July 2018 Socialist Standard
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Out this Friday
Noam Chomsky said that Donald Trump is only a distraction while the real rulers are doing whatever they want, and obtaining whatever they want. He is on the right track because they have already obtained what they wanted since the very beginning. They have fucked everybody and peoples continue supporting him and his popularity has increased. I was reading a book on the history of the IWW an international workers union created on 1905 and we can see that the US workers were in solidarity with all the workers of the world, and they knew that they did not have anything in common with the capitalist class, and now they are moving back to the XIX century. Trump is the new Rambo of the most reactionary capitalist sector of the USA. The whole world is experimenting a total retrogression, I have never seen anything like this in my whole lifehttps://www.amazon.com/Wobblies-Story-Syndicalism-United-States/dp/1566632730/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=QFNGW4D0PFY6Y00KV2GP
"we can see that the US workers were in solidarity with all the workers of the world, and they knew that they did not have anything in common with the capitalist class"This was perhaps true of the IWW but not of the American worker in general and not of the SPA in particular.Eugene Debs had to come out strongly against the anti-immigrant sentiments stirring in his Party. It is a quote i often use“If Socialism, international, revolutionary Socialism, does not stand staunchly, unflinchingly, and uncompromisingly for the working class and for the exploited and oppressed masses of all lands, then it stands for none and its claim is a false pretense and its profession a delusion and a snare. Let those desert us who will because we refuse to shut the international door in the faces of their own brethren; we will be none the weaker but all the stronger for their going, for they evidently have no clear conception of the international solidarity, are wholly lacking in the revolutionary spirit, and have no proper place in the Socialist movement” Eugene Debs, 1910But even he himself in his younger days s a union leader absorbed the anti-foreigner of his workers.Eugene Debs inherited the prevailing prejudices of the American worker and reflected the Know-Nothing Party of the time. He attacked the immigration agents as representatives of capital – “enemies of American workingmen” who wished to “chinaize the county” and he openly welcomed legislation that permitted the authorities to return “to their despot cursed home” the “victims” of these agent’s efforts. Debs found the Italian’s even less desirable than the Chinese. “The Dago” he claimed “works for small pay, and lives far more like a savage or a wild beast, than the Chinese,” This Italian “fattens on garbage” and cares little for civilization, and therefore, “able to underbid an American workingman” Only in this way can the Italian appear industrious and Debs warned that Italy “has millions of them to spare and they are coming” Jews fared little better. When it was announced that the London Board of Guardians had instated a program to transfer Russian-Jewish immigrants to the United States, Debs claimed that that this would increase the already increasing hostility towards immigrants. Identifying these immigrants as “criminals and paupers” Debs bemoaned the fact that most were able to “take up a permanent residence” and strongly asserted that “it was possible to end the infamous business” Debs views on negroes at no time ran counter to the ARU members anti-black feelings. Reporting that a new Texas law required separate coaches for black and white Deb’s stated “There might come a time when in the South whites and blacks will be on terms of social equality, till then it were better to fight separately” Debs supported without any record of dissent the Brotherhoods attempts to rid the railroad of black firemen and the anti-black clause in the Fireman’s constitution. Fortunately, experience taught Debs to change his ideas and defend the rights of minorities such as the blacks in America. as early as 1903 Debs takes a vehement stand against racism, even replying to an anonymous letter in the Internationa Socialist Review ending with, "For myself, I want no advantage over my fellow man and if he is weaker than I, all the more is it my duty to help him. Nor shall my door or my heart be ever closed against any human being on account of the color of his skin."
alanjjohnstone wrote:"we can see that the US workers were in solidarity with all the workers of the world, and they knew that they did not have anything in common with the capitalist class"This was perhaps true of the IWW but not of the American worker in general and not of the SPA in particular.Eugene Debs had to come out strongly against the anti-immigrant sentiments stirring in his Party. It is a quote i often use“If Socialism, international, revolutionary Socialism, does not stand staunchly, unflinchingly, and uncompromisingly for the working class and for the exploited and oppressed masses of all lands, then it stands for none and its claim is a false pretense and its profession a delusion and a snare. Let those desert us who will because we refuse to shut the international door in the faces of their own brethren; we will be none the weaker but all the stronger for their going, for they evidently have no clear conception of the international solidarity, are wholly lacking in the revolutionary spirit, and have no proper place in the Socialist movement” Eugene Debs, 1910But even he himself in his younger days s a union leader absorbed the anti-foreigner of his workers.Eugene Debs inherited the prevailing prejudices of the American worker and reflected the Know-Nothing Party of the time. He attacked the immigration agents as representatives of capital – “enemies of American workingmen” who wished to “chinaize the county” and he openly welcomed legislation that permitted the authorities to return “to their despot cursed home” the “victims” of these agent’s efforts. Debs found the Italian’s even less desirable than the Chinese. “The Dago” he claimed “works for small pay, and lives far more like a savage or a wild beast, than the Chinese,” This Italian “fattens on garbage” and cares little for civilization, and therefore, “able to underbid an American workingman” Only in this way can the Italian appear industrious and Debs warned that Italy “has millions of them to spare and they are coming” Jews fared little better. When it was announced that the London Board of Guardians had instated a program to transfer Russian-Jewish immigrants to the United States, Debs claimed that that this would increase the already increasing hostility towards immigrants. Identifying these immigrants as “criminals and paupers” Debs bemoaned the fact that most were able to “take up a permanent residence” and strongly asserted that “it was possible to end the infamous business” Debs views on negroes at no time ran counter to the ARU members anti-black feelings. Reporting that a new Texas law required separate coaches for black and white Deb’s stated “There might come a time when in the South whites and blacks will be on terms of social equality, till then it were better to fight separately” Debs supported without any record of dissent the Brotherhoods attempts to rid the railroad of black firemen and the anti-black clause in the Fireman’s constitution. Fortunately, experience taught Debs to change his ideas and defend the rights of minorities such as the blacks in America. as early as 1903 Debs takes a vehement stand against racism, even replying to an anonymous letter in the Internationa Socialist Review ending with, "For myself, I want no advantage over my fellow man and if he is weaker than I, all the more is it my duty to help him. Nor shall my door or my heart be ever closed against any human being on account of the color of his skin."I did not say that all the American workers were in international solidarities with others workers, I was talking about the IWW, or the members of the IWW which also had branches in others parts of the world. The rejection of immigrants in the USA is not a new phenomenon, and the book written by the daughter of Noam Chomsky has indicated that too. I t was a very strange case that thousands of US workers supported others workers which is different to the situation that is taking place at the present time
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