The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 27, 1924, Page 9

| Carrying the Banner of Social Revolt By ALEXANDER BITTELMAN The history of all hitherto exist- Ing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppres- sor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolution- ary re-constitution of society at large, or In the common ruin of the contending classes. Thus spoke Karl Marx and Freder- ick Engels, in the “Communist Mani- festo,” on the nature of human soci. ety and on the prime fundamental forces that are making its develop- ment and shaping the changes in its construction. What is the story of social life! It is a story of striggle,- of class against class, of the oppressed against the oppressor, a struggle for political power to reshape society—the owner- ship and control of the wealth of the nation—in the interests of the oppres- sed masses. The Last Struggle for Power. In the past it was a struggle of slave against freeman, plebeian against patrician, serf against lord, journeyman against guild-master. Now it is a struggle of worker against capitalist, the proletariat against the bourgeoise. And _in this struggle of today, the Banner of Social Revolt. is carried by the Communist Interna- tional—the spiritual and political suc- cessor to the First International. Social changes of former epochs re- sulted, as a rule, in substituting one ruling class for another. The slave of yesterday became the freeman and master of today. The oppressed bour- geoise under the feudal regime be- came the powerful capitalist class of today, holding under its iron heel millions upon millions of toiling mass- es. But when these in their turn suc- ceed in overthrowing the rule of the capitalists, the only new form of so- ciety that can result out of such a revolution is- a society of equals, a society of Communist brotherhood. Ours, therefore, is the last strug- gle for power. The victorious work- ing class can materialize its victory over the bourgeoisie and realize in a measure the fruits of the social rey- olution only in one way and that is by abolishing classes altogether. That is why the final aims of the proletar- ian class struggle, in distinction from the final aims of former aspirants to power is not the perpetuation of class rule but, on the contrary, its total liquidation. It’s the final conflict. Let each stand in his place. The Interna- tional Party shall be the human race. The First International Has Shown the Way. But how shall we reach this goal? The First International, founded in London sixty years ago, has shown the way. Through the medium of its immortal leader, Karl Marx, the First International has proclaimed the truth that the seizure of political power by the working class is the only road to the abolition of capitalist exploita: tion, to the abolition of classes’ alto- gether, and to the institution of a so- ciety of human brotherhood. The First International! Only an incident in the great proletarian struggle for fréedom, was it not? And yet what a significant, epoch-making incident that was! Everything of im- portance that happened to the work- ing class within the last sixty years can be traced, directly or indirectly, to that memorable day in September, 1864, upon which there first made its appearance the “International Work- ingmen’s Association.” It was the first visible manifesta- tion of working class international- ism. Just imagine. In a world half submerged in blood and nearly torn to shreds by kings, feudals and capi- talists, there appears’ in the arena of social life a body of workingmen intent upon acting “internationally. As against the petty jealousies of kings and emperors and as against the expansionist ambitions of the ris- ing bourgeoisie this International As- sociation of Workingmen puts up the idea and the movement for working- class solidarity of the toiling masses the world over. Can you feel the workings of this idea in the labor movement of today? Can you see hundreds of thousands of proletarians closing their ranks be- hind the Communist International, marching proudly under the banner of social revolt and determined to establish an International Soviet Re- public? If you can see this movement, and if you also happen to know what transpired in-London, in St: Martin’: Hall,_on a September day in 1864, you will realize what-the First Inter- national has meant for the working- class struggle for freedom. The Road to Power. Go back to the “Inaugural Address” by Karl Marx, delivered at the found- ing of the First International. Read it. Study it. Try to extract from it its most momentous lesson and di- rection to the working class. And what is it? The seizure of political FREDERICK ENGELS power. It tells the workers in so many words that the road to freedom is the road to power. How? By fight- ing for it, nationally and internation- ally. Thru what means? Thru the means of a_ revolutionary working class political party. This is the es- sence of the theory and practice of the First International. And when you now see class con- scious proletarians flocking into the ranks of the Communist International you ~understand the connection be- tween it and what happened in St. Martin’s Hall in September of 1864. And when you see over the’ heads of the revolutionary workers of today a red banner floating with the inscrip- tion: “Hail the Dictatorship of the Proletariat,” you will feel satisfied that the work of the First Interna- tional has not been in vain. A Temporary Eclipse, The proletarian struggle for power has had its ups and downs. The same is true of the international working class movement. The defeat of the Paris Commune, which resulted in a terrific onslaught upon the pro- letariat by the militant reaction of the world bourgeoisie, coupled with internal dissentions have brot to a)bound to betray the workers at the close the existence of the First Inter- | first real test with capitalist reality national. And it was only in 1889] which came at the beginning of the that the attempt was made again to| late war. give international expression to the In fact since. the beginning of the working class movement of the world. present century the labor movement It finally materialized into what is of the world entered into a period of now known as the Second Interna- temporary eclipse as far as interna tional. tional action was concerned. One It was to continue the traditions of |gnight safely say that since 1901 the First only on a. much wider scale.|there has been no working class body It was to raise again the banner of | effectively functioning in the field of social revolt and to carry it on until|the international class struggle. The the final victory of the world prole-| late Jwar and the total collapse of the tariat. Second International merely com- But, alas, this was not to be, hav- | Pleted a decade of bankruptcy and be- ing fulfilled the important historic | trayal. The Sun Appears Again. Those were bitter years for the mili tant and class. conscious workers of the world. The banner of social re- volt was nowhere visible on the inter- national horizon. Only the working class of Russia under the leadership of the Bolsheviks and their immortal mission of assisting in the upbuilding of political mass parties of the work- ers in a number of European coun- tries, a mission which was accom- plished during two decades of com- paratively peaceful capitalist develop- ment, the Second International went bankrupt and later collapsed alto- gether because of the inability and | leader, Lenin, and small sections of unwillingness of its leadership to | militants in other European countries cope in an effective way with the | were valiantly resisting this black capitalism of today—the capitalism of |tide of betrayal and demoralization. imperialistic wars and _ proletarian | Until— revolutions. Until the Red Sun appeared in the East, the Russian Revolution in 1917. The formation of the Communist In- ternational in 1919. And since then the triumphant march of the revolu- tionary proletariat the world over. The banner of social revolt has again risen over the heads of the working class, purged and cleansed in the fire of struggle and in the blood of working class revolutionaries. The Communist International has come into existence and with it the resurrection of the best and most po- tent traditions of the First Interna- tional. : Karl Marx in 1864, in St. Martin’s Hall, in London, England; Nicholas Lenin in 1919, in the hall of the Krem- lin, in Moscow, Russia. Two links in the chain of struggle. Two mile- stones on the Road to Power. In this day of celebration, let us dedicate our lives to the cause champ- ioned by our leaders, Marx, Engels and Lenin. Let us once more declare before the whole world: No compromise with the enemy! A fight to the finish for the prole- tarian dictatorship and the Commun- -Jist Society! Long live the International Soviet Republic! Hillman in Toronto. NEW YORK, Sept. 26.—Sidney Hill- man, president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, has left for an organizaton trip in eastern Can- ada. He will confer with the local organizations of the union in Mon- treal and Toronto. The recent strike Montreal to get contractors registered and maintain union conditions is a complete victory for the union. Russians Postpone Play. On account of the affair to be given led by| Saturday, Sept. 27, for the benefit of the DAILY WORKER, the Society for Technical Aid to Soviet Russia has postponed its performance to Satur- day, Oct. 4. A Russian play, “The Devil's Kitchen,” in four acts, will be The Second International, Scheideman, Noske, Henderson, Mac- Donald, etc., has betrayed the tradi- tion of the First International in two fundamental respects. The former turned out to be neither International | given by the Society at 1902 W. Divi- nor revolutionary. It was therefore DANCE JOE HILL TOTHE ; Played by the Black Cat Orchestra MUSIC OF At the 3rd Annual Dance of |. U. 330, I. W. W. _ SUNDAY SEPT. 28 28 AT MOZART HALL (1534 Clybourn Ave., near Halsted St.) i Entree 7:30 P. M. Admission 35c