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GIFT OF 
 
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E FOUNDATION FOR THE 
 NEW PSYCHOLOGY 
 
 :planation of the existing class conflict 
 
 ETWEEN capital AND LABOR AND METHOD 
 OF ELIMINATING IT. 
 
 BY 
 
 BEN MEYERSON 
 
 10 Cents: SO for $3.25; 100 for $6.00, postpaid 
 
 8} 
 
 Copyright 1915 by 
 
 BEN MEYERSON 
 
 508>^ East Third Street 
 Lot Angeles, Cal. 
 
isnmsmiMkw^iatfs^viirwnEH 
 
"We are in need of a truer standard of values. So long 
 as we measure everything in terms of economic possession we 
 shall have conflict; such possession implies physical control 
 and this always invites physical conflict. Instead of measur- 
 ing values in terms of physical possession, we must measure 
 them in terms of service to life." 
 
 "This recognition of the truer standard of value purifies 
 our actions and takes the self-indulgent element out of them." 
 
 — Rev. E. Stanton Hodgin. 
 
 324133 
 
SOCIALIST LOGIC 
 
 "However much the state of things may have al- 
 tered during the last twenty-five years (or a century 
 for that matter), the general principles laid down in 
 this Manifesto are, on the whole, as correct today as 
 ever. Here and there some detail might be improved. 
 The practical application of the principles will depend, 
 as the manifesto itself states, everywhere and at all 
 times, on the historical conditions for the time being 
 existing." 
 
 "That proposition is : that in every historical epoch, 
 the prevailing mode of economic production and ex- 
 change, and the social organization necessarily fol- 
 lowing from it, form the basis upon which is built up, 
 and from which alone can be explained, the poHtical 
 and intellectual history of that epoch; that conse- 
 quently the whole history of mankind (since the dis- 
 solution of primitive tribal society, holding land in 
 common ownership) has been a history of class strug- 
 gles, contest between exploiting and exploited, ruling 
 and oppressed classes ; that the history of these class 
 struggles forms a series of evolution in which, now-a 
 days, a stage has been reached where the exploited 
 and oppressed class — the proletariat — cannot attain its 
 emancipation from the sway of the exploiting and rul- 
 ing class — the bourgeoisie (property owing class) — 
 without, at the same time, and once and for all, eman- 
 cipating society at large from all exploitation, oppres- 
 sion, class-distinctions and class-struggles." 
 
 — Communist Manifesto. 
 
PREAMBLE 
 
 Special reference must be made particularly to the 
 class-conscious workers for the benefit of the organi- 
 zation as well as for the benefit of the uninformed. It 
 must become the duty of every class-conscious man 
 and member of the organization to adopt means to 
 conduct the educational campaign in a strictly uniform 
 style. Meetings ought to be held under the banner of 
 the organization so as to let the public know who we 
 are. Speakers shall be under the control of the local 
 organization or under a board consisting of men that 
 are familiar with the fundamentals of the social prob- 
 lem in order to hold the speakers strictly to the subject 
 of industrial unionism so that the public shall know 
 what we want. In other words, we must do all to elim- 
 inate the mob spirit fostered by labor and political 
 fakers. It is familiar to every class-conscious man 
 that the constant assertions of these fakers and free- 
 lancers, "that the working class today are ready to 
 accept almost any remedy to make good." But we 
 know any remedy is no remedy, but is rather danger- 
 ous. There is but one remedy and that is as outlined, 
 Industrial Form of Organization, but the Education of 
 Industrial Unionism is prior to organization. 
 
 Our method of education must be of a quality that 
 people shall understand that as long as the masses are 
 held under the influence of professional politicians and 
 mercenary intellectuals so long will these miserable 
 conditions continue to be the order of the day. The 
 people must understand that to carry out things or 
 measures on a national scale there must be first a unit 
 of mind in purpose as well as in method to accomplish 
 
4 PREAMBLE 
 
 it. Once they begin to understand these two factors 
 they will also understand the purpose of (free lancers) 
 speakers representing no organization, as well as the 
 purpose of professional politicians and mercenary in- 
 tellectuals trying to distract the attention of the minds 
 of the people from the main points in question. As 
 a matter of fact, the economic condition of the pro- 
 fessional intellectuals of all shades depends upon the 
 ability to confuse and at the same time leave an im- 
 pression of hope on the minds of their audience that 
 something will soon be done to eliminate these condi- 
 tions. Millions of these are employed daily, each one 
 holding several sorts of measures or remedies that 
 have no other purpose but to confuse and to divide the 
 people. There is but one remedy which is the reduc- 
 tion of the workday to enable each one, man and 
 woman, that has to work for a living to get a job. All 
 methods have been tried and have failed. "Industrial 
 Unionism", that is the united action of the working 
 class, is all that is left to secure it. 
 
THE FOUNDATION FOR THE 
 NEW PSYCHOLOGY 
 
 The purpose of this pamphlet is to enable the en- 
 thusiasts of "Industrial Unionism" to conduct the 
 educational campaign for ''Industrial Unionism'* on a 
 solid foundation and in a more or less unified form. 
 
 The "Industrial Workers of the World" is by 
 nature an economic organization. 
 
 It follows that the dissemination of economics, or 
 at least the fundamentals of it, must be the chief con- 
 cern. We are often praised by well-meaning men and 
 women for our devotion to "principle", but criticised 
 for lack of intelligence. They base their contentions 
 on the ground of our small numbers ; whether they are 
 right or wrong is out of the question. 
 
