\ '• : •: ■ rSSH| • PACB EIGHT = THE RED FLAG ' -.•;;.%'?• Welcome, Soldiers HOW IT STANDS IN THE V. S. A. ii n m -—A w By BAOMOBM MacALPINE [From an Exchange] HEN the United States entered the war the problem of .withdrawing two million men from industry was one ef the vital topics of the day. Many suggestions of more of less value were offered whereby this huge depletion of industry could be affected without throwing the whole industrial machinery out of gear. The army of unemployed, which is one of the concomitants of Capitalism, and the influx of women into industry, however, solved thc problem without tbe aid of the experts. Nevertheless much ink was spilled and great-anxiety for the welfare of the country was manifested. . But now we are faced with the much greater problem of turning two million men back into industry the experts,' for the most part, are silent and the newspapers and magazines are apparently ignorant of the entire subject. The soldier, who during the war was a hero, the idol of the crowd, file darling of the nation, has now become a disagreeable problem. He is no longer mentioned in polite society. After he has been brought back, paraded through the streets and showered with the verbal laurels, he fa expected to return to the obscurity from which he sprang and to take his place in the ranks of the jobless,, not as a returned soldier wearing a uniform with service chevrons and with strines on;..toe,,skeyea^smt^i^' ordinary member of the proletariat, who through hard luck fa out of a job. to whom society owes nothing and who must expect nothing from society. When he insists on looking for work in his uniform be is covertly reproached for his lack of taste, and when he very naturally replies that he is in uniform because he has no civilian clothes, soctety assumes an air of injured dignity and says "something must" be done.*' Tne "something" usually himself for sale in the labor market He has been welcomed and feted and he roust step, . down to make room for the next batch who will be welcomed and feted in its turn. But the returned soldier must live, he must find employment, and what better occupation could he get than assisting in tbe welcome to his brothers to arms. A new industry is created by the spirit of welcome. Flag buttons, proclaiming the welcome are manufactured and offered for sale And who can refuse to buy from a soldier, especially if he waa wounded in the country's servicet Here is the solution of the problem! Let the soldier sell the welcome button—the soldier fa kept busy, .the public is ashamed to refuse the salesman, and the manufacturer makes money. * Thus the streets of our cities are swarming with soldiers in uniform, offering gaudy buttons and buntings for sale. Fine up-standing fellows arc reduced to street hawking, and street hawking is a hard job. (The returns' are small, tite hours of work are long and the experience fa humiliating. After a spell of this.work the spirit is broken and the slave psychology again gains the ascendency. Any job, where the begging element is absent, is welcome and the foreman's glance regains its' old poker. CEDAB AMD EDEN PAUL BESIGN FBOM TBI I. L. P.—A totter to the "Labor Leader" ' ^ Sir.^We aak for space in which to give a brief exposition of the reasons that are leading us, at this juncture, to resign membership of the I. L. P. and B. S. P. In so far as we hsve any personal feeling in the matter, it fa one of profound regret at having to sever ourselves from organisations iu which so many valued comrades remain at work. This said, let us confine ourselves to principles. (l) Apart altogether from the question of So- takes the form of a charity basaar or concert, amkvtetfat versus Parliamentary tactics, we incline to when ftfafottnd thst the winter cannot be comfort- ^^v{ev that the purely political type of Soctalfat ably disposed of in thc same way as our industrial cripples—by relegation to an institution—society becomes very annoyed indeed snd leaves him in hfa own resources. It must not be assumed, however, that tiw returned soldier is not welcome All the newspapers say so, electric signs blazon forth the fact to. the world by night, while appropriately colored posters herald it by day. Every railroad in the countri) announces tiw fact; aldermanic resolutions inscribe ft on city records: triumphal arches, monuments of the contractor's art, (and thc bills for same, monuments to his imagination), establish it beyond dispute. There is no lack of the external symbols of welcome. And every succeeding troopship that reaches port is a signal for new parades. But after being welcomed the soldier is supposed to gracefully disappear. ,\ When he sailed away to France, service flags were flung to the breeze. Every employer hung nut a banner, the number of whose stars told the immensity of the sacrifice made by the firm in allowing its employes to march off to war, hired new employes and forgot about the matter until the casualty list caused the substitution of a gold star for one of the blue ones. How tbe service flags hsve disappeared, and the suggestion that it should be replaced by a flag showing the number of returned soldiers reinstated' in their old jobs is ^sktly ignored. .The truth of the matter is that the employer being first and last a business man, docs not want men who have developed the independence and self-reliance that comes to those who have stared death in the face. The master dearly loves a willing slave, and the employee whose slave training is unbroken by adventure m foreign fields invariably proves the better servant. The man who has daily brushed shoulders with death fa not likely to cower before a foreman's glance. And so the returned soldier's welcome cense, when he return, to civilian life and offers organization* has outlived its usefulness. The political, social, and educative functions that have attached to such bodies in the past will (so we believe) in the future, be branches of the activity of the new type of industrial organisation. Upon the workers' committees and shop stewards' movement, therefore, we wish to concentrate sueh t'bne as we can spare for public work. We would suggest, further, that the new periodical, issued by the various workers' committees afford on interesting indication of the growth of the new movement, and that these sheets are likely to replace, as the means of effective revolutionary propaganda, tiw older and mom sedate party and trade union official organs. (2) We consider that the second International fa not merely dead, but damned. Wc are convinced that the success of the. working class movement (or, in other words, that the complete overthrow of capitalfam) fa inseparably connected with the success of the new Bed or Moscow International. The I. L. P. supports the Berne International, and cannot get further than a "refusal to condemn Lento.'' The B. 8. P., better advised, goes so far as to refer to the branches the question of adhesion to the Communist International, (Were tins the sole issue, we should await the result of thc referenedum before withdrawing from the B. S. P.). (3) The absolutely vital question, however, k that of affiliation to the Tabor Party. There Is a hopeless divergence betwen those who expect to realize Soeislfam through Parliamentary democracy and those who expect to realise. SoctaBmi through communist ergatocracy—the administration of the workers by the workers for the workers —wfth fee a preliminary stage) the dietatorahip of the revolutionary proletariat exercised through workers' committee, or Soviets. Here fa the crux: and no pious resolutions of sympathy wfth our Bussian comrades can veil tiw feet, that after the Easter Conferences of 1919—four yearn after Zimmerwald and eighteen months after the Bolshevist revolution—the 1. L. P. and the B. S. P. remain affiliated to the Labor Party, and fore remain committed tp Parliamentary To sum up. The conferences at fend Sheffield have shown that neither the LL. P. nor the B. & P. has adequately realized that the world stands at the threshold of a new era. Not merely do they fail to grasp the necessity af new tseties for the social revolution, but they oven fail to perceive that the revolution for which we have so long been working fa actually to progress. The cry is >'Show your colors!" For thc undersigned the only practicable "Socialist unity" is the unified activity of the revolutionary left wing--Tours, etc., EDEN AND CEDAB PAUL. 7 Featherstone Buildings, London, W.C. 1. We miss something, you and I, in not attending the annual meeting of the shareholders of the Midland Railway Company. Especially have wg missed the eloquence of shareholder Miss F. E. Budge of London: ( ■"' ■•■■ £*& Ladies and gentlemen. I may say here that I •have been for twenty-five years in business, and I am going to tell you that if I were on the Directorate, do you think I should have seen my shareholders, in the face of an increase in the cost of living of 120 per cent, have to take the same dividend as before, if there was any chance of increasing that dividend? We have carried it, ladies and gentlemen; if we have not, of course, do ; not' let us have it. Do you mean to say that if we were paid for alt the work which has been done on the British Bail ways in connection with the war that wc should stand where we are today? Of course not. : In other words, she would not budge. With all "due respect" to the directors, she continued, "we ritast.'have an increased dividend because wc have earned it." Miss Budge Was followed by the Rev. W. S. Carter D.D., of Futoam^ who declared:-- * S>| "I wish it had been possible to have more details as to the future of our beloved raitwaj The Rev. G. F. Marson of thc Church Army says (Daily Telegraph, 18-3-19) that "Mesopotamia was the biggest pride of the war. Its fertility was so winderful that, with a proper irrigation scheme, it was estimated that in . five years its produce would pay for thc war. It could be made the greatest cotton-growing country in the world. But who is to get the prize? The lads with the wooden legs? Thc relatives of the dead wbo lie in the marshes at Kttt or by the roadsides of Flanders? For them the blanks. They are to have memorial tablets in thc Parish Church; they are to get a "nation's warmest thanks;" they will be requited with thc knowledge that they have made the world safe for Democracy and a fit place for heroes to live in, where the rights of man as mjan shall not perish, and where Righteousness shall sheathe its sword until the eternal truths have been made manifest, and where Treitsche lies buried in the welt- politik of the Saar Valley, . . etc. * , And it is written, their bellies shall be filled with the cast wind. ' LONDON. Msy 27.