Benjamin H. Williams

“ And no matter how painful the process may be, it is but a continuation of what has gone before—of the age-long struggle that can end only with the triumph of the working class "organized to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown." ”

“ That transformation from Capitalism to the Co-operative Commonwealth can be brought about only by "forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old," that is, by building up the organized form of the Industrial Commonwealth within the framework of capitalist society.
There is no other way; and those who imagine that the capitalist class will peaceably or otherwise surrender the industries to an unorganized working class, are hugging a dangerous delusion. ”

“ On the above principle hinges the vital difference between the so-called "practical socialism" of the "political opportunists" and the genuinely revolutionary tactics of the Industrial Workers. The revolutionary industrial unionist may be "impractical" in the eyes of professors and other "intellectuals" among socialists, who are safely removed from the arena of the class struggle in the shops. He may be impractical in their eyes because he refuses to chase will-o'-the-wisps through the mazes of "political opportunism" that can only result in landing him and his class in the swamp of reaction. ”

“ The ballot boxer talks vote in and out of season; advocates labor laws, government ownership, and other equally futile propositions, abhors possible conflicts with the armed forces of the law, eschews the strike, sabotage and other industrial weapons, and goes all out for the ballot box. Therefore, he concludes, spontaneous ballot box action alone will emancipate the working class and bring about socialism. No need whatsoever for political organization to take charge of the situation after the votes are counted. ”

“ A part of the people become distinguished from the rest by reason of the fact that that part own and control the land and the machinery of wealth production. But "labor creates all wealth." Consequently that division of the people who possess nothing but their labor power are compelled to sell that labor power to the owning class in order to get access to the means of life. Thus capitalist society becomes divided into economic classes—the capitalist and the working class. ”

“ If socialists are now ready to abandon the fundamentals of their own philosophy and as Desmond suggests, become "the policemen of the syndicalists," so much the worse for such socialists. SYNDICALISM CANNOT BE POLICED. It will force recognition against a conspiracy of silence; it will thrive and wax fatter under persecution and misrepresentation. Its all-conquering program may be summed up in one sentence: Individual, local, national, and international working class initiative, unity and solidarity, in order to take and hold the world and all therein for the workers. ”

“ The training of the wage slaves is essentially the same in either instance, and the same necessity of those slaves organizing as a class against their employers would exist under complete government ownership as it does under partial government ownership and under privately owned industries.
The transition from Capitalism to Socialism cannot be effected through "government ownership." As I shall show you presently, that transformation can be brought about only by means of a working class organization designed for that purpose and shaped in accordance with economic evolution. ”

“ It may be there are some syndicalists who hold to the creed of "spontaneous working class action through strikes," etc., alone, without regard to industrial organization, just as there are unquestionably a still larger proportion of pure and simple ballot boxers who have faith in the revolutionary magic of mere "votes for socialism" regardless of any organization behind them. ”

“ Just now the Socialist Party journals of the United States are waging a most persistent campaign of confusion on the subject of "syndicalism." Giving these socialist writers the benefit of the doubt we conclude that the confusion is the subjective result of their parliamentary and vote-catching vision rather than the result of their deliberate purpose to confuse working class readers. In either event their conclusions are highly amusing. The latest effusion along this line is by Shaw Desmond, "British correspondent of the Coming Nation," and bears the title, "Socialism vs. Syndicalism." ”

“ I shall endeavor to show you that no one of the eleven possesses the genius to grasp the proletarian standpoint of the question, and that their "practical socialism" amounts to a travesty even upon capitalist politics and is, therefore, the wildest of utopian dreams. ”

“ Much is being made of the strike at the State coal mine. Apparently it has been assumed that the employment of workers by the State deprives men of the right or inclination to strike. A purely fallacious assumption. The State is very often a worse master than the majority of private employers, and under the State, as under a private employer, the worker has a right to sell his labor to the best advantage. That's what the miners at the State coal mine are doing. ”

“ In the United States, on the other hand, no such development has taken place, although trustification of industry has proceeded to a greater extent than in any other country. True, the United States government has assisted the process of centralization by means of land grants to railroad corporations, by irrigation projects, by ship subsidies, etc., which have aided the American capitalists to seize and develop the natural resources of the country; but with the exception of the postal system, government ownership in any important industry has not been resorted to in the United States. ”

“ The law-making, law-interpreting, and law-enforcing departments of government are but committees to safeguard the economic interests of the ruling capitalist class. To expect such committees to make and enforce laws in the interests of labor, so long as the working class remains unorganized or divided in the shop, is to expect the impossible. In that case, the "pressure from without," as Marx puts it, is wanting; and history shows conclusively that the ruling class will not relinquish one iota of its power until forced to. ”

“ When accused of being too harsh in his attacks upon public men who upheld slavery, the great orator replied that the rank and file were more often influenced through their feelings and sentiments than by sober reasoning and facts, and that in order to force the mass of men to take notice of events, it was often necessary first to shake their faith in their misleaders—to drive the harpoon of truth through the rhinoceros hide of a Webster or a Benton. ”

