Bulletin #34



16 September 2002
Grenoble, France

Dear Friends and Colleagues :

As concern is mounting around the world over wrong-headed U.S. military
"solutions" to political and social problems, international researchers and
students associated with our Center in Grenoble are sending us articles
that reflect on the pending catastrophe, with analyses of what may be
expected to follow....

In these dark days, we are happy to inform you that Argone Press recently
announced its completion of the long-awaited French translation of Howard
Zinn's book, A People's History of the United States : Une histoire
populaire des Etats-Unis de 1492 a nos jours, (Traduit de l'anglais par
Frederic Cotton). 812 pages - 12 x 21 cm, Prix 28 euros, ISBN : 910846-79-2.

Professor Zinn has been an associate of our Research Center in Grenoble,
France since its founding in September 2000. His textbook, which has sold a
phenomenal one million copies in the United States since its appearance in
1980, has been updated by Professor Zinn periodically. This broad
social/political history of America is a synthesis of hundreds of the most
critical sources ever written on American society, and it represents a
major step toward offering a coherent explanation of the forces and vaccums
that have governed American domestic and foreign policies up to the present
day. Issues like African slavery, European genocide against the Native
American population, the imperial conquest of Mexico one-hundred-and-fifty
years ago, and the systematic destruction of the 19th-century socialist
movement in the United States (by the combination of repression and
reform), are only a few of the poignant analyses offered by Zinn in this
truly exceptional introductory history of the American society. For
advanced scholars in American Studies, also, it offers fertile ground for
further research.

Voir :  http://www.agone.org/unehistoirepopulaire
 

[Professeur Howard Zinn a enseigné l'histoire et les sciences politiques à
la Boston University, ou il est aujourd'hui professeur émérite. Son oeuvre
(une douzaine d'ouvrages) est essentiellement consacree à l'incidence des
mouvements populaires sur la société americaine. Il est associé avec le
centre de recherche, CIESIMSA, à l'Université Stendhal en Grenoble depuis
septembre 2000.]
 

Below, please see two more articles recently received at CIESIMAS, Center
for the Advanced Study of American Institutions and Social Movements, in
Grenoble, France :
 

         The first is an interview sent to us by Ronald Takaki (author of
Iron Cages, a history of racism in 19th-century America), which was
published in the San Francisco Chronicle on September 10, in which
Professor Takaki  discusses with SFC reporter Annie Nakao the remarkable
degree of alienation that has always existed in American society, and which
serves to explain the extraordinary violence in American history.

         The second article printed below is the copy of a speech deliverd
by the American Socialist Party leader, Eugene Debs, in 1918,  and for
which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. We thank Professor Gabriel
Kolko (author of Main Currents in American History, and Another Century of
War?) or sending us this timely reminder that we are not the first to wish
to resist Barbarism and the Arrogance of Power, nor shall we be the last.
 

For scholars and students wishing to pursue further research on these
historical subjects, the following internet address is highly recommended
as useful archives for political and social history research
:  http://www.thememoryhole.org/
 

Professor James A. Stevenson, also a research associate at CIESIMSA, and
author of several articles about US military industries, (visit our web
site: http://www.u-grenoble3.fr/ciesimsa/ateliers/a2/ ) recently sent a
message to theCenter with the following internet address which contained a
Nation magazine link. He is urging members of our Research Center and other
scholars, if they have not already, to sign the petition against the use of
nuclear weapons, in anticipation of the future wars :  http://urgentcall.org
 
 

Sincerely,
Francis Feeley
Professor/Director of Research
Université Grenoble 3
Grenoble, France
 

================================
A.

War on terrorism fuels frontier mentality

ANNIE NAKAO             Tuesday, September 10, 2002
 

I CAN HEAR the frustration in Ron Takaki's voice as he talks about the war
on terrorism.
"No one's connecting the dots," he said.

I ask him, how can we connect the dots when we're about to mourn a national
tragedy all over again?
But Takaki, a UC Berkeley professor, thinks it is exactly the right time,
because what he has to say and our mourning revolve around the same
question: what it means to be an American.
For a year now, reporters have set off across America trying to find out.
To Takaki, the answer is in our history as a multicultural nation.

"America was settled by peoples of all nations," he says, quoting Herman
Melville. "You cannot spill a drop of American blood without spilling the
blood of the whole world. We are not a narrow tribe."
Not acknowledging that, he said, has led us to the expanding war on terrorism.

