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014 - Unity and Victory · Labor and Freedom

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Speaker 1: Unity and victory by Eugene V. Debs. This LibriVox recording
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Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Speech before State Convention of
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Speaker 1: American Federation of Labor, Pittsburgh, Kansas, August twelve, nineteen o eight.
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Speaker 1: Introduction by Chairman Cable. Gentlemen of the Convention, I assure
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Speaker 1: you it is a great privilege on my part to
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Speaker 1: present to you of this time a gentleman who needs
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Speaker 1: no introduction in my hands, a gentleman who is known
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Speaker 1: to you, and who is known to the working men
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Speaker 1: throughout the length and breadth of this country, as a
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Speaker 1: true and tried trade unionist, and the candidate of the
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Speaker 1: Socialist Party for President of the United States. I therefore
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Speaker 1: take great pleasure in presenting to you, brother Eugene V. Debs,
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Speaker 1: Mister Chairman, Delegates, and fellow workers. It is with pleasure
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Speaker 1: I assure you that I embrace this opportunity to exchange
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Speaker 1: greetings with you in the Councils of Labor. I have
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Speaker 1: prepared no formal address, nor is any necessary at this time.
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Speaker 1: You have met here as the representatives of organized Labor,
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Speaker 1: and if I can do anything to assist you in
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Speaker 1: the work you have been delegated to do. I shall
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Speaker 1: render that assistance with great pleasure. To serve the working
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Speaker 1: class is to me always a duty of love. Thirty
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Speaker 1: three years ago I first became a member of a
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Speaker 1: trade union. I can remember quite well under what difficulties
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Speaker 1: meetings were held, and with what contempt organized labor was
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Speaker 1: treated at that time. There has been a decided change.
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Speaker 1: The small and insignificant trade union has expanded to proportions
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Speaker 1: of a great national organization. The few hundreds now number millions,
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Speaker 1: and organized labor has become a recognized factor in the
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Speaker 1: eco economics and politics of the nation. There has been
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Speaker 1: a great evolution during that time, and while the power
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Speaker 1: of the organized workers has increased, there has been an
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Speaker 1: industrial development which makes that power more necessary than ever
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Speaker 1: before in all the history of the working class movement.
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Speaker 1: This is an age of organization. The small employer of
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Speaker 1: a quarter of a century ago has practically disappeared. The
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Speaker 1: working man of today is confronted by the great corporation,
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Speaker 1: which has its ironclad rules and regulations, and if they
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Speaker 1: don't suit he can quit. In the presence of this
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Speaker 1: great power, working men are compelled to organize or be
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Speaker 1: ground to atoms. They have organized, they have the numbers.
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Speaker 1: They have had some bitter experience. They have suffered beyond
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Speaker 1: the power of language to describe. But they have not
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Speaker 1: yet developed their latent power to a degree that they
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Speaker 1: can cope successfully with the great power that exploits and
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Speaker 1: oppresses them. Upon this question of organization, my brothers, you
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Speaker 1: and I may differ widely, but as we are reasonable men,
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Speaker 1: we can discuss these differences candidly until we find common
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Speaker 1: ground upon which we can stand side by side in
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Speaker 1: the true spirit of solidarity, and work together for the
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Speaker 1: emancipation of our class. Until quite recently, the average trade
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Speaker 1: unionist was opposed to having politics even mentioned in the
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Speaker 1: meeting of his union. The reason for this is self evident.
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Speaker 1: Working men have not until now, Keinley, felt the necessity
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Speaker 1: for independent working class political action. They have been divided
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Speaker 1: between the two capitalist parties, and the very suggestion that
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Speaker 1: the union was to be used in the interest of
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Speaker 1: the one or the other was in itself sufficient to
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Speaker 1: sow the seed of disruption. So it isn't strange that
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Speaker 1: the average trade unionists guarded carefully against the introduction of
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Speaker 1: political questions in his union. But within the past two
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Speaker 1: or three years there have been such changes that working
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Speaker 1: men have been compelled to take notice of the fact
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Speaker 1: that the labor question is essentially a political question, and
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Speaker 1: that if they would protect themselves against the greed and
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Speaker 1: rapacity of the capitalist class, they must develop their political
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Speaker 1: power as well as their economic power, and use both
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Speaker 1: in their own interest. Working men have developed sufficient intelligence
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Speaker 1: to understand the necessity for unity upon the economic field.
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Speaker 1: All now recognize the need for thorough organization. But organization
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Speaker 1: of numbers of itself is not sufficient. You might have
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Speaker 1: all the workers of the country embraced in some vast organization,
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Speaker 1: and yet they would be very weak if they were
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Speaker 1: not organized upon correct principles, if they did not understand
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Speaker 1: and understand clearly what they were organized for and what
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Speaker 1: their organization expected to accomplish. I am of those who
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Speaker 1: believe that an organization of working men to be efficient
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Speaker 1: to meet the demands of this hour, must be organized
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Speaker 1: upon a revolutionary basis, must have for its definite object
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Speaker 1: not only the betterment of the condition of working men
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Speaker 1: in the wage system, but the absolute overthrow of wage slavery,
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Speaker 1: that the working man may be emancipated and stand forth
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Speaker 1: cloth with the dignity and all other attributes of true manhood. Now,
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Speaker 1: let me briefly discuss the existing condition. We have been
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Speaker 1: organized all these years, and there are now approximately three
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Speaker 1: millions of American working men who wear union badges, who
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Speaker 1: keep step to union progress. At this very time, and
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Speaker 1: in spite of all that organized labor can do to
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Speaker 1: the contrary, there is a condition that prevails all over
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Speaker 1: this country that is well calculated to challenge the serious
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Speaker 1: consideration of every working man. To begin with, according to
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Speaker 1: the reports furnished US, twenty percent of the workingmen of
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Speaker 1: this country are now out of employment. I have here
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Speaker 1: a copy of the New York World containing a report
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Speaker 1: of the Labor Commissioner of the State of New York,
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Speaker 1: who shows that during the quarter ending June thirtieth, there
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Speaker 1: were in that state and army of union men out
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Speaker 1: of employment, approximating thirty five percent of the entire number,
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Speaker 1: that is to say, in the state of New York today,
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Speaker 1: out of every one hundred union men. These reports were
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Speaker 1: received from the unions themselves, verified by their own officers,
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Speaker 1: so there can be no question in regard to them.
