of solidarity under the most trying conditions of the present class struggle, we may put a summary end to that barbarous struggle by the abolition of classes, the restoration of the land and of all the means of production, transportation and distribution to the people as a collective body, and the substitution of the Co-operative Commonwealth for the present state of planless production, industrial war, and social disorder; a commonwealth in which every worker shall have the free exercise and full benefit of his faculties, multiplied by all modern factors of civilization. RESOLUTIONS With a view to immediate improvement in the condition of labor we present the following demands: I. Reduction of the hours of labor in proportion to the progress of production. 2. The United States to obtain possession of the mines, railroads, canals, telegraphs, telephones, and all other means of public transportation and communication; the employees to operate the same co-operatively under control of the Federal Government and to elect their own superior officers, but no employee shall be discharged for political reasons. 3. The municipalities to obtain possession of the local railroads, ferries, water-works, gas-works, electric plants, and all industries requiring municipal franchises; the employees to operate the same co-operatively under control of the municipal administration and to elect their own superior officers, but no employees shall be discharged for political reasons. 4. The public land to be declared inalienable. Revocation of all land grants to corporations or individuals, the conditions of which have not been complied with. 5. The United States to have the exclusive right to issue money. 6. Congressional legislation providing for the scientific management of forests and waterways, and prohibiting the waste of the natural resources of the country. 7. Inventions to be free to all; the inventors to be remunerated by the nation. 8. Progressive income tax and tax on inheritances; the smaller incomes to be exempt. 9. School education of all children under fourteen years of age to be compulsory, gratuitous and accessible to all by public assistance in meals, clothing, books, etc., where necessary. 10. Repeal of all pauper, tramp, conspiracy, and sumptuary laws. Unabridged right of combination. II. Prohibition of the employment of children of school age and the employment of female labor in occupations detrimental to health or morality. Abolition of the convict labor contract system. 12. Employment of the unemployed by the public authorities (county, city, State and Nation). 13. All wages to be paid in lawful money of the United States. Equalization of women's wages to those of men where equal service is performed. 14. Laws for the protection of life and limb in all occupations, and an efficient employer's liability law. 15. The people to have the right to propose laws and to vote upon all measures of importance, according to the referendum principle. 16. Abolition of the veto power of the Executive (National, State, or Municipal), wherever it exists. 17. Abolition of the United States Senate and all upper legislative chambers. 18. Municipal self-government. 19. Direct vote and secret ballots in all elections. Universal and equal right of suffrage without regard to color, creed, or sex. Election days to be legal holidays. The principle of proportional representative to be introduced. 20. All public officers to be subject to recall by their respective constituencies. 21. Uniform civil and criminal law throughout the United States. Administration of justice to be free of charge. Abolition of capital punishment. Proceedings of the Tenth National Convention of the Socialist Labor Party. p. 253. Convention at New York, N. Y., July 6, 1896. CAMPAIGN OF 1900 --- In 1900 there were the two major parties and the wellestablished minor parties, namely, the Prohibitionists and the Socialist Labor Party. The Prohibitionists called themselves the National Prohibition Party, but the word "National" does not appear to be a true part of the name. In addition, a new socialistic group appeared, calling itself the Social Democratic Party. It was a fore-runner of the regular Socialist Party. A Silver Republican Party appeared, composed of Republicans who approved free silver. The People's Party was split. One faction, known as the "Fusionists," joined the Democratic Party. The other faction refused to do so, and was known as the "Middle-ofthe-Road" Faction. Democratic Platform of 1900 We, the representatives of the Democratic party of the United States assembled in National Convention, on the Anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, do reaffirm our faith in that immortal proclamation of the inalienable rights of man, and our allegiance to the Constitution framed in harmony therewith by the fathers of the Republic. We hold with the United States Supreme Court that the Declaration of Independence is the spirit of our government, of which the Constitution is the form and letter. We declare again that all governments instituted among men derive their just powers from the consent of the governed; that any government not based upon the consent of the governed is a tyranny; and that to impose upon any people a government of force is to substitute the methods of imperialism for those of a republic. We hold that the Constitution follows the flag, and denounce the doctrine that an Executive or Congress deriving their existence and their powers from the Constitution can exercise lawful authority beyond it or in violation of it. We assert that no nation can long endure half republic and half empire, and we warn the American people that imperialism abroad will lead quickly and inevitably to despotism at home. Believing in these fundamental principles, we denounce the Porto Rican law, enacted by a Republican Congress against the protest and opposition of the Democratic minority, as a bold and open violation of the nation's organic law and a flagrant breach of the national good faith. It imposes upon the people of Porto Rico a government without their consent and taxation without representation. It dishonors the American people by repudiating a solemn pledge made in their behalf by the Commanding General of our Army, which the Porto Ricans welcomed to a peaceful and unresisted occupation of their land. It dooms to poverty and distress a people whose helplessness appeals with peculiar force to our justice and magnanimity. In this, the first act of its imperialistic programme, the Republican party seeks to commit the United States to a colonial policy, inconsistent with republican institutions and condemned by the Supreme Court in numerous decisions. We demand the prompt and honest fulfillment of our pledge to the Cuban people and the world that the United States has no disposition nor intention to exercise sovereignty jurisdiction, or control over the Island of Cuba, except for its pacification. The war ended nearly two years ago, profound peace reigns over all the island, and still the administration keeps the government of the island from its people, while Republican carpet-bag officials plunder its revenues and exploit the colonial theory, to the disgrace of the American people. We condemn and denounce the Philippine policy of the present administration. It has involved the Republic in an unnecessary war, sacrificed the lives of many of our noblest sons, and placed the United States, previously known and applauded throughout the world as the champion of freedom, in the false and un-American position of crushing with military force the efforts of our former allies to achieve liberty and self-government. The Filipinos cannot be citizens without endangering our civilization; they cannot be subjects without imperiling our form of government; and as we are not willing to surrender our civilization nor to convert the Republic into an empire, we favor an immediate declaration of the nation's purpose to give the Filipinos, first, a stable form of government; second, independence; and third, protection from outside interference, such as has been given for nearly a century to the republics of Central and South America. The greedy commercialism which dictated the Philippine policy of the Republican administration attempts to justify it with the plea that it will pay; but even this sordid and unworthy plea fails when brought to the test of facts. The war of "criminal aggression" against the Filipinos, entailing an annual expense of many millions, has already cost more than any possible profit that could accrue from the entire Philippine trade for years to come. Furthermore, when trade is extended at the expense of liberty, the price is always too high. We are not opposed to territorial expansion when it takes in desirable territory which can be erected into States in the Union, and whose people are willing and fit to become American citizens. We favor trade expansion by every peaceful and legitimate means. But we are unalterably opposed to seizing or purchasing distant islands to be governed outside the Constitution, and whose people can never become citizens. We are in favor of extending the Republic's influence among the nations, but we believe that that influence should be extended not by force and violence, but through the persuasive power of a high and honorable example. The importance of other questions, now pending before the American people is no wise diminished and the Democratic party takes no backward step from its position on them, but the burning issue of imperialism growing out of the Spanish war involves the very existence of the Republic and the destruction of our free institutions. We regard it as the paramount issue of the campaign. The declaration in the Republican platform adopted at the Philadelphia Convention, held in June, 1900, that the Republican party "steadfastly adheres to the policy announced in the Monroe Doctrine" is manifestly insincere and deceptive. This profession is contradicted by the avowed policy of that party in opposition to the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine to acquire and hold sovereignty |