"For that reason our revolution cannot rest until it has established full revolution in all neighbor lands.

"The second reason why Russia must incite Europe to revolt is that by its very nature, the revolution cannot live in isolation. Europe must be organized, either on a capitalistic basis or a proletarian, anti-capitalistic basis. The dual system is inconceivable. It is impossible for Russia to exist without capitalistic banks and industries, if she has to trade with countries which have capitalistic banks and industries....

"In its own defense the revolution must propagandize and convert. It must incite and urge on the masses against their present rulers in all countries, and it must do this unshrinkingly, without fear of consequences, or consideration for the feelings and interests of the foreign affected parties."

The question may now be asked, What means is the Russian Bolshevist government using to incite revolution in America? We have not, of course, much definite information as yet; but we know that Lenine's government has lots of money which it can use for foreign revolutionary propaganda, and that a certain Ludwig C. A. K. Martens has been in our country for some time claiming to represent the Soviet government and boasting that he is able to deposit in our banks for commercial purposes hundreds of millions of Russian gold. He is very active, has been assisted by Morris Hillquit of "The Call," the Socialist daily of New York City, goes about visiting different Socialist organizations, and in return is entertained by them. During the months of April and May, 1919, many notices of such receptions were published in "The Call." One example will suffice. Under the caption, "Official Socialist News," in the issue of March 31, 1919, we read:

"The central committee of Local New York, Socialist Party, greets Comrade L. C. A. K. Martens, recently appointed the representative of the Russian Soviet government in the United States and in his name the victorious Russian proletariat.

"We sincerely hope that his work in behalf of the Socialist government of Russia will be crowned with success. We pledge him our aid, and promise that we shall not rest until the government of the United States has ceased to be a party to the economic and political isolation of Russia and the military occupation of territory of the Soviet republic."

In the latter part of March, 1919, Martens shared offices with Santeri Nuorteva, also a great friend of the American Socialists. Nuorteva was head of the Bolshevist propaganda in this country and from his office mailed the "Weekly Bulletin of the Bureau of Information on Soviet Russia." Nuorteva denied that these large sheets, which are about the same size as the propaganda sheets issued in the first months of the war by the German Information Service, constitute propaganda. Like the German Information Service sheets, each contains from six to ten articles. All paint conditions in Russia under Trotzky and Lenine as steadily improving and show those men and their aids as gentle, kind-hearted individuals whose only sin is the betterment of mankind.

Among labor unions Bolshevism has made great headway. The New Labor Party of Illinois in 1919 not only supported Soviet Russia but favored the Soviet system in our own country. Sensible workingmen in the American Federation of Labor and conservative members of the new Labor Party had good reason for being alarmed and for suspecting that American propagators of Bolshevism received Russian gold from some one, possibly from Martens.

The Socialist papers of the United States approve of Bolshevism, Spartacism and Communism, and would gladly welcome it to our country. "The Call," New York, March 31, 1919, on its editorial page says: "The red in the East is the dawning of a new day." On April 1, 1919, the same paper contained a long article on the first page, entitled, "Forces of Darkness Open Their Campaign to End Bolshevism." On April 11, 1919, in an editorial on the impending capture of Odessa by the Bolsheviki, it says:

"The evacuation of the Black Sea port of Odessa by foreign troops that have been holding it for many months is news of great significance....

"Like the German forces hurled against Soviet Russia by the mailed fist of the Kaiser, the French, Greek and Rumanian soldiers go out in a different mind and temper than they had going in. Wherever they go, they will spread the ideas of human liberty and co-operative development that they were sent to crush."

On April 13, 1919, "The Call" printed a poem on the assassinated Spartacan leader, Karl Liebknecht:

"Liebknecht

"Liebknecht, your lonely, bitter course is run! While we, with cautious feet, pursue the goal— 'Tis not in pity's name that we make moan— Nay! 'tis in envy of your martyrdom! The mirror of your flaming soul Has caught our poverty and gloom, In that fierce light our virtues shown Petty, distorted, wan! Then, hail! O martyr, in our day of doom! Hail, fiery heart, receive the victor's crown! Our heart a charnel house has grown For our vast dead! Yet we make room For freedom's slain. Shall not the tomb Yield heavy harvest where such seed is sown?"

"The Call," April 15, 1919, published the following endorsement of Hungarian Communism by the New York State Committee of the Socialist Party:

"Whereas, the working class of Hungary have seized political power and are using the same for the purpose of socializing industry and as an instrument for the complete emancipation of labor, therefore be it

"Resolved, that we, the State Committee of the Socialist Party of the State of New York, in meeting assembled congratulate the Socialist movement and the working class of Hungary on the success of the revolution and on the position that the Hungarian Socialist Republic has taken in defiance of the capitalist imperialists of all lands."

In the April 24, 1919, edition of "The Call" we read:

"A new period in the evolution of the social and economic structure of the world is at hand. A new day for those who toil. A new day which will mean economic and political liberty based on justice for those who toil. Some call it revolution. Well, if that be the word, so be it. And woe be to those who in their blind folly throw themselves in the way to stop its onward sweep throughout the civilized world, for they shall be as grass before the sickle! Hail, all hail, the new day!"

Again, in its issue of April 30, 1919, "The Call" favors the Hungarian Communist regime of Bela Kun:

"'There is reason to believe,' says a dispatch from Budapest, 'that the present Hungarian government has been unofficially approached by the Entente with the suggestion that military invasion might be arrested if the extremist members were replaced by more moderate Socialists.' Making all allowance for the unreliability of the dispatch, it is hard to say which cuts the more contemptible figure, the Entente or the 'Moderate Socialists.'"

In its 1919 May Day edition, "The Call," under the caption, "All Attacks on Russian Revolution Have Recoiled," shows its sympathy for Bolshevism and Spartacism:

"Every attack of world reaction upon Soviet Russia, the center of the world revolution, has remained fruitless. The internal strength and the external power of the Russian Workers' and Peasants' Republic is growing daily into a power that will successfully withstand the onslaughts of capitalism. The possibilities of subduing the Russian revolution by force from without decrease constantly as the governments of the different countries are ever more forcibly threatened by the fermentation among their own peoples which they must combat.

"At present the second, the Socialist revolution, has come upon the scene in Germany, which, driven to the edge of starvation, bleeding and drained to the marrow by Kaiserism and militarism, is now being held in the grip of Entente capitalism. There at this moment the courageous and steadfast Socialists stand under the flag of Spartacus, first on the barricades under the sign of the general strike and street battles....

"The German Socialists of the Right have soiled the name of Socialism by being inimical to the Russian revolution; by failing to communicate with the radical English elements in the English strike movements, which are also spontaneous expressions of proletarian unrest; by acting as the lackeys of Kaiserism and capitalism in opposing the November revolution to the last hour before its outbreak; and, finally, by their unspeakable mass murders of starving, demonstrating and striking proletarians.

"In this struggle between the revolution and the social-patriotic bourgeois reaction which now enters into a decisive phase, two of the noblest pioneers of the international, Dr. Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, were murdered by the hate-filled bourgeois mob and the degenerate Scheidemann-Noske henchmen. Another victim of the treacherous reaction was Kurt Eisner, Socialist premier of Bavaria. One need but be an honest, fearless Socialist to be in danger of one's life under the hypocritical, false, brutal and murderous regime of Ebert-Scheidemann-Noske. This regime revives the worst methods of Kaiserism and holds its protecting hand over the bourgeois and capitalists of Germany. But this blood and the blood of our martyrs will only urge the masses to continuous unconquerable struggle, till the criminal Ebert-Scheidemann-Noske reaction, together with the criminals and conspirators of the old empire, yield to the power of the revolutionary justice of the masses."

In the May 1, 1919, issue of "The Call," the May Day Manifesto is made public by Morris Hillquit, International Secretary of the Socialist Party of the United States. Only part of it is hereby quoted:

"We send fraternal greetings and vows of whole-hearted sympathy to the Socialist Soviet Republic of Russia, which is so valiantly upholding the lofty international proletarian ideals in the face of the combining military economic and political attacks of reactionary powers, and in spite of the systematic campaign of libelous misrepresentation on the part of the lying capitalist press of the world. We send congratulations and fraternal good wishes to the workers of Hungary on the establishment of a free Communistic Workers' Republic, upon the ruins of the predatory monarchy of their exploiting and land-monopolizing rulers. We extend the hand of comradeship and solidarity to the revolutionary Socialists of Germany and Russia, now engaged in a life-and-death struggle to secure for the working masses of their countries the full fruit of their victorious revolutions; to the workers of England in their efforts to wrest the control of the industries from the parasites in their country, and to the Socialists of France, Italy and all other countries of Europe in their fights against their revolutionary governments."

"The New Age," the Socialist paper of Buffalo, April 10, 1919, published a "Greeting to the Soviet Republic of Hungary":

"The proletariat of Hungary has taken all power in its own hands. Like a bolt from the blue the workers, soldiers and peasants of 'conquered' Hungary proclaim their intervention in the arena of world politics—and the diplomats of capitalism are thrown into a flurry of mingled rage and fear.

"While the wires were still hot with the news of the resignation of Count Karolyi, president of the provisional government of Hungary, as a protest against the peace terms of the Paris Conference, came word of the complete triumph of revolutionary Socialism and the establishment of the second Soviet Republic in the world.

"With little or no resistance, with no intervening period of Socialist compromise, the Hungarian Soviet Republic rises to power and in its initial proclamation ushers in the dictatorship of the proletariat, decrees the socialization of the large estates, mines, big industries, banks and lines of transportation, declares its oneness of purpose with the revolutionary proletariat of Russia and its readiness to form an armed alliance with the federated Soviet Republic. All over the country Workmen's, Soldiers' and Peasants' Councils are in action and take over the functions of government."

"The Revolutionary Age," then a Socialist paper of Boston, on March 29, 1919, showed its complete sympathy for the Bolshevists, Communists and Spartacans:

"So the Hungarian workers set about their task and the eastern sky is brightening.

"Already the two Soviet governments have issued an appeal to the workers of all countries to sweep away the old system. The bourgeois press tells of the spread of Bolshevism throughout central Europe and the diplomats of Capitalism are turning this way and that to avert fresh outbreaks. But they are powerless. Every new move brings new complications, every award of territory here brings discontent and adds to the 'menace' there.

"Next!

"The fear that weighs upon the world of Capitalism and the diplomats in Paris is: Who next? The proclamation of a Soviet Republic in Hungary is to them not a fact, but a symbol—a symbol of the onward sweep of the proletarian revolution, which may break loose in other nations.

"Through this symbol looms Soviet Russia—gigantic, mysterious and implacable. Despised by the world of Capitalism, intrigued against and vilified, isolated in the spaces of its own territory, attacked by the soldiers of the Allies—Soviet Russia, through the flaming energy of its proletariat and Socialism has conquered in spite of all. The Allies, their Capitalism and Imperialism, are no longer a menace to Soviet Russia; it is now Soviet Russia that menaces the Allies through its own gigantic strength and the threat of the international proletarian revolution....

"And this revolutionary army of Soviet Russia, massed at the frontier, is prepared to march into Hungary or Poland or Germany to co-operate with the revolutionary masses in any war that may be necessary against international Imperialism and for the proletarian revolution.

"The situation in Germany is critical and crucial. The conquest of power by the revolutionary proletariat in Germany will assure the world revolution. The recent butchery of the Spartacans by the Government of 'Socialist' assassins has not crushed the revolutionary masses; on the contrary, the masses have been aroused, the Ebert-Scheidemann government depending more and more upon the worst elements of the old regime; it is being isolated, and the workers are rallying to the Soviets."

"The Ohio Socialist," published in Cleveland, and claiming to be the "Official Organ of the Socialist Parties of Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia and New Mexico," in the spring of 1919 gave its unlimited support to Bolshevism. "The Proletarian," then a Socialist paper of Detroit, was in thorough accord with Bolshevists, Spartacists and Communists, of Russia, Germany and Hungary respectively. The following quotations are taken from the April, 1919, edition:

"In order to be a good American, according to the view of the powers that be, it is necessary to repeat and believe the stories written in the capitalist press about the Bolsheviki. But we, who know what is going on, and do not believe them, maintain that a person can be truthful, and still be an American. That he can be a good, pure, unadulterated American, and still lend his sympathies to the Bolsheviki.

"In revolutionary Germany the struggle between the defenders of capitalism and the champions of working class emanicipation—the Spartacides and their adherents—continues almost unceasingly. The 'democratic' government has taken desperate steps to crush the revolution; there have been wholesale executions and other repressive acts....

"The final conflict is now on. 'Ruthless slaughter' is the governmental decree with Gustav Noske, 'minister of defense,' in charge of the butchering. And what is it that Noske and his 'Socialist' colleagues are defending? The interests of the German capitalists. Sacred private property rights are in danger; the stronghold of capitalism is being assailed. The expropriation of the capitalists is the aim of the proletarian revolutionists....

"All the old friends of Kaiserism—Hoffman, Hindenberg and the rest—are lined up against the Spartacans. Although these elements of reaction have gained temporary victory, the workers are undismayed."

"The Proletarian," in this same issue, referring to the Bela Kun dictatorship of Hungary, says:

"On Sunday, March 23d, the news was flashed across America that Hungary had swung into the ranks of the revolutionary proletarian dictatorships....

"A note from the Paris Conference seems to have been the last straw that 'broke the camel's back' of the middle course government, causing President, Cabinet and all, to resign. This allowed the political power to fall into the hands of those who are alone capable of handling the situation—the revolutionary proletariat."

"The Chicago Socialist" is also pro-Bolshevist. In the April 1, 1919, edition each of the three following lines extends across the top of the front page of the paper:

"How Many Bolshevists in Chicago?

"The Vote Today Will Tell.

"Vote The Socialist Ticket."

At the bottom of the first page of this April election day issue of "The Chicago Socialist," the following notice is given to voters:

"Vote for the great change, TODAY, by casting a Socialist ballot. Stand up and be counted for a Soviet Republic, not only in Russia, or in Hungary, not only in the United States or in some other land; but stand up and be counted for the Soviet Republic of the world."

The Socialist paper of Duluth, like the other Marxian papers of the United States, also favored Spartacism and Bolshevism, for in the March 7, 1919, issue of "The Truth" we read:

"We can honestly say that the position in Germany is very promising. The Spartacides are now coming into their own and ere long we shall see Bolshevism firmly established in Germany."

The pink booklet published by the Socialist Party, Buffalo, New York, entitled, "The Truth About Russia," contains the text of the Bolshevik Constitution, and on page 2 appears the following introduction:

"This little booklet is published by Local Buffalo, Socialist Party, Erie County, with the object in view of giving information to those who desire to grasp the true situation and understand the struggle now going on in Eastern Europe between the reactionary elements allied with German imperialism and other imperialists against the Workers' Republic of Russia in their struggle for true democracy."

On the back cover sheet of "The Crisis in the German Social Democracy," written by Karl Leibknecht, Rosa Luxemburg and Franz Mehring, and published by the Socialist Publication Society of Brooklyn, New York, there is an advertisement of "The Class Struggle," "a bi-monthly magazine devoted to International Socialism." This bi-monthly "does not exploit the ephemeral, but gives serious studies of the international movement from the pens of comrades in all parts of the world. Among the recent contributors are: Lenine, Trotzky, Lunacharsky, Franz Mehring, Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, Friedrich Adler, Santeri Nuorteva" So the advertisement reads.

"The Bulletin," issued March 24, 1919, by the National Office, Socialist Party, page 11, volunteers information which shows one phase of Bolshevist propaganda carried on by that Party in the United States:

"The striking effective leaflet, 'The Great and Growing Fear—No Work,' is accomplishing a double purpose and is being snapped up eagerly and distributed by the hundreds of thousands by state and local organizations and by individual hustlers. Two hundred thousand copies have been sold and it will shortly go to its third printing. Orders indicate a million edition of this powerful leaflet. The Russian Constitution, an article and thought-compelling cartoons on unemployment, that this leaflet carries, make it the Socialist literature triumph of the month. Send for sample copy and order early.

"From the hustling 'Red' town of Hamilton, Ohio, comes an order for 8,000 'Great Fear' leaflets to put the truth about the Russian Soviet Constitution in the homes of the workers of that community."

"The Eye Opener," the official national organ of the Socialist Party of America, in its issue of January, 1919, shows its sympathy for the Spartacans by the following article:

"'You Did Not Die In Vain!'

"American Socialist Party to

"Liebknecht and Luxembourg.

"The Socialist Party executive committee has adopted a resolution on the death of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxembourg, Germany's two most uncompromising foes of Kaiserism and imperialism. It is as follows:

"'The National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of the United States of America, has learned of the deaths of our beloved comrades, Dr. Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxembourg, who are reported assassinated by the agents of the reactionary forces of Germany, who are now conspiring to deprive the workers of that country of the opportunity to establish a free government there.

"'These comrades, always true to the principles of revolutionary Socialism, in the face of unqualified opposition before, during and after the great war, commanded the love and admiration of all the lovers of international liberty, and have, by their incomparable devotion to this great cause, made their names immortal in the history of working class liberation.'"

From the "New York Times," November 18, 1918, we learn that the Chicago Socialists endorsed Bolshevism.

A despatch by the International News Service from Cleveland, Ohio, March 31, 1919, informs us that C.E. Ruthenberg, leading Socialist of that city, after a meeting of the Cleveland Socialists on March 30, announced that the members of the party had just voted in favor of the adoption of the Bolshevik doctrine of Lenine and Trotzky for the further direction of the Cleveland party and that the action of the members was practically unanimous.

"The Call," New York, April 3, 1919, gave notice of a pro-Bolshevist meeting to be held by the Socialists on the following Saturday afternoon at Park Circle, New York City:

"This is the first of a series that the Socialist Party of Harlem proposes to hold, inspired by the success of the Debs meeting two weeks ago at the same place, when 15,000 people attended.

"The assemblage on Saturday, besides demanding that the United States recognize Soviet Russia, will also give a welcome to the Soviet Republic of Hungary."

In its issue of April 10, 1919, "The Call" recorded the approval by the Queen's County, New York, Socialists of the Bolsheviki and Spartacans:

"We desire to clearly place ourselves on record for, and openly and actively sign ourselves with the revolutionary proletariat the world over, as at present expressed by the policies and tactics of the Communist Party of Russia (Bolsheviki), the Communist Labor Party in Germany (Spartacans) and other parties in harmony with them."

On May 31, 1919, "The Call" published the declaration of the National Executive Committee of the party in favor of Bolshevism, Communism and Spartacism: The Socialist Party of the United States "supports whole-heartedly the Soviet Republic of Russia and the Communist government of Hungary.... In Germany, Austria and countries similarly situated, its sympathies are with the more advanced Socialist groups."

In "The Call," May 17, 1919, Martens, the representative in the United States of the Russian Soviet Government, is quoted as saying:

"Russian workers, whom I represent, acknowledge with gratitude the sympathy toward the struggles of Soviet Russia evinced by the Socialist Party of America, as well as by the Socialist Labor Party, the I. W. W. and other organizations of the working class, and they return the sympathy without discrimination."

"The Call," March 30, 1919, informs its readers that Cleveland Socialists were organizing a Workers' and Soldiers' Soviet, and again, on April 1, 1919, that soviets had been established in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco. Eugene V. Debs, in an article written by him in "The Class Struggle," said:

"From the crown of my head to the soles of my feet I am Bolshevik and proud of it."

"The Call," April 14, 1919, published Debs' "Last Minute Message to All New York Socialists":

"As I am about to enter the prison doors, I wish to send to the Socialists of New York who have loyally stood by me since my first arrest, this little message of love and cheer. These are pregnant and promising days. We are all on the threshold of tremendous changes. The workers of the world are awakening and bestirring themselves as never before. All the forces that are playing upon the modern world are making for the overthrow of despotism in all its forms and for the emancipation of the masses of mankind. I shall be in prison in the days to come, but my revolutionary spirit will be abroad, and I shall not be inactive. Let us all, in the supreme hour, measure up to our full stature and work together as one for the great cause that means emancipation for us all. Love to all my Comrades, and all hail to the Revolution.—Eugene Victor Debs."

From the same issue of "The Call" we learn that Debs, on leaving Wheeling, West Virginia, for the Moundsville prison, gave the following statement to David Karsner, staff correspondent: "I enter the prison doors a flaming revolutionist—my head erect, my spirit untamed, and my soul unconquered."

A press despatch from Toledo, Ohio, March 31, 1919, describes the serious socialist riot which took place that afternoon as a protest against the then impending imprisonment of Debs, the self-styled "flaming revolutionist":

"Toledo, Ohio, March 31.—When they were refused admission by city officials to Memorial Hall, a city building where Eugene V. Debs was scheduled to speak, 5,000 persons stormed the place, broke windows and doors, and then paraded the streets crying, 'To hell with the mayor.' ...

"Announcement that Debs would not be permitted to speak was made late Saturday night, after the Socialists here had prepared to handle an overflow crowd. The announcement appeared in the morning papers, and was the first notice the Socialists had that their meeting could not be held.

"When the hour for Debs to speak arrived there were at least 6,000 men and women congregated about the William McKinley monument in Courthouse Park, across the street from Memorial hall.

"A man mounted the base of the monument. 'We'll use Memorial Hall this afternoon if we have to wade through blood to do it!' he shouted. A policeman grabbed him and he was thrown unceremoniously into a patrol wagon. The man who essayed to speak next also was arrested.

"As the crowd sensed what was occurring the radicals began to hoot and boo the officers. Clubs were drawn and the crowd was made to move. Then came the parade through the streets and cries of 'Down with the mayor!' 'Hang him!' 'To hell with the police!' and others of a similar nature.

"It was after five o'clock before the police were able to disperse the crowd. Fist fights by the dozens occurred on corners. Hotel lobbies were invaded by the malcontents. Street cars were held up and threats of serious outbreaks were to be heard on every hand....

"More than seventy-five men were arrested, including Thomas Devine, Socialist member of the city council."



CHAPTER XIV

VIOLENCE, BLOODSHED AND ARMED REBELLION



Every year on May Day the Socialists are in the habit of publishing articles and making speeches of a more than usual revolutionary character. They are also fond of parading on that day to incite riot, and of holding meetings to stir up discontent and to foment rebellion among the laboring classes. May Day, 1919, was an especially serious one in several cities of the United States and will long be remembered, because the Socialist riots occurred while the whole country was excited over the unsuccessful mailing of bombs to a score or so of eminent citizens. The most serious Marxian riots took place in Cleveland, Ohio, and were described in part in the "Chicago Tribune" as follows:

"Cleveland, Ohio, May 1.—An unidentified man was killed by a detective's bullet, eleven policemen were shot or badly beaten, and about 100 persons wounded, many seriously, in general rioting which brought a dramatic finale this afternoon to a Socialist May Day demonstration here.

"About thirty persons, seriously injured, are in hospitals to-night, while scores of others, including women, were trampled by rioters or clubbed by police.

"Socialist headquarters was totally wrecked by angry civilians bent on putting an end to the demonstration....

"A mob of several hundred threatened police headquarters when C. E. Ruthenberg, Socialist leader and former Socialist candidate for mayor, was arrested and for more than an hour the entire downtown section of the city was a warring mass of Socialists, police, civilians and soldiers, the latter riding down the rioters in army trucks and tanks.

"Dozens of shots were fired in Public square, where more than 20,000 Socialists and sympathizers assembled for a May Day rally and to protest against the convictions of Eugene V. Debs and Thomas J. Mooney.

"The trouble started in Superior Avenue, near East Ninth Street, when the head of one of the five Socialist parades, scheduled to meet in a mass meeting at Public square, was stopped, and Liberty Loan workers and an army lieutenant tore a red flag from a man at the head of the marchers, practically every one of whom were carrying red flags.

"In less than ten minutes riots had developed at several other points, mounted and foot policemen being switched from one location to another to quell the fighting.

"The trouble in the public square started when Lieut. H. S. Bergen, who served with the 80th Division overseas, demanded that several soldiers among the Socialists on the platform remove their uniforms or the red flags they wore on their breasts.

"The soldiers refused, and C. E. Ruthenberg, scheduled as the principal Socialist speaker, interceded for the Socialists.

"Lieut. Bergen, followed by Lieut. John Hardy of Detroit, thereupon mounted the platform and tore the red insignia from the khaki uniforms. The act was the signal for a grand rush by thousands of Socialist sympathizers."

On Sunday, May 4, 1919, serious trouble with the Socialist-Bolshevist element of Gary, Indiana, was narrowly averted. The account, as published in the "Chicago Tribune" on the next day, reads in part as follows:

"There was no 'Red' parade in Gary yesterday....

"Fifty policemen, wearing revolvers on their belts and reinforced by a special shotgun squad of sixteen, a company of state militia, thirty deputy sheriffs, a group of secret service men from Chicago and hundreds of citizen volunteers, prevented the parade after the Russian Socialists flouted an order of Mayor W.H. Hodges prohibiting the march and declared they would proceed despite the authorities....

"Yesterday's demonstration was the result of a carefully planned plot matured for nearly a month by the foreign radical element of Lake County, Indiana. Its stated purpose was to protest against the conviction of Eugene V. Debs and Kate Richards O'Hare. An undercurrent of rumor among the radicals gave it a more significant meaning, however.

"On Thursday secret service men obtained copies of pamphlets printed in Russian, containing a formula for the manufacture of explosives. More literature calling for the overthrow of the government was circulated. A third series of pamphlets contained the Constitution of the Russian Soviet Republic.

"Friday Morris Lieberman, head of the Socialists, called on Mayor Hodges for a permit to parade. It was refused with the explanation that riots such as caused two deaths in Cleveland were feared....

"Early yesterday morning radicals began to arrive in Gary. Cars from Indiana Harbor, Whiting, Hammond, Crown Point, and trains from Chicago brought them by the dozens.

"By noon several thousand had gathered in and near the Socialist headquarters, a mile south of the business district of Gary. Under portraits of Trotzky and Lenine they sang Russian songs and gathered about in knots waiting for 'zero hour'—one o'clock.

"Lieberman, fearing bloodshed, decided to counsel his followers against a parade. They howled him down, however, and hotter heads took charge of the meeting. A dozen girls, with rolls of red ribbon, pinned a scarlet strip on the lapel of each man's coat as he entered the meeting hall. Red neckties were abundant. Red hat bands made their appearance. Many wore scarlet carnations."

Judge Haas of the Municipal Court of Gary thus commented on those arrested in the demonstration:

"All except Capolitto have failed to become citizens. All except him and one other tried to evade war service in our army, endeavoring to sneak out on the ground of not being citizens of this country. All they seem to want is to come over here and make trouble—out of twenty-one gun-toters who have been brought before me, nineteen have been foreigners and not even citizens."

The leaders of the Marxian movement, both in the United States and abroad, testify that to be a Socialist is to be a plotter against all existing forms of government. Marx and Engels, for instance, confess the truth of this in their celebrated "Communist Manifesto," which they addressed to their followers over half a century ago, and which is looked upon even today by the rank and file of the party as embodying the fundamental principles of International Socialism. "The Communists," we are told, "everywhere support every revolutionary movement against the existing social and political order of things" and "disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be obtained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a communistic revolution."

We are indebted to the late August Bebel, the leader of the Socialists of Germany, for the confession that "along with the state die out its representatives—cabinet ministers, parliaments, standing armies, police and constables, courts, attorneys, prison officials, tariff and tax collectors, in short the whole political apparatus. Barracks and other such military structures, palaces of law and of administration, prisons—all will now await better use. Ten thousand laws, decrees and regulations become so much rubbish; they have only historic value." ["Women Under Socialism," by Bebel, page 319, of the 1904 edition in English.]

"The People," New York, May 13, 1900, in speaking of the relation of Socialism to existing forms of government, including our own, affirms that "while there is a very general idea that Socialism means an extension of the powers and functions of government, still this is a very natural and dangerous misconception, and one that ought to be guarded against." "Socialism," it adds, "does not mean the extension of government, but on the contrary it means the end, the elimination of government."

The "International Socialist Review," Chicago, February, 1912, together with many other magazines and papers current at the time, called attention to the fact that William D. Haywood, who for a long time had been before the eyes of the public on account of his revolutionary utterances and writings, declared in a speech at Cooper Union, in New York City, that the Socialists were conspirators against the United States Government.

"The Call," April 1, 1919, in an editorial note says that "the whole system of government in the United States, Federal, State and Municipal, seems to be out of date."

Though the men who march behind the red flag, singing the Marseillaise of the French Revolution, usually deny to the general public, for reasons of political expediency, that the Socialist movement is a violent and revolutionary one, it is evident to those who have read their books, magazines, and papers, that the use of the ballot and education are not the means on which they rely finally for the establishment of their visionary commonwealth. Violence is advocated and habitually practised by the Socialists who constitute the Industrial Workers of the World, whose banner with the inscription, "No God, No Master," has brought them into disrepute all over the country. Jack London, a Socialist widely known in the United States and England as a novelist, furnishes us with excellent reasons for believing that the International Socialist Party approves of violence and assassination, and thereby reaffirms its allegiance to the base principles of the French Commune. Writing in the "International Socialist Review" of August, 1909, Jack London made the following comment on the progress of Socialism in Russia:

"Our comrades in Russia have formed what they call 'THE FIGHTING ORGANIZATION.' This FIGHTING ORGANIZATION accused, tried, found guilty and condemned to death one Sipiaguin, Minister of the Interior. On April 2, he was shot and killed in the Maryinsky Palace. Two years later the FIGHTING ORGANIZATION condemned to death and executed another Minister of the Interior, Von Plehve. Having done so it issued a document, dated July 29, 1904, setting forth the counts of its indictment of Von Plehve and its responsibility for the assassination. Now, and to the point, this document was sent out to the Socialists of the world, and by them was published everywhere in the magazines and newspapers. The point is, not that the Socialists of the world were unafraid to do it, but that they did it as a matter of routine, giving publication to what might be called an official document of International Revolutionary Movement."

August Bebel in "Unsere Ziele," page 44, expresses his sentiments on the subject of violence quite as frankly as Jack London. "We must not shudder," he tells us, "at the thought of the possible employment of violence; we must not raise an alarm cry at the suppression of existing rights, at violent expropriation, etc. History teaches that at all times new ideas, as a rule, were realized by a violent conflict with the defenders of the past, and that the combatants for new ideas struck blows as deadly as possible at the defenders of antiquity. Not without reason does Karl Marx, in his work on 'Capital' exclaim: 'Violence is the obstetrician that waits on every ancient society which is about to give birth to a new one; violence is in itself a social factor.'"

As reference has just been made to Karl Marx, it will be well to call attention to the fact that the Father of modern Socialism, in "The Civil War in France," page 78, claims that "the workingmen's Paris, with its Commune, will forever be celebrated as the glorious harbinger of a new society." The Commune, then, whose anniversary is celebrated on the 18th of March, every year, by the Socialists all over the world, has been, and still is considered the precursor of their contemplated state. The reign of terror and rebellion in which tens of thousands of Frenchmen met their death, while public buildings and priceless works of art were being burned or destroyed and many beautiful churches pillaged, is the boast of the Socialistic champions of universal peace. The Parisian mob of criminals and revolutionists, which was finally subdued by 150,000 French troops, after men and women had run about the streets with petroleum cans, firing public buildings and private houses and seizing many victims whom they hurried off to death, is, therefore, considered by the Socialists as one of the most illustrious gatherings of persons recorded in history, and one worthy of special memory, honor and respect.

Victor Berger of Wisconsin, speaking in the 1908 National Convention of the Socialist Party in favor of an amendment to the party constitution, proposed by Delegate Hazlett, to the effect that any person opposing political action should be expelled from the party, shows how little difference there is between the advocates of "political action," who are supposed to favor the use of the ballot, and the "direct actionists," who admit their preference for violence.

"I have heard it pleaded," said Berger, "many a time right in our own meetings by speakers that come to our meetings, that the only salvation for the proletariat of America is direct action, that the ballot box is simply a humbug. Now I don't know how this question is going to be solved. I have no doubt that in the last analysis we must shoot, and when it comes to shooting, Wisconsin will be there. We always make good.... In order to be able to shoot even some day we must have the powers of political government in our hands, at least to a great extent. I want that understood. So everybody who is talking to you about direct action and so on, and about political action being a humbug, is your enemy today, because he keeps you from getting the powers of political government." ["Proceedings of the 1908 National Convention of the Socialist Party," page 241.]

On July 31, 1909, we find Victor Berger, who posed as the special exponent of "political action," against the "anarchistic" element in his party, writing as follows in the "Social Democratic Herald" of Milwaukee:

"No one will claim that I am given to the reciting of revolutionary phrases. On the contrary I am known to be a constructive Socialist. However, in view of the plutocratic law making of the present day, it is easy to predict that the safety and hope of this country will finally lie in one direction only, that of a violent and bloody revolution. Therefore, I say, each of the 500,000 Socialist voters and of the 2,000,000 workingmen who instinctively incline our way, should, besides doing much reading and still more thinking, also have a good rifle and the necessary rounds of ammunition in his home, and be prepared to back up his ballot with his bullets if necessary. This may look like a startling statement. Yet I can see nothing else for the American masses today."

In the "Social Democratic Herald," August 14, 1909, Victor Berger drops a few more words on the same subject in an article entitled: "IF THIS BE TREASON, MAKE THE BEST OF IT." "There are two ways," says he, "of effecting great social changes in a republic—the ballot and the bullet. If our people are not wise—if they are otherwise—then we may have use for both of them."

Now, if Berger is a specimen of the extreme "political actionist," a conservative, the enemy of "direct action," who can imagine the treasonable intentions and bloody thoughts of the immense number of "direct actionists" who throng the ranks of these national conspirators?

It is not flattering to the State of Wisconsin to realize that Berger has several times been chosen to represent one of its Congressional districts in the United States House of Representatives. Yet Berger has apt pupils. On January 12, 1919, Mayor Hoan of Milwaukee presided at a Milwaukee meeting of 8,000 "Reds" to protest against the conviction, under the Espionage Law, of Victor L. Berger and four co-conspirators, and prolonged cheering and waving of "Red" insignia answered the following words spoken by William Bross Lloyd (Testimony, Socialist Trial, Albany, page 1623):

"What we want is revolutionary preparedness. We want to organize.... We want a mobilization plan and an organization for the revolution. We want to get rifles, machine guns, field artillery, and the ammunition for it. You want to get dynamite. You want to tell off the men for the revolution when it starts here. You want to tell off the men who are to take the dynamite to the armory doors and blow them in and capture the guns and ammunition there so that the capitalists won't have any. You want to tell off the men to dynamite the doors of the banks to get the money to finance the revolution."

