Montana news. [volume], May 28, 1908, Image 1

About Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?

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Votefor the Party^of Your Class
MONTANANEWS
Abolishthe Capi^^talist System
OWNEDAND PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF MONTANA
VOL.VI.
HELENAMONTANA, THURSDAY, MAY 28, 1908.
NO.HO.
Platformof the
^^cialistPe^rty
Preambleor Declaration of Principles of the Socialist Party^of America^Adopted at the National Convention^Assembled at Chicago, May, 1908.
i.
OF
PRINCIPLES.
DECLARATION
Humanlift- depends upon food,^clothing and shelter. Only when tneso^are assured arc freedom, culture and^higher human development possibl^To produce food, clothing and shelter,^land ami machinery are needed. Land^by itself does not satisfy human needs.^Human labor gets raw materials and^food out of the soil by creating ma^^chinery and using it upon the land.^Whoever has control of land and ma^^chinery has control of human labor,^and with it of human life and liberty.
Todaythe machinery and the land^used for industrial purposes are owned^by a rapidly decreasing minority. So^long as machinery is simple and easily^handled by one man^ it does not make^its owners ao powerful that they can^dominate the sources of life of others.^But when machinery becomes more and^more complex and expensive, and re^^quires for its effective operation the^organized effort of many workers, its^influence reaches over wider and wider^circles of life. The owners of such^machinery become the dominant class.
Inproportion as the number of^such machine owners compared to all^other classes decreases, their power in^the nation and in the world increases.^They bring ever larger masses of work^^ing people under their control, re^^ducing them to the |^oint where muscle^and brain are their only productive^property. Millions of formerly self-^employing workers thus become the^helpless wage slaves of the industrial^masters.
Themole the economic power of^the ruling class grows, the less useful^does it become in the life of the ua-^tion. The overwhelming bulk of the^useful work of the nation falls upon^the shoulders of the classes that either^have no other produetive property but^their manual and mental labor ]Hiwer^^the wage workers^or that have but^little land ami little effective ma^chinery outside of their labor power^^the small traders and small farmers.^The ruling minority is steadily becom^^ing useless and parasitic.
Abitter struggle over the division^of the products of labor is waged be^tweeti the exploiting propertied classes^on the one hand and the exploited,^propertyless class on the other. In^this struggle the wage working class^ean not expert adequate relief from^any reform of the present order or^from the dominant elass of society.
Thewage workers are therefore^the most determined and irreconcilable^antagonists of the riding elass. They^are nlso the elass which suffers most^from the curse of the class rule. The^fact that a small number of capitalists
ispermitted to use all tluntry's
resourcesand social tools for their in^^dividual profit. and to make the pro^duct ion of the necessaries of our live*^the object of tlmir competitive private^enterprises and speculations, is at the^bottom of all the social evils of our^time.
Inspite of the organization of^trusts, |Is and combinations, the cap^^italists are powerless to regulate pro^duction for social ends. Industries are^largely conducted in a planless manner.^Through periods of feverish activity^the strength and health of the workers^are mercilessly undermined, and during^periods of enforced idleness the work^^ers are frequently reduced to starva^t ion.
Theclimaxes of this chaotic sys^^tem of production are the regularly^recurring industrial depressions and^crises which painlvze the nation every^fifteen or twenty years.
Inits mad and reckless MM for^profits the capitalist class is bound^to exploit the workers to the very^limit of tlo ir endnraiind to sacri^^fice their physical, moral and mental^welfare to its own insatiable greed.^Capitalism keeps the masses of work^ingtnen in poverty, destitution, phys^^ical exhaustion and ignorance. It^drags their wives from their homes^to the mill and factory. It snalcbes^their children from the playgrounds^and schools ami grinds their slender^bodies and unformed minds into cold^dollars. It wantonly disfigures, 111:1 iin
find kill* IIreds of thousands of
workingmenannually ;u mines, on rail^^roads and in factories. I. .'rives mil^lions of workers into ti.f -auks u*
ofthem into beggary, vagrancy and all I terms upon which we shall be allowed^forms of crime and vice.to live. The trusts fix the prices of
Tomaintain their rule over their our ^read, meat and sugar, af our coal,^fellow men, the capitalists must keep oil anJ clothing, of our raw material^in their pay all organs of the publicmachinery, of all the necessaries
powers,public mind and public con ' of ,ife Hn,l even the price* of our
science.They control the dominating^parties and, through tin in, the elected^public officials. They select our ex^^ecutives, bribe our legislatures anil cor^^rupt our courts of justice. They own^and censor the press. They sway our^educational institutions. They own the^nation politically and intellectually^just as they own it industrially.
