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Show pf1e of labor power, and to tlx lb4 1 conditions It shall operate under, the workers are. comnelicd , to eouibino with a vlw ot "cornering" their commodity com-modity labor- power; that is, withdrawing: with-drawing: from the plants of production, produc-tion, paralysing Industry and slopping profits, whenever the conditions of operations are hurtful or the price in-rufl'lcient in-rufl'lcient tor physical neeHSitles. This Is a right the workers have enjoyed in Australia forycan,; It Is a right they should never have given up. The defect la not so much In the weapon as it Is in those operating operat-ing It. However, sufficient has been stated to show to a bona fide worker that strikes are the outcome ot the economic mode of capitalist production i lor profit, a system which divides society into two classes; ownerless vvui,e earners an 1 owning proiit tak-eiB, tak-eiB, between which there Is no Identity Iden-tity of economic .interests. Make-up of Capitalist Society. When ono understands the economic and class makeup of capitalist society the cause of strikes, lockouts, unemployment, unem-ployment, and poverty in the midst of plenty, It Is an open book. No Individual Indi-vidual is responsible for the effects flowing lTom a social cause. It Is sheer Ignorance on the part of anyone any-one to blame Peter Bowling, and bla Imprisoned mates, as the cause of the recent coal strike; these men simply sim-ply directed affairs after conditions bad forced a result a strike result. The miners became so disgusted ed with the conditions of employment that they could no longer-sufter them, and as a protest thoy withdrew their labor power from coal production-According production-According to capitalist ethics, those men acted quite correctly as sellers of labor power. If a capitalist choos- i vi;!jlinv iroiu sale tho goods he owns in order to get more for them ;n :.oUie i.ti.c! period, he, too, is acting act-ing consistently with tno ethics of the system of production for private profit, or Individual gain. And, while this state of things ox:st we may expect ex-pect to see strikes and lockouts occurring occur-ring and recurring. In sprto of laws passed throuch the legislature to enforce en-force "Industrial peace." Socialists are no dreamers; they see that strikes are the Inevitable outcome out-come of eapitallst conditions of production. pro-duction. The suffering entailed through the strike Is not overlooked, but the socialists know It to be unavoidable un-avoidable until tho workers In their organized class might register a solid sol-id demand for the legal overthrow of capitalist ownership, and aro educated, edu-cated, organized, and prepared to remain re-main in tho whole of the Industries and "lock out the capitalist" class from ownership, thereby stripping them of the means and power to further fur-ther exploit the only useful class of society tho working class. That day Is coming, and the economic events of the hour predict its coming much quicker than most people speculate spec-ulate upon. Sydney People. Increase, but the means of satisfying satisfy-ing these wants and desires are not , available under the present system of capitalist class ownership of tb source (the land), and tho socially created tools of production (tho machinery ma-chinery operated by the workers in the production of wealth) and tho mode of carrying on production for profit, to those who are the producers the workers In the Industry. It must also be understood that the wealth produced by the workers Is the property of the owner or owners , of the factory or mine, etc., out of w hich comes the wages of the work- ; ers and the profits of tho capitalist. ( The greater the amount of the result i of his toll the worker can force back I from the owner the more is he en- j abled to satisfy his wants and nppeaso ; his desires; while, on the other hand, J the more the capitalist can withhold from the workers the more can he re- j vel In riches and riot In hucury, and the more Becure does he feel in the ownership of the means of exploitation. exploita-tion. I-abor-power being a comraod- ity something with an exchange val-1 ue, a saleable quantity has also a ; price, and the prl'v of labor Is represented repre-sented by wages, and wage the workers' work-ers' subsistence In exchance for labor-power. Therefore, it will be readily read-ily seen that the interests or the producing pro-ducing workers and the capitalist own- : ers arc antagonistic, and It Is through , this economic condition of thlags that the strike and lockout appears on tho industrial horizon. Rightful to Strike. The capitalist class owns the whole of . the means of production and trans- 1 portation; the workers must have ac- ces to the field, tho factory, mine, I mill and transportation, In order to j live, the conditions or such access depending on the selling price of la- I bor power, and the selling price of . the commodity on which that force ! has been expended and In which so ; much labor time Is embodied; the i price of both conditioned and regu- lated by a market. To keep up tho i STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS. Are Conditions Inseparable From the Capitalist Mode of Production. Strikes are" the result of economic pressure brouaht to bear upon the ! workers In the industrial arena in , field, factory, mill, mine oi wharf, ) ship, etc. by the employing class, j known today as the owning capitalist j class. With the march of progress, man's mind broadens, his intellect trightens, and his wants and desires I |
