Joe Wonders Whether NRA Brings Airs From Heaven Or Hot Blast From Hell
Autolycus
Joe Wonders Whether NRA Brings Airs From Heaven Or Hot Blast From Hell By Autolycus "IT'S a funny Labor Day; I don't know whether labor la * going to prison or is breaking jail and started on...
...Is It Heaven or Hell...
...Today capitalism is in collapse and this NRA business is introduced...
...0, mxth the bland superiority expected of a man mk^;-feie)ieJtighly reepeeted position w semtguee the gathering on the necessity of lenl...
...Joe repeated...
...Also—push up the prices—the workers are likely to buy too much...
...leueve with the poet that .A Labor Day is coming when our starry flag shall wave hbove a land where famine no longer digs , ••< a grave, Where money is not a master, nor the workingman a slave— Ftr the right is marching on...
...whst then...
...And if we succeeded...
...St Paul, greatest thinker of the early Christian centuries, said, craftily and cruelly said, "Slaves, obey your masters"—the cruel est masters of the crudest race in the cruel days of Kt Paul's time, And this cold and vicious "Slaves, obey your masters" has served aa a text for millions of sermons—down to our own boastful time...
...Our unions could help us little...
...It turns to powders and pills, liniments and crutches, herbs, salves, tonics, ointments, blood transfusions, surgery—anything to prolong its life...
...William Green, with his "philosophy of labor"—feebly, meekly, shyly repeating: "A fair day's pay for a fair day'* work...
...Actually, he taught the Workers to accept the old deal hideous with injustice and cruelty...
...it may be taken away from us and then we will have hot blasts for the working class as in the nations of Fascist dictatorship...
...Roosevelt COULD NOT CONCEIVE FOR THE WORKERS NO MATTER HOW AMAZING THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF SCIENCE IN MULTIPLYING THB POSSIBILITIES OF LIFE FOB THE WORKERS...
...What does it hold for the workers now, now when at last, at...
...r Toward the Final Struggle "HPIIE President is granted emergency powers by Congress 1 within the limits of the Constitution, and Congress has the power to repeal this legislation...
...I hear the slogan the clans of organized labor...
...The NRA preservetytht traditions while at the same time it drastically interferes with the operation of the capitalist system of production and distribution, but the traditions are no guarantee against oligarchy...
...include no bold, ringing, rousing, splendid call and demand: All—all of life for all— all of the workers, the full, glad, free life for all the workers, for "even the least of these...
...How are the traditions preserved...
...THE speakers file pawichily to their placet, th * tit ore drums snarl a welcome, »,<• • But the people are distrustful of drum, the dnM that have often: milled then...
...or what has it conouere V in all the ages...
...That would be airs from heaven for the tortured workers, the abolition of the whole capitalist system, .-mi a red beacon light held aloft for the workers of #11 nations," BUI replied, ai they entered the hall and participated in the Labor Day celebration...
...But what is it...
...The tradition of democracy runs through our history from the days of the struggle over colonial charters, the American revolution and the Civil War...
...As silent as pagan Plato, aa voiceless as St Paul, as mum as Mr...
...Workers marched together, more or less agreed that they should act together for common interests...
...Our ruling classes may attempt some ab.olute regime and that would Justify a working class revolt...
...However, it may bring airs from heaven or blasts from hell...
...Conditions went from bad to worse till the whole system touched bottom last March and then out of the ditch came this NRA...
...Never, never, before, was this true anywhere at any time on all the earth...
...Roosevelt— on the glad, full life for all the workers,—with leisure and education and every other good thing, that science now makes practicable for the workers, all of th* worker...
...Why does it not assert its mighty power...
...here workers have an opportunity to organize and they should take full advantage of it," Bill replied...
...And now comes a wealthy and personally likeable aristocrat, a gentleman and a scholar, Mr...
...LABOR 1 MaY, 1933 I ET us join the coatlese throng that mill* in ft park on Labor Day, The men in tilted straw hats, the women wilted ssl I tired, v Standing before a platform, restlessly awaiting Ik i Who, with the naivete of well-being, will laud tk position of Labor...
