"The powers of capital, through their political and so-called educational agencies, and often with the aid of the churches, are constantly at work prejudicing them against Socialism and arraying them against organized labor.
"The Socialists must make energetic efforts to counteract these baneful influences and to reach the foreign workers with their propaganda.
"The Socialist Party has branch organizations among all, or almost all, of these nationalities, and a few of these organizations have reached a high degree of strength and a large measure of influence among the people of their nationalities....
"These organizations work under conditions different from those of the party as a whole. In each case they deal with a special type of persons, of a psychology and of economic conditions peculiarly their own, and they are the most competent judges of the methods of propaganda best suitable to their own countrymen. The party should allow such non-English speaking organizations the greatest freedom of action, and should a.s.sist them in every way in their special work of Socialist propaganda."
It may interest the reader to learn that the Socialist Party is so much concerned with its propaganda among foreigners, that in its 1913 May Day parade in New York City pink leaflets headed "WOMEN, BECOME CITIZENS,"
were distributed. They read:
"If you hope to be a voter, remember that you must be a citizen!
Don"t delay! Come to the NATURALIZATION BUREAU of the SOCIALIST PARTY next Tuesday evening, and let us help you to become naturalized." It was, of course, an understood fact that the Socialist Party would, besides helping such women to become naturalized, also help them to become Revolutionists.
On May 18, 1912, May Wood-Simons reported to the National Convention of the Socialist Party the recommendations of the Woman"s National Committee, urging the carrying of the propaganda of Socialism to the housewife, the woman on the farm, to teachers, foreign speaking women and women in industry. ("The Call," New York, May 19, 1912.)
Though the zeal of the national foe in its propaganda of revolutionary principles is manifested in many other ways, only a few more ill.u.s.trations will be given. Many thousands of copies of the "Appeal to Reason," when it was the foremost American Socialist paper, found their way into the camps and upon the battleships of our country.
At the Socialist National Convention of 1912, held in Indianapolis, Delegate Kate Sadler pointed out how Socialist locals had been organized on various battleships in the navy and how she was accustomed to hold meetings on Sunday afternoons on the men-of-war at the navy yard, Bremerton, Washington. "We"ll get the boys organized into the Socialist Party," she declared, and the Socialist Convention voted to adopt the resolution. ("The Call," New York, May 17, 1912.)
During recent years no one who has carefully read the public press could have failed to notice that the Socialists have been carrying on an active campaign of lies and deceptions in the form of letters which they have sent to the editors of the daily papers, with the request that the same be published for the enlightenment of the public regarding the general excellency of the Socialist movement.
In "The Call," New York, March 23, 1913, it is said that "the man or woman who can convey the message of Socialism through speaking is fortunate, and when it can be done through speaking and writing, the Comrade is doubly lucky. But Ryan Walker can do it through speaking and writing and the cartoon that makes you laugh or makes you mad.... The cartoons that Walker has been putting over in "The Call," "The Coming Nation" and the "Appeal to Reason" have been copied in Socialist papers all over the world, in England, Scotland, Germany, Australia, and they are doing their work in these countries the same as they do it here. The Socialist cartoonists have been accomplishing some of the biggest propaganda work that is done by any one of our active members, and while they are getting the laugh on capitalism, and getting the laugh on the fool workingman, they are arousing the worker to cast aside his foolishness, and at the same time cast aside the foolishness of the capitalist. Getting the laugh on the capitalist, showing how ridiculous and weak he is, is a great preliminary to getting rid of him."
The Socialists are inspired with such an ardent desire for the success of their movement, that they have written theatrical plays and have even had moving picture films made, so that by representing in a most vivid manner the evils and abuses of our day, they may persuade the unwary that Socialism would mean the absence of sufferings and wrongs of every description.
We elsewhere have called attention to I. W. W. effort to organize the negroes of America. The work of making rebels of the negroes is also carried on a.s.siduously by the Socialist Party of America. Says "The National Civic Federation Review," July 30, 1919:
"Among the propaganda material found on sale by agents of the Lusk Committee in the Rand School book store were copies of "The Messenger," on the front page of which it is called, "The Only Radical Negro Magazine in America," of which Chandler Owen and A.
Philip Randolph are editors....
"Both of the editors of this magazine, who are negroes, are instructors at the Rand School of Social Science."
In "The Open Forum" of the September, 1919, issue of "The Messenger"
three letters are given as follows:
"Dear Comrade Owen:
"I enclose a check for $25.00 as a contribution to the organization fund being raised by "The Messenger." I know of no more important and vital work in the field of American Socialism and Labor today than the effort of your group to incorporate the large ma.s.ses of Negro workers in the ranks of the advanced and cla.s.s-conscious white workers in the industrial and political fields.
"My heartiest wishes for the success of your movement.
"Sincerely and fraternally yours,
"Morris Hillquit."
"To the Editors of "The Messenger":
"Dear Comrades.--The work which you are doing is vital. Your people const.i.tute more than a tenth of the total population of the United States. We are all native born Americans. If there is to be progress made, particularly in the great Southland, by the Socialist Movement, it must be made by and through colored people.
Enclosed is my check for Five Dollars, for the first share of stock in "The Messenger." With it goes my heart good wishes for the success of your work.
"Yours truly,
"Scott Nearing."