 Indeed, the "class conscious worker" can wear 
 himself out discussing side issues. This, in a very 
 large degree, has been the misfortune of the average 
 member of the I. W. W., to allow himself to be 
 drowned with questions of side issues, such as moral, 
 religious, legal or political in character, and thereby 
 for a time unconsciously neglect and finally leave the 
 main issue side tracked. 
 
 We, the "Industrial Workers of the World," have 
 paid dearly for our lessons and therefore we know 
 why we are devoted to "principles''. 
 
 Can any well meaning man or woman, when under- 
 standing the fundamentals of Industrial Unionism, be 
 anything else but an I. W. W. ? 
 
 Indeed, more than once, have I been called "fan- 
 atic" by well meaning men and women comrades of 
 
 5 
 
6 THE FOUNDATION FOR 
 
 the Socialist Party as well as by fellow workers of my 
 own organization. Chiefly, because the position I take 
 IS, that the "Industrial Workers of the World'' is the 
 only organization as far as the "economic interests" of 
 the working class is concerned. 
 
 Am I a "fanatic", or are they in the dark, or lacking 
 in understanding of the fundamentals (the economics) 
 of the "Social Problem"? 
 
 I am not advancing another question or side issue ; 
 this pamphlet will talk for itself. 
 
 What I am trying to impress upon the minds of the 
 working class in general, and upon the enthusiasts for 
 "Industrial Unionism" in particular, is the supreme 
 necessity for the education of the working class upon 
 the economics, or at least the fundamentals of it, which 
 at the present time is the main function of the I. W. 
 W. In other words we must first of all enable the 
 working class to see for themselves that a "wage 
 worker" is a "commodity" and is subject to the fluctua- 
 tion of market prices, just like all other commodities. 
 
 With this necessary knowledge then, and then 
 alone, will the workers be enabled to build the indus- 
 trial organization, or the organization for the "New 
 Society" within the shell of the old, the rule of which 
 shall be, to compel "property" to serve "humanity" 
 instead of the rule of today, to compel "humanity'' to 
 serve "property". 
 
 The "Industrial Workers of the World" is an or- 
 ganization of the "wage working" class, an organiza- 
 tion in contradistinction to all existing organizations. 
 
 It is founded upon the basic principle of economic 
 class interests. 
 
 The preamble (or the declaration of principle) of 
 the Industrial Workers says : 
 
THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 7 
 
 "The working class and the employing class have 
 nothing in common." 
 
 Why have they nothing in common? Because of 
 their economic class conflicting interests! In other 
 words, because of the fact that the working class is 
 daily engaged in a struggle with the capitalist class for 
 the material condition for their daily existence. 
 
 Again says the preamble : 
 
 "It is the historic mission of the working class to 
 do away with capitalism. The army of production 
 must be organized not only for the every day struggle 
 with capitalism but also to carry on production when 
 capitalism shall have been overthrown." 
 
 Thus, we find the economic class character of the 
 workers within the present system of society in these 
 few words of the preamble : 
 
 "The army of production must be organized not 
 only to overthrow capitalism, but must also be organ- 
 ized for their 'everyday struggle' with 'capitalism' for 
 their daily existence." 
 
 Thus, the platform of the wage workers is : 
 
 "The class struggle !" 
 
 What is the "class struggle," and why is there a 
 class struggle? These are the principal points which 
 this pamphlet aims to explain. 
 
 If we shall ever have a sufficient number of men 
 and women with which to build up the organization to 
 accomplish the purpose in view, the working class 
 must first of all become enlightened upon the tenden- 
 cies of economic forces ; in other words : first, to enable 
 the workers to see the fact that a "wage worker'' once 
 is a "wage worker'' all the time; second, to enable 
 them to see that the "wage worker" is a commodity 
 subject to the fluctuation of "market prices" like that 
 of all other "commodities"; third, to enable them to 
 
8 THE FOUNDATION FOR 
 
 see why "commodities" are often sold at a price below 
 the cost of production, and the " wages'' or the price 
 of labor is oftentimes below the cost of commodities 
 of the most inferior quality of the workman's absolute 
 daily need. 
 
 Why is a "workman'' under this present system 
 (capitalism) a commodity? 
 
 Because he has to sell himself daily as a means of 
 livelihood, and because he does not receive the value 
 of his "labor product", but he receives oftentimes less 
 than the value of his "labor power". 
 
 "Commodities" of different kinds carry different 
 prices or values. 
 
 How is the price or value of a given "commodity'* 
 determined ? 
 
 Its value or price is determined by the quantity of 
 "laboring time" necessary for its production. 
 
 How then is the price or value of "time" measured 
 or determined? 
 
 This is the riddle every man and women must learn 
 to understand. 
 
 The theory of "value" ! 
 
 What is the meaning of this term "value" ? 
 
 The popular concept of it is that "value" means 
 the equal proportions of two commodities or properties. 
 Basing this theory upon the popular concept I shall 
 ask is a pound of copper the equivalent of a pound 
 of gold? Yes, in point of weight but not in point of 
 price or "value". 
 
 What then is the meaning of this term? 
 
 "Value" is the economic expression for equal pro- 
 portions of social substances contained in two com- 
 modities. 
 
 For instance if the price or value of a pound of 
 copper say, is $1.00 and the price of a pound of gold 
 
THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 9 
 
 is $50.00, or fifty pounds of copper is the value or the 
 equivalent of one pound of gold, how then are their 
 prices or values determined ? There must be some other 
 third thing which must be common to the copper and 
 gold, or common to all ''commodities" for that matter. 
 