—Thoussnds of discharged soldiers snd sailors out of employment, armed with stones snd^dvser missiles, marched toward, the "House3 of Commons yesterday. They came into conflict with the pelke barring the approaches and were scattered. Later the procession was re-formed and marched toward Buckingham Palace, but the demonstration broke up before ft reached the palace. There were no farther disorders. The demonstration followed a mam meeting to Hyde Perk, where the discharged soldters/ end sailor, demanded work and a minimum wage scale- Vi-f ■ ■ ■ • - .* THE RED FLAG Up. ' :an? ducati am PAGE SEVEN . ' M hi Bolsheviks « at 'franalation of (hi Annual Report of A. V. i*** aaharskv Gommisar of Education in the Soviet G miinmul frr'Bit Trr^tfr?*iw ****>******* 7, WW >!l> i ■ i ■■ mmi'ii*,.-' . .,. »>f • PROM TBE MAY "LIBERATOR" (Continued from Laat Week) ■ ■ ■* •■ . • " • Iaurnrte. White awaiting the growth Cf onew communist enlightened workers, which the schools will give us. we must simultaneously meet the growing desire for knowledge on the part of the adults. For thst reason it k essential to organize a long line of universities in provinces, cities and villages, and also spreading of a great number of libraries, stable and circulating, for the advantage of the massea. and finally the organization of educational expeditions into the country and the sale of literature through various channels (of communication end- primarily through the Post-Telegraphic Department ■ i?M .■• >■) In order that there should be unity in'the ucti- vities of the large, central libraries, they have been co-ordinated Under tiw supervision of the Central Library Commission, which te occupied with the elaboration of schemes of how effectively to distribute books and reach the members of libraries. The public library of Petrograd has been granted a near and fruitful democratic constitution and considerable means for its, development. We wish to remark here also, that all governmental archives have been converted and centralized and made accessible to the public. The victorious nation has Inherited wonderful Czarist, feudal and ehurchly property. In addition to the official museums, the Commissariat of Public Education has created new museums, using the historical and artistic and most precious palaces and castles of the czars and lords for thst purpose, protecting them in the year of tragic fermentation, When the.,highly-precious property of the despised classes Was in danger of being destroyed. Finally the Commissariat of Public Education has created a new special organ: The Commission of the Protection, of Artistic Monuments of Antiquity, which* not only saved many of them from ruin, but also nationalized fell "'the culture and art of the conquered for the democratic and universal benefit of the people at large. In the same way, all former imperial theatres have been protected and granted full autonomy for the actors, snd despite the critical revolutionary period, the theatres are functioning in full force, the plays becoming more and more of a proletarian character, snd the theatres becoming gradually the property of the working masses. ? The Government theatres of Petrograd, resort- tog at first to sabotage politics, hsve finally sent to to the People's Commissariat a touching address of thanks. Moreover, the Commtesriat supports "Soviet theatres, such as the rem.rk.ble Moscow Soviet Operatic Theatre, and a number of communtetic theatres of Petrograd. . The Theatrical, Department w energetically working out the problems snd methods of scenery to be introduced, children's'theatres, the hktory end theory ef the theatre, publishing journals illuminating and discussing those subjects. eerte in different neighborhods periodically. cf Busste for the purpose of solving complicated In the same manner, all the choruses and orchestras of all former religions and imperial institutions have been taken over and reorganised democratically by the Commissariat The imperial orchestra gives at the present time one concert a week of a musical and academic character, so to speak, two popular concerts in the beautiful .balk of the Winter Palace, which has been converted into s National Palace of Art, fend eon- lions-under the Soviet regime. The Academy of Sciences, the Association of Knowledge and e number of other education societies work in cooperation with the Educational Department. a a . The two best choruses in the world, in all proba- problems brought into prominence by the eondi- bility, the one of the chapel and the synodic one, have been converted into publicly-accessible Academies of Musk and Song. A true public character has been given*to various musical schools under the supervisor-ship of military and naval departments. Thc conservatories hare been also taken over by tiw Commisariat of Public Education, and in the near future a conference wfll be called to consider systematic and radical reforms to be introduced in those advanced musical establishments. The Musical Department te elaborating plans for courses in singing snd musical education. Through this department as well as through th. endeavors of the department of advanced educational establishments, bare been opened S greet array of learned mid educational institutions These ere: The Physical Institute cf Moscow, tiw Institute of Petrograd, the Institution of snd a plan for one Central School for earnest fend **V*7 end Photetoehnique to Petrograd. univer- aspiring students. Art sities in the cities of Worones, Tambov, Nteni Nov- Tl»e/Department of Plastic Arts, in order to enliven (the completely decrepit Academy of Arts. has radically democratized ite present advanced educational establishment, it has been made ar- cessii le to the pnMte. The professors hsve been - chosen by the students themselves. # and in thk , u-ay I in ve been reorganized the Pre t Governmental Artistie Workshops. The following schools also have been instilled with s new spirit: Strogenowskajs, Sehtiglka, Along with the Department of Plastic Arts there is another department, the Artistic-Industrial* Department, whieh is occupied with the problem of elevating the artistic aspect of industry. For that purpose it operates at the present time a porcelain and grinding factory and k organizing colossal workshops. 'It is worth" noting thst the porcelain factory manufactures thousands of Wares and dishes for peasants" (ornamented by the new emblem of the Soviet Republic and with revolutionary slogans), the orders for'which sre given • by the Commisariat of Supply of Provisions. Public Statuary On the Department of Plastic Arts fell also the duty of removing unesthetic and unmoral monuments, and building new monuments of great thinkers, workers fend poets of the revolution. In most cases the monuments have merely a temporary character and serve as a monumental bttste for the propagation of revolutionary ideas among the masses. The best of them will be made permanent Up to date two monuments, those of Ferdinand LassahV and Radishew, have been unveiled in Petrograd, and in Moscow the monuments* of .Dostoyevsky, snd a very original one dedicated to Stephan Rasin, are ready among others for unveiling. Besides monuments there fere in preparation tablets of stone and metal with various revolutionary inscriptions, which, too, will serve the purpose of revolutionary and .communistic propaganda. The World's Bert Idterature In the literary field, the Commissariat has taken over toe right of publishing literature, thus taking away the right *f profit from private publishers. It publishes literature of the best sort in srtistie editions and at nominal prices. The Commisssrist k determined to publish the best Russian cfasaics to the near future. It has . thrown upon the market thousands of sets st cheap prices, of Tolstoy, ITspenski, Nikitin, Krylov, Kol- chov, Turgcnkv, Chechov, etc. I-enumerate here only those autho/s whose works have been published either in full, or of which the first volumes have appeared. m Shortly also the Department of Foreign Literature, under the supervision of Maxim Gorky, will begin to function. 'Thk department he. a remarkable field before it, and under tite directorship of a great man like Maxim Gorky B te bound to accomplish unprecedented results. The Education Department k occupied with the problem of mobilising sll tiw educational forces gored, the Polyteehnkal School of' The last-named institution has cost $7,1 the totsl of which was eoUected by the k lation. ''The city of Kostroma also has collected $2,000,000 for the purpose of establishing a university there*. In the near future will begin to function an institution extremely important to Russia, a Smelting Institute in Moscow,' devoted specifically to thc aim of extracting Mid mining local coal. « In close contact With the educational department of the Conunissariat of Public Education there works the newly organized scientific-technical department of the advanced Soviet of National Economy. ■ In a near contact with tiw last-named department we Snd also, the Kino-Committee. a.