The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1934-04-20
THE RISE OF A
FARMER-LABOR GOVERNOR

The things that Ignatus Donnelly
and Chas. Lindbergh and the Non
partisan Leaguers had told them
about the state owning and con-
trolling the industries would at
last become an accomplished fact.
DissillusiOnment
But other men with white hands
and black hearts sat in the offices
of the great banking and milling
and railroad Octopuses of the north
west and decreed otherwise. Bust
ness, for them, would continue "as
usual" which meant that the ex-
ploitatiOn of the producer would "a
On as Of yore.
Soon the papers began to pub
hsh pictures Of the governor sit.
ting at the banquet tables of the
elect or shaking hands with some
cabinet officer in Washington.
The farmer rubbed his eyes
How different they treated Olson
from the way they treated Lind
bergh when they denounced him
as a traitor and bounded him to
near madness before he died. How
strange that the daily papers
should chronicle the comings and
goings of the governor as if he
were a society matron and blazor
his speeches to a speeches. popu.
lace with all the embellishments Of
the art of printing.
Betrayal
The farmer watched the assem-
bling of the legislature and the
messages of the governor to that
body. The old hide and seek game
went on. There was no battle By
the Governor for advanced legis.
lation.
The old reactionary office hold.
ers stayed On in their fat jobs and
a few others who were never
heard of in the progressive cause
were appointed to major offices
under the new administration.
Who ever heard of Peyten, who
was made superintendent of banks
or of Stewart who was made State
Game Warden, or Of that perfumeC
and manicured ex real estate sharl
Carl Erickson, in the progress1v,
movement And so on down the
line.
Was this Farmer Labor victory
a mirage? Could it be true thai
this was the thing they had fought
and suffered for?
But some of the farmers thought
Of a sacred figure of old who also
suffered and was reviled in the
market place when the attacked
the money changers.
He had his Judas too.
Today many farmers and work.
ers are turning away from the
Farmer Labor Party disguised
They see that they have been be.
trayed, that their interests have
been sold to the masters Of thi;
country.
This experience has made a mum.
Der Of them turn away from poll
tics altogether. They have lost
confidence.
Unfortunately they do not Sc,
that that is exactly the effect The
master class of this country wanted
to cause.
One Of the tasks, on purpose o.
any reformist party, whether they
be called Socialist Party, American
Workers Party or Farmer Labor
Party, Is to make workers s,
thoroughly disguised with polite.
that they turn away from it anC
leave the entire field Of managins
this country to the bankers anC
profiteeTs.
However more and more farm
ers and workers are beginning I,
see that there is one way left. Be
trayal by the reformists all owe,
the world, the lessons that the
Austrian workers have been tryins
to teach them by their arme,
struggle against Fascism and re
""+ion. are beginning to sink in.
Like in Austria against tn
wishes, hopes, and express order
Of their reformist leaders, tn
farmers and workers Of Americ,
ere more and more being convince,
that the revolutionary wav out i
the only path out of misery an,
starvation.