comnu-
mist demand, Equal rights for the
Negroes and self determination for
the Black Belt" on the ground
that it would fincite race war" He
would sooner see the brutal perse-
cution of the Negroes continued
rather than see the workers strike
blow against it-for fear it would
"incite race war!" To the Negroes
also, Thomas's advice is, Turn the
other cheek"
This position of Thomas does not
mean that the Socialist Party is
"for the immediate needs Of the
workers." as some say, and that the
Communists are "for revolution
He is opposed to all struggle, both
for immediate things and for the
realization of the workers ultimate
goal-socialism. His policy is one
of pious pleading with the capital
lists, while warning the workers
against all militant action. In that
way, Thomas disarms the workers.
ALL real socialists see the class
n struggle as the actual motive
force of all social change. But
Norman Thomas, when he talks of
preventing "class strife from be-
coming literal class war" is only
trying to hamper the growth of
that force-the class struggle
which alone can defeat capitalism
and usher in socialism.
Eugene v. Debs did not evade the
issue of the class struggle or its
historical function. Debs, in sharp
contradistinction to Thomas, de-
clared:
1--WE insist that there is a
class struggle; that the working
class must recognize it; that they
must organize economically and
politically UPON THE BASIS
OF THAT STRUGGLE and then
when they do organize, they will
then have the power to free
themselves and put an end to
that struggle forever"
Karl Marx, the founder of Scien-
tific socialism, also had no cow
ardly pacifist shiver up his spine
at the thought of more intense
class struggle; on the contrary,
Marx saw the struggle of the work.
ers taking on constantly higher and
sharper forms-from the simplest
struggle for higher wages to the
revolutionary struggle for State
power-as the guarantee for the
final victory of socialism. In the
Communist Manifesto, written
jointly by Karl Marx and Frederick
Engels, they state:
In depicting the most general
phases of the development of the
proletariat, we traced THE MORE
OR LESS YELLED CIVIL WAR
raging within existing society,
up to the point where that war
breaks out into OPEN REvOLU-
TION, and where the VIOLENT
OVERTHROW of the bourgeoisie
lays the foundation for the sway
of the proletariat."
How different these words of
Marx, the revolutionist, sound, as
compared with those of Norman
Thomas, the avowed pacifist!
Marx, boldly sees "more or less
yelled civil war" breaking out Unto
open revolution Norman Thomas
wants to stop "class strife from be-
coming literal class war" Yet Nor
man Thomas pretends to be a So
cialiSt!
Eugene Debs agreed fully with
Marx on this question. He fear
leSsly declared in marked contrast
with the whimpering Thomas, that:
II am opposed to every war
BUT ONE: anr for that war
with heart and soul, and that is
the worldwide war of the social
revolution. In that war, I am
prepared TO fight IN ANY WAY
THE RULING CLASS MAY
MAKE 1T NECESSARY, even to
barricades."
1t is because Thomas is blind
and cannot see? No! In the same
San Francisco speech, Thomas sees
the probability Of the very literal
class war" (open revolution) which
he is frantically trying to head off.
He says:
Given mans ancient habit of
war, is NOT WAR, civil or for
eign. MORE LIKELY THAN
PEACE in world of strife be-
tween classes and nations for
power. prestige, profit---yes,