««w» elated with the Commissariat of Public Education, in Petrograd as well aa to Moscow, spreading in all provinces its activities from producing pictures to surveying snd buying materials for new moving picture theatres. Finally, there are the high establishments of socialist education in Russia, the Soeiahst Academies of General Sciences, forming a link in the greet organization and body of the Commissariat of Public Education, and also forming-one of the most learned and*educationa1 and tiw most effective instruments in disseminating socialist class- consciousness, and strengthening tiw communist ideals to ekr country. ■ '/• • • -e ,'•'.: From the summary ahove given the reader can weff conjecture'how colossal V the task of the Commisssrist of Public Education. It has s noble program and ideal as its guiding spirit, and in spirit, and in spite of unfavorable circumstances, it has already succeeded in gaining successes in msny an undertaking. Tn addition to the present essay and tiw short account presented to the Soviet of People's Com- misssra one and a half months-ago. the National Educational Bureau k preparing a detailed account of some specific angles of its activities, furnishing concrete, figures, snd presenting the full accomplishments of the central government for the end of the year 1918. ' _ Insurmountable obstacles hsve obscured the work of the Commissariat. , But priding itself upon Be important role fn the family of friendly comntisssrks of Soviets, h .goes on firmly wHh Be idealistic aim. snd wfll never falter even though some of Be programs msy not rn.teri.lke as soon as could be desired. A. LUNACHABSKT. SOOTH APBICA According to renter, dispatch in the Daily Herald of April 5. Mr. Bate, who H will be remembered wss deported some years age along with eight other lsbor traders from South Africa on the occasion of a big strike, said, speaking At Johannesburg. "I know intuitively thst South Africa te on the brink of a wholesale upheaval of tiw working classes.'' ; ■"■■■ ' '•*" s! m - PA0B8LT —I—ii—m THE RED FLAG . . ' '■ ... - . ...■■ _;., .::,^s^i^i^n*j in the Glasgow ' Since 1916 organized Irish later has Iwen in the hands of tbe Moderates. They have accomplished the full measure of a moderate programme. They here built up an expansive Trade Unionism; they here maintained a labor Party and established s trade union paper. They hsve held fast to the policy of not alienating the timid. No one will deny them credit for the routine work of thek limitations Thek obvious function waa to eon- serve theViergiea of the proletariat of an Ireland hemmed in by the European war and her internal demands for separation from England. In the recent yean whkh have beseiged the national spirit they hsve made tiw Irish Labor movement a business concern. But the Irish are not a nation of shopkeepers; they are, a nation of insurgent "felons"—the gaol-mark is upon them like a birth-mark, and thek feet turn upon the wfeyward path of revolt like a racial destiny. It is one of tbe most bitter truths which we must all learn, no matter what cause we fight for, in tiw very hour perhaps of on> triumph we must yield our victories to the generation at our heels. Their needs transcend our gains. Thek fight supersedes our own. The life of a people is always greater than ha individual expressions,, so that the utmost which any of us can do is to "carry on" during our test fighting years, snd keep the spears brandished for She younger bands. The Irish" Labor movement haa reached a change of hands period. It. must either turn with the dignity of maturity to a revolutionary rank and file and acknowledge their younger purpose, or it Ite reply will decide to. what extent its propaganda will meet the needs of the people to the immediate future. It Is a question whteh they can not evade forever,' and if they evade it beyond m$m ■ ^mm^m^pm^ » AND IRELAND GREATER THAN "1 ITT" ^^ —wmwm-*™™™*™wmww w^mr^^^^^^^^^m^^^^^ _ wRaajow. smwmwM^w.: - PRE88 REPORTED ■ ■!iiiji*»! According to the London "Labor Leader" of May 8, May Day celebrations in Great Britain and the iwtienee of ^ 'Irelehd were held, on an unprecedented scale. even the trust of thek own supporters, who will begin with the "Why, oh! why!" of the impotent to ask why things remain, the same and changeless in a world obviously ruled by change t It is childish to reply thst the time te unripe, snd that sn economic revolution would be inexpedient. The time is never ripe for reactionaries. Glssgow, true to its ronutotijm, bed 250 organizations in procession, and the Red Flags flamed over .11.' Over a hundred speeches were delivered from 22 platform, in the course of 90 minutes, snd at 4 >jb. the following resolution waa acclaimed by the warned audiences: "That this meeting declares for the overthrow Those who are ready for the revolution are pre- of the capitalist system of production for profit, pared for its consequences. Irishmen have never been afraid to die for a cause they, believed in. The adhesion of the. young men of today to the lesson of the Banter rising, the strenuous belief in armed force, the demand to revolutionise the army—to propagate them beyond the murder of their own class show thst the right material te there to support Russia with an Irish rampart. .„ I ! ■ fflli ii.iji II. i . I ' ■■ A MESSAGE FROM SOuxa AfUQAq* e* !"■'"!» '¥"' MJtr To the Editor the. Socialist, Glasgow: , . Dear Comrade—At the annual delegate meeting of the International Socialist League, South Africa, held in Johannesburg, January 6, 1919, the following;resolution was passed a "That tins delegate meeting sends fraternal greetings to the Russian Soviet Government, the Spartacus Group in Germany, and to all International Socialist bodies. Further, thst this League acclaims the glorious advance of the Socialist Revolution 1n Europe; and the establishment of a co-operative commonwealth baaed wn production for use;. and further sends their greetings to thc European Soviet Be* publics in Europe and to tbe workers of tiw worid> Also we protest against the arrest and deportation of foreign subjects without trial; further, we urge the withdrawal of all armies of occupation, and declare in favor of the 1st of May being observed as International Labor Day." In Edinburg six bands played the process**, ftb the meeting ground where stouter resolutions were enthusiastically passed as at the Glasgow meeting. In many other, places similar proceedings were the order of the day. London also had its procession, and ite meetings. From thc report we quote a description of one significant feature in the precession: « "Here is s strange looking, plain white banner, bearing no device but four large letters, as. A.U. y\ To the unitisted the letters mean nothing at i — m , - - i • ' ' ■ m, t ■ i -B ;- '"Aa, tm' m\ '.'. aW.j • ' -J*wi • *'***' wfmmwmt'- uiiuihi\u i uv ivffiti o anuu,mwn i iiuiiimit must tom .way from them with the bigotry af ptedges ^i^mm^^^^^m all.To thorn with inside knowledge they form .jsaaeasora snd deny thek rtohte. tt witt in tins against the attack., or^intrigues of the cenkalkt manner keep the tunm «m m,. . ...-*, .^^ ^ g^gg^^t, to spread the work- geous The revolutionary Socialists who represent the tog clsss movement in South Africa so ss to sestet younger purpose know very definitely what they are out to attain. They have bent thek backs, with toll consciousness of the burden, for the making and winning of. the Irish revolution. They do not agree, with the Moderates thst they must wait for tiw tide, of Bolshevism to seethe through Western Europe and lap them up into the organic processes of the new economic order of the world. They remember England, fend they believe that Bolshevism k much more likely to take a duck to the Caspian or the Baltic and rise on the home shores of St. George's Channel. In any ease, they intend to start the system from thc Western extremity as a response to Bussia.* They believe in in hastening the triumph of the Bevolution and establishment of the Co-operative Commonwealth, throughout the world.** W. H. ANDREWS, Organizer. January IS, 1919. __ ,, . ,, ^ , PROM THE NEW YORK "NATION, MAT 24 the most portentiou. element of the whole parade, an element not hitherto present to this or any other country. For the mystic letters on the banner are the initials of the recently formed Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmen's Union, formed of ex-service men and some still in the ranks, of which the guiding spirit is s Scotch ex-rifleman, and whose fundamental article of faith is that under no circumstances will a they consent to be used against fellow trades Where our metropolitan dailies really bent upon recording significant facts in the labor movement, they would have given column, last week to the meeting of the Pennsylvania State Federation of labor in llarrisburg. That body unanimously re- ..... elected as its president James H. Maurer, who is deeds beyond words. It is their tenacity of faith alresdy wrving his seventh tews as head of tho which accounts for thek patience with the Mod- organization. During hte incumbency, he hss operates. , They have given them ample time to fill p^ preparedness end our entrance into the war, tins hour of 1919 with a constructive programme. and nt figured on the ridiculous Stevenson suspect So fan th. Moderate, have failed to produce that itat. Next* the convention voted "amid tremend- progremme. The tr.de union movement te soweB ous cheering" that organised; tabor, having no unionists in industrial disputes. The men are wearing their discharge badges alongside redvrib- bons and Socislist emblems. "Bronzed and determined looking sre these young men, who have fought on the blood-stained fields of France and Flanders, fend fere now quite ready, as they themselves put it, to 'flight the Huns at home,' which, being interpreted, means tbey will'stand no nonsense st sll from the profiteer and the swesting employer." fn Ireland thc celebration of May 1 as a general holiday waa almost complete, though the military in many places prevented meetings and processions. Comment on this, however, was mild be- preserved that tt te becomtog deeadeutf tt k ao longer anything to hope for from toe Bepublican «&«, thst on toe action of J. H. 