Militant Socialism
John, I have terrible things to write of in this book and I wish that I had language that would sear like hot iron into the brain of every worker between the two oceans. To begin with I think that the wretched struggle that you endure, year after year, is a frightful outrage, a crime against every toiler who is forced to share in it. It is a crime because it isn't necessary. It could be ended in a short time and every worker and his family could share in the best that this century provides. Instead of the long and bitter struggle to pay the expenses of a low standard of living—and often fail to pay it—all workers could enjoy an abundant, happy life with a few hours of pleasant, healthful toil.
When I think of this possibility all the curses of a thwarted life roll to my lips to express my hatred of the life that millions live in unhappy America. When I think of the overworked and debtridden farmers of the Southern states, slowly sinking into slavery; when I think of the miners in the slave-pens of the mining regions, or of the sweatshop hells where the blood of children is drained to support an idle class of millionaires and remember also that many of us are indifferent to these things, I wonder if our power to think has not been suspended and we have lost even the impulse to protect our loved ones which is ever present even in animals. However, it is certain that more of us are thinking each year and when an iron chain of circumstances drags the Southern farmer's wife into the field, the miner's boy to the mines, or the factory workman's daughter to a sweatshop, and you should happen to be one of these, a lump rises in your throat and for once your thought is directed to what has remained to you a mystery. In that hour you ask yourself what I am asking now: WHY SHOULD MILLIONS BE IN WANT IN THE MIDST OF A WORLD OF PLENTY? The most hopeful thing in this world is that more of us are asking that question each year.
First let us find out what is the matter. I do not mind telling you that I figured it out years ago, and I want you
