CLASS-CONSCIOUS RADICALISM IN AMERICA
Shainack, William
CLASS-CONSCIOUS RADICALISM IN ARUMENT Socialism the Only Theory That Plan Survived Through Recurring Periods Of Social Unrest By William 9hainack JtudW, Breekvooi Labor College NO institutions...
...the leading spirit of the International from "ejhe start, and^ his policies for a time maintained undisputed sway...
...A large number of German Immigrants who...
...This Is certainly an Interesting affirmation fof one to make...
...Moralists, philanthropists, all kinds of rational and irrational individuals were hired into the movement...
...12.— George Hughes waa killed and three fellow ironwarkera were inlured this afternoon when they were pitched seventy feet to earth with a ten-ton girder...
...Most believed to...
...A revolution in tbe human mind that is not an evolution from human experience is impossible...
...Birmingham, Ala* Dee...
...Continued from page 2) and democratized, will join the League of Nations, the peace of the world will be assured...
...Thomas Skeehan, of No...
...Providence, R. I., "Dec...
...Robert Inscho, 21 yesrs old, of Netcona, employed st the New Jersey Power and Light Company eubetatien hare, whs shocked to death today while Working at ' the station switchboard...
...Eugene T. Debs...
...The social reformer expects to reform the reactionaries In power by exposure' and admonition...
...Members of the union are not permitted to work on Lincoln's Birthday, Feb...
...He contends that these statements are "a denial of the very foundations of the Marxian interpretation of history and life on which Socialism professes to build, and they are just such words as will prove moat welcome to such men as Bishop Flake and Dean Inge, whose -utterances were quoted in this column last week, and to all who, like them, hold to the present capitalistic order...
...AH those caught violating this rule will be fined...
...The "Associatlonism" Of Fourier, a French philosopher, was advocated in this country by Albert Brisbane...
...Sixty-one cpal miners lost their lives today when a gas explosion occurred in the workings of, Overton Mine No...
...This is tbe situation whloh the hlstcry of the American labor movement reveals for the thirty years between 1865 and 1895...
...It has been physically brought dose to Bueope %y fast steamers, cable* and radio communication...
...Although it pays homage to the view of Dewey and Marx, for a number of year* it acted on the theory that thought ares cedes experience...
...Germany is about to join the League, Russia has several contacts with . non-political organs of the League of Nations and it Is generally believed to be a question of,time when it will join the League as a full fledged member...
...Conscious of the need of change', they know that a revolution must first take place in the human mind before it ban be effected in Society...
...The following year, during a serious disturbance id connection with a strike, a large mass meeting was held In Haymarket Square which the police tried to disperse by brutal force...
...State guardianship, the idea "of educating Children wholly at .public expense and providing them with all their needs Was advocated by Robert Dale Owen and Fannie Wright...
...This agglomeration of *¦ no doubt tended to becloud th« *¦ of tha workers, and this condition creased their Inertness and rfagl| ttess toward tsade union acttftf But, these philosophies and tdeeajH part of the movement and thojjS Persiat hi spits of any opposition aw ¦nag be put forth to eradicate |9 To disregard their presence enfl| Is unwise and tattle...
...Philosophies and ideas are raaessfl of econom 1 c conditions and the spsfl ssychaloglcai stats of mind of thejfl pis...
...Locks Out Workers Thirty-five, workers employed by ths" Puritan Raincoat Company of this city) whose plant is located at 70S Broad,way, were locked out for Insisting that the firm comply with its agreement with their union...
...We placed knowledge before action, not before experience aa Mr...
...An attempt made to operate the plant with strikebreakers was a failure...
...Nothing in the passage he quotes from us suggests any such view on our part...
...It endeavored to^ereate a Communist revolution in this country' for several years upon the Russian model, with aU the trimmings of Socialist councils, armed insurrection aad dictatorships thrown m. Eventually experience taught its leaders and members much that we tried to teach them while 4bey were wandering in romance...
