Another broadside against the opportunists and parliamentarians, the ‘political socialists,’ from Caroline Nelson in Revolt, voices of revolutionary proletarian ‘industrial socialism.’ Again the target being Socialist Party leader, and lawyer, Morris Hillquit, whose stated idea of ‘revolution’ was “mounting the barricades” if the capitalist dared refuse him his seat if he won an election.

‘Real Power’ by Caroline Nelson from Revolt (San Francisco). Vol. 3 No. 46. March 26, 1912.

Industrial Organization Effective Weapon

Forty-one years ago the “reds” of Paris by the aid of the National Guard captured that city and held it for about five weeks. They made their last stand in the cemetery, where thirty thousand of them were left dead. Never in history had there been a more brutal slaughter. With it Socialism seemed to be utterly routed and killed out in Europe. But it only grew more vigorously after a little while. And our wisest enemy of today no longer attempts such childish nonsense as to go out gunning for Socialism. He knows the best he can do is to shape it and mold it, until it becomes harmless.

However, the “reds” have learned many things in forty-one years. One of these, all important lessons is that our real power is not in guns, houses, government buildings or palaces, but in our hides. The wealth of the world is not in money, but in our labor power, and all money are only checks on labor power. When we get in control, therefore, of our labor power, the world is ours. We needn’t run anywhere to take possession. We have it. It can be done much easier by sitting still. Our inertia would make our civilization fall to pieces in twenty-four hours, a thousand times more effectually than all the cannons in the world could shoot it to pieces. And Morris Hillquit, who invited us not long ago to mount the barricades to fight like tigers to seat our politicians, if the capitalist should refuse to do so, will have to play the tiger himself. We are not going to shed any more of our blood to seat officials. We have done that only too often in the past. We are going to seat ourselves at the banquet board because we are the providers and the cooks.

But, you say the workers can’t quit because they would starve. They are starving now. Many of us go without food for a couple of days. Starvation constantly stares us in the face. We will soon be so used to it in large masses that starvation will have no terror for us. But why should we starve? The world is groaning under the food, clothing and shelter that we have produced. But we can’t take them, you say. We don’t need to take them. They’ll be pushed into our hands with prayers that we go back to our work at our own terms.

Now, look here, you politicians, who think you understand politics, and I’ll show a political trick that we workers can turn on you, the moment we have had a few more object lessons. The papers came out a few days ago with big scare headlines which said: “Asquith may take over the British mines for the government.” Was it because the politicians had been busy in the British Parliament? No, it was because the British miners had been busy threatening to quit, every mother’s son of them. A mere threat of a small part of the workers to quit their jobs in a bunch had more political effect in a day than all the spouting of the politicians for half a century. When the miners and transportation workers actually do quit in England, the ruling class will find it isn’t like arguing with their representative in Parliament. And if meddling and ambitious politicians will keep their hands off, it’ll be a complete victory for labor the world over. Supposing, the transportation workers and all the miners in the United States should do the same thing. How long do you think that such a strike could last? Don’t you know that stocks in Wall street would come tumbling down like bricks in a rotten house under a storm? Millionaires would be paupers over night, and every member of the ruling class scared stiff. Do you think that under the circumstances they would refuse to set the “mill” going for the sake of less profit in higher wages and shorter hours? If you do, you are no politician even. You’re a plain every day fool. Yes, we believe in political action, but not of that hot air kind that asks us to mount barricades to hoist officials into power, while we die, rot and starve with the world power in our own hands. Go too, you who have so much faith and hope in yourselves and not in us. The world is ours. It is in our gnarled fist and fast awakening brain. We musn’t use direct action, bah! Shall we ask you soft-handed hot-air merchant what we must do?…

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/v3-w46-mar-16-1912-Revolt.pdf