Our working class brothers in Europe are already rousing and shaking off the cruel spell of the gilt-braided butchers and silk-hatted capitalist statesmen and industrial Neros; _the toilers in Europe are learning to seize the powers of government in self-defense,—quietly and legally, of course, but_—DEFIANTLY.[115] We—driven, robbed and despised in the factory; betrayed, buncoed and slaughtered on the battlefield; voiceless in the control of industry, voiceless in the capitalist political party conventions, voiceless in the judiciary, voiceless in state and national legislatures, voiceless in the state and national executive councils, ridiculed by “high society,” scorned everywhere—we also must learn to defend ourselves. We must seize the powers of government and defend our class—everywhere. Brothers, my American brothers, brothers of all the world,—if you have minds exercise them—for your own class; if you have pride, show it—for your class; if you have loyalty, prove it—for your class; if you have power, use it—use it in self-defense—for your class; if you can climb, why, climb, united with your class altogether—climb out of hell, the hell of capitalism. Divided, your masters despise you. United, your masters dread you. Get together, brothers, and get up off your knees. Refuse to go to hell—the hell of war. Refuse to stay in hell—the hell of capitalist industry. Unite! For peace and freedom—unite! Form, toilers, form! Organize! A solid front on the battlefield—of industry. A solid front on the battlefield—of politics. A suggestion: Let each one of a hundred thousand men and women patiently and repeatedly bear light to the brain of one new man or woman each month for two years, and _teach each new man to become a teacher of other men and women_. Get some good book, a book that burns, a book that kindles a passion for freedom and justice; and lend that book to a new person each month _till the book is worn out_.[116] Light a lamp in your neighbor’s brain. Strike a fire in your neighbor’s heart. Revolutionize him. Dare. Today. Society is, and always will be—as free as the majority have sense enough and pride enough to make it; or as tyrannical as the majority are meek enough to permit it to be. Conditions always express the will or lack of will of the majority. ----- Footnote 67: See Index: “Desertion,” also “Suicide, startling increase of, in American Army.” Footnote 68: _Financial History of the United States_, Vol. III., p. 245. Footnote 69: _School History of the United States_, p. 423. Footnote 70: Quoted in Mead’s _Patriotism and the New Internationalism_, pp. 18–19. Footnote 71: See J. Bloch: _The Future of War_, a volume of great value, packed with information concerning several different phases of war under present conditions. Published by Ginn and Company, New York. Footnote 72: _The Making of America_, Vol. IX., Special Article, “Army and Navy,” p. 388. Footnote 73: