To Win A Free World for Workers Sound Theories Must Be Grasped
By Harley Gibson To Win a Free World for Worsen Sound Theories Must Be Grasped Maybe Man Died a Long Tune Age, but the Theories Called Marxism Are the Only Sound Guide Today. WHEN Marxism first...
...I've pulled one of your feet out of capitalist politics and then reached for the other foot With some difficulty I helped you to get the other one out...
...Apostacy or Ignorance...
...You belong to the working class, not to the class that rules and profits by the capitalist system...
...It is a surgeon's knife in the hands of the sociologist For something like three-quarters of a century it has been spreading, developing and maturing until it has become a great international culture, the most vital intellectual movement in the modern world...
...At any rate, we'll know toon how Roosevelt it lying down on the war debt question...
...But a use will come for them soon, judging by a speech (reported in "Monde") of a French colonel to a new group of lads going off for their year of compulsory military service...
...The Bourbons got such a drubbing that they're ready for a peace treaty with their own progressives...
...Whether it be economics, politics, morals, law, literature, art or religion the student will find in Marxism the key to his riddles...
...It is this situation that compels us to recognize the importance of theory...
...Bill paused upon observing Joe's impatisnce...
...Even the Bourbon Senator Reed of Pennsylvania says that the Republican Party must have a leader not objectionable to the progressives...
...a sharp sword to cut the Gordian knot of capitalism...
...In the third place— and this Is the basic reason—ws Americans have been too prosperous and property-conscious...
...What was behind the fall of the British Labor Party and the apostacy of MacDonald...
...That superficial impression was itself superseded by the discovery that much of the modern stuff is only a rehashing of theories that were old stuff in the days of Marx and Engels...
...If Europe refuses to pay in full, we have the right to take back our war...
...You're certainly a numbskull if you do not understand what is now happening," was Joe's eager response...
...Well, aren't the Bourbons on the run...
...The Bourbons got an awful kick in the slats and the progressives will now have something to say...
...Then look what has occurred in the Republican Party...
...They have occupied themselves with setting up and knocking down straw men...
...The Marxists are increasing in numbers...
...Bourbons...
...Your head was more stubborn but you voted the Socialist ticket except for Governor...
...Very often the fight resulted in the factions recruiting the subjected masses for one side or the other...
...One must be on one's guard against both unintelligent Marxists and bourgeois critics who attribute wrong ideas to Marxism in order to discredit it What Can We Learn from Marx...
...At any rate, when Hoover and Roosevelt meet they should have some turnips on hand to see whether they can squeeze any blood out of the blamed things...
...President-elect Roosevelt is going to have the cooperation of the Republican progressives...
...Paying war debts Is something like making a dead man pay installments on his coffin...
...Marx refused to recognize absolute categories—and that was long before the days of Einstein and Relativity...
...but the fundamentals of Marxism remain the cornerstone of all sound sociology...
...Knowledge of the inevitability will do a good deal in breaking down resistance toward it We stress inevitability, not in the sense of mechanical breakdown, but as the result of conscious effort and organization...
...We hold no grudge against the Germans, but against the Hitlerites who want war with us...
...The Bourbons are eating humble pie as the progressives are on the upgrade in both parties and Roosevelt wHl have the benefit of both trends...
...Besides, it's too much to expect Europe to pay installment* on the last war and save up for a new war at the same time...
...Ignorance of Marxism Yet among those who call themselves Socialist and Communists— even among party members, party speakers, and party leaders— what a lamentable ignorance of Marxism...
...You wanted a 'good man' and voted for the Tammany choice, Lehman...
...Come out of the coma, Joe," said Bill with some impatience...
...I'm trying to get you back to YOUR class struggle...
...In the second place, most of ui are too concaited to believe we can learn anything from sn exiled, poverty-stricken German Jew who lived in London In the middle of the nineteenth century and wore a bushy beard...
...I'm through...
...He anticipates or assumes implicitly many of their views: in psychology, for instance, his conception of the mind is the deterministic one...
...And it will make us willing to participate in it...
...It looks as though you're sour because, you know that the progressives are coming to the front—" "And that you do not know that you are going to the rear," Bill interrupted as he paused a few paces from Joe...
...Back to your class struggle again," said Joe...
...It is a practical science...
...and led astray by reformist parties into the blind alleys of reforms that do not reform and improvements that do not Improve...
...aaid Joe aa he slapped Bill on the back...
...Those differences have appeared in American politics in many forms since 1884 when one group was known as 'Mugwumps.' Since 1008 with the revolt against Speaker Cannon in Congress this dissent has been known as 'Progressive.' Bill Flees From Joe's Wrath "What we have in this contest between Bourbon and Progressive," Bill continued, "is a repetition of the old rivalries that have always continued between factions of ruling classes throughout history...
...The United States has a first mortgage on millions of graves...
...It cannot be split into parts and the parts studied in isolation, because the parts have meaning only in relation to the whole...
...New discoveries lie before it.' Marxism is not an official formula, but life itself—a new vision of life and a new way of dealing with it...
...Look what's happening to the Bourbons in the two old parties...
...Joe la Jubilant "Don't pretend ignorance," said Joe with a mocking smile...
...TPHE film "Kuhle Wampe," now * being shown in Paris, is a picture of the wretched lives of the German unemployed, its high point, we are told, being the suicide of one of the many young men "who have never had a chance to work," who look ahead to a life without hope, with energy unharnessed, with a dreadful sense of their uselessness on earth...
...WHEN Marxism first came to the attention of the writer he imagined it was most old stuff, antiquated—good in its day hut superseded by the work of modern thinkers...
...No matter which side won the workers were losers...
...America is now in a more receptive mood...
...It will make us see the necessity and the inevitability of the coming social revolution...
...For those who would truly understand the age in which we live, the evolution of human society during the historical period and its probable evolution in the future Marxism remains an indispensable guide...
...Good night," and Bill turned to leave...
...The ruling class and its political agents have always had some minor differences regarding the best methods of keeping capitalism alive...
...This unity of theory and action is a fundamental feature of Marxism, which must be accepted or rejected as a whole...
...Why has Marxism made so little headway in America ? Why has its study been neglected here...
...Four Titans What Darwin and Wallace did for the natural sciences Marx and Engels did for the social sciences...
...asked Joe...
...After that is settled, a motion for the resurrection of the war dead will be in order...
...Unless the workers understand this they will continue to be deceived by capitalist politicians, labor politicians and trade union officials...
...In the first place, it is misunderstood...
...we must know the how, the why and the wherefore of action...
...In order to understand Marxism it must be approached as a whole and studied as a whole...
...What's it sll about...
...The work that Marx and Engels'' began has indeed been carried forward, extended and brought down to date by the labor of disciples and followers...
...As a method of study Marxism is scientific, materialistic, critical, analytical, radical—going to the roots and revealing the causes of social phenomena...
...I don't like to Tnit a man in his sleep but I'll have to tap you on the kisser if you continue that drivel...
...In thi better off »' * ans...
...I'm glad you got a kick' out of the election," said Bill, "but perhaps I am also s Bourbon...
...You know as well as I do what's happening...
...Bill Begins to Lose Patience "Hold on...
...Before we can act right, we must think right...
...You understood, we must prepare for war...
...Washington correspondents predict that Congress will vote to compel Europe to pay in full and on time...
...They figured America would be too busy collecting election debts to worry about war debts...
...Marxism shows the workers what their real interests are...
...Everywhere they are seeking pretexts against us, against France...
...The progress of science confirms his theories...
...Most of the Marx-critics have failed to read Marx carefully...
...It is an invincible weapon in their hands...
...We must warn the reader against eclecticism—the substitution of eclectics for dialectics...
...Action without theory is as futile as theory without action...
...It clarifies their minds...
...What about the G.O.P...
...Oh boy, but ain't the Bourbons humble...
...As Marx and Engels insisted it is not a dogma but a guide to action...
...So did the whole working class, If you get what I mean," said Bill who turned the corner ss Jos looked daggers st him...
...Marx is more modern than the moderns...
...Now Marxism is not just theory...
...Whereupon Lafayette ssid, "o.k., Amerlcs...
...I cannot figure out the reason for your hilarity...
...For every clear-thinking Marxist how many muddle-headed reformists, how many half-baked enthusiasts who see revolution just around the corner...
...Starting out with Hegel's conception of the whole world—natural, historical, intellectual—as one continuous process of change they took up the study of human society, not in its static but its dynamic aspects—its evolution, growth and development, viewed from the standpoint of the relationship of classes...