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Speaker 1: Out of every one hundred union men in New York,
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Speaker 1: thirty five are out of employment. The percentage may not
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Speaker 1: be so large in these western states, where the industrial
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Speaker 1: development has not reached the same point. But go where
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Speaker 1: you may, east or west, north or south, you will
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Speaker 1: find men union men who are begging for the opportunity
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Speaker 1: to work for just enough to keep their suffering souls
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Speaker 1: within their famished bodies. A system in which such a
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Speaker 1: condition as this is possible has fulfilled its mission, stands
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Speaker 1: condemned and ought to be abolished. According to the Declaration
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Speaker 1: of Independence, man has the inalienable right to life. If
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Speaker 1: that be true, it follows that he also has the
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Speaker 1: inalienable right to work. If you have no right to work,
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Speaker 1: you have no right to life, because you can only
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Speaker 1: live by work. And if you live in a system
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Speaker 1: that deprives you of the right to work, that system
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Speaker 1: denies you the right to live. Now, man has a
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Speaker 1: right to life because he is here. That is sufficient proof.
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Speaker 1: And if he has the right to life, it follows
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Speaker 1: that he has the right to all the means that
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Speaker 1: sustain life. But how is it In this outgrown capitalist system?
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Speaker 1: A working man can only work on condition that he
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Speaker 1: finds some who will give him permission to work for
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Speaker 1: just enough of what his labor produces to keep him
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Speaker 1: in working order. No matter whether you have studied this
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Speaker 1: economic question or not, you cannot have failed to observe
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Speaker 1: that during the past half century society has been sharply
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Speaker 1: divided into classes, into the capitalist class upon the one hand,
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Speaker 1: into the working class upon the other hand. I shall
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Speaker 1: not take the time to trace this evolution. I shall
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Speaker 1: simply call your attention to the fact that half a
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Speaker 1: century ago, all a man needed was a trade, and
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Speaker 1: having this he could supply himself with the simple tools
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Speaker 1: then used produce what he needed and enjoy the fruit
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Speaker 1: of his labor. But this has been completely changed. The
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Speaker 1: simple tool has disappeared, and the great machine has taken
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Speaker 1: its place. The little shop is gone, and the great
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Speaker 1: factory has come in its stead. The worker can no
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Speaker 1: longer work by and for himself. He has been recruited
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Speaker 1: into regiments, battalions and armies, and work has been subdivided
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Speaker 1: and specialized. And now hundreds and thousands and tens of
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Speaker 1: thousands of working men work together, cooperatively and produce in
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Speaker 1: great abundance. Not for themselves, however, for they no longer
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Speaker 1: own the tools they work with. What they produce belongs
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Speaker 1: to the capitalist class who owned the tools with which
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Speaker 1: they work. A man fifty years ago who made a
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Speaker 1: shoe owned it today. It is possible for that same worker,
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Speaker 1: if still alive, to make a hundred times as many shoes,
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Speaker 1: but he doesn't own them now. He works today with
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Speaker 1: modern machinery, which is the property of some capitalist who
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Speaker 1: lives perhaps a thousand miles from where the factory is located,
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Speaker 1: and who owns all the product because he owns the machinery.
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Speaker 1: I have stated that society has been divided into two
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Speaker 1: warring classes. The capitalist owns the tool in modern industry,
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Speaker 1: but he has nothing to do with its operation. By
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Speaker 1: virtue of such ownership, he has the economic power to
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Speaker 1: appropriate to himself the wealth produced by the use of
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Speaker 1: that tool. This accounts for the fact that the capitalist
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Speaker 1: becomes rich. But how about the working class in the
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Speaker 1: first place. They have to compete with each other for
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Speaker 1: the privilege of operating the capitalist tools of production. The
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Speaker 1: bigger the tool and the more generally it is applied,
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Speaker 1: the more it produces, the sharper the competition grows between
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Speaker 1: the workers for the privilege of using it, and the
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Speaker 1: more are thrown out of employment every few years. No
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Speaker 1: matter what party is in power, no matter what our
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Speaker 1: domestic policy is, how high the terror for what the
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Speaker 1: money standard. Every few years the cry goes up about
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Speaker 1: over production, and the working class is discharged by the
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Speaker 1: thousands and thousands and are idle, just as the miners
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Speaker 1: have been in this field for many weary months, no work,
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Speaker 1: no food, and after a while, no credit, and all
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Speaker 1: this in the shadow of the abundance these very workers
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Speaker 1: have created. Don't you agree with me, my brothers, that
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Speaker 1: this condition is an intolerable and indefensible one, and that
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Speaker 1: whatever may be said of the past, this system no
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Speaker 1: longer answers the demands of this time. Why should any
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Speaker 1: working man need to beg for work? Why force to
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Speaker 1: surrender to anybody any part of what his labor produces?
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Speaker 1: Now I ask this question, and it applies to the
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Speaker 1: whole field of industry. If a hundred men work in
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Speaker 1: a mine and produce a hundred tons of coal, how
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Speaker 1: much of that coal are they entitled to? Are they
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Speaker 1: not entitled to all of it? And if not, who
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Speaker 1: is entitled to any part of it? If the man
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Speaker 1: who produces wealth is not entitled to it, who is?
