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 UC-NRLF 
 
 ELfl 
 
GIFT OF 
 
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 Why I am a Socialist" 
 
 EUGENE V. DEBS 
 
 By Ten Los Angeles Y. P. S. L. Members 
 and FRED D. WARREN 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 
"Why I Am A Socialist" 
 
 WE STAND FOR EVERYTHING WHICH UPLIFTS, 
 AND AGAINST EVERYTHING WHICH DEGRADES. 
 
 Y. P. S. L. 
 
 We dedicate this book to those who toil, 
 
 Whose lives are given in the marts of men 
 
 To children working in the reeking mine 
 
 To sweatshop women, pent in fetid air. 
 
 These thoughts we scatter broadcast to the world 
 
 And ask they be considered, see with us 
 
 And build the glory of a Better Day. 
 
 The Authors. 
 
 Edited and Published by 
 S. S. Hahn 
 Will L. Pollard 
 
 .Los Angeles, Cal. 
 Sept. 6, 1913. 
 
 Copyright applied for. 
 

 "BROTHERLY LOVE" 
 
 By Eugene V. Debs. 
 
 Precisely! "Our interests are one," exclaimed the 
 fox, after devouring the goose. "Same here," ans- 
 wered the hawk, with the feathers of the dove still 
 clinging to his beak. "I'm with you," chipped the 
 shark; and "I congratulate you upon your wise politi- 
 cal economy," was the amen of the lion as the lamb's 
 tail disappeared down the red lane. 
 
 WHY I AM A SOCIALIST. 
 
 Every age has its problems. Beneath the calm ex- 
 terior of any epoch there is a great commotion ; the 
 forces of progression and retrogression are in con- 
 stant deadlock, and from- this strife there arises the 
 principles of the civilization that is to be. Progres- 
 sion always conquers; the principle which does not 
 expand and grow to meet the ever-changing demands 
 of our race is soon cast aside, and the more liberal 
 policy adopted by 
 the world. Evolu- 
 tion is the potent 
 factor of civilization 
 and race develop- 
 m e n t. Evolution 
 has changed man 
 from an organism 
 to a conscious be- 
 ing; has developed 
 society from barbar- 
 ism to civilization ; 
 and is destined to 
 change the atrocious 
 economic system of 
 
 ours to a sarje or- 
 der. 
 
 If the above prin- 
 ciples are recagmz'eoT ; : 
 
 Wlr : L. POLLARD, 
 
 Editor Y. P. S. L. News 
 State Organizer 
 
 as being fundamentally' "true; 'and' there seems to be 
 
no question as to their truth, any political or eco- 
 nomic movement which bases its ideas on progres- 
 sion, and the concrete precepts of evolution, must, of 
 a necessity, appeal to the logical temperament of the 
 thinking individual. Socialism is essentially progres- 
 sive, it bases its entire program on evolution, and is 
 scientific; therefore, I am a Socialist because I would 
 be logical. 
 
 My life has been spent in study. The pages of the 
 world's history have ever been open before me, and 
 in the quiet of solitude I have traced the develop- 
 ment of mankind. It is said that history repeats itself, 
 and bearing out this axiom I found that great empires 
 developed, only to be absorbed by more powerful 
 empires. I found that great phases of the world's 
 history evolved into, and were swallowed up by still 
 greater phases of civilization. Thus I saw that evo- 
 lution controlled man and controlled empires. I 
 found that the radical ideas of one age were destined 
 to be the ruling ideas of the succeeding age, and I 
 recognized the power of evolution in the development 
 of governments as well as in the devleopment of man, 
 thus I learned of economic determinism. I saw that 
 all society was governed by this great force, that its 
 entire tendency was for the betterment of the world, 
 and I realized that when man recognized its influence, 
 and worked in conjunction with it, that he was des- 
 tined to succeed. I found that the tenets of Socialism 
 were maintained by this determinism, and as I wished 
 to battle for a cause which would aid humanity, I be-' 
 came a Socialist. 
 
 In this study of the world's history I found that 
 through all time man has been enslaved by man. 
 That society has sanctioned this enslavement, and 
 my spirit revolted against society. In. my revolt I 
 found that the Socialist program recognized this en- 
 slavement as an evil ; that it further pointed out the 
 cause for the existence of slavery, and showed how 
 this great evil of mankind could be abolished. The 
 teachings of Socialism showed that the present-day 
 civilization divides the people of the world into 
 classes, and that a man must work in harmony with 
 
 28S977 
 
his class or die. I became class conscious, and recog- 
 nizing Socialism as the interpreter of my class inter- 
 ests, I adopted its principles. Thus, because it was 
 opportune that I, a worker, should do so, I became a 
 Socialist. 
 
 But Socialism did more than point out the existence 
 of slavery, and its result, the class struggle. It gave 
 the reason why the thing existed, and offered to the 
 world the remedy of the logician. Socialism said : 
 slavery exists because man may profit from the physi- 
 cal or mental energy of his fellow man, and it showed 
 that this great profit came in the way of unearned in- 
 crement, surplus value. It further showed that sur- 
 plus value was divided into three parts, rent, inter- 
 est, and profit, and explained how each of these parts 
 caused misery for one class of society, the pro- 
 ducers, and created luxury for the other class, the 
 owners. Socialism demands that surplus value be 
 abolished, and that the producer be given the full 
 value of his toil. In this way, and only in this way, 
 can society be purged of slavery and the class truggle. 
 I am a humanitarian. The thought of slavery is ab- 
 horrent, and my efforts shall ever be exerted in the 
 movement which points out the way in which this 
 great evil may be driven from our earth. Socialism 
 offers the only solution of the problem, therefore it is 
 natural that I declare myself in favor of the principles 
 of Socialism. 
 
 I learned many things in my study of social ques- 
 'tions. I learned that war, disease, poverty, misery, 
 child slavery, prostitution, and starvation were out- 
 growths of the present ruling system, were all trace- 
 able to surplus value, and that Socialism was the only 
 remedy for these conditions which struck at the root 
 of the evil, surplus value. These great blots on the 
 civilization of our age I wished to see erased, and 
 since I found but one method which offered a logical 
 way in which this could be accomplished, I became a 
 Socialist. 
 
 WHY I AM A SOCIALIST. 
 
