First Socialist Mayor Mourns Passing of Morris Hillquit
Chase, John C.
First Socialist Mayor Mourns Passing of Morris Hillquit By John C. Chase One of the most moving tributes to the memory of the incomparable Morris Hillquit is the following, written as a letter...
...A preventive war against Germany, repeatedly put forward by the bourgeois press, is refuted by all sections of French labor and the infinitely greater part of the peace loving French people...
...tannot buy till the gates are opened," said Joe with disgust...
...The discussions centered around the French government budget for which a majority of the Socialist deputies had voted, thereby violating the decisions of the party congress at Avignon...
...ownership gives power to open or close the gates, that means that the owners can condemn us to starvation...
...The machine is idle and workers are idle...
...We demand, 'Open the gates so we may produce.' They answer, 'We cannot sell what you produce.' The workers answer, 'But we can consume what we produce.' To this the capitalist owners reply, 'What workers can use does not count...
...Why shouldn't we open the gates if the owners refuse to open them...
...shoot...
...Crisis in French Socialism Paris...
...Recent events in the French Chamber of Deputies make this article particularly timely and informative...
...By this loyalty he gave years which might have been conserved for himself and for you, but his temperament would not allow of rest and the peaceful years that might have been possible...
...It was my great privilege to be associated with Comrade Hillquit in those days 'way back there when we all were young and laying the foundations of the movement which has always felt the masterly influence of his wonderful intellect Those days I have never forgotten nor the influence of Comrade Hillquit over those of us who were privileged to ait with him in the organization councils and conventions of those early days of the American Socialist movement...
...Things, however, did not go so far...
...I realize now, as never before, that Comrade Hillquit has literally given his life to the workers of the world, not in the sense of devoting his entire life to them only but by working for them up to the very last moment when his physical being could no longer stand the strain...
...I HAVE repeatedly mentioned the conflicts within the French Socialist Party which reached a climax at the last party congress...
...We are outside the gates and the owners are inside...
...I know that words of sympathy are shallow...
...In elections a big majority of the working class voted lor the candidates and parties of the capitalist owners...
...words and deeds The attitude of the right can be explained in a few words...
...I have never realized until now that he and I were of practically the same age, for he always seemed to me in those days of thirty-odd years ago to be so much more experienced, so much better grounded in the ethics and the science of the working class movement that he seemed to bear a fatherly aspect to me, who considered myself a tyro and youngster...
...if there is no market the galea remain closed...
...But can we vote the insiders out and the outsiders, our class, in...
...The problems of the French work-ing class are today in the most dramatic sense of the word the problems of European peace...
...j whether jjm willing to IB the masse* j] crs regnlsnB influence *Bj the SocialnSj parliaments™ in governflSj tion, the SI ship of J«««P party andipj future IjjB there bs'«j| to minima*™ 1 :l ts '"jj Hi Socialism ducting in i>*The SoIS) it seems tetc^e?-mm or lofl it, is BI'»f their Kt which is • ft* French fs» and the J» net very Jjhee upon $T of- close jptesey, is J^bBt holds bfwkre J^^eices of J^fc exercise nr^eVderu4P*»«e as IJOlt the j^K^ehould in France...
...A policy of toleration is a vital necessity...
...The Socialist Party machine is ready for the battle, and the leaders enter the campaign In a spirit of confidence engendered by the thought of a task well done in the two years and more that the Socialists were the moving spirits in the government...
...Then why don't you buy?' comes the challenge from the insiders...
...In reality the budgetary question was only the shield behind which the greater battle for and against the toleration of the left-bourgeois Daladier Government was fought...
...Suppose we examine tin's illness...
...That's why we cannot open the gates of employment, although we are more numerous than the capitalist owners...
...That the campaign will be hard fought goes without saying...
...Nobody knows what the convening of the Chamber will bring, least of all the French Socialists who are heatedly debating their future course...
...It is simply an explanation of existing cond'tions and of a peculiar personal policy which fits the French character to an admirable extent, but which might fall decidedly short in the hour of need...
...Millions of working class votes have approved capitalist ownership of industry, but these votes mean even more than that...
...The argument is like the squirrel," said Bill, "but the results are like men who have raised a large stock of food, turned it over to a gang of bandits, and then complain because they deprive themselves of what they desperately need...
