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 revolt and determined to shake off the shackles of wage slavery. Just as our people have passed out of slavedom into serfdom, and out of serfdom into wagedom, so will they finally pass out of wagedom into freedom.
"The new phase of development, which is world-wide, has entered upon the next and probably the last stage of revolt. It is the duty of all members of the working class to so solidify their movements that, come when the time may for the last final struggle, we shall be wanting in neither machinery, nor men, to move forward to the destruction of wage slavery and the construction of a system of society based upon co-ordinated effort and world-wide mutual goodwill and understanding."