 When a patient consults a physician, it is first ascer- 
 
 4 
 
tained if the patient is really sick. Then the physi- 
 cian looks for the cause of the illness. Having found 
 the cause, he is in a position to prescribe a remedy. 
 Thus, in examining the condition of the social body, 
 it is first necessary to learn whether or not there is 
 anything wrong; next, to learn the cause for such 
 condition; and then, to consider a remedy. 
 
 Every person of 
 ordinary intelligence 
 will admit that there 
 is considerable room 
 for improvement in 
 the health of modern 
 society. Crime and 
 corruption are ever 
 on the increase ; food 
 is rotting in the 
 fields and ware- 
 houses, while human 
 beings are starving; 
 shelves and show 
 windows are filled 
 with clothing, while 
 millions go in rags ; 
 human beings are HYMAN LEVIN :"". 
 
 denied a plac'e to lay, . Ex-Chairman 
 
 their heads, while the world affords an abundance of 
 shelter; children are being ground into dollars, while 
 grown men, ready and able to work, starve for lack of 
 an opportunity to earn a crust of bread ; idlers living 
 in luxury, while the toilers are destitute; excessive 
 wealth on the one hand producing degenerates, and 
 excessive poverty on the other hand producing like re- 
 sults. These, and a thousand other symptoms, readily 
 demonstrate that there is something radically wrong 
 with our so-called civilization, and that modern so- 
 ciety is really sick. 
 
 Having ascertained that there is a disease, the next 
 step is to discover the cause. If you will diagnose the 
 condition of modern society, you will find that the 
 cause of a vast portion of present-day evils lies in the 
 capitalistic system, with its corner-stones of rent, in- 
 
terest and profit. Officials are corrupted to fill the 
 coffers of corporations with profits ; clothing is denied 
 the naked, because they cannot satisfy the demand 
 for profit, either for lack of an opportunity to earn 
 anything, or because they are robbed of what they 
 do earn. Food is destroyed to boost prices and in- 
 crease profits; shelter is denied the lowly because 
 they cannot pay the rent which goes to fill the coffers 
 of the plutocrats; children take the places of men and 
 women as their labor is the more profitable ; and the 
 workers' lives are sacrificed to satisfy the whims and 
 desires of the shirkers all this injustice is accom- 
 plished through means of the triplets, rent, interest 
 and profit. 
 
 But the patient is not content with being told that 
 he is sick, and being informed of the cause of his 
 illness. What he wants is a remedy. It is no help to 
 a drowning man to watch him sink and tell him he is 
 sinking because he cannot swim. What he needs is 
 a life line. And in analyzing the condition of the 
 body politic, it should be our endeavor to suggest a 
 remedy for such undesirable conditions as may be 
 encountered. 
 
 If, as we have seen, rent, interest and profit are the 
 principal causes of the disease, the first step would 
 be to eradicate these evils,, just as you would crush 
 a parasite that was sucking your blood. Having 
 abolished rent, interest and profit, those human para- 
 sites who exploit the energy of their fellow men 
 through these processes, will have to eat bread in 
 the sweat of their own brow. All would be producers. 
 With modern machinery and methods, the ability of 
 the human race to produce all that is needed to supply 
 the comforts and necessities of life is beyond question. 
 The problem of production is solved. 
 
 The problem of distribution is yet to be solved. 
 When all become workers, this will become simple. 
 The logical solution would be for each to receive the 
 full social value of his efforts. Everyone would want 
 what he produced. Who could ask for more? Who 
 could affirm the justice of less? 
 
 Such, in brief, is the meaning and object of Social- 
 
ism, a sane and simple solution for modern economic 
 difficulties. The philosophy of Socialism diagnoses 
 the eveils of our present capitalistic system, shows the 
 causes of such evils and points the way to a more 
 just, healthier, happier society, where all human be- 
 ings may live and prosper in peace and plenty. Such 
 a movement is worthy of the support of every think- 
 ing, justice-loving man and woman. That is why I 
 am a Socialist. That is why YOU should be a 
 Socialist. 
 
 WHY I AM A SOCIALIST. 
 
 It has been said that some people are born So- 
 cialists, some acquire Socialism, and others have 
 Socialism thrust upon them. 
 
 I cannot analyze my own case, but I know it was 
 not thrust upon me. 
 It was not preached 
 to me at home, nor 
 have strenuous eco- 
 nomic straits driven 
 me to it. Neither did 
 I wade through vol- 
 umes of books on 
 economics to acquire 
 it. Most of my read- 
 ing along this line 
 has been done since 
 I was attracted to 
 Socialism. 
 
 I am a Socialist 
 because my ordinary 
 every-day conscience 
 tells me that a sys- 
 tem which compels 
 the worker to sell 
 the greater portion 
 of his waking hours 
 to any individual, or 
 
 i n d i v i d u a Is, is BERTHA L. MARTIN,' 
 
 wrong. It tells me Dramatic Manager 
 
 that such a system State Organizer 
 
does not differ, essentially, from slavery; that he who 
 owns the means of life owns the life. 
 
 The idea that a person who has spent several years, 
 perhaps, in mastering a trade, in order to become 
 a good producer, must go to the individual who owns 
 the land or the machine and beg for an opportunity 
 to produce, appears to me an absurd indignity. That 
 the employer should retain two-thirds of the product, 
 as compensation for his "superior intelligence," and 
 pay the remaining one-third to the worker, in my mind 
 cannot be termed "justice." 
 
 The improvement in the machinery of production 
 has failed to bring with it an improvement in the 
 condition of the working class. Modern machinery 
 calls for the employment of young, energetic men and 
 women. Since the worker receives no more than 
 enough to keep body and soul together, he cannot lay 
 up money to keep him when the capitalist is through 
 with him. The question of old age is therefore one 
 of terror to the worker, and it seems to me that a 
 system which fails to provide for this contingency is 
 wholly inadequate. 
 
 Under this system the children of the working class 
 are deprived of the opportunity to secure an educa- 
 tion. Many people think that, because we have public 
 schools there is no excuse for failure to avail oneself 
 of a common school education. How thoughtful ! 
 
 Local observation in regard to young people leaving 
 school to go to work, leads me to wonder hpw many 
 throughout the country have found such a step 
 necessary. 
 
 According to the census of 1910, more than 2,000,- 
 000 children, between the ages of 10 and 15 years, 
 found it necessary to forego the advantages of a com- 
 mon school education, to go into the factories to 
 earn their daily bread and help support the family. 
 