...The tyrants of the Germany of today need a gain of several years which will give them an opportunity for the fulfillment of their deep-laid plans...
...I can't give a final answer to that," BrH replied, "but elections are roll calls .to determine how many are ready to discharge the capitalist class," The study class opened and the pals gave attention to the instructor...
...You said it, and so have I," Bill responded...
...They have locked the gates of employment and there are ten million workers outside asking the owners to open the gates...
...It is quite convenient but senseless to abuse the right party wing and its all-embracing toleration policy as long as the lengthening shadows of a bellicose Hitler Germany rest on the waters of the Rhine and the "Third Reich," filled with a crusaders' spirit of hatred and vengeance, is rearming with feverish fanaticism...
...It is around the President's increasing anti-Labor and Socialist leanings that the whole crisis has revolved...
...Yes," said Bill, "and the workers answer, 'You ask why we do not buy and we reply that we have no wages.' The owners answer that commodities are not produced for use but for sale and if the workers cannot buy there is no market...
...First Socialist Mayor Mourns Passing of Morris Hillquit By John C. Chase One of the most moving tributes to the memory of the incomparable Morris Hillquit is the following, written as a letter to Mr...
...Everybody hoped that -the Paris meeting would definitely clarify the issue but, as often happens after prolonged acrimonious debates, the result was very meager...
...Minority Owners and Majority Workers •"THAT follows logically," said Joe, "btU the owners are only a handful confpared with the millions who have no jobs...
...So be brave in the consoling knowledge that you have journeyed through life with a heroic Man, well-beloved in death as he was in life...
...Spain's grave new problem is to elect n Parliament that genuinely reflects the country's views...
...In the first place," said Bill, "raw materials, plants and machines are owned by big capitalists...
...In elections the working class have stupidly voted all these agents into power...
...International Socialism and Marxism must be replaced by » Socialism tfa terms of nati cialist Parti strongly oh in order nil the middlet of GernutT Democraty | these argsp to me last d Germany p unfortai position aril Socialism, 41 whatever y«*J not very del Its attitude A questions ii ¦ though tbesl International have dearsm tent Mucii party conft struggles f German 'ft the opposio actericed by ism and n the right i power and will do no I cialists trie from the bit German cos Una There III highly ill" labor mov« between thp political ajb close sndssjj the cwpmshjl leaders...
...Whaddaya mean...
...Bill inquired...
...Then and there the question will appear again, how far the majority of the Socialist deputies intend to go in their toleration of the Daladier Government, [rat's, of course, was written before the fall of the Daladier Government.] I believe, that the dangers of an extensive party split are overestimated...
...But this is Only a small part of the new war dangers and of the problems which the conquest of Germany by the brown-shirted terror bands has raised for the whole world...
...THERE are no words adequate to express to you my sympathy for you personally at this time when not alone you and your family are mourning but when every one throughout the civilized world whose fortune it was to know Morris Hillquit is deeply mourning a great loss...
...While your personal loss is great you should not repine, for you can always be consoled by the thought that your comrade husband did that which gave him satisfaction and happiness, even though he may have known that be was inviting death prematurely by his efforts during the later years of his life...
...Inside and Outside the Factories "Y^U are>" Bill replied...
...I can assure you that none can be more sincere than mine when I say that a master mind has ceased to function, that a real man and a true martyr to the toiling masses has been taken from us...
...France, resting on her formidable strength, seems calm, but the calm Surface hides a deep unrest and a growing fear of the 'morrow...
...8. The greatest crisis in the short history of the Spanish Republic is thus launched...
...we are a nation of ninnies...
...Because we passed our power to open and close the gates to the owners," said Bill...
...It means that we placed the governing powers of cities, stales and the nation into the hands of agents of the tnvners...
...That's simple...
...I know too that you will be deluged with many of them from all over the world...
...French Socialism alone is too weak for the seizure of power...
...Behind the Lerroux supporters stands President Alcala Zamora, first Premier of Republican Spain, whose almost fanatical affection for the Jesuits caused the acute rift between him and his former colleagues, ex-Premier Azana's Socialist Cabinet...
...if we cannot sell, there is no market and the plants will remain idle.'" "That's what has happened," said Joe...
...Like a Squirrel in a Cage "IT'S like a squirrel in a cage...
