Update 13-07: Sunday, July 7, 2013.
"Why I Shall Vote with the Social Democracy," by Walter Thomas Mills [Oct. 20, 1900] The "Little Giant" of constructive socialism, Walter Thomas Mills, explains why he will be voting for the Social Democratic ticket of Eugene V. Debs and Job Harriman in the November 1900 elections. Radical change was impossible through the old parties, in Mills' view, since both were wedded to commercialism and thus the need to establish imperialist markets abroad. The protestations of the Democrats that they were opposed to military-driven imperialism was fatally undermined by the fact that the workers would continue to receive sufficient wages only to purchase a portion of their output, thereby making the pursuit of markets abroad inevitable. Moreover, the Democrats sought to destroy the economic trusts, Mills notes, while he instead sought to have them "socialized and all the people made sharers in their benefits." Mills theorizes that a million votes for the Social Democracy will cause the old parties to begin join operations to defeat the new socialist threat, thereby making possible "the speedy overthrow of both."
"Speech at Canton, Ohio," by Eugene V. Debs [published Oct. 27, 1900] Campaign speech to an Ohio crowd by Social Democratic Party nominee Gene Debs. Debs expresses an almost pure Lassallean view of the transition to socialism, declaring that the working class "will not much longer supplicate for their rights, but will taken them, not in lawlessness but in a lawful manner. They are beginning to realize that the ballot is the key that will unlock the industrial dungeons of the world." Debs asserts that the trusts and the trend to centralization are unable to be regulated but does not despair, since these things work towards socialism by eliminating individual capitalists and dispersing petty proprietors to the working class. Debs declares that while he is working as best he can for socialism, the workings of the capitalist system are actually doing more to expedite the process: "Every time Rockefeller crushes a competitor he is assisting more than I. The day will come when all will be crushed out, and then will come the change." Debs calls Social Democracy "the only real democracy" and states that industrial harmony, social fellowship, gender equality, and an end to crime and unemployment will be the byproducts of the coming socialist future.
"The Vital Issue," by Eugene V. Debs [Nov. 3, 1900] This article from the pages of the Appeal to Reasonis seemingly the transcript of a campaign speech by Social Democratic Party of American Presidential nominee Eugene V. Debs. Debs identifies the Republican Party as the political vehicle of the capitalist class, the Democratic Party as the political vehicle of the atrophying middle class, and the Social Democratic Party as the political vehicle of the growing wage-working class. With respect to the country's ever more heavily centralized, trustified industry, Debs intimates that the Republican Party essentially seeks its continuance, the Democratic Party its abolition, and the Social Democratic Party its nationalization. Debs asserts that fighting the inner tendency of capitalism towards centralization through legislation is as ineffectual as attempting to legislate the tides or the path of the sun, a reprise of the one-sided battle of an earlier century over the emergence of industrial machinery. The direction of development is clear to Debs and the Democratic Party's prescription to roll back the clock utterly unrealistic, with the only real issue being whether the trusts should be "vicious" privately-owned combinations or "good" publicly-owned combinations.
"Socialism and the Negro Problem," by Charles H. Vail [Feb. 1901] New edition. Lengthy article from the International Socialist Review by Rev. Charles H. Vail, National Organizer for the Social Democratic Party of America and later the Socialist Party. Vail states that it was the unprofitableness of the chattel slavery system that led to its abandonment in the northern states, replaced by the even more onerous system of wage slavery, in which workers were placed in the unenviable position of competing against one another to sell their labor-power on the market. According to Vail, "The chattel method was fully as desirable for the slave, for the owner, having a stake in the life and health of his slave, desired to keep him in good condition. The wage slave-owner however, does not particularly care whether his wage slave lives or dies, for he has no money invested in him, and there are thousands of others to take his place." The race question was largely an element of the main question: capitalist exploitation of all labor. In Vail's view the solution of this lay in "the abolition of wage slavery and the emancipation of both black and white from the servitude to capitalist masters." Under socialism, educational opportunities for workers of all races would be developed and racial bigotry would be gradually eliminated since "race prejudice cannot exist with true enlightenment." Vail declares that "Socialism recognizes no class nor race distinction. It draws no line of exclusion. Under Socialism the Negro will enjoy, equally with the whites, the advantages and opportunities for culture and refinement. In this higher education we may be sure race prejudices will be obliterated."
The Western Comrade, v. 3, no. 9 [Jan. 1916] Large file. Graphic pdf of the 31st issue of The Western Comrade, edited by Job Harriman and Frank E. Wolfe. "Preparedness Number." Key Contents:Frank E. Wolfe: "Editorial Comment." Adelaide Maydwell: "When Slavery Will End." "Socialists and Preparedness." R.K. Williams: "Preparedness at Llano." John Dequer: "Theory and Socialism." Ernest Wooster: "Humpety Dumpety" (poem). Clara R. Cushman: "Safety Next." A.F. Gannon: "Preparedness" (poem).