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Speaker 1: You say, the capitalist is necessary? And I deny it.
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Speaker 1: The capitalist has become a profit taking parasite. Industry is
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Speaker 1: now concentrated and operated on a very large scale. It
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Speaker 1: is cooperative and therefore self operative. The capitalists higher superintendents, managers,
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Speaker 1: and working men to operate their plants and produce wealth.
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Speaker 1: The capitalists are absolutely unnecessary. They have no part in
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Speaker 1: the process of production, not the slightest. Now, I insist
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Speaker 1: that it is the working man's duty to so organize
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Speaker 1: economically and politically as to put an end to this system,
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Speaker 1: as to take possession, in his collective capacity, of the
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Speaker 1: machinery of production and operate it. Not to create millionaires
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Speaker 1: and multimillionaires, but to produce wealth and plenty for all.
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Speaker 1: That is why the labour question is also a political question.
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Speaker 1: It makes no difference what you do on the economic
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Speaker 1: field to better your condition so long as the tools
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Speaker 1: of production are privately owned. So long as they are
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Speaker 1: operated for the private profit of the capitalist, the working
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Speaker 1: class will be exploited. They will be in some enforced idleness,
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Speaker 1: thousands of them will be reduced to want, some of
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Speaker 1: them to vagabonds and criminals. And this condition will prevail
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Speaker 1: in spite of anything that organized labor can do. To
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Speaker 1: the contrary, the most important thing for the working man
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Speaker 1: to recognize is the class struggle. Every capitalist newspaper, every
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Speaker 1: capitalist attorney and retainer will insist that we have no
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Speaker 1: classes in this country, and that there is no class struggle.
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Speaker 1: President Roosevelt himself has declared that class consciousness is a
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Speaker 1: foul and evil thing. Now what is class consciousness. It
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Speaker 1: is simply a recognition of the fact on the part
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Speaker 1: of the working man that his interest is identical with
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Speaker 1: the interest of every other working man. Class consciousness points
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Speaker 1: out the necessity for working class action, economic and political.
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Speaker 1: What is it that keeps the working class in subjection?
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Speaker 1: What is it that is responsible for their exploitation and
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Speaker 1: for all the ills they suffer? Just one thing. It
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Speaker 1: can be stated in a single word. It is ignorance.
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Speaker 1: The working class have not yet learned how to unite
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Speaker 1: and act together. There are relatively but few capitalists in
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Speaker 1: this country. There are perhaps twenty million of wage workers.
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Speaker 1: But the capitalists and their retainers have contrived during all
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Speaker 1: these years to keep the working class divided. And as
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Speaker 1: long as the working class is divided, it will be helpless.
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Speaker 1: It is only when the working class learns and They
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Speaker 1: are learning daily and by very bitter experience, to unite
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Speaker 1: and to act together, especially on election day, that there
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Speaker 1: is any hope for emancipation. The working men you represent,
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Speaker 1: my brothers, are in an overwhelming majority in every township, county,
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Speaker 1: and state of this nation. You declare you are in
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Speaker 1: favor of united action, but still you don't unite. You
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Speaker 1: unite under certain conditions within your union. You get together
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Speaker 1: upon the economic field to a limited extent, But you
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Speaker 1: have yet to learn that before you can really accomplish anything,
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Speaker 1: you have got to unite in fact as well as
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Speaker 1: a name. The time is coming when working men will
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Speaker 1: be forced into one general organization. The time is coming
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Speaker 1: when they will be compelled to organize on the basis
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Speaker 1: of industrial unionism. At this very hour, there is a
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Speaker 1: strike on the Canadian Pacific. Eight thousand working men who
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Speaker 1: are more or less organized, and who have been wronged
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Speaker 1: in many ways, have finally gone out to strike. There
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Speaker 1: are other thousands remaining at their posts, and non union
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Speaker 1: men flowing in there will be hauled to their destination
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Speaker 1: by union men. And union men will continue to work
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Speaker 1: until their eight thousand brothers have lost their jobs, and
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Speaker 1: many of them have become tramps. That is called organization,
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Speaker 1: but it is not so. In fact, it is at
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Speaker 1: best organization of a very weak and defective character. Now,
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Speaker 1: the right kind of organization on the Canadian Pacific would
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Speaker 1: embrace all the workers. They should all be included within
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Speaker 1: the same organization, and then have one general working agreement
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Speaker 1: with the company, so that if there was a violation
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Speaker 1: of it, it would concern every man in the service.
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Speaker 1: But how is it at present? The engineers, conductors, trainmen
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Speaker 1: and switchmen are in separate unions, and after they have
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Speaker 1: been signed up, the company can treat the rest just
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Speaker 1: as they please, for they know that if they strive
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Speaker 1: and the others remain in their service as they are
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Speaker 1: bound to do under their agreement, they can very easily
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Speaker 1: supplant them and remain in perfect control of the system.
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Speaker 1: We have had enough of that kind of experience, and
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Speaker 1: we ought to profit by it. We ought to realize
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Speaker 1: that there's but one form of organization that answers completely,
19:44
Speaker 1: one in which all subscribe to the same rules and
19:48
Speaker 1: act together in all things. And you will have to
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Speaker 1: organize upon that basis or see your unions become practically worthless.