...However, the split with the extreme right wing seems unavoidable, which will then have an, opportunity to look for action in the broader and at present apparently promising field of national Socialism...
...Every movement — Royalist, Carljst, anarchist—at once raised its head in anticipation of intrigues and plots during the coming weeks...
...Yes, but listen further to what those inside and outside say...
...SOCIALISTS READY FOR SPANISH ELECTIONS SPAIN'S stop-gap Premier, Martinez Barrios, after deciding that he would not face the Spanish Parliament after the drastic treatment of Senor Lerroux, one-week Premier, urged President Zamora to order an immediate General Election, which will be held Nov...
...always traversing a circle and getting nowhere," said Joe...
...His mighty influence will be felt long after those of us whom he left behind are also called...
...wM personal wb not confinsjfc true of sffl France...
...The working class is the hope of the world and when it awakens to its class interests it will make short work of these absurdities of the capitalist system...
...The adjournment of the congress signified a moral split which seems well nigh unbridgeable and which may soon be followed by an open party split...
...A great many of the right dissenters, who shout their opposition from the house-tops, will think it over and accept the party instructions...
...And you're simple to think that it is that simple in a society of capitalist production," said Bill...
...Am I right...
...Senor Lerroux, whom President Zamora had himself banned as unsuitable to be one of the leaders in the pre-Republican days, became his favorite...
...And now they are getting down to bedrock," said Joe...
...All this, of course, does not increase the forces and the striking power of the French proletariat...
...Faure, assisted by Blum, called upon the delegates to rep-rimnnd their par lia men tar i -aim for breach of discipline, whereupon the rightists made it known that such a public condemnation would mean an open split...
...Lerroux was picked to oust the Socialists from power and influence, but the scheme failed with Lerroux's crashing defeat the first time he faced the Cortes...
...But such a clarification will and cannot come as long as the great European problems are not clarified and have given way to a clearcut picture where the Europe of 1933 really stands...
...The drastic decision caused a stir in every town and village of Spain...
...Those ballots come back as clubs, rifles, injunctions and laws of the guys who shut us out of industry," said Joe...
...Hillquit by John C. Chase, on* of the founders of the Socialist party...
...In every crisis in the movement it was always certain that our Comrade Hillquit could be depended upon to see the right road to travel and with his calm and judicial mind, clarify every problem for all of us...
...As simple as rolling off a log," said Joe...
...But the Neo-Socialists say one thing and mean another...
...Yes, the gates remain closed till we can buy and we...
...Our civilization is stocked with judges, mayors, governors, police, militia and soldiers...
...Clarification Needed Undoubtedly, the French movement needs a clarification of its positions...
...What these phrases mean is clear...
...Were these practical if shortsighted considerations all, a great deal could be said in their defense...
...Only if it is possible to chain the mad war dogs of Europe, now rampant in Germany, then and only then will French labor be, able to march forward from success to eueeeie...
...21, and the new Cortes assembles Dec...
...Correct...
...asked Bill...
...We are your greatest market,' the outsiders say...
...Ever think of what that means...
...I have had some experience in strikes," said Joe...
...All right, Wise Guy...
...Now let's see how it works...
...Bring the two together...
...That is what a logician would call a major premise," said Bill, "and we agree upon it...
...Comrade Chase, a young shoemaker, was elected Socialist Mayor of Haverhill, Mass., in 1898 and reelected several terms thereafter: In 1906, then a resident of New York, he was candidate for Governor, and he served several years a* State Secretary of the party in that state...
...i "Dont' get discouraged," observed Bill...
...asked Joe...
...Daladier and the bourgeois Left are the lesser evil against Tardieu and his conservative militaristic cohorts...
...Actually the struggle will be dramatic—and one to the death— between the Socialist Party and its numerous progressive adherents on one side and the Conservative forces, led by Senor Lerroux, the one-time Republican, on the other...
...They •peak of new ways and new methods...
...asked Joe with a puzzled look...
...Old Pals' Corner An Examination of Insiders and Outsiders in Factory Production Convinces Pals We Need Power By Autolycus *JT'S funny that the big guys can't get the old production machine going again," said Joe, as he and Bill entered a Rand School class...
Vol. 16 • October 1933 • No. 18
