104 THE CLASS STRUGGLE 105 CURRENT AFFAIRS all Socialists to fight their own capitalist governments and give no quarter. By using Liebknecht name in this peculiar manner they not only do injustice to the Socialist movement of the United States but create an impression of Karl Liebknecht which cannot but lower him in the eyes of the world.
First came the little band of heroic knights yclept Alliance for Labor and Democracy under the leadership of that mental giant Chester Wright, and his boss, the unspeakable Maisel.
Night after night their chariot toured the Jewish districts, and always with the same pitiful success. No one took them seriously enough to listen to their tirades, or even to jeer at them. The population of these districts even its unsocialistic part showed its contempt so plainly that these real socialistic supporters of the most outspoken representative of the big financial interests, the intimate friend of the Morgans and Vanderbilts, of the Roots and Roosevelts, became the laughing stock of the whole campaign.
Then the big guns appeared upon the scene to save the situation. Mr. Charles Edward Russell, who as the Socialist mayor.
alty candidate four years ago had contributed to Socialist literature a splendid characterization of the scare crow Tammany cry, was brought all the way from Michigan to speak for Mr. Mitchel. He spoke just once and disappeared. The cordiality of the reception offered to him. the cries of traitor and renegade that greeted him, sent him back to Michigan, where he is working for the government. William English Walling, the industrious author of at least five newspaper articles dailyevery one of them written for the capitalist press and for the benefit of anti Socialist capitalist politicians, did his goodly share.
Mr. Phelps Stokes, whose honesty and earnestness of purpose everybody appreciates as much as his lack of Socialist understanding, spoke at a number of meetings for the Fusion cause.
But saddest of all is the case of Henry Slobodin, who has hopelessly sacrificed a splendid record of more than twenty years of useful service for the labor and Socialist movements, by working side by side with Root, Roosevelt and Hughes.
The most amusing. or shall we say tragic of the extravagant pretenses made by these men, is their claim to represent in this country, the ideas, principles and tactics of Karl Lieb knecht, the staunch and uncompromising foe of capitalism and militarism. They feign ignorance of the fact that this real internationalist and revolutionist has proclaimed it to be the duty of To what extent, then, did the municipal campaign prove a success from the Socialist point of view. The Hillquit vote was somewhat above 140, 000, the vote for the head of the state ticket, Comrade John Block, candidate for Attorney General, almost 120, 000 in Greater New York. The vote cast for Comrade Block is generally conceded to be the straight Socialist vote. Four years ago our candidate for Mayor polled 33, 000 votes. year ago our candidate for governor received 38, 500 votes in the city, while our presidential candidate polled about 10, 000 votes more, This increase in the straight vote, ther fore, is proportionally much larger than that of the floating vote, This proves one gratifying fact that the real pro German vote went to Hylan and not to Hillquit. This vote, undesirable from any point of view, went to Hylan because the typical proGerman represents that element of society that belongs to the middle class and is essentially bourgeois and therefore antiSocialistic in its feelings and political affiliations. No branch of the American Socialist movement is so conspicuously lacking in professionals and intellectuals as the German Language Federation. Nowhere is the genuine labor element in such an overwhelming majority in the Socialist organization of this country as in the German speaking branches.
The genuine pro German could have been persuaded, perhaps, to vote for an isolated candidate who had a chance. He would never, however, allow himself to be so far swayed by his idealism to vote for a lost cause. He will vote the straight Democratic or Republican ticket, as may seem, at the time, most compatible with his immediate interests. But nothing could persuade his pennywise mind to throw his vote away. We know of no more reac