 What then is that third thing that is common to all 
 commodities ? 
 
 "Laboring power !" 
 
 The monetary name for "labor" is "wages". 
 
 What the working man sells is "labor power'* and 
 what he receives is "wages". 
 
 The working man's daily "wages'' is not the 
 equivalent or the value resulting from his daily 
 "labor". Not so. His daily "wages" is the value or 
 the equivalent of the cost for the necessities consumed 
 to maintain his labor power. 
 
 The workman's daily "wages" or the value of his 
 daily necessities is quite different from the value re- 
 sulting from his daily labor. 
 
 The same as the food a horse wants and the time 
 it can carry its horseman are two distinct things. 
 
 However, the point is, that the term "value" is the 
 economic expression for "equivalent" or the equal 
 proportions of social substances (labor) contained in a 
 given number of commodities as, for an example, 
 twenty pounds of sugar, price $1.00 ; three pounds of 
 coffee, price, $1.00 ; and three pounds of butter, price, 
 $1.00; total, $3.00, the value or equivalent of a pair of 
 shoes the price of which is $3.00, the cost of which is 
 determined by the quantity of the laboring time neces- 
 sary for their production. 
 
 If, for instance, the production of a pair of shoes 
 would require a large quantity of laboring time, the 
 cost or price of them will be high ; on the other hand, 
 if the production of a pair of shoes will require a small 
 
10 THE FOUNDATION FOR 
 
 quantity of laboring time the cost or price of them will 
 be low. But what are high and low prices ? 
 
 We find commodities of the most inferior quality 
 that are comparatively low to some and very high and 
 even beyond the reach of others. What then is high 
 or low cost ? 
 
 We can determine nothing by simply fancying a 
 thermometer of high and low degrees, what we must 
 know is the division point between heat and cold, or 
 the boiling and freezing points. 
 
 Where is the line of demarcation of high and low 
 cost of living? 
 
 But the means of livelihood, "commodities", are 
 the products of labor. 
 
 Why then should the price or cost of any given 
 commodity be too high or beyond the reach of the pro- 
 ducing class (the workers) ? 
 
 If, for instance, the production of a pair of shoes 
 would require four days, the shoemaker would then 
 fix the price of his product in accordance with the 
 prices of his social requirement, the cost of it four 
 days. This was actually the case with the producing 
 class as long as they were the masters of the industrial 
 situation. 
 
 But all this has changed with the changes of the in- 
 struments of production today. In spite of the fact 
 of the low cost of production the prices of "com- 
 modities" (the means to life and comfort) are so high, 
 for millions they are beyond their reach. 
 
 Certain "commodities", call them what you will, 
 "luxuries' ' or "necessities", seventy-five per cent of 
 the aggregate are never enjoyed by the producers, (or 
 the working class). 
 
 Or better yet. Why is it, that commodities of the 
 most inferior quality are comparatively low to some 
 
THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 11 
 
 and high or beyond the reach of other workmen? 
 Does it not show something radically wrong? What 
 is that? Because the modern social order is a con- 
 tinuation of former systems of economics, the present 
 economic system of production and exchange of 
 products is in conflict with the modern or existing so- 
 cial order. 
 
 You may as well ask why cannot a pound of copper 
 exchange for a pound of gold on equal terms ? 
 
 Some "question" is it not? But for the same rea- 
 son these two commodities cannot exchange on equal 
 terms, because of the different quantities of laboring 
 power required for their production. The same prin- 
 ciple by which the value or price of commodities are 
 determined is applied to "wages", or the price for 
 "labor power". 
 
 The "commodity" the workman sells is "labor 
 power." 
 
 There is a peculiar feature about the commodity 
 "labor power'' which distinguishes it from all other 
 commodities, because of their extreme difference in 
 form. 
 
 Commodities proper exist in quantitative or physi- 
 cal form, but laboring power exists in pure qualitative 
 form. For instance, the labor of a diamond setter is 
 different from that of a baker, the laboring power of 
 both differs from that of a porter and cabinet maker, 
 the laboring power of these differs from that of a tailor 
 or engineer or architect. Therefore, as the cost of pro- 
 ducing laboring powers of different quality differs, so 
 must differ the values or prices for laboring power 
 employed in different trades. 
 
 Properly speaking there exists no such thing as 
 value in human labor. I simply point out the fact that 
 the price or value of "labor", upon the basis of the 
 
12 THE FOUNDATION FOR 
 
 wage (or capitalist) system, is settled by the cost of 
 its production like all other commodities. 
 
 For the fact has been amply shown that the price 
 or value of the commodity, or laboring power, is the 
 cost of their production. 
 
 If the respective quantity of laboring time neces- 
 sary for the production of the respective commodity 
 would remain constant, (or always the same), the cost 
 of the commodity or of labor would also remain con- 
 stant (or always the same), but such is not the case. 
 
 The cost of the commodity changes, with the 
 changes of the productivity in the instruments of pro- 
 duction. 
 
 For an example, if the shoemaker with the modern 
 instruments of production can finish one hundred 
 pairs of shoes in a given time, while the shoemaker 
 with the instruments of one hundred years ago could 
 only make one pair in the same time, it follows then 
 that the cost of shoes ought to be one hundred times 
 cheaper today than they were one hundred years ago. 
 But capitalists are not doing business this way. Be- 
 cause Mr. Jones has just now installed the latest im- 
 proved labor-saving machinery with 100% higher 
 productive capacity than the last year's machinery of 
 Mr. Johnson, is no indication that Mr. Jones will sell 
 his products 100% cheaper than does Mr. Johnson. 
 
