Socialism and Democracy in EuropeOrth, Samuel Peter
History
Socialism and Democracy in Europe
Orth, Samuel Peter
Democracy; Socialism
Bohemia | 2462 | 156,000
| | (6,000)
Hungary | 769 | 85,266
France | 2500 | 51,692
Italy | | 30,000
Russia* | 8 | 3,000
Spain | |
Poland-Prussian | 40 | 1,500
Poland-Russian | | 3,500
Finland | |
| |
Norway | 637 | 26,500
| | (2,500)
Sweden | 338 | 60,183
Denmark | 360 | 47,000
Holland | 211 | 9,289
Belgium | 906 | 185,318
Switzerland | 23 | 21,132
Servia | | 1,950
Bulgaria | 109 | 4,287
U.S.A. | 3200 | 53,375
-------------------------+-------+-----------
* Province of Lettland.
Figures in parenthesis indicate number of women members.
4. AMERICAN SOCIALIST PARTY PLATFORM
[Adopted by National Convention May, 1908, and by Membership
Referendum August 8th, 1908. Amended by Referendum September 7th,
1909.]
PRINCIPLES
Human life depends upon food, clothing, and shelter. Only with these
assured are freedom, culture, and higher human development possible.
To produce food, clothing, or shelter, land and machinery are needed.
Land alone does not satisfy human needs. Human labor creates machinery
and applies it to the land for the production of raw materials and
food. Whoever has control of land and machinery controls human labor,
and with it human life and liberty.
To-day the machinery and the land used for industrial purposes are
owned by a rapidly decreasing minority. So long as machinery is simple
and easily handled by one man, its owner cannot dominate the sources
of life of others. But when machinery becomes more complex and
expensive, and requires for its effective operation the organized
effort of many workers, its influence reaches over wide circles of
life. The owners of such machinery become the dominant class.
In proportion as the number of such machine owners compared to all
other classes decreases, their power in the nation and in the world
increases. They bring ever larger masses of working people under their
control, reducing them to the point where muscle and brain are their
only productive property. Millions of formerly self-employing workers
thus become the helpless wage slaves of the industrial masters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account