"(President) Bush has made us a narrow tribe," Takaki said. "His is still
the language of the frontier. Hunt them down. Smoke them out. Wanted: dead
or alive. The frontier was a white conquest, a white dispossession of
Native Americans from this land. I wish he'd articulate a multicultural
vision of this nation. Our diversity invites us to relate to one another
and also to the rest of the world with greater cross-cultural understanding."
THIS, OF COURSE, is liberal, multiculti, peacenik rubbish to some folks.
Just the sort of wishful thinking about Sept. 11 that drives them crazy,
especially when replayed scenes of death and destruction make us want to
hide under a rock or go out and do something, anything, to strike back.

But the possibility that some won't hear his message has never silenced
Takaki, an ethnic studies professor who has spent 30 years presenting an
alternative, multicultural view of America's past. Indeed, over the years,
he's challenged heavyweight social critics like Nathan Glazer and been
proven right.

You couldn't have predicted all this back in Honolulu, where the third-
generation Japanese American preferred "hanging 10" on a surfboard to
cracking open a book.

He still has an island accent, at least to my Hawaii-bred ear. With his
shock of white hair, Takaki, 63, looks distinctive in any crowd. But his
differentness -- with or without the hair -- often brings that question,
"How long have you been in this country?"

It reminds him that despite Melville, the power of what Takaki calls the
"master narrative of American history" -- the familiar story that this
country was settled by European immigrants and that Americans are "white"
-- still holds sway. Debate over this narrative is the theme of Takaki's
new anthology, "Debating Diversity: Clashing Perspectives on Race and
Ethnicity in America." Takaki will be reading from his book Wednesday
evening at Berkeley's Black Oak Books.

THE ANNIVERSARY DATE of Sept. 11 is no coincidence. Takaki will spend the
evening outlining why this expansionist frontier narrative -- which largely
excluded the experiences of many Americans -- is being re-enacted on a
global scale in the war on terrorism.

"This narrative celebrates domination and the exploitation of the earth
that's led to an expansionist America," he said. "Now we're dependent on
exploiting the earth controlled not by us, but the earth that is controlled
by Muslim nations. Why are we over there? Because 65 percent of the oil
reserves in the world are located in Muslim nations. It's one of the main
reasons we are at war with terrorism. And they are at war with us because
we are over there."

Reducing energy use is one alternative he urges. So is dropping the
frontier rhetoric.
That strikes me as worthy. Especially when the alternative is bombing Iraq.
Maybe seeing ourselves differently will help us see the rest of the world
differently. So we can connect the dots.

E-mail Annie Nakao at anakao@sfchronicle.com.
 

______________________________
B.
             The Anti-war Speech That Earned Eugene Debs 10 Years in Prison

Prominent labor organizer and political activist Eugene Debs delivered a
speech at a Socialist Party convention in Canton, Ohio, on 16 June 1918.
Because of it, he was prosecuted under the Sedition
Act for interfering with the draft, leading to a 10-year prison sentence
and the stripping of his US citizenship. (He ended up serving 2 years and 8
months in the slammer; President Warren G.
Harding commuted his sentence.) Interestingly, Debs ran for President on
the Socialist Party ticket five times, with the last time occurring while
he was in prison. He received almost one million votes.

The Memory Hole is presenting this speech for many reasons. Besides its
historical value, we believe any speech which caused its speaker to be
imprisoned is worth saving. And you may notice that as the
current administration bangs the drum for war against Iraq, Afghanistan,
and 60 other countries, the anti-war portions of this speech are as
relevant now as they were 84 years ago.
 

___________________________________________

Anti-war portions of Debs' speech

 Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. In the Middle Ages
when the feudal lords who inhabited the castles whose towers may still be seen along the
Rhine concluded to enlarge their domains, to increase their power, their prestige and their
wealth they declared war upon one another. But they themselves did not go to war any
more than the modern feudal lords, the barons of Wall Street go to war.

The feudal barons of the Middle Ages, the economic predecessors of the capitalists of our
day, declared all wars. And their miserable serfs fought all the battles. The poor, ignorant
serfs had been taught to revere their masters; to believe that when their masters declared
war upon one another, it was their patriotic duty to fall upon one another and to cut one
another's throats for the profit and glory of the lords and barons who held them in
contempt. And that is war in a nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars; the
subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing
to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose--especially their lives.

They have always taught and trained you to believe it to be your patriotic duty to go to war
and to have yourselves slaughtered at their command. But in all the history of the world you,
the people, have never had a voice in declaring war, and strange as it certainly appears, no
war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people.

And here let me emphasize the fact--and it cannot be repeated too often--that the working
class who fight all the battles, the working class who make the supreme sacrifices, the
working class who freely shed their blood and furnish the corpses, have never yet had a
voice in either declaring war or making peace. It is the ruling class that invariably does both.
They alone declare war and they alone make peace. Yours not to reason why; Yours but to
do and die. That is their motto and we object on the part of the awakening workers of this
nation. If war is right let it be declared by the people. You who have your lives to lose, you
certainly above all others have the right to decide the momentous issue of war or peace....

