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A Political Guide for the Workers 1920

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A Political Guide for the Workers 1920 ©2QCof.5 A Political Guide for the Workers 1920 : Published by The Socialist Party of the United States 220 South Ashland Boulevard CHICAGO, ILL. EUGENE VICTOR DEBS A Political Guide for the Workers Socialist Party Campaign Book 1920 Prepared by the Department of Labor Research, Rand School of Social Science A. L. Trachtenberg, Director Published by The Socialist Party of the United States 220 South Ashland Boulevard CHICAGO, ILL. 1920 COPYRIGHT 1920 BY THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES CHICAGO, ILL. Printed in the U. S. A. FOREWORD ^^ This little book is the joint work of a number of con­ tributors, which has been compiled under the general editorship of Alexander Trachtenberg, Director of the Department of Labor Research of the Rand School of Social Science, and James Oneal, member of the National Executive Committee of the Socialist party. Benjamin Glassberg. of the Rand School also rendered valuable assistance in the editorial work. Among the contributors to the volume are Morris Hill- quit, David P. Berenberg, Evans Clark, Roger Baldwin, Solon DeLeon, Lewis Gannett, Benjamin Glassberg, Bertha Hale White, William Morris Feigenbaum, Alex­ ander Trachtenberg, James Oneal and Irwin St. John Tucker. The book is the result of a request made by the Na­ tional Executive Committee that the Research Depart­ ment of the Rand School of Social Science co-operate in the preparation of material for it. The editorial committee believes that the book marks an advance over the bulky campaign books that have been prepared in the past, in that the material is much less in quantity, it is presented in a more popular style, statistics have been reduced to a minimum, while the information will prove of service to party speakers and editors and at the same time serve as a propaganda book among the workers. The editorial committee takes this opportunity to ex­ press its thanks to all those who have contributed to the volume and helped in any way to make its publication possible. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Foreword 3 Section I THE SOCIALIST PARTY Eugene V. Debs—A Biographical Sketch 7 This is Our Year—By Eugene V. Debs 12 Seymour Stedman—A Biographical Sketch 15 Letter of Acceptance—Seymour Stedman 19 The Socialist Party and the 1920 Elections—By Mori is Hillquit 23 Platform of the Socialist Party, 1920 27 Declaration of Principles, Socialist Party, 1920 32 Socialist Party Resolutions: Russia and Poland 37 Hungary 39 Ireland 40 The Intercollegiate Socialist Society 41 The Albany Ouster 41 Anti-Syndicalist Legislation 41 Militarism 42 Passports to Jean Longuet 42 Postofhce Employes 43 Government Ownership of Railroads 43 A History of the Socialist Party 43 Socialist Party Institutions 50 Section II Congress and the Workers 52 The Two Platforms of the Capitalist Party: 58 The Platform of the Democratic Branch 59 The Platform of the Republican Branch 62 The Gold Dust Twins 64 Cox and Roosevelt 65 Section III The Labor Party 67 The Farmer-Labor Party 71 Official Attitude of the Socialist Party Toward the Labor Party 75 The Political Policy of the A. F. of L 77 The Nonpartisan League 80 5 Section IV Page Russia 84 Bibliographical Note on Russia 95 American Imperialism and Latin America: 95 The Panama "Revolution" 96 The Seizure of Santo Domingo 96 Plots to Loot Mexico 97 Section V Civil Liberties: 100 War-time Restrictions on the Freedom of Speech, Press and Assemblage 100 The Crusade Against Civil Liberties since the Armistice. 106 Activities of the Federal Government 108 Activities of State Governments 115 Overthrowing Representative Government 117 The Albany Ouster 117 The Berger Case 118 The Persecution of the I. W. W 120 Company Controlled Districts of the United States 122 Legalized Violence 123 Mob Violence 123 Four Years of Anti-labor Legislation 124 Section VI Wages in the United States—Before and After the War: 130 Mines and Quarries 131 Wages in Manufacturing 132 Wages in Telephone and Telegraph Industries 133 Wages of Hired Farm Labor. •. 133 Labor's "Profiteering" 134 Who is Responsible for the Increased Cost of Living 139 The Story of Wool 147 Wealth and Income in the United States 149 Net Income of all Corporations in the United States 149 Profits of Meat Packers 150 Income Tax Returns 151 Section VII One Cent for Welfare—One Dollar for War 154 Labor in the Courts 155 Labor and the Press 157 The Control of Education 160 War Casualties 162 The Land Problem in the United States 163 Middle Class Land Reforms 164 Section VIII Woman Suffrage 170 Section XI GREETINGS FROM EUROPE Romain Rolland 173 Henri Barbusse 173 George Lansbury. 