 Mr. Jones may undersell Mr. Johnson, perhaps 
 with a 5% or 10% profit if he desires the bulk of Mr. 
 Johnson's trade. 
 
 That is competition and that is the way prices of 
 commodities are settled. The cost of production is 
 settled by the total quantity of laboring time required 
 for its production. But the prices of products are set- 
 tled on the field of competition between the owners 
 of the products. 
 
THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 13 
 
 Competition, aided by the constant development of 
 labor-saving machinery, has reduced the once econom- 
 ically independent producing class to the status of a de- 
 pendent ''Wage Slave". Indeed the worst form of 
 slavery. As a matter of truth the slave never did suffer 
 for the want of food, clothing and shelter or for some 
 kind of amusement. 
 
 But with the modern slave or the wage worker of 
 today, even commodities of the most inferior qualities 
 are beyond the reach of millions, the creators of all, 
 for the absolute daily need. 
 
 As to how far this condition of things may expand 
 no one can tell. This depends upon the working class 
 themselves. If they learn the importance of organizing 
 or monopolizing their labor power, the only funda- 
 mental factor of all wealth, they will get whatever 
 they demand. On the other hand we can say that this 
 condition of things will continue to expand in ever 
 larger dimensions. The following will prove the state- 
 ment: 
 
 The Los Angeles Times, June 6, 1915, commenting 
 editorially on the annual meeting of the National As- 
 sociation of Manufacturers in New York on May 8th, 
 says in part : 
 
 ''The committee on industrial betterment reported 
 on the legislative minimum wage and said, 'it must tend 
 strongly to become a maximum wage, because by its 
 operation' (That is by the operation of the highly de- 
 veloped labor saving machinery) 'the weaker indus- 
 tries will be destroyed and the less efficient workers be 
 deprived of employment.' In consequense of that, 
 'labor will be reduced toward a common plane of 
 efficiency and wages as measured in their power to pur- 
 chase commodities will be placed at a disadvantage*." 
 
14 THE FOUNDATION FOR 
 
 " 'A minimum wage law', said the committee', has 
 utterly failed wherever it has been tried because it has 
 endeavored to equalize things/ (What things ? Wages.) 
 'that are incapable of being equalized.' They say, 'You 
 may by law compel an employer to pay incompetent 
 John Smith as much wages as he pays to efficient Peter 
 Jones, but you cannot compel him to employ John 
 Smith'. 
 
 'These are not the words of Labor Haters ; but the 
 words of sober minded, and economically clear vision- 
 ary statements of the official representatives of the em- 
 ploying class." 
 
 Can it under this condition of things be any longer 
 denied that the economic interests of the workers are 
 in direct contradistinction to those of the employers? 
 
 We therefore say, Workers, individually on the 
 field of competition for the sale of your "Labor Pow- 
 er" you are lost. 
 
 As we can see in the statement of the above edi- 
 torial, 'Wages, as measured by their purchasing power 
 of commodities/' (the worker) "will be placed at the 
 disadvantage because of the operation of it." That 
 is, by the industrial operation with the latest improved 
 labor saving machinery which does not depend upon 
 the workman's technical or mechanical skill in in- 
 dustrial production, and because of that fact, "all forms 
 of laboring power" as the official representatives of 
 the employers Association says, "will be reduced to a 
 common plane of efficiency." That is, the laboring 
 power of man will be reduced to just the physical 
 element, (strength), or unskilled labor, the wages of 
 which are correspondent with the prices of the cost of 
 that quantum absolutely necessary for his momentary 
 consumption. 
 
THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 15 
 
 As to the defects of the people in connection 
 with their physical and mental health — this of 
 course can cause no economic depression as this is 
 only a mere medical problem. However, capitalism 
 can maintain itself with a short lived idiotic as well 
 as with a long lived idiotic working population. 
 
 In consequence of this condition as the result of 
 machine mode of production, which has already 
 reduced about 80% of the technical and mechanical 
 skill and is gradually reducing all forms of labor- 
 ing power to a common level of efficiency and also 
 to a common plane of economic conditions, there- 
 fore we, the I. W. W. say : 
 
 Workers of all institutions of employment, or- 
 ganize your labor in accordance with your industry 
 employed in a federated union of all industries or 
 institutions of employment. Thereby you have 
 monopolized your labor power (the only funda- 
 mental factor of all wealth) and by force of this 
 monopoly you can reduce the labor day to a point 
 of job and a living wage security. 
 
 We also say to the workers not to concern 
 themselves about the hypercritical question of in- 
 creased prices of commodities or the means to live. 
 
 The fact has been shown that the cost of com- 
 modities are determined by the quantity of laboring 
 time, or by th-e wages paid out for the cost of the 
 producers' consumption during the production of it. 
 
 The prices of "commodities'' are settled, as was 
 shown, "on the condition of competition" between 
 the owners of them. 
 
 "Profit" we say is just that difference between 
 the cost (or wages paid) for their production and 
 prices charged to consumer. 
 
16 THE FOUNDATION FOR 
 
 However we need not concern ourselves with 
 questions of prices, let the conflicting business par- 
 ties fight it out between themselves on the field of 
 conipetition. 
 
