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3 “324.01 ~ LIBRARY 
 fas nett OF THE 
 
 . MNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 “Y “SOCIALIST PARTY 
 
 " CONGRESSION AL PROGRAM 
 
 SIEFORE the war the industrial 
 k Is Ems| life of every great nation was 
 heer controlled by private individuals 
 ~ LX for private gain. A rapidly in- 
 F ~ creased cost of living, widespread 
 # XR poverty among the wage workers, 
 meagre incomes for the professional 
 class, and the concentration of immense 
 _ wealth in the hands of a comparative 
 es —these were the natural results of 
 acl a world run in the interest of big busi- 
 = ness. 
 : = Every civilized nation was split into 
 two warring camps: the non-producers 
 St Swho owned, and the producers who 
  eserved. 
 = ‘Then war came. It has challenged the 
 sdomination of our economic life by 
 private enterprise. Private operation 
 Sand competition are being found totally 
 % unequal to the strain of war. The in- 
 >terests of the state become supreme. 
 Underlying all the problems of inter- 
 ational reconstruction is the greatest 
 of all issues with which the world 
 c “~~ stands faced. The state is dominating 
 a industry. Who shall dominate the state? 
 1s tee the answer to this question depends 
 the future of mankind. 
 _ Already the lines are forming. 
 In every belligerent country, friend 
 = ind foe alike, the men of power in com- 
 
 | - ec 4 iO 74382 &. 
 
merce and industry are laying their 
 
 plans openly to capture the trade of the > | 
 
 world. 
 
 Already these men seek to enlist the 
 
 active support of their governments in 
 these schemes of conquest to follow 
 peace. The future of the world for them 
 is a super-struggle for wealth and 
 
 power; but in that game no mere in- — 
 
 dividuals, but nations and governments 
 themselves would be the pawns. 
 
 Opposed to this, the ranks of labor 
 are taking form. Within the belligerent 
 nations the mass of the workers are 
 gathering strength. The toilers, of hand 
 -and brain alike, are building a new 
 brotherhood in the unity of their 
 demands. | 
 
 “No forcible annexations, no punitive 
 indemnities, self-determination of alli 
 nations.” To the famous formula is now 
 added: “‘No economic nationalism, no 
 war after the war.” 
 
 True to its historic mission, the So- 
 cialist. Party of the United States seeks 
 
 to prepare the workers of America to ~ 
 
 take their part in the new fraternity of 
 labor. 
 
 The Socialist Party comes before the 
 people pledged to the service of democ- 
 
 racy. Democracy in government, dem- 
 
 ocracy in industry, democracy. in educa- 
 tion—during the war as well as after 
 the war, the state, the industries, and 
 education, all three must be owned and 
 
 2 
 
 » 
 
managed fs the Rane with no thought 
 of profit. 
 
 In the achievement of ieee aims the 
 candidates of the Socialist Party in the 
 congressional campaign stand pledged 
 to the following principles and demands: 
 
 A. INTERNATIONAL RECONSTRUC- 
 TION. 
 
 ~ 
 
 L Peace Aims. 
 
 In all that concerns the settlement 
 of this war, the American Socialist 
 Party is in general accord with the 
 announced aims of the Inter-Allied 
 Conference. We re-affirm the principles 
 announced by the Socialist Party in the 
 
 - United States in 1915; adopted by the 
 
 -~ 
 
 Socialist Republic of Russia in 1917; 
 proclaimed by the Inter-Allied Labor 
 Conference in 1918 and endorsed by 
 both the majority and minority Social- 
 ists in the Central empires; no forcible 
 annexations, no punitive indemnities 
 and the free determination of all peo- 
 ples. 
 
 The Socialist Party believes that the 
 foundations for international under- 
 standing must be laid during the war, 
 before the professional diplomats begin 
 to dictate the world’s future as they 
 have in the past. 
 
 It therefore supports the demand of 
 the Inter-Allied Conference for a meet- 
 ing with the German workingmen, con- 
 vinced that such a meeting will promote 
 the cause of democracy, and will encour- 
 
 3 
 
age the German people to throw off the 
 military autocracy that now oppresses 
 them. We join our pledge to that of the 
 Inter-Allied Conference that, this done, 
 as far as in our power, we shall not per- 
 mit the German people to be made the 
 victims of imperialistic designs. We pro- 
 
 % 
 
 test against the refusal of various Al- ~* 
 
 lied governments to permit the free ex- 
 change of opinion between the labor 
 groups of the Allied nations, and we 
 demand that passports be granted to 
 bona fide representatives of labor 
 groups regardless of their political and 
 economic affiliations. 
 