"Dear Sir and Brother:
"Enclosed please find check for the amount of $100.00 in reply to the appeal presented by you at the last meeting of our Board of Directors for support to enable you to continue the n.o.ble work you have undertaken to enlighten the colored worker in this country upon his being exploited by the master cla.s.s.
"We wish you success in the work you are conducting on this field and you can rely upon the a.s.surance of our organization for all possible a.s.sistance in the future.
"Fraternally yours,
"P. Monat."
In view of the frightful character of the very active propaganda that is being carried on by the enemies of our country, does it not behoove every loyal and patriotic American to rise in his power and wipe out the Red plague that is rapidly disseminating its destructive germs throughout the United States?
CHAPTER XXIV
EXPERTS IN THE ART OF DECEPTION
It remains to be shown that the rapid spread of Socialism, besides being due to the extraordinary zeal of the Revolutionists, is largely the result of artful deception.
The Marxians, who are fond of being called "scientific" Socialists, may very aptly be compared to little boys who might try to prove to their teacher that the solution of a certain problem in mathematics was correct, because that of another problem of an entirely different nature was wrong. Or, better still, they may be likened to an egg dealer who would attempt to prove to a customer that every egg in one crate was good, because a few in another were unfit for use. The appropriateness of comparing the "scientific" Socialists to the amusing youngsters, or to the illogical egg dealer, will be evident to the reader when he reflects that the revolutionists, north, south, east and west, from the first day of January till the last of December, condemn the present system of government and industry, endeavoring thereby to persuade the people that Socialism is the only remedy for the evils from which they are suffering.
Most of the speeches and writings of the "Knights of the Red Flag"
consist in severely criticising prevalent evils. By attacking the present system of government and industry they hope to have the workingmen conclude that the Socialist Party alone can save mankind from complete ruin. This, then, is the way in which "scientific" Socialism leads unreflecting laborers to believe that the contemplated state would be the most perfect inst.i.tution under heaven, replete with countless blessings and free from every evil.
It often happens that the revolutionists dazzle the eyes of the weary with the vivid pictures that they draw of intolerable civil and economic conditions, whether these be true, false or imaginary. The result is that the poor people frequently brood over the wrongs from which they happen to be suffering. They become so thoroughly discontented and blinded with cla.s.s hatred that they are no longer able to see the advantage of reforming the present system by const.i.tutional and lawful methods. Finally, when they have almost lost their reason and can no longer realize that the drug offered them has never been proven capable of remedying the evils that weigh heavily upon them, they accept and swallow the poisonous dose of Socialism and become a thousand times more wretched than they were before. The very potion they drink, with a view to being cured, makes them most unhappy for the rest of their lives, and in many cases for all eternity. If there is anything that non-Socialists should be on their guard against it is this base form of tactics by which the revolutionists have been eminently successful in gaining new recruits.
If those whose party emblem is a flaming torch could even prove that everything without exception in the present system of industry is worthy of condemnation, and that the entire government is corrupt to its very core, it would no more follow from this that Socialism was the remedy than it would follow that the solution of one problem in mathematics must be correct because another solution of an entirely different nature was wrong, or that all the eggs in one crate must be good because there were some in a second crate unfit for use.
It is very common for Socialists to a.s.sume that certain fundamental principles have been proven to be true, whereas the fact is that these very premises, from which they draw their conclusions, are often false and without the slightest foundation. An excellent ill.u.s.tration of this has already been given in preceding pages, where it was shown that the Socialists incorrectly a.s.sumed that there would be no poverty in their state, and argued from this that there would be very little prost.i.tution. It is evident, therefore, that unless those who listen to the Marxians are on their guard and demand that the premises be proven the Socialists may deduce from incorrect premises conclusions which will make it appear that their intended state will bestow heaven"s choicest blessings upon mankind.
Though examples of deceit have already been given, the attention of the reader will be called to the testimony of no less an authority than Eugene V. Debs, who in the following article, published in the "International Socialist Review," Chicago, January, 1911, will be seen to substantiate our charge:
"The truth is that we have not a few members who regard vote getting as a supreme importance, no matter by what methods the votes may be secured, and this leads them to hold out inducements, and make representations which are not at all compatible with the stern and uncomprising principles of a revolutionary party. They seek to make the Socialist propaganda so attractive--eliminating whatever may give offence--to bourgeois sensibilities--that it serves as a bait for votes, rather than as a means for education, and votes thus secured do not properly belong to us."
It is not unfrequently that we hear Socialists appealing to this or that plank of their party platform as proof sufficient that their organization favors or opposes a certain policy. An argument of this sort should have very little weight with careful thinking men, once their attention has been called to the fact that the Socialists have been proven guilty of a base lie by stating in their 1908 platform that the party is not concerned with matters of religious belief. But even if the revolutionists had never inserted in their platform a statement that was untrue, nevertheless the following facts show that their platform planks are very far from being reliable.
The delegates of the party a.s.sembled in national convention on May 15, 1908, by a vote of 102 to 33 pa.s.sed a plank declaring for the _collective ownership of all the land_. ("Proceedings of 1908 National Convention of the Socialist Party," page 186.)
It was on September 7, 1909, less than a year and four months after the adjournment of the convention of 1908, that the words declaring for the _collective ownership of all the land_ were, by a referendum, _stricken from the party platform_, while by another referendum it was decided to insert among the principles of the platform that the party was _not opposed to the occupation and possession of land by those using it in a useful and bona fide manner without exploitation_. ("Proceedings of the 1910 National Congress of the Socialist Party," page 25.)