You need at this time especially to know that you are fit for something better than slavery
and cannon fodder. You need to know that you were not created to work and produce and
impoverish yourself to enrich an idle exploiter. You need to know that you have a mind to
improve, a soul to develop, and a manhood to sustain....

They are continually talking about your patriotic duty. It is not their but your patriotic duty
that they are concerned about. There is a decided difference. Their patriotic duty never
takes them to the firing line or chucks them into the trenches. And now among other things
they are urging you to "cultivate" war gardens, while at the same time a government war
report just issued shows that practically 52 percent of the arable, tillable soil is held out of
use by the landlords, speculators and profiteers. They themselves do not cultivate the soil.
Nor do they allow others to cultivate it. They keep it idle to enrich themselves, to pocket
the millions of dollars of unearned increment....

And now for all of us to do our duty! The clarion call is ringing in our ears and we cannot
falter without being convicted of treason to ourselves and to our great cause.

Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but be concerned about the
treason that involves yourselves. Be true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good
cause on earth.

. . . . .

                                      full text of Debs' speech
                                    source: E.V. Debs Internet Archive

Comrades, friends and fellow-workers, for this very cordial Greeting, this very hearty
reception, I thank you all with the fullest appreciation of your interest in and your devotion
to the cause for which I am to speak to you this afternoon.

To speak for labor; to plead the cause of the men and women and children who toil; to
serve the working class, has always been to me a high privilege; a duty of love.

I have just returned from a visit over yonder, where three of our most loyal comrades are
paying the penalty for their devotion to the cause of the working class. They have come to
realize, as many of us have, that it is extremely dangerous to exercise the constitutional right
of free speech in a country fighting to make democracy safe in the world.

I realize that, in speaking to you this afternoon, there are certain limitations placed upon the
right of free speech. I must be exceedingly careful, prudent, as to what I say, and even
more careful and prudent as to how I say it. I may not be able to say all I think; but I am
not going to say anything that I do not think. I would rather a thousand times be a free soul
in jail than to be a sycophant and coward in the streets. They may put those boys in
jail—and some of the rest of us in jail—but they can not put the Socialist movement in jail.
Those prison bars separate their bodies from ours, but their souls are here this afternoon.
They are simply paying the penalty that all men have paid in all the ages of history for
standing erect, and for seeking to pave the way to better conditions for mankind.

If it had not been for the men and women who, in the past, have had the moral courage to
go to jail, we would still be in the jungles.

               This assemblage is exceedingly good to look upon. I wish it
were possible for me to give
               you what you are giving me this afternoon. What I say here
amounts to but little; what I see
               here is exceedingly important. You workers in Ohio, enlisted
in the greatest cause ever
               organized in the interest of your class, are making history
today in the face of threatening
               opposition of all kinds—history that is going to be read
with profound interest by coming
               generations.

               There is but one thing you have to be concerned about, and
that is that you keep foursquare
               with the principles of the international Socialist movement.
It is only when you begin to
               compromise that trouble begins. So far as I am concerned, it
does not matter what others
               may say, or think, or do, as long as I am sure that I am
right with myself and the cause.
               There are so many who seek refuge in the popular side of a
great question. As a Socialist, I
               have long since learned how to stand alone. For the last
month I have been traveling over
               the Hoosier State; and, let me say to you, that, in all my
connection with the Socialist
               movement, I have never seen such meetings, such enthusiasm,
such unity of purpose; never
               have I seen such a promising outlook as there is today,
notwithstanding the statement
               published repeatedly that our leaders have deserted us.
Well, for myself, I never had much
               faith in leaders. I am willing to be charged with almost
anything, rather than to be charged
               with being a leader. I am suspicious of leaders, and
especially of the intellectual variety.
               Give me the rank and file every day in the week. If you go
to the city of Washington, and
               you examine the pages of the Congressional Directory, you
will find that almost all of those
               corporation lawyers and cowardly politicians, members of
Congress, and
               misrepresentatives of the masses—you will find that almost
all of them claim, in glowing
               terms, that they have risen from the ranks to places of
eminence and distinction. I am very
               glad I cannot make that claim for myself. I would be ashamed
to admit that I had risen from
               the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not
from the ranks.

               When I came away from Indiana, the comrades said: “When you
cross the line and get over
               into the Buckeye State, tell the comrades there that we are
on duty and doing duty. Give
               them for us, a hearty greeting, and tell them that we are
going to make a record this fall that
               will be read around the world.”

               ŒThe Socialists of Ohio, it appears, are very much alive
this year. The party has been
               killed recently, which, no doubt, accounts for its
extraordinary activity. There is nothing that
               helps the Socialist Party so much as receiving an occasional
deathblow. The oftener it is
               killed the more active, the more energetic, the more
powerful it becomes.

               They who have been reading the capitalist newspapers realize
what a capacity they have for
               lying. We have been reading them lately. They know all about
the Socialist Party—the
               Socialist movement, except what is true. Only the other day
they took an article that I had
               written—and most of you have read it—most of you members of
the party, at least—and
               they made it appear that I had undergone a marvelous
transformation. I had suddenly
               become changed—had in fact come to my senses; I had ceased
to be a wicked Socialist,
               and had become a respectable Socialist , a patriotic
Socialist—as if I had ever been
               anything else.

               What was the purpose of this deliberate misrepresentation?
It is so self-evident that it
               suggests itself. The purpose was to sow the seeds of
dissension in our ranks; to have it
               appear that we were divided among ourselves; that we were
pitted against each other, to
               our mutual undoing. But Socialists were not born yesterday.
They know how to read
               capitalist newspapers ; and to believe exactly the opposite
of what they read.

               Why should a Socialist be discouraged on the eve of the
greatest triumph in all the history of
               the Socialist movement? It is true that these are anxious,
trying days for us all—testing days
               for the women and men who are upholding the banner of labor
in the struggle of the
               working class of all the world against the exploiters of all
the world; a time in which the
               weak and cowardly will falter and fail and desert. They lack
the fiber to endure the
               revolutionary test; they fall away; they disappear as if
they had never been. On the other
               hand, they who are animated by the unconquerable spirit of
the social revolution; they who
               have the moral courage to stand erect and assert their
convictions; stand by them; fight for
               them; go to jail or to hell for them, if need be —they are
writing their names, in this crucial
               hour—they are writing their names in faceless letters in the
history of mankind.

               Those boys over yonder—those comrades of ours—and how I love
them! Aye, they are
               my younger brothers ; their very names throb in my heart,
thrill in my veins, and surge in my
               soul. I am proud of them; they are there for us; and we are
here for them. Their lips, though
               temporarily mute, are more eloquent than ever before; and
their voice, though silent, is
               heard around the world.

               Are we opposed to Prussian militarism? Why, we have been
fighting it since the day the
               Socialist movement was born; and we are going to continue to
fight it, day and night, until it
               is wiped from the face of the earth. Between us there is no
truce—no compromise.

               But, before I proceed along this line, let me recall a
little history, in which I think we are all
               interested.

               In 1869 that grand old warrior of the social revolution, the
elder Liebknecht, was arrested
               and sentenced to prison for three months, because of his
war, as a Socialist, on the Kaiser
               and on the Junkers that rule Germany. In the meantime the
Franco-Prussian war broke out.
               Liebknecht and Bebel were the Socialist members in the
Reichstag. They were the only two
               who had the courage to protest against taking
Alsace-Lorraine from France and annexing it
               to Germany. And for this they were sentenced two years to a
prison fortress charged with
               high treason; because, even in that early day, almost fifty
years ago, these leaders, these
               forerunners of the international Socialist movement were
fighting the Kaiser and fighting the
               Junkers of Germany. They have continued to fight them from
that day to this. Multiplied
               thousands of Socialists have languished in the jails of
Germany because of their heroic
               warfare upon the despotic ruling class of that country.

               Let us come down the line a little farther. You remember
that, at the close of Theodore
               Roosevelt’s second term as President, he went over to Africa
to make war on some of his
               ancestors. You remember that, at the close of his
expedition, he visited the capitals of
               Europe; and that he was wined and dined, dignified and
glorified by all the Kaisers and
               Czars and Emperors of the Old World. He visited Potsdam
while the Kaiser was there;
               and, according to the accounts published in the American
newspapers, he and the Kaiser
               were soon on the most familiar terms. They were hilariously
intimate with each other, and
               slapped each other on the back. After Roosevelt had reviewed
the Kaiser’s troops,
               according to the same accounts, he became enthusiastic over
the Kaiser’s legions and said:
               “If I had that kind of an army, I could conquer the world.”
He knew the Kaiser then just as
               well as he knows him now. He knew that he was the Kaiser,
the Beast of Berlin. And yet,
               he permitted himself to be entertained by that Beast of
Berlin; had his feet under the
               mahogany of the Beast of Berlin; was cheek by jowl with the
Beast of Berlin. And, while
               Roosevelt was being entertained royally by the German
Kaiser, that same Kaiser was
               putting the leaders of the Socialist Party in jail for
fighting the Kaiser and the Junkers of
               Germany. Roosevelt was the guest of honor in the white house
of the Kaiser, while the
               Socialists were in the jails of the Kaiser for fighting the
Kaiser. Who then was fighting for
               democracy? Roosevelt? Roosevelt, who was honored by the
Kaiser, or the Socialists who
               were in jail by order of the Kaiser?

               “Birds of a feather flock together.”

               When the newspapers reported that Kaiser Wilhelm and
ax-President Theodore
               recognized each other at sight, were perfectly intimate with
each other at the first touch,
               they made the admission that is fatal to the claim of
Theodore Roosevelt, that he is the
               friend of the common people and the champion of democracy;
they admitted that they were
               kith and kin; that they were very much alike; that their
ideas and ideals were about the
               same. If Theodore Roosevelt is the great champion of
democracy —the arch foe of
               autocracy , what business had he as the guest of honor of
the Prussian Kaiser? And when
               he met the Kaiser, and did honor to the Kaiser, under the
terms imputed to him, wasn’t it
               pretty strong proof that he himself was a Kaiser at heart?
Now, after being the guest of
               Emperor Wilhelm, the Beast of Berlin, he comes back to this
country, and wants you to
               send ten million men over there to kill the Kaiser; to
murder his former friend and pal.
               Rather queer, isn’t it? And yet, he is the patriot, and we
are the traitors. I challenge you to
               find a Socialist anywhere on the face of the earth who was
ever the guest of the Beast of
               Berlin , except as an inmate of his prison—the elder
Liebknecht and the younger
               Liebknecht, the heroic son of his immortal sire.

               ŒA little more history along the same line. In 1902 Prince
Henry paid a visit to this country.
               Do you remember him? I do, exceedingly well. Prince Henry is
the brother of Emperor
               Wilhelm. Prince Henry is another Beast of Berlin, an
autocrat, an aristocrat, a Junker of
               Junkers—very much despised by our American patriots. He came
over here in 1902 as the
               representative of Kaiser Wilhelm; he was received by
Congress and by several state
               legislatures—among others, by the state legislature of
Massachusetts, then in session. He
               was invited there by the capitalist captains of that
so-called commonwealth. And when
               Prince Henry arrived, there was one member of that body who
kept his self-respect, put on
               his hat, and as Henry, the Prince, walked in, that member of
the body walked out. And that
               was James F. Carey, the Socialist member of that body. All
the rest—all the rest of the
               representatives in the Massachusetts legislature—all, all of
them—joined in doing honor, in
               the most servile spirit, to the high representative of the
autocracy of Europe. And the only
               man who left that body, was a Socialist. And yet , and yet
they have the hardihood to claim
               that they are fighting autocracy and that we are in the
service of the German government.

               A little more history along the same line. I have a distinct
recollection of it. It occurred
               fifteen years ago when Prince Henry came here. All of our
plutocracy, all of the wealthy
               representatives living along Fifth Avenue—all, all of
them—threw their palace doors wide
               open and received Prince Henry with open arms. But they were
not satisfied with this; they
               got down and grovelled in the dust at his feet. Our
plutocracy—women and men
               alike—vied with each other to lick the boots of Prince
Henry, the brother and
               representative of the “Beast of Berlin.” And still our
plutocracy, our Junkers, would have us
               believe that all the Junkers are confined to Germany. It is
precisely because we refuse to
               believe this that they brand us as disloyalists. They want
our eyes focused on the Junkers in
               Berlin so that we will not see those within our own borders.

               I hate, I loathe, I despise Junkers and junkerdom. I have no
earthly use for the Junkers of
               Germany, and not one particle more use for the Junkers in
the United States.

               They tell us that we live in a great free republic; that our
institutions are democratic; that we
               are a free and self-governing people. This is too much, even
for a joke. But it is not a
               subject for levity; it is an exceedingly serious matter.

               To whom do the Wall Street Junkers in our country marry
their daughters? After they have
               wrung their countless millions from your sweat, your agony
and your life’s blood, in a time
               of war as in a time of peace, they invest these untold
millions in the purchase of titles of
               broken-down aristocrats, such as princes, dukes, counts and
other parasites and
               no-accounts. Would they be satisfied to wed their daughters
to honest workingmen? To
               real democrats? Oh, no! They scour the markets of Europe for
vampires who are titled and
               nothing else. And they swap their millions for the titles,
so that matrimony with them
               becomes literally a matter of money.