...Moreover, they find it impossible to forgive as for being right-' Being right was ear groat sin...
...Beaktes «be tactode Gregory Matusevitch...
...Of the nations outside of the League, the^ only important ones are Germany, Russia...
...They had fled Germany after the ill-fated revolutions of 1830 and 1848...
...The worker considered his position a temporary junction from which he hoped to reach tbe class of the independent and self-employing...
...If it )s not permitted to organise with us, tt may be driven to organize -against us...
...This theory of government was based upon the idea of communist polonies in which labor would be asspeiated with science and all things would be owned in common...
...The ultra-radical envisages a collapse of the old Institutions and a chance to build anew...
...In the League of Nations the" r^eBonary governments have sough^to create a new and all-powerful Instrument for the enslavement of the world...
...In tarn the Waterproof Garment Workers" Union...
...concertina- Leah Goldman, vtoBnist...
...In that year the Revolutionary Socialist Party in America, an offshoot from the 8. L. P., held a convention In Chicago and they aligned, themselves with the Black International...
...Turkey Is said to be negotiating for membership In the League...
...For no world organization for the prevention of wars can be entirely com* plete without the active and honest participation of the North American colossus...
...4rBl5J tntarmUdbaMaS befd arid wed scan aoUrmg hi itmdow at what it had been...
...They believe In "absolute freedom...
...Whitaker and with John Dewey, but we deny the inference which Mr...
...What la Socialls* reasoning to this matter...
...His view of the origin of ideas Is correct, but la denying our expressed opinion he reasons that a revolution in society can be effected through ignorance...
...No new idea has ever coma to any man that was not born of something, that has happened to him or to some on* else...
...that they are negative rather than positive, cr It Icar rather than constructive...
...It includes all nations of Europe except Germany and Russia, all of Asia except Turkey and Afghanistan, all of Africa except Egypt,' all of America except tbe United States, Mexico and Ecuador and all of Australia and aNew Zealand...
...The movement of citizenship and political action, in the early thirties, coupled wftb Skidmore's idea of the equal distribution of land was advocated, tried and buried...
...10 (A.P...
...They wanted individual freedom, woman suffrage and free love- They organised Section Nine of the International Worklngmen'a Association and began their advocacy...
...using violence, aad m the ¦overthrow at Church aad Stat...
...The Social Democratic Party.' which was organized in 1874, met the following year' with the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor, at the latter'a invitation,- to effect such a combination...
...The, trade unions of that city were greatly influenced by the members of the Black International...
...CLASS-CONSCIOUS RADICALISM IN ARUMENT Socialism the Only Theory That Plan Survived Through Recurring Periods Of Social Unrest By William 9hainack JtudW, Breekvooi Labor College NO institutions or organizations were as heterogeneous in their structure and membership as were the early American trade unions...
...In the first place, the trade union movement was in its Incipiency and like any organisation in such a period It had to go through a process * of crystallzation...
...MatuaevitcK...
...When, we said that "a revolution must first take place in the human mind before it can be effected In society,'' we did not also say that this Intellectual revolution could be effected independent of human experience...
...Intelligent action based upon experience and education does...
...11, with a ball at the Park View Palace...
...The "Idea is born of experience...
...Yet Dewey makes manifest in his 'Human Nature and Conduct' that an utter reversal of fact is rn the notion that thought can precede experience...
...As long as the ideas er philosophies coincided with the prevoiliiw notions and aspirations of the workers, they were accepted without iregard to their soundness or stability...
...This was the case with Victoria Woodhall and Tennessee Claffln, two rich women who were prominent from ISM to 1875...
...long past- In fact, it was one hundred and thirty araars ago...
...23 (A...
...The Lassalleans withdrew and formed separate branches along political Unas, and the ¦Marxians devoted their activity to organising trade unions...
...We assert that an Intellectual revolution must take place in the beads of the masses before they can emancipate themselves...
...Whitaker's most grievous mistake is in assuming that we said that thought must precede .experience wnen the plain reading of our statement was-' that thought must precede action...