...QOME, hirelings, he thinks—pack closer tm deter, <¦• Come ogle me and applaud me, and the flag <** the band-music J FU tend you home happily satisfied with 'codet sal blue eagles, ru end all this talk about equality and econotM freedom...
...How long we will have this opportunity we do not know...
...To hew and dig, to build and repair, to toil and starve, is not conquering in any proper sense of the term...
...Why does it not rule in Congress, in pslatures and in courts...
...Just this: The vlain working people are in danger of eating too well, dressing too well, being too well housed, and being too well educated: THEREFORE: Plough under one-third of the cotton crop and reduce the wool crops and butcher every tenth cow lest the peo~>le have too much milk, butter, cheese, cream and porterhouse steak, and strut in clothing too plentiful and excellent Adopt "pig birth control," destroy millions of pigs and small shotes and sows soon to farrow, and thus keep one billion, eight hundred million pounds of chops, ham and bacon off the market The cheap guys of the working class will eat too much...
...asked Joe...
...Well, 111 quote the nutty Dane...
...I'm thinking of this NRA business and it's getting my goat Some say it's State Capitalism...
...I answer, because it factionized...
...asvinf money/ PaajsJ shifts: he pauses dramatically, he senses si am magnificent eloquence, Wt*om$<*tote enough to see the grim smiles of hie I Ustensrs, the glances they give each other...
...others that it's State Socialism...
...asked Joe...
...It makes me shiver," Joe concluded...
...Our phse is the NRA...
...A real new deal never even vaguely occurred to him...
...Did you get soused on cheap pop...
...It is as unique in our lives as the ghost was in the life of Hamlet, and that's why you shiver...
...It certainly is some Labor Day compared with twenty years ago," Bill replied...
...Will it always be thus unmindful of its power id prerogatives ? I do not think so...
...Joe asked...
...Labor's Day...
...we come to hear musict '¦ , Well enough on any other day—but on thit, I* them speak of employment...
...Roosevelt interesting, smiling and grinning (with his tongue in his cheek) offering, urging, commanding the acceptance of his "new deal...
...I think a day is coming when Labor Omnia ncil will change conditions...
...And the workers were surely and successfully taught to accept this "new deal...
...It has redeeming power...
...or what is it now conquering...
...And now comes Mr...
...In its old age capitalism endeavors to prolong its life...
...DUT does it mean airs from heaven or blasts from hell...
...Paul, President Roosevelt, Wm...
...Green's philosophy and messages (twenty-five centuries after Plato...
...sot be much longer before Labor casts off *• seeming docility, NwisWWwnaftle to speak when you notice 1 "aWseet trarw/ormatton/ 'T will we have the irony of one day Oeeetijted in the name of our calling l(rWft*rw other day is one of starvation and hardship...
...A blazing new star now shines upon the world: Science with plenty for all, all the people...
...asked Joe...
...Germany turns to a Nazi quack, Italy to a Fascist faker, England to a Nationalist nostrum, Hungary to Magyar magic, and so on...
...Before that period arrive* the working class should or-ganize every industry possible and in every election send representative* of their class info the law-making bodies...
...fp*JlB*j^^ plead (he cause of single ^T****'m*'> hie machine will be unshackled, J Mi will ehant their litany of freedom...
...By George R. Kirkpatrick Four Leaders: Plato, St...
...Will it ways tamely submit to degradation ? I protest* at it will not...
...Always also the working class has been successfully taught to accept the answer furnished by the ruling class, so successfully that the answer, the "code" of life for the workers, has been fastened, cemented in the brain of the workers, and made a fundamental part of the jocial philosophy of life, a part of the very breath and Hood and brain of society* Only "fools," "anarchists" and "disturbers" have ever challenged the masters' historic and present answer to this question...
...No other question is so funda-' mental, so important aa this question...
...Green JJOW well, how abundantly, how nearly full of all the good things of life should the lives of the workers be...