The Western Comrade, v. 3, no. 10 [Feb. 1916] Large file. Graphic pdf of the 32nd issue of The Western Comrade, edited by Job Harriman and Frank E. Wolfe. Key Contents: Frank E. Wolfe: "Editorials." Emanuel Julius: "Blessings of Ignorance." Wilby Heard: "A Millionaire's Vision" (poem). Edmund R. Brumbaugh: "Jolting the Jingoes." Ernest S. Wooster: "Through Eyes of Tomorrow" (Llano del Rio). R.K. Williams: "Enthusiasm Rules Llano." A.C.A.: "Montessorians." John Dequer: "Llano Musings." Clara R. Cushman: "Wedding Bells" (fiction).
The Western Comrade, v. 3, no. 11 [March 1916] Large file. Graphic pdf of the 33rd issue of The Western Comrade, edited by Job Harriman and Frank E. Wolfe. Key Contents: Job Harriman: "Facts and Comment." Frank E. Wolfe: "Labor Conscription." John Dequer: "Westfield" (fiction). Edmund R. Brumbaugh: "Boosting Better Babies." Max Sherover: "Fighting Militarism." Wilby Heard: "The Town of Amis." R.K. Williams: "Improvements at Llano." Prudence Stokes Brown: "The Children's House" (Llano del Rio). Alberta J. Leslie and Isabel Scott McGauhey: "Two Poems of the Llano." Clara R. Cushman: "The Cause of Crime" (fiction). Gray Harriman: "Preparedness."
The Western Comrade, v. 3, no. 12 [April 1916] Large file. Graphic pdf of the 34th issue of The Western Comrade, edited by Job Harriman and Frank E. Wolfe. Key Contents: "The Gateway to Freedom Through Cooperative Action" (Llano del Rio of Nevada ad, includes Declaration of Principles), Job Harriman: "Editorials." Anthony Turano: "A Modern Movie." Ernest S. Wooster: "Turning the Trick" (poem). Edgcumb Pinchon: "Justice and Not Bullets." Adelaide Maydwell: "The Needs of Llano." R.K. Williams: "Activities at Llano." Mildred G. Buxton: "The Montessori System." Job Harriman: "The Socialist Party." "War Pictures by Robert Minor" (book review). Emanuel Julius: "Periscopings."
"The Socialist Party," by Job Harriman [April 1916] Butler University graduate and Christian minister-turned-lawyer and utopian socialist commune founder Job Harriman launches into another polemic against the intellectuals who run the Socialist Party of America, insisting on the need for its transformation to an adjunct of the organized labor and cooperative movements. In Harriman's view the SPA was exhibiting "a strong tendency to become ever less and less a labor movement and more and more an intellectual and quasi-religious movement" and was thus "developing the spirit of the old Socialist Labor Party." Harriman rails against the idea that the unions and the political party were two independent wings of the worker movement, instead insisting that the "political party must be a practical fighting machine for what the class wants now." Harriman insists that only an organization allowing in the first instance only members of unions or cooperatives and striving the win immediate demands would avoid the degeneration brought by intellectuals. He also argues in favor of using the current military preparedness campaign as an excuse for the arming of "all the citizens."
The Western Comrade, v. 4, no. 1 [May 1916] Large file. Graphic pdf of the 35th issue of The Western Comrade, edited by Job Harriman and Frank E. Wolfe. Key Contents: Job Harriman: "Editorials." John Dequer: "Westfieldian Infidelity" (fiction). "A Constant Associate": "The Working Hypothesis" (Haeckel on the war). Edmund R. Brumbaugh: "Every Day is Mothers' Day." Frank E. Wolf: "The New Impossibilism" (Llano del Rio). Robert K. Williams: "Llano del Rio Anniversary." Ernest S. Wooster: "What Two Years Have Wrought" (Llano del Rio). Robert K. Williams: "Cooperation at Llano del Rio." Clara R. Cushman "Millville Preparedness" (fiction). Emanuel Julius: "Jungle Jottings."
The Western Comrade, v. 4, no. 2/3 [Aug. 10, 1916] Large file. Graphic pdf of the 36th issue of The Western Comrade, edited by Job Harriman and Frank E. Wolfe. Key Contents: Thomas W. Williams: "Socialist State Secretary Wishes Colony Success." Job Harriman: "Editorials." R.K. Williams: "A Trip Over the Llano." Wesley Zornes: "Llano Bean Culture." "Llano Has Own Printing Plant" (announcement of launch of The Llano Colonist). Frank E. Wolfe: "Llano Manana." A. Constance Austin: "An Art Vocation." Gray Harriman: "Blood and Iron" (fiction). Mildred G. Buxton: "Learning by Doing" (Llano del Rio). Frank E. Wolfe: "What the Writers Say: The Substance of Instructive Articles in July Magazines." Dr. John Dequer: "Therapeutics." "What Llano Women Do." "What Our Visitors Say" (Llano del Rio). Emanuel Julius: "Jottings of Julius." Scott Lewis: "The 'Llano System.'"
