An editorial, likely form the pen of then editor James Wilson, reaffirming an unambiguous internationalism in the face of yet another of the Pacific Northwest’s anti-Japanese manias.

‘Anti-Patriotism’ from Industrial Worker. Vol. 1 No. 27. September 16, 1909.

“O, ye who tread the narrow way
By Tophet-flare, to Judgement-day–
Speak gently, while the heathen pray
To Buddha, at Kamakura.”

It would have been hard for a foreigner, unacquainted with the lofty and pure patriotism, which is the sole guide of the law-and-order rulers of Spokane. to tell by the flags displayed on the buildings of this city during the recent visit of a group of Japanese employers, whether it was the flag of the “Rising sun,” or the stars and stripes, which excites the warmer emotions. The “Hall of the Doges,” the swell banquet room at Davenport’s restaurant, was resplendent with the national flag of the Japanese employers, and that of the Americans. The dollar-sign obliterated the tangle of color, and if there were any doubt of the brotherly feeling in a band of robbers, it was done away by the loving speeches from one side and the other during the festivities. The waiters who belong to the patriotic A. F. of L. vied with each other in serving the Japanese, while other members of the same “union” are engaged in boycotting the Japanese porters. The true and only basis of patriotism is $. The noble heart of the waiter beat as high in expectation of a tip from the Japanese grandees as it will when looking for a piece of money from Mr. Taft when he comes to Spokane. If Spokane were not a most eminently religious city, it might be better to omit any reference to the blurring of religious lines between the followers of the meek and lowly, and those of Buddha and Shinto. But even the gods of patriotism hover like flies above the piled up dollars, even as those of old did above the sacrifice of the Deluge. There is food for thought in such exhibitions as that of the past week in Spokane. It should make every workingman pause and think if it were worth while to suffer, bleed and die in defense of the idea represented equally by the flag of Japan and that of America. What has the American worker to gain from upholding the laws of his employers’ country? Free speech is abolished; the press is muzzled: his wife and family are outraged–as at McKees Rocks. The same conditions prevail in Japan, and yet the employing class of both nations are united in tyranny and oppression.

There is then, no national flag but that of the dollar sign. The foundations of religion, patriotism and morals are economic. A Japanese dollar, or a Japanese slave looks alike to the American robber, and only the deluded slave can feel “his breast throb” on looking at one flag more than another. The international employing class have unwittingly done much to wipe out the scars and deformity of patriotism. Love of a country of tyranny is right, just and logical for those who profit by it. It is foolish, cruel and senseless for the worker to kiss the hand that strikes him, or to uphold a system that robs and oppresses him.

As for the religious features, it is no part of our duty to enter into a criticism of the comparative merits of the religions of Buddha, Shinto, or “In God We Trust.” We might, like Ingersoll, say that we only regret that there are not more marvels for us to believe, and regret that, like Joshua, we cannot stop the sun, while we exterminate our enemies, the employers. No doubt the story of Joshua is true, being written by a preacher, it could be nothing else! But those were the good old days. Joshua had no vote, he had no injunction to tie up the sun, and he is pardoned for having resorted to physical force in his warfare. The irreverent might imagine Joshua drinking and carousing with the Chamber of Commerce of Jericho, while the fool Israelites and fool Canaanites were cutting each other’s throats, even as the A. F. of L. patriots are shouting “Fire the Jap,” while the employers of both are getting drunk at Davenport’s.

Patriotism is a delusion. The workingman has no country. The flag of one employer is the same as the flag of another. We smile at the serfs of the old time defending the armorial banners of the lords who required of their daughters the right of “first night.” Yet we count it noble, free and brave to defend the flags of those who make our life every day, a burden hard to bear? There is no country for the employer–all countries are his: There is no country for the worker–no country is his. A systematic and untiring effort must be made to instill into the minds of every workingman’s child the feeling that loyalty to an employers’ flag is treason to the working class. The Red Flag is the only one worthy of love and respect from the workers. Loathing and detestation for all others!

If these ideas seem radical and narrow, it must be remembered that the readers of this paper are composed of members of the working class. Such people as Gompers may brave the derision of the French, as he tells the French workers that they are foolish to cover the Mur des Federes with flowers on the first of May, in memory of the martyred Fathers of the Commune. We have nothing to lose–and everything to gain. The practical bearing of the delusion of rag worship and patriotism, is that it divides the working class. The working class can only be defeated by dividing it, and the end justifies the means in the eyes of the politicians, the labor fakirs, and the sky-pilots.

But think of the patriotism of the porters’ union of the A. F. of L. who reverently clean the spittoons of the visiting Japanese aristocrats, and spurn with scorn the Japanese porter! When superstition is abolished, when love of wife, children and home is, greater than idolatry, then will the ran worship of patriotism be among the relics of barbarism, and national prejudice will be a thing of the past, as much as the Spanish Inquisition. The stripes on the American flag will be mingled when the stripes of working class separation have been done away, and the red sun of the Japanese flag will spread till the whole banner will glow, as showing that the blood of the working class is everywhere the same. The employers’ god is dollars. All flags are theirs. Patriotism is the enemy of the working class.

The Industrial Union Bulletin, and the Industrial Worker were newspapers published by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) from 1907 until 1913. First printed in Joliet, Illinois, IUB incorporated The Voice of Labor, the newspaper of the American Labor Union which had joined the IWW, and another IWW affiliate, International Metal Worker.The Trautmann-DeLeon faction issued its weekly from March 1907. Soon after, De Leon would be expelled and Trautmann would continue IUB until March 1909. It was edited by A. S. Edwards. 1909, production moved to Spokane, Washington and became The Industrial Worker, “the voice of revolutionary industrial unionism.”

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/industrialworker/iw/v1n27-sep-16-1909-IW.pdf