Thestruggle between wage work^ers and capitalists grows ever fiercer,^and has now become the only vital^issue before the American people. The^wage-working class, therefore, has the^most vital and direct interest in^abolishing the capitalist system. But^in abolishing the present system, the^workingmen will free not only their^own class, but also all other classes^of modern society: The small farmer,^who is today exploited by large cap^^ital more indirectly but not less ef^^fectively than is the wage laborer; the^small manufacturer and trader, who is^engaged in a desperate and losing^struggle for economic indejtendenoe^in the face of the all-conquering power^of concentrated capital; and even the^capitalist himself, who is the slave of^his wealth rather than its master. The^struggle of the working class against^the capitalist class, while it is a class^struggle, is thus at the same time a^struggle for the abolition of all classes^and class privileges.
Theprivate ownership of the land^and means of production used for ex^^ploitation is the rock upon which class |^rule is built; political government is 1^its indispensable instrument. The!^wage workers ean not be freed from^Habitation without conquering tin^political power and substituting col^ective ownership for private owner
coffins.
Theruling class has seized
upon
Thescant legislation apparently passed^for their benefit has been so distorted^as to injure those whom it pretended^to help.
T'iiworking class of the I'nited^States i;in not expect any remedy for^its Wrong! from the present ruling class^or from the dominant parties. So long^as a ^mall number of individuals are^permi' ^ I to uso the common resource*^of the nation's wealth for their private^profit in competition with each other^arid for 'he exploitation of their fel^^low 11,' a, industrial depressions are^bound to occur at certain intervals.^No eerreaey reform or other legislative^measur proposed by capitalist re^form' hi avail against these fatal^resul' . f a (.ys'cm of utter anarchy^in p. oduelion.
Solong as the wealth production^of the country is based on individual^com] ' ^ ion ^he fierce struggles of this^compel ^ ion will inevitably lead to^combinations and trusts. No amount
AstoriaToo,
Seesthe Fleet
ACelebration Long to Be Remembered-^One of^the Undesirables Expresses Himself on^the ^Fleeting^ Patriotism.
thepresent desperate condition of theof gov. rnment regulation, or of pub-^workers as an opportunity for a re-licity, or of restrictive legislation will^n. wed onslaught on the Organizedarrest the natural course of modern^Labor movement. The highest courtsindustrial development,^of the country have within the last
yearrendered decision after decision^depriving the workers of rights which^they bad won by generations of^struggle.
Theattempt to destroy the West^^ern Federation of Miners, although de^^feated by the solidarity of Organised^Labor and the Socialist movement, re^^vealed the existence of a far reaching^and unscrupulous conspiracy on the^part of the ruling powers against the^organizations of labor.
Intheir efforts to take the lives^of the faithful leaders of the miners^the conspirators violated the state laws^and the federal constitution in a man^^ner seldom equaled even in a country^so completely dominated as is the^United States by the profit-seeking^class.
TheCongress of the I'nited States^has shown its contempt for the inter^^est* of labor as plainly and unmis^^takably as have the other branches of^government. The legislation for which^the labor organizations have contin^^uously petitioned has been rejected.
Solong as our courts, legislatures^and ex.i-iitive offices remain in the^hands of the ruling classes and their^agents, our government will be used^in the interests of these classes as^against the toilers.
Politicalparties are but the ex^^pression of economic class interests.^The Republican, the Democratic and^the so-called 'Independence' parties^snd all parties other than the Socialist^Party, are financed, directed and con^^trolled by the representatives of dif^^ferent groups of the ruling class.
Inthe maintenance of class govern^^ment both the Democratic and Repub^^lican parties have been equally guilty.^The Republican party has had control^of the national government and has^been directly and actively responsible^for these wrongs. The Democratic^party, while saved from direct respon^^sibility by its political impotence, has^shown itself equally subservient to the^aims of the capitalist class whenever^and wherever it has been in power.
(Continuedon Page Two, Col. Four.)
