You outnumber your oppressors 12 to 1. You can not only relieve yourselves from the consequences of this accursed system, you can absolutely abolish it. You can put yourselves in control of the government, take possession of your own, and emancipate yourself from slavery.
The agitator is the product of unrest — his is the voice of the social deep; and, though he may be reviled as a demagogue who preys upon the ignorance of his fellows, the unrest continues and the agitation increases until the cause of it is removed and justice is done.
How shall it be with you millions of workers, of whom I am but one? You and I and all of us are in the same boat and we go to port or to the bottom together. The situation is clear — where do you stand? Are you a man or a microbe?
The Cabinets who rule the destinies of nations from the capitals of Europe are but the tools of moneyed interests. Their quarrels are not dictated by sentiments of national pride, but by the avarice and lust of power on the part of the class to which they belong.
As individual workingmen you are ground to atoms, you are reduced to slavery, and you are at the mercy of the masters. When you unite, however, there will be twelve of you for every capitalist.
We are resolved upon national
independence as the indispensable ground work of industrial emancipation, but we are equally resolved to have done with the leadership of a class whose social charter is derived from oppression.
The capitalist class is unnecessary to society. Its members do absolutely nothing that is useful. Their function is to spend what the working class produces. Let me use Elon Musk as an illustration. He is a fully developed capitalist and therefore a fully developed parasite
It is well to be discontented, to have a heart hot with hatred of injustice, but it is also well to have a hopeful spirit, and to appreciate all manifestations of social activity, organised and unorganised, that indicate the stirring of the human conscience under capitalism.
From any intelligent standpoint the outlook of the Socialist movement is full of promise- to the capitalist, of struggle and defeat; to the worker, of coming freedom. It is the break of dawn upon the horizon of human destiny and it has no limitations but the walls of the universe
We have no enemies among the workers of other countries; and no friends among the capitalists of any country; the workers of all countries are our friends and the capitalists of all countries are our enemies. The class war is our war and our only war.
The labour movement of the future, as well as the socialist movement of today must draw inspiration from the successes of our comrades abroad, but must also shape its course to suit the conditions within our own shores.
So long as capitalist states exist, so long as imperialistic world policies determine and regulate the inner and the outer life of a nation, there can be no national self-determination neither in war nor in peace.
While the rich proceed with their schemes for the aggrandisement of their class, the working class are betrayed by their representatives who spend their time in political intrigues for personal profit.