The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-10-16
Liberal Viewpoint
by DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

T NOTE that Miss Frances Higgins slaps DR..
l. Snedden on the back. How inspiring" she
writes ito find the letter from DR.. David Sned-
den Of Teachers college speaking as one with the
voice Of authority concerning the rawlings Of Hey
wood Broun and Harry Elmer BarneSl He might
have included in his arTaignment your own edi-
torials such fine examples of rooted nliberalty
under the mask of liberalism.
The wonder is unacceptable if the authors Of
much outpourings never stop to think Of the in
estimable harm they are doing in engendering
he spirit Of class hatred. 1t is true that news
papers are printed 20 sell, it is true that the
mass-mind is an unthinking mind, so mass ap-
peas sell more papers, and there you are"
To be accused Of having brought class con-
seriousness into existence is certainly over-fat-
terry for any writer or even any group Of news
papers. 1t is almost equivalent to being credited
with creating sunshine producing the industrial
revolution, or being responsible for social evolu-
ton in modern times.
This sort Of talk is very much like the charge
very commonly hurled against professors of
sociology alleging that they have been RESPONSE
bic for all those changes in our family life which
have come about as result Of the industrial
revolution and the entry Of women into industry.
COLONON is reputed to have said there is no
- new thing under the sun. Certainly the
class struggle is far older than Solomon. Pro-
fessor Breasted tells us about a vigorous class
struggle in ancient Egypt in the third millennium
before Christ. The German savant, Max Beer
has written four volumes on the history Of class
consciousness and the class struggle and his story
begins with the ancient Orient.
Our contemporary class struggle has been
created primarily by the industrial revolution
and the maturity of capitalism. Today, it is one
Of the outstanding facts Of modern social and
economic life.
Any realistic writer who pretends to deal
with the contemporary age must reckon with
hn nloc c+r1Tr owl IL.
date its character. Indeed, the description and
analysis of the present-day class struggle is the
very essence of the social history of our times
But description Of the class struggle should
not be in any way confused with Indictment to
class consciousness. The latter is something
present-day class struggle and needs no writer's
to bring it into being.
TT is fact not emphasized sufficiently or fire.
l. gently that class consciousness is created and
intensified mainly by the very persons most
given to deprecating it in print or word of
mouth.
The bitter class struggle of today between the
workers and employers was created in the nine
tenth century by the new c,ass of factory own
ers with their policies of low wages, long hours
miserable working conditions, unsanitary and
dangerous factories, and the like. An embittered
proletariat had to exist before Marx could fan it
into fury.
Likewise with the growing class consciousness
of the American farmers. They have been stirred
against their oppressors as result of the depre-
dationS of the loan sharks, mortgage companies
grain operators and other types of expropri-
ators.
Yet the very groups and types who have
been responsible for this social discomfort and ex-
ploitation are the first to protest when a writer
on the current social scene sees fit simply to
call attention to obvious facts.
intelligent description should aid with respect
to the class struggle just as with respect to any
other phase of modern social history. Diagnosis
is the indispensable preliminary cure. Evasion
Of the issues and voluntary blindness to facts
only invite disaster. If we wish to get rid of
the class struggle and class consciousness the
only sure panacea IS resolute social justice