The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-03-02
THE CLASS STRUGGLE
Delivered during the Bridgeman
Trial, May, 1929

Trial, May, 1929
I'm every period of written his
tory there has been a struggle be-
tween contending classes-that is,
an economic division-the way men
gain their livelihood breaking them
up into different groups, with diff
ferent group interests. And in one
phase the history of this struggle
presented itself in the form of a
struggle between master and slave;
the producers Of wealth were chat
tel slaves, owned by the master
class which held them in slavery.
"At a later stage, the same class
struggle presented itself as a strug-
gle between the feudal lords and
the serfs who titled the land. In
that system there developed also a
struggle between the aristocfacy,
the feudal lords, and the growing
commercial class which became the
capitalist class OF our times.
I'm each of these eras the class
struggle between the ruling class
the master class-and the exploited
class has resulted in the overturn-
ing Of the existing system of So
ciety. The capitalists of the six
teenGh, the seventeenth and the
eighteenth centuries carried on q
bitter struggle against the aristo-
crazy for power.
There exists today in the cap
italist system. a division Of classes,
based upon the economic interests
of the classes. On the one side
we have in the United States, and
in every other capitalist country of
the world, class which owns and
controls the machinery of produce
ton. They are the owners of cap
ital; they own the railroads, they
own the factories, they own the
mines, they own the land in some
measure. And this class is using
its ownership Of these productive
forces to enrich itself.
Through it's possession of pow
er, through the fact that it con-
trolls the opportunity OF the masses
OF workers and farmers to gain a
livelihood, it Is able to take from
them, through the machinery of
the capitalist system, a large part
of what they produce. In interest
and dividends they secure more
than the workers in the factories
and on the land receive for their
labor in producing wealth. Out of
every dollar produced by the work.
ers in the factories and on the
farm, at least so per cent goes to
the owners of capital-those who
control the machinery of produc-
ton
This fact OF the exploitation Of
The workers and farmers brings in
to existence conflict "a class
struggle-which manifests itself, in
the case of the industrial workers.
in the great strikes which take
place from time to time; in the
case of the farmers in such
movement as the Nom Partisan
League, in such a movement as the
Farmer Bloc in Congress.
This struggle which manifests
itself today in this form in pre-
sent-day society will grow more
bitter-will grow sharper. In the
processes of the struggle the work
ers and farmers will organize them
selves to attain control of political
power.
They will find in the experience
OF this struggle that whenever the
industrial worker uses his indus
trial power-that is, goes on strike
TO attain better wages and work
ing conditions, he will find arrayed
against him the power of the gov
eminent which is dominated by
the capitalist class, as in every
such struggle the government
aligns itself with the capitalist as
against the worker and uses the
governmental power to enforce the
will of the capitalist against the
worker.
This also applies to the farmer.
In the legislation of Congress the
interests of the bankers and the
financial oligarchy of Wall Street
are considered laws are made in
the interests of this capitalist
group, strengthening its position to
maintain its exploitation of the
agricultural worker And these two
facts, the use of the governmental
power against the industrial work.