Montana labor news., 1937-07-08
SPEECH OF WILLIAM
F. dunno, JUNE 10Th
Continued from Page 81

trolled the New York police depart
ment he would rid the city of Com
munists in two weeks with the aid
of a liberal supply of rubber hose"
Seated with MIR. and Mrs. Smith
on the platform was Raoul Desver-
mines of the American Liberty
League, who accompanied the for
mer governor on his speaking tour
in behalf of ALT. M. Landon in the
last campaign" Father Curran
said he hoped to defeat the Reds by
peaceful means, but he warned that
"if they want it the way it was in
Spain, we'll let them have it."
The r~eactionaries are also digging
into past history to find documents
with which to strengthen their argu-
ments. One of the most popular in
reactionary circles, published in the
American Mercury, now owned by
a millionaire munition maker, copies
of which have reached the desk of
almost every businessman and en-
ployer in America during the past
year, is the famous letter of Lord
Macauley, written to H. E. Randall
of New York on May 25th, 1857. The
following quotations from that letter
show the true anti-democratic face
of the monopoly capitalists of Amer
lea as they look with starry eyes and
watering mouths at Germany and
Italy and move towards fascism:
81 have long been convinced"
wrote Macauley, that institutions
purely democratic must, sooner or
later, destroy liberty and civilization,
or both. If we had a purely demo-
cratic government here (England),
either the poor would plumber
the rich and civilization would per-
ish, or order and property would be
saved by a strong military govern
ment, and liberty would perish. 1t
is quite plain that your government
will never be able to restrain a dis
tressed and discontinued majority.
For with you the majority is the gov
eminent and has the rich, who are
always a minority, absolutely at its
mercy. The day will come when, in
the State of New York, a multitude
of people, none of whom has had
more than half a breakfast, or ex-
poets to have more than half a din
ner, will choose a legislature. Is it
possible to doubt what sort of legis-
lature will be chosen? Either
some Caesar or Napoleon will seize
the reins of government with a
strong hand, or your Republic will
be as ~fearfully plundered and laid
waste by barbarians in the twentieth
century as the Roman Empire was
in the fifth. Thinking this, of
course, I cannot reckon Jefferson
among the benefactors of mankind"
This bold and unequivocal repudi-
alton of Jefferson, the founder of
democracy in America, this appeal
for the rule of the rich who are
always a minority" over the toll
ing masses of the people, this open
appeal for some Caesar or Napo-
leon" who is to seize the reins of
government with a strong hand"
against the majority of the people
if that majority attempts to exercise
its democratic rights-here is the
program of the big capitalists and
bankers of the U. S. A., here is the
true political countenance of the Su-
preme Court, that stronghold of re-
acionary %autocracy which defeats the
democratic strivings of the Ameri-
can people, and will continue to do
so until its power is broken.
The Roosevelt plan for reform of
the judiciary is a first blow against
this strong hold of reaction. Its sue
cess is, therefore, of vital interest
to the working class, the farmers,
and the toiling middle classes of
America, as well as to the democratic
and p%eace-loving masses of all the
world.