...write from behind prison bars, the victim of ottty tyrant...
...When I get through reading all this stuff my head's in a whirl...
...And in all the ages since the origin of slavery—down through serfdom and centuries of capitalism—this question has always been answered, definitely and decisively, by the ruling class (through its polished spokesmen) for the working class...
...last (Thank sciencel) we have reached a stage in scientific industrial production making it easily practicable to provide plenty, yes, plenty, abundance, of the good things of life for all—all—the people...
...That, just that, Was as high ss the mighty Greek could, dream of a "new deal" for the workers...
...Rip out millions of peach trees and grapevines, lest the working class eat too many peaches and have .00 much sparkling grapejuice and wine...
...Conquerors do not starve...
...Also get ready the machine guns and the rifles to defend the owners cf the cotton mills and the woolen mills if the workers dare demand $11.60 and $12.50 per week, etc...
...Some change, believe me...
...I'm feeling like Hamlet before the ghost of his father...
...Well, the NRA isn't a ghost or a phantasm of the brain but something that is capable of analysis," said Bill...
...WOUtD hail the day "upon which it could be truthfully said, "Labor conquers everything," with inexpressible gratification...
...But why didn't we get some form of capitalist dictatorship immediately...
...Why is it that labor does not conquer anything...
...Now, what is this new deal...
...Not till sterilised, "cemented,1' visionless, dreamless labor leader* ship abdicat** or—become* pr*g* nant, pregnant with a view of life for the workers that Plato, St Paul and the princely aristocrat, Mr...
...Answer: Cheap clothing, cheap shelter, cheap food, cheap furniture, a petty...
...Labor has the ballot...
...Debs was not yet a Socialist when he wrote this Labor Day greeting...
...Conquerors rule—their word is law...
...The homes of conquerors are - not huts, dark and dismal, where wives and children moan like the night winds and sol) like the rain...
...Then there are capitalists who are sabotaging it, many who support it, and others who openly say that Roosevelt is a usurper and an enemy of business...
...And what, precisely what did the "fair day's pay" mean...
...In the light of this fact, of this new star, what of the tooted, boosted, boasted new deal...
...Take notice:— Plato, greatest of the ancient world's greatest, people, outlined a new deal, "society as it should be organized"—thus: a ruling class, a working class, and a military, always a military, ready to serve the ruling class in holding Ike brutalizing burdens of the world on the backs of the workers, bar-dens to be carried for, crusts, raga and the lash...
...St Peal could think no higher for the working class...
...asked Joe...
...In the old days we looked forward for weeks to Labor Day, electing committees, preparing banners and arranging for a big affair...
...That isn't easy to answer, but historical traditions have something to do with it," Bill replied...
...Down with right to strike...
...Jk*D as through the day sounds the glowing w&- tribute to Labor, f*ar through the day Labor listens, undeceived fihraeee of trickstere, , ¦ PMi*»la« band plays a march for their benefit sent homeward, ruminating on the emptiness I 1 tf promises...
...Then came the war, to be followed by these years of unemployment...
...and narrow more than *ueh minimum wages as "education" and a life of fear-fear of poverty, fear of the wolves of want that have harried the poor for ages...
...The crowd eettlee back o*,.ito heels, the men whiiu^ antrhi irk tls e> t%i Stff ties wHB next epeaker comes from Washington, he | feels he makes quite an impression— mU doesn't know that these people are opening their eyes toward the capital, ft) aft*} few years they weigh every thousand il words from the Senate in silence, let their apparent gullibility has been nothing but patience, now ominously ebbing...
...It all depends upon how our class reacts to it...
...Labor Onia Vincit The following is part of a greeting sent by Eugene V. Debs for the Labor Day Souvenir published by the Boston Central La' bor Union in September, 1895...
