Communism; Industrial Workers of the World; Socialism
The significant facts in estimating the revolutionary character of the
American Socialist Party, as recruited and indoctrinated by its
double-faced leaders are two: the fact that as lately as September,
1919, some 70,000 of their pupils graduated into the open course of
revolutionary violence adopted by the Communist Party of America and the
Communist Labor Party, and the fact that the more manageable 40,000
remaining with these leaders were so much like their seceding Comrades
that their leaders were compelled to defend their own radicalism in the
fashion above shown, and were also compelled, as we shall soon see, to
take an open stand for revolution and I. W. W.'ism in order to keep even
the remnant of the party from deserting them.
Thus a serious mistake has been made by the many who fancy that the
"Yellow" Socialists--Hillquit's Right Wing which still constitutes the
Socialist Party of America--are not plotters who work for a revolution
to overthrow our Government. Of course they are, and any one who has
read the Socialist papers and publications, even to a very limited
degree, may easily see that these alleged "moderates" appear such only
in contrast with the more rabid "Red" rebels of the Left; and that the
one object of Right and Left alike is to stir up discontent and foment
hatred of class against class precisely in order that a rebellion may
some day break out.
True it is that the crafty leaders of the Right do not act as
imprudently as the hot-headed leaders of the Left, for they fear lest
rashness should precipitate them in a premature and unsuccessful
outbreak; yet they are sowing the seed of revolution as certainly as are
the Communists, and perhaps with much more success, because they proceed
more prudently. Once in a while, when they are off their guard, the "cat
escapes from the bag." As an example we quote from an article that
appeared in the May Day, 1919, issue of "The Call," the paper founded
and controlled by Hillquit, the foxy leader of the Rights:
"The world revolution, dreamed of as a thing of the distant future,
has become a live reality, rising from the graves of the murdered
millions and the misery and suffering of the surviving millions. It
has taken form, it strikes forward, borne on by the despair of the
masses and the shining example of the martyrs. Its spread is
irrepressible. The bridges are burnt behind the old capitalist
society and its path is forever cut off. Capitalist society is
bankrupt, and the only salvation of humanity lies in the uprising
of the masses, in the victory of the Socialist revolution, in the
revolutionary forces of Socialism.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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