 The last available statistics show that the esti- 
 mated number of children in the United States was 
 24,239,820. The total number enrolled in public 
 graded and high schools, was 17,506,170. Of this 
 number, not more than 870,000 were in the high 
 schools. 
 
 8 
 
Statistics compiled in 1908 showed that not more 
 than one-third of the children who enter elementary 
 schools ever finish them, and not more than one-half 
 go beyond the fifth grade. Only about one-third 
 of the small per cent who enter the high schools 
 remain beyond the second year, and only one-sixth 
 graduate. 
 
 Can you account for the ignorance among the 
 poorer classes? 
 
 The inequality of opportunity in the economic 
 sphere hinders the intellectual advance of the working 
 class, and keeps them in subjection. 
 
 This condition, of course, is not new. It was a 
 similar proposition against which our fathers fought 
 in the American Revolution. 
 
 In this connection, Lincoln said: 
 
 "Most governments have been based, practically, 
 on a denial of the equal rights of man. Ours began 
 by affirming these rights. They said, 'Some men are 
 too ignorant and vicious to share in government/ 
 'Possibly so/ said we, 'and by your system you would 
 always keep them ignorant and vicious. We propose 
 to give all a chance ; and we expect the weak to grow 
 stronger, the ignorant wiser and happier and better 
 together/ ' 
 
 The system of government should be made to har- 
 monize with the new industrial conditions. 
 
 That much musical and artistic talent is crushed 
 and suppressed by the capitalist system cannot be 
 doubted. Capitalism offers no encouragement to the 
 development of the higher arts among the common 
 people, and it is noticeable that the class whose chief 
 ability lies in the accumulation of wealth supplies very 
 little artistic genius. 
 
 Every-day events preach the doctrine -of Socialism. 
 For instance, such a news item as the following is 
 by no means uncommon : 
 
 "Mrs. - - delights Newport society with Novelty 
 Monkey Dinner. Event Outshines Anything Recently 
 Witnessed. $40,000 Expended. Two Genuine African 
 Monkeys Guests of Honor, etc., etc/' 
 
 On the same page you may read of the girls in a 
 
shirt-waist factory striking for a raise in wages to 
 $6 a week. 
 
 Socialism proposes to abilish extreme poverty and 
 extreme wealth, the cause of nine-tenths of the crime, 
 white-slavery, robbery, suicide, with which So- 
 ciety is cursed. It seems perfectly reasonable that 
 under a just system, crime would be reduced to a 
 minimum. 
 
 Socialism proposes a system of co-operation in place 
 of individualism and competition. It proposes that 
 the producer shall also be the owner. It proposes that 
 the system shall be so re-adjusted that all may have 
 an opportunity to work and receive the full social 
 value of their product ; that every child may receive 
 the best education that society can provide, and enjoy 
 the influence of a decent home life. 
 
 By the elimination of waste labor, it proposes to 
 shorten the hours of toil so that the masses may have 
 opportunity for intellectual and spiritual develop- 
 ment. 
 
 I am a Socialist because the Socialist Army is hope- 
 ful, sincere, determined. It has declared war against 
 the profit system, and its activities will never cease 
 until the last vestige of the despised thing shall be 
 eliminated from the face of the earth! 
 
 WHY I AM A SOCIALIST. 
 
 This is the age when Socialism is admittedly shak- 
 ing the old foundations of society the world over, and 
 penetrating our politics, science, art and literature; 
 therefore, it is not an act of supererogation to confess 
 that I am a Socialist. 
 
 Socialism is the aspiration and determination of the 
 producers to become masters of their own destiny; 
 it is the greatest issue of international character be- 
 fore the world today, and represents the next phase 
 of civilization. It is destined to supplant capitalism, 
 as capitalism took the place of feudalism that is why 
 I am a Socialist. 
 
 I am a Socialist because the fundamental principles 
 
 10 
 
of Socialism are characterized as politically demo- 
 cratic, as it aims to 
 give all citizens 
 equal political pow- 
 er, without regard to 
 sex (Socialists do 
 not designate the fe- 
 male sex as an ad- 
 dendum to an archa- 
 ic thorax), color, or 
 creed ; and demands 
 that all those things 
 upon which the life 
 of the people de- 
 pends, must be so- 
 cially owned and 
 democratically man- 
 aged, for the use of 
 the common good, 
 instead of for profit 
 of a class, thereby 
 caste and class may 
 be ended. 
 
 Industry, through the revolution worked by ma- 
 chinery, has become a socialized work; the invention 
 of machinery has effected a complete social change, 
 and political power and economic conditions must ad- 
 just themselves to this change. The twentieth cen- 
 tury will no doubt witness this change the culmina- 
 tion of capitalism, and the rise of Social Industrial 
 Democracy that is why I am a Socialist. 
 
 As a Socialist I indict the present system with the 
 highest crime conceivable, because of the fact, that 
 the multiplication of labor-saving machinery and im- 
 proved methods in industry, which cheapened the cost 
 of production ; and in spite of the continuous advance 
 of man's power to utilize the forces of nature, to the 
 extent that he is now able to surpass the production 
 of wealth of preceding centuries, the results of the 
 economic revolution has been almost wholly evil. The 
 hundredfold increase in wealth, sufficient to provide 
 food, clothing and shelter for our whole population, 
 
 11 
 
 S. S. HAHN, 
 
 State Organizer 
 
 Educational Manager 
 
has been distributed with such gross injustice that 
 thousands are starving daily. The share of the pro- 
 ducer grows ever less, while the prices of all the neces- 
 sities of life steadily increase; this causes life to become 
 a desperate battle for mere existence; and results in 
 poverty, not in an arid desert, but in a garden of 
 plenty. 
 
 It is evident that this problem is one of unequal 
 distribution, rather than of inadequate production ; 
 one class is becoming poorer and poorer ; another 
 class is becoming richer and richer; and disease and 
 crime increase in exact ratio with the concentration 
 of the wealth in the hands of the few. I say with the 
 poet : 
 
 "111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
 Where wealth accumulates and men decay." 
 
