The Story of the German Working-Class Movement (Review) Hammer or Anvil. The Story of the German Working-Class Movement. By Evelyn Anderson (207pp.; V. Gollancz, London). This short history of the German labor movement from the time of Bismarck’s anti-socialist laws to its extinction under the Hitler regime deals with both the political and trade-union aspects of the movement and is written from the same point of view that prevailed in those organizations. There is little criticism and what there is is directed only to the late phases of the movement. Some errors of fact appear here and there with...
Read more »
What should be the attitude of socialists toward trade unions? this not a mere academic question. There are well-informed Marxists who contend that unionism should regarded in much the same light as reforms, since unions, like reforms, cannot abolish the ills of capitalism. Regarding unionism, the following proposition was posed by a socialist recently “The evils which exist within present society. Be they war, crime, poverty. Or exploitation, have no solution other than the abolition of private property relationships. To fight anyone specific evil is not only a losing battle in itself, but a divergence from the real fight....
Read more »
The Growth of American Thought. By Merle Curti. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1943. (848pp., $5.00) Well written, interestingly constructed and partly original in its researches, Curti’s book is nevertheless a dull affair. This is not the writer’s fault, but results from the fact that American thought has not grown in depth but has been a mere accumulation of detailed knowledge incapable of changing the general climate of opinion. Save in technology, the whole intellectual development from colonial times to the present war has not been very impressive. However unwillingly, Curti’s book demonstrates the intellectual poverty which accompanied the...
Read more »
From the Western Socialist, March-April, 1942 “The mode of production in material life determines the general character of the social, political, and spiritual process of life.” When Karl Marx presented this analysis to a confused world, back in 1859, he provided an explanation of cause and effect in the social world that still serves the needs of our more inquisitive minds today. The slovenly and the superficial will miss its meaning, the sycophantic drudge will seek to sabotage its lesson but, to the serious student of social affairs, it affords a meaning of untangling the snarls that disconcert his...
Read more »
The words Socialism and Communism have the same meaning. They indicate a condition of society in which the wealth of the community: the land and the means of production, distribution and transport are held in common, production being for use and not for profit. Socialism being an ideal towards which we are working, it is natural that there should be some differences of opinion in that future society. Since we are living under Capitalism it is natural that many people’s ideas of Socialism should be coloured by their experiences of life under the present system. We must not be...
Read more »
The starting point, or rather, the pivotal centre of our logic is the conception of the universe as being a oneness, a unity, an eternal, absolute truth, all embracing, infinite and unlimited. It is impossible to conceive of anything outside the universe. To attempt it would not only be useless, but folly. The parts composing the universe partake of its infinite nature, i.e., of existence. A mahogany chair has the characteristics of all chairs, regardless of where it is found, on earth or in the heavens above. Yet, at the same time, it is finite. The chair is built,...
Read more »
In view of the explanations and reasons offered by the spokesmen of the Capitalist class, as to the cause of the war in which the United States is now engaged, and in view of the many statements of pseudo-Socialists and others, misrepresenting the Socialist position, thus spreading confusion in the minds of the workers in general and particularly in the minds of those Workers who are interested in Socialism we deem it necessary, at this time, to restate the correct working class position. Cause of the War The underlying cause of the present war, involving the principal capitalist nations...
Read more »
“Emancipation not Palliation” Socialism vs. Capitalism To understand socialism, one must necessarily understand the present social system; i.e., capitalism. Under capitalism, society is divided into hostile classes: an owning capitalist class, whose members have ownership of the various parts of the instruments of wealth production. This includes: The land, the factories, the railroads, the mines, and steamships, etc., upon which the whole of the people are dependent for their existence. A working class, whose members possess nothing but their labor power, which is useless to the worker unless he can have access to the raw material and the machinery...
Read more »
The Job
From the Sept-Oct 1949 issue of the Western Socialist To a worker, a job is almost a matter of life and death, for he is dependent on it for his daily wants – food, clothes and a place to sleep. If he cannot find a job, or is without one for any length of time his situation become desperate and it has occasionally happened that protracted unemployment has led to suicide. The alternatives the worker has to wage labor are few, if any, because the means by which he lives and propagates his species are owned and controlled by...
Read more »