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Show PROBLEMS FACING STRICKEN WORLD Shall Chaos or Reconstruction in Europe Follow the Great World War? RADICALISM IN THE SADDLE Without a Definite Program, People Everywhere Are Demanding a Change in Present Conditions Threat of "Direct Action." Article XI. By FRANK COMERFORD. Radicalism in Europe Is rampant. The workers are active, the middle class sympathetic. The indu-trit'i centers nre hotbeds. The con'ter'-ViTsm of the farmers and peasants is breaking break-ing down. It is hard to define this radicalism It Is without iform. It Isn't a definite program, it Isn't even political. The people are dissatisfied. The red flag Is popular. It promises a short cut. It answers the cry of the impatient. I was surprised to see many of the very men who fought so gallantly under their country's flag and who but yesterday would have torn the red flag from the flagpole, now defending It, carrying It and following fol-lowing it. I am sure they do not know what the red flag stands for. To them It represents a protest against things as they are. Summed up In a word, the attitude of mind of the workers of Europe Is eagerness for a change some change any change. Every one knows the symptoms, understands what Is wrong, but the remedy Is only vaguely discussed. I attach much significance to the new attitude of organized labor In Europe. Labor unions formerly concerned con-cerned themselves with wages, terms of employment, shop conditions, safety appliances, recognition of their right of collective bargaining. Since the war the labor movement has taken np questions entirely outside of Its field, questions properly the concern of all the people, questions of government policy. I have In mind recent demands de-mands made by the working men In England, France and Italy. These demands de-mands were addressed to the' regularly and properly elected representatives of the people, the governments. They were accompanied by threats of general gen-eral strikes If they were not acceded to. This step is an innovation; It is revolutionary. The working men are citizens and have a voice in the government eqnnl with all other citizens. After the people peo-ple have selected their representatives, the men chosen should be responsible to all of the people without regard to class or station. A government by one portion of the people Is autocratic. Government of the people, for the people, peo-ple, and by the people, means all of the people. The effort on the part of a minority In the labor movement, who challengingly call themselves socialists, so-cialists, to dictate to the state, representing repre-senting all of the people, Is an attack upon democracy. If successful It would destroy the state and leave the great majority of the people, Including the workers, less free than they are now. What sane man, whether he Is a working man or not. Is In favor of minority government? Demands Hard to Understand. I witnessed many demonstrations In Europe under the red flag, in which the leaders demanded three things from the government. First, they demanded the release of all the men In Jail who were held for political crimes. These Included men found guilty of sedition and treason during the war. I cannot understand this demand. Why should men be released re-leased from jail who sought to stab In the back the men who went to the trenches to fight and die for freedom? I should much prefer to see all of the burglars released. If I am compelled to choose between the traitor and the burglar, I will have no trouble in making mak-ing my decision. Second, they demanded that no soldiers sol-diers be sent to Russia. The agitation on this point was so strong that when the British government attempted to send soldiers to Russia last summer (1919), the soldiers mutinied, and so far as I am able to learn the feeling was so strong, the situation so critical, the government did not dare court-martial court-martial them. Third, they demanded that all conscription con-scription laws be abolished. It Is apparent that these demands, coming from a minority, backed by a threat, constitute an Invasion of the rights of the people. The question I Isn't whether or not one believes these things should be done; the Issue Is the method resorted to. Personally I do not believe soldiers should be sent to Russin. In my opinion allied Intermeddling Inter-meddling has been stupid and harmful. but If these matters of general public ! policy are to be decided, all of the . people should have a vote In making 1 up the verdict. I ; When you consider this new attl- i tude of labor In conjunction with the growing popularity of "direct action." I It Indicates that the labor movement Is losing faith In law and political ac- tlon. I am not saying that their ex-" ex-" perience with politics, their betrayal by men they have supported, the default de-fault of political parties to carry out ; pre election pledges, may not be re ; "ponsihle for a distrust In political lovemment. I am not denying that 'tpjl.' tas bad the ear of government wore than It should ; that property has been given more thought than human beings. I am concerned with the danger dan-ger that these innovations promise, a danger to the working men themselves, a menace to law and order, withont which no one Is secure, without which there can be no freedom. Political Action Called Failure. I heard a speech In London that deeply Impressed me. It was applauded applaud-ed by several thousand men and women wom-en average good British working people. peo-ple. Most of the men wore service badges. The speaker, a clean young Englishman of about thirty-five, said: "Political action is a failure. We vote and we are betrayed. Political parties are the agents of bands of capital. Their purpose Is to keep the workers apart, knowing that divided we are powerless. The only time they are willing we should unite is when war calls for men. What did we win In the war? Nothing. We thought we had a stake In the game, that the hand we were playing was onr own. Now that it Is over we have discovered that ' we won nothing. "What did the working man ever get by voting, except the worst of It? The word vote comes from a Latin word, meaning 'to wish.' Who ever got anything by wishing? "We are like the story in Bellamy's 'Looking Backward.' You remember he spoke of a conch. On top of this coach the capitalists sit In the sunshine sun-shine enjoying the :ide. On the side if the coach, hanging by their fingernails finger-nails and toenails are the hundreds of thousands who make up the middle clfss. Millions of men are pulling the conch They are sweating and trudging trudg-ing they are the working men. Running Run-ning along the side of the coach are millions more, fighting to get a chance to get hold of the rope and pull the coach. They are the Idle. There Is only one thing to do. That Is to stop pulling the coach, let go of the rope. Don't wish about It; do It. The fellows on the top of the coach don't do any wishing they boss and drive." The crowd cheered. There is some I ruth in the speech. It is true that the working man has not had a square deal, but the fact that he has not had fair treatment does not make the plan of direct action a sane, wise plan. Revolution would only lead to blood and disorder and leave the very men who revolted In a worse plight than they nre now. The millions who are the majority have an Infinitely better weapon than force. They have the ballot. They are in the majority. Men must think their way out of the wilderness. wil-derness. They cannot fight their way out. When they try to they go deeper in. Bolshevism Finding Favor. I found the word bolshevism In the minds and on the lips of the working people of Europe. I expected to find them an tl bolshevik if for no other reason rea-son than that bolshevism came from Russia and the bolsheviks made peace with Germany while the allies were In a death struggle with her with the result re-sult in doubt. I found them confessing confess-ing their faith in bolshevism, speaking of It as a new religion, resenting the obstacles their own governments had placed in its way. In Ireland, the last place I expected to find n leaning toward bolshevism, 1 found an open devotion to It. The Irish people are in many respects the most conservative in the world. The only radicalism they have ever shown is the revolutionary spirit expressed In uprisings up-risings for freedom. The Irish are a people of reminiscence and tradition. The Celtic mind Is devoted to form and custom. I was present at the Irish Federation of Labor convention held In August, 1919, at Drogheda. The delegates to this convention, repre senting 300,000 union men and women, went on record almost unanimously for bolshevism. I later learned that few of them, If any, knew exactly what bolshevism was. I asked a leading lead-ing spirit of the convention If he believed be-lieved In communism, the abolition of the private ownership of property, anil he said, "Of course not; that's rank nonsense; socialism; Impossible and Impractical." The pro and con of I bolshevism has from the beginning been partisan and prejudiced. Working Work-ing men are bolsheviks because em- i ployers are against It, and employers are ngnlnst It because the men are for i It (Copyright. 1920. Western Newspaper lnton ! |