...It enables them to see the difference between good snd bad, friend and foe, reality and illusion...
...We'll cell It squsre...
...I thought I had you at the very entrance to the Socialist Party and here you are becoming almost maudlin over the manoeuvers of certain directors of two big political corporations whose main job is to protect the capitalist system that has deprived you and millions like you of the work you must have if you and your families are to live...
...Just as the French enlightenment preceded the rise of the bourgeoisie and the Revolution, so Marxian culture prepares the way for proletarian power and the Socialist society of the future...
...I was tempted to paste you in the eye last week," ssid Joe with mounting anger...
...They have gone out of their way to misrepresent his ideas...
...That's it," Bill answered...
...Now when I thought you were ready to join the Socialist Party you aimper like a child over progressive hacks, get both feet back into capitalist politics and contribute your head as a football for bourgeois politicians to play with...
...1 * "The election showed the Bourbons what aroused voters can do...
...Now don't you get huffy," Bill replied...
...Economic crash, hard times, and middle-class bankruptcy are preparing our minds for Marxism...
...Joe, you almost break my heart," said Bill with a look of compassion...
...But, still, we do like to have our interest on time...
...Wars should be fought on s cash-and-bury basis, » • • • Roosevelt, It Is believed, is In favor of cancellation of all campaign promises, but hs haa not mads up his mind on war debts, see Campaign promises ere written on ice, but war debts sre written in blood...
...Looking at his friend for a moment, Bill stepped forward and continued...
...Marxism is far from finished...
...P. H. Old Friendship of Bill and Jot /« Severely Strained in Dispute Over A Bourbon Progressive Struggle By Autolycus "jJOORAY...
...We fought, of course, for the principle of the thing...
...It develops discrimination and class-consciousness...
...Joe, you seem determined to convince me that the human race consists of muts...
...The European nations waited until after election day to complain about their Inability to pay...
...There Is no truth, but some sense, in the rumor that the Reconstruction Finance Corporation will offer to lend European nations the money for paying the war debts...
...Bourbon and progressive sre members of capitalist parties and both equally accept the capitalist system...
...It seems that you are getting sour because I have read your record to you and you are unable to check it to your credit...
...If there is anything Marxism makes clear it is the futility of reformism, the necessity of fundamental economic change...
...Not let that sink Into your noodle...
...the directors of two great corporations were to express a little mushy sentiment about the dupes they swindle you would be expecting the gift of a yacht, a summer home on the coast of Maine, and a trip to Europe at their expense...
...Hostilities Narrowly Averted "Cut it, Bill...
...the trend of events is in line with his prophecies...
...Remember when our boys landed in Frsnce shouting, "Lafayette, we have come to psy our debt...
...This procedure is characteristic of reformists, revisionists, misleaders and betrayers...
...You move me to tears...
...don't get huffy," said Joe...
...An acquaintance with Marxian theory will help free our minds from the prevailing bourgeois ideology...
...You may be right," isid Joe, "but I got a kick out of the election...
...It is hardly an exaggeration to say that Karl Marx is the greatest thinker of our age, if not of all time...
...Marxism for us is not old stuff, nor a dead theory, nor a fossilized system, but a living, growing thing—a science which we Marxists must push forward diligently if we do not want to fall behind the times...
...As long ss you are interested in the factional manoeuvers In the royal court at Washington your attention will be diverted from the struggle of our elsss to overturn that royal court and everything for which It stands...
...What »1>% world growing Pfalgn is on P President ¦guars with pMetegram ¦tents bewant to B**r*essor¦jtmsd the P Roosevelt Pth» foreign Wm replied, Imfo'i T if* The United States sold Europe a war on the installment plan...
...Did Mac(Continued aa Page Sixteen) PREPARING FOR-WHAT...
...They may be, but whether they are or not it is of no concern to us...
...Then we must fight, hey, my fellows 1" Taking a group of the year's conscripts about the trainingground, the officer, inspecting the Now To Share Work THE Share-W in full Mi Hoover hss offs Roosevelt in * which, I hope, 1 Some suspid lieve that Hooi share work 1 elect, but mere Roosevelt In Share-Shirk mo The PresidJ to advise with debt question.' "I dot a told...
...new undergr" proof, shell" equipped, sdss boys...
Vol. 14 • January 1932 • No. 21
