THE IMPENDING DOOM OF CAPITALISM

Industrial Unionist, Volume 1, Issue 19, 22 November 1913, Page 3

THE IMPENDING DOOM OF CAPITALISM

“RECENT EVENTS CAN BE REFERRED TO THAT ARE FULL OF STUPENDOUS SIGNIFICANCE, IN THAT THEY REFLECT THE INSTINCTIVE TENDENCY TO GET NEAR THE ECONOMIC HEART OF ALL SOCIAL PROBLEMS. TAKE THE BINGHAM (UTAH) MINERS’ STRIKE, FOR INSTANCE. HERE SOME 5,000 MEN, MOSTLY ARMED, SEIZED POSSESSION OF EXTENSIVE MINING PROPERTIES. THEY DID NOT LEAVE THEIR JOBS AND GO OUTSIDE OF THE PREMISES TO DEFEND THEM AGAINST SCABS, BUT THEY STAYED ON THEM, AND COMPELLED NEGOTIATIONS WITH THEM WHILE THUS SITUATED. MAY NOT THE DAY COME WHEN ALL THE WORKERS WILL HAVE EVOLUTED SO FAR AS TO BE ABLE TO SEIZE POSSESSION OF CAPITALIST PROPERTY AND STAY ON THE JOBS, WHILE TURNING THE CAPITALIST OWNERS OUT? WHO CAN TELL? DO COMING EVENTS NOW, AS ALWAYS, CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEFORE? THE FUTURE ALONE CAN DECIDE. ONE THING IS EVIDENT: THAT LABOUR IS ALIVE TO THE IMPORT ANCE OF ITS LABOUR POWER. ACCORDINGLY, THE OPPRESSORS OF THE WORKING CLASS FEAR ITS EVERY MOVE. NEVER BEFORE HAVE THEY DREADED ITS REVOLUTIONARY TENDENCIES AS THEY DO NOW. AND NEVER BEFORE HAVE THEY SOUGHT TO DOMINATE ITS COURSE AS THEY DO NOW. . . . HEAVEN AND HELL ARE BEING USED BY CAPITALISM TO PREVENT INDUSTRIALISM FOR AND BY THE INDUSTRIALISTS, TO EVOLVE ALONG EVOLUTIONARY LINES. BUT THERE NEED BE NO FEAR ABOUT THE ULTIMATE OVERTHROW OF CAPITALISM. SOCIETY IS NOT GIVEN TO STANDING STILL. IT IS MOVING WITH A RAPIDITY THAT ITS HENCHMEN AND THE PETTY POLITICIANS OF ALL SCHOOLS CANNOT STOP NOR MODIFY. THEY HAVE TRIED IT AND FAILED. THEY WILL TRY AGAIN AND FAIL AGAIN. THE FUTURE ULTIMATELY BELONGS TO LABOUR, UNLESS ALL SIGNS ARE WRONG.”—JUSTUS EBERT IN “ THE TRIAL OF A HEW SOCIETY.”