 However, the scientific Socialists do not arraign 
 individuals, nor contemplate the careers of the Mor- 
 gans with an impulse of wrath, but regard them as 
 incarnates of the system. Why berate those men who 
 have simply carried the present competitive system to 
 its logical conclusion? The all-absorbing question is, 
 shall a few people own the earth, or shall all the 
 people own it? Scientific Socialism condemns the 
 system, and proposes to sweep away the hideous ex- 
 tremes, misery side by side with wanton extravagance 
 and colossal wealth. Socialism will lift the poor out 
 of the economic mire of poverty, and the rich out of 
 the mire of luxury that is why I am a Socialist. 
 
 Socialism tends to add brilliancy to any brain, in- 
 stead of mutilating, and will alleviate all the unneces- 
 sary sorrow and agony in human life. 
 
 I am a Socialist because Socialism will not stimu- 
 late the incentive to steal ; will not exalt the money 
 grubber and starve poets ; will not commercialize and 
 degrade art ; will not break up the home and drive the 
 women to prostitution and the children into the fac- 
 tories. Socialism will establish equality of oppor- 
 tunity and will protect the good, the beautiful and true. 
 Under Socialism each producer will receive the full 
 product of his labor. 
 
 The Socialist party represents the political power 
 
 13 
 
of the producing class, and stands uncompromisingly 
 for the overthrow of the existing rotten system, and 
 the interest of that class is its vital principle. As a 
 member of the Socialist Party, I declare that the capi- 
 talist system has outgrown its historical functions, 
 and has become utterly incapable of meeting the prob- 
 lems now confronting society, and I resent with great 
 indignation such an unmitigated, greed-cursed, ugly, 
 slimy system. 
 
 It is not a question of changing the places of the 
 classes, but of destroying class rule once and for all ; 
 not craving supremacy for any faction of society, but 
 seeking to establish social paramoutcy through legis- 
 lative action that is why I am a Socialist. 
 
 With the elimination of class supremacy, Social- 
 ism will abolish devastating wars, by reason of amal- 
 gamating the various nations under the adopted RED 
 FLAG, the flag which appeals to the fraternal feeling, 
 the common humanity and the parental love of all 
 nations. This means, in the political sense, that the 
 black, white, yellow, pink and green producers are 
 alike, and all have blood of the same color that is 
 why I am a Socialist. 
 
 Socialism is an applied science. It is in itself only 
 another word for sociology; the science of the con- 
 stitution, phenomena and development of society, and 
 has for its end the elevation of the masses to a civic 
 dignity, and that, therefore, the principal care is for 
 moral and intellectual cultivation. 
 
 Socialism is coming with lightning rapidity; the 
 people are marching with ranks unbroken and a un- 
 animity of purpose which has grown steadily since the 
 overthrow of feudalism. The great majority of the 
 labor movement of the world is permeated with the 
 principles of Socialism ; men and women are advanc- 
 ing in a solid phalanx, and with ever increasing en- 
 thusiasm, to the conquest of economic and political 
 rights. They are approaching a stage of society in 
 which for the first time in the history of the world, 
 the producers shall rule and all shall be producers, 
 and thereby ruler and slave, poverty and crime, vice, 
 and the coining of children's blood into dividends, 
 
 14 
 
shall pass from the earth ; a society in which the na- 
 tion will own the means of production and distribu- 
 tion which will be operated co-operatively by the De- 
 mocracy. 
 
 I am a Socialist, and hail its philosophy because I 
 have profound faith in the ultimate realization of hu- 
 man brotherhood, and know of nothing better as a 
 means to an end, and as an uplift for humanity. In 
 place of armories, battleships, war, shirkers, classes 
 and races hostile to each other, Socialism will substi- 
 tute school houses, homes, peace, workers, and broth- 
 erhood respectively that is why I am a Socialist. 
 
 WHY I AM A SOCIALIST. 
 
 To be a Socialist is to be, first, a believer in Social- 
 ism, a contemplated state of society wherein compe- 
 tition must give way to co-operation, and second, to 
 be a builder in society. To tell why I am a believer 
 would be to tell what Socialism is, a long story, better 
 told by others. To be "a builder in society" is about 
 as clear as to say "a. builder in a city." It may mean 
 carpenter, mason, architect, painter or plumber. To 
 tell why I am a So- 
 cialist is to explain 
 why I am a "build- 
 er," what kind of a 
 builder, and what 1 
 hope to build. 
 
 When the build- 
 ings on a city square 
 become antiquated, 
 and no longer meet 
 the demands of the 
 community, they are 
 removed, brick by 
 brick and timber by 
 timber, to make way 
 for something new. 
 No beam is removed 
 until that which it 
 supports is first dis- 
 posed of. As a result, surrounding business is undis- 
 
 GORDON WHITNALL 
 Chairman 
 
turbed by dangerous collapses and unnecessary ob- 
 structions. 
 
 While the process of orderly destruction is going 
 on, plans are made, and sections constructed for the 
 building that is to take the place of the old. Fre- 
 quently provision is made for the future enlarging of 
 the new structure, and the foundation and equipments 
 are gauged accordingly. Everything possible is done 
 to provide for the present and future needs of the 
 building and its occupants. As the ground is cleared 
 the foundation is laid; the skeleton framework raised; 
 the fireproofing done; the partitions placed, and the 
 finishing completed. A new structure has risen from 
 the old, and no one has been inconvenienced during the 
 process. Gradually, as change follows change, a new 
 city is built, and no one can point to "The date the 
 change took place." Society changes its form in much 
 the same manner. 
 
 As the gradual substitution of old buildings by new 
 will eventually make a new town, so the consistent 
 replacing of old social institutions by new will, in 
 time, reconstruct society along Socialistic lines. A 
 certain amount of caution is required, however, lest 
 some "timber" be pried loose before the institutions it 
 supports are first removed. To overlook this may 
 result in damage to "other buildings" in which we 
 must "live" until the new is constructed. 
 
 As the old are removed, the more difficult task of 
 providing the new is before us. We must determine 
 wherein the old was deficient, and provide against this 
 deficiency in the new. We must look into the future 
 and build to meet the coming needs. We must build 
 so as not to interfere with neighboring structures, or 
 they with us. We must do collectively what individ- 
 uals do today. 
 
 In the backwoods, architecture plays a small part 
 in life. A sharp ax and a good eye meet all demands. 
 In the city it becomes more of a science as conges- 
 tion and other city problems arise. Social institu- 
 tions, likewise, become more pronounced and clearly 
 defined in the metropolis. It is, therefore, in the, city 
 that the greatest strides are .to be made. 
 