...id If by th^rterm conquer is meant that labo M and only labor, removes obstacles to physic W progress—levels down mountains or tunnels the it —builds railroads and spans rivers and chaa • with bridges—hews down the forests—digs c # nals, transforms, deserts into gardens of fruilw fulness—plows and sows and reays, delves in tbw mine for coal and all the precious metals—if is meant that labor builds all the forges and fa tories, and all the railroads that girdle the wot and all the ships that cleave the waves, and mai them, builds all the cities and every monumci in all lands—I say if such things are meant wht i we vauntingly exclaim, "'ibor conquers everj » thing," no one will controvert the declaration...
...Listen: 'Be thou a tpirit of health or a goblin damn'd, Bring with thee aire from heaven or blasts from hell, ' Be thy intents wicked or charitable, Thou com'st in such a questionable shape...
...Joe Wonders Whether NRA Brings Airs From Heaven Or Hot Blast From Hell By Autolycus "IT'S a funny Labor Day...
...fHE chairman smites blandly site with his arm * on his belly: ;. He it flattered by the sweating aeeemblage, ik people who came to hear him, (He doesn't know they are here because they Kit nowhere lee to go, That every day theee people come, avidly seeking a anodyne in green, grass...
...In some countries it's hell for the workers because working class organizations are destroyed...
...UTICIANS and magnate*, there hoe been a message for you today, m •¦¦W^e^red* in frowns, a prophecy born of • ttfwttVnes...
...It cheers me...
...Slaves, obey your masters.'" On with compulsory arbitration—with prison for any slaves too proud .0 bend and cramp their lives to the contemptible minimum levels of the "codes" to be defended with jails and rifles, bullets and bayonets for the brave who dare to dream of the life full, full of the good things of life—now trade practicable by a ' thousand scientific achievements...
...A new phase of capitalism," Bill replied...
...I don't know whether labor la * going to prison or is breaking jail and started on the road to freedom," said Joe as he and Bill started for the big meeting to celebrate the holiday...
...asked Joel "That will be the r.nal crisis for the Constitution, for the democratic tradition, and for capitalism itself," Bill replied...
...Only "fools,* "anarchists," and "disturbers" ever ever think of all of life for all of u*,—which would be Labor's Day...
...Joe Quote* Shakespeare "OUT what is it...
...Some of you Socialists say it has the elements of capitalism and others say that it offers a fine opportunity to organize the working class...
...Debs wrote this greeting in his cell in IVoodstock Jail where he was serving a sentence for "contempt of court...
...There is no over-production till all—all—have plenty, .ye*, plenty of the big beet thing* of life...
...But suppose that the NRA fails to restore the capitalist system...
...PVHE firtf speaker dwells with cheerful emphtui * ON public Utilities, How, provided Section 86 is made a law, eleclridtt will be cheaper...
...Labor is not in the condition of a conqueror in the United States...
...It is one of those happy expressions which embodies quite as much fancy as fact...
...Hn ing, subdued every obstacle to physical progra fia tyincii wnat is us condition t The answer is humiliating beyond the power of exaggeration...
...So he has the advantage of extraordinary power that is exercised without violating the Constitution or the democratic tradition...
...I'm serious, Bill...
...The time has arrived for thoughtful men identified with labor—by whieWi I mean the laboring classes—to inquire, whj ft does labor conquer...
...But who-earee for that, when there's just eiw*** money for candles...
...I don't |know what you're talking about," said Bill...
...Turn their faces toward the meanness of past not toward a glad new future full of joy and plenty—plenty for all...
...With press, school, pulpit forum, drama and the radio this new deal is puffed, peddled and promoted...
...My crime was that I sought to icue Pullman slaves from the grasp of a outer of greed and rapacity...
...No...
...But with all these grand achievements to tb credit of labor, how stands labor itself...
...Have millions of workers set to work, not to use the very best machinery and tools to produce swiftly for all, all the people, but to work with their hands...
...Everyone thinks, "What are they waiting for...
...Conquerors are not clothed in rags...
...Remember what he aaid...
...Such traditions become a part of the folkways of the masses and have even a powerful influence on the politicians who do not like to cast them aside if it can be avoided...
Vol. 16 • September 1933 • No. 10