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Speaker 1: Now let us consider another line briefly, for the benefit
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Speaker 1: of those who have opposed political action. We are all
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Speaker 1: aware of the trend of the decisions recently rendered by
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Speaker 1: the United States Supreme Court. Three decisions have been rendered
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Speaker 1: in rapid succession which strike down the rights of labor
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Speaker 1: and virtually strip organized labor of its power. Under these decisions,
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Speaker 1: organized labor has been outlawed. And while upon this question,
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Speaker 1: I want to suggest that this body, at the proper
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Speaker 1: time in its deliberations, but the following questions to the
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Speaker 1: candidates for the United States Senate and the House of
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Speaker 1: Representatives in the state of Kansas, and request them to answer.
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Speaker 1: In view of the fact that the United States Supreme
20:51
Speaker 1: Court has rendered a number of decisions placing the working
20:55
Speaker 1: class at a tremendous disadvantage in its struggle with the
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Speaker 1: employing class. For better conditions, we respectfully submit to the
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Speaker 1: candidates for the United States Senate and House of Representatives
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Speaker 1: the following questions. One, are you in favor of issuing
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Speaker 1: injunctions against trade union members because they refuse to patronize
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Speaker 1: a non union employer and advise their friends to do likewise. Two?
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Speaker 1: Will you introduce and vote for a measure setting aside
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Speaker 1: the decision of the Supreme Court of the District of
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Speaker 1: Columbia in the case of Buck's Stove and Range Company
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Speaker 1: against officers of the a f of l making it
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Speaker 1: a criminal act for a labor union to place an
21:42
Speaker 1: employee on its unfair list. Three? Are you in favor
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Speaker 1: of classifying trade unions as trusts in restraint of trade
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Speaker 1: as was done by the Supreme Court in the case
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Speaker 1: of Low versus Lawlor And will you introduce a measure
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Speaker 1: should you be elected, providing for the exemption of trade
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Speaker 1: unions from the operation of the anti trust law under
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Speaker 1: this court decision? Four? Do you endorse the Supreme Court
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Speaker 1: decision making it lawful for a corporation to discharge a
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Speaker 1: man because of his membership in a labor union. If
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Speaker 1: you do not, will you introduce and vote for a
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Speaker 1: bill setting aside this decision of the Supreme Court and
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Speaker 1: making it unlawful for a corporation to discharge a man
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Speaker 1: because he is a member of a trade union. Here
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Speaker 1: are these candidates in the state of Kansas for the
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Speaker 1: United States Senate and House of Representatives, And if they
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Speaker 1: are elected, they will have the power to control legislation.
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Speaker 1: And it is perfectly proper that you, as the representatives
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Speaker 1: of the workers, should put these questions squarely to these
22:51
Speaker 1: candidates and demand that they answer them. They are very
22:56
Speaker 1: simple questions. The United States Court has rendered a decision
23:00
Speaker 1: to the effect that a trade union is a trust,
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Speaker 1: and that if it exercises its legitimate power, it is
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Speaker 1: a criminal conspiracy in restraint of trade. That decision of
23:13
Speaker 1: the Court. Congress has the power to set aside. And
23:17
Speaker 1: if a man stands as a candidate for Congress in
23:20
Speaker 1: the upper or lower branch and appeals to you for
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Speaker 1: your vote, and bear in mind he can only be
23:27
Speaker 1: elected by your vote, it is right and proper that
23:31
Speaker 1: you should know if he is in favor of the
23:33
Speaker 1: decision or opposed to it. And if he is in
23:37
Speaker 1: favor of this decision, he is your enemy. Now, these
23:42
Speaker 1: candidates are trying to carry water on both shoulders. They
23:46
Speaker 1: declare they will give both labor and capital a square deal.
23:51
Speaker 1: And I want to say that is impossible. No man
23:55
Speaker 1: can be for labor without being against capital. No man
23:59
Speaker 1: can be capital without being against labor. Here is the capitalist,
24:06
Speaker 1: Here are the workers. Here is the capitalist who owns
24:10
Speaker 1: the mines. Here are the miners who work in the mines.
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Speaker 1: There is so much coal produced. There is a quarrel
24:19
Speaker 1: between them over a division of the product. Each once
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Speaker 1: all he can get. Here we have the class struggle. Now.
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Speaker 1: Is it possible to be for the capitalist without being
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Speaker 1: against the worker? Are their interests not diametrically opposed? If
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Speaker 1: you increase the share of the capitalist, don't you decrease
24:40
Speaker 1: the share of the workers. Can a door be both
24:43
Speaker 1: opened and shut at the same time. Can you increase
24:47
Speaker 1: both the workers and the capitalists share at the same time.
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Speaker 1: There is just so much produced, and in the present
24:55
Speaker 1: system it has to be divided between the capitalists and
24:59
Speaker 1: the wor workers, and both sides are fighting for all
25:03
Speaker 1: they can get. And this is the historic class struggle.
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Speaker 1: We have now no revolutionary organization of the workers along
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Speaker 1: the lines of this class struggle, and that is the
25:17
Speaker 1: demand of this time. The pure and simple trade union
25:21
Speaker 1: will no longer answer. I would not take from it
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Speaker 1: the least credit that belongs to it. I have fought
25:28
Speaker 1: under its banner for thirty years. I have followed it
25:32
Speaker 1: through victory and defeat, generally defeat. I realize today more
25:39
Speaker 1: than ever before in my life, the necessity for thorough
25:42
Speaker 1: economic organization. It must be made complete. Organization, like everything else,
25:50
Speaker 1: is subject to the laws of evolution. Everything changes, My brothers,
25:55
Speaker 1: the tool you worked with twenty five years ago will
25:59
Speaker 1: no longer do. It would do then, it will not do. Now.
26:05
Speaker 1: The capitalists are combined against you. They are reducing wages,
26:10
Speaker 1: They have control of the courts. They are doing everything
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Speaker 1: they can to destroy your power. You have got to
26:18
Speaker 1: follow their example. You have got to unify your forces.
26:23
Speaker 1: You have got to stand together shoulder to shoulder on
26:28
Speaker 1: the economic and political fields, and then you will make
26:32
Speaker 1: substantial progress toward emancipation. I am not here, my brothers,
26:38
Speaker 1: to ask you, as an economic organization, to go into politics.
26:43
Speaker 1: Not at all. If I could have you pass a
26:46
Speaker 1: resolution to go into politics, I would not do it.
26:50
Speaker 1: If you were inclined to go into active politics as
26:52
Speaker 1: an organization, I would prevent such action. If I could.
26:57
Speaker 1: You represent the economic organization of the working class, and
27:01
Speaker 1: this organization has its own, clearly defined functions. Your economic
27:07
Speaker 1: organization can never become a political machine. But your economic
27:11
Speaker 1: organization must recognize and proclaim the necessity for a united
27:16
Speaker 1: political party. You ought to pass a resolution recognizing the
27:21
Speaker 1: class struggle declaring your opposition to the capitalist system of
27:25
Speaker 1: private ownership of the means of production and urging upon
27:29
Speaker 1: the working class the necessity for working class political action.
27:36
Speaker 1: That is as far as the economic organization need to go.
27:40
Speaker 1: If you were to use your economic organization for political purposes,
27:45
Speaker 1: you would disrupt it, you would wreck it. But I
27:49
Speaker 1: would not have you renounce politics nor be afraid to
27:54
Speaker 1: discuss anything. Who is it that is so fearful you
27:58
Speaker 1: will discuss politics? Is at the ward healing politician? And
28:03
Speaker 1: isn't it because he knows very well that if you
28:06
Speaker 1: ever get into politics in the right way, he will
28:09
Speaker 1: be out of a job. He is afraid you will
28:13
Speaker 1: get your eyes open. Why should a union be afraid
28:17
Speaker 1: to discuss politics. He belongs to a certain party. His
28:21
Speaker 1: father belonged to that party, and his grandfather belonged to
28:25
Speaker 1: that party, and perhaps his great grandfather belonged to the
28:28
Speaker 1: same party. And that is probably the only reason he
28:32
Speaker 1: can give for belonging to that party. He doesn't want
28:36
Speaker 1: anybody to suggest to him the possibility of being lifted
28:40
Speaker 1: out of that party and into some other parties change.
28:45
Speaker 1: The party that was good forty years ago is completely
28:48
Speaker 1: outgrown and corrupt and has now no purpose but the
28:52
Speaker 1: promotion of graft and other vicious practices. Working men in
28:58
Speaker 1: their organized capacity must recognize the necessity for both economic
29:03
Speaker 1: and political action. I would not have you declare in
29:06
Speaker 1: favor of any particular political party. That would be another
29:10
Speaker 1: mistake which would have disastrous results. If I could have
29:14
Speaker 1: you pass a resolution to support the Socialist Party, I
29:18
Speaker 1: would not do it. You can't make socialists by passing resolutions.
29:24
Speaker 1: Men have to become socialists by study and experience, and
29:28
Speaker 1: they are getting the experience every day. There is one fact,
29:33
Speaker 1: and a very important one, that I would impress upon you,
29:37
Speaker 1: and that is the necessity for revolutionary working class political action.
29:43
Speaker 1: No one will attempt to dispute the fact that our
29:45
Speaker 1: interest as workers are identical. If our interests are identical,
29:50
Speaker 1: then we ought to unite. We ought to unite within
29:53
Speaker 1: the same organization. And if there is a strike, we
29:56
Speaker 1: should all strike. And if there is a boycott, all
30:00
Speaker 1: of us ought to engage in it. If our interests
30:03
Speaker 1: are identical, it follows that we ought to belong to
30:07
Speaker 1: the same party as well as to the same economic organization.
30:12
Speaker 1: What is politics? It is simply the reflex of economics.
30:18
Speaker 1: What is a party. It is the expression politically of
30:22
Speaker 1: certain material class interests. You belong to that party that
30:27
Speaker 1: you believe will promote your material welfare. Is not that
30:32
Speaker 1: a fact? If you find yourself in a party that
30:34
Speaker 1: attacks your pocket, do you not quit that party? Now,
30:40
Speaker 1: if you are in a party that opposes your interests,
30:43
Speaker 1: it is because you don't have intelligence enough to understand
30:47
Speaker 1: your interests. That is where the capitalists have the better
30:51
Speaker 1: of you. As a rule, they are intelligent and shrewd.
30:56
Speaker 1: They understand their material interests and how to protect them.
31:01
Speaker 1: You find the capitalists, as a rule, belonging only to
31:04
Speaker 1: capitalist parties. They don't join a working class party, and
31:09
Speaker 1: they don't vote the socialist ticket. They know enough to
31:14
Speaker 1: know that socialism is opposed to their economic interests. Now,
31:20
Speaker 1: both Republican and Democratic parties are capitalist parties. There is
31:26
Speaker 1: not the slightest doubt about it. It could be proved
31:29
Speaker 1: in a hundred different ways. You know how the Republican
31:33
Speaker 1: Party treated the demands of labor in its recent national convention.
31:38
Speaker 1: You know or ought to know what has taken place
31:42
Speaker 1: under the present administration. You know or ought to know
31:47
Speaker 1: something about the Democratic Party national state and municipal. If
31:53
Speaker 1: there are those who say that the Democratic Party is
31:56
Speaker 1: more favorable to labor than the Republican Party, it is
31:59
Speaker 1: only necessary to point to the Southern States, where it
32:04
Speaker 1: is ruled for a century. In no other parts of
32:07
Speaker 1: the nation are working men in so wretched a condition.
