Hillquit's Convention "Keynote" Address

...None of the rulers of America ever forget him when it comes to cutting wages or reducing the staff...

...I am annoyed more than moat people because I was born in Brooklyn...

...rip tot any revelation...

...Hillquit's Convention "Keynote" Address By Morris Hilktuit .(•&»wots npeeek" ***** tX tae opening «t tho mi at Party TfaMM*' Oamvssrtissh JaBlwaukee, Hay 21.1 . bit7 this illamtlifi the W Socialist Party enters tbe...

...I know what they ought to say—"Why on earth were we so slow In getting here...

...without truce or cissgroinlili.j a war to tbe finish Taa cslMtrophic industrial crisis has bsea a crucial teat of the political leadership of the Re-: publican party la the national government and Of the Democra-' Uc party In control of the lower House of Congress and of many states and cities...

...To us the plight of the worker does not suggest merely a "How are all your folks...

...They have operated the industries aolely with a view to their personal enrichment and in total disregard of the needs of the people...

...But there is a better answer than that We might, for Instance, go all the way back to the declaration that all men are created free and equal...

...The economic misery which strangles the nation is not due to any natural and unavoidable calamity...

...So many things do...

...And it seems to me that Governor Roosevelt's'idea of remembering the forgotten man merely consists of sending him a picture post card Inscribed: "X marks my room...

...Tan Dauimi ti run mar awaws w wawav Not stay have the ruling ctaasas of Emilias and thaw pagtlral parties bringkt oa masaslc rain, and civil war at beans, but they have vastly intensified the ehaos ^ls the face of the moat devastating Industrial depTSSSioa Oat world has ever known and in spite of the imperative need of stimulating International commerce, our government, with the aM Of both old political parties, has erected an insane and ruinous tariff wail around the United States...

...I believe with an my heart in democracy aad In freedom but whan a man does not knew where his next meal is coming from ha is not free.When millions are controlled through the financial power of • kandfid we are sot democratic...

...They broke quite a few test tubes particularly at the beginning, but Soviet Russia Is demonstrating that cooperation can change mass production from a curse to a blessing...

...Neither of them has a social philosophy or practical program...

...Poverty Amidst Wealth Ours is a country of unlimited natural wealth...

...I think I know what people rill say...

...Our much vaunted captains Of as mcomp stent as they are «*> mmmm and in this hour of fcelr utter fsflure we Socialist* ggj* flsjt ahoy m i mt»t W* The welfare, ayT'the very tin of t be one hufjavod and- twenty dren who ishaai t our great and proper use of Its vast lands, Its inexhaustible natural treasures andt perfected machinery for tbe producUen end distribution of wealth...

...It has been done, but it is not precisely what you would call the one best bet...

...To End AO Classes If capitalism spells anarchy and chaos, it also means class hatred and war...

...Communism will not supply the remedy—with Its dogmatic creed, sectarian organization, spectacular antics and destructive tactics it can never become a political power In a democratic country...

...The Socialist Party demands the hrunsdlate repeal of the high import tariffs, the complete cancellation of all gnvummsatal war debts, the withdrawal of all traopo from all foreign territory and complete disarmament by international iiadsrstanillag and by our We want aa unarmed aad war-less world with free frontiers, free business intercourse 'and friendly relations between tko nations...

...but increased pressure for an Immediate program to relieve unemployment...

...With the principal countries' of Europe economically ruined and financially insolvent' our politicians Insist upon the payment of fantastic debts crested by our needless participation' in the ghastly world war...

...The Important thing is not that Governor Roosevelt has seen Jimmie Higgins— through a glass darkly—but what he is going to do about It...

...The forgotten man" is not, I think, the most fellcltlous coinage by the happy phrase maker...

...The political stand-patthun of the old parties will not provide It--It Is an organic part of the old order...

...It has been said that the voter in this country likes to be with the winner, but band wagon hopping baa been palpably proved to be one of the most dangerous ti autumn sports...

...Leon Land will speak In the auditorium of the organization, 1501 Boston road, Sunday evening at 8 o'clock, on "Kagawa," the Gandhi of Japan...

...Governor Roosevelt has discovered him, but never quite Identified bun...

...Socialism alone offers a reasonable and effective way out to tfte American people and, above all, to the American workers...

...And out of a widespread conviction that misery and poverty and fear are contagious the masses of America can and will stir themselves to build the new world...

...A vast experiment Is going on In the year 1932 in an Immense laboratory...

...Socialism in Our Time The Socialist party cannot very well forget Jimmie Higgins because he is and must always be the backbone of the radical movement...

...The system which has brought million* to starvation will strangle even a man who believes in it...

...While Congress has appropriated billion* for the...

...Never has Its message been more convincing and compelling than at this time of our tragic economic breakdown...

...In no country do the employers dare to oppose all efforts of .their workers to organise so brutally and ruthlessly as the employers in our great industries...

...In fact every master stroke of our ingenious president has been followed by an acuter condition of misery tad by a renewed wave of general (loom and despair...

...Soviet Russia's Experiment .We speak with Increasing confidence In our -creed of planned production for service and not for profit...

...After all Jimmie Higgins Is frequently remembered and even in this time of depression by our financial wizards and our industrial kings...

...The contraption la too likely to swerve In cutting corners nod leave Its passengers In the ditch...

...By Heywood Broun Milwaukee AN amiable gentleman who happens to be the ambitious Governor of say home state has just discovered "the forgotten man...

...I'm Warning the people who seem to have forgot tea what It means...

...They have basely betrayed their trust...

...The Socialist prospects and opportunities have never been brighter and we propose to take full advantage of them in the coming campaign and thereafter...

...I wouldn't know about that...

...They think' It In ftinny to belong to a, party which hai never commanded a majority la a national election la this country...

...r.«iitfiiti- ctoMln of in...

...Sleeping under blankets...

...We propose that the people reclaim, their common heritage from ttu usurping owning classes and reorganize the economic life of the country on a basis of planf ul and steady operation for the common good...

...At 9 p. m., Dr...

...It all depends just how soon you wake up to your necessities and reach out to grasp your opportunities...

...We must learn that slums are bad places even for people who don't live In them...

...But I think the joke is on them...

...I have friends who think it's funny to be a Socialist...

...No ruling class la the world ¦wages such an open and relentless war against labor as do- our Ameri an capitalists...

...Under Republican and Democratic rule our country, once tko homo of pacific democracy, baa degenerated into a dangerous militaristic and imperialistic power...

...They have operated them without Jjan, system or responsibility in frtW competition and speculation, | disorder and chaos, and they r _ tii attWCelegu They hare paralysed misery and basJVuptcy and de prived millions of workers of thotr ¦eaoa of life...

...Our present Ills were already deeply rooted in the soil when Herbert Clark Hoover was attending the little red school house in Iowa...

...In comparison with them tko trivial issues and superficial platform planks which the old parteao win adopt In hap-hazard and fictitious competition with each other, are bound to sink into utter Insignificance...

...We have allowed our rich resources, the common heritage of all the people, to be monopolized by a privileged few, who claim the right of exclusive Ownership of our vital industries and pretend to manage them as trustee for the benefit of all...

...What America Needs What America needs is not a few threadbare patches on the outworn and tattered outer garment of the capitalist system, but a radically remodeled, new, a ana and equitable social and economic order...

...An economic system that works through alternate periods of fever and paralysis, a system in which a super-abundance of wealth causes destitution and starvation, cannot endure...

...It Is wholly unnecessary and wanton and is entirely caused by the absurd workings of the capitalist system...

...Wish you were here...

...Both.drift aimlessly along the uncharted sea of political opportunism...

...You can have Socialism in your time...

...I can Imagine the Governor as saying, 'Tour face is familiar but I can't place you,", And that la likely enough, since the forgotten man In America today is the worker...

...I'm net blaming democracy...

...In this test both have lamentably failed...

...I doubt very much whether Jimmie Higgins, the worker, Is going to be particularly thrilled over the fact that the chief contender in one of the two major parties has discovered him...

...Confronted with .the sudden breakdown of the economic life of the country, the great "engineer" la the presidential chair proved ludicrously Incompetent to cope with It His naive admonitions, psychologic incantations and financial stunts succeeded in creating a few abortive spurts in the stock market, but did not provide jobs for the unemployed or bread for the starving millions...

...Whan anybody says, "Why don't you go back where you came from," I am annoyed...

...We open tbe oasspolgn with a beth tS^ltical parttw awl tbe whole urtsantoos aad Lasane social and eoonimsic Of (Jet* for winch t*er stand...

...There is no fPOapact of our oyer collecting amy aahttasrlBj part of the debt, ito'pound of smeT tends* b> kelp ¦live Europe's insane eatongte-ments ia debts aad tsparaHesa, to retard lisasssll recovery, to flap, asaong smtioa...

...You may tell me that in America men have risen out of abject poverty to become captains of Industry—or at least second lieutenants...

...war ales* flat whole flat...

...I hope nobody will accuse me of being a 250 per cent American if I say that I think America can do what Russia has done and do it a groat deal better I believe that force aad violence are drntmeolj a hand...