 16 
 
The important work in connection with the bring- 
 ing about of the co-operative commonwealth is to 
 clearly outline what changes are at. present desirable, 
 and to take advantage of every opportunity to make 
 them. It is necessary to build a section at a time, 
 bearing in mind always our complete structure. It 
 is not an easy task at best, and nothing but a common 
 understanding of the goal to be reached would make 
 it possible. Unity of purpose is essential. Method 
 of proceedure is a detail. Socialists have this unity 
 of purpose. I have my method of proceedure. I am 
 a Socialist, not because I "believe," but because I 
 want to DO, and with the co-operation of thousands 
 of others who want TO DO, there is much hope of 
 coming to some understanding of how to proceed in 
 order to make this earth of ours more fit to live on. 
 
 It is to co-operate with my kind in bringing about 
 the co-operative commonwealth, which we mutually 
 desire, that I pool my efforts with theirs in the organ- 
 ized effort for betterment of the world the Socialist 
 movement. 
 
 WHY I AM A SOCIALIST. 
 
 Why am I a Socialist? Ah, why! 
 
 Why 'does the grass grow? Why do the birds 
 sing? Why is the sea filled with eternal unrest? 
 
 Can you analyze the fragrance of the rose, the 
 mystery of love, the charm of exquisite music? 
 
 Then why do you ask me to analyze, to explain the 
 great passion of my soul? For that is what Socialism 
 is to me, the great passion of my soul ! My being 
 pulsates with it, my heart throbs with it, my soul has 
 been transfigured by it. It has awakened me to a new 
 life ! If it were taken from me I might continue to 
 exist, but I could no longer live. Only by working 
 for it can I find peace. 
 
 Do you think that I could be happy knowing the 
 misery and the tragedy of this system if I saw no 
 hope ahead, if it were not for Socialism? How I 
 detest this Capitalist System : a system which blights 
 love and crushes beauty, which grinds out the li 
 of millions of little children, which turns 
 
 17 
 
to ashes and their hearts to dust, and forces women 
 to sacrifice their all for bread. 
 
 When I think upon these things my soul grows sad, 
 and it is filled with an agony that grips me with 
 greater sorrow than the haunting melody of exquisite 
 
 Ruth Coward, Lecturer 
 
 music, or the remembrance of a love that is gone 
 forever. A dumb unuterable misery that almost 
 drives me mad. I could not bear it, I could not endure 
 it if it were not for the great hope that Socialism 
 
brings me. The hope of the New Day that shall 
 break in glorious beauty over the entire world, trans- 
 figuring it with light. 
 
 A few years ago my soul was very sad, for I was 
 not a Socialist at least I did not know that I was 
 a Socialist. And then, to the little inland village 
 where I lived came a stranger. His hair was frosted 
 by the snows of many winters, his heart was melolwed 
 by the sun of many summers. He brought to me 
 the great message of Socialism. It was through him 
 that I became a worker, however small, in the great 
 cause; a bearer, however humble, of the great mes- 
 sage. Words cannot express how I love and revere 
 this glorious comrade. I write his name with deep 
 reverence and love, Comrade R. A. Maynard, a man 
 among men, a soul among souls. He has been the 
 guiding star and the inspiration of hundreds of human 
 souls. 
 
 The light that he has shed upon my life has trans- 
 figured it with love, with a great race love, a love 
 for every soul that lives upon the earth. The world 
 is my field, socialism is my religion ; to work for it 
 is my joy, to carry its tidings to my fellow men, that 
 is my life ! 
 
 Life can yield me nothing dearer than the right 
 to work for the cause I love, for the cause that I know 
 is right. For the cause that shall emancipate all 
 humanity and make true happiness possible. It is 
 the only hope and the only salvation of the human 
 race. Through it alone can the sorrow and misery 
 of the present system be dispelled. It alone can 
 usher in the New Day. 
 
 And when the New Day has flooded the world with 
 its light, life will become a thing of beauty and a 
 joy. There shall be no poverty, overwork or un- 
 employment. No man shall eat bread in the sweat of 
 another's brow. Swords shall be beaten into plow- 
 shares. Peace shall reign, and plenty shall be upon 
 the earth. The material needs of man shall be sup- 
 plied, and the spiritual and intellectual needs as well. 
 Education shall be for all. Everyone will have leisure 
 for the joy and the beauty of life. Manhood shall 
 
 19 
 
be unbound, womanhood shall be exalted, childhood 
 shall be made free. A human race shall dwell upon 
 this earth as far superior to the race that now inhabit? 
 it as we are superior to the prehistoric cave men; 
 a human race pure, noble, free; a human race normal 
 and beautiful; a human race that shall be truly 
 HUMAN ! 
 
 'These things shall be A loftier race 
 Than e'er the world has known shall rise 
 With flower of freedom in their souls 
 And light of science in their eyes." 
 
 WHY I AM A SOCIALIST. 
 
 I am a Socialist because I am a human being; I 
 have eyes to see with, ears to hear with, and a heart 
 which feels for the suffering on every side of me. 
 There is a rebellion of my whole being against our 
 present capitalist system ; a system that is the cause 
 of all the suffering and injustice of the world today, 
 and because of this I am a Socialist. 
 
 It was as a boy of 
 14 that I first heard 
 the word Socialist or 
 Socialism mentioned, 
 and it was then that 
 I began to realize 
 the cause of all- the 
 poverty, misery and 
 crime which one sees 
 an\d hears on every 
 hand. My father 
 took me to a meet- 
 ing held in the Court 
 House at Prescott, 
 Arizona, in 1903. 
 The speaker was 
 Benjamine Wilson, 
 a brother of J. Stitt GEORGE E. REESLUND, 
 Wilson, ex-Mayor of Manager Athletic Department 
 Berkeley, Cal. I remember distinctly the impression 
 he made on my young mind ; his arguments were very 
 