'Thomas, general weB preserved that it* perts arodeeenteallsedfdr and Democratic parties, must turn to independent safety, and have become almost futile. What would redeem it k a good healthy strike. It would emerge from . strike quivering with newborn vitality. There are' more trade union organisations to Ireland than have ever been, and, apart from Belfast, "iwthtaVdeta'!'' It te time that tiw Irish working dam oraanka- political action. The Federation'a executive committee is therefore to report principles and a line of action to a special convention. Even more striking wm the passage of a resolution denouncing the Allied snd American policy to Busste end dtftf*"*- ing the withdrawal of American troops and the immediate lifting of the blockade. Tina was coupled with . demand for the release of all political and secretary of the National Union of Bailwaymen in circulating the Irish branches that they must not cease work, without the sanction of thek executive. Thte fsiling, he issued a second "order" to whkh, of course, the press gave lavteh publicity: "I would warn them that if they, ere determined, as stated, to stop without authority from thek executive, tt may be that the Irish Beflway tions should be forged into a National todustrial war-time prisoners and the recognition of the Irish Executive will follow a tike course end \T- Uuk wBh fe definite eeanemte policy. Its political expression depend, upon that policy. Bo far, tt te organized politically as a Labor Party. England has had a Labor Party for years, but England has a long road to travel before she te ready for direct action. Ireland te ready. A Labor Republic. Finally, there was a vigorous attack ^ into operation the settlement agreed to with upon the Civte Federation, whteh wm charged .thk union." with seeking "to sdminister chloroform to the Yet thte Mr. Thouws wm a delegate to the ao- trade-unwn movwnent *» No wonderajt te reported called Socislist International Conference At Benw. thrt the^ old-line leaders of the American Fed- The same Mr. Thomas who, same months ago, told eration of later are becoming nervous ss to what the English raflwaymen that if they did not be Party can only function in a capitalist form of may happen at^he Atlantic City convention next good he would retire end would not do anything parliament for the Speeflc purpose of destroying month, moTe for them. He k now to thk country .e • .;<.,.a Aim* of Labor in General Strike .Realizing that while there areeftany problems that face the workers that, cannot bejsolved under capitalism, and that the end of that system fa not yet; also realising that the present (situation fa a political one, due to the action of the Dominion Government in the Winnipeg strike, snd that as the taking care of the soldiers who were disabled, and the dependents of the men who have died on the battlefields of France and Flanders are work- tog class problems, the majority of the soldiers being members of the working clsss, therefore be ft resolved thst the following be the, policy of the workers in Canana now on strike, or about to come on strike in support of the Winnipeg workers. 1. The re-instatement of the postal workers who struck in Winnipeg. 2. The immediate settlement of the postal workers' s^kwncejt_____ 3. The right of collective bargaining through any organisation that the workers deem most suited to their needs. \ 4. Pensions for soldiers snd their dependents on the basis laid down by the soldiers' organisations. 5. The minimum recompense for service over- wr ^a^H «»n»u quoted in last week's do- bate in the British House of Commons, a tetter form a* eBsttegufahed author who has tost returned to, Ireland from active service at the war. •'Returning to the country after four and a balf years," he says, "I am really appalled by tiw scandal it presents of people governed by naked force: essentially the same system as in Belgium snd in Germany: armed police. soldiers, ms- ehines, tanks, gas, etc—all the hideous paraphernalia of war. The whole of it apparently to repress s people who are determined, to some way or another, to atain their liberty." Ireland de ll ii sess by the granting of the sum of $2,000 gratuity. .. Ik. .aMWh. of * «M *«H. fm*i ^m-m^LTS?^ V^.^ abbattoirs and elevators, with a view to removing thc evil of hoarding of foodstuffs. 7. The enactment of legislation to provide for the six-hour day in sll industries where unemployment is prevalent. Failing the granting of these demands by the Dominion Government, the workers continue the strike until the present government resigns snd places these matters before the electorate. = The Policemen and Prison Warders of the British Isles Demonstrate (Common Sense], By some chance I attended a huge meeting held by the Police and Prison Officers' Union in Trafalgar Square last Sunday. As the newspapers failed to give an adequate idea either of the magnitude of the demonstration or of the opinions expressed there my impressions perhaps will not be unwelcome to your readers. Some thousands of people had already assembled to the Square before a long procession of policemen and warders in plain clothes was seen coming up Whitehall. They were led at regular intervals by beam bands, fourJn all; banners told off each section. Here, for example, was the City of London branch of the Metropolitan Police and there the Canterbury branch of officers; other banners proclaimed to tiw public ''Tyranny fa not discipline," "We fere down the workers?" But thfa was not the only grievance against militarism, and I listened eagerly as the police spokesmen objected to Sir Neville Mseresdy, thek high commissioner, on the ground that he wm . general transferred directly from the war office to take charge of a trad, he had never learnt, but probably wished to transform, with the assistance of "8 few majors in high police offices." j The speakers demanded that these high posts should be filled by men "promoted from tiw I was astonished to hesr these constables ad- dressing such plain language to their high commissioner, who was. we Were told, rubbing shoulders wfth the crowd. I was still more astonished to hear guardians of law and order declaiming against the inhabitants of Mayfair and the members of the Lords and Commons, whom they ac- aeused of possessing the bulk of the property of the fa dominating the whole world. In return she sees tanks lumbering through the street, of her capital .nd aeroplanes vigilant overhead. Such displays—it fa calculated—Mill in time make her loyal. She will accept British rule, snd abandon Sinn Fein; and recover whet the Chief Secretary fa pleased to call her soul. Even Toryism protests against thfa criminal folly. Mr. Hills expressed profound disappointment at the Government statement. . They 'f have no solution to give for the Irish problem. . . .Either the Government hsve got s policy, or they have not If they have got a polfcy, ft fa the bankruptcy of British statesmanship. If they hsve got a policy, in God's name let them tell us what that policy is." Be sppesls boldly "to our own consciences and our own hearts." '% as a Unionist, find the present position pcrfeetlv intolerable. We cannot go on as we are.." These are courageous wordfe. . It might be well if Literal. Labor, and independent Tory members got together to devise a scheme which they could force upon this nerveless Ad* ministration. But action there must he. We may refer the Irish problem to the Empire. We may refer ft to the United States. We msy refer ft to the League of Nations. But military terrorism fa impossible. The one thing certain is—"We can not go on as we are." yH T OF "CO-OPEBATTON OF POLICY-TBE HOUSING SCAHDAL Before the speakers mounted the phnth .Vta*aaea. *M» nmnawfa to go the Square was a dense mass of people, extending frpm the steps of the National Gallery to the upper end of Whitehall, and the traffic was temporarily suspended or deviated from its route. I was at the previous demonstration which the police held at Tower Hill last,August, and one could not fail, on thfa occasion, to notice a marked changed in their attitude. In August their pro- tost was nervously made, and thek claims for more wages were mixed up with demands for clearing all enemy aliens out of the country. Last Sunday they apparently dispensed with an irrelevant and no longer popular issue. They boldly defined—whether rightly or wrongly I 4a not attempt to say—their aims and their status "vis a vis" the laboring classes. Their organization, comprising police and prison officers in Bnglsnd, Scotland, and Wales, plus an increasing number of tit. Boyal Irteh Constabulary, claims to be recognised as a union on mueh the seme tooting aa any othef* trade union. Only thus could they determine, within reasonable limits, of course, thek own conditions of work.- If .11 other means failed they were prepared to strike in order to achieve thek end. First and foremast they demanded that all arbitrary punishments should eeaee; end in this' Connection the immediate reinstatement of Constable Spademan, who, ft was said, had teen summarily dismissed for not taking pert, as ordered, In an election to a representation board whkh the Government bad set up as a substitute to thek union. Agent as a union, they were pledged to prevent the use of firearms to the police forced the introduction of which they seemed to fear. "We "know what would very likely happen." said one spesker. "Would we not be" called upon to shoot interests. The propertied elssses snd the Government msy be to blame for these sentiments, so new and strange to our ideas of policemen. It was to me a. little surprising and rather saddening that such a large demonstration could te held without a word being uttered against the starvation blockade, from which thousands of innocent women and children are dying on the Continent or against the war in Bussia, in which English soldiers are fighting against s system of government very like that whteh tiw policemen seem to favor. One wishes thst these union struggles' werex animated sometimes by something higher and tetter than self-interest. m\ Mmmmm eaVeafe. wtfnr "*ee a vaeeaaj uaaeauww v nmwmfSmmwmf The report of the Housing Commission which has investigated conditions in Scotland declares that in 19J1 there were 129,780 one-room houses and 439,344 two-roomed: "in other words, 40.4 per cent. of the total number of houses in Scotland have only two rooms,'' and many of them had neither sculleries sanitary conveniences, nor water supply. The Royal Family, our Government, the Press, arc all extrcmly annoyed about this disgraceful con- dition of things. They call it a scandal to civilisation. But why their sudden wrath and seal? This infamy was not caused by the Huns nor by the war. There is a tendency to talk of it as if it were due tp the stoppage of building oprations dur- . ing wartime and the present dejarness of building materials/But the terrible housing conditions endured by the great mass of the British people have been known to all social students for at least a quarter of a century. , A recent issue of the "Japanese Advertiser" gives an account, token from what are said to be official sources, of an advance by Great Britain of considerable funds to the Government at Archangel, and the "conaequent establishment of Great Britain's interest to tiw great forest loaouicos of Northern Busste." The Archangel Government has accumulated sto.ee August a debt of 70,000,- 000 rubles on domestic loans, s pert of whteh fell due on February 15. Bonds issued against these loans are being used as legal tender, making ft almost impossible for the government to rate, more money by domestic loans. Aeording to thc "Japanese Advertiser," Great Britain fa counted upon to supply the necessary funds, for which • Isrge tracts of forest tend will be pledged at ae- kbkm.^ ■ ■! -hi*- U. F— — Ifiifl lik ' - ■ ■ * - - ■* ■ mm m m»« n ■■ m mm * " - eurrty, eatsntisning tfrfttsn interests permanently to northern Busste."-New' York '"Nation." SOCIALIST PARTY OF CANADA PROPAGANDA MKBTINOS SUNDAY, JUNB 1 At 8 p.m. Sharp Corner Gore and Hastings swj*^^swaw^p*i m*j m • smauaawaa easmusa ma* awa» mwaasur- snow mmmmmmm - I mw~ P E mM A Journal of News and Vkws Devoted to the Working Class. i " " Published When Circumstances snd Finances Permit By The Socialist Party of Canada, 401 Pender Street East, Vancouver, B. C. Editor C. Stephenson SATUBDAY ~ ..MAY 31, 1919 The Winnipeg Strike AT this writing the Winnipeg general strike is still on and in view of the continued misrepresentations of the capitalist press and its attempts to obscure the real issues at stake, it k necessary to restate them and so keep them clear before the workers in other parts ef the country. The strike was called on May 15th in aid of the Metal Workers and Building Trades Unions. Thc issue is that of the right of collective bargaining by means of central councils of allied crafts. The principle in dispute means that members of a particular craft may submit ite grievances to the central council and so make it the concern of all the members of the rest of the allied crafts. The adoption of thk principle constitutes a step forward in the direction ef recognition of collectivity of interest among wage workers and tiw necessity of collectivity of action tor improving their conditions of work fend wages. Since the strike commenced another issue has been,injected, into the dispute,.the right of public service employees, police, postal workers, etc., to strike in behalf of themselves #r to sympathy with other Workers. The Federal Government having come out flatly and stated that those postal workers who hsve not obeyed thc summons to come back to work again are to consider themselves dis- cnargeu. Up to date, the 28th, the strike has been eon- ducted in an orderly manner, without any of those "incidents" so dearly beloved of the press. An examination of the books of the police stations at tiw end of the first week showed Winnipeg had less use for a police force than at any previous time end that not one striker had been arrested Nevertheless thk has not been accomplished without organized labor being subjected to .mueh provocation. Much abusive and threatening language has been used from both the press and platform by those opposing the strike. Terrifying despatches have been sent abroad, through the press, of a Soviet Government being established, superseding the Mayor and Council for administering the. affairs of the city, of babies dying for want of and of general storvation snd right along whole gamut of atrocities whteh tiw practised and trained mind, of pram correspondents could think of. The East and South especially, have Bplshevism has been charged, in short sll the old, familiar methods have been usetL to dixit snd slfen^^strikera, w#;h»ve been in vogue since the beginning of tiw Labor, movement. There k nothing new under the sun, at least the hired thugs of the vested interests sre unable to invent snything new. Editorial writers complain, when one days facte contradict the lies of the day before, thst if the Winnipeg papers hsd been allowed to be published thek news would hare prevented the circulation of scarifying rumors from "well known journalists." Would it? Is there anything to the "kept" press's dealings with working class struggles which would pustify any sueh contention f. We trow not And suppose there were no capitalist papers printed in Winnipeg, does that justify the "kept" press in other districts, for printing rumors, even though they ere from "well known journalists," and issuing them as "news" in solid column after column 1 Again, we trow not. In effect the press k carrying on ite customary propaganda of lies in the service of those whose tool it is. There would be fewer strikes and better conditions of life for the workers if the employers had not at their command a powerful instrument; in tiw pram for deceiving the people at large, stirring up trouble, misrepresenting and intimidating the workers whenever the latter asked for some alleviation of their miserable conditions • of existenee. Wc are forever regaled with vague and grandiloquent articles, on the sufferings Of the public, without ever having defined for us what the tetter mysterious entity is. As a matter of fact from the point of view of the press, it is a stick to'best s dog or k k anyone whose ignorant prejudices and passion esn be aroused against a body of striking workers* And into the bargain along comes an emissary from Ottawa, Senator Gideon Robertson, Minister of Labor, and adds his quota to the denunciatory chorus. What capital the press makes out of thk ally, the Minister of Labor risen from the ranks of labor; with what wide open, undiscriminatory arms Us columns sre thrown open to him." According to him tiie 0. B. U. k the cause of the strike, notwithstanding that the 0. B. U. k not in existenee yet And even in the opinion of some, the Winnipeg strike broke out at fen inopportune time for the progress of the 0. B. U. Probably Georges Clemence.u. Lloyd George, Sonino, Orlando, and Woodrow Wilson ako bad something to do with the strike, for they fere the signatories to a document, called the Labor program, formulated at the Peaee Conference to Peris, to which'collective bargaining k endorsed. And yet, the Great Gideon and hte collaborators in Canadian statesmanship, repudiate it, at least at that point where it is going to have any practical effect He k reported, with what truth, we do not know, to have said that he believed in collective bargaining, but that the collection in Winnipeg wss too big. There te the knot in the tangled skein. In collectivity there k strength. True, but as to who te strong oftimes becomes a matternf serious embarrasment to tite "Statesmen" of thc ruling class. ,.. ,. / think of. The Ksst ana acuta especially, neve . rj-ij «-, ' j »»r . been flooded with "now." nf that sort. So much J he rOStalWOfayetS so thst some of tiw labor papers on tite other aide of the line have been so childish end uncritical ae to come out wfth searc-heads stating that the Canadian workers had started a revolution. In the west the press he* been mpre moderate, though not without the will, aa evidenced by the veiled hint, of thing, of which ft had not the courage to my outright The leopard can not' change its spots, neither the capitalist press refrain from spitting ite venom, to the attempt to weaken the purpose of the workers in Winnipeg, individuate bare been tangled out for abuse and threatening attack. Deportation has been"taTked of, the anti-foreigner ery has been raked, the returned soldiers hsve Tieen appealed to. loyalty has been questioned, The Canadian Government has announced its intention not to take back into Ms employment the postal employees now remaining out on sympathetic strike. Thk k a serious decision for tiw em* ployees. Their job wan a steady one and entailed no drifting around the country, consequently, a larger proportion of them will have wives and families then those following other occupations. And now they sre faced with the problem of finding work; finding work toe terribly overstocked lsbor market. Many of them will have to leave thek families and become drifters. Drifting all over tiw country seeking s precarious livelihood, following seasonal occupations. They came out on strike to assist workers to other occupations to better the conditions of labor, rjeue^pni, like unto »e scriptural injunction, that tiw welfare of other members of their clam , was thek concern ako. There fore we trust that the postal worker. wBl get thek jobs back again. We trust that the Canadian working clam will see to ft that the postal workers do get their jobs back. The Canadian governing elam are no doubt keen sharp business men. Some people, claiming to be judges on matters ethical, say that they are sharp to the point of indecency. It k said they have taken greater advantage of the business possibilities, opened up by the war, for profiteering and graft, than the bustoem men to any other part of the world. The fortunes piled up, while the agonising war tested, hsve been characterised as scandalous. It k also charged against thk businessman's government to Ottawa, that it has been very generous in apportioning its war eon- tracts. It k also charged with being suspiciously lax in supervising expenditures and deliveries. Its food control was said to (be a joke—for thc food profiteers. Other people, of little consequence, though, hfed other names for it. So had Investigator Connors, but he—he soon had the damper put on him. The "kept" press said that he was s busybody. It te mid thst for some reason, the working class of Canada have uot much use or respect for the character of the government of Canada. So we think it probable that the sharp business men of Canada snd their government may have made a mistake when'they told the decent men of the postal service thst they could not hsve their jobs back,-because, we think that the working class of Canada will see to it thst they do get thek jobs back. Whatever the result, their case may cause a lot of those people who hsve been caught by the glamor of nationalisation of industry under the capitalist system, furiously to think. ^''^fSa^P-^^i- ' ^iii^'^MiH THE TERMS ON WHICH WB OOBXD HAVE PEACE WITH RUSSIA There can be no real peace which doe.* not include Busste, Stress was laid on thte obvious' truth by Mr. Lloyd George in his speech on April 16. But why esn we not have peace with Bussiaf The reason does not lie af the door of the Soviet Government.' Ever stoee they came into power . they have made strenuous efforts to secure it, for they know that only by peace can- thc people of Busste be saved from starvation and nun. It may be worth While to remind our readers of the facte in this connection. On January 22 the Peace Conference at Parte approved a proposal by President Wilson for summoning sll the Russian parties to negotiations on the island of Prinkipo. Thk proposal was rejected by the various anti- Bolshevik governments. By the Soviet Government, although no invitation Was officially transmitted to them, and they learned of ite, existenee only through tiw French Socialist Press, it wsa accepted. Thek reply stated: "The Soviet Gov- eminent k prepared to purchase an accord at coat of great sacrifices,'' to spite of the ingiy favorable situation both from . military .nd internal point of view. Thus: 1. It is prepared to recognize financial obligations to creditors belonging to the Entente Powers. 2. It is ready to guarantee the interest by hand- tog over goods end raw materials. 3. It te disposed to grant mining, forestry and other concessions to Entente subjects. 4. It ewes not refuse to exclude from the negotiation* tiie discussion of eventual annexations of Bussian territory by the Entente Powers or of the maintenance in regions formerly pert of Busste (excluding Poland and Finland) "of armed forces of tite Entente or maintained by the Entente or enjoying ft. mflkaix technical, financial and otiwr . •' ** »t WWiMW^^^^^^^^mm^^^^- : l!aWR*ww*3*M&m \ ' ■■■■<. ■ international mon«y ef a group atjt control of industry \ $ limited power, able end bring into like .11 people it te used that up to tite •can enraTT ■ he e cue for r. are opt to concern of .the industrial " k that Of the gentle- connivance of the Gov- have hoppmrd dur- things whieh heve meant lae**C T-WBoTa^smmm.Monsj OX fenna placing into the bend. bkta tho entire create artificial 9* thte newer te one sere as well as the the feet remains have wield- wu eramtoc thc ^swia ssan«s7^«« \.:aammi M to ecu-todumrml Bfe, preetoted by the majority the relatively * bullion dealers they nave become vital system. With the wc credit they control for crack-up. If situation banks play not generally ap- :...'--.a^.." !»_«_« workers. From being merely safe deposit, tiw »spita*fkt development of or ill the whole mech- ?fv«BBeN S ;.'■ - of production. • ^ , ■ '^.jtf nothing wore than u formed by the banks, oe a millioi rower with that payments today are* cheques being ex tween the different fers of cash. '"Tbe Clearing House st the total dealt with side of tin. there transaction k operation per- lend a thousand .'crediting the bor- beeha, Tiw lrajk ef ef cheques; the "balanced' tbe by small trans- of the London 1918 showed that ,000,000,000. Out- with by the o ByA-B.0. In the April 17 Glasgow Socialist money trust it can eliminate competition among owners of capital, and by controlling finance artificially prolong, the life of thc system. Whether tins is possible te very doubtful, but there is undoubtedly an attempt in that direction. The bankers are drawing together, and the financial .xpsrte ef capitalism are aiming thek efforts in the direction of international control. At home tbe direction towards trustification te seen plains ly from the following list of amalgamations: London City and Midland and London Joint Stock I tanks, now /xmden City and Midland. Lloyd's and Capital and Counties Beaks, now Lloyd's Bank. ' London County and Westminster, Parr's, Nottingham snd Nottinghamshire Hanks, now London County .and Parr's. Barclay's, London and South Western, London snd Provincial, now Barclay'a National Provincial Union of London and Smith's. W. and J. Biggerstaff, Bradford and District JBnnk, now Notional Provincial Union. Bank of Liverpool and Martin's Bank, now Bank of Liverpool and Martin's, - - Union Bunk of Manchester and EasV Mbrley and Bradford Bank, now Union Bank of Manchester. ■■'*/■ Them amalgamation, arc but foreshadowings of still eloser unions. Actually there sre only two bag interest* to the banking world outside of the Bank of England. . These are Lloyds and the London City and Midland. These two concents have swept the rest up into thek maw. Lloyds have Bank, whilst the London.City and Midland control the Ulster Bank and the Belfast Banking Company. , "Abroad tiw same policy is in full swing* Lloyds J- . f: ' ■ . ; ■ '. PAGE TllltEB Tpf: ' ■ ■ have acquired controls of bank, to South America, and through thek sukddiary Lloyds Bunk (FranceJ and National Provincial Bank (France) are opening offices in Belgium. Barclay's Bank, by their amalgamation with the Loudon Provincial have obtained an interest in Cox and Co. (France), end they have concluded intimate working arrangements with a number ot foreign snd colonial banks, the British Bank of South America, Ltd, tiw Benca Italtena di Seern* to, the Irving National Bank, of New York and others. The London City and Midland and the London County Westminster and Purr*, each combine an Irish bank, while the latter possesses a French subadtery fend branches to Spate, William Deacon's Bank have .entered into e working arrangement with Anglo-South American Bank and the London and Brazilian Bank, while rksruag banks are interested in the British Italian Corporation and the British Trade Corporation. And so tile process of amalgamation goes on- All this is going on at the surface and must be only a faint clue to the real trustification that te going on secretly to the conclaves of tiw world's financier*. . #•'.'" At rpKscnt the money lords held the reins of power. Meanwhile the storm clouds are sunstag on the capitalist horizon. The very foundation, of property owning society are rocking. $*; The choice is clear to all who can observe, It is the Social Revolution or the establishment of a world-wide oligarchical tyranny whteh will pale the -fiction of Jack London. ♦. Marx spoke truly when be mud that capitalism contained the seeds of its own destruction. Competitive end even trustified capitalism te no longer possible, but we cannot aide tiw fact that the shadow of the Iron Heel of Oligarehism overhang us today. *\ On with our Social Revolutionary propaganda! With su'ch\a menace we cannot afford to be fatalists. Socialism or slavery te the ehoice. = WHITE BUM'S BUaUAIBf been living in a fools' Been before tbe warmth. W«; take the following illuminating to the "Labor Leader," as illustrat- damnable methods of Imperialistic Capitalism and the havoc it k wreaking on its helpless vktims, tiw prostrate peoples of backward countries. When will the white proletariat put fe stop to the infamy f .■**•■ The letter* reports on the rising of the masses in Egypt as a protest against the desperate condition they have been reduced to by foreign capitalist exploitation. "A British officer who abused the Egyptian dag (under whkh he serves) and shot the bearer dead, waa spared by the crowd, as they were determined not to be put out by any provocation., Considering tiw intensity of the provocation, and the dimensions of Ihe rising, the very small list of British casualties (mostly military), com- pered to the appalling number of Egyptian victims-snd thc extensive destruction of them property, shows the undoubted tolerance of the people end the peaceful nature of their movement. Tour, etc, M. A. OMAR, For the Egyptian Aasoektten, Imperial Hotel, Russell Square, W. C. . call upon the proletariat in the occupied parts of Hungary to seize all the weapons at thek command against the organisation of counter-revolutioiiK end nuke them impossible through sabotage. We call every proletarian to arms to defend the soviet, rule against the" onslaughts of capitalism." The counter-revolutionary plot at Deraesark, to the Vcsseprem country, which broke out May 5, has been suppressed, and three leaders were hanged. Four leaders to a counter-revolutionary plpt discovered to Satoralya Ujehly (130 miles northeast of Budapest and in the rear of the Czech armies)" were sentenced to twenty years in prison. The commjsssry of war reports an encounter between a Hungarian and British gunboat on the Danube, in which the later Was said to have been worsted ;. :> '• SOVIET APPEAL8 TO PROLrTAEIANT ment af ' *fc financial BUDAPEST, MAT M.-Tbet Hungarian Soviet Government hm tamed . call to the proletariat in occupied parts of the country to employ every means to "their power to prevent eouuter-revoiu- "International capitalism end Hungarian «e> aettenaries are fighting us to break down the proletariat dktatombip,'' the manifesto sold. "The ' autiaovkt government at Sefegedto, 100 mflee southeast of Budapest te trying to rate, a White Guard. Thus tiw armed class war continues. We Bob Smillte has demanded that mine-owning peers in Greet Britain, submit tiwir title deed, to tbe property, for scrutiny. The income of the M.rquk of Bute hss been estimated at over £200,060 a year. He is tiw owner of 117.- 000 acres, including rich coal mines to South Wake. He k ateo chairman of tiw Cardiff Railway Company and dkector of tiw Bhymuey Railway Company The late mnrunte left over fn> 000,009, end mueh of hte wealth eome from tiw Bute docks at Cardiff. Lord Durham own. .bout 30,600 acres end be said at the coal commission enquiry that B would take e railway van to carry hte title deeds. "Kertr mind." . The Manifesto of the Prke-gfiOO per 100 Party ef Stogie Copies 10c . . .; '' "*■* .. • ' " * r as i ■ 7.; ■ wk.. '» ivSft n-m THE RED FLAG a series of articles based "Another result of control by the ttsttrf with the pesaiatU' ownership lias been the 'back to the land' m< Vograd snd^sfoseow na%a materially pepaitetioD, chiefly aa u result of go out and take up land, agitation aauaeTctrograd Snd Moscow were the two places where it was hardest, .to get food on account of thc crippled railroads But even to those cities during tbe wont of the railroad demoralisation, it cost no more to live than in San Francisco. In Moscow I got dinners of soup, meat vegetables** coffee, and sometime, dessert for from five to ton that k fifty cents to a dollsr—and, of conditions have mueh improved since then. Through the darkest daya, from thc time the Bolsheviki got control, I am sure there was not one hungry person in Moscow. r .' "They bad begun te organize tiw distribution af food to a moat fair and thorough manner from the time I arrived to Bussia, when the great army of twelve million wee still demobolking itself. Even while happy groups of soldiers with their gas masks and ton kettles hung on thek hecks were trooping home, I saw armed guards handing out leaflets that announced a moratorium em bouse rents 'Rentals under one hundred end fifty rubles a month are not payable for three months.' the leaflets slid, 'Rentals above thk amount are payable aa usual.' Thk and the rationing of food was a godsend to the poorer people. Of course, thk wm in the early days of Bolsheviki rate. Later it could not be said that the workine people were poor people. Thek wages were more than adequate—that is, thejr could Bye well and mure. too. When thc White Guard overthrew the Bolsheviki in Siberia and re-established capitalism there, the guard complained during the first few weeks that they could not force woriring- men to work because they had too much money saved up. -■' ' "Whenever there wen * shortage of anything, bread, whatever H was, the Bolshevik gov- monopolked it end rationed it out. ksu- feed cards to make- sure that no one could boy more than his shore. Sugar wee scarce all Europe. The Soviets set the price at fifteen a pound and allowed each person a monthly allowance of from a half pound to a pound, depending on. the locality. At first for a short time there wss s little sugar for sale to isolated markets and tite rich people were buying it at the* rate ef' gLSB n pound, victs ktWi'jc/; i I R. Humphries, American along with us to help us get settled in thc next city. He accompanied us and helped us for ten days, and whan I offered him reimbu rsement for his work snd time, he refused it. Afterward, when the White Guard had overthrown the Bolsheviki at Omsk. I saw bun under quite different circumstances, a pitiable figure being taken to prison to be hanged, snd I was glad to be able to effect hk release by telling hte captor, -how he had aided the American Iced -Cibbss. #p »•/--<*■ Another proof of the remarkable efficiency of the Soviets was the tremendous campaign of propaganda carried ott Up to the German revolution. Boris Rheinstein. the Socialist Labor Party delegate from America to the proposed Stockholm conference, wss snd still k the head of tiie Eng-' lish-sneaking department of Foreign 'Propaganda. Petroff. one of the two men released from English jaik on the demand of the Soviet Government which ruled that no English merchant could go into or ont of Russia until they were freed, is the" . right-hsnd man of "the chkf of all tbe propaganda. Two dallies in German with fe half-million circulation were printed and shipped to the German front, somfe bv airplane, some by hand. through Russians who had become acquainted with Germans during the fraternization period. An illustrated paper for the benefit of the uneducated Germans was also got out. One of these showed the photograph I am showing vott here of the German Embassy- building, with sn inscription something Hke thk beneath it: 'See the building of the German Embsssv, with a banner'above it bearing the words of a greet German, te it Bismarck ♦ No. Ts it the Kaiser? No. It is the immortal Karl Marx, and hk words, are 'Workers of the World. TJnfte!' We now throw back to you the words of vonr great countryman and ask yon to unite. We Russians have token, the words seriously and all grower k now in thc hands of the Workers. How long will it be, before a German Socialist will come as Germany's ambassador?' Besides these, pamphlets were got out in English. French. Swedish, Turkish and Chinese. I came Bi close contact with these propaganda workers "I had a capital opportunity to see the efficient ^bile I was working for the American Y. M. C. A.. norant, one 11 rated peoplj "Here aln He oUJW 'dijjk and Russton jwonkra thoijjjicw wm of " 11 |il ifa ssUsmnniil lentiiiliij^iiliili dozen, stolid-faced earnest workingmen. "Thk te "a village soviet holding a meeting to discuss the' ways and means of forming a Notice the calculating frame on tiw k used to help them to adding snd "Thk is one of the ten thousand Soviets have opened," he said. of a srhealnW who row. of one side, three fenchers, all eager looking. "The Bolsheviki have, as you have heard, msny of their munition factories tote the manufacture of agricultural Wgejbiuao, test not all of them. They knew that they must .id tiw first nation that had a revolution, so they kept a necessary number of the munition plants going." • THE END. ***** ■ - 'in 'irn, A few weeks ago in Milan, the _ .centre in Italy, at a meeting of thousands of workers organised to protest against the holding of political prisoners and to demand the evacuation of Italian troops from Russia, a Soeialkt representative defined the situation sharply and clearly, amidst thunders of applause from tiw crowds: "The Italian bourgeoisie is bankrupt. The state which represents it is bankrupt. It matters not that bankruptcy has not been declared. It cxkts every public sen-ice and the state k dkorganked. Unemployment is growing. There te nothing to meet and face the needs of the people. Tiw state and thc bourgeoisie fear the situation. (Yoke: It is true. We need tovojutton.") "Even if Italy has won a military victory by sacrifieing a half- million of its workers, it has been defeat nomically. Our problem now k to feed the and the bourgeoisie cannot feed them. Only if the revolution in Russia, in Germany, in Austria succeeds will it be possible to obtain food from the East"--New York Dial," May 3. 4S. ,1m A correspondent in the New York "Nation," says that, "there are two names written to profusion or the walls of Rome.—W. Wilson end N. working of Soviet food control, for to taking twelve hundred Serbian refugees across Siberia, tiw American Bed Cross, I entered Into rela- wkh more than one hundred soviet, over of territory. These were bad fled to Boum.nl., then to South then to Siberia to Buaste. Raymond Robbins got *n appropriation of u quarter of a dollars with wMob to take them out end until- these, should be n chance to take them back to Serbia, and was loaned to the awl Cros. to take care of tbe job. "I found how reedy tiw Soviets esctynhore to help tiw refagees. They sold food at tiw rate es H wm mid to the Busman people, that might total wt yen, particularly aa/ retie w than half what would be to thte country, skitter wm from two to Tables a pound, that k rwentv to ferry cents. two to two-and-a-half cento apiece: a pound, and at one ©lace we get whole roasted chickens fur thirty to sixty cents "We were as generously treated to otheVre- snacts. At Omsk we asked for » nwnaatery for tike Iwuatog of the refugees, and would have re- entoed k except that it was already full of other Tafuceea. aa waa tiw whole any. But the Omsk of the city, .doctor, getting out and distributing copies of President Wilson's Fourteen Point speech. The Russians liked that speech and agreed with most of its fourteen points, but they were a little skeptical ss to whether the Allies would stand by it. "I got up to Petrograd in time to spend six interesting weeks seeing big things happen there, wBh John Reed. Louire Bryant mid Albert Rhys Williams. I was at the meeting of the Central Executive Committee when it was decided to let the Constituent Assembly meet for one day as a demonstration of clsss line-up. And I saw the Assembly dissolved early one morning by a sailor who did it by simply telling them that the Bed Guard was tired and wanted to go home. I saw one whole Sunday of bourgeois protest meetings to Moscow. These were carried on in a very sensible way. Two hundred or more groups of two or three bouvgeok men and women formed about tbe city, each group engaging a few sol- dters to sn argument. There, was no disorder, the Busskns ere so smsxingly reasonable. But they didn't convince the roldiers that they had done anything wrong to taking the jjwwer from tire 'natural rulers,' as they put ft. "Why don't you trust tiw educated peoples to teed you, instead of putting, filth in thk Lenine, thk man in the service of tiw Germam government?