chlams
06-11-2016, 09:33 PM
Bolshevism in America
John Reed
December 18, 1918 in The Revolutionary Age
(snip)
1. The American working class is politically and economically the most uneducated working class in the world. It believes what it reads in the capitalist press. It believes that the wage-system is ordained by God. It believer that Charles Schwab is a great man, because he can make money. It believes that Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor will protect it as much as it can be protected. It believes that under our system of Government the Millenium is possible. When the Democrats are in power, it believes the promises of the Republicans, and vice versa. It believes that Labor laws mean what they say. It is prejudiced against Socialism.
Note: Organized Labor’s candidate for Governor of California, Mayor Rolfe, was a very ordinary type of bourgeois politician. Through a technicality his name was removed from the ballot. This meant his certain defeat. Labor was asked why it didn’t throw its weight solidly behind the Socialist ticket? “Oh,” answered Labor, “the Socialists will never get elected. What’s the use of throwing away your vote?” I am told that Labor wrote Rolfe’s name on the ballot, and Stephens won.
2. American Labor disapproves of the Russian Soviets, the German Revolution, and other manifestations of “anarchy.” To the American working class the British Labor Party is “going a little too far"; it seems to be dominated by “nuts.” As for the French and Italian movements, who cares what the “wops” do? Note: On November 7th some Socialists had a pamphlet printed to celebrate the first anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Government. When they went to get it at the binder’s, a member of the Typographical Union said, “I don’t know whether I’ll give you this stuff or not. It’s all about the Bolsheviks. You guys ought to be arrested!”
3. With the exception of the Jewish workers, other foreigners, and a devoted sprinkling of Americans, the Socialist party is made up largely of petty bourgeois, for the most part occupied in electing Aldermen and Assemblymen to office, where they turn into time-serving politicians and in explaining that Socialism does not mean Free Love. The composition of the English-speaking branches is: little shop-keepers, clerks, doctors, lawyers, farmers (in the Middle West), a few teachers, some skilled workers, and a handful of intellectuals.
Nothing is farther from the normal desires of the American Socialist party than a Revolution. It is really the refuge of almost all intelligent humble people who believe in the principles on which the American Republic was founded. It has never altogether approved of the Bolsheviki. It applauds the German Revolution largely because it thinks that the Germans will be more orderly.
(snip)
7. Nothing teaches the American working class except hard times and repression. Hard times are coming, repression is organized on a grand scale. In America for a long time there has been no free land, no opportunity for workers to become millionaires. The working class does not yet know this.
The very fact that for the next decade America promises to be the most reactionary quarter of the globe is sure to have its effect.
(snip)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/reed/1918/bolsh.htm
John Reed
December 18, 1918 in The Revolutionary Age
(snip)
1. The American working class is politically and economically the most uneducated working class in the world. It believes what it reads in the capitalist press. It believes that the wage-system is ordained by God. It believer that Charles Schwab is a great man, because he can make money. It believes that Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor will protect it as much as it can be protected. It believes that under our system of Government the Millenium is possible. When the Democrats are in power, it believes the promises of the Republicans, and vice versa. It believes that Labor laws mean what they say. It is prejudiced against Socialism.
Note: Organized Labor’s candidate for Governor of California, Mayor Rolfe, was a very ordinary type of bourgeois politician. Through a technicality his name was removed from the ballot. This meant his certain defeat. Labor was asked why it didn’t throw its weight solidly behind the Socialist ticket? “Oh,” answered Labor, “the Socialists will never get elected. What’s the use of throwing away your vote?” I am told that Labor wrote Rolfe’s name on the ballot, and Stephens won.
2. American Labor disapproves of the Russian Soviets, the German Revolution, and other manifestations of “anarchy.” To the American working class the British Labor Party is “going a little too far"; it seems to be dominated by “nuts.” As for the French and Italian movements, who cares what the “wops” do? Note: On November 7th some Socialists had a pamphlet printed to celebrate the first anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Government. When they went to get it at the binder’s, a member of the Typographical Union said, “I don’t know whether I’ll give you this stuff or not. It’s all about the Bolsheviks. You guys ought to be arrested!”
3. With the exception of the Jewish workers, other foreigners, and a devoted sprinkling of Americans, the Socialist party is made up largely of petty bourgeois, for the most part occupied in electing Aldermen and Assemblymen to office, where they turn into time-serving politicians and in explaining that Socialism does not mean Free Love. The composition of the English-speaking branches is: little shop-keepers, clerks, doctors, lawyers, farmers (in the Middle West), a few teachers, some skilled workers, and a handful of intellectuals.
Nothing is farther from the normal desires of the American Socialist party than a Revolution. It is really the refuge of almost all intelligent humble people who believe in the principles on which the American Republic was founded. It has never altogether approved of the Bolsheviki. It applauds the German Revolution largely because it thinks that the Germans will be more orderly.
(snip)
7. Nothing teaches the American working class except hard times and repression. Hard times are coming, repression is organized on a grand scale. In America for a long time there has been no free land, no opportunity for workers to become millionaires. The working class does not yet know this.
The very fact that for the next decade America promises to be the most reactionary quarter of the globe is sure to have its effect.
(snip)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/reed/1918/bolsh.htm