 20 
 
plain and simple. One part of his speech that inn 
 pressed itself on my mind was this : there are two 
 classes in society today which are diametrically op- 
 posed to each other; the capitalist class and the work- 
 ing class. The capitalist class, owning the machinery 
 of production and distribution which the working 
 class must use to make a living. It is to the interest 
 of the capitalists to secure labor at as low a price, 
 and to work their laborers as many hours as possible, 
 and it is to the interest of the workers to secure as 
 large a price for their toil, and to work as few hours 
 as possible. Thus the interests of the two classes are 
 opposed, and as long as the present system lasts we 
 will have strikes, lockouts and blacklists with the usual 
 misery and strife acocmpanying. For instance, a man 
 builds a shoe factory, he installs machinery and has 
 everything complete, a nice large building fitted up 
 with the finest machinery will stand a hundred years, 
 but would be worthless without human labor to run 
 the machines, turning the raw product into the fin- 
 ished article. He did not build the factory for the 
 purpose of giving work to needy workers or to 
 supply shoes for needy people ; the factory was built 
 for the purpose of making a profit, and to make a 
 profit the owner must secure his laborers at less than 
 what they produce : for example, if a worker produces 
 12 pairs of shoes in a day he does not receive the 
 value of 12 shoes, but gets the value of say six shoes, 
 so as to leave a profit to the owner. This is true of 
 every private enterprise, and the worker receiving 
 wages equal to the value of six shoes, when he 
 actually produces to the value of 12 shoes, or what- 
 ever the commodity happens to be, can purchase only 
 the. value of 6 shoes, thus leaving a surplus to the 
 factory owner. 
 
 This surplus can be disposed of for' a time by the 
 non-producing class, and by shipping to the foreign 
 markets, but foreign markets are becoming scarcer, 
 and through the introduction of modern machinery 
 this surplus is getting larger. The warehouses 
 become full of surplus, and the industries are 
 forced to curtail production ; a portion, or perhaps 
 
 21 
 
I 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 1 
 
 s 
 d 
 
 CO 
 
the whole force is laid off. Immediately their pur- 
 chasing power is diminished to practically nothing. 
 The retailer is first to feel the effects, he cancels his 
 orders to the wholesalers, and they likewise cancel 
 orders to the factory; industrial stagnation sets in, 
 money is scarce, the banks, being compelled to meet 
 the demands of their idle depositors, are forced to the 
 wall this results in a panic. These panics are bound 
 to come at regular intervals, and as the wealth is con- 
 centrated more and more into the hands of a few, and 
 production is carried on with less waste energy and 
 more modern machinery is installed, these panics will 
 become more frequent. The only solution for this 
 problem of panics, with their consequent misery and 
 hardship, is the Socialist solution of collective own- 
 ership and democratic management of all the things 
 which the people depend on collectively, and the pri- 
 vate ownership of those things which they depend on 
 privately. Socialism, in my opinion, is the only sal- 
 vation for the toiling masses; if it were not for the 
 Socialist Party, and the Socialist Movement, the 
 Capitalist Class would become bolder and bolder; 
 legislation would be passed strengthening their hold 
 upon the workers, the military would soon supersede 
 the civil power, and an oligarchy of wealth would be 
 enthroned which would rule with an iron hand. The 
 picture painted by Jack London in his book "The Iron 
 Heel" would become a realty; the workers, driven 
 to desperation, would start a world-wide rebellion 
 which would wipe civilization from the earth. If the 
 rich but realized the outcome of their mad scramble 
 for wealth, they too would see that Socialism is the 
 only salvation for our present-day civilization, and 
 would help to bring the masses to an understanding of 
 the co-operative commonwealth. 
 
 WHY I AM A SOCIALIST. 
 
 The Socialist party offers the only practical and 
 efficient remedy for the present incompetent and 
 wasteful chaos; therefore I am a Socialist. Anyone, 
 
 23 
 
with the least intelligence can see the faults of the 
 present system of 
 government, but 
 the people who see 
 t h i fe incompetency 
 are divided into 
 many classes. There 
 are those who see 
 the evil, yet fail to 
 note its significance. 
 They are like the 
 person who is so 
 engrossed in his 
 thoughts, that 
 though his eyes see, 
 his mind compre- 
 hends nothing o f 
 what is happening 
 about him. Second- 
 ly, there are those 
 who see and under-- 
 stand, but say that 
 such conditions 
 have always been, 
 therefore they al- 
 ways will be. These 
 remind me ' of the 
 ignoramuses who sneer at every new invention, say- 
 ing, "I never saw anything like it, so I just know 
 it won't work." These people never progress, but 
 stick in the same rut as long as they live, ever sinking 
 deeper into the mire, and all the time trying to pull 
 others in with them. Thirdly, and lastly, there are 
 those people who see the oppression all around them 
 and immediately start looking for the causes, the ulti- 
 mate results and possible preventatives. Almost all 
 of this group, are in the Socialist Party. The rest 
 are on the way. They are progressives in the strictest 
 sense of the word. 
 
 There are several questions which seem inevitable 
 when one sees the striking contrasts in our boasted 
 land of the free, When one sees the hovels of the 
 
 MILDRED TRAVIS, 
 Librarian 
 
producer of wealth, and the veritable palaces of the 
 idler, is it not possible that he will ask himself the 
 question, "Is it just?" "How comes it, that the man 
 who works at the hardest kind of toil receives barely 
 enough to keep him alive, while the non-producer re- 
 ceives much more than he can possibly consume?"' 
 How can such questions be answered? It requires 
 investigation and clear thinking to ferret out the 
 cause, but when one finds it, everything can be 
 explained so simply that a child can understand it. 
 
 The doctrines of Socialism, and the manner in 
 which they have been accepted by the people, remind 
 me of Christianity and its progress. Socialism is, in 
 itself applied Christianity. It is the economic phil- 
 osophy of that greatest of martyrs, Christ. His fol- 
 lowers were first ridiculed, then persecuted, and finally 
 the religious part of their teachings accepted. Now, 
 the economic portion, Socialism, is in the stage of 
 persecution, and not many years hence will come the 
 great revolution, when man will break his chains and 
 gain his well-earned freedom. 
 
 The Socialist philosophy proposes an ideal system 
 of government. It has been Man's goal ever since the 
 first savage tribe was formed, and the fiercest man 
 made the chieftain. The members of the tribe united 
 their strength for protection from their common 
 enemy, the wild beasts. That was the first coopera- 
 tion. In the future, all peoples will be united for the 
 mutual welfare of the race. 
 