Weare constantly asked to explain the philosophy of Socialism in a few^short simple words that can be read in a few minutes and easily understood,^ship of the land and tl^This is impossible. Socialism is an elaborate system of thought that touches
productionus.l for exploit a t ion.every phase of human life. It has a literature of tens of thousands of volumes.
Tin basis tor such transformation [ There are men who have spent years of their lives on single phases of Socialist^is rapidlv developing within tin- rtr] philosophy and still have not touched its depths.^I^,^,,M ^f afwtal . i| Italtol lealcty.I The same thing is largely true of every great system of thought. None of^The factory Mpttas, with Itf |asasen^^ t'.iem can be understood in a moment. There is no royal road to knowledge,^machinery and minute dhrtaica ti !aYet there are certain fundamental principles of every philosophy and sci-
bor,is rapidly 4V stray tag V! I^lljS rt.ee that can be explained so that anyone can understand them. The si.me^of individual preaaettaa in BMMB.fl thing is true of Socialism. Its basic principles can be stated in plain simple^ture. Modern production is already , vords.
Firstlet us state some plain facts. Indeed, nearly all there is to Socialism,^as to science in general, is a system of arrangement of certain facts.
Menare working today with' wonderfully produetive machines. The user^ol a modern locomotive transports a thousand times as much each hour as the^('river of an ox-team could move in a month. The child tending a battery of^Northrup magazine looms weaves miles where the old hand loom worker wove^feet. The steam thresher turns out car loads of grain where the man with the^fail threshed bushels.
Astoria,Ore., May, 2^t, Li' s.^I presume that the 20th of May,^1908, will go down through the history^of the coming centuries as one of the^greatest dsys that Astoria, (Astoria^too, the Venice of America, the old. -t^town of the Northwest) has erer^known.
Themayor, our mighty Mayor Her^man Wise, has declared a holiday and^the banks and stores are going to close,^even including the mayor's own store,^snd profits are going to be thrown to^the wind (maybe).
AHthe river steamers, and the coast^steamer, the Roanoke, have been en^^gaged for the celebrators of this great^holiday. The river steamers will take^you to some lighthouse or other and^the coast steamer will take you right^out over the Columbia River bar onto^the briny deep, (the fare on the river^steamer is $1.00 and on the Roanoke^$5.00). Not every one can go on the^Roanoke, as the mighty Astoria Citi^^zens' Alliance, excuse me I mean An^^anias club, please excuse me once more,^I mean the Chamber of Commerce, has^first choice and the common scrubs^with their $5.00 then stand a show.^Our railroad also is going to run^special trains to points on the beach^where there are high places and lots^of wind and rain for the benefit of the^patriotic people at so much per head.
Thousandsof working people are^going (at least that is the hope) to^patronize these various excursions and^blow their hard earned dollars. (Some^^how or other those profits keep in^^truding themselves). And for what^are they going to blow their dollars.^Why the ones that go to the lighthouse^and beach points will see, (provided^the weather is clear) several little^streaks of smoke far out on the sea^with maybe (Oh, joy!) a speck of^something visible beneath the streak*^of smoke, and the ones that go on the^Roanoke will see many people hanging^their heads over the railing of the^steamer and feeding the fishes the^breakfast that they ate, (they the^people) before going aboard the ship,^and also provided they get hero wln n^advertized, also will see what it is
thatis making the abov^ said streak!^of smoke, viz. the Atlantic Fleet of^slaughter houses.
Wonderfulsight, machines of destruc^^tion mado for no other purpose than^to destroy things of usefulness, things^that we havo been countless genera^^tions studying out and perfecting.^Made to kill and cripple and make^wfdows and orphans, to separate fam^^ilies, and to make out of those who^serve and are not killed, sodden, sense^^less, drunken, mindless brutes. Mads^to make working people at a word of^command not only Kill other working^peoplo that they have never seen and^who could not and would not harm^them except for this brutal training,^not only this but if commanded to kill^their own father, their own brothers^or even the one that brought them^into the world, their mother. All this^that capitalistic profits may continue.
Doesthe workingman that is in the^navy (or army) have the excuse even^that he is making any kind of profit^for himself. Not at all. He is fed^like a brute, treated and kicked like a^brute, and paid wages that barely^keeps him in tobacco and booze. And^being cut off from all home surround^^ings and influence, becomes of course,^a brute in time himself.
