denied the workers the slightest measure of control. 'Yours not to reason why, yours but to do and die' has been the policy forced upon our workpeople, even to the extent of the lock-out policy in some industries. The employers' cry has consistently been: 'We claim to manage our business in our own way, and we will allow no outside interference.' Very well, we examine these industries, solely managed by the employing class, and discover what an appalling state exists in practically every industry. Having produced these conditions the possessing class are afraid of their own production and now they cry to the unions: 'Let us come together; sit down with us and examine the present conditions of trade and commerce. …See if we cannot together save our system from tottering to its last fall.' Many of our good comrades who in the days gone by taught us to believe there was no remedy other than the abolition of capitalism seem afraid now that the system is collapsing, and appeal for a united effort to patch up the system with the aid of the present possessing class.
14. From Slavedom to Freedom
"It seems to me, carefully looking over as wide a field as is within the ken of one man, that we are entering upon a new phase of development in the upward struggle of our class. All around are signs of an awakening consciousness in the peoples of all countries that the present system of society is condemned. Russia and Mexico, with their Workers' Republics, are leading the way. Already there are signs for those with eyes to see that the land and mineral wealth of a country in the possession of the People's Government, being exploited and used in the interest of the whole people, is conferring lasting benefit upon its peoples. The lessons being taught to-day in those countries will fructify in the years to come. These achievements will stand as a beacon light, showing the way to a higher development of democratic welfare than the world has known. Simultaneously the backward centres of industrial and political slavery are organising and rising in revolt against the capitalist order of society; and so we see India, China, and other Eastern countries in the throes of upheaval and demanding the right of self-determination. Who can predict the rate at which the conflagration will travel, or how wide it will spread? Those who believe that a new order of society is inevitable before we can remedy the existing evils—and to which in this address I have directed attention—cannot do other than rejoice that at last there are clear indications of a world movement rising in