 No doubt some opposition will be met with 
 from various circles towards this attitude, based 
 upon the grounds of the economic pressure of the 
 middle classes, but what privilege have the middle 
 clases to feed and enjoy themselves on the misery 
 of the working class? Moreover their verdict has 
 already been spoken by the official representatives 
 of the employing class, the above mentioned edi- 
 torial quoting the ''industrial betterment" commit- 
 tee of the employers association in part, "the 
 weaker industries will be destroyed because of the 
 operation of it." 
 
 That is by the industrial operation with the lat- 
 est improved labor saving machinery, which by rea- 
 son of their financial weakness, the middle classes 
 are unable to meet, and therefore the material con- 
 ditions for their existence as a middle class stand 
 destroyed. 
 
 However, middle class or no middle class, labor 
 produces all wealth and is entitled to it. The Los 
 Angeles Tribune, June 12, 1915, says: 
 
 "According to the latest bulletin of the depart- 
 ment of commerce at Washington our national 
 wealth is officially estimated at $187,739,000,000, 
 which, divided by the population figures, makes 
 the aforesaid $1,965 per capita. 
 
 "In less than two-thirds of a century — from 1850 
 to 1912 — the total wealth of the nation, excluding 
 exempt real estate, increased from $7,136,000,000, or 
 $308 per capita, to $175,426,000,000, or $1,836 per 
 capita, the percentages of increase being 2,358 for 
 
THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 17 
 
 the total and 496 for the per capita amounts. In 
 other words, the wealth of the nation as a whole 
 is nearly twenty-five times as great as it was in 
 1850, while that of the individual is about six times 
 as great." 
 
 In spite of all this we find instead of an increase 
 in the general welfare a decrease. The reason for 
 that has amply been proved. Facing this actual 
 condition, is it then necessary to advance further 
 argument to prove the justification of our claim, 
 which we hold out to the working class? 
 
 "Organize or monopolize your labor power (the 
 only fundamental factor of wealth), reduce the 
 labor day to the point of a job and living wage 
 security." Thus, the organization of the working 
 class is the only process, not only to secure the 
 means for daily existence while capitalism lasts, 
 but it also is the preparation of the industrial or- 
 ganization to carry on production when capitalism 
 shall have been overthrown and give way to the 
 new order of things. 
 
 ''Industrial democracy" ! the rule of which is, to 
 compel property to serve humanity instead of com- 
 pelling humanity to serve property. In other 
 words, the social condition based upon "economic 
 equality," commonly called "Socialism". 
 
 Thus, the theoretical expression for practical 
 industrial unionism. First, the education of the 
 fundamental "industrial economics", to enable the 
 workers to see the absolute necessity and the im- 
 portance of a labor organization based upon 
 economic class interest. Secondly, with a certain 
 degree of this knowledge the workers are then en- 
 abled to build the organization in accord with the 
 industry employed in a federated union of all in- 
 
18 THE FOUNDATION FOR 
 
 dustries or institutions of employment in the be- 
 ginning, with the end in view to reduce the work 
 day to a point of job and living wage security. 
 And right here, because of the economic protection, 
 this "labor union" expands both physically and 
 mentally. 
 
 The success of the union does not depend on 
 their immediate gain, but on the expansion of their 
 union, as the union grows ever larger in the same 
 proportion as the membership of the union learns 
 the relations of the workers of one industry to those 
 of another, and will finally arrive at the economic 
 consciousness of the industrial relationship in con- 
 nection with society as a whole. 
 
 Organized, and economically conscious of their 
 social function, as the only important class in so- 
 ciety as producers, the workers without much ado 
 will become the share holders of their labor product 
 by simply serving notice to the officials of all in- 
 stitutions of employment that their responsibility 
 rests upon the officials of the union organization 
 chosen from the membership of the various in- 
 dustrial branches or departments instead of the 
 present method; the responsibility of the officials 
 of the industrial institutions resting upon the offi- 
 cials of the capitalistic share holders. 
 
 'Thus, the peaceful transformation of the old 
 economic life under the new form is established, 
 aided by the new organization within the shell of 
 the old. 
 
 An editorial in the Los Angeles Times, July 20, 
 1915, under the caption, 'The Folly of Socialism" 
 says: 
 
 "The inherent and incurable defect of socialism 
 is that it is based upon an assumption of equality 
 
THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 19 
 
 that does not exist. There is no system of human 
 laws that can efface the difference in men. Tt pro- 
 ceeds/ says Amos Fiske, 'on the theory that the 
 work of each is equally important in carrying on 
 industries and distributing their products, and that 
 each is, therefore, entitled to an equal share in the 
 proceeds.' The result of socialism would inevitably 
 be that the existing industrial system would go to 
 wreck unless the strong and capable immediately 
 united to rescue it and keep it going.'' 
 
 The attitude of this is rather in favor and not in 
 opposition to the socialist theory. It only points 
 out the follly of the political or socialist party 
 method of materializing it. 
 
