"That the proletariat shall conquer," (mark the note of fatalism), "is as certain as the rising sun.Just as the bourgeoisie of the eighteenth century wanted democracy applied to politics, so the proletariat of the twentieth century wants democracy applied to industry.As the bourgeoisie complained against the government being run by and for the nobles, so the proletariat complains against the government and industry being run by and for the bourgeoisie; and so, following in the footsteps of its predecessor, the proletariat will possess itself of the government, apply democracy to industry, abolish wages, which are merely legalized robbery, and run the business of the country in its own interest.""Their aim," they say, "is to organize the working class, and those in sympathy with it, into a political party, with the object of conquering the powers of government and of using them for the purpose of transforming the present system of private ownership of the means of production and distribution into collective ownership by the entire people."Briefly stated, this is the battle plan of these 450,000 men who call themselves "socialists." And, in the face of the existence of such an aggressive group of men, a class struggle cannot very well be denied by the optimistic Americans who say: "A class struggle is monstrous.Sir, there is no class struggle." The class struggle is here, and the optimistic American had better gird himself for the fray and put a stop to it, rather than sit idly declaiming that what ought not to be is not, and never will be.
But the socialists, fanatics and dreamers though they may well be, betray a foresight and insight, and a genius for organization, which put to shame the class with which they are openly at war.Failing of rapid success in waging a sheer political propaganda, and finding that they were alienating the most intelligent and most easily organized portion of the voters, the socialists lessoned from the experience and turned their energies upon the trade-union movement.
To win the trade unions was well-nigh to win the war, and recent events show that they have done far more winning in this direction than have the capitalists.
Instead of antagonizing the unions, which had been their previous policy, the socialists proceeded to conciliate the unions."Let every good socialist join the union of his trade," the edict went forth."Bore from within and capture the trade-union movement."And this policy, only several years old, has reaped fruits far beyond their fondest expectations.Today the great labor unions are honeycombed with socialists, "boring from within," as they picturesquely term their undermining labor.At work and at play, at business meeting and council, their insidious propaganda goes on.
At the shoulder of the trade-unionist is the socialist, sympathizing with him, aiding him with head and hand, suggesting--perpetually suggesting--the necessity for political action.As the JOURNAL, of Lansing, Michigan, a republican paper, has remarked: "The socialists in the labor unions are tireless workers.They are sincere, energetic, and self-sacrificing....They stick to the union and work all the while, thus making a showing which, reckoned by ordinary standards, is out of all proportion to their numbers.
Their cause is growing among union laborers, and their long fight, intended to turn the Federation into a political organization, is likely to win."They miss no opportunity of driving home the necessity for political action, the necessity for capturing the political machinery of society whereby they may master society.As an instance of this is the avidity with which the American socialists seized upon the famous Taft-Vale Decision in England, which was to the effect that an unincorporated union could be sued and its treasury rifled by process of law.Throughout the United States, the socialists pointed the moral in similar fashion to the way it was pointed by the Social-Democratic Herald, which advised the trade-unionists, in view of the decision, to stop trying to fight capital with money, which they lacked, and to begin fighting with the ballot, which was their strongest weapon.
