The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-22

tons in the party were permeated
by altogether alien elements.
With his revolutionary instinct,
Debs felt the danger to the Socialist
Party lurking in the admission Of
such elements. These were the
years of trust busting" campaigns,
of undertaking and the offering Of
all sorts of panaceas against the
entertainments of corporate wealth.
The petty bourgeoisie was Begin
ming to feel the solidiflcation of
American capital and it was looking
to reforms to help it out OF the
difficulty. These elements were
finding their way into the Socialist
Party, and the well known among
them, particularly the writer's and
journalists, we're Immediately ac-
claimed as leaders. Charles Edward
Russell, Allen Benson and their like
became overnight spokesman of the
party. These we're the forerunnerS
of the Haywood Brouns of today.
They were elected to executive COM
mittees and designated as standard
bearers in elections.
WRITING in 1911 under the title
W Danger Ahead" Debs warned
the party against the degeneration
which was sure to set in as a result
of the admiXture of elements entire
ly foreign to its program and it's
aims. He wrote: ut (the S. P.) may
become permeated and corrupted
with the spirit of bourgeois reform
to an extent that will practically
destroy its virility and efficiency as
a revolutionary organization
The working class character and
the revolutionary character Of the
S. p. are of first Importance. All
the votes of the people would do
us no good if we cease to be a revo-
lutiOnary party" Emphasis mine.
"A. To
Lincoln Steffens, the eminent
journalist, once interviewed Debs
during his presidential campaign of
1908 in the presence of Victor
Berger, one of the real bosses OF the
S. P. He was asking many ques-
lions and Debs was replying to them
much to the discomfort of Berger,
who claimed to have been the ideo-
logical brother of Debs. Steffens
wanted to know how Debs proposed
to deal with the trusts. Would you
pay for or just take them asked
Steffens. "Take them" came the
quick and sure reply of the revolu-
zionist Debs. mo, you wouldn't"
cried the reformist Berger, mot if
I was there, and I answer that we
would offer to pay" Debs would
confiScate the capitalist trusts, he
would fight his way to Socialism.
Berger would negotiate, he would
pay his way. What cf1asrn between
the two attitudes! One is that Of a
militant fighter, the other that of
petty bourgeois reformerl
At the 1882 Socialist Party con-
vention in Milwaukee the proposal
in favor of confiscation was de-
feated after special appeal by the
presidential nominee, Norman
Thomas. Naturally Thomas would
side with Berger, not Debs.
To many in the Socialist Party
the essence of Socialism was public
ownership of public utilities. To-
day it is one of the central reforms
advocated by the S. P. To these ad-
vocates Debs addressed himself in
his characteristic manner: Sow
eminent ownership of public util-
tiles means nothing (read: is of no
benefit-A. To- for labor under cap
italist ownership of government"
Debs knew of the breaking OF
strikes in government-owne indus
tries by the use of the military
forces and the prohibition of union
ization of these industries.
Debs crossed swords with the s.
P. leaders when they advocated the
A. F. of L. policy Of excluding inn
migrants. In letter to delegate
to the 1910 convention, which
adopted a resolution dealing with
immigration, he wrote: 81 have
just read the majority report of the
committee on immigration. 1t is
utterly unsocialistic, reactionary
ana III GIuGl outrageous, dIlu llOPS
you will oppose it with all your
power. The idea that certain races
are to be excluded because OF tao
teal expediency would be entirely
consistent in bourgeois conven~
ton of self-seekers, but should have
no place in a proletarian gathering
under the auspices of an interna-
tional movement that is calling on
the oppressed and exploited work.
ers of all the world to unite for
their emancipation"
To Debs such stand favoring
the exclusion of workers from other
countries meant forsaking the prin-
ciple of international solidarity and
he called upon the members ito
stand squarely on our revolutionary
working class principles and make
our fight openly and uncompro-
misingly against all our enemies,
adopting no cowardly tactics and
boIc;y,e ont M Fo1ca hoY,ac y