his class. Such reasoning has the appearance of logic but fails to recognize the existence of such a thing as group psychology and is out of harmony with the practical experiences of the Russian Bolshevik Party from which the extreme groups of American Socialists profess to have copied their tactics. Be it remembered that the program of that party is fundamentally sound although it had a suggestion of opportunism when it adjusted itself to the immediate needs of the Russian proletariat composed of peasants and workers. Land to the peasants and bread and peace to the people are the ultimate aims of Socialism, but in order to gain power Lenin had to give it an immediate application regardless of all else and thus secure the adhesion of the masses to his policies. In order to accomplish world revolution the Bolshe viki have not hesitated to encouch in their platform statements that are calculated to attract and gain for them the support of all the oppressed peoples of the world. They have made the declaration that they are willing to extend the principle of self-determination to even the toiling 'masses of Africa, Asia and all the colonies'; they have gone further and encouraged the nationalistic ambitions of Ireland, India, and Egypt. Afghan emissaries are reported to have secured aid from Lenin for the purpose of recovering from England territory stolen in former years. Lenin, himself, has justified his employment of highly paid capitalistic experts, the signing of the Brest-Litovsk treaty with imperial Germany and his treating with French monarchist officers on the ground that the international social revolution is a species of warfare and temporary alliance must be made in order to secure ultimate victory for the proletariat. All of this proves the willingness of Lenin to adjust his tactics to existing conditions provided there is no sacrifice of principle involved. He is perfectly willing to use one enemy for the weakening of another with the deliberate intention of subsequently destroying this present ally, if capitalistic. In this respect Lenin reveals himself as a master strategist who is willing to adopt the tactics of the capitalists who do not scruple to use one race against another for the purpose of breaking a strike or suppressing incipient revolts. He uses realities, not theories to cope with the facts of a given situation. He, however, does not make the mistake of alienating from or failing to secure to his cause the friendship of those who by virtue of class affiliations are his logical adherents. To this end he stresses the needs of the poorest peasants and the industrial workers, and cements their loyalty by placing them in the first class in the scheme of rationing. Since it is the avowed object of the Left Wing to establish Socialism through the medium of a dictatorship of the proletariat, how can they expect to accomplish it with a large portion of the American proletariat untouched by revolutionary propaganda? "Let the hypothesis of the Left Wing domination of the Socialist party be further pursued. Having captured the party machinery the Left Wing discards all old literature and prepares new and more revolutionary material. It is spread over the country broadcast. Negroes and white people receive it alike. The former, because of radical discrimination, against them, attend no revolutionary mass meetings, do not come in contact with class-conscious workers, and are emotionally religious and intensely race conscious. They attend Lyceums and Forums connected with their churches, read their weekly racial newspapers and listen to lectures, besides reading the usual capitalistic daily, weekly and monthly trash. From all of these sources directly and indirectly controlled by the plutocracy they are poisoned against radicalism and abjured to fight it as the enemy of their most valuable possessions - the Constitution. which secures to them the modicum of freedom they enjoy; their churches which are their social centers and the source of their spiritual exaltation and the other things that are to them sacred. Every subtle device would be exhausted to counteract radical propaganda, and with success. "On the other hand, let it be supposed that the propaganda among the whites makes headway and the workers of the great Northern, Eastern and Western industrial centers reinforced by a few converts in the South, including agricultural workers, prepare for the day when the expropriators are to be expropriated. All radical groups submerge their difference and unite. A working arrangement is effected between the American Federation of Labor and the Industrial Workers of the World, and with the Left Wing in control, a general strike is planned. Of course, it must not be forgotten that among the whites considerable numbers of the working class would be unaffected and would join the ranks of the bourgeoisie out of a perverted sense of patriotism. This would be particularly true of the South where the doctrine of State rights is a fetish even among the most ignorant and where new ideas on social and economic questions are resisted with intolerant fanaticism. It must also be remembered that the masters, unlike the working class, are very practical and ignore no factor that can be converted into a source of strength by making minor concessions. Being in control, the plutocracy would be in a position to make concessions to distinct radical or other groups so as to seduce them from working-class ranks. Informed by their spies in the ranks of militant labor of what is brewing, the capitalists would begin beforehand to mobilize their strength. And this is now being done with the negro. Witness the calling of a National Conference on Lynching immediately after the Union League Club discovered that Bolshevist propaganda was making headway among New York negroes, and Charles Evans Hughes, exRepublican candidate for the presidency, a member of this club, making a radical speech against a practice which by silence he condoned for years before! Witness the plea of certain big capitalists to the dominant interests in New York to be a little more considerate to the negro in matters of employment and their rights. Witness the attitude of Samuel Gompers, member of the Civic Federation and president of the American Federation of Labor, the little brother of Big Business and in close touch with President Wilson and other political leaders, at the last convention of his organization held at Buffalo, for the first time openly inviting negroes into the ranks of organized labor, although, no doubt, fully cognizant of the racially discriminatory constitutions of many labor bodies. These concessions and many others are straws that show the direction of the wind. "The scene for the general strike is set. Enthusiastic leaders fondly believe that this mass action will be transformed into mass movement and lay their plans accordingly. The strike is declared, but the plutocracy already anticipating every move on the part of the proletariat declares martial law, quickly mobilizes thousands of negroes and uses them as slave drivers to compel unwilling white working men to return to the shops, mines and farms. "In Germany Noske pays his soldiers $2.50 a day. What is to prevent any other government from doing likewise? Chaos reigns for awhile but the plutocracy soon lets loose its unknown trump cards. Negro aspirations are played upon and their just human grievances are diverted so as to make them play the part that the Czecho-Slovaks played in Russia. Working men armed with nothing more formidable than propaganda, promises and revolutionary zeal are beaten to their knees and their leaders seized and quickly executed. With their leaders dead or in jail the workers become panic stricken as the White Terror employs black workers who are not class conscious to render the mass movement one of mass murder. Thus would perish some of earth's noblest in an abortive attempt to institute a dictatorship of the proletariat. Thus because of tactical error one set of workers will have brought defeat to their fellow-workers. "The point stressed in the foregoing imaginative pictures is that failure to make negroes class conscious is the greatest potential menace to the establishment of Socialism in America whether by means of the ballot or through a dictatorship of the proletariat, and in this must all Socialists and radicals, whether Right or Left Wingers, see their danger. For the sake of their cause, if not for the sake of negro workers, must they confront this problem squarely and firmly. How can the disaster portrayed be escaped, is the task of this booklet to point out. In the first place danger must not be ignored by a gesture or met by a theory. It must be removed. To do this it is necessary for American radicals to do the following: "First. They must unequivocally condemn all forms of injustice practiced against negroes and encouch same in their declarations of principles and platforms, and Socialist officials and legislators must embrace every opportunity to make public denouncements of lynchings, etc. "Second. They must give the negro more prominence in their discussions whether by speech or in their publications relative to injustices done in America. "Third. They must seek to attract negroes to their meetings and to induce them to become members of their organizations. |