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Speech Honoring the 2Nd Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution: Brownsville Labor Lyceum, NYC — Nov

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Speech Honoring the 2Nd Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution: Brownsville Labor Lyceum, NYC — Nov Oneal: Speech in Honor of the Bolshevik Revolution [Nov. 7, 1919] 1 Speech Honoring the 2nd Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution: Brownsville Labor Lyceum, NYC — Nov. 7, 1919 by James Oneal Published in State of New York, Proceedings of the Judiciary Committee of the Assembly in the Matter of the Investigation by the Assembly of the State of New York as to the Qualifications of Louis Waldman, August Claessens, Samuel A. DeWitt, Samuel Orr, and Charles Solomon, to Retain Their Seats in Said Body. In 3 Volumes. (Albany, NY: J.B. Lyon & Co., 1920), vol. 1, pp. 411-421. Mr. Chairman and Comrades:— administration, efforts to destroy the industries, efforts to overthrow the government, despite this and despite We are meeting tonight on the Second Anniver- the fact that Russia is facing some 12 or 13 nations sary of the Second Revolution in Russia. We meet in at war with her, who have armed bandits endeavoring the presence of the strangest conduct on the part of to surround Russia and cut her off from the world, governments that the world has ever known. despite the fact that Soviet Russia inherited a rotten There is no war being waged against Russia. If regime of corruption from the Tsar, the breaking down you ask the diplomats of England and of France and of its economic life, famine stalking from Siberia to of the United States, they will tell you there is no war the Baltic, despite all these tremendous handicaps, being waged against Soviet Russia. If you ask the ad- with the imperialistic powers of the world trying to ministration in Washington whether the war is ended crush this working class Republic, she has survived it or not, President Wilson will say, “Yes, it is ended; the all, and the latest news shows us that even the armies war is over in the case of Prohibition, but the war is in the Baltic, some of them, or at least part of them, on regarding the United Mine Workers.” are surrounded by the Soviet Red Guard. War is on, and it is not on. There is no war In two years this tremendous drama has been go- against Russia, and there is a war against Russia. ing on in Russia, Russia coming out of the revolution Now, whether those men are drinking or not, I of blood, with all these tremendous handicaps rising do not know, but to me they talk like men who are on out of a world war that had practically ruined and a drunk and don’t know what they are talking about wrecked a large part of Eastern and Central Europe. at all. Yet Russia has her banners swung to this very hour, However, it is not surprising to us, and during two years of it. the short time that I shall occupy the platform, I want What happened in the United States in the to draw some historical parallels. Revolution that we are accustomed to glorify every It is said that the Russian Soviet Government is Fourth of July? A revolution that began long before not a stable government, that chaos exists there, that the Declaration of Independence, but in 1776 the it is undergoing a process of dissolution. As a matter war was on, seven years passed away, and it was 1783 of fact, Russia has had only two years, and despite the before peace was realized between this country and fact that Soviet Russia has had to face counterrevolu- Great Britain. tionists within, plot after plot, and efforts to wreck the Seven years — a long struggle! Did that mean a 1 2 Oneal: Speech in Honor of the Bolshevik Revolution [Nov. 7, 1919] stabilized government in the United States? Not at all. revolution, the French Revolution, the American Revo- All the historians tell us that the period from 1783 to lution, the Russian Revolution — all such revolutions 1789, that long period, was a period of chaos, disorder, have been accompanied with more or less violence, and violence, and dissolution. But note this, there was not it is impossible to dispense with it. armies of invasions across the Canadian border, no What about their own American Revolution? great imperialistic powers of Europe swarming bandits, Was that a pink tea affair? No violence? No mobbing? arming Kolchaks and others, threatening the life of No clubbing? No property confiscated? Read the New the infant Republic, no attempts at counterrevolution York Times. The politicians, the diplomats in Washing- within the heart of the Republic itself, no army on the ton, misrepresent and misinterpret American history western border, no great fleets of battleships on the itself. In the American Revolution we had some radicals Atlantic seaboard and in the Gulf of Mexico to cut off at that time. You know radicals are out of date nowa- all foodstuffs and all supplies. The infant Republic of days. We had some people at that time that Moderns the United States had an absolute free deal, giving it would call Bolsheviks. time in which to rebuild its institutions. For example: the Sons of Liberty, organized first And yet the peace declared in 1783 was a peace in Boston, spread through the New England states that almost involved the dissolution of the revolution- and as far south as Baltimore. Who were the Sons ary government, in the winter of 1786 and 1787, dur- of Liberty? Why, those were the Red Guards of the ing that period there were rebellions of workers and American Revolution — that is who they were! (Ap- farmers, skilled mechanics, farm laborers and farmers plause.) What did they do? They organized, to insure in Vermont and Massachusetts, in New Hampshire, that the revolution would be a success. They were all through the New England states — revolts and composed largely, or to some extent, of lawyers and uprisings that almost overthrew the revolutionary in a few cases of ministers, but largely of farmers and government. laborers and mechanics, working men, organized in It required some 15 years from the beginning the Sons of Liberty. of the revolution, 15 years mark you, before a central And do you know what they did? Well, whenever Federal Government was established; and the govern- they found a Loyalist — and today, if you are a Loyal- ment had finally become a stable, orderly thing, such ist, you are all right, that is, if you are loyal to Gary as we know it is today. and Rockefeller, to that gang, you are all right — but I say to you here tonight, not only as a native-born a Loyalist was in those days in very bad odor, he was worker of the United States, but as an International an undesirable citizen; and where they found a man Socialist, that if it required 15 years for a revolution- who was loyal to Great Britain —they were generally ary government to be established in the United States merchants and wealthy men — do you know what to kick the British power across the Atlantic Ocean, those early Bolsheviks did? Why, they simply got a then I say to you that it is reasonable that Russia, in lot of rags, and they set them on fire, placed them in the midst of the worldwide chaos, deserves at least 10 a household where the man and his family happened years before there be any condemnation of her. to live, together with his servants, and filled his house But, they say, that there have been violences in with this stinking smoke and drove him out of the Russia. Some violence in a revolution! Do they think house. That is what they did. a revolution is a pink tea party, for men and women In other cases, they simply took a Loyalist out to gather around the table and say, “Now, let us have a into the woods, treated him to a coat of tar and feathers, revolution. Have a drink with me. Let us have a drink. and took possession of his home — took possession Let us drink to the success of the revolution” — and of his home and household. They mobbed thousands then you go out and slap a Bolshevik on the wrist, and thousands of these British Loyalists. They de- and say, “Please depart; we want a little revolution.” ported, they exiled thousands and thousands of them (Laughter.) Is that the way you have a revolution? to Canada. They took possession of their property, Every tremendous appeal in the world’s history confiscated their property, and in some cases many of that has brought about new institutions, every great these British Loyalists were killed, lost their lives in the Oneal: Speech in Honor of the Bolshevik Revolution [Nov. 7, 1919] 3 American Revolution. and the bankers and the financial oligarchy and the And here are the newspaper editors, here are international imperialists intend to crush it if they the politicians, here are the professional patriots and possibly can. Russia is an inspiration of the working officials at Washington, holding up their hands in class, to the working class of the world. holy horror because a lot of the Tsarist vermin have There is plenty of lying and there will be plenty been driven out of Russia and their property has been of more lying about Russia. They tell us they have confiscated, and the working class are at least free. proposed a massacre of the bourgeoisie and the intel- Why, we had exactly the same things in the American lectuals of Russia, and we read in the newspapers one Revolution. morning about this terrible thing, and we get visions of What is the one thing they glorify in the schools Lenin, for example, drinking a bowl of human blood to this day? Why, the Boston Tea Party, isn’t it? What for breakfast, of Trotsky dining on the shinbone of a was the Boston Tea Party? The Boston Tea Party was Tsarist officer, of Madam Culendale gnawing on the nothing more or less than this: a group of so-called delicate fingers of an artist or musician.
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