...It must be changed under pain of a total collapse of civilization, and the Republican and Democratic parties alike are helpless to avert the threatened ^catastrophe...

...aid of the high financial and capitalist interests who have braaght about flat eooaomle ¦raajisiin by their own recklessness aad mismanagement, R has Utterly neglected the pitiable vic-Uma ot (no industrial pbatea, tbe sam^s^nm^eJ((JI Of Oafon ls\a%d ^tflaVtet^Rs^^ It has bestowed "doles" oa the rick with lavish bonds, hot ban refused to eatead to the poor tost oalaiaaam protection against starvation which the asset poverty* atrirkea countries af Europe grant to their jettons workers lav the Taking advantage of the weakened and kokdsso condition of labor which their own mlamansgs-meat had brought about, our captains of Industry descended upon the workers like a fleck of black crows at the scent of a cadaver, to slash their pay In spite of their solemn public promise that they would maintain wages during the reriod of depression...

...Our government has acquired foreign colonies which it rules Mho subjugated territories, It baa invaded neighboring countries with armed forces, it participates is .military campaigns aad aaooa turns beyond the seas, it maintains formidable military aad naval forces and spends huge fortunes oa wars, pant, peasant and future...

...Really l can't see why anybody 'who voted for President Hoover in lflt can act in 1932 as if that exercise of the franchise had proved itself the beginning of wisdom...

...At no time was the class character of our government and of the old political parties revealed so glaringly and brutally as in this period of national economic crisis...

...I am perfectly ready to agree with those who say you must not blame It all on President Hoover...

...Present leadership in American politics and American Industry has failed...

...Those are the principal demands which tbe Socialist Pasty will car-ry Into the coming electoral battle...

...We must learn even more than that...

...snTw aaoanaOnjshls short sighted potRlcal sdMssrs Mr Adolf Hltier aad the throat of faocisnr Mat civil and isnoanaigoaoJ wan which hang over Tko stupid, log la the BMngar policy of our government la glaringly Illustrated by tts llltlSfial aJsateiss from tka vital sffaffr* and problems of the rest of Oh* world and its stubborn refusal to recognise Soviet Russia, aithsuaget srs maintained friendly Hjlsmenis and commercial relations with the barbarous regime Of casuist Russia aad extend full recognition to fascist Italy...

...What we are witnessing today is nothing leas than the complete bankruptcy of capitalism...

...The Socialist Party alone presents to the people of the United States an effective program of immediate and permanent relief...

...His name la Jimmie Higgins and he lives on Main street or Central avenue, and back from the street in the narrow alleys of great cities...

...The failure of the Hoover administration Sa not the failure of a person of a group of guanas but of a system...

...The administration of Herbert Hoover has been a pitiable fiasco...

...The ballot box Itself could prove to be a sort of Jar containing a genie...

...When he first piped up to tell the teacher that two and two make four—the first bold step in the career of a great engineer — his administration as President of th) United States was already doomed to failure...

...Nowhere do they resort to such savage reprisals against rebellious workers as were es-ampkaof by the ooW-bmoded J ii II Hi I plops nnni'lii of flaoso uud ?snantti In fifhsssshvseUs or by tkO perjnred flUII K Of Msoney and BUlings in California wo stand nawonarvodfty wita the workem, but II is our nasi in lag purpose t* dO away with al ctossea and class sntisyislsmi, and...

...I hope to be around on the first morning of the new day...

...The child of the alums isn't created free or equal...

...Maybe that's my fault...

...He's been asleep, but when he stretches his arms his form will fill the sky...

...BRONX FREE FELLOWSHIP Under the auspices of the Bronx Free Fellowship, Dr...

...We are beginning to realize that a slum is a bad place In which to live...

...At least it seemed red to Mr, Hoover...

...Harry A. Over-street will lecture on "Are We Moving Towards a NcfT Philosophy of LifsT" \A , Hillquit^s invention keynote* Address...

...And all.too often he tramps the* street and stands upon the breadlines of .a nation which in fond of saying that a federal dole would be degrading...

...f • i • 11 n i > n 1111111 < 111 ¦ I "Why Were We So Slow In Getting Here...

...The Failure of a System But ineffective aa his performance*- have proved in these try-lag, years, it is safe to assert that Qevemer Roosevelt, If elected, add not be more successful hi salving the knotty problems with his innocuous liberalism or Al Smith with his unfailing remedy of light wines and heavy beer...

...Mlddle-clas* HberuliHnt or "prog-resslvlsm" will not fill the crying needs of the time —It Is a confused agglomeration of superficial political views, radical in phrases and gesture, out without sound economic foundation, without definite program, without organisation and without power or will to act...