Andwho will do all this celebrating!^A few of the masters who are claaa^conscious, and a great mass of working^people who are (well to make it easy),^densely, stupidly ignorant. They will^whoop and hurrah at the sight of ma^^chines made for no other purpose than^to kill members of their own class.^They will think they are patriotic and^talk about their country, when nine^out of ten of them, depending on what^they themselves have, do not possess^enough country to be buried in and^have to depend on the charity of their^friends to keep out of the potters^field. They will spend their last penny^1 lebrati ng thi machines I hal have^made paupers and slaves out of them^and think they have done a praise^^worthy act.
Canthese kind of slaves be awak^^en d .' HOD KNOWS, but he won't^give it away.^ JOHN 1 HOARD.
Modernproduction is alreadyI
rgely a collective and Social j^process, wliil. the gi. it tru-ts and^monopolies which have sprung up in |^recent years have had the effect of^organizing the work and management^of some of our main industries on a^national scale, ami fitting them for^national use and operation.
NOTHINGDAUNTS THE RUSSIAN^REVOLUTIONIST.
Inthe struggle for freedom the^interests of the workers of all nations^are identical. The struggle is not only^national but internal ioiial. It em^^braces the world and will be 1 arrie.l
Thisis the story that meets us everywhere.
Withrelation to these wonderful machines the members of society are^divided into two classes those who OWN and those who DO NOT OWN the^Machines.
Theclass that own the machines do not need to work. They may be. like
to ultimate victory by the^workers of the world.
Tounite the workers of the nation^and their allies and sympathizers of^all other classes to this end is the mis^^sion of the Socialist Party. In this^battle for freedom the Socialist Party^does not strive to substitute working^class rule for capitalist class nil' , but^to free nil humanity from .lass rule^and to realize the international broth^^erhood of man.
II.
THENATIONAL SOCIALIST PLAT^FORM.
TheSocialist Party, in national^convent ion assembled, in entering upon^the campaign of 1SMIH, again presents^itself to the people as the party ^f the^working class, and as such it appeals^for the support of all workers of the^I'nited States and ^^(' all r it 1/. 11- who^sympathize with the great an.I just^cause of labor.
Woare at this moment in the^midst of one of those industrial break
united tire owners of the great Marshall Field estate, wards of a court. Th.ty may be^insane, infants, in jail. This does not interfere with their ownership.
Theclass of owners does not need to do any work, yet its income flows in.^This is because of the existence of the other class^the class that DOES^NOT OWN anything.
Thisnon-owning class cannot live unless it can use the property of the own^^ers. It cannot even set foot on the earth unless it uses the land that belongs to^Hie owning class.
Thenon-owning class cannot live unless it produces wealth. In order to^rroduce wealth it must use the land and machines of the owners.
Forthe opportunity to use the property of the possessing class long enough^each day to produce a subsistence for itself, the propertiless class agrees to keep^on producing wealth with these wonderfully productive machines all day.
Theportion which the propertiless producing class creates for itself and is^,'llowe.l to keep is called WAOES and all the remainder flows into the pockets^of the possessing class as RENT, INTEREST AND PROFITS.
Inreturn for this the owning class do nothing but hang on to their legal^titles to the property. This possession makes it possible for them to lay tribute^t.pon the organizing, directing, managing labor as well as upon the most menial,^unskilled manual toll.
TheSocialists point out that since no function is performed by these owncis,^nnd since it requires neither brains nor ability of any kind to hold titles, there^fore it would be easy for the workers collectively to hold these titles. The^workers could just as well appoint the state as their agent to hold the titles as^the capitalists can appoint banks, corporations and trust compauies for that^purpose.
SinceIt is only this private, legal title that prevents the propertiless work^ing class from gaining access to the wonderful productive machines, and using^them to produce wealth for the producers, when once the title was transferred
downs that periodicallv paralv/c tin
lifeof the nation The muchY i- . l 'to tne worklnK claM government, then all could use the tools and land and retain
eraof our national prosperity has been
followedby one of general misery.^Factories, mills and mines are closed,^work is abandoned, and millions of^men, ready, willing aiol able 1.. pro^vide the nation with all the nice*^saries and comforts of life nre forced^into idleness und starvation. Within^recent times the trusts and monopolies^have attained an enormous and men^aelng development. They have ac
unemployedand forces liirgv nirub'-r* quired the power to dictate to us the
theproduct.