 2. Federation of Peoples. 
 
 We call for a Federation of the Peo- 
 
 ples of the World, neutral as well as 
 present belligerents, and that this Fed- 
 eration be organized at the time of the 
 peace conference, 
 
 Under the control of capitalist na- 
 tions such a Federation would, of 
 course, be used mainly for the purpose 
 of making rules to govern the inter- 
 
 national struggle for the markets of the . 
 
 world and to aid the capitalist powers 
 of different nations to keep down their 
 own working classes whereas the So- 
 clalist Party desires a federation of 
 socialized nations for the purpose of co- 
 ordinating the affairs of the world and 
 establishing universal bretherhood. 
 
 To minimize this danger, we demand 
 as a first requisite to success, an ade- 
 quate representation of labor and so- 
 
 J 
 
clalist groups, women and suppressed 
 races and nationalities, in each belli-. 
 gerent nation at the peace conference 
 and in all departments of the perman- 
 ent Federation of Peoples. 
 
 We further demand that in the or- 
 ganization of such a Federation there 
 be adequate provision for the exercise 
 of legislative and administrative as well 
 as judicial functions. The Federation 
 should prevent international disputes 
 rather than try merely to settle them 
 after they arise. 
 
 We propose that this Federation dev- 
 elop a uniform monetary system and an 
 adequate international control of credit 
 and exchange, as well as such a regula- 
 tion of the movement of trade as will 
 best meet the needs of the various na- 
 tions of the world. 
 
 Under the authority of this Feder- 
 ation must come all those matters which 
 transcend national boundaries,’ especial- 
 ly those concerned with colonization 
 and foreign investment. 
 
 We demand that the Federation take 
 measures looking to the reduction of 
 armaments to the point of eventual 
 elimination. If the will to peace is there, 
 economic pressure will be an adequate 
 weapon against recalcitrants. And, 
 finally, we demand that this Federation . 
 shall give international recognition to 
 the union principles of the minimum 
 wage, systematic reduction of the hours 
 of labor based on the development of 
 
 5 
 
machinery, and the abolition of child 
 labor. 
 
 The keeping of the peace must be 
 placed in the hands of those to whose 
 interest it is to keep the peace—the 
 workers of the world, and we therefore 
 urge upon them the necessity of seek- 
 ing continually and aggressively to 
 secure control of their respective gov- 
 ernments to the end that these policies 
 be officially adopted by all the nations 
 concerned. 
 
 B. INTERNAL RECONSTRUCTION. 
 1. Industrial Control. 
 
 The private domination of industry 
 for private gain has brought such 
 disastrous consequences both among 
 and within the nations of the world as 
 tto make public ownership for public 
 service the first necessity in any for- 
 ward-looking plan of reconstruction 
 both national and international. 
 
 The Socialist Party, therefore, de- 
 mands that all public utilities and basic 
 industries of the United States be taken 
 over by the people, and that this pro- 
 cess shall be undertaken as speedily as 
 is consistent with public order and 
 
 security, and allowing for the utmost by 
 
 possible degree of local autonomy. 
 
 In the accomplishment of these ends 
 the Socialist Party demands that com- 
 pensation, if any, paid to the owners in 
 no case exceed the original cost of the 
 physical property taken by the people; 
 
 6 
 
 = = ~_7es 
 
that such compensation be paid as far 
 as possible out of taxation and operat- 
 ing revenues; that the unit of owner- 
 ship—federal, state or city—should 
 coincide as closely. as possible with the 
 scope of the industry concerned; and 
 that the operation of all public services 
 be on a Strictly cost basis after allow- 
 ing suitable reserves for depreciation, 
 retirement of debts and new construc- 
 tion. 
 
 The Socialist Party candidates for 
 Congress stand pledged to the support 
 of the following specific proposals: 
 
 (1) Railroads and Express Service. 
 The full and permanent nationalization 
 of the railroads and other .means of 
 transportation. The canals, waterways 
 and all essential means of transporta- 
 tion should be developed as rapidly as 
 possible and co-ordinated with the other 
 means of transport into one unified, 
 efficient and adequate system under 
 public ownership. 
 
 In the taking over of some 260,000 
 miles of railways by the United States 
 government, the correctness of the prin- 
 ciples for which the Socialist Party 
 stands, has been sustained. The guar- 
 anteed highest profits to the companies 
 and the method ofsadministration, how- 
 ever, have proven the futility of all 
 sham schemes of government control 
 based on profits instead of a truly co- 
 operative basis. So long as the owner- 
 ship of the roads is left in private 
 
 t 
 
hands, the government, and through 
 the government, the people, must con- 
 tinue to bear a vast burden of unearned 
 income of over a billion dollars a year 
 that represents nothing but the tribute 
 paid to private capital. 
 
 (2) Steamships and Steamship Lines. 
 
 The Socialist Party demands full and 
 permanent nationalization of the exist- 
 ing American steamship lines and the 
 
 permanent ownership and operation by * 
 
 the government of all merchant vessels 
 under the jurisdiction of the ‘United 
 States Shipping Board. 
 
 The vast additions now being made 
 to our merchant marine should never be 
 permitted to become the weapons of 
 private interest in a struggle for trade 
 supremacy. The sea-going vessels of 
 the nation should be owned and operat- 
 ed by the government. 
 
 (8) Telegraph and Telephone. The 
 telegraph and the telephone are as much 
 essential parts of a national system of 
 communication as the railroads. Every 
 consideration which has demanded a 
 national railroad system, demands also 
 the nationalization of the wire service 
 of the United States. 
 
 The Socialist Party, therefore, urges 
 
 the immediate nationalization of the 
 telegraph and the telephone as an ab- 
 solute social necessity and the operation 
 
 of these lines as part of the postal sys- 
 
 tem. 
 8 
 
 ry’ 
 
(4) Power. The co-ordination of coal 
 mines, water power and the generation 
 of electricity under national ownership 
 and control has already been proposed 
 by the English Ministry of Reconstruc- 
 tion as the only possible policy for the 
 British nation. The establishment of 
 immense Super-power electrical plants 
 in the vicinity of mines and waterfalls 
 for the purpose of supplying current to 
 large areas of consumers, including the 
 railroads, offers unparalleled advantages 
 in economy and efficiency of public ser- 
 vice and the prevention of fuel famine. 
 By such a system the cost of electricity 
 could be so reduced and the service so 
 extended that every household in the 
 nation as well as every industrial es- 
 tablishment and farm could be supplied 
 with electrical energy at almost incre- 
 dibly low rates. This is the inevitable 
 future of electricity. 
 
 The Socialist Party demands the im- 
 mediate appointment of a _ Federal 
 Power Commission with adequate rep- 
 resentation of labor to make an exhaust- 
 ive investigation into this subject and 
 to recommend legislation to Congress 
 which will embody a comprehensive 
 power development policy, as well as 
 proposals for the immediate nationaliza- 
 tion of the coal mines and. the reclama- 
 tion and conservation of all the great 
 sources of water power. 
 
 (5) Large Seale Industry. Like the 
 British Labor Party, we believe that 
 
 § 
 
the people will not tolerate “any recon- 
 struction or perpetuation of the dis- 
 organization, waste and inefficiency in- 
 volved in the abandonment of industry 
 to a jostling crowd of separate private 
 employers, with their minds bent, not 
 on the service of the community, but— 
 by the very law of their being—only on 
 the utmost possible profiteering.” 
 Every large scale essential industry 
 
 3 
 
 whose operations extend beyond the © 
 
 borders of a single state must eventual- 
 ly be owned and operated by the Federal 
 Government at cost, for the benefit of 
 the people as a whole. 
 
 As immediate means to this end the 
 Socialist Party demands a co-ordination 
 and extension of functions now. exer- 
 cised by the Government War Industrial 
 Board, the War Trade Board, the Fed- 
 eral Trade Commission, and the Federal 
 Food and Fuel Administrations so that 
 there may be built up a democratized 
 and unified system of public regulation 
 and control over all phases of large-scale 
 industry in the interest of all the people. 
 
 2. Democratic Management. 
 
 Government ownership without demo- 
 cratic management may become a 
 
 greater menace to the world than the 
 
 system of private ownership and ex- 
 ploitation which is passing away. With- 
 out the control of industry a democratic 
 government may be a menace to the 
 liberty of the individual. The addition 
 of the immense power over public policy, 
 
 10 
 
- 
 
 and over the happiness of the masses, 
 incident to industrial domination, in- 
 tensifies the menace a thousand-fold. 
 
 Self-government in industry is the 
 first essential of a truly democratic na- 
 tion, and the only guarantee of real 
 freedom for the workers. The Socialist 
 Party, therefore, demands that the 
 right to organize be a fundamental 
 right for all government employes; and 
 that the right to strike be in no case 
 denied or abridged. 
 
 In all industries controlled by the 
 government, there shall be established 
 principles of democratic management 
 of the conditions of employment by shop 
 committees, elected by the workers. 
 
 To prevent the use of the immensely 
 increased number of government posi- 
 tions for purposes of political patron- 
 age, we demand that the merit system 
 of appointment to civil service be ex- 
 tended to every plant or industry as it 
 is taken over by the government, but 
 the political rights of such employes 
 
 must be safeguarded. 
 
 ~~ 
 
 As a means of strengthening the 
 working class in its everyday struggle 
 and fit it for this complete emancipation, 
 we endorse the principle of industrial 
 unionism. 
 
 3. - Demobilization. 
 
 With the problem of the returned 
 soldier, and the cessation of war indus- 
 tries imminent, there is urgent neces- 
 
 11 
 
sity for a nativnal policy in the field of 
 employment. 
 
 The Socialist Party demands that the 
 present efforts at co-ordination by the 
 Department of Labor of federal and 
 state employment agencies be developed 
 into a permanent system to supplant 
 private agencies, as follows: 
 
 (a) The use of present labor union 
 organizations as far as possible as bases 
 for a service conducted under union 
 conditions; 
 
 (b) The rapid development of a sys- 
 tem of vocational education ; 
 
 (c) The organization of a construc- 
 tion service, under proper standards of 
 labor, to carry on the various govern- 
 ment works and to provide apprentice- 
 ship to returning soldiers and other 
 workers for permanent employment in 
 developing the land and natural resour- 
 ces of the nation; 
 
 (d) The acquisition and permanent 
 holding by the Government of tracts of 
 agricultural lands needed by returning 
 soldiers and other workers. 
 
 (e) Guaranteed employment for all f 
 
 willing workers. 
 
 4. The Structure of Government. 
 
 The present structure of government 
 is totally inadequate to assume the ad- 
 ditional burden of industrial control. 
 
 Organized on the theory of a separ- 
 ation of powers and constrained by a 
 rigid constitution, the President, two 
 houses of congress, and the courts have 
 
 12 
 
been checks and balances upon one an- 
 other that have destroyed efficiency, 
 and made ineffective the will of the 
 people. Only by the domination of the 
 executive and the servility of Congress 
 has any effective action been secured. 
 But the loss to democracy has been im- 
 mense. 
 
 The dictates of both efficiency and 
 democracy demand a flexible constitu- 
 tion and a‘ unified form of government. 
 The President and the courts must be 
 responsible to Congress and its mem- 
 bers elected by the people without re- 
 gard to sex and subject to their con- 
 tinual control. 
 
 The Socialist Party, therefore, de- 
 mands: | 
 
 1, That amendments to the United 
 States Constitution be made upon the 
 recommendation of a majority vote of 
 Congress and ratification by a majority 
 of the voters of the nation, or by initi- 
 ative of the people. 
 
 2. The abolition of the Senate, and 
 the election of members of Congress by 
 proportional representation subject to 
 recall. Democratization of Congress- 
 ional procedure, the terms of congress- 
 men to begin soon after their election. 
 The election of federal judges by the 
 people subject to recall. 
 
 3. The direct election of the President 
 and the Vice-President subject to recall, 
 and the abolition of the veto dower. 
 
 13 
 
4. The abolition of the usurped 
 power of the courts to declare acts of 
 Congress unconstitutional. 
 
 5. Responsibility of the President 
 and his cabinet to Congress through the 
 power of interpellation. 
 
 6. Self-government for the District 
 of Columbia. 
 
 7. The initiative and referendum ap- 
 plied to federal legislation. 
 
 8. The immediate passage of the 
 amendment to the Constitution of the 
 United States establishing the right of 
 women to the franchise, and adequate 
 representation of women in legislative, 
 judicial and administrative fields of 
 government, that the interests of 
 women may be the better safeguarded. 
 
 5. Civil Liberties. 
 
 The war has brought. restrictions on 
 our constitutional rights of freedom of 
 speech, press and assemblage which are 
 not only unnecessary, but which men- 
 ace the whole future of democratic in- 
 stitutions and individual liberty. 
 
 Mob violence, spurred on by the ut- 
 terances of the conservative press, and 
 of many men well known in public life, 
 
 es challenges the orderly processes of 
 
 democratic institutions. Exploiting busi- 
 ness interests are deliberately using 
 these restrictive measures to crush 
 radical labor. Under the cloak of 
 patriotism, they rob the consumer with 
 
 14 
 
 “a 
 
one hand and pile up huge war profits 
 with the other. 
 
 The vague language of the Espionage 
 Act is being used not so much to deal 
 with enemy spies, as to suppress all in- 
 dependent expression of opinion, par- 
 ticularly in relation to war policies and 
 the class struggle. The post-office cen- 
 sorship, under which scores of papers 
 have been deprived of their second- 
 class mailing privileges, is destroying 
 the freedom of the press. 
 
 The Socialist Party, therefore, de- 
 mands the literal interpretation of the 
 constitution and application of the civil 
 liberties provisions of the constitution 
 during war as well as peace. 
 
 2. That mob violence be suppressed 
 through the power of the Federal Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 3. The immediate repeal of those 
 clauses in the federal statutes which 
 give the Postmaster General powers of 
 censorship over periodicals and printed 
 matter. It should be the business 
 of the post-office department only 
 to transmit mail matter, not to pass 
 upon its mailability. The administration 
 of sedition laws is the function of the 
 Department of Justice. 
 
 4.°The immediate reversal of the 
 arbitrary acts of censorship by the Post- 
 office Department, and the re-admission 
 to second-class privileges of all news- 
 papers and periodicals suppressed dur- 
 ing the war for criticising the conduct 
 
 15 
 
of the war, the acts of government of- 
 ficials, or economic and social conditions, 
 or for discussing terms of peace. 
 
 5. The amendment of existing es- 
 pionage legislation which will restrict 
 its application to actual agents or sup- 
 porters of the enemy and which will 
 render impossible its further use as a 
 weapon of the government against poli- 
 tical opposition. 
 
 6. The immediate repeal of all legis- 
 lation restricting freedom of speech and 
 of the press, and the immediate uncon- 
 ditional pardon of all political prisoners. 
 
 6. Taxation. 
 
 The war has brought to the very 
 forefront of importance the question of 
 taxation. The colossal expenditures al- 
 ready made in this war, of which, 
 against the protests of the Socialists, 
 but a small proportion has been raised 
 through taxation, place a heavy burden 
 of debt upon the future. After the war 
 is over, capital will be needed for many 
 social enterprises and the resources of 
 the government must be vastly greater 
 than ever before. Meanwhile colossal 
 fortunes are being made over night, 
 developing new and powerful spheres of 
 
 financial influence. Means must be found . 
 
 to discharge our huge public debt, raise 
 the revenue necessary for the rapidly 
 increasing functions of government, and 
 at the same time solve the ever menac- 
 ing problem of wealth concentration. 
 
 16 
 
 a 
 
oo 
 
 To this end, we favor: 
 
 1. The imposition of an excess pro- 
 fits tax approximately 100%. No one 
 should be permitted to secure profit 
 from this war, while others are endur- 
 ing untold sacrifice. 
 
 2. A progressive income tax, aiming 
 at the abolition of all incomes above the 
 needs of a comfortable and secure liveli- 
 hood. 
 
 3. A progressive inheritance tax, 
 rising to 100% in large estates. 
 
 4. Taxation of the. unearned in- 
 erement of land; all lands held out .of 
 use to be taxed at full rental value. 
 
 ‘5. A more adequate corporations tax. 
 
 7. Credit. 
 
 During the past few decades, we have 
 witnessed the creation of a huge em- 
 pire of finance, dominated by a few 
 financial masters. This control has led 
 to the creation of great unearned for- 
 tunes, to the making and unmaking of 
 gigantic businesses, to the manipulation 
 of national policy for the benefit of the 
 few. 
 
 The United States is rapidly becom- 
 ing the greatest investing nation, of 
 the world. If private interests still 
 control the nations credit, a. policy of 
 
 ‘economic imperialism following the war 
 
 will be inevitable. 
 
 If this disastrous policy is to. be 
 avoided and the community relieved of 
 the burden of billions of dollars now 
 
 17 
 
exacted by private financiers, the gov- 
 ernment must completely and democra- 
 tically control its banks and credit sys- 
 tem. 
 
