The Red Conspiracy Part 49

The Marxian leaders realize that the high cost of living is constantly gaining recruits for their cause, and that the greater the number of strikes and the greater the number of persons involved, the longer it will take to reduce the cost of the necessaries of life. They know that if the working cla.s.s secures a six-hour day, a five-day week and, in addition, an immense increase in wages, production will fall far short of the demand, the cost of living will go up by leaps and bounds, and business men will be ruined. Workingmen will then lose their positions and discontent will be far more prevalent than ever. Again, if laboring men can only be made to break their wage contracts soon after every victorious strike, the industries of the whole country will soon be "topsy-turvy."

What will bring on strikes more readily than to teach rebellion against all conservative labor leaders who would oppose uncalled-for walk-outs?

It is much easier to get men to strike by having labor agitators harangue and deceive them, than it would be to have the workingmen quietly discuss both sides of the question honestly and fairly and then vote pro or con.

Sympathetic strikes are well calculated to bring on a general strike, which might easily lead to the rebellion that the Reds so much desire.

Strikes very often induce the action of courts against the workers involved and frequently demand the use of police and the calling out of troops, and thus the rebel "Reds" obtain other arguments, sound or otherwise, to win more of the working-cla.s.s to their diabolical cause.

If the Socialist strike leaders are imprisoned, justly or not, Socialists do not fail to start nation-wide agitations for amnesty.

Strikes, therefore, excessive demands, the breaking of wage contracts, revolts against conservative labor leaders, and impa.s.sioned cla.s.s-conscious strike agitators are among the leading a.s.sets of the Marxian rebels for starting a b.l.o.o.d.y rebellion.

Many of the laboring cla.s.s, especially newly arrived immigrants, cannot see the ultimate aim of the radical leaders and never dream of the terrible times that will soon overwhelm them if the cost of living continues to rise, business is ruined, and a terrible rebellion drenches our fair land with rivers of blood, leaving in its trail anarchy, crime and evils without end. Of what use are higher wages won by strikes, if the cost of living ascends still more rapidly? Of what use are higher wages for a short time if all industries and our Government with them are to be ruined through continual strikes and unreasonable demands suggested and agitated by men who have never yet given a single proof that their Socialistic scheme would not fall a prey to anarchy and war?

The Reds, no matter of what type they are, have never proven that their state would be a success, or that it would not have a million times as many defects as our present system. Their empty a.s.sertions prove nothing but the empty-mindedness and ignorance of their illogical rank and file.

Yes, Socialist, Communist and I. W. W. influence is making itself felt even in the American Federation of Labor. During 1919 many an unauthorized strike took place against the will of the lawful labor leaders. The printers' strike and longsh.o.r.emen's strikes in New York City are examples. "Red" labor leaders and revolutionary propaganda ruined the cause of the steel strikers.

The American Federation of Labor cannot afford to harbor Socialists and members of the I. W. W. It is doomed to shipwreck if it does not rid itself of Marxian agitators. The vast majority of the American people will not tolerate a revolutionary American Federation of Labor any more than they will tolerate a revolutionary I. W. W. If the principles of the American Federation of Labor become radical like those of the I. W.

W., the Socialists, Communists and the Bolsheviki, the name "American"

and past conservatism will never save our greatest labor organization from ruin. The greater part of the country is rapidly lining up against unreasonable demands made in the name of organized labor, millions of farmers taking the lead. Extreme advantages to city workingmen would spell ruin to the farmers. Millions of others of the middle cla.s.s in our cities will also soon unite with the farmers, for they are getting tired of the endless and costly series of unreasonable strikes.

The Socialists and agents of the I. W. W. have for years been "boring from within" the A. F. of L. In other words, these Marxians, though members of the A. F. of L., are undermining its conservatism, discrediting and seeking to displace its less radical leaders, changing its policy of co-operation between capital and labor into one of cla.s.s hatred between employee and employer, and attempting to reorganize it along industrial lines, rather than along those of the various craft divisions of each industry, with a view to making strikes more widespread and dangerous for our Government. In a word, they are seeking to turn the A. F. of L. into a second I. W. W., destined to join forces with Haywood's discredited industrial union of rebels.

William Z. Foster, national leader of the steel strikers in the fall of 1919, affords us an example of an I. W. W. agent "boring from within"

the A. F. of L.