The Western Comrade, v. 4, no. 4/5 [Sept. 10, 1916] Large file. Graphic pdf of the 37th issue of The Western Comrade, edited by Job Harriman and Frank E. Wolfe. Key Contents: Job Harriman: "Editorials." Robert K. Williams: "A Trip to Llano Springs." R.K. Williams: "Llano Grows in Attraction." "With Montessorians at San Diego" (Llano del Rio). Florence Pier Griffith: "Llano Montessori School." Robert K. Williams: "Character." "Women's Department: Natural Law in the Home." Dr. John Dequer: "The Air We Breathe." Wesley Zornes: "The Soils of Llano." Oliver Zornes: "Feeding for Egg Production." "Questions and Answers" (Llano del Rio). A. Constance Austin: "An Art Vocation -- The Solution." Frank E. Wolfe: "What Thinkers Think: The Substance of Instructive Articles in August Magazines." "News of the World: Socialist -- Labor -- General." Clinton Bancroft: "The Cooperative Commonwealth." "Growth of Cooperation." Emanuel Julius: "Jottings of Julius." "Victor Berger on His Recall." Elizabeth H. Thomas: "A Strange Referendum" (Berger recall). "Letters from Colonists/What Our Visitors Say."
The Western Comrade, v. 4, no. 6 [Oct. 1916] Large file. Graphic pdf of the 38th issue of The Western Comrade, edited by Job Harriman and Frank E. Wolfe. Key Contents: Job Harriman: "Editorials." Robert K. Williams: "Following the Water" (Llano del Rio). Prince Hopkins: "The Story of Boyland." Frank L. Wright: "Hand Made Rugs" (Llano del Rio). Henel Frances Easley: "The Soul of Sing Lee" (fiction). A. Constance Austin: "Building a Socialist City" (Llano del Rio). Wesley Zornes: "Irrigation Systems" (Llano del Rio). Oliver Zornes: "Scientific Management of Soils" (Llano del Rio). Agnes H. Downing: "Woman After the War." Gray C. Harriman: "Facts vs. Fancies" (war). Frank E. Wolfe: "What Thinkers Think: The Substance of Instructive Articles in September Magazines." Dr. John Dequer: "The Water We Drink." Walter Huggins: "The Llano I Saw." Frank E. Wolfe: "New View of Llano."
The Western Comrade, v. 4, no. 7 [Nov. 1916] Large file. Graphic pdf of the 38th issue of The Western Comrade, edited by Job Harriman and Frank E. Wolfe. Key Contents: Job Harriman: "Editorials." James O. Blakeley: "Reciprocal Relations." A. Constance Austin: "Building a Socialist City" (Llano del Rio). Emanuel Julius: "Jottings of Julius." Henry Frances Easley: "'If a House Cost--'" (fiction). Robert K. Williams: "Lumber -- Llano's New $50,000 Industry." Emma J. Wolfe: "Women and Politics." Dr. John Dequer: "Nutrition -- The Food We Eat." "Education for Real Life." Oliver Zornes: "Plowing." Wesley Zornes: "Irrigation of Alfalfa" (Llano del Rio). Clinton Bancroft: "Growing Toward Cooperation." George E. Cantrell: "Cooperation and Printing" (Llano del Rio). Robert K. Williams: "Never Trouble Trouble." "Canada Bars Pearsons" (exchange of Chief Press Censor Ernest J. Chambers and editor A.W. Ricker). Frank E. Wolfe: "What Thinkers Think: The Substance of Instructive Articles in October Magazines."
The Western Comrade, v. 4, no. 8 [Dec. 1916] Large file. Graphic pdf of the 38th issue of The Western Comrade, edited by Job Harriman and Frank E. Wolfe. Key Contents: Job Harriman: "Editorials." "Live Stock of Llano." Robert K. Williams: "An Active Week at Llano." "How They Hate Publicity" (fiction). Frank E. Wolfe: "Jack London" (obituary). Mildred G. Buxton: "Children and Liivestock" (Llano del Rio). Dr. John Dequer: "The Clothes We Wear." Oliver Zornes: "Poultry as a Business" (Llano del Rio). Wesley Zornes: "Selection in Breeding." A. Constance Austin: "Building a Socialist City." Frank E. Wolfe: "What Thinkers Think: The Substance of Instructive Articles in November Magazines."
