Communism; Industrial Workers of the World; Socialism
It is important to emphasize the proofs that the Socialist Party of
America has openly committed itself to the sanction and advocacy of
"industrial" violence in furtherance of its avowed intention "to wrest
industry and the control of the government of the United States" from
the whole American people and place them in the hands of a special
class. For since the wholesale arrests of "Reds" by the Department of
Justice were made, followed by the institution of the inquiry into the
qualifications of the five Socialist Assemblymen at Albany, a new,
general movement became discernible among the radicals, a movement to
disguise their real principles, camouflage their plan of action and
carry their propaganda "under ground."
Hillquit, Victor L. Berger and the other shrewd leaders of the Socialist
Party realized early in 1919 that the programs of violence against this
country, flaunted openly by the Left Wing leaders, would bring down the
hand of the Government upon the conspirators. As early as April 19,
1919, Julius Gerber, Executive Secretary of the New York Local of the
Socialist Party, in a private letter which we quote from the Left Wing
"New York Communist." May 1, 1919, stated that "the control of the party
by these irresponsible people will make the party an outlaw
organization, and break up the organization."
Yet the call for the Third (Moscow) International had cunningly
classified the Socialists of the world into three groups, a Right, a
Center and "the Revolutionary Left Wing." This last group included the
friends of Moscow, the elements of the Third International; and those
credited to it in America, who received invitations to the Moscow
Conference of March 2-6, were the Socialist Labor Party, the I. W. W.,
the Workers' International Industrial Union and "the elements of the
Left Wings of American Socialist Propaganda (tendency represented by E.
V. Debs and the Socialist Propaganda League)." The group of the Right,
the other extreme, was completely condemned by the Moscow call as
"avowed social-patriots who, during the entire duration of the
imperialistic war between the years 1914 and 1918 have supported their
own bourgeoisie."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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