Mr. Carl W. Ackerman informs us in the "Boston Evening Transcript,"

September 24, 1919, that the first appearance of Foster as a radical was in 1910, when, as a reporter for the "Seattle Call," a Socialist paper at that time, he was sent along the Pacific Coast to report a number of so-called free speech fights. "From this," continues Mr. Ackerman, "he appears to have developed into a general agitator. As a result of his tour of the west he joined the I. W. W. and in this capacity he began to advocate sabotage....

"In 1911, while a member of the I. W. W., Foster went to Europe and visited France, Germany and Hungary as a correspondent of 'Solidarity,' the official organ of the I. W. W. in America, at that time published at New Castle, Pa. He wrote many articles for this publication, some of them signed, 'Yours for the I. W. W., W.

Z. Foster,' and others, 'Yours for the revolution, W. Z. Foster.'"

In a letter written by Foster in 1911 and on file in the office of the United States District Attorney in Chicago, Foster said:

"I am satisfied from my observation that the only way for an I. W.

W. to have the workers adopt and practice the principles of revolutionary unionism, which I take it is its mission, is to give up the attempt to create a new labor movement, turn itself into a propaganda league, get into the organized labor movement, and by building up better fighting machinery within the old unions than these possessed by our reactionary enemies, revolutionize these unions, even as our French syndicalist fellow-workers have so successfully done."

This letter, showing Foster's plan of "boring from within" the A. F. of L., was signed, "Yours for the revolution."

As late as 1915 Foster brought out a book ent.i.tled, "Trade Unionism, the Road to Freedom." Several excerpts taken from the sixth chapter show the true frame of mind of this leader, who has recently gained such a following in the A. F. of L.:

"Under the new order as pictured above, government, such as we know it, would gradually disappear. In an era of science and justice this makeshift inst.i.tution, having lost its usefulness, would shrivel and die....

"Criminal courts, police, jails and the like would go also. Crime is due almost wholly to poverty. In a reign of plenty for all, it would practically disappear.... People would no longer have to wrangle over property rights. The industries now in the hands of national, state and munic.i.p.al governments would be given over completely into the care of the workers engaged in them.... With war, crime, cla.s.s antagonisms and property squabbles obliterated, and the management of industry taken from its care, little or no excuse would exist for government."

The November 8, 1919, report of the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, in its investigation of the nation-wide steel strike, commented as follows on Foster:

"Such men are dangerous to the country and they are dangerous to the cause of union labor. It is unfair to men who may be struggling for their rights to be represented by such leaders. It prevents them from securing proper hearing for their cause. If Mr. Foster has the real interest of the laboring man at heart he should remove himself from any leadership. His leadership injures instead of helping. If he will not remove himself from leadership the American Federation of Labor should purge itself of such leadership in order to sustain the confidence which the country has had in it under the leadership of Mr. Gompers."

CHAPTER XXIII

ENLISTING RECRUITS FOR THE CONSPIRACY

The success or failure of the Marxian movement will, to a great extent, depend upon the ability of the revolutionists to gain control of the schools, colleges and universities of the United States. That they have been long active in spreading their pernicious doctrines among the young is evident to all who are closely in touch with Socialist activities.

In our country there exist what are known as Socialist Sunday schools.

The revolutionists themselves tell us that the aim and purpose of these schools is the destructive work of tearing down old superst.i.tious ideas of territorial patriotism, and that such schools should be founded in as many places as possible, to counteract the influences of churches, synagogues and public schools.

Page 68 of the "Proceedings of the 1910 National Congress of the Socialist Party," clearly indicates the exceptional importance which Marxians attach to their training of the young:

"Among the special fields of Socialistic propaganda the education of our boys and girls to an understanding of the Socialist philosophy is one of the most important. The ultimate battles of Socialism will largely be fought by the growing generation, and we must begin early to train the latter for its part. The Socialists of Europe have long appreciated the importance of the task, and in almost every country they have built up a strong organization of young people. The Socialists of America are just beginning to turn their attention to the problem....

"The teaching of infants is a task which requires a good deal of professional training, and no Socialist 'Sunday schools' for very young children should be established where we do not have experienced and reliable teachers to conduct them....