* some bourgeok men asked one soldier. * We are dark and !g- DBCTUBBAHCES Ef INDIA India after having been devested by-influenza, a most serious famine. These are facto that ought with appalling lorn of life, k now to the- grip ef not to be forgotten in reading the account, of the disturbances, amounting to "grave diorder," which have broken out to various pert, af the country. On top of thk misery tiw heavy bend of D. T>. R. A. has laid with mnrclsxed weight since the armistice. The present disturbances oeeured principally in the Punjab 'Troops were called to to restore order and there were casualties on both side* o As showing the extent of tiw revolt .gates* British rule, the Punjab k the home of the Sikk These people have always been meat "toyal" to the the British Regime They practically conquered. Indte back for the British fefter .tiw mutiny ofl'57, end since then have policed the Beat Indies efcr" them. The Executive Government hss eslled up the whole of Ha reserve..' military snd other, end k applying all the spectel powers of war-time, wfth some others revived from tiw day. of tiw Beat India Company, and several weD-known Punjabi political leaders have been departed or interned, and it may be taken for granted tiwt to all intents and purpose, the Punjab k under martial law. t ' ' ."' ■ ^4 Journal of News and Views Devoted io (he Interests of the Working Class ■-*>- VOLu 1 NO. 19 VANCOl-A'EB, SATUBDAY, MAY 31, 1919 ^PfYBORSTB =*= tate Capitalism or in IN a recent issue of • Seattle paper appears a report of a lecture delivered by Wilfred Humphriea, a Bed Crom worker but lately returned from Busste. In thk'report Humphries k credited with the assertion that "State Socialism" is now in operation in Bolshevik Busste and that the Bolsheviki admit thst the "period of transition" must necessarily take that form. Thk statement, k I find, viewed wfth something very like coaster- nation by certain i "Revolutionary" Socialists. Some are inclined to deny the correctness of the statement and to insist Humphries misunderstood his informant. Others, while accepting the statement at ite face value, take the stand thst the Bolsheviki have, by adopting such a stand, "betrayed.the revolution." Meanwhile. Socialists, of tite ''Menshevik" type are, of course, highly elated at what they are pleased to interpret ss a tack admission that the transitory period must inevitably be patterned on their particular understanding does undoubtedly exist at least tqrship of the Proletariat would be the elimination of the exploiting class and consequently of the exploited clam, thus ultimately banishing all economic clam distinctions. The foregoing points be- where remarked on the fact that enormous numbers of men otherwise qualified to vote are virtually disf rajiehisedi by tite fact that the nature ef thek occupation prevent, thek staying long enough in on. place to fulfil thc memory quali- fication of residence, whereas to Busste no such qualification exists? Docs not Mr. Spargo know- that in the United ' State, there are millions of ing clearly understood it i will be obvious thst the young men snd women, ef eighteen and twenty- statement attributed to Mr. Humphries snd referred to above, while probably correct to substance, affords no excuse for premature elation on the port of Menshevik or Bourgeois socialists nor for consternation on the part of Revolutionists. While on the subject of the Proletarian Dictatorship it might not be out of place to dispose, once and for all, of an .injection lately urged against tost institution as now functioning in Russia by one •John Spargo, erst while socislist. It Mr. Spargo object* to the Bolsheviki arc not what he terms."Democratic." It has been said that "by their fruits ye shalj knew Uitiu.' i|einBera<;. ^judged by'fts fruits it might be as well to let Mr. Spar- go's objection stand. If such conditions as now among thorn who have not a thorough grasp of exfcttet:practically all countries, now that the the principles involved. Wherefore. I take ft, a world has by a particularly gruesome process been little light on the subject wfll hot be amiss at this successfully made safe for democracy, are to be :«SeJ#e juncture. The misconception undoubtedly .rises from careless but very prevalent habit of terms "State Soctelkm" as synonymous. I have h eisliata use the term "State Soctelkm" when fen analysis of tite particular economic condition to whieh they bed reference 'showed undoubtedly that tiiey meant "State Capitalism" On the other bend, I have known "Evolutionary" Socialists to denounce ss reactionary any reference to "State Socialism" ss a probable treinationery state when ft wss obvious that what they bed fa mind was "State Capitalism." We know, of course, that thc State, as at present constituted in sll raprtalkt countries, k merely the Inatrument of the nation.! rapftsBst class This k so in PACT but not to any degree in POBM. The FORMAL assumption, then, ay the State as at present constituted, of sB eeonomk Mr. Spargo'. meaning of the word, then might one will say "Away with your Democracy. We want none of it." I imagine, however, that the . democracy. Mr. Spargo has in mind is that purely theoretical democracy which has nowhere any actual existence and may be defined by a slight alteration of a well worn formula, thus: "Government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people." If this be Mr. Spargo*s conception of the meaning the word then may I be permitted to point out him that there is not one single argument can be urged on ite behalf against the politic system now in vogue, to Bolshevik Busste that cannot ate. be urged with greater justice against thc very system in vogue in that "tend of the free and home of the brave" wherein Mr. Spargo resides; the rutera of whkh hsve same time since taken Mr. Spargo to their cefleetivc bosom. one year, of age who are performing useful work in mines, factories, and industrial plants but are denied the franchise until they are t wenty-one, whereas in Russia workers of eighteen years and up have a vote, and.that the st at ment. made above regarding the franchise to thc United State, are, in the main, applicable to all other countries except Russia! ... Cndouhtedly Mr. Spargo knows all these but for reasons perhaps best known-to himself, ha chooses at thte time to ignore them. Let the facte speak for themselves. Mr. Spargo, by hk erftsV ckra, has invited a comparison between the degree -aI democracy existing in Russia under the snd that existing in the so-calkd "Democratic** countries under capitalism. We who endorse the Bolsheviki programme do not fear to meet the issue. '--'IPBH Bussjfe today stands forth as being formally snd actually more nearly democratic than any capitalist country on the surface of the earth, and potentially mure democratic then any country can ^"^"^C , ■ .„"'•, Jm*M •*—- ■ ' - .■,;.: ••>...-#■%* ',-:.•-. \ : ■ C. K. [Thk .rtkte wa» sent to as without any indication* as to the identity of the author. Wfll our niuir.de kindly oblige us again? ABB FEEMCH ABU OBBMAN ■ I I M • In tiw " TALKS WTTB BAAS1 of May 6. Jean fast returned from Amsterdam, conversation Whteh he had there with Hugo the lender or the German Independent Haase declared that there bed been in Germany a superb movement to tiw Left, toWaide a gen- uine rcvetotienSry Seemwaa," as proved by tan *ty/&£***** tto***. ^ f* •"***** '■* •*• I** election, for Workmen's Ceaswfis. fa suthority would be "State Capftalkm" and neth- fact th.} to Busste under tiw Bolsheviki the Bour- out of 88 mete, It ward new held fee/ the tog .tee. Thk k certainly the immediate "Men- sherik" program.. ..On tiw other bend tbe formal end actual as sumption of all eeonomk authority by a State trolled by thc proletariat would be "State Soctelkm" or. in other words, fe "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" whteh sua one and the same thing. Viewed thus ft may be dearly there k an essential eaaaiunce to POBM "State Soctelkm" snd "State Capitalism." k also sn essential and vital difference to FUNCTION whteh ft. would he well to note. The formel .Capitalist State would extet, « dees now- the actual CapftaUkState, for the purpose of perpetuating a and privileged class and consequently a large exploited elsas. On the other hand the aha. and literally the end, of tiw Socialist State or Dteta- geotete are denied the franchise. Thte te indeed a terrible business. We can imagine Mr. Spargo'a uplifted hands. We ran visualise the whites of Mr. Spargo*» unrolled eyes. Aim! that these thtng. riranld be. Bet why thk sudden consideration for the Bus- i Beuigeckk? Charity, ft has been said, fend so, should begin el home. Doe. not Mr. know that to the United States, that model democracy, millions of women sre dented the franchise while in Russia they are admitted on equality, with ment fa he not aware of tiw fact that kLtbe United States no man- who te not * citteen can vote no matter how useful a member of society Ik; white to Bosate any permii* resident vote providing only that he or she te perf ormmg tare tnet u in emu. w.y or ether useful to ssetety f Has not Mr. Spurge himself he may there pendente, 4 by the 8partaemte, only 7 by m*arierity Soctelkm. .nd 1 BouTgeote hud now 250,000 member.; Be in cirealstion despite tite paper mirtega At the reeent Congrem of Cbonerte they haa1 carried the msjority on many The Sehkdenwnn-I Haaae, wa* absolutely dmeredited; the amy eleer for * real flosteltet fteni imuul. The Sper- tactete Were really e tiny body: seen thek had shown was cartirefy due to tne n«ble pereeeutieu end repreesten (worse than anything under the old regime) to which they had been subjeefed by tiw fa Busste be tteraght that the Soviet ment was nan7 thwie.gbly ataJaUalt. Over tiie war now being waged sgstest tiw Soviet Bipshlta be