 Being somewhat of an idealist, and much addicted 
 to day-dreams, I have many times pictured, in my 
 mind's eye this future civilization. It is a beautiful 
 picture and if you will bear with me I shall endeavor 
 to give it to you. In the first place, everyone works. 
 As everyone works, no one labors more than three 
 or four hours per day, the time depending upon the 
 kind of work, the rest . of the time is devoted to 
 study, recreation and travel. All schools, universities 
 and colleges are free and accessible; therefore, every- 
 one is well educated. Travel is considered an essen- 
 tial part of very child's training. The very highest 
 value is placed on the fine arts, which soar ever higher 
 
 25 
 
and higher. Every home shows taste and individual- 
 ity in its construction, and even the factories are ex- 
 amples of beautiful architecture. All industries are 
 democratically owned and operated. Noise and dirt 
 .are absent. The huge smokestack has been discarded. 
 The never ceasing waves have been enslaved by Man, 
 and furnish power to drive his trains and his ships, 
 to plow his fields and run his mills, to light and heat 
 his home and cook his food. Even the solar rays 
 have been subjected and are utilized as power. 
 
 The realization of this dream is promised in the 
 Socialist philosophy, therefore, I am a Socialist. 
 
 WHY I AM A SOCIALIST. 
 
 In the history of the human race, there is not one 
 great discovery, achievement or invention which the 
 great mass of the people did not proclaim as impos- 
 sible. The person, or persons, carrying on the pio- 
 neer work were often abused and always called 
 dreamers. Columbus struggled for years before he 
 found anyone who would help him. Stevenson 
 and his locomotive were laughed at and jeered. 
 When Fulton was 
 steaming up the 
 Hudson people were 
 still saying that his 
 boat was impracti- 
 cal. 
 
 If you ask an ar- 
 chitect who is de- 
 signing a fourteen- 
 story building how 
 he knows that it will 
 stand, he will point 
 to one twelve stories 
 high and will say 
 that they are the 
 same, but allow- 
 ances have been 
 
 made for the extra NATHAN BUCHOLTZ 
 
 weight in the higher Local Organizer 
 
 26 
 
building. Ask the builder of a two-story building the 
 same question, and he will point to a shack across 
 the street and will say that the one is an improve- 
 ment upon the other. 
 
 Ask the Socialist how he knows that Socialism is 
 possible and he will trace the development of the 
 present system, and show that it is but a step to the 
 co-operative commonwealth. Socialism is not a fig- 
 ment from the brains of a Marx or an Engels ; it is a 
 system founded on evolution. The growth of the 
 human race can be traced through its various stages; 
 barbarism, feudalism and capitalism. If one had told 
 the feudal knight that the time would come when the 
 affairs of the nation would be managed by a popular 
 vote, he would have thought his informer a fit subject 
 for the insane asylum. 
 
 The change from one state to another has been 
 gradual. It is impossible to pick a certain day and 
 say that on this day barbarism ceased and feudalism 
 held full sway. 
 
 Evolution, change through growth, is slow, but 
 none the less sure. 
 
 Let us trace the development of capitalism to the 
 present day, and let us show that Socialism is the next 
 stage in human progress. 
 
 With the invention of the steam engine and labor- 
 saving machinery, the small individual producer and 
 tool owner was forced, either to combine with sev- 
 eral other producers and form a company, in order 
 to purchase machinery, or to work for these com- 
 panies on a wage scale. They who tried to compete 
 with their hand labor, were forced to give in; they 
 could not produce as cheaply as could the company 
 with its machinery. Machines became more complex 
 and costly, and in order to make them pay it was 
 necessary to centralize the industry and produce in 
 enormous quantities. These companies expanded and 
 formed corporations which built great plants, equip- 
 ping them with machinery which bewilders the brain. 
 With increased production competition was keen for a 
 while, then the managers and owners of these corpora- 
 tions began to see the folly of fighting one against the 
 
 27 
 
other, when it was so much easier to combine, and 
 thus control prices. This they did, and we have the 
 trust as a result. These enormous organizations, with 
 their large machinery can, and are, producing cheaper 
 than could any small factory. If one tries to compete 
 against them they sell goods for less than cost, until 
 the competitor consolidates with them, or is destroyed. 
 These are the conditions of affairs today. The trust 
 form of organization is perfect, but it is used to benefit 
 the few person who are in control. Nothing is cared 
 for the people whom they employ. They are consid- 
 ered a part of the machine, a machine whose work is 
 to produce dividends. Should a machine be invented 
 which would produce twice as much as the one it 
 displaces, will the workers who handle it receive twice 
 as much pay, or are their hours shortened proportion- 
 ately? No! Half the men are discharged, and per- 
 haps, if the machine is simplified, boys or girls are 
 employed. Thus, the machine, at the present time, 
 tends to become a curse instead of a blessing. 
 
 These industries are wholly managed by employees 
 men working on a salary basis. Any one having 
 enough money can invest in a corporation and draw 
 dividends. Thus a person may invest in a building 
 company and not know the difference between a bun- 
 galow and a dog's kennel. Rockefeller might die to- 
 morrow, but the Standard Oil Company would con- 
 tinue business in the same manner as at present. 
 
 The Socialist says that the trust has solved the 
 problem of production. The workers already man- 
 age these industries. Let us now own them and we 
 will have Socialism, since Socialism is Democratic 
 control and ownership of all things socially used. It 
 is not only practicable, but it is inevitable. It is the 
 next step of evolution. 
 
 Let us produce for use and not for profit. Those 
 who work should receive the full social value of what 
 they produce. If machinery increases production, the 
 hours of labor should be reduced; then, and only then, 
 will machinery be a blessing. 
 
 Under Socialism no man will be able to live off the 
 dividends produced by another's labor ; poverty will 
 
 28 
 
be abolished, and peace and happiness will reign upon 
 the earth. 
 
 WHY I AM A SOCIALIST. 
 
 The working class has been, is, and will be ex- 
 ploited as long as the present unjust and evil system 
 of society prevails. I, being a member of the working 
 class, have been, am, and will be exploited as long 
 as capitalism continues. Under the present system 
 Mammon is supreme. Conscience, virtue, mother- 
 hood, maidenhood, childhood, and sweet innocence 
 are sacrificed on the 
 altar of this omnipo- 
 tent God, and the 
 smoke of groaning 
 victims only serves 
 to sharpen his aug- 
 ust appetite. 
 