“ This conception of leadership, in conjunction with the structural form of the economic organization itself, foreshadows the industrial democracy of future society—a society in which the individual will find his "freedom in labor" by serving to the extent of his capacity the interests of the collectivity. ”

“ Not one of the eleven men who thus presume to speak in the name of the working class is or has been in recent years an active participant in the daily struggle of the workers in industry. Some of them never had that experience in wage slavery. Two are "millionaire socialists"; one is a teacher in Rockefeller's University; four others are editors (two of the four have been for many years) ; one is an employer of labor in a small factory; one is a professional novelist and writer ”

“ As the contest takes place in the arena of modern industry, it first breaks out in the home of that industry—England. The English factory workers were the champions, not only of the English, but of the modern working class generally."
Karl Marx' "Capital" was published in 1867, and since that time the experience of the labor movement in every capitalist country has shown conclusively that so-called "labor laws" are a delusion and a snare so long as there is no economic organization of the workers powerful enough to enforce them directly in the industries. ”

“ Like timidity on the part of private capitalists in Australia compelled the government of that backward and isolated country to take the initiative in developing various industries. An expensive bureaucracy in Germany and Austria, necessitating large revenues, forced the governments of those countries, in lieu of taxing to death the middle class, to resort to government ownership of railways, salt mines, and other enterprises. ”

“ It is difficult for one versed in the ways of capitalism to see any vital distinction here between the relationship sustained by the workers and their city employers of Glasgow, and that of the workers and their private employer of the municipal railway company of Chicago. ”

“ Fifteen thousand postal, telegraph and telephone workers in Paris last March went on strike against their government employer, which had been maintaining toward them exactly the same relationship as any private oppressor and exploiter. ”

“ The result of this process is that the capitalist class becomes relatively more powerful in an economic sense, while the working class becomes relatively more dependent, as the system develops. So that economic relationships become more pronounced, and territorial relationships less significant, as capitalism proceeds in its evolution. ”

“ Capitalism is a state of society based upon territorial and property relationships that have become international in their scope. The territorial unit is known as the nation, which is usually subdivided into states, counties, townships and municipalities, and which maintains international relations with other nations of similar territorial formation. The nation embraces the whole body of people within its boundaries, divided into "citizens and non-citizens." ”

“ They are dependent for food upon the producers of food stuffs in agriculture and manufacturing. Miners must be clothed; and are thus compelled to look to the textile workers and to those of kindred industries. Miners must be sheltered; and the lumber and building workers supply that necessity. The products of the mines have to be transported; and so the transportation workers on land and sea play their part in the process.
That process of wealth production today is a social process—international and world-wide in its scope. ”

“ A great panic is going to take place, and "then with hunger parades in our streets, and Maxim guns also; with strikes in every industry, and a socialist meeting on every corner—the great change will be made by whatever party happens to be in power at the time." ”

“ Since that event, the movement among government workers in France has become more general, embracing in its scope such categories of employes as teachers, prison wardens, employes in the mints, and even those working in the supply and commissary departments of the army. Some of these, and other divisions of state and municipal employes in France, recently signed a manifesto protesting against the attempts of the Clemenceau ministry to suppress the movement toward organization of government employes, a movement which asserts the right to strike, as well. ”

“ Cowardly and hypocritical "bourgeois idealism" wherein "the phrase surpasses the substance" is giving way to the practical idealism of the man in overalls, whose every-day environment enables him to suffer hardship and even, if necessary, to cheerfully go to jail, for a principle; but who, at the same time, never loses sight of the fact that the Labor Question is primarily an everyday problem of bread and butter, and that only by treating it as such, will its ultimate solution be at all possible. ”

“ And he has no illusions as to the difficulties in the way of building up the industrial union movement. He knows that oftentimes his activity means for him the blacklist; it means the long weary tramp for a job ”

“ Passing over such "steps toward socialism" as "public parks," "municipal playgrounds for children," "old age pensions," "insurance against unemployment," etc., some of which might be good in themselves, but are subject for the most part to the same strictures as so-called "labor laws," I come to the final phase of the argument, which hinges on the question raised by the Saturday Evening Post, and touched upon in the replies of the "ten leading socialists." ”

“ Both Simons and Kennedy mentioned as another essential means to the end the system of "co-operatives" as exemplified in England, Belgium and other European countries. Simons was doubtful about their practicability in America, but Kennedy was more hopeful.
Then "public parks," "state insurance against unemployment," "old age pensions" and the "feeding of school children" were mentioned as steps in the right direction, not to be despised by the working class.
Labor legislation, such as eight hour laws, employers' liability, and others, came in for their share of eulogy. ”

“ Out of 145,781 affiliated members of the socialist party at the close of 1906, only 35,624 were members of unions which form practically all the syndicalists of that country. Further facts, tending to show the emasculation of the Belgian socialist movement will appear later when I deal with the question of labor legislation.
Outside of Belgium, in the larger European countries, "co-operatives" play a very insignificant role as an economic factor. In the United States they are for all practical purposes an unknown quantity. ”