174 Philip Snowden 175 J. Ramsay MacDonald 176 Tom Mann 176 John MacLean 177 6 SECTION I The Socialist Party EUGENE VICTOR DEBS. It is given to few great movements to be so wholly typified in the per- sonality of a single being as the So- cialist movement in America is in that of Eugene V. Debs. For Debs is Socialism incarnate. Debs is love, humanity, freedom. And Debs is a prisoner at Atlanta, serv­ ing a term of 10 years in the 65th year of his life. Only in America with its boasted p_ ^s^j^ _^gy liberty is such a paradox possible. ffi—£^£ v,DEBSjlf The greatest living American is : | , %\-M shut up behind bars and kept there along with hundreds of other men and women by the broken autocrat of the White House, because he dared preach the truth as he saw it, because he raised his pow­ erful voice against the injustice of war and the persecu­ tion of Socialists and others who opposed the "war to end war." It was at Canton, Ohio, on June ]£, 1918, that Debs delivered the speech for which he is now serving a jail sentence. He made the speech after due deliberation, and during his trial refused to withdraw a single statement. If it was wrong to oppose war he wks willing to suffer even if he stood alone. 7 On April 13, 1919, almost a half year after the war with Germany had actually ended, Deb.s entered the Moundsville (W. Va.) prison. In his parting message to the friends and comrades who had accompanied him he said: "I enter the prison doors a flaming revolutionist—my head erect, my spirit untamed and mv soul unconquera­ ble." On May 13, 1920, 13 months after his entry into prison, the Socialist Party at its national convention nominated Debs as its .standard bearer for the fifth time. The demonstration which followed the nomination was un­ surpassed in the history of the Socialist movement, as delegates and spectators applauded and cheered with un­ abated enthusiasm for 30 minutes. On May 29, 1920, there took place in the warden's office at Atlanta, a spectacle unique in modern history. A candidate was notified of his nomination for his coun­ try's highest office clad in a convict's garb. Always anxious to serve as a simple soldier in the ranks and avoid positions of prominence, he accepted the nomina­ tion for president, with the hope that he would help to unite the workers of America in an aggressive campaign against capitalism and reaction. Eugene V. Debs has been the real leader of the So­ cialist movement in America for the past 20 years. In­ deed he is one of the original founders of the Socialist movement in the United States. Leadership is distaste­ ful to him. He leads by virtue of his example; nothing else. "I am no Moses to lead you out of the wilderness" he says, "because if I could lead you out, someone else could lead you in again." Deb.s at the present moment enjoys the love and confidence of the mass of the plain people of America as no other American does, and just­ ly so. At the same time Debs is without doubt the best hated man in America. No man is so feared by the capi­ talist class. His Life. Eugene Victor Debs was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on November 5, 1855. His parents, Jean Daniel Debs and Marguerite Marie Mettrich ("Dandy and Daisy" the children affectionately called them) were of French de­ scent, having come to the United States from Colmar, Alsace. Eugene was one of ten children, and like millions of other children of workers, he was compelled to leave school in his fourteenth year. In May, 1870, at the age of 14, he began to work in the shops of the Terre Haute and Indianapolis railroad, 8 and later as a fireman on that road, now part of the Penn­ sylvania system. He continued this work for a number of years and in 1874 took a. clerkship with a large whole­ sale grocers' concern in his native city. Before Debs was 20, he had helped to organize a lodge of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen (February 27, 1875). He likewise aided in the organization of the switchmen, the Railway Carmen, the Railway Telegra­ phers, and other unions. In a very real sense, he is the father of the powerful "Big Four" brotherhoods. Re­ cently, he was voted a life membership by the Indiana branch of the Locomotive Firemen. A Union Official. At the 1878 convention of his union, when he was but 22, he was made associate editor of the Firemen's Maga­ zine. Two years later, he was made secretary-treasurer, and editor and manager of the periodical. He had ar­ rived as a labor leader of power and force. Old Josh Leach, the patriarch of the Firemen, said at the St.
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