 Loud mouthed re- 
 formers, few earnest, 
 many selfish and 
 hypocritical, have 
 time without num- 
 ber endeavored to 
 wipe out crime, mis- 
 ery, degradation, and 
 the white slave traf- 
 fic, and the result is, 
 that this land of the 
 free and the home SIG SHAINMAN 
 
 of the brave, has overcrowded jails and brothel- 
 houses galore. The reformers are not successful be- 
 cause they do not strike at the root of crime, which 
 is a child of poverty, while poverty . is, in turn a 
 child of the present unequal system of production and 
 distribution. I claim that no murderer murders for 
 the joy he finds in killing, and that the robber has little 
 delight in his hazardous profession. We are all victims 
 of environment. The incentive to go wrong under this 
 system is ever before us, and if we refuse to fall the 
 whip of hunger is ever on our backs ; thus are created 
 the Jean Valjeans whom society so ardently perse- 
 
 29 
 
cutes through life. There is no reason why men, 
 women, and children should go hungry. Mother 
 Earth is bountiful. There is plenty of the necessaries 
 and comforts of life for every human being. 
 
 With the modern machines of production the peo- 
 ple can produce more than they can consume. The 
 only reason that poverty stalks in the land is because 
 we have not learned to keep the things we produce, 
 but turn them over to the parasite class, known as 
 the capitalist class, and styled by themselves as the 
 "better" element in society. I am ardently opposed 
 to a system where few live in luxury and debauchery 
 at the expense of the many; where the men who do 
 no useful work give monkey dinners and poodle dog 
 suppers, while we, the working class, the producers, 
 live in squalor. The few live in mansions, we live 
 in hovels. Our daughters are used by them as ser- 
 vants, and our sons as lackeys. Their dogs are taken 
 care of, but our children are forced, through economic 
 conditions, to roam the highways and by-ways in 
 search of a few pennies with which to buy bread. 
 They abuse us, insult us, mock us, and laugh us to 
 scorn in their subsidized press, while our children 
 gather in the harvest for them. They grow more arro- 
 gant, more powerful every day, and when we ask for 
 more bread they give us bullets. It is to change this 
 condition that I am a Socialist. 
 
 Our sons are filled with false patriotism, and are 
 fooled by Fourth of July oratory, or are forced, by 
 economic conditions, to become soldiers, sailors 
 and militiamen, and are taught the noble art of man- 
 slaughter; and when the workers strike, the masters 
 send out the sons of the workers and order 
 them to shoot, and shoot straight, at fathers, mothers, 
 sisters, and brothers. War is raging in this bourgeois 
 ridden world, and many are the fields of battle that are 
 strewn with the corpses of the working class, a feast 
 for the birds of prey. I am opposed to war and that 
 is why I am a Socialist. Socialism is a scientific edu- 
 cational movement which aims to do away with ex- 
 ploitation of man by man, through the mediums of 
 rent profit and interest. It aims to abolish exploita- 
 
tion, thereby abolishing poverty, tlir source of crime, 
 ignorance and misery. The white slave traffic will 
 only be solved when Socialism rules the world. This 
 is why I am a Socialist. Socialism will do away with 
 this vale of tears ; it will emancipate the wage slaves, 
 and will give every one the full social value of his toil. 
 War, misery, poverty, degradation, and prostitution 
 will be a thing of the past, under Socialism. Social- 
 ism will bring an era of peace and happiness, and so 
 I am a Socialist. 
 
 WHY I AM A SOCIALIST. 
 
 I became a Socialist shortly after I discovered that 
 there were a great many things in this world that 
 I wanted and could not get. I experienced my first 
 feelings of rebellion against things as they are, when 
 it became necessary for me to quit school that I might 
 earn a few dollars to 
 eke out the family in- 
 come. During my early 
 boyhood days I cher- 
 ished a burning ambi- 
 tion for an education. 
 I had dreams of going 
 away to college and 
 later, attending a uni- 
 versity. As the years 
 passed, and the struggle 
 for existence became 
 more terrible, this 
 dream of a university 
 education faded into a 
 dim memory. 
 At that time I was 
 very orthodox in my 
 religious and political 
 views and therefore I 
 was quite confident 
 that in some myste- 
 rious way God had or- 
 dained that this thing 
 
 FRED D. WARREN, 
 Editor Appeal to Reason 
 
 I wanted a college education should not come into 
 
 31 
 
my life. I pandered over this question until it began 
 to glimmer through my consciousness that there was 
 no good and valid reason why a boy should be denied 
 an education. All that was required was first the 
 determination on the part of the boy, and I had that 
 determination. College buildings were erected by 
 labor, and there was plenty of labor for that purpose. 
 School books were likewise made by labor, I knew 
 that there were plenty of labor to make books, and 
 teachers there were in countless numbers. 
 
 I then began to search for the cause of my inability 
 to realize my ambition. This led to a study of polit- 
 ical questions and industrial problems from a new 
 viewpoint. 
 
 About this time I met a miner, an Irishman, who 
 had seen the rough side of life in many a fierce strug- 
 gle, which had left their scars upon his body. His 
 mind, however, was keen and active. He took pains to 
 explain to me the workings of the industrial system. 
 
 'There is no reason, my boy/' he said to me: "Why 
 you should not go to college save this : For gen- 
 erations your ancestors produced wealth which they 
 did not get." 
 
 This was a new thought to me. My folks were not 
 wealthy in truth we had scarcely enough to provide 
 food and clothes and to pay the rent. Still, my father 
 and his father, and my mother's father and his father 
 before him, had all been hard workers. They had been 
 noted for their industry and thrift. 
 
 My investigation led to an understanding of how the 
 wage system operates. A man is paid $1.00 for producing 
 $2.00 worth of wealth. With his wage he buys the neces- 
 sities of life. I could see that under this arrangement he 
 could never buy all that he made. Then I understood the 
 game of capitalist robbery. From that time my evolution* 
 was rapid. I became a subscriber to the Appeal to Reason. 
 This cleared up many of the mysteries. I became enthusi- 
 astic in support of the Appeal so enthusiastic that I was 
 invited by Comrade Wayland to join the Appeal's staff. 
 
 For fifteen years I have been doing my best to put the 
 Appeal in the hands of those, who like me, know instinc- 
 tively that there is something radically wrong. They await 
 only the magic word of the Socialist agitator to start them 
 on the right track. 
 
 32 
 
Ten Cent: 
 
 Copy 
 
078 IS 
 
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