"It is quite otherwise with children of the maturer age of, say, fourteen years and upward. Young people of that age normally possess sufficient strength of mind to grasp the main philosophy and aims of our movement intelligently, and their training into the Socialist mode of thought and action cannot be conducted with too much zeal and energy. Young people's clubs, societies for the study of Socialism should be formed all over the country as regular adjuncts to our party organization, and very serious consideration should be given to them by the adult Socialists. But they should remain primarily study clubs, and should not be encouraged to engage in practical political activity, which can do but little good to our movement, and may tend to arrest the intelligent growth of the youthful enthusiasts. When they will reach a maturer age they will be better and more efficient workers in the movement for having made a more thorough study of its theory and methods."

"The Call," New York, March 30, 1913, commenting on teaching Socialism to the young, adds: "Up to the present time only men vote in most of the states, and they do not use the ballot until they are 21 years of age.

It stands to reason that for the intelligent use of the ballot there must be proper preparation and education. We cannot expect people to vote right unless they are trained right....

"If you want or expect men and women to be good and intelligent voters at the age of 21, then something most vital must be done with them before they reach that age. From 5 to 21, that's a long road. That's the impressionable period. That's the time at which the people are prepared to become good Socialists or good opponents of Socialism. And the latter quite as readily as the former....

"Catch them young! That's it. But how? In lots of ways. Get them coming our way. Let them lose their fear of us. Have them come to a dance and find out that we are human. It surprises them sometimes.

When they realize that, they are partly won.

"Educating the young to Socialism is a matter of 'indirect' action rather than 'direct' action. It would be the height of folly to try to cram Karl Marx down these new young throats. That will come in time. Start them on something easier, something less drastic. Sugar coat your bitter pills a little."

It is possible, in conformity with this last suggestion, that after the parade of Socialist children of New York City, on May Day, 1913, they were to be treated, as we are informed in "The Call" on the same day, to a feast of ice cream and cake and a series of thrilling moving pictures of the struggles between the police and the strikers at Lawrence and Little Falls.

With this short diversion, we shall return to the article in "The Call"

of March 30, 1913, which goes on to say that "the young people should be gradually educated to rebellion and revolution. Songs will help.

Plays will help. Casual talk here and there will aid. It must soak in.

You can't flood them with stuff in two days. Rebels that are made in two days may stick in a crisis, but I don't believe they will."

It certainly is interesting to read "Lesson 24," taken from the "Socialist Primer," a little book which a man named Klein has prepared for the use of children attending the Socialist Sunday schools:

"Here is a man with a gun; he is in the troop. You see he has a nice suit on. Does he work? No, the man with the gun does no work.

His work is to shoot men who do work. Is it nice to shoot men?

Would you like to shoot a man? This man eats, drinks, wears clothes, but does no work. Do you think that is nice? Yes, this is nice for the fat man, but bad for the thin; so he owns the man with the gun. When the thin man will have the law on his side, there will be no more men with guns. Who makes the gun? The man who works. Who makes the nice suit? The man who works. Who gets shot with the gun? The man who works. Who gets the bad clothes? The man who works. Is this right? No, this is wrong!"

In "The Call," New York, April 17, 1919, there appeared the following advertis.e.m.e.nt of a coming entertainment to be given by a Socialist Sunday school of the Brownsville section of Brooklyn:

"Sunday School Gives Concert in Brownsville

"The annual entertainment and concert of the Brownsville Socialist Sunday school will take place tomorrow evening at the Brownsville Labor Lyceum. The capitalist press has lately discovered that there are Socialist Sunday schools in the city. They even send their reporters to discover what awful things Socialist children are taught there. The American Defence Society has just undertaken a vigorous nation-wide fight against Bolshevism in general and Socialist Sunday schools in particular. All school children and the parochial schools are to be enlisted in this glorious work. The Protestant churches, not to be outdone, are also organizing to save the children from Socialism. The growth of the Socialist schools is throwing fear into the hearts of the capitalists. Brownsville parents can do no better than to help make this school, now one of the largest in the country, even better and stronger than it is. A splendid musical program has been arranged and, in addition, the children will sing, dance and recite. Tickets may be bought at the Lyceum."

Every parent will understand the subtle, insidious poison of rebellion against parental authority and guidance instilled into young minds by such items as the following, from the "New York Call" of July 16, 1919: