May Walden

“ BY THE CLASS STRUGGLE. Socialism is not a theory, it is the next stage in the devolpment of society. In every stage of society the state has been in the hands of the ruling class. And the only way we can control the state is to replace capitalist legislators by those of the working class. "Then the working class will be on top and things will be as bad or worse than before!" No, because in establishing socialism, all will have equal opportunities, and from an economic standpoint all classes will be abolished. ”

“ I think it is perfectly right to help any human creature in distress, be it tramp, drunkard or prostitute! But I think it is damnable to perpetuate a system which MAKES these unfortunates, and then tries to reform them in a faint-hearted way. I think that "charity" is degrading to both giver and receiver. The giving of charity implies a condition of poverty on the one side, of wealth on the other; it implies class distinction. It shows a spirit of brutal selfishness on the part of one and weak dependence on the part of the other. ”

“ Learn to look upon all other workers as comrades, and neither scorn nor envy them. Remember that you need their help and they need yours to liberate the working class from slavery. If you are a school teacher, be thankful for your opportunity and teach history to the young people under your care, not from the capitalist standpoint, but from the standpoint of a class-conscious wage-worker; teach that a good character is more to be desired than great riches; teach lofty aims and ideals instead of the principles of commercialism. ”

“ All workers are in one class without regard to sex. There is no spot in the United States where a worker without money may take hold and make something without first asking if he or she may do it. If he is refused he is without means to earn his bread and butter. He must either beg it or steal it. It is not just that any man or woman shall be denied the right to earn a living. How shall we make things just? By making these means of production the common property of all the people and letting all have a right to work, and a right to all they make—no more, no less. ”

“ THE LAW OF SURPLUS VALUE. If each human being worked alone, with only such tools as he could make, to produce things he needs, he could barely produce enough to keep himself alive. By working together with improved machinery, each worker produces a large SURPLUS VALUE over and above what he needs to keep himself alive. This surplus is now taken from him by the capitalist class; we propose to abolish that class and let each worker keep for himself and his loved ones the surplus value that he creates. ”

“ The children cannot go to school nor run errands if they are taunted all the time by better dressed companions, I think one who has not suffered from this taunting can never measure the ache which the sensitive little hearts hold, nor sympathize with the bitter rebellion against poverty which the young girl feels when her girl friends, or worse, the young men, smile scornfully at her shabby clothing. ”

“ A woman who has not freed herself from these marks of indolence and frivolity can have no idea of the independence, exhilaration and energy of mind and body that come from adopting a rational mode of dress. We workers, men and women, must join ourselves together to rid the world of this system which gives a few rich people so much leisure and many poor ones too much hard work; and which makes it necessary for the rich class, whether willingly or not, to own another class by owning the things they must use to earn a living. ”

“ Is it any wonder that she blames the husband who is himself ground down by business worries and the responsibilities of his growing family, and thinks to herself, "I wish I had never got married; I wish there was a way I could earn money of my own so I could have a penny to spend when I want it." When she asks for money to get some necessaries, she gets a gruff answer and a few dollars grudgingly given that makes her heart ache for days and weeks afterwards. ”

“ As you go about on the street cars, or in a crowd, study the pinched, care-worn faces about you, made unbeautiful by want and drudgery. Listen to the remarks their owners make about the things they would like and cannot afford, then try to believe if you can that there is "prosperity enough to go around" and that "the working people of the United States produce two thousand millions of dollars more each year than they can consume." ”

“ Do you think if these men had always had a chance to work at something that would give them all that they earned, they would have become thieves and murderers? I do not think they would. "But," you say, "these men wouldn't work if they had a chance; they want to get rich without working. They would rather rob and murder and run the risk of being caught than do any useful work." ”

“ Among your fellow teachers, arouse a sentiment in favor of free text books, free lunches, free clothing, less wasteful methods of education, consolidated schools for the rural districts, free transportation and the like.
There is work for all, whatever talent or ability you may possess, and to the limit of your enthusiasm and endurance. Work in the way that suits you best, by talking, singing, speaking, writing or thinking, only remembering the three principles of International Socialism which are to be mastered and never forgotten. ”

“ A man with no property is looked down upon as the scum of the earth by the people who have inherited some, or have skinned their fellow creatures, or have acquired it under the conditions which capitalism gives.
Suppose by working and scrimping it could be possible for you to buy a home, would it be best to do it? With the present system of living where we must beg for a chance to work, I should say "no." Factory owners try to get their "hands" to buy homes near the factory so they will not be able to move away. They want them to have their money tied up in property so they will have to stay. ”

“ Most of us know what kind of houses the working people are forced to live in, but probably none of those who put up with the frightful conditions know that there is a way out. They do not know that it is not a necessary condition and that they can change it for a better one just as soon as they are a mind to by combining together and working together to have things to suit themselves, instead of fixing them to suit their masters—the capitalists. But let us look into the housing problem a little further. It is not hard to pick out the houses of the capitalists from those of the laborers. ”

“ No manufacturer will pay a man regular wages for doing what a child can and will do for a much less amount. So wages drop to the level of a child's subsistence. Can you not see that it is impossible to make a home under such circumstances, or to keep one on such wages? The men, married or unmarried, must look elsewhere for work. They go to the Klondike, to the huge wheat farms, or any other place where the slightest chance offers. Wages are not enough to support a family, so the idea of marriage is given up and in many cases the family is abandoned. ”

“ I mean everything which has to do with a woman's happiness, in the home or out of it. Every question which deals with human happiness deals with the home, for the home reflects the condition of society, the state, the nation, the world. ”

“ In Chicago alone there are over 15,000 children at work at different occupations, the most of them in factories and workshops. A safe estimate of the number of children in the United States who are obliged to work is two million.
In order to get the most out of life, people must be educated, but the opportunity for a good education comes to few children. "Under our public school system cannot every child get a good education?" No, far from it. Education has become a class distinction. ”

“ Go to the art galleries on a day when they are free to our class and look at the beautiful forms shown in the sculptures and paintings there. Realize if you can that people once lived in a free state who had perfect bodies like those, then look around the rooms at your fellow creatures and notice the cramped, ill-shapen, ungraceful figures, and know that they are made so from being the slaves of the classes above them! ”

“ With no time for reading, music, visiting or other pleasure; with her nerves worn out by constant wear and tear upon them of never-ending housework and care of children, is it any wonder that she is peevish and irritable at times and lives always with rebellion in her heart that it is so, and that she cannot make it otherwise? ”

“ One of the worst things for which the present system is to blame is the commercialism of modern marriage. As I have said before, a man or a woman tries to find a rich partner before entering into the business of founding a home. If a poor woman is attractive enough to have several suitors for her hand, she is always advised to choose the man who can give her the most in the way of food, clothing, shelter and amusements. ”

“ We are told that one way to prevent the evil of the sweat-shops and the adulterations of food and other goods is to establish Consumers' Leagues. These are made up of the middle and capitalist classes, and the object is self-protection. They promise to buy goods only at such places as are healthful, so the consumers may not run the risk of disease from eating and wearing things that have been made in foul places. This protects the upper classes—about one-fourth of the people. But how about the poor people who are three times as many? ”

“ Most women, if they have half a chance, are good housekeepers. And these questions of sanitary conditions and the public health are simply questions of good housekeeping. Under socialism when men and women elected to office look faithfully to their duties instead of squandering the public money, as is done now under capitalism, there will be put into use systems of engineering and scientific and economical methods of caring for the disposal of waste matter so that this suicidal way of poisoning our lake and river water and using it again for household purposes will be quickly abolished. ”

“ I cannot pretend to deal with all sides of this question, but I do mean to try to say a few things about that which we women think the most of; the things which come to us and help to make or mar the happiness of our daily lives. What is necessary to a truly happy home—the kind we all want? ”

“ The remedy which capitalism would apply to the man who thus deserts his family is to arrest him for "vagrancy" and put him in jail! Think of doing that to a man who tramps miles a day and begs for work at every place he passes! ”

“ They are frankly told that they have other means of earning a living if they are not satisfied with the wages they get, and none will dispute me in saying that the most of them are obliged to use those means.
To offset the evils caused by starvation wages, the capitalist system has devised an institution which deserves a few words in passing—"Organized Charity." Out of the goodness of their hearts and (as a sop to their consciences) a driblet from their over-filled purses, the women of the leisure class have built "homes" for unfortunate women. ”

“ Another one of the evils of capitalism is the necessity for children to carn their own living and help support the family so they never have a chance to go to school, or to play. They know nothing except how to tend a machine. They cannot have strong, healthy bodies because they breathe the bad air of the factory all day long and eat poor food since they cannot afford to buy better. They have no time to study, and are too tired when their day's work is done if they had time ”

“ In your Sunday school class search out the capitalist ethics in the lessons and study how to supplant them by socialist ethics—the kind that Jesus really taught. If you are a Christian Scientist, or a follower of any similar philosophy, study the philosophy of socialism until you have mastered it; then compare it with yours, then APPLYING THE PRINCIPLES OF SOCIALISM, work, "demonsrate," and create harmony among the workers. ”

“ Instead of spinning-wheels in the homes we have factories where the women and children work from ten to fourteen hours a day for a mere pittance. We have mills where the underwear which used to be always made at home is now knit better and cheaper. The small shop of the milliner and dressmaker which used to be common thirty years ago is being displaced by sweat-shops where seamstresses and finishers are working ten hours a day, six days in the week for starvation wages! This change in methods of production has forced women and children to leave the home for the shop and factory. ”

“ No matter who earns the food, whether man, woman or child, generally the woman has to get it ready to eat. So, wives, mothers and daughters, it is your concern as much or more than that of any one else that the food be fresh and nourishing.
There isn't a problem on earth we cannot solve if we set about it; now how shall we begin on this? You remember we found that the cause of adulterated food was the desire for profits by the people who produce and market it. So we must get our food without its being necessary for the producers to live by profits. ”

“ There is much advice as to what will best nourish us, and many experiments and observations are made upon pupils in schools and reformatories and upon workingmen and women in different occupations to see how much food we need each day. This is all right if the knowledge is not used to force the workers to live upon just enough to keep them alive and to keep up the human race. ”

“ Our babies will be furnished pure milk, and the ice will not be kept in storage until prices go up, but we shall have our food and all other things we need at what it costs to produce them.
CLOTHING.
Our next necessity is clothing. We must not only have plenty of it in order to keep clean, but it must be comfortable and pleasing to us. We cannot have much self-respect when our clothing is dirty, ragged and ill-fitting. Yet so common is it for some of us to be illy clothed that our garments more than anything else have come to be marks of the class to which we belong. ”