               These are the gentry who are today wrapped up in the
American flag, who shout their claim
               from the housetops that they are the only patriots, and who
have their magnifying glasses in
               hand, scanning the country for evidence of disloyalty, eager
to apply the brand of treason to
               the men who dare to even whisper their opposition to Junker
rule in the United Sates. No
               wonder Sam Johnson declared that “patriotism is the last
refuge of the scoundrel.” He must
               have had this Wall Street gentry in mind, or at least their
prototypes, for in every age it has
               been the tyrant, the oppressor and the exploiter who has
wrapped himself in the cloak of
               patriotism, or religion, or both to deceive and overawe the
people.

               They would have you believe that the Socialist Party
consists in the main of disloyalists and
               traitors. It is true in a sense not at all to their
discredit. We frankly admit that we are
               disloyalists and traitors to the real traitors of this
nation; to the gang that on the Pacific coast
               are trying to hang Tom Mooney and Warren Billings in spite
of their well-known innocence
               and the protest of practically the whole civilized world.

               I know Tom Mooney intimately—as if he were my own brother.
He is an absolutely honest
               man. He had no more to do with the crime with which he was
charged and for which he
               was convicted than I had. And if he ought to go to the
gallows, so ought I. If he is guilty
               every man who belongs to a labor organization or to the
Socialist Party is likewise guilty.

               What is Tom Mooney guilty of? I will tell you. I am familiar
with his record. For years he
               has been fighting bravely and without compromise the battles
of the working class out on
               the Pacific coast. He refused to be bribed and he could not
be browbeaten. In spite of all
               attempts to intimidate him he continued loyally in the
service of the organized workers, and
               for this he became a marked man. The henchmen of the
powerful and corrupt corporations,
               concluding finally that he could not be bought or bribed or
bullied, decided he must
               therefore be murdered. That is why Tom Mooney is today a
life prisoner, and why he
               would have been hanged as a felon long ago but for the
world-wide protest of the working
               class.

               Let us review another bit of history. You remember Francis
J. Heney, special investigator of
               the state of California, who was shot down in cold blood in
the courtroom in San
               Francisco. You remember that dastardly crime, do you not?
The United Railways,
               consisting of a lot of plutocrats and highbinders
represented by the Chamber of Commerce,
               absolutely control the city of San Francisco. The city was
and is their private reservation.
               Their will is the supreme law. Take your stand against them
and question their authority, and
               you are doomed. They do not hesitate a moment to plot murder
or any other crime to
               perpetuate their corrupt and enslaving regime. Tom Mooney
was the chief representative of
               the working class they could not control. They own the
railways; they control the great
               industries; they are the industrial masters and the
political rulers of the people. From their
               decision there is no appeal. They are the autocrats of the
Pacific coast—as cruel and
               infamous as any that ever ruled in Germany or any other
country in the old world. When
               their rule became so corrupt that at last a grand jury
indicted them and they were placed on
               trial, and Francis J. Heney was selected to assist in their
prosecution, this gang, represented
               by the Chamber of Commerce; this gang of plutocrats,
autocrats and highbinders, hired an
               assassin to shoot Heney down in the courtroom. Heney,
however, happened to live through
               it. But that was not their fault. The same identical gang
that hired the murderer to kill Heney
               also hired false witnesses to swear away the fife of Tom
Mooney and, foiled in that, they
               have kept him in a foul prisonhole ever since.

               Every solitary one of these aristocratic conspirators and
would-be murderers claims to be
               an arch-patriot; every one of them insists that the war is
being waged to make the world
               safe for democracy. What humbug! What rot! What false
pretense! These autocrats, these
               tyrants, these red-handed robbers and murderers, the
“patriots,” while the men who have
               the courage to stand face to face with them, speak the
truth, and fight for their exploited
               victims—they are the disloyalists and traitors. If this be
true, I want to take my place side
               by side with the traitors in this fight.

               The other day they sentenced Kate Richards O’Hare to the
penitentiary for five years.
               Think of sentencing a woman to the penitentiary simply for
talking. The United States, under
               plutocratic rule, is the only country that would send a
woman to prison for five years for
               exercising the right of free speech. If this be treason, let
them make the most of it.

               Let me review a bit of history in connection with this case.
I have known Kate Richards
               O’Hare intimately for twenty years. I am familiar with her
public record. Personally I know
               her as if she were my own sister. All who know Mrs. O’Hare
know her to be a woman of
               unquestioned integrity.’ And they also know that she is a
woman of unimpeachable loyalty
               to the Socialist movement. When she went out into North
Dakota to make her speech,
               followed by plain-clothes men in the service of the
government intent upon effecting her
               arrest and securing her prosecution and conviction—when she
went out there, it was with
               the full knowledge on her part that sooner or later these
detectives would accomplish their
               purpose. She made her speech, and that speech was
deliberately misrepresented for the
               purpose of securing her conviction. The only testimony
against her was that of a hired
               witness. And when the farmers, the men and women who were in
the audience she
               addressed—when they went to Bismarck where the trial was
held to testify in her favor, to
               swear that she had not used the language she was charged
with having used, the judge
               refused to allow them to go upon the stand. This would seem
incredible to me if I had not
               had some experience of my own with federal courts.

