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we shall be revolutionists only when forced into being such by legislation and persecution withholding from us the means of a peaceable propaganda. We, Socialists, have come to stay; depend upon it.
PLATFORM OF THE SOCIALISTIC LABOR PARTY.
Labor being the only creator of all wealth and civilization, it rightfully follows that those who perform all labor and create all wealth should enjoy the result of their toil.
But this is rendered impossible by the modern system of production, which, since the discovery of steam-power and since the general introduction of machines, is in all branches of industry carried with such gigantic means and appliances as but a few are able to possess.
The present industrial system is coöperative in one respect only, which is: That not, as in former times, the individual works alone for his own account, but dozens, hundreds and thousands of men work together in shops, in mines, on huge farms and lands, coöperating according to the most efficient division of labor. But the fruits of this coöperative labor are not reaped by the workers themselves, but are in a great measure appropriated by the owners of the means a a production, to wit: of the machines, of the factories, of the mines and of the land,
This system, by gradually extinguishing the middle class, necessarily produces two separate sets of men: That class of the workers, and that of the great bosses.
It brings forth as its natural outgrowths:
The planlessness and reckless rate of production,
The waste of human and natural forces,
The commercial and industrial crisis,
The constant uncertainty of the material existence of the wage-workers.
The misery of the proletarian masses,
The accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few.
Such a condition, which under the present industrial régime cannot but become more and more aggravated, is inconsistent with the interests of mankind, with the principles of justice and true democracy, as it destroys those rights which the Declaration of Independence of the United States held to be inalienable in all men, viz: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
This condition shortens and imperils life by want and misery. It destroys liberty because the economical subjection of the wage-workers to the owners of the means of production immediately leads to their political dependence, and it finally frustrates the pursuit of happiness, which is never possible when life and personal liberty are in constant danger.
To put an end to this degrading state of things, we strive to introduce the perfect system of coöperative production—that is, we demand that the workers obtain the undivided product of their toil.
This being only feasible by securing to the workers control of the means of production.
We demand:
That the land, the instruments of production (machines, factories, etc.,) and the products of labor become the common property of the whole people; and,
That all production be organized coöperatively, and be carried on under the direction of the commonwealth; as also the coöperative distribution of the products according to the service rendered, and to the just needs of the individuals.
