Karl Dannenberg

“ Therefore, tactical clarity and efficiency in a Socialist movement can only flow from theoretical clarity; a soundness in scientific consciousness and profundity being the father to class-consciousness, and class-consciousness again giving birth to effective class action—the dynamo of class movements.
Having established the original source of working-class power, and knowing that it rests in the consciousness of the worker appertaining to his economic indispensability, it is now quite a simple proposition to formulate a tactical program for the organization of this industrial might. ”

“ To a revolutionary Socialist only such an organization is considered class-conscious which affirms unequivocally the inability of the workers to improve their economic and social conditions under capitalism permanently and calls upon the workers to marshal their forces on the economic as well as political field under the banner of not palliation or reform, but revolution. ”

“ Consequently, when certain Socialists attribute revolutionary vitality and creative power to Industrial Unionism as Industrial Unionism without qualifying it with the word Socialist, then they commit precisely the same error which certain pure and simple politicians fall into, when they seek to "organize the masses into a large political party" and in their anxiety for success forget and ignore entirely the Socialist character of the organization. ”

“ Socialism, cannot be considered class—conscious organizations, and are in reality a greater obstacle to the formation of a genuine proletarian army of the revolution than all the chicanery, economic despotism and social and cultural prerogatives of the capitalist class combined. Class-conscious Socialist action can only be the product of a scientific conception of capitalist production, of a Marxian interpretation of economic and social phenomena, and can, in consequence, have only a certain meaning to the working-class. ”

“ It is an axiom of Historical Materialism that the shell of every new society develops within the womb of the old. We also know that the social elements in capitalist production symbolize the formative stages of a new economic order. However, a class-conscious organization along the lines of highly centralized social production, and truly manifesting the economic power of the workers, does more than give social expression to these formative stages—it really symbolizes the future structure of the Industrial Republic in the process of formation. ”

“ Industrial Unionism, like all previous forms of economic organization which preceded it, is but a product of the particular character of the industries from which it emanated. The complex and centralized form of production, which gave birth to Industrial Unionism, can again on the one hand be attributed to the concentration of wealth into ever fewer hands, and on the other to an ever increasing social character of the machines or instruments of production. ”

“ We can at least venture to assert that it has brought home the so important truism that all political or social influence exercised by a social category in a particular historic period is but a reflex of its economic influence or might, i.e., that political power or governmental control does not conquer and cement the industrial supremacy and hegemony for a class, but, on the contrary, that the industrial supremacy of a class is also bound to ultimately insure political power and governmental domination to it. ”

“ The existence of political parties and a political life in general is based upon the existence of classes, which again have their roots in the peculiar property prerogatives inherent in the economic system of a particular historical period. With the disappearance of economic classes social and political classes will also disappear. Therefore, as stated before, the abolition of all property prerogatives in economic life by the Socialist workers also implies the abolition of all political differences and the automatic ceasing of the political struggle. ”

“ In consequence, a worker can be an Industrial Unionist without being a Socialist, but not a Socialist without being an Industrial Unionist. Industrial Unionism to be effective and to bare the historic significance accorded to it above must, therefore, be squarely planted upon Socialist principles and be vitalized by the dynamic forces of class-consciousness. ”

“ From the application of Historical Materialism and Marxian Economics to social development in general and Capitalism in particular, we are compelled to conclude that the basic cause of the workers' misery and the original source of all class demarcations existing in present society, and the innumerable effects resulting therefrom are to be found in the capitalist or private ownership of the socially produced and operated instruments of wealth production ”

“ With this demand as the only immediate and ultimate aim to struggle for, with the social revolution as the objective before it, the Socialist movement can not fail to be a truly revolutionary movement, and must by necessity formulate tactics just as revolutionary as the aim that gave birth to them. ”

“ To organize this economic indispensability at the point of production along class-conscious lines and in accord with the dictates of modem economic evolution is, as already stated before, therefore, an urgent requirement of the hour and on par with generating and accumulating proletarian economic vitality. ”

“ We have seen from the foregoing that the economic power of the workers slumbers in their class-consciousness; furthermore, that this class-consciousness can only be effectively aroused and reared in the proletarians with the aid of Socialist education predicated upon a Socialist or revolutionary objective. ”

“ Primarily, it is not the question whether the workers are organized on the economic field along craft or industrial lines, because we have both forms of organization in existence now (see Germany and America for classical examples) ; neither, whether the workers engage in independent politics, such politics having been Carried on for years by so-called liberal reform movements and alleged "Socialist" parties; but whether the economic and political activity is a Socialist activity: whether the industrial union is a class-conscious union ”

“ The reason for the class character of every form of proletarian organization has been sufficiently underscored and need not be dwelled upon any more. What must now be shown is the necessity for this particular form of unionism: the necessity for Industrial Unionism. ”

“ The competitive struggle with its process of elimination, and the discoveries and inventions on the field of mechanical and economic evolution are responsible for the highly corporate and at times monopolistic character of industries, and have given the death blow to small production and also every form of craft organization bound up therewith. ”

“ The proper recognition of this fact by the proletariat—a fact which can be amply substantiated by historic and sociological examples—will eventually compel this class to organize and conduct its struggle against Capitalism accordingly. This further implies that the proper appreciation of this fundamental proposition will henceforth actuate the class-conscious workers to concentrate their energies upon the organization of their economic power ”

“ Therefore, all so-called "Socialist propaganda" and activity not based upon such an aim, or advancing it as the "ultimate demand", and advocating as "immediate demands" an endless string of palliatives or reforms, cannot be considered as Socialist activity, and the adherents and votes obtained through such a propaganda can not be considered class-conscious adherents or votes. ”

“ This struggle has, however, purely a destructive function, because a general political victory of Socialism spells the downfall of political government and the advent of the Industrial Republic, a society without classes and political antagonisms. ”

“ The yardstick with which to establish the status of a workers' organization has been provided in our previous article, and is to be found in the organization's conception of Capitalism and the consequent interpretation of the class struggle resulting therefrom. ”

“ Such being the case, the tactical department of the Socialist movement is, consequently, inseparably connected with the theoretical system of Socialism, being in reality a component part of this system. ”

“ Therefore it can not mean one thing to one worker and something else to another. It will also be admitted that certain scientific premises and a scientific mode of investigation furnish certain deductions, which again will prescribe or determine a definite mode of action. ”

“ This objective, as emphasized before, is determined first by the Socialist analysis of capitalist production and secondly by the proper appreciation with the aid of Materialistic Conception of History of the historic role allotted to the working-class in the period of evolution. ”