 The point of inequality needs no mention, as this 
 has been amply proved, and that is just what we, 
 the I. W. W., are aiming to change, but, says the 
 writer : ''There is no system of human law that can 
 efface the difference in man." And this statement 
 is just as correct as the statement of the existing 
 inequality. If there is anything to the meaning of 
 "human law" it means the right to life, liberty and 
 the pursuit of happiness, but the condition for this 
 cannot be devised by the "human system of law". 
 This is derived from, the productive intelligence of 
 humanity. Productive or industrial intelligence has 
 already to a very large degree effaced or eliminated 
 the difference in man, not only in the industrial 
 sense but also in the social sense because of eco- 
 nomic conditions. It follows that the law of 
 economics has the power to efface the difference in 
 man. The editorial writer said, "on the theory of 
 equality the result of socialism would inevitably be 
 that the existing industrial system would go to 
 wreck unless the strong and capable immediately 
 
20 THE FOUNDATION FOR 
 
 united to resume it and keep it going/' Which 
 when written or spoken in every day English would 
 sound as follows: 
 
 If the socialists or rather the Socialist Party ever 
 attempt to transform the economic structure (in- 
 struments of production) on the condition of eco- 
 nomic equality based on universal industrial lia- 
 bility, by means of legislative methods the result 
 would be rebellion which will upset the whole eco- 
 nomic life as a result of the industrial disturbance 
 until the capitalists or the property owning class 
 come together and effect a compromise and resume 
 the old conditions of production when necessary un- 
 der a new form. This has been the outcome of all 
 past rebellions or general upheavals mistakingly 
 called "Revolution". 
 
 The leading politicians of the Socialist Party as 
 well as of all other political parties know that a 
 "revolution" means the complete change of the fun- 
 damentals upon which the social order is based. 
 Capitalism is based upon private property rights 
 and depends upon wage labor. Under these circum- 
 stances it is the laboring class alone that can effect 
 the change or the transformation of the economic 
 structure on the basis of economic equality or on 
 the condition of universal industrial liability. To 
 accomplish this, man must know what he wants, 
 and how to get it. Men must first know and then 
 organize in accordance with the industry employed 
 into a federated union of all institutions of employ- 
 ment ; to prevent the disruption of the economic life 
 they must hold the industrial institutions of produc- 
 tion intact. The industrial form of labor organiza- 
 tions is the only means to a peaceful transformation 
 of the existing social order because of the economic 
 
THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 21 
 
 force or stronghold in control of the labor organiza- 
 tions. It is the master class themselves who say, 
 "No system of human law can efface the difference 
 in man." That is why we, the I. W. W. (true Socia- 
 lists, not emblem worshippers) say, *'The army of 
 production must be organized not only for the every 
 day struggle with capitalism (for the daily exis- 
 tence) but must be organized to carry on produc- 
 tion when capitalism shall be over-thrown. 
 
 This is, to a degree, the fundamentals of indus- 
 trial unionism, or Socialism. Right here it will be 
 well to show the contrast in attitudes of mind be- 
 tween "Industrial Socialists'' and "Political Socia- 
 lists". 
 
 I shall quote statements made by Mr. Hillquit, 
 the intellectual giant and political backbone of the 
 Socialist Party, in an interview published in the 
 Illustrated Weekly of the Los Angeles Times for 
 July 17, 1915, covering almost two pages of social 
 and political eloquence. Mr. Hillquit said in part: 
 
 "As a matter of fact Socialists do abhor all 
 struggles between man and man — military struggle, 
 industrial struggle, all struggles of whatever kind. 
 The ideal of Socialist society is based upon co- 
 operative effort. 
 
 "It is not to be denied, but is emphatically to be 
 affirmed, that these are the ideals of Socialist 
 thought. 
 
 "But while affirming this, we must admit that 
 such a social state lies well beyond the present, in 
 the future. 
 
 "Socialists of today, living in the present order, 
 must conform to it. They have tried to change it, 
 and are changing it, but not yet is the change an 
 accomplished fact. 
 
22 THE FOUNDATION FOR 
 
 "An individual, whatever his ideals, must sub- 
 mit to the conditions of that environment from 
 which he cannot escape, although the worthy man, 
 whose ideals are better than those of his environ- 
 ment, will endeavor to change what should be 
 changed in his surroundings. 
 
 "But the worker must submit to the employer, 
 the citizen to the existing government, for the time 
 being, even though both be uniformed and un- 
 worthy, or mistaken. 
 
 "Thousands of American Socialists, annually 
 take part in strikes, for example, although strikes 
 are as far as warfare from the Socialist ideal. In- 
 deed, they literally are warfare, as are all class con- 
 tests in one sense or another; but the Socialists 
 must participate in them until the better order fully 
 comes. 
 
 "All that the war has proven, with regard to 
 Socialism, is that the national organization is a dis- 
 tinct unit which may come into conflict with other 
 similar units. 
 
 "And, just as the individual is forced to fight 
 individual, social and economic battles, a class or a 
 nation is bound to fight, sometimes, whatever the 
 social conceptions of its individuals may be. Are 
 not individuals within a nation sometimes obliged, 
 by economic pressure, to fight, not only as individ- 
 uals, but in groups? 
 
 "In other words the war really has produced 
 nothing new in Socialist thought.'' 
 
 This is not the position of the Political Socialist 
 alone, such can be seen to be the general attitude 
 of all professional intellectuals the world over, an 
 instance in point will prove it. 
 
 The Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1915, says: 
 
THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 23 
 
 "The Yorozu Choho of Tokio, commenting on 
 the probable results of the European war, affirms 
 that the conflict has exposed the weakness of Chris- 
 tian civilization and that the claim of superiority of 
 the white over the colored races has no strong 
 ground for support. It says that Christian pride 
 and prejudice are destined to lose their influence and 
 that Christ, Confucius and Mohammed will receive 
 the same degree of recognition everywhere. It 
 closes by saying that this is a tendency which de- 
 serves to be considered a step forward in realizing 
 the principle of universal brotherhood/' 
 
 Similar statements can be quoted from all the 
 various ideologists, social, religious, and political 
 cults. However they may differ in form of their 
 phraseology, they are the same in substance. 
 