...It this is not good logic and .even good Marxism then all the efforts of Socialists to educate the "working class have been so much wasted effort...
...Sorge later carried an a persistent fight against the Anarchist domination of the'L W. A. German, French and Bohemian locals of th> International were formed and later ad American section was also formed...
...Socialist Labor Party Founded Two years later (*87T) the Socialist Labor Party was organized...
...Ferdinand Laasalie, a prominent German Socialist, advocated Socialism along political lines, in contrast to Marxian Socialism, which advocated the 1-ulldlng of trade unions...
...The Haymarhet Tragedy In Chicago' the Anarchist philosophy made tremendous headway...
...In 1867 a number of branches of the International deserted Marxian Socialism for a time for the Socialism of Lassalle...
...Whltaker'a criticism...
...Then," say some of the radical opponents of the League, "why tie up with the present capitalistic and imperialistic League...
...Later efforts were made to combine trade unionism with political action...
...But this sort of notoriety proved obnoxious to tbe sdaer element within the, International, and a controversy arose between the Marxserane* of the L W. A. was being held...
...Local Nine got publicity-galore...
...While one group Would advocate political action, another would agitate for simple trade unionism, and still another tor •o-operatlon and other such panaceas...
...P.).— Eight men are known to be dead in a fire which early tonight entombed seventy-nine miners in the Webb mine, south of here, in Belmont County...
...There were many Other ventures, some of which were fairly practical, as Joslah Warren's schema of co-operative stores, for instance, Each of these Ideas, however, •fas a reflecUon of the times and conations, and they were all destined to Vanish as '. les and conditions •Banged...
...Dissatisfaction, in the ranks at tbe 8. L. K led ta the fiinaattna at a new Socialist organisation, kuesg Srst as the old Social Democratic .Part* and later as simply the Bhatfllft Party...
...P.).—Twenty 'fishing beats containing 150 fishermen are missing in a storm which struck Northern Japan yesterday...
...was repeats at not period a baay phttosophfes and ideas, esgjfl which ware rational and souncVj others' which tacked both of •§M qualities...
...February g, at the, Bore Park Labor Lyceum...
...Anarchy entered into a new phase when in 1881 the anarchists of Europe founded the International Working People's Association, known as the Black International...
...had just reached this country flocked Into this organisation, and the- 8. L. P. became quite powerful...
...Secondly, the psychology of the worker was not _that of a class conscious wage-earner...
...This latter group, known as Revolutionary anarchists, originated in countries such aa Russia, where gross oppression and enslavement existed...
...Members of the Bonnaz-Embroider-, exs' Union...
...Always tbe experience goes before the idea, the doing something, or seeing something done, before the concept of something else is to be born...
...The revolutionary movement was thus stripped of its leaders, and was left In a weakened state for the time being, it was not until 1867 that the movement began to recover...
...Upon sanding here, they formed revolutionary societies and organized workingmen's educational clubs...
...Here, Indeed, were interesting newspaper stories to be gotten, and the press was not -alow in grasping the opportunity...
...Whitaker implies...
...necessity of this actlonl Blind action does not lead to social emancipation...
...His' ideal Society «u an agglomeration at losety federated autonomous groups of proAueam...
...A' I Through clever manipulations the Eastern group was able to effect a compromise with the Chicago element) which placated the Western trade union group for the tone being...
...at a time when stringent antiSocialist laws were passed there...
...This party^ staged a vlgaroaa fight age test the Mational araawhack Party, which was Soon, however, the Ho nla lists tab- eat with the trada unions and basin denouncing them for their iiusayijaiirfaa te.ctlce and their poUXjeal trading...
...We have seen that WH the revolutionary philosophies' wfl pervaded the American labor sM ment met their Waterloo due to tff lack of adaptability and unpopuaafl One philosophy, however, hat fl severed and Is gradually aaaaasfl By virtue of this fact it follows flafl ta the only philosophy which Is aajS able, rational and practical, and H philosophy IS Socialism...