William D. Haywood and Frank Bohn are the joint authors of a pamphlet entitled, "Industrial Socialism," the revolutionary tenor of which may be gathered from the following lines:

"When the worker, either through experience or a study of Socialism, comes to know this truth [i.e., economic determinism], he acts accordingly. He retains absolutely no respect for the property rights of the profit takers. He will use any weapon which will win his fight. He knows that the present laws of property are made by and for the capitalists. Therefore he does not hesitate to break them."

Since Haywood and Bohn evidently had no intention of using paper-cap pistols and pop-guns as their weapons, and since they certainly did not mean to shoot at stone walls and forest trees, it seems strange that the Socialist Party, if it does not advocate such doctrines of violence, should sell these pamphlets at $6 per 100, according to a price list of its national office in Chicago.

To make matters still worse for the apologists of the Socialist Party of America, no less a personage than Eugene V. Debs commented as follows, in the "International Socialist Review," February, 1912, on the doctrines of Haywood and Bohn just referred to:

"We have here a matter of tactics upon which a number of comrades of ability and prominence have sharply disagreed. For my part, I believe the paragraph to be entirely sound. Certainly all Socialists knowing how and to what end capitalist property rights are established, must hold such rights in contempt.... As a revolutionist I can have no respect for capitalist property laws, nor the least scruple about violating them. I hold all such laws to have been enacted through chicanery, fraud and corruption, with the sole end in view of dispossessing, robbing and enslaving the working class. But this does not imply that I propose making an individual law breaker of myself, and butting my head against the stone wall of existing property laws. That might be called force, but it would not be that. It would be mere weakness and folly. If I had the force to overthrow these despotic laws, I would use it without an instant's hesitation or delay, but I haven't got it, so I am law abiding under protest—not from scruple—and bide my time."

In the "Appeal to Reason," Girard, Kansas, September 2, 1911, there is an excellent specimen of one of Debs' revolutionary articles, which reads in part as follows:

"Let us arouse the working class and invoke their power to smite the conspirators and set our brothers [the McNamaras] free. They can be saved in no other way. The lawyers will plead for them to deaf ears; organized labor will protest against their taking off in vain. We are confronted by a heartless, soulless plutocracy. Let us buckle on our armor and fight!... Let us marshal our forces and develop our power for the revolt! Let us develop without delay all the power we have, and prepare to strike in every way we know how. With a general strike we can paralyze the plutocracy from coast to coast. Hundreds of thousands will join eagerly and serve loyally in the fight. We can stop the wheels, cut off the food supply, and compel the plutocrats in sheer terror to sue for peace.... A few men may be needed who are not afraid to die. Be ye also ready.... Let us swear that we will fight to the last ditch, that we will strike blow for blow, that we will use every weapon at our command, and that we will never surrender! Roll up a united Socialist vote in California that will shake the Pacific Coast like an earthquake, and back it up with a general strike that will paralyze the continent.... Let the sturdy toilers of the Pacific Coast raise the Red standard of revolt."

It was no other than this same Eugene V. Debs, the advocate of violence and revolution, who on May 17, 1912, was nominated as the presidential standard bearer of the Socialist Party. If ever elected, what a fine president he would make, this "poor," "persecuted," self-styled "flaming-revolutionist," now in jail! What an honorable party it must be that nominated such a man for the fourth successive time to fill the office of the presidency of our country! Indeed it was on the very same day that the followers of Karl Marx chose Debs as their candidate to rule the United States that they also declared, in the constitution of their party, that any member who should advocate crime, sabotage or other methods of violence, as a weapon of the working class to aid it in its emancipation, should be expelled from membership in the party!

Never can political Socialists convince the American people of their sincerity and honesty while they nominate for office men like Debs, send to Congress representatives like Victor Berger, and choose as members of their national executive committee persons of the stamp of William D. Haywood. There was no better way for Socialists to convict themselves of hypocrisy than by retaining in their constitution the clause against sabotage, referred to above, while at the same time selling at their National Office books like "Industrial Socialism" and publishing in their papers and magazines articles advocating and approving "direct action." By their deeds we judge them, and not by their hypocritical words.

"The Call," on April 28, 1919, introduces with the following headlines the long comment that it makes on the Hart-Nearing debate of April 27th in New York City: "Revolution Is Only Solution of World-Wide Unrest, Says Nearing." In the course of the article Scott Nearing's suggestion of revolt is mentioned: "As against Professor Hart's proposal of a League of Nations, I suggest revolution." The "New York Times," April 28, 1919, commented in part on the debate as follows:

"'Who wants war?' asked Professor Hart. 'Scott Nearing wants war and the people who think as he does, want war. Revolution is nothing but civil war and we see its result in the Russian revolution. Russia passed through three revolutions and is that the kind of result we want in order to overthrow what he calls this robber nation?'

"A whirlwind of applause marked this and through the applause was heard a chorus of voices shouting 'yes.' The meeting cheered Nearing's frequent references to 'revolution,' to the Russian Soviet Republic and applauded his radical utterances, although he had requested that he be permitted to speak without interruption. The theatre contained about 3,000 persons who filled all the seats, the stage and stood in the aisles, after paying from 25 cents to $1.50 admission.

"Judging from the manifestations of approval of Nearing's remarks, the large audience appeared to be overwhelmingly composed of revolutionary Socialists, and when the speaker declared he believed in a League of Socialist Nations the crowd vigorously applauded in a way that left no doubt of its sentiment."

"The Call" in its May Day issue, 1919, published an article on present-day revolutionary tactics of the Socialists:

"The world revolution, dreamed of as a thing of the distant future, has become a live reality, rising from the graves of the murdered millions and the misery and suffering of the surviving millions. It has taken form, it strikes forward, borne on by the despair of the masses and the shining example of the martyrs. Its spread is irrepressible. The bridges are burnt behind the old capitalist society and its path is forever cut off. Capitalist society is bankrupt and the only salvation of humanity lies in the uprising of the masses, in the victory of the Socialist revolution, in the renovating forces of Socialism.

"The world war which is now about to be officially closed has slid into a condition neither war nor peace. However, the war of the nations has been followed by the war of the classes. The class struggle is no longer fought by resolutions and demonstrations. Threateningly it marches through the streets of the great cities for life or death."



CHAPTER XV

PATRIOTISM RIDICULED AND DESPISED



Though it is evident that there can be no patriotism in men who are doing their utmost to overthrow our government by stirring up class-hatred and inciting rebellion, still most of the citizens of our country have never realized the extent to which Socialists ridicule and despise patriotism and abhor its very name.

"The Call," September 25, 1912, in answering the charge that Socialism undermines patriotism, says: "So it does, and is proud of it, if by patriotism is meant that mawkish sentiment which causes a man, for the sum of $15 a month, to go out and get himself killed in defense of a country of which he owns not a single foot and can never hope to own any. If a wage slave is paid only enough to live on, anyhow, what difference to him does it make whether his boss is a Britisher or a Chinaman?"

The Socialists often succeed in stirring up violence during strikes to develop the spirit of revolt; then, when it becomes necessary for the state to protect the lives and property of its citizens, the lovers of rebellion and disorder do their utmost to incite hatred and contempt against the soldiers who are sent to preserve order.

On February 10, 1912, there appeared in "The Call" an article which reads as follows:

"The capitalist class, alarmed at the amazingly rapid growth of anti-militarism in this country, is endeavoring, through church and government, to combat this just sentiment, and by law and precept to create an artificial respect and love for the soldiers' uniform and the American flag.

"'Respect the uniform, honor the flag,' is their cry, and they are foolish enough to believe that if they raise their voices loud enough, we, the workers, will become infected by their fictitious enthusiasm, and shout with them.

"'Honor the uniform!' Oh, surely! Honor the trappings and gold lace with which they are dressing up their weak-minded scabs! Honor the uniform which has the power to transform a decent but ignorant boy of the working class into an unthinking savage, who would, if ordered to do so by a superior in rank, shoot down his aged father or kill his sister's unborn child with a bayonet thrust, should they happen to be on strike and crying aloud for a little more bread, warmer clothing and better shelter. Honor the uniform? No, spit on it! Make it a shame and a reproach until a worker who wears it will not dare to show his face among decent working people. Honor the uniform! Honor that which gives a free license to kill, if the victim happens to be a worker? Honor that which stands for oppression, for the loafer against the worker, for the master against the slave? Honor that which causes a worker to become a traitor to his class, to forget his ties of blood, and for pay to deliver himself over body and soul to his natural enemy, the capitalist class? Honor the Judases, the Benedict Arnolds of the working class? Our masters insult us by even asking such a thing.

"Shall we honor the Massachusetts militiamen who, without the slightest provocation, murdered a young worker? Is that what you want us to do, you capitalists, you cardinals and presidents? You ask too late, for we already despise and loathe your decorated hirelings, and are, as time passes, making it more difficult for you to recruit our decent boys and transform them into loathsome parasites."

On May 6, 1919, millions of New Yorkers enthusiastically welcomed the 77th Division of our soldier boys on their return home from the battle-fields of Europe. Glowing descriptions of the celebration appeared in nearly all the papers of the Metropolis. A contemptible account, however, was published the next day in "The Call," showing the scornful spirit of the Socialists toward the millions of American troops who made so many sacrifices for their country in the late war. The article in "The Call" runs as follows:

"Rows and Rows and Rows and Rows and Rows of 'Em March

"Folks Cheered 77th Division which Finally Changed From Toys Into Folks, Too.

"A row of mounted police rode up Fifth avenue yesterday.

"A man carrying a banner on which were the words and figures, '77th Division,' marched up Fifth avenue yesterday.

"A band played all the way up Fifth avenue yesterday.

"A line of soldiers walked up Fifth avenue yesterday.

"A second line of soldiers walked up Fifth avenue yesterday.

"A third line of soldiers walked up Fifth avenue yesterday.

"A fourth line of soldiers walked up Fifth avenue yesterday.

* * * * *

"A soldier carrying a service flag walked up Fifth avenue yesterday.

* * * * *

"One soldier wore khaki and carried a steel helmet on his shoulder.

"A second soldier wore khaki and carried a steel helmet on his shoulder.

"A third soldier wore khaki and carried a steel helmet on his shoulder.

"A fourth soldier wore khaki and carried a steel helmet on his shoulder.

* * * * *

"They marched precisely.

"They marched steadily.

"They marched firmly.

"They marched in silence.

* * * * *

"The crowds cheered.

"The crowds waved flags.

"The crowds did not fill the stands.

"The crowds applauded.

* * * * *

"The police kept the waves of humanity back.

"The police did not have much trouble.

"The police permitted the crowd to cheer.

"The police permitted the crowds to wave flags.

* * * * *

"Soldiers of the 77th Division marched up Fifth avenue yesterday, and when they had done marching they broke ranks and greeted their friends and relatives who had not seen them since they went to war.

* * * * *

"A mother greeted her son with kisses and tears.

"A mother greeted her son with kisses and tears.

"A mother greeted her son with kisses and tears.

"Change the word 'mother' to sweetheart, brother, sister, and keep on repeating until 'father' is reached and then change 'kisses and tears' to 'smiles and cheers.'"

The hypocritical Socialists at one moment plead for universal peace, the desire of nations, and at the next for class hatred. They are trying to ruin our domestic peace and to expose us to the ravages of lawlessness and crime. By fostering contempt for soldiers and other guardians of the peace, they not only make it harder for them to fulfil their duties, but prevent many from joining the army and navy for the defense of our country against foreign and domestic foes.

Our country at present is well able to defend itself against foreign attacks, but if our domestic enemies continue to sow the seeds of discord and class hatred among our fellow citizens, it will surely fall, for no nation that is divided against itself can stand.

From the very fact that "The Call" of February 10, 1912, dared to publish the following article, showing the intense hatred of its author for the Stars and Stripes, our national emblem, the reader can judge for himself whether the thousands of unoffended subscribers have the faintest spark of patriotism in their hearts:

"'At least honor the flag!' they cry in desperation. 'Honor the flag which stands for freedom, equality and fraternity!'

"What flag? The American flag? The Stars and Stripes? The flag which floats over every hellhole of mine and mill and prison? The flag which floats over station house and barracks whence issue police and soldiers to batter down and murder workers exercising their constitutional rights of free speech and free assemblage? Honor the flag which you, our masters, have changed from a flag of liberty into a symbol of the cruelest exploitation and vilest oppression of the new civilization?

"If I had been Samuel Gompers when he was reproached by the capitalists for placing his foot on the American flag, I should have answered: 'Yes, I trampled on it, and, more than that, I spit upon your flag, not mine; I loathe the Stars and Stripes, once the symbol of liberty for all, but now the stripes represent the bloody stripes left by your lash on the back of the worker, and the stars, the bullet and bayonet wounds in his breast. To hell with your flag!...

"Down with the Stars and Stripes! Run up the red flag of humanity."

Not alone do the members of the rank and file of the Socialist Party attack the Star Spangled Banner, but even its foremost leaders are guilty of the same offense. "The Comrade," July, 1904, furnishes us with an attack made upon our country's flag by no less a personage than Eugene V. Debs:

"Have you a drop of blood in your veins? Has your manhood rotted into cowardice? Wake up and take your place in the class struggle. For the desecration of the flag your leader is in jail. What flag? The flag of the capitalist class—the flag that floats over the bull pens of Colorado. The wholesome truths he stamped upon its stripes are your shame and your masters' crime. Rally to the red flag of international Socialism, the symbol of the proletarian revolt."



CHAPTER XVI

THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST OUR COUNTRY



This chapter is the center of our book, the hub where all the spokes of evidence focus and unite, clearly revealing the unity, power and purpose of the Wheel of Revolution which now is rolling through the minds and wills of American radicals. To make this complex plot simple, it has been analyzed into its parts in the other chapters of "The Red Conspiracy," so that each element may be weighed by itself. In the present chapter the results of this analysis are gathered up again, to show how all the parts fit into one mechanism; and, with the whole thus seen as one contrivance, the working of each part being understood, the plan and purpose of the entire invention stands out as clear as day.

But if this chapter is the center of our explanation of "The Red Conspiracy," the center of the thing itself lies elsewhere. The Great Red Wheel of Proletarian Revolution is an International Wheel, and both the hub which unites it and the turning power which moves it are centered in the old Russian town of Moscow.

Frequently in preceding chapters the reader has been impressed by the fact that the "Reds" are guilty of conspiracy against all governments, including that of the United States of America. In the present chapter we shall discuss this matter of conspiracy much more in detail and assemble the proofs in such order and strength that no reasonable man can deny the existence of the widespread plot now fast undermining the pillars of our country.

The "Reds" under one name or another have in the long run proven to be far more than evolutionists in the various countries of Europe. Actual rebellions have shown them to be revolutionists by violence in the strictest sense of the word in Russia, Germany, Bavaria, Hungary and even on one of the islands of far distant Japan. Their activities in England, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Bulgaria and many another foreign land bid fair to give us still further proofs in the near future that the "Reds" do not intend to wait for success by the ballot, but that, as soon as they consider themselves a sufficiently strong and united minority, they will throw off their masks, use rifles in place of hypocritical words, and work behind barricades instead of behind closed meeting doors. The Italian Socialists were about to begin their rebellion when, quite recently, the word came from the Moscow headquarters of the International conspirators to wait for a more opportune moment.

It seems quite incredible that the "Reds" of our own country, whether they be I. W. W.'s, Communists, members of the Communist Labor Party, or Socialists, should be merely evolutionists, harmless parliamentarians, when their brethren abroad, with whom they so much sympathize, and upon whom they look as the saviors of the world and the highest types of advanced civilization, are either avowedly attempting to overthrow their governments or else have already done so, and in not a single instance by means of the ballot. There is an old saying to the effect that we are known by the company we keep. Since the American "Reds" keep company with foreign rebels, it is not to be presumed that the latter are demons and the former saints.

Few specific proofs need be given in this chapter to show that the I. W. W.'s are guilty of conspiracy against the United States Government, for a great part of them, especially those most active, belong either to the Communist, Communist Labor or the Socialist Party, and an abundance of proofs will be given that these latter organizations are far from being harmless and innocent political parties.

Moreover, the I. W. W.'s, in their revolutionary "Preamble" and by the many utterances of their leaders, are openly committed to a conspiracy of violence against our Government. Relative to the I. W. W. and its underhand activities, the reader will remember the words of Arturo Giovannitti, quoted in a previous chapter, from the Socialist Labor Party paper, "Weekly People," New York, February 10, 1912. That writer, with all his experience as a leader of the "Wobblies," certainly knew their plans, and makes this astounding admission relative to the part that the I. W. W. is expected to take in bringing about the Marxian rebellion:

"The future of Socialism lies only in the general strike, not merely a quiet political strike, but one that once started should go fatally to its end, i.e., armed insurrection, and the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions.... The task of revolution is not to construct the new society, but to demolish the old one, therefore, its first aim should be at the complete destruction of the existing state, so as to render it absolutely powerless to react and re-establish itself.... The I. W. W. must develop itself as the new legislature and the new executive body of the land, undermine the existing one, and gradually absorb the functions of the state until it can entirely substantiate it through the only means it has, the revolution."

During the year 1919 a very excellent example of how the One Big Union tried to develop a strike into a rebellion was given in Winnipeg, Canada. Some time previously we had in our own country an example in the great strike at Seattle, Washington.

Cases of sabotage, murder and arson are but minor activities of the I. W. W., and mere circumstances to aid in bringing about the contemplated rebellion.

Government raids in recent years, and the seizure of hundreds of tons of inflammatory literature, from which extensive quotations were made in the daily press, have furnished us with ample proofs that the I. W. W.'s are national conspirators.

The reader will remember the vivid picture of the contemplated rebellion in the mind of the "Wobbly" who wrote in "The Rebel Worker," April 15, 1919:

"The United States is in the grip of a bloody revolution! Thousands of workers are slaughtered by machine guns in New York City! Washington is on fire! Industry is at a standstill and thousands of workers are starving! The government is using the most brutal and repressive measures to put down the revolution! Disorganization, crime, chaos, rape, murder and arson are the order of the day—the inevitable results of social revolution!"

The I. W. W.'s are certainly conspirators, and seek the overthrow of our Government by industrial violence, and we were told by "The Evolution of Industrial Democracy," page 40, that "Government, as now understood, will disappear—there being no servile class to be held in subjection—but in its place will be an administration of affairs."

The spirit of armed rebellion against our Government was foremost in the minds of the Left Wing members of the Socialist Party who afterwards formed the Communist and the Communist Labor Parties. We shall recall some of the words of Louis C. Fraina during the great struggle between the Rights and Lefts:

"All propaganda, all electoral and parliamentary activity are insufficient for the overthrow of Capitalism, impotent when the ultimate test of the class struggle turns into a test of power. The power for the social revolution issues out of the actual struggles of the proletariat, out of its strikes, its industrial unions and mass action."—"The Revolutionary Age," July 12, 1919.

"Socialism will come not through the peaceful, democratic parliamentary conquest of the state, but through the determined and revolutionary mass action of a proletarian minority."—"The Revolutionary Age," July 12, 1919.

"Revolutionary Socialists hold, with the founders of Scientific Socialism, that there are two dominant classes in society—the bourgeoisie and the proletariat; that between these two classes a struggle must go on until the working class, through the seizure of the instruments of production and distribution, the abolition of the capitalist state, and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, creates a Socialistic system. Revolutionary Socialists do not believe that they can be voted into power. They struggle for the conquest of power by the revolutionary proletariat."—"The Revolutionary Age," March 22, 1919.

"The Communist," of Chicago, April 1, 1919, it will be remembered, in speaking of November 7, 1919, the day on which the armistice was signed, said:

"On that day the seething proletariat ruled Chicago by sheer force of numbers. One thing alone was needed to give this mass expression identity with the proletarian uprisings in Europe—one thing, the revolutionary idea."

After the formation of the Communist and Communist Labor parties, in September, 1919, both made great progress in winning recruits to the cause of armed rebellion. On January 2, 1920, government agents all over the country suddenly descended upon the conspirators and took thousands of them prisoners. Bombs, rifles and other weapons were captured by the department agents. In Newark 25 rifles and a large number of bombs were taken, many tons of violent literature were seized and innumerable quotations from it appeared in the daily press, showing beyond the shadow of a doubt the evil intentions of these "Reds" against the land that we love.

The Communist Party of America and the Communist Labor Party have the same purposes and aims as the Communist Party of Russia. They are joined with the latter in advocating and supporting the manifesto of the Third International, which openly urges an armed revolution to bring about the overthrow of the Government of the United States.

Both parties have conducted effective propaganda work through newspapers, books, pamphlets and other means. The Communist Party alone had twenty-five newspapers printed in several languages, actively supporting its cause. This number was being increased weekly, papers which were formerly Socialist Party organs going over to its support. The alien editors of most of these papers were taken by the Department of Justice agents in the raids.

The Department of Justice naturally was most vitally interested in the promises of violence against the United States Government contained in the manifesto of the Communists of the Third International, which was held at Moscow, March 2 to 6, 1919. Among the passages in the Moscow manifesto which most interested the Department of Justice were the following:

"Socialist criticism has sufficiently stigmatized the bourgeois world order. The task of the International Communist Party is now to overthrow this order and to erect in its place the structure of the Socialist world order. We urge the workingmen and women of all countries to unite under the Communist banner, the emblem under which the first victories have already been won.

"Proletarians of all lands! In the war against imperialistic barbarity, against monarchy, against the privileged classes, against the bourgeois state and bourgeois property, against all forms and varieties of social and national oppression—unite!

"Under the standard of the Workingmen's Councils under the banner of the Third International, in the revolutionary struggle for power and the dictatorship of the proletariat, proletarians of all countries—unite!"

The manifesto is signed by Lenine, Trotzky and other revolutionaries. Several references are made to the United States, indicating this country as one of the objectives of the revolutionaries. Describing the methods to be used, the manifesto says:

"Civil war is forced upon the laboring classes by their arch enemies. The working class must answer blow for blow, if it will not renounce its own object and its own future, which is at the same time the future of all humanity.

"The Communist parties, far from conjuring up civil war, artificially, rather strive to shorten its duration as much as possible—in case it has become an iron necessity—to minimize the number of its victims, and above all to secure victory for the proletariat."

Under the caption, "The Way to Victory," the manifesto says:

"The revolutionary era compels the proletariat to make use of the means of battle which will concentrate its entire energies, namely, mass action, with its logical resultant, direct conflict with the governmental machinery in open combat. All other methods, such as revolutionary use of bourgeoisie parliamentarism, will be of only secondary significance."

The principles of the American Communist Party set forth in their seized records and made public by the Department of Justice, are:

"The Communist Party of America is the party of the working class. The Communists of America propose to end capitalism and organize a workers' industrial republic. The workers must control industry and dispose of the products of industry.

"The Communist Party is a party realizing the limitations of all existing workers' organizations and purposes to develop the revolutionary movement necessary to free the workers from the oppression of capitalism. The Communist Party insists that the problems of the American worker are identical with the problems of the workers of the world.

"The Communist Party is the conscious expression of the class struggle of the workers against capitalism. Its aim is to direct this struggle to the conquest of political power, the overthrow of capitalism and the destruction of the bourgeois state.

"The Communist Party prepares itself for the revolution in the measure that it develops a program of immediate action expressing the mass struggles of the proletariat. These struggles must be inspired with revolutionary spirit and purposes.

"The Communist Party is fundamentally a party of action. It brings to the workers a consciousness of their oppression, of the impossibility of improving their condition under capitalism. The Communist Party directs the workers' struggle against capitalism, developing fuller forms and purposes in this struggle, culminating in the mass action of the revolution.

"The negro problem is a political and economic problem. The racial oppression of the negro is simply the expression of his economic bondage and oppression, each intensifying the other. This complicates the negro problem, but does not alter its proletarian character. The Communist Party will carry on agitation among the negro workers to unite them with all class conscious workers."

Little need be added concerning the Communist Labor Party. As its manifesto and program are practically identical with those of the Communist Party of America, while all its members are likewise affiliated with the Third or Moscow International, the foregoing characterization of the Communist Party applies without essential modification to the Communist Labor Party. The identical character of these two parties was asserted by A. Mitchell Palmer, Attorney-General of the United States, in a statement given out January 23, 1920, and printed in the "New York Times" of the next day, as follows:

"These two organizations are identical in aim and tactics, the cause for their separate existence being due to the desire of certain individuals connected with the so-called Left Wing elements of the Socialist Party to be leaders. For the sake of convenience I shall refer to members of the Communist Party of America and the Communist Labor Party as 'Communists.'"

Attorney-General Palmer then quotes from the manifesto of the Third International, adopted March 6, 1919, at Moscow, to show, as he says, "that their sole and intimate aim was to accomplish not only the conquest but the destruction of the idea of the 'State,' as understood by loyal American citizens," and that "this destruction was not to be accomplished by parliamentary action, for it is specifically stated that it is to be by armed conflict with governmental authority." The Attorney-General's statement then continues:

"It is this manifesto which was adopted by the Communist parties in the United States as their program of action....

"In the program of the Communists in the United States we find such statements as the following:

"'Communism rejects the conception of the State; it rejects the idea of class reconstruction and the parliamentary conquest of capitalism....

"'The objective is the conquest by the proletariat of the power of the State. Communism does not propose to capture the bourgeois parliament of any State, but to conquer and destroy it.'

"We thus find stated in very clear and plain language the fact that the aim of the Communists of America is for the destruction of the government. This shows clearly that the organizations of Communists in this country aim, not at the change of government of the United States by parliamentary or political methods, but in the overthrow and the destruction of the same by mass and direct action, by force and violence.

"Another point of particular significance to which I feel I should call your attention, is the fact that the organizations of Communists in the United States are pledged to destroy the great and loyal labor organization of America, namely, the American Federation of Labor, which, according to the Communist Party of America is considered to be reactionary and a bulwark of capitalism. Another particularly significant pledge of the Communists of America is to carry on agitation of the negro workers of America."

The I. W. W.'s and the members of the Communist and Communist Labor parties are all openly confessed conspirators against the United States Government. The members of the Socialist Party are just as bad, and worse, for they are hypocrites, besides being conspirators.

The Socialists, as we have seen in a former chapter, have for many years given unlimited support to the I. W. W., knowing full well that it was an organization pledged to revolution by violence.