               Who appoints our federal judges? The people? In all the
history of the country, the working
               class have never named a federal judge. There are 121 of
these judges and every solitary
               one holds his position, his tenure, through the influence
and power of corporate capital. The
               corporations and trusts dictate their appointment. And when
they go to the bench, they go,
               not to serve, the people, but to serve the interests that
place them and keep them where
               they are.

               Why, the other day, by a vote of five to four—a kind of
craps game—come seven, come
               ‘leven —they declared the child labor law unconstitutional—a
law secured after twenty
               years of education and agitation on the part of all kinds of
people. And yet, by a majority of
               one, the Supreme Court a body of corporation lawyers, with
just one exception, wiped that
               law from the statute books, and this in our so-called
democracy, so that we may continue
               to grind the flesh and blood and bones of puny little
children into profits for the Junkers of
               Wall Street. And this in a country that boasts of fighting
to make the world safe for
               democracy! The history of this country is being written in
the blood of the childhood the
               industrial lords have murdered.

               These are not palatable truths to them. They do not like to
hear them; and what is more
               they do not want you to hear them. And that is why they
brand us as undesirable citizens ,
               and as disloyalists and traitors. If we were actual
traitors—traitors to the people and to their
               welfare and progress, we would be regarded as eminently
respectable citizens of the
               republic; we would hold high office, have princely incomes,
and ride in limousines; and we
               would be pointed out as the elect who have succeeded in life
in honorable pursuit, and
               worthy of emulation by the youth of the land. It is
precisely because we are disloyal to the
               traitors that we are loyal to the people of this nation.

               Scott Nearing! You have heard of Scott Nearing. He is the
greatest teacher in the United
               States. He was in the University of Pennsylvania until the
Board of Trustees, consisting of
               great capitalists, captains of industry, found that he was
teaching sound economics to the
               students in his classes. This sealed his fate in that
institution. They sneeringly charged—just
               as the same usurers, money-changers, pharisees, hypocrites
charged the Judean Carpenter
               some twenty centuries ago—that he was a false teacher and
that he was stirring up the
               people.

               The Man of Galilee, the Carpenter, the workingman who became
the revolutionary agitator
               of his day soon found himself to be an undesirable citizen
in the eyes of the ruling knaves
               and they had him crucified. And now their lineal descendants
say of Scott Nearing, “He is
               preaching false economics. We cannot crucify him as we did
his elder brother but we can
               deprive him of employment and so cut off his income and
starve him to death or into
               submission. We will not only discharge him but place his
name upon the blacklist and make
               it impossible for him to earn a living. He is a dangerous
man for he is teaching the truth and
               opening the eyes of the people.” And the truth, oh, the
truth has always been unpalatable
               and intolerable to the class who live out of the sweat and
misery of the working class.

               Max Eastman has been indicted and his paper suppressed, just
as the papers with which I
               have been connected have all been suppressed. What a
wonderful compliment they pay us!
               They are afraid that we may mislead and contaminate you. You
are their wards; they are
               your guardians and they know what is best for you to read
and hear and know. They are
               bound to see to it that our vicious doctrines do not reach
your ears. And so in our great
               democracy, under our free institutions, they flatter our
press by suppression; and they
               ignorantly imagine that they have silenced revolutionary
propaganda in the United States.
               What an awful mistake they make for our benefit! As a matter
of justice to them we should
               respond with resolutions of thanks and gratitude. Thousands
of people who had never
               before heard of our papers are now inquiring for and
insisting upon seeing them. They have
               succeeded only in arousing curiosity in our literature and
propaganda. And woe to him who
               reads Socialist literature from curiosity! He is surely a
goner. I have known of a thousand
               experiments but never one that failed.

               John M. Work! You know John, now on the editorial staff of
the Milwaukee Leader!
               When I first knew him he was a lawyer out in Iowa. The
capitalists out there became
               alarmed because of the rapid growth of the Socialist
movement. So they said: “We have to
               find some able fellow to fight this menace.” They concluded
that John Work was the man
               for the job and they said to him: “John, you are a bright
young lawyer; you have a brilliant
               future before you. We want to engage you to find out all you
can about socialism and then
               proceed to counteract its baneful effects and check its
further growth.”

               John at once provided himself with Socialist literature and
began his study of the red
               menace, with the result that after he had read and digested
a few volumes he was a
               full-fledged Socialist and has been fighting for socialism
ever since.