...Another grVup which became pop-*1 Olar at this time was the Anarch lata, ansrrhnsts oppose all forma of government except by voluntary association...
...The world is organizing for mutual protection...
...our own peace and the League needs us for the peach of the world...
...They had no * definite aspiration, and their philosophies were sporadic and vague...
...London, Dec...
...In 189a...
...Kxperianee, knowledge, action...
...It is but natural that a movement of such extraordinary variations as the labor movement was to this period of radicalism would attract peculiar elements Into its told...
...A Revolution Through Ignorancet We agree with Mr...
...Whitaker disagrees with the following view we expressed in "the New Leader: ' / "These men and women are the advance couriers of the new'emancipation...
...The Conflict With Anarchism Meanwhile the Socialists hi this country kept,in dose' touch with European radical movements and theories...
...Local to, of the International Ladies' Garment Workers, declared a strike against this firm...
...York, Dec...
...We assumed that every Intelligent reader knew that "experience goes before the idea" and that the idea In turn reacts on society and changes It...
...The trouble with our.ultra radicals and middle class reformers alike la...
...This unsettled state of mind of tbe workers in the movement was due to many reasons...
...G. W. U„ will celebrate this Lincoln's Birthday evening, Feb...
...The trade unionists were of a conservative American rim...
...John Dewey," he writes, "is not reckoned a Socialist, but Is, an entirely respectable and very widely respected philosopher...
...It baa established intimate political, economic, social aad cultural use what **• rem of ska war...
...Exfpenencojj Knowledge, Action Mr...
...The extension of markets after the £vil War, followed by the rise of the pltalist system, large scale manufacturing, and the twin evils of competistpn and cheap production, tended to jtnange the psychology of the American Workers...
...Someone threw a bomb Iff as* i9wl»de« fas* °*£e\% reM...
...The League of Nations is an existing institution and la very much alive...
...Germans Bring French Ideas The radical German groups who lmS[grated to this country brought with em theories of French Utopian So?lalisnr...
...Mats Dora Rosa, soprano, and Abraham iatorioat baritone, an addTes^wliraiso...
...These clubs were of various natures...
...some - were communistic, while others had different revolutionary aijp*- These radical groups took an active part in the aboMUon movement, and when tbe Civil War was declared a ntimber of the leaders volunteered their services...
...Wilson's war addresses of 1917 are much nearer to us in point of time aad actual conditions than Washington's farewell address of 1796...
...We are an organic part of the modern world aad wisdom and fairness alike require that we take our full share la Its struggles for tbe maintenance of its civilization...
...It is this: la the early stages 'of capitalist society a Socialist movement is impossible...
...EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE, ACTION By The Editor OUR * attention has been called to a criticism of an item which appeared in The New Leader on Jury 25...
...Whether this was intentional or merely a piece of bad logic on his part he alone can answer...
...What is wrong with that...
...Music will be sup.plied by a prominent Jazz band and dancing will begin at 8 p. m. and continue until the late hours of the morning...
...Out of the 89 sovereign nations of the world 56...
...Why not wait until Socialism has conquered a sufficient number of important countries to enable it to organize a true brotherhood of nations...
...This newly-formed group advocated armed resistance agalflst the brutality of the police, who were accustomed to disperse workmuewmTinm?*m to aw^9s3%mtC kaag as thsaVorbdaos of the ouagiHa group and the Baxtarn grouaw^^b* atlou at trade unions, watte the opposing group, led by Jotohann Moot, a man of great ability, who had been expelled from the socialist ranks, favored pare and simple AnaMhlsm...
...Curiously enough, it Is known on the 'Pacific Coast that Mr...
...The groat problem of the Socialist movement Is how to translate the idea growing oat of experience into intelligent action...
...Experience" under capitalism has not evolved to the stage where a social order beyond capital ism can be perceived by the meases...
...110th street and Fifth avenue...