 In the direction of such control, the 
 Socialist Party demands: 
 
 That all banks essential to the con- 
 duct of business and industry be ac- 
 quired by the government and incor- 
 porated in a unified public banking sys- 
 tem. 
 
 2. As the government acquires 
 ownership of industries, it shall sub- 
 stitute for metallic money and the 
 present form of paper money an_ in- 
 creasing proportion of notes redeemable 
 in the service and commodities furnish- 
 ed by the government, thereby ultimate- 
 ly eliminating entirely the necessity of 
 maintaining a gold reserve, except for 
 international trade relations. | 
 
 8. Agriculture. 
 
 Exploited by those in control of the 
 railroads, the grain elevators, the 
 creameries, the packing houses, cold 
 
 storage - plants, banks, agricultural ° 
 
 machinery, as well as by other owners 
 of land, capital and life’s necessities, 
 
 many farmers have been reduced to a °’ 
 
 condition of poverty. 
 
 Their ultimate interest and that of 
 
 society at large may lie in the public 
 or voluntary co-operative corporation ot 
 farms supplied with the most improved 
 
 machinery and the services of scientific - 
 
 18 
 
 we 
 
~ 
 
 = 
 
 experts—free scope being given to 
 those farmers so desiring to continue 
 individual operation. Immediately, how- 
 ever ,the workers on the farms should 
 be relieved of the oppression of big 
 business. which fixes the prices. Espec- 
 ially designed to afford relief in this 
 direction, the Socialist Party pledges it- 
 self to the following: 
 
 1. Collective ownership of elevators, 
 warehouses, flour mills, stockyards, 
 packing houses, creameries, cold storage 
 plants, and factories for the production 
 of agricultural implements. 
 
 2. Public insurance against diseases 
 of animals, diseases of plants, insect 
 pests, hail, flood, drought, storm and 
 fire. 
 
 3. The leasing of farm machinery by 
 public bodies at cost. 
 
 4. The encouragement of co-oper- 
 ative societies for agricultural pur- 
 poses. 
 
 5. The application of the land values 
 tax to land held for speculation and ex- 
 ploitation; exemption of farm improve- 
 ments from taxation. 
 
 6. The retention by the national, 
 state and local government of all land 
 owned by them, and the continuous 
 acquirement of other land by reclama- 
 tion, purchase, condemnation, taxation 
 or otherwise, such land to be organized 
 as rapidiy as practicable into socially 
 operated farms. 
 
 19 
 
7. Encouragement of unions of agri- 
 cultural workers. 
 
 8. Extension of labor laws to agri- 
 culture and the securing to agricultural 
 laborers of minimum standards requi- 
 site for a healthy life and worthy -cit- 
 izenship. * 
 
 9. We also call attention to the fact 
 that the elimination of farm tenantry 
 and the develoument of socially. owned 
 and operated agriculture resulting from 
 the foregoing measures will open new 
 opportunities to the agricultural wage- 
 worker and free him from dependence 
 on the private employer. 
 
 9. Conservation of Natural Resources. 
 
 The steadily increasing concentration 
 of natural resources in private hands 
 has led to untold exploitation and to 
 ruthless wastage of the nation’s raw 
 material. If industrial democracy is to 
 be secured, and if the material heritage 
 of America is to be utilized in the inter- 
 ests of the entire people, all natural 
 resources—including mines, quarries, 
 oil wells, forests and water power— 
 
 must be brought under public owner- « 
 
 ship and operation. As immediate 
 measure toward this end the Socialist 
 Party urges: 
 
 pe 
 
 1. The retention by the Federal Gov- ; 
 
 ernment of all remaining public lands, 
 and of all powers over public streams. 
 
 2. Development by the government 
 of a comprehensive system of national 
 river regulation for the storage of flood 
 
 20 
 
waters and their use for irrigation, 
 
 ~ 
 
 hydro-electric power and navigation. 
 3. The. acquisition and permanent 
 holding by the Government of all moun- 
 tain and other lands necessary for the 
 protection of storage reservoirs and the 
 
 ‘conducting on such lands of timber 
 
 operations, under forestry principles, 
 to secure a continuous yield of lumber. 
 
 4. The mining by the Government, 
 and sale at cost, of mineral resources 
 and of coal from the public domain. 
 
 5. A comprehensive system of re- 
 clamation of waste and arid lands. 
 
 10. Labor Legislation. 
 
 We believe that the intellectual and 
 manual producers cannot obtain equal- 
 ity of opportunity in the struggle of life 
 until they democratically control the 
 
 - fundamental industries of the country. 
 