32:12
Speaker 1: In no other part are working people so miserably housed,
32:17
Speaker 1: so wretchedly treated as they are in the Southern States,
32:21
Speaker 1: where the Democratic Party rule supreme. At this very hour,
32:27
Speaker 1: miners in Alabama are on strike under a Democratic administration.
32:33
Speaker 1: I know the conditions there, for I have been in
32:36
Speaker 1: the minds. I know many of those men personally. I
32:41
Speaker 1: know under what conditions they have had to work. I
32:44
Speaker 1: have been in the shacks in which they live, and
32:47
Speaker 1: have seen their unhappy wives and ill fed children. I
32:52
Speaker 1: know whereof I speak. Only in the last extremity have
32:57
Speaker 1: those men gone out on strike. They bore all these
33:01
Speaker 1: cruel wrongs for years and were finally forced out on strike.
33:07
Speaker 1: And then what happened. The very first thing the Democratic
33:11
Speaker 1: governor did was to send the soldiers to scab the mines.
33:16
Speaker 1: It doesn't make any difference to you if working men
33:20
Speaker 1: are starved and shot down, which party is in power.
33:26
Speaker 1: It occurs under both Republican and Democratic administration. There will
33:31
Speaker 1: be no change as long as you continue to support
33:34
Speaker 1: the prevailing capitalist system based upon the private ownership of
33:39
Speaker 1: the tools with which working men work and without which
33:43
Speaker 1: they are doomed to slavery and starvation. Now I repeat
33:49
Speaker 1: that this body should declare against this system of private
33:53
Speaker 1: ownership and in favor of the collective ownership by the
33:57
Speaker 1: workers of the tools of production. This will give you
34:02
Speaker 1: a clear aim and definite object. This will make your
34:05
Speaker 1: movement revolutionary in its ultimate purpose as it ought to be.
34:11
Speaker 1: And as for immediate concessions in the way of legislation
34:15
Speaker 1: by capitalist representatives and more favorable working conditions, you working
34:21
Speaker 1: men have only to poll two million socialist votes this fall,
34:25
Speaker 1: and you will get those concessions freely. And you will
34:29
Speaker 1: not get them in any other way. You will not frighten,
34:34
Speaker 1: you will not move the great corporations. By dividing your
34:38
Speaker 1: votes between the Republican and Democratic parties. It doesn't make
34:43
Speaker 1: any difference which of these two parties wins you lose.
34:49
Speaker 1: They are both capitalist parties. And I don't ask you
34:53
Speaker 1: to take my mere word for it. I simply ask
34:56
Speaker 1: my brothers, that you read and study the platform for yourself.
35:02
Speaker 1: I beg of you to not have an ignorance, superstitious
35:05
Speaker 1: reverence for any political party. It is your misfortune if
35:10
Speaker 1: you are the blind follower of any political leader or
35:14
Speaker 1: any other leader. It is your duty, as a working man,
35:19
Speaker 1: your duty to yourself your family, to quit a party
35:23
Speaker 1: the very instant you find that that party no longer
35:27
Speaker 1: serves you. And if you continue to adhere to a
35:30
Speaker 1: party that antagonizes your interests, if you continue to support
35:35
Speaker 1: a system in which you are degraded, then you have
35:38
Speaker 1: no right to complain. You must submit to what comes
35:43
Speaker 1: for you. Yourself are responsible. Let me impress this fact
35:49
Speaker 1: upon your minds. The labor question, which is really the
35:53
Speaker 1: question of all humanity, will never be solved until it
35:57
Speaker 1: is solved by the working class. It will never be
36:01
Speaker 1: solved for you by the capitalists. It will never be
36:05
Speaker 1: solved for you by the politicians. It will remain unsolved
36:09
Speaker 1: until you, yourself, solve it. As long as you can
36:13
Speaker 1: stand and are willing to stand these conditions, these conditions
36:17
Speaker 1: will remain. But when you unite all over the land,
36:23
Speaker 1: and when you present a solid class conscious phalanx economically
36:28
Speaker 1: and politically. There is no power on this earth that
36:31
Speaker 1: can stand between you and complete emancipation. As individuals you
36:38
Speaker 1: are helpless, but united you represent an irresistible power. Is
36:44
Speaker 1: there any doubt in the mind of any thinking working
36:47
Speaker 1: man that we are in the midst of a class struggle?
36:52
Speaker 1: Is there any doubt that the working man ought to
36:54
Speaker 1: own the tool he works with. You will never own
36:59
Speaker 1: the tool you work with under the present system. This
37:02
Speaker 1: whole system is based upon the private ownership by the
37:06
Speaker 1: capitalists of the tools and the wage slavery of the
37:09
Speaker 1: working class. And as long as the tools are privately
37:13
Speaker 1: owned by the capitalists, the great mass of workers will
37:18
Speaker 1: be wage slaves. You may at times temporarily better your
37:23
Speaker 1: condition within certain limitations, but you will still remain wage slaves.
37:30
Speaker 1: And why wage slaves? For just one reason and no other.
37:35
Speaker 1: You have got to work. To work, you have got
37:39
Speaker 1: to have tools. And if you have no tools, you
37:43
Speaker 1: have to beg for work. And if you have got
37:46
Speaker 1: to beg for work, the man who owns the tools
37:50
Speaker 1: you use will determine the conditions under which you shall work.
37:55
Speaker 1: As long as he owns your tools, he owns your job.
38:00
Speaker 1: And if he owns your job. He is the master
38:03
Speaker 1: of your fate. You are in no sense a free man.
38:08
Speaker 1: You are subject to his interest and to his will.
38:12
Speaker 1: He decides whether you shall work or not. Therefore he
38:17
Speaker 1: decides whether you shall live or die. And in that
38:22
Speaker 1: humiliating position, anyone who tries to persuade you that you
38:27
Speaker 1: are a free man is guilty of insulting your intelligence.