               ŒHow stupid and shortsighted the ruling class really is!
Cupidity is stone blind. It has no
               vision. The greedy, profit-seeking exploiter cannot see
beyond the end of his nose. He can
               see a chance for an “opening”; he is cunning enough to know
what graft is and where it is,
               and how it can be secured, but vision he has none—not the
slightest. He knows nothing of
               the great throbbing world that spreads out in all
directions. He has no capacity for literature;
               no appreciation of art; no soul for beauty. That is the
penalty the parasites pay for the
               violation of the laws of life. The Rockefellers are blind.
Every move they make in their game
               of greed but hastens their own doom. Every blow they strike
at the Socialist movement
               reacts upon themselves. Every time they strike at us they
hit themselves. It never fails. Every
               time they strangle a Socialist paper they add a thousand
voices proclaiming the truth of the
               principles of socialism and the ideals of the Socialist
movement. They help us in spite of
               themselves.

               Socialism is a growing idea; an expanding philosophy. It is
spreading over the entire face of
               the earth: It is as vain to resist it as it would be to
arrest the sunrise on the morrow. It is
               coming, coming, coming all along the line. Can you not see
it? If not, I advise you to consult
               an oculist. There is certainly something the matter with
your vision. It is the mightiest
               movement in the history of mankind. What a privilege to
serve it! I have regretted a
               thousand times that I can do so little for the movement that
has done so much for me. The
               little that I am, the little that I am hoping to be, I owe
to the Socialist movement. It has given
               me my ideas and ideals; my principles and convictions, and I
would not exchange one of
               them for all of Rockefeller’s bloodstained dollars. It has
taught me how to serve—a lesson
               to me of priceless value. It has taught me the ecstasy in
the handclasp of a comrade. It has
               enabled me to hold high communion with you, and made it
possible for me to take my place
               side by side with you in the great struggle for the better
day; to multiply myself over and
               over again, to thrill with a fresh-born manhood; to feel
life truly worthwhile; to open new
               avenues of vision; to spread out glorious vistas; to know
that I am kin to all that throbs; to
               be class-conscious, and to realize that, regardless of
nationality, race, creed, color or sex,
               every man, every woman who toils, who renders useful
service, every member of the
               working class without an exception, is my comrade, my
brother and sister—and that to
               serve them and their cause is the highest duty of my life.

               And in their service I can feel myself expand; I can rise to
the stature of a man and claim the
               right to a place on earth—a place where I can stand and
strive to speed the day of
               industrial freedom and social justice.

               Yes, my comrades, my heart is attuned to yours. Aye, all our
hearts now throb as one great
               heart responsive to the battle cry of the social revolution.
Here, in this alert and inspiring
               assemblage our hearts are with the Bolsheviki of Russia.
Those heroic men and women,
               those unconquerable comrades have by their incomparable
valor and sacrifice added fresh
               luster to the fame of the international movement. Those
Russian comrades of ours have
               made greater sacrifices, have suffered more, and have shed
more heroic blood than any like
               number of men and women anywhere on earth; they have laid
the foundation of the first real
               democracy that ever drew the breath of life in this world.
And the very first act of the
               triumphant Russian revolution was to proclaim a state of
peace with all mankind, coupled
               with a fervent moral appeal, not to kings, not to emperors,
rulers or diplomats but to the
               people of all nations. Here we have the very breath of
democracy, the quintessence of the
               dawning freedom. The Russian revolution proclaimed its
glorious triumph in its ringing and
               inspiring appeal to the peoples of all the earth. In a
humane and fraternal spirit new Russia,
               emancipated at last from the curse of the centuries, called
upon all nations engaged in the
               frightful war, the Central Powers as well as the Allies, to
send representatives to a
               conference to lay down terms of peace that should be just
and lasting. Here was the
               supreme opportunity to strike the blow to make the world
safe for democracy. Was there
               any response to that noble appeal that in some day to come
will be written in letters of gold
               in the history of the world? Was there any response whatever
to that appeal for universal
               peace? No, not the slightest attention was paid to it by the
Christian nations engaged in the
               terrible slaughter.

               It has been charged that Lenin and Trotsky and the leaders
of the revolution were
               treacherous, that they made a traitorous peace with Germany.
Let us consider that
               proposition briefly. At the time of the revolution Russia
had been three years in the war.
               Under the Czar she had lost more than four million of her
ill-clad, poorly-equipped,
               half-starved soldiers, slain outright or disabled on the
field of battle. She was absolutely
               bankrupt. Her soldiers were mainly without arms. This was
what was bequeathed to the
               revolution by the Czar and his regime; and for this
condition Lenin and Trotsky were not
               responsible, nor the Bolsheviki. For this appalling state of