 But as a means of strengthening them 
 in their struggle for industrial democ- 
 racy we advocate: 
 
 1. The re-enactment of legislation 
 prohibiting the employment of child 
 labor. 
 
 2. Legislation securing absolute free- 
 dom of labor to organize, to as to 
 picket and to boycott. 
 
 38. Special legislation for women 
 providing for equal pay for equal work, 
 
 _ restriction of hours and proper safe- 
 
 guards to health and safety. 
 
 4. The securing to every worker of a 
 rest period of not less than a day and a 
 half in each week. 
 
 21 
 
5. The enactment of a minimum wage 
 for men and women workers. 
 
 6. Legislation providing for social 
 insurance against sickness, injury, old 
 age and unemployment. 
 
 ' 7, Legislation providing for a more 
 
 effective system of inspection of work-. 
 
 shops, factories and mines. 
 11. Prisons. 
 
 Our penal system, conceived in bar- 
 barity and maintained through the 
 callous indifference of those who frame 
 and execute our laws, is a disgraceful 
 survival of the feudal attitude toward 
 life.. With rare exceptions, our prisons 
 continue to be, as they have always 
 _ been, breeding places of depravity and 
 
 sources of moral and physical con- 
 
 tamination. 
 
 We demand that the entire system 
 be replaced by a system governed by 
 humanity and intelligence. 
 
 To this end we pledge our best efforts 
 through federal and state action to the 
 following specific proposals: 
 
 1. To substitute for punishment, 
 such methods of treatment as may, in 
 the shortest possible time, restore 
 
 delinguents as’ useful members of 
 
 society. 
 
 2. The extended use of the suspended 
 sentence and probation to the end that 
 the benefits of the system may be ap- 
 plied to the poor and friendless as well 
 as to those who have social or political 
 influence. 
 
 22 
 
3. The application of the indetermin- 
 ate sentence to all who may be commit- 
 ted to penal, correctional or reformatory 
 institution, with adequate provision for 
 
 } parole and after-care of such persons. 
 4. The abolition of death penalty. 
 ; 5. The abolition of the present sys- 
 * tem of arbitrary and barbarous prison 
 discipline and the substitution there- 
 for of a system combining humanity, 
 honor and self-government, with in- 
 creasing emphasis on.productive indus- 
 try, education and vocational training. 
 
 6. The immediate and complete 
 abolition of the contract system in 
 prison labor. 
 
 12. The Negro. 
 
 The negroes are the most oppressed 
 portion of the American population of 
 which they form one-ninth. They are 
 the victims of lawlessness, including 
 hanging and burning; widespread poli- 
 tical disfranchisement, and loss of civil 
 rights. They are especially discriminat- 
 yed against in economic opportunity. 
 
 We therefore demand: 
 
 1. That the negroes be accorded full 
 
 -ybenefits of citizenship, political, educa- 
 tional and industrial. 
 
 2. That Congress shall enroren the 
 provisions of the 14th Amendment by 
 reducing the representation in Congress 
 
 of such states as violate the letter or 
 . spirit of the amendment. 
 
 23 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 In offering the above program, the 
 Socialist Party warns the masses that 
 it has reference to a dying social order. 9 
 Our program is designed to assist in the — 
 passing of this bankrupt system of capi-_ 
 talism, not as a final substitute for it. » 
 No security can be had from imperial- 
 ism, trade and investment rivalries, 
 reactionary diplomacy, intrigues against 
 backward lands and peoples, militarism, 
 and exploitation of the masses, without 
 a complete transformation of capitalist 
 society. Anything short of this com- | 
 plete transformation, any program that 
 leaves industry, finance, transportation _ . 
 and natural resources in the hands of — 
 exploiting groups, will perpetuate the 
 causes of international discord and lead — 
 to another world tragedy. The main — 
 struggle of the masses is to secure con- — 
 trol of these basic institutions and. this 
 requires an education of the people to 
 the necessity of such control. . 
 
 In this work of education we ives 
 the co-operation of all who recognize 
 the opportunities for re-building the 
 world on a basis of equity, democracy * 
 and fraternity for all. “ 
 
 Issued by the Nal Office, Social- 
 ist Party, 803 W. Madison St., Chicago, ; 
 Price, 5 cents per copy. aad 
 
 IE se speabenentom tie on request. © 
 2 m= (Q30 5 
 
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