...This friction finally resulted in the expulsion of Bakunin and his followers from the International and in the removal of the office of the General Council from London to New York in 1872...
...Anarchists, like many other philosophic groups, are divided in their views as to methods and tactics of approach...
...The New Leader is capable of an erroneous judgment or a misstatement of f/ict like all other publications but we do not think it was wrong in this instance^ Because the Seattle Union Record has considerable circulation in the State of Washington and we have readers in that State also, we think it worth while %o consider Mr...
...Whit-9 aker says that it is aU wrong...
...r Dover, N. J* Dec...
...A few geniuses like Marx could see beyond capitalism, but only a few...
...After its expubdoa from the "nternationai the) boat functioned for a while and was known as the Spring Street group...
...We need the League of Nations just as much and precisely for the same reasons as all other nations of the world, ^e need It for...
...Whfld the powers of Oppression and reaction* entrench themselves in tbe governments and industries, lit the press and the school and In all vital organs of our public life, they are content to remain outside and to hurl their thunderbolts of criticism and imprecation against the iniquitous predatory rule...
...Bonnaz Embroiderers' Ball Lincoln's Birthday Eve...
...Goldman on Bora Park Pro trram An all-star program haa been arranged tot the concert to be bold this...
...2 of the Xlabsma Fuel snd Iron Company, in the Cahaba Fielda, south of Birmingham...
...This is the saqwenvs of social change...
...New...
...Members and friends are urged to attend...
...Proudhon, of Prance, and later by Bakunin' aad Kropopkin, of Russia...
...We must decline to accept the statement of Mr...
...In making the assertion we did not attempt to go Into the origin of ideas, although we have frequently done so* In The New Leader...
...Hence, we see many philosophies and Ideas taking root among the workers...
...Every disturbance In Europe or Asia causes a repercussion in the United States...
...But the reactionaries never reform and ths capitalist Institutions rarely collapse, and when they do collapse, they leave behind them chaos and desolation and extremely shaky' foundations for rebuilding...
...The two go together or the working' class will remain a subject class...
...Saturday evening...
...4 The Inroads By New Idea* These facts account for the readiness with which new Ideas were accepted by the working class...
...This party set forth a program of "immediate demands" which In clod ad government ' ownership at monopolies, mines, railways, etc The party entered 'political campaigns from the year tt was organised* (1909) with varying success...
...The industrial conditions which then prevailed, L e., limited markets, small scale production, and particularly the easy access to cheap land, contributed to this feeling...
...Local 4. of the Amalgamated Clothing Workera' Union, withdrew several cutters of his local who were employed by this firm when informed of Che strike declared by the officers of Jhe Waterproof Garment Workers...
...This philosophy, which dates'back to ancient Greek times, wag promulgated by men Ilka Herbert Spencer, of England...
...SHOULD THE U. S, JOIN THE LEAGUE...
...Mexico and the United States should join 1L As far as the United States la concerned, there is not a' single .good reason why it should stay out of the League" The time when tbe United States waa a small agricultural community with few needs beyond its own vast and practically untouched territory, removed by three months of sailing time from the continent of Europe, the time when George Washington admonished his provincial countrymen to stay at home and net ta entangle themselves hi foreign alliances, is lAng...
...Turkey, Mexico and the United States...
...Labor's Dividends Tokyo, Dec...
...In 1111 it polled nearly a million votes for Its presidential candidate...
...The answer is that the radicals cannot wait for their League because the League has not waited for the radicals...
...19.—Six men were entombed and burned to death when fire followed an explosion in' a Staffordshire coal mine today...
...The Central Labor Union of Chicago openly participated hi demonstrations, with the Anarchists, In connection with the eight-hour movement of 188S...
...Philip Orlofaky, manager of the cutters' union...
...however, an opposition to Marx was formed, fed by Michael J?akunin, the famous apostle of revolutionary Anarchism...
...The dissenting view is by Robert Whitaker which appeared in the Seattle Union Record of October 10...
...Their purpose was to fight conventions...