38:33
Speaker 1: You will never be free. You will never stand erect
38:38
Speaker 1: in your own manly self reliance until you are the
38:42
Speaker 1: master of the tools you work with. And when you
38:46
Speaker 1: are you can freely work without the consent of any master.
38:51
Speaker 1: And when you do work, you will get all your
38:55
Speaker 1: labor produces. As it is now, the lion share goes
39:00
Speaker 1: to the capitalists, for which he does nothing, while you
39:05
Speaker 1: get a small fraction to feed, clothe, and shelter yourself,
39:09
Speaker 1: and reproduce yourself in the form of labor power. That
39:15
Speaker 1: is all you get out of it, and all you
39:17
Speaker 1: will ever get in the capitalist system. Oh, my brothers,
39:22
Speaker 1: can you be satisfied with your lot? Will you insist
39:26
Speaker 1: that life shall continue a mere struggle for existence and
39:30
Speaker 1: one prolonged misery, to which death comes as a blessed relief.
39:36
Speaker 1: How is it with the average working man today? I
39:39
Speaker 1: am not referring to the few who have been favored
39:42
Speaker 1: and who have fared better than the great mass, but
39:46
Speaker 1: I am asking how it is with the average working
39:49
Speaker 1: man in this system. Admit that he has a job,
39:54
Speaker 1: what assurance has he that it is his? In twenty
39:57
Speaker 1: four hours I have a letter from an expert glass
40:01
Speaker 1: worker saying that the new glass machine, which has recently
40:05
Speaker 1: been tested, has proven conclusively that bottles can be made
40:10
Speaker 1: without a glass blower. Five or six boys with these
40:14
Speaker 1: machines can make as many bottles as ten expert blowers
40:18
Speaker 1: could make. Machinery is conquering every department of activity. It
40:24
Speaker 1: is displacing more and more working men and making the
40:28
Speaker 1: lot of those who have employment more and more insecure.
40:33
Speaker 1: Admit that a man has a job, what assurance has
40:36
Speaker 1: he that he is going to keep it? A machine
40:39
Speaker 1: may be invented, He may offend the boss, He may
40:43
Speaker 1: engage in a little agitation in the interest of his class.
40:48
Speaker 1: He is marked as an agitator. He is discharged, and
40:53
Speaker 1: then what is his status? The minute he is discharged,
40:58
Speaker 1: he has to hunt for a new buyer for his
41:01
Speaker 1: labor power. He owns no tools. The tools are great machines.
41:07
Speaker 1: He can't compete against them with his bare hands. He
41:10
Speaker 1: has got to work. There is only one condition under
41:14
Speaker 1: which he can work, and that is when he sells
41:17
Speaker 1: his labor power, his energy, his very life currents, and
41:23
Speaker 1: thus disposes of himself in daily installments. He is not
41:29
Speaker 1: sold from the block as was the chattel slave. He
41:33
Speaker 1: sells ten hours of himself every day in exchange for
41:37
Speaker 1: just enough to keep himself in that same slavish condition.
41:43
Speaker 1: The machine he works with has to be oiled, and
41:47
Speaker 1: he has to be fed, and the oil sustains the
41:50
Speaker 1: same relation to the machine that food does to him.
41:55
Speaker 1: If he could work without food, his wage would be
41:58
Speaker 1: reduced to the vanishing point. That is the status of
42:02
Speaker 1: the working man to day. What can the present economic
42:06
Speaker 1: organization do to improve the condition of the working man?
42:11
Speaker 1: Very little, if anything. If you have a wife and
42:15
Speaker 1: two or three children, and you take the possibilities into consideration,
42:19
Speaker 1: this question not to give you grave concern. You know
42:24
Speaker 1: that it is the sons of working men who become
42:27
Speaker 1: vagabonds and tramps and who are sent to jail. And
42:31
Speaker 1: it is the daughters of working men who are forced
42:34
Speaker 1: into houses of shame. You are a working man. You
42:40
Speaker 1: live in capitalism, and you have nothing but your labor power.
42:45
Speaker 1: And you don't know whether you are going to find
42:47
Speaker 1: a buyer or not. But even if you do find
42:51
Speaker 1: a master, if you have a job, can you boast
42:55
Speaker 1: of being a man among men? No man can rightly
42:59
Speaker 1: claim to be a man unless he is free. There
43:03
Speaker 1: is something godlike about manhood. Manhood doesn't admit of ownership.
43:09
Speaker 1: Manhood scorns to be regarded as property. Do you know
43:13
Speaker 1: whether you have a job or not? Do you know
43:17
Speaker 1: how long you are going to have one? And when
43:20
Speaker 1: you are out of a job, what can your union
43:22
Speaker 1: do for you? I was down at Colgate, Oklahoma, on
43:27
Speaker 1: the fourth of July last where six hundred miners have
43:30
Speaker 1: been out of work for four long months. They are
43:34
Speaker 1: all organized. There are the mines and machinery, and the
43:39
Speaker 1: miners are eager to work, but not a tap of
43:43
Speaker 1: work is being done. And the miners and their families
43:46
Speaker 1: are suffering, and most of them live in houses that
43:50
Speaker 1: are unfit for habitation. This awful condition is never going
43:55
Speaker 1: to be changed in capitalism. There is one way only,
44:00
Speaker 1: and that is to wipe out capitalism. And to do
44:04
Speaker 1: that we have to get together, and when we do that,
44:09
Speaker 1: we will find the way to emancipation. You may not
44:14
Speaker 1: agree with me now, but make note of what I
44:17
Speaker 1: am saying. The time is near when you will be
44:21
Speaker 1: forced into economic and political solidarity. The Republican and Democratic
44:26
Speaker 1: parties are alike capitalist parties. Some of you may think
44:31
Speaker 1: that mister Bryan, if elected, will do great things for
44:35
Speaker 1: the workers, conditions will remain substantially the same. We will
44:40
Speaker 1: still be under capitalism. It will not matter how you
44:44
Speaker 1: may tinker with the terra for the currency. The tools
44:48
Speaker 1: are still the property of the capitalists, and you are
44:52
Speaker 1: still at their mercy. Now, let me show you that
44:57
Speaker 1: mister Bryan is no more your friend than is mister Taft.
