The Red Conspiracy Part 16

Long-haired preachers come out every night, Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right; But when asked how 'bout something to eat They will answer with voices so sweet:

_Chorus_

You will eat, bye and bye, In that glorious land above the sky; Work and pray, live on hay, You'll get pie in the sky when you die.

And the starvation army they play, And they sing and they clap and they pray.

Till they get all your coin on the drum, Then they'll tell you when you're on the b.u.m:

Holy Rollers and jumpers come out, And they holler, they jump and they shout.

"Give your money to Jesus," they say, "He will cure all diseases to-day."

If you fight hard for children and wife-- Try to get something good in this life-- You're a sinner and bad man, they tell, When you die you will sure go to h.e.l.l.

Workingmen of all countries, unite, Side by side we for freedom will fight; When the world and its wealth we have gained To the grafters we'll sing this refrain:

_Last Chorus_

You will eat, bye and bye, When you've learned how to cook and to fry, Chop some wood, 'twill do you good, And you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye.

Tie 'Em Up!

(Words and music by G. G. Allen)

We have no fight with brothers of the old A. F. of L., But we ask you use your reason with the facts we have to tell.

Your craft is but protection for a form of property, The skill that you are losing, don't you see.

Improvements on machinery take your tool and skill away, And you'll be among the common slaves upon some fateful day.

Now the things of which we're talking we are mighty sure about.-- So what's the use to strike the way you can't win out?

_Chorus_

Tie 'em up! Tie 'em up! That's the way to win.

Don't notify the bosses till hostilities begin.

Don't furnish chance for gunmen, scabs and all their like; What you need is One Big Union and the One Big Strike.

Why do you make agreements that divide you when you fight And let the bosses bluff you with the contract's "sacred right?"

Why stay at work when other crafts are battling with the foe, You all must stick together, don't you know.

The day when you begin to see the cla.s.ses waging war You can join the biggest tie-up that was ever known before.

When the strikes all o'er the country are united into one, Then the workers' One Big Union all the wheels shall run.

Walking on the Gra.s.s

(Tune: "The Wearing of the Green")

In this blessed land of freedom where King Mammon wears the crown, There are many ways illegal now to hold the people down.

When the dudes of state militia are slow to come to time, The law upholding Pinkertons are gathered from the slime.

There are wisely framed injunctions that you must not leave your job, And a peaceable a.s.semblage is declared to be a mob, And Congress pa.s.sed a measure framed by some consummate a.s.s, So they are clubbing men and women just for walking on the gra.s.s.

In this year of slow starvation, when a fellow looks for work, The chances are a cop will grab his collar with a jerk; He will run him in for vagrancy, he is branded as a tramp, And all the well-to-do will shout: "It serves him right, the scamp!"

So we let the ruling cla.s.s maintain the dignity of law, When the court decides against us we are filled with wholesome awe, But we cannot stand the outrage without a little sauce When they're clubbing men and women just for walking on the gra.s.s.

The papers said the union men were all but anarchist, So the job trust promised work for all who wouldn't enlist; But the next day when the hungry horde surrounded city hall, He hedged and said he didn't promise anything at all.

So the powers that be are acting very queer to say the least-- They should go and read their Bible and all about Belshazzar's feast, And when mene tekel at length shall come to pa.s.s, They'll stop clubbing men and women just for walking on the gra.s.s.

Although the I. W. W. does not yet officially const.i.tute a part of the Socialist organization, still very many of its members are most active Socialists. Indeed, it may be said that the I. W. W. is related to the Socialist Party quite as closely as a child is to its mother, for not only does the I. W. W. owe its origin to the followers of Karl Marx, but they are its directors and leaders, and have a.s.sisted and encouraged it in not a few of its princ.i.p.al strikes, notably at Lawrence, Ma.s.s., and Paterson, N. J.

Though we readily concede that quite a number of Socialists are individually antagonistic to the I. W. W., still they are opposed to it not because the I. W. W. differs in essential principles from the Socialist Party or even because this unfriendly minority of Socialists would oppose violent methods, if such were considered expedient, but because the "Yellow" Socialists prefer political action which is made light of by the I. W. W. direct actionists who are looked upon as enemies, for they seem to be doing harm to the Socialist political propaganda. In verification of this, an excellent proof is furnished by no less an authority than John Spargo, then a Socialist, and a most prolific writer, whose opposition to the Syndicalists and to the direct actionists of the Socialist Party was a well established fact even before the publication of his book, "Syndicalism, Industrial Unionism and Socialism." On page 172 of this work he writes:

"If the cla.s.s to which I belong could be set free from exploitation by violation of laws made by the master cla.s.s, by open rebellion, by seizing the property of the rich, by setting the torch to a few buildings, or by the summary execution of a few members of the possessing cla.s.s, I hope that the courage to share in the work would be mine."

Spargo, in "Syndicalism, Industrial Unionism and Socialism," admits that the Socialists have continually and consistently given aid to the Industrial Workers of the World in their strikes. Yet notwithstanding this active support, many persons have been led to believe that the Socialists have repudiated the I. W. W. This incorrect opinion may be due to the fact that the Socialist Party did not endorse the I. W. W. at its 1912 National Convention, or else to the fact that William D.

Haywood was subsequently removed by a referendum from the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party. But the 1912 Indianapolis Convention of the Socialist Party did not repudiate the Industrial Workers of the World. The representatives of the party only declared for a neutrality between this organization and the American Federation of Labor, and would in all probability have endorsed the I. W. W. and repudiated the American Federation of Labor if the Socialists had not nursed a hope of getting control of the latter organization and turning it into an industrial union similar to that of the Industrial Workers of the World.

That the Socialist Party by no means repudiated the I. W. W., but on the contrary was still on the most friendly terms with it after the 1912 Convention, is evident from several facts. "The Call," May 17, 1912, affirms that the Convention decided for neutrality in affairs of unions.

In the "Appeal to Reason," May 25, 1912, we read: "So after long weeks of discussion in the press, after days of apprehensions and fencing for advantage, the labor organization committee brought forth a unanimous report, which after a few speeches, all expressing the spirit of solidarity, was adopted without a dissenting vote. It was a compromise resolution. Each side declares itself completely satisfied with it. Each declares that it expresses its sentiments."

William D. Haywood, who perhaps more than any other person had the interests of the I. W. W. at heart, declared, according to "The Call,"

May 17, 1912, that with the adoption of this declaration concerning the neutrality of the party towards the two rival labor unions he felt that he could go to the 8,000,000 workers of the nation and carry to them the message of Socialism. "This," he continues, "is the greatest step that has yet been taken by the Socialist Party."

Although Haywood was for the time being removed from the National Executive Committee of the party, charged with favoring direct action rather than political action, he was never expelled from the party--which yet boasted so much of the const.i.tutional clause adopted at the 1912 National Convention demanding that any member who opposes political action, or advocates crime, sabotage, or other methods of violence as a weapon of the working cla.s.s, to aid in its emanc.i.p.ation, shall be expelled from members.h.i.+p in the party.

"The New Unionism," page 119, points out some of the "merits" of the I.

W. W., in comparison made with the Socialist Party, against which it was somewhat offended by the anti-sabotage and anti-direct action plank adopted at the 1912 National Convention:

"There are vote-getters and politicians who waste their time coming into a community where ninety per cent. of the men have no vote, where the women are disfranchised 100 per cent., and where the boys and girls under age, of course, are not enfranchised. Still they will speak to these people about the power of the ballot, and they never mention a thing about the power of the general strike. They seem to lack the foresight, the penetration to interpret political power. They seem to lack the understanding that the broadest interpretation of political power comes through the industrial organization; that the industrial organization is capable not only of the general strike, but prevents the capitalists from disfranchising the worker; it gives the vote to women, it re-enfranchises the black man and places the ballot in the hands of every boy and girl employed in a shop, makes them eligible to take part in the general strike, makes them eligible to legislate for themselves where they are most interested in changing conditions, namely, in the place where they work."

Again we read, on page 122 of "The New Unionism":

"The politicians in the Socialist Party, who want offices in the government, fight the I. W. W. because we have no place in our ranks for them, and if our idea prevails, it will crowd them out and destroy their influence as 'saviors of the working cla.s.s.'

These politicians cater for votes to the middle cla.s.s--to business men, farm owners and other small labor skinners--while the I. W. W.

appeals only to wage-workers, and allows none but actual wage-workers to join our ranks. The Socialists can never get a majority of votes for a working cla.s.s programme (if they had such a programme) because the majority of voters are middle cla.s.s, since about ten million male wage-workers are disfranchised (being foreigners or floaters without long enough residence in one place to have votes). But the wage-workers are a big majority of the whole people, and produce nearly all wealth, so when they organize as the I. W. W. proposes, the working cla.s.s will control the country, and with similar organizations in other countries will control the world. Foreigners, women, children and other non-voters at elections, have equal rights in the union, and take part in its activities, regardless of nationality, age, s.e.x, or any other consideration except that they are wage-workers with common interests in opposition to those of the employers."

It may come as a surprise to the reader to hear that at the 1917 St.

Louis Convention of the Socialist Party the anti-sabotage and anti-direct action plank of the Const.i.tution was dropped. The "International Socialist Review," May, 1917, page 669, commenting on the removal of the clause, says:

"It has served its purpose, which was to guillotine and drive out most of the revolutionary workers from the party. The Const.i.tution committee recommended that it be striken out by unanimous consent without going on the minutes or records. Ruthenberg opposed. He insisted that it be struck out and the minutes show the record of the action. It was carried almost unanimously."

Further on we read in the same issue of "The International Socialist Review":

"An industrial union plank to be inserted in the platform was defeated by a vote of 63 to 61. Had it been offered as a resolution it would have gone through by a big majority." Though most of the Convention favored the I. W. W., evidently a small majority feared to put the Socialist Party on record.

In 1918 and 1919 the Socialist Party grew more and more friendly to the I. W. W. At present they seem to have fallen in love with each other.

The American Federation of Labor is held in greatest contempt by the Socialist press, while the I. W. W. is lauded to the skies. Its meetings are advertised, sympathy and aid are extended to its imprisoned officials and everything is being done to help it along.