Thepresent title is a law-made one. It can be unmade by changing the^lawn. Therefore the workers are asked to make use of their political power,^their overwhelming majority to gain control of the government and use it to^transfer the title of the means by which wealth is produced and distributed^from the present idle owning class to the working propertiloss class.
Unlikethe present private ownership, the collective ownership to be estab^^lished by the vlctorlus Socialist working class will not be EXCLUSIVE but^INCLUSIVE.
Therewill be none shut out from ownership. All will bo owners and all will^be users. THIS IS WHAT THE SOCIALIST PARTY IS SEEKINO TO^A( OOMPLISH.
Sixmonths ago I saw an ^Id ira:i^upon a platform. At midnight em^^ployees took the chairs fI. 111 tie ^^and let down tin curtain. Annoyed at^being kept up so late, they m ^vo I^the furniture noisily. 1 tut the w:lite*^haired pill tales did not stop. lie^steppes) to the front ami spoke louder.^He wildly waved a paper. His b. auti^fill bearded lace was illuminated as if^with an aureole. He was the npothe^osis of cuthnsia-ill. Hi* voice quiv^ered^but with p.i^sion, not with Par.^His hands trembled^but from emo^^tion not t r.^ 111 ag. . 1 ^ne 1 \pn .11^constantly recurred in his speech. I:^was the word ^svobmla^^what nth. 1^word is necessary f
Russiais famous tor it- circles, but^the circle of Tchay kovsky was the^most important of them all. Sophia^Pcrovskaya, Stepniak. Kupriuimff. Kr.i^potkin^these belonged to it. Its in^^fluence was felt in every province of^Russia. The government trembled be^^fore it. Yet tilmil treachery
crushedit. Nearly nil its members^were tortured in prisons, hanged on^scaffold* or exiled to SiberiH. A few^escaped. Nicholas Tchaykovsky was^one of the few. For thirty years he^has lived in other countries, preaching^the one tiling in the world worth^preaching^Freedom ! He is known^by the noblest title that man has given^to man^^Father of the Russian Revo^lutioii.^ Since he fled from his na^^tive land another generation has^arisen, but they, too, are his children.^The veteran pined to be among tiie^youths. At last desire conquered dis^^cretion, and old Tchaykovsky went^back to Russia. So did Itreshkovsky^go back, and Leo Deutsch went back,^and Olga Liubatovitch went back, und^Nicholas Morosvitch went back, and^Hermann l.opatiu went back. So I I^they nearly all go back - to death.
Tchaykovskytonight is in that hell^of horrors^the fortress of St. Petal^and St. Paul. More sublime char^actors, more exalted martyrs, more pi^^found thinker* have languish. 1] in this^ghastly tomb than in any otlnr that
wasbuilt to hold captive the livers^of liberty. Ilundr. ds of names I could^quote you, and ev.ry on of them a^loftier soul than the hero.* whose ex^^ploit* are sung by poc's and whose^features are carved b\ sculptors.
Father,you could have spent the^evening of your life ia the rays of^la shining sun. You could have sat^quietly hSHMath the olive, en,joying the^singing birds and the flowing brooks.^A cosy armchair, a glowing fireside, a^well filled library, a loving comrade,^care and comfort, peace and plenty-^all these could have be u your*. In^^stead you .hose that grim coffin where^the living tire buried, that ghostly^grave win re the feet forgot to walk^and the tongue cannot speak, but when^the heart always suffers and the brain^can snap at any moment.
Fatherof the Revolution, you will^perish among your children.
Father,farewell.
Father,with tears and love and out^^stretched arms and saddened souls,^farewell.
Father,with our young spirits pray^^ing that the flame of your fire may^leap up and burn in us, farewell.^^Victor Robinson in The Public.
COOPERATIVE STORE MEETING
Thecommittees from the different^labor organizations of Helena met last^Sunday in the parlors of the Workers'^Club and inaugurated a movement for^a workingmen '* cooperative store in^Helena.
MichaelCorbett was elected tempo^^rary president and John Tax lor tem^^porary secretary.
OverS.tOO.Oll w a- sill- lilted at this^meeting. Next Sunday, May II, an^^other meeting will be held at the^same place to draw up by laws and^effect a permanent organisation. It^is the intention to hold meeting* every^Sunday night to discus* MBttCfl per^^taining to the welfare of the organi^^zation.
Meetingscalled promptly at eight^o'clock. All union men and those in^sym|githy with the movement are cor^dlally invited to attend.