...This effort, however, proved futile, as the members of the Knights of Labor were not susceptible ta Socialistic ideas...
...They began to feel the ravages of modern industry- The presence in this country of a large number Of German immigrants who were already imbued with a spirit of classgonsclousness helped to awaken the American workers and made them realise their true condition...
...representing about 89 percent of the globe** total population, are members of the League...
...Since than the United States has become a powerful modern nation...
...The union Intends ta conduct a vigorous strike against this firm until it yields to an its detnands tor a thorough union shop, according to a statement issued by A. Welngarten, secretary of toe union...
...JrVa see ap need of changing what we wrote and there is no fundamental difference between us, except that he drew a wrong inference from the plain meaning, of what pre wrote...
...He reads this view into our statement and then ascribes it to us...
...Whitaker draws from what he quotes from us...
...Bit by bit they are wresting from them their political rule, their industrial control and their baneful Influence on the agencies of public opinion and popular education...
...They are determined to follow capitalist reaction into aU of Its strongholds and to contest every inch of the around In active, face-to-face fight vrTth them...
...The history of the Socialist movement lit the United States following the ClvU War is closely linked with the history of the International sS^orkingmen's Association, an organisation which was formed in London in 1864...
...We spoke of a revolution in society and such a change is action—action on a momentous scale by human beings whose experience and education have Impressed Jthem with the...
...But no matter how widespread may be the experience, the tatter MUST be registered "in the human mind before it can be effected in society.'* If it isn't registered there no matter what experience we may have, there will be no Socialist revolution...
...The Socialists and organized workers are not content with sterile criticism and outside opposition...
...It therefore follows thatl value and the success of an tea&l philosophy lias in its...
...Lseil Nina wassxpeUed, ar^ thereupon M Jotoed Baknnin's Aroap...
...Several housee were wrecked and forty vessels capsized* r - Belhiire, Ohio, Dec...
...s bankers influence and sometimes di-ect the policies of foreign sovereignties causing all sorts of "entanglements...
...They aligned themselves with certain groups and forced their ideas upon the ill-advised (roups which accepted them, and thus paused hullabaloos galore...
...Some believe in peaceful methods, while others have believed In violence...
...Class-consciousness, though still on a small Scale, was beginning to take root among the more Intelligent class of American workers...
...Whitaker as well as his conclusion, birt before we can consider either we must permit him to tell why he thinks we are wrong...
...Whitaker is very sympathetic with the Communist movement, more sympathetic than he is with the Socialist movement.' Now, It is the Communist movement more than any other today that subscribes to the view which he ascribes to us...
...The great masses of the people, the working people under Socialist leadership, must .wrest that weapon from their hands and torn it into an* instrument of world liberation...
...11 The labor aspwo^BBBJ tt can thgfl Man...
...This International was founded by Karl Marx, the first Identic Socialist in the world, together .with the British trade unions, in the effort to prevent scabbing on European unions by Immigrant labor...
...22 (A...
...Local 66, of the XL...
...adaptabQkg J conditions...
...The murder of an unknown and unimportant Austrian grand duke In an obscure Serbian village cost us the lives of fifty thousand American boys, billions of dollars in money and .Untold anguish to our Whole nation...
...In the later stages of capitalism when industry concentrates into great organizations of capitalist owners and cooperative production brings co-operative labor in great masses together, the Idea of a co-operative society—Socialism—begins to make sa impress ton an the sainds of th# worker* That Impression becomes more widespread through conscious organization, and education in -a Socialist movement...
...Puritan Raincoat Co...
...Many branches of the lubtrndtJtnsl Workingmen'a Associatton were formed under the leadership sit P, A. Sorgo, who is known as the father of American Socialism...
...10 Ramspo avenue, Paterson, flagman at the Maple avSauaa crossing of the Bergen CourTry- Railroad abort cut there, was killed yesterday by a passing baggage train...
...Karl Marx was...
Vol. 3 • February 1926 • No. 4