The Socialists, moreover, are heart and soul in favor of the Bolsheviki of Russia, who have issued the manifesto of their International expressly to stir up revolutions by violence in all countries, including our own. The Socialists of the United States call themselves Bolsheviki, are spreading the doctrines of the Bolshevists of Russia and openly admit that Bolshevism and Socialism are identical.

Until very recently the Socialist Party nursed within its bosom about 70,000 dues-paying members, out of 109,586, who went over to the Communist and Communist Labor parties. Hence, at least till lately, nearly two-thirds of its membership consisted of avowed rebels. Has it changed since the break with the Communists? No, not at all. It is just as bad as ever, only more hypocritical, more prudent and biding its time so as not to start a premature revolt. After the wholesale arrests of the members of the Communist and the Communist Labor parties on January 2, 1920, the Publicity Department of the Socialist Party, 220 South Ashland Boulevard, Chicago, said: "The Socialist Party herewith raises its voice in emphatic and solemn protest against these activities on the part of the hot-headed and overzealous guardians of the safety of the United States."

Now listen once more to the words of Morris Hillquit, who poses before the public as in a different class from the American Communists and Communist Laborites. In "The Call," May 21, 1919, in a long article in large type covering half the editorial page, Morris Hillquit said of the "Left Wing" movement: "I am one of the last men in the party to ignore or misunderstand the sound revolutionary impulse which animates the rank and file of this new movement, but the specific form and direction which it has assumed, its program and tactics, spell disaster to our movement. I am opposed to it, not because it is too radical, but because it is essentially reactionary and non-Socialistic; not because it would lead us too far, but because it would lead us nowhere. To prate about the dictatorship of the proletariat and of workers' Soviets in the United States at this time is to deflect the Socialistic propaganda from its realistic basis, and to advocate the abolition of all social reform planks in the party platform means to abandon the concrete class struggle as it presents itself from day to day." (Italics mine.)

The wisdom of this crafty, go-slow policy is now apparent, with the "Left Wing" leaders in jail, and Hillquit's chameleons now posing as angels of light, the saviors of "representative government" in America. The fact that the Socialist Party of America "goes into politics" does not make it less dangerous than the other revolutionary bodies, but more dangerous, for it thus expects to have men in political positions to seize the reins of government when the hour of blood and violence arrives. That this is its definite policy, the meaning of its political activity, was apparent as far back as its National Convention of 1908, when, in opposing those who would dismiss the use of the ballot in favor of "direct action"—violence—exclusively, Victor L. Berger said:

"I have no doubt that in the last analysis we must shoot, and when it comes to shooting, Wisconsin will be there.... In order to be able to shoot even some day we must have the powers of political government in our hands, at least to a great extent. I want that understood. So everybody who is talking to you about direct action and so on, and about political action being a humbug, is your enemy today, because he keeps you from getting the powers of political government." ("Proceedings of the 1908 National Convention of the Socialist Party," page 241.)

In the "Social Democratic Herald" of Milwaukee, July 31, 1909, Berger wrote: "It is easy to predict that the safety and hope of this country will finally lie in one direction only, that of a violent and bloody revolution. Therefore, I say, each of the 500,000 Socialist voters and of the 2,000,000 workingmen who instinctively incline our way, should, besides doing much reading and still more thinking, also have a good rifle and the necessary rounds of ammunition in his home, and be prepared to back up his ballot with his bullets if necessary. This may look like a startling statement. Yet I can see nothing else for the American masses today." In the same paper, August 14, 1909, he wrote: "We should be grateful if the social revolution, if the freeing of 75,000,000 whites, would not cost more blood than the freeing of 4,000,000 negroes in 1861."

Thus the Socialist Party of America, under the tutelage and control of far-seeing and deep-witted leaders like Hillquit and Berger, is by far the most dangerous band of conspirators in the United States. No "revolutionary impulse" is too extreme for Hillquit, no movement is "too radical;" but its "program and tactics" must be deep-laid, deceptive, seizing every present political advantage so that the central power can be grasped by astute leadership in one lurch when the hour of "shooting" arrives.

The dramatic violence of Lenine and Trotzky passed through all the radical bodies in America like an electric shock, and the enthusiasts wished to start a ruction right away. But Morris Hillquit was not carried off his feet. If the boys were so senseless as to try to seize the reins of party government, Hillquit would dismiss them with a friendly wave, as in his article, quoted above, in which he also says: "There is, as far as I can see, but one remedy. It would be futile to preach reconciliation and union where antagonism runs so high. Let the Comrades on both sides do the next best thing. Let them separate, honestly, freely, and without rancor. Let each side organize and work in its own way, and make such contribution to the Socialist movement in America as it can." If the "contribution" of the boys should really turn out to be a successful general strike and overturn, who would be better able to grasp the power than an astute leader like Hillquit?

This book was written before the Judiciary Committee of the New York Assembly began its inquiry, in January, 1920, into the fitness of five Socialist Assemblymen to act as law-makers, and since then has only received the addition of some important facts and testimony. It is remarkable, therefore, that all the evidence independently sifted in that investigation overwhelmingly points to the same conclusions arrived at in this volume.

On January 21, 1920, at the second day's hearing at Albany, as reported in the "New York Times" of January 22, John B. Stanchfield and Martin W. Littleton, of counsel for the Judiciary Committee, stated the fundamental nature of the charges brought against the five suspended Socialists—charges based, as is well known, on the results of raids and investigations of radicalism by the New York State Legislative Committee, Senator Lusk, Chairman. Said Mr. Stanchfield:

"When the Chairman read from the statement yesterday that the charge against these men was disloyalty, and that they had affiliated themselves with a party whose platform and program call for an overthrow of this Government by violence, he added that we will prove this beyond the shadow of a doubt.

"We are not upon this investigation engaged in a discussion of the philosophy of Socialism or its economics. We are engaged in an investigation of its tactics, its methods, its practical program, and these tactics, these methods, and that program called for the overturn of the power of this State and its annihilation, its utter and complete annihilation."

Mr. Littleton said:

"The representation with reference to what these five men did and what they profess and what they engaged to do stands out as plainly as any thing can stand out—that they gave their allegiance wholly and solely to an alien and invisible empire known as the Internationale. It stands out that they are the citizens, not in reality of the country which sustains and maintains them, but they are citizens of this invisible empire which projects itself as a revolutionary force into every country, menacing its institutions and threatening its overthrow. Their allegiance before they ever entered upon the threshold of this chamber was given to this empire, which masquerades at one time with the softness of parliamentary reform and which declares itself in favor of revolution with force, according to the place and time where it may so declare.

"It is that alien state, people of alien races—pledged to the destruction of this Government and its institutions—that the charges say that these men belong to and act with....

"Perhaps at a later day in this proceeding we will ascertain the specific program to which they pledged themselves, the program of Mr. Lenine and Mr. Trotzky, not to reform Russia—that is a misconception and a misdirection; it is not that Lenine and Trotzky are trying to reform Russia or change Russia, it is that Lenine and Trotzky, acting through these agencies, are proposing the installation of the same kind of government in constitutional America that they have inaugurated in Russia, and these are the agents and the instructors, according to the charge, to carry out that program.

"It is quite a different thing from expressing your sympathy in a convention for downtrodden Russia. It is a little different program, Mr. Chairman, and the evidence in this case will disclose that these members, in conjunction with that party, have tied themselves irrevocably to the program.

"So that charge involves, I should say, a grave question as to whether these men, pledged to an alien empire to carry out an alien policy and to do it masquerading as a political party, shall be members of that Assembly and can take the oath of office.

"Our ideals are the embodiment of the Constitution which these men ought to have been able to take the oath to and support. No alien, invisible empire, having one corner of it resting in the heart of Soviet Russia, another corner of it resting upon the shoulders of the Spartacides in Germany, and another resting somewhere else, you swore allegiance to, but to this country and this standard and no other country or standard—that is the ideal which we take the oath for and undertake to support.

"Now, with that situation, here is an Assembly organized under the ideals of that country and under its Constitution, and the question here is, Can that Assembly inquire into whether or not five of its members are disloyal to the country have foresworn themselves and given their allegiance to an alien and an invisible empire, and placed themselves in the hands of a master who can withdraw them from this Assembly when he chooses? Can such a deliberative body as this make that inquiry, and, finding the fact out, can it expel that agency from this body before the poison has contaminated the system?"

Mr. Littleton here took up the charge that the five Socialist Assemblymen, before taking office, had placed their resignations in the hands of their party leaders, or their local organizations, to be used to withdraw them from office should they fail to carry out their party's behest. He continued:

"What is the charge here? That these men, belonging to the invisible empire of the Internationale, whose agents may be violent or peaceable, according as the law allows, and according as they may escape, are here acting as agents of Lenine and Trotzky, not to establish a Soviet Republic under the rotten ruins of an infamous democracy, but to establish a Soviet Republic on the ruins of a Constitution to which every man is pledged by every ounce of his blood and by that solemn vow which he registered in heaven when he entered on the duties of his office.