 Mr. Hillquit says : *'The war has produced noth- 
 ing new in Socialist thought." We the Industrial 
 Socialists (the non-political and non-emblem wor- 
 shippers) deny the truth of it. Mr. Hillquit speaks 
 for political (emblem worshipper) Socialists. His 
 statement amounts to this, that the war has pro- 
 duced nothing new in the realm of political thought. 
 Socialists proper do not stand in the political but in 
 the industrial or economic arena. Socialism aims 
 at the new (or economic) freedom and the economic 
 organization is the agency for it, but political party ! 
 Even the Los Angeles Times says : 
 
 "It is all right to talk about the 'New Freedom*, 
 but politics is yet a game of addition, division and 
 silence. Only different hands at it, that's all." 
 
 Mr. Hillquit says:"All that the war has proved 
 is that the national organization is a distinct unit 
 which may come in conflict with other similar 
 units.'* Socialism denies the existence of "distinct na- 
 
24 THE FOUNDATION FOR 
 
 tional units." What Mr. Hillquit is fond of calling 
 "distinct national units/' really means distinct capitalist 
 groups, which are by force of economic circum- 
 stances bound to fight, sometimes individually be- 
 tween themselves or against their employers, but at 
 all times do we find these capitalist groups, (what 
 Mr. Hillquit calls National distinct units"), arrayed 
 against other capitalist groups (or similar units) 
 which is not only against the best interests of the 
 working class everywhere, but is against the best 
 interests of the human family as a whole. And the 
 cause of these conflicts or war is not because of Na- 
 tional animosities, but because of conflicting eco- 
 nomic interests between the various capitalist 
 groups as the result of the competitive system 
 which is the outgrowth of the capitalist mode of 
 production. 
 
 The Los Angeles Times for May 16, 1915, says: 
 'T take it that every sane person who reads the 
 Times realizes that nations do not go to war be- 
 cause they hate each other. They go to war be- 
 cause their commercial interests come in conflict. 
 The underlying cause of every modern war is com- 
 mercial competition. After this war, there is every 
 prospect, no matter which way it comes out, of in- 
 creased tensity of commercial competition owing to 
 the attempt that will be made by the United States 
 to capture the trade of the world. Altogether apart 
 from the bitterness that will be felt toward the 
 United States as a result of certain events of this 
 war, we will be looked upon as the most dangerous 
 commercial rival of whichever nation wins this 
 struggle. At the close of this war, the position of the 
 United States will be one of constant danger and 
 peril." 
 
THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 26 
 
 This much for Mr. Hillquit's "National or Dis- 
 tinct Units" that may sometimes be bound to fight 
 similar "units". "The workman", he says, "must 
 submit to the employer and the citizen to the exist- 
 ing government, even though both be uninformed 
 and unworthy or mistaken." 
 
 Can any politician demand any more? Or is it 
 not, practically speaking, all that the capitalists de- 
 mand? 
 
 Then in what regard does the Socialist politician 
 differ from the rest of them ? 
 
 Every true "Socialist" as well as every student 
 of economics knows that labor is a commodity and 
 is constantly decreasing in price or value as the re- 
 sult of the evolution of labor saving machinery. In- 
 deed, the machine mode of production has assumed 
 such dimensions that millions of men and women 
 can live only so long as they can sell their labor and 
 can sell their labor only as long as their labor will 
 produce more profit or capital. Commodities are 
 easily held in check or in store but it is a different 
 proposition with humanity. 
 
 Every half way intelligent man knows that 
 changes have taken place within the system of pro- 
 duction and exchange, with which the social order, 
 which is a continuation of earlier days of economics, 
 (mode of production) is no longer in keeping; from 
 this, it follows that the untold misery of the work- 
 ing class which we are seeking to get rid of must be 
 present within the system of production itself. To- 
 day, the productivity of labor is almost a thousand 
 times larger than it was a hundred years ago, but 
 the workday at the present time is almost as long 
 as it was a hundred years ago. And because of the 
 immense productivity and the long workday, mil- 
 
g6 THE FOUNDATION FOR 
 
 lions of men and women are forced to starvation. 
 
 Workmen want the reduction of the work day in 
 accordance with the needed supply of jobs as a 
 means to life. 
 
 Capitalists say a reduction of the workday will 
 reduce profit, and is therefore against the law. 
 
 But what ''human system of law" has a right to 
 demand of a portion gi humanity that they submit 
 to starvation? But Mr. Hillquit, the so-called Socia- 
 list Politician, says : "The workman must submit to 
 the employer, and the citizen to the existing social 
 order." (Government.) 
 
 I cannot prevent Mr. Hillquit from calling him- 
 self a Socialist, but I deny the fact that he is a 
 Socialist. 
 
 Socialists deny the right of one class to demand 
 the submission to starvation of another class. We, 
 the class conscious workers, therefore put the so- 
 called Socialist Politician on the same low level with 
 the rest of the Professional Politicians and mercen- 
 ary intellectuals. 
 
 If further proof is required to justify the logic 
 of this contention, I shall let the greatest of all 
 Socialists do the talking. 
 
 Karl Marx says in ''Value, Price and Profit", 
 page 124: 
 
 "These few hints will suffice to show that the 
 very development of modern industry must pro- 
 gressively turn the scale in favor of the capitalist 
 against the working man, and that consequently the 
 general tendency of capitalistic production is not to 
 raise, but to sink the average standard of wages, or 
 to push the value of labor more or less to its mini- 
 mum limit. Such being the tendency of things in 
 this system, is this saying that the working class 
 
THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 27 
 
 ought to renounce their resistance against the en- 
 croachments of capital, and abandon their attempts 
 at making the best of the occasional chances for 
 their temporary improvement? If they did, they 
 would be degraded to one level mass of broken 
 wretches past salvation. I think I have shown that 
 their struggles for the standard of wages are inci- 
 dents inseparable from the whole wages system, 
 that in 99 cases out of 100 their efforts at raising 
 wages are only efforts at maintaining the given 
 value of labor, and that the necessity of debating 
 their price with the capitalist is inherent to their 
 condition of having to sell themselves as commodi- 
 ties. By cowardly giving way in their every day 
 conflict with capital, they would certainly disqualify 
 themselves for the initiating of any large movement. 
 "At the same time, and quite apart from the gen- 
 eral servitude involved in the wages system, the 
 working class ought not to exaggerate to them- 
 selves the ultimate working of these every-day 
 struggles. They ought not to forget that they are 
 fighting with effects, but not with the causes of 
 those effects ; that they are retarding the downward 
 movement, but not changing its direction ; that they 
 are applying palliatives, not curing the malady. 
 They ought, therefore, not to be exclusively ab- 
 sorbed in these unavoidable guerilla fights inces- 
 santly springing up from the ever-ceasing enroach- 
 ments of capital or changes of the market. They 
 ought to understand that, with all the miseries it 
 imposes upon them, the present system simultan- 
 eously engenders the material conditions and the 
 social forms necessary for an economical recon- 
 struction of society. Instead of the conservative 
 motto, 'A fair day's wages for a fair day's work!' 
 
28 THE FOUNDATION FOR 
 
 they ought to inscribe on their banner the revolu- 
 tionary watchword, 'Abolition of the wages sys- 
 tem !" 
 
 This is Socialism or the Socialist method, with 
 which the Economic interests of the working class 
 are connected to preserve their interests while capital- 
 ism lasts. Anything less than this is political bunk and 
 is equal to treachery to Socialism or to the principl.e 
 of Universal Brotherhood. 
 
 Socialism must and will come peacefully. 
 
 Capitalism must give way to SociaHsm in the same 
 manner as did the individual producer give way to cor- 
 porations and corporations to trusts and trusts to 
 monopoly. 
 
 Socialism is the largest industrial economic organi- 
 zation. Everybody who works is a member and an 
 equal shareholder of the total wealth produced by the 
 social or economic organization. 
 
 Socialists are not building new political organiza- 
 tions, but are pointing out to the working class the 
 reasons for their miseries as well as the reason for their 
 inability to improve their economic conditions. 
 
 Socialists urge the working class to organize in the 
 same manner as the capitalists are organized — that is, 
 everybody in the union according to industry employed 
 in a Federated Union of all industries or institutions 
 of employment and altogether at a given time reduce 
 the workday in accordance to the needed supply of 
 jobs. The workers will then be able to raise wages or 
 the value of their labor. 
 
 The employers are absolutely right in their claim 
 that "a reduction of the workday and an increase in 
 wages will reduce profit". It is just this profit system 
 that enables the richest of the rich to grow constantly 
 richer while the less rich and the poor constantly grow 
 
THE NEW;I^•StCHOrQGY^:^v. ^9 
 
 poorer and finally are reduced to starvation. Thus, 
 we see as was pointed out in the former pages that the 
 condition for capitalism is wage labor and wage labor 
 rests exclusively upon the competition of the workers 
 between themselves. 
 
 Therefore we, the Industrial Socialists, say to the 
 working class: "Organize your labor, the commodity 
 of all commodities, and stop the competition on the 
 labor market by means of the reduction of the work- 
 day to enable everybody the opportunity for a job or 
 the means to life and from that minute you start on 
 the road to Socialism.'' As a reduction of the work- 
 day and an increase in wages means less profit or no 
 profit, industries will not go bankrupt, only capitalist 
 shareholders must go broke. 
 
 Thus we see that Socialism is not the product of 
 political movements, but is the product of the process 
 of economic evolution. As was shown, the smaller 
 corporations must by force of economics give over to 
 the larger corporations. 
 
 Industries remain in their existing form of organ- 
 ized production and distribution. Only the responsi- 
 bility of the officials or administrators of these institu- 
 tions resting instead upon the officials of the capitalist 
 share holders will then rest with the officials chosen 
 by the workers or members of the various departments 
 of production and distribution of the social economic 
 organization. 
 
 The production of all commodities begins at the 
 mine, farm and forest with the getting of the raw 
 material, and is finished when delivered to the con- 
 sumer. The value of commodities is determined or 
 measured on the basis of the social or total time re- 
 quired for their production. In other words the value 
 
30 THE /FOUNDATION FOR 
 
 of one hour's labor of one man is the equal of the 
 hour's labor of another. 
 
 In conclusion I desire to say that what was said 
 was not said for future generations. I have simply 
 aimed to point out the reason for the everlasting con- 
 flicts within the present social order and tried to show 
 the means and method to curb the powers of capital- 
 ism. The industrial form of organization is the start- 
 ing point to enable the working class to secure the 
 means to life while capitalism lasts. At this point of 
 the game, capitalism is at an end. The workers, or the 
 social organization of the workers, takes control of the 
 system of production, and that is the starting point of 
 Socialism — the order of which is the free access to the 
 means of life for all. 
 
 We shall then have the material conditions for the 
 "Universal Brotherhood". The human family will not 
 only be safe from all forms of misery, but will be safe 
 from the clutches of the War Lords, the so-called 
 protectors of Society. 
 

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