Caroline Nelson at war with the ‘trimmers’ in another sharp critique on those who would make Socialism an idealist, middle class philosophy, rather than the doctrine of an insurgent, emancipating, working class.

‘The Only Cure for Socialism is Socialism’ by Caroline Nelson from Revolt (San Francisco). Vol. 2 No. 23.  December 2, 1911.

When Tolstoy said, “The ruling class will do everything except get off the worker’s back,” he uttered one of the profoundest truths that any man ever uttered. Down in Los Angeles the good government people are asking how to beat the Socialist just now. And to get that question answered Lincoln Steffens, the eminent “Muckraker,” was called in by the eminent club-men.

“I don’t see why you should want to beat the Socialist,” began Steffens. Later he goes on, “Meanwhile you suffer from having licked labor. Now, if you will go to labor, I think they will ask you to provide in some way for the future development of this city and the great increase of wealth here so as to add to their wages. No plan for the future of any city will be complete without that.”

Then he went on to tell how in Liverpool, England, the people had taken over every public utility except gas, but that Liverpool was the hottest place of the strike.

“The way to beat the Socialists in Los Angeles, not in this campaign, but in any campaign,” says he, “is to generate a plan for the future of Los Angeles. Put on the list things you are going to do, then send abroad a committee to find out the things that have already been done in other cities. Then put your plan among the people. Go to the Socialists, go to the workers, go to all classes of your people here. Get them to help you to contribute items to your plan.”

He elaborates upon the idea that Socialists succeed simply because they are idealists that forget themselves to work for what is to them almost a religious cause. Socialism to Lincoln Steffens is not the result of class consciousness, but idealism. Let the capitalist find out what that idealism is then formulate it in immediate demands, and you have turned aside Socialism. In other words, imitate Socialism as it is represented by the Socialist politicians and you can beat them.

No, Mr. Steffens, doubtless you would be right, if back of our politicians stood nothing but a crowd of excited workers and middle class, who waited to beat the other fellow out of the game to hoist in their little gods to lead them out of Egypt. And in case the gods failed, which you know they must, until wage-slavery is wiped out, they would turn to new gods with new promises. Thus keep the thing going between hope and despair. No, but back of the Socialist politician stands a trained host of men and women who will not trade or compromise; whose hopes and ideals cannot be imitated by your capitalists and people of all classes; whose only ideal is the overthrow of wage-slavery and to institute a society where there are no capitalists, nor many kinds of economic classes. This society cannot be instituted by promises of any man or set of men. It must be fought for every inch by the workers themselves in the industries first. These victories will reflect themselves in politics. Such victories the middle class will howl down as rank anarchism and the upper class will denounce it as civil treason. In these battles there will be no coming together of all classes of people by idealism and promises. The worker’s only economic interest immediately is how to get more wages and shorter hours to save his life for a better and nobler existence. What the capitalists do with the surplus value they steal from him may interest him as a study in human depravity, but it cannot matter to him whether they gamble it, or pay it out in graft or buy dukes for their daughters with it. Let the worker attend to his own duty. Let him get down to business to fight for his life, where his life is potent is in production, where he is robbed. And this danger of the capitalists imitating him in his idealism to nullify him will be laughable.

But, do not forget, if the Socialists are going for mere political doctrines with immediate demands for municipal ownership of public utilities with the social revolution away off in the background, why the capitalists can even outdo it. If this is to be our most radical measure the radical capitalist politician can out radicalize us. They are in fact doing so now. Governor Johnson has more than once out-radicalized our Opportunist politicians. The very fact that Lincoln Steffens calmly tells our enemies that we win because we are idealists, and advises them to go and learn from us, then formulate a plan and present it to the people, which is the way to beat us. It shows that somehow we have put an awful lot of water in our milk somewhere, and that the worker will in good time demand a strict account of our transaction.

We are simply repeating history. Very few workers know that the Christian religion is an outcome of a proletarian movement in the Roman Empire. This movement began with the outcasts and lowly, just like our Socialist movement did, and was howled down by the ruling class as a thing dripping with filth, blood and murder. Gradually the leaders compromised to make it more respectable. Some of the upper class joined and more compromise had to be indulged in. Bitter fights took place within the movement for and against this compromise business. The compromisers became the majority and made Christianity so that it was acceptable to all classes, until the Roman Emperor himself accepted it. The Christian name became the symbol of the highest idealism that instituted the darkest age the world has ever experienced It was the forged weapon of the workers turned against themselves. Christianity beat Christianity. Mr. Lincoln Steffens’ advice to the capitalist is “go thou and do likewise!” Only Socialism can beat Socialism. And he is the wisest sage the capitalist has so far produced.

Fellow workers and Socialists, this is something we cannot afford to wave aside. Everywhere among the upper class and the yet untaught workers we are told, “Oh, yes, there are two kinds of Socialism, one is anarchistic, the other simply want justice and want the government to own the railroads and street-cars, and so on.” Which brand do you and I stand by? That which has gained favor and respectability among the upper class, or that which is howled down as “anarchism”? Have we gone through years of toil to forge a weapon only to hand it over to our enemy to smite us?

Revolt ‘The Voice Of The Militant Worker’ was a short-lived revolutionary weekly newspaper published by Left Wingers in the Socialist Party in 1911 and 1912 and closely associated with Tom Mooney. The legendary activists and political prisoner Thomas J. Mooney had recently left the I.W.W. and settled in the Bay. He would join with the SP Left in the Bay Area, like Austin Lewis, William McDevitt, Nathan Greist, and Cloudseley Johns to produce The Revolt. The paper ran around 1500 copies weekly, but financial problems ended its run after one year. Mooney was also embroiled in constant legal battles for his role in the Pacific Gas and Electric Strike of the time. The paper epitomizes the revolutionary Left of the SP before World War One with its mix of Marxist orthodoxy, industrial unionism, and counter-cultural attitude. To that it adds some of the best writers in the movement; it deserved a much longer run.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/revolt/v2n23-w32-dec-02-1911-Rrevolt.pdf