45:02
Speaker 1: You remember when the officials of the Western Federation of
45:05
Speaker 1: Miners were kidnapped in Colorado, and when it was said
45:09
Speaker 1: they should never leave Idaho alive. It was the determination
45:13
Speaker 1: of the Mine Owners Association that these brave and loyal
45:17
Speaker 1: union leaders should be foully murdered. When these brothers of
45:23
Speaker 1: ours were brutally kidnapped by the collusion of the capitalist
45:27
Speaker 1: governors of two states, every true friend of the working
45:31
Speaker 1: class cried out in protest. Did mister Bryan utter a word.
45:37
Speaker 1: Mister Bryan was the recognized champion of the working class.
45:41
Speaker 1: He was in a position to be heard. A protest
45:44
Speaker 1: from him would have tremendous weight with the American people.
45:48
Speaker 1: But his labor friends could not unlock his lips. Not
45:53
Speaker 1: one word would he speak, not one Organized labor, however,
45:59
Speaker 1: throughout the length and breadth of the land, took the
46:03
Speaker 1: matter in hand promptly and registered its protest in a
46:07
Speaker 1: way that made the nation quake. The Mine Owner's Association
46:12
Speaker 1: took to the tall timber. Our brother Unionists were acquitted, vindicated,
46:18
Speaker 1: and stood forth without a blemish upon their honor. And
46:22
Speaker 1: after they were free once more, mister Bryan said, I
46:27
Speaker 1: felt all the time that they were not guilty. Now,
46:31
Speaker 1: if your faithful leaders are kidnapped and threatened to be hanged,
46:36
Speaker 1: and you call upon a man who claims to be
46:38
Speaker 1: your friend to come to the rescue, and he refuses
46:42
Speaker 1: to say a word to give the least help, do
46:46
Speaker 1: you still think he is your friend. Mister Bryan had
46:50
Speaker 1: his chance to prove his friendship at a time when
46:54
Speaker 1: labor sorely needed friends, When organized labor cried out in
46:59
Speaker 1: agony and distress, but not a word escaped his lips.
47:04
Speaker 1: Why did not mister Brian speak? He did not dare.
47:09
Speaker 1: Mister Brian knew very well that the kidnappers of those
47:12
Speaker 1: men were his personal friends, the association of rich mine owners,
47:18
Speaker 1: who had largely furnished his campaign funds. For mister Brian personally,
47:23
Speaker 1: I have always had a high regard. I am not
47:26
Speaker 1: attacking him in any personal sense at all, but the
47:29
Speaker 1: extremity to which a man is driven who tries to
47:33
Speaker 1: serve both capital and labor, it can't be done. Mister
47:38
Speaker 1: Brian did not dare to speak for labor because if
47:42
Speaker 1: he had, he would have turned the mind owning capitalist
47:45
Speaker 1: against him. He is afraid to speak out very loudly
47:49
Speaker 1: for capitalists for fear the workers will get after him.
47:53
Speaker 1: He has compromised all around for the sake of being president.
47:57
Speaker 1: You have heard him denounce Roger Sullivan. Mister Bryan four
48:02
Speaker 1: years ago, in denouncing this corruptionist at the time of
48:06
Speaker 1: the nomination of Vulton B. Parker said he was totally
48:11
Speaker 1: destitute of honor and compared him to a train robber.
48:15
Speaker 1: Notwithstanding this fact, mister Bryan recently invited Sullivan to his
48:20
Speaker 1: home in Lincoln, took him by the hand and introduced
48:24
Speaker 1: him to his family. Mister Bryan also invited Charlie Murphy,
48:29
Speaker 1: the inexpressibly rotten Tammany, healer of New York. Mister Bryan
48:35
Speaker 1: had him come to Lincoln so as to conciliate Tammany,
48:39
Speaker 1: and they were photographed together shaking hands. No man can
48:44
Speaker 1: serve both capital and labor at the same time. You
48:48
Speaker 1: don't admit the capitalists to your union. They organized their
48:53
Speaker 1: union to fight you. You organize your union to fight them.
48:58
Speaker 1: Their union consists of capitalists. Your union consists wholly of
49:04
Speaker 1: working men. It is along the same line that you
49:07
Speaker 1: have got to organize politically. You don't unite with capitalists
49:12
Speaker 1: on the economic field, why should you politically? You have
49:17
Speaker 1: got to extend your class line. You can declare yourselves
49:21
Speaker 1: in this convention and make your position clear to the world.
49:26
Speaker 1: You can give hope and inspire confidence throughout the state.
49:31
Speaker 1: And now, in closing, I wish to thank you each
49:35
Speaker 1: of you from my heart for your kindness. I appreciate
49:40
Speaker 1: the opportunity you have given me to address you, and
49:44
Speaker 1: whether you agree with me or not, I leave you
49:47
Speaker 1: wishing you success. In your deliberations and hoping for the
49:51
Speaker 1: early triumph of the labor movement, the Convention passed a
49:58
Speaker 1: unanimous rising vote of thinks at the close of the address,
50:02
Speaker 1: End of Unity and Victory