624 THE CLASS STRUGGLE EDITORIALS 625 as a criminal in the eyes of justice, after forty years spent in the struggle for labor, a struggle that began with a prison sentence earned in the cause of labor, he proclaimed the right of every human being to fight against capitalism and all forms of capitalist misrule. He proved that his fight against militarism and war was but a part of this gigantic world wide struggle of the working class. He acclaimed the right to revolution and maintained that the struggle between the classes of society would be fought out until the proletariat is free.
The trial of the great American socialist came at a psychological moment, when events in Europe and at home had aroused even the most forgiving of our members.
We were ready for unvarnished speech, and Debs declaration before the court brought the whole Party, from Canada to Mexico, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, to its feet, in one burst of enthusiastic acclaim. Here was a man who dared to say what they all were thinking, here was a man who expressed the sentiments that had taken possession of the American movement as they had never been able to do before. The Socialist Party of America had found a leader, a leader who was able to unite all shades and all factions, all groups and all opinions into one, because he represented the spirit of the International.
The Debs trial is more than an episode in the history of the Socialist Party. Its influence will make itself felt, and will permeate the movement everywhere. Its effect was apparent in the second Masses trial. While the first trial had shown a wavering and rather apologetic attitude on the part of the defendants, the example of Debs had braced them up, and made them defiant. Max Eastman, in a strong, masterful speech, defended the St. Louis Declaration of the Party and the Party itself; John Reed, who had been in Russia during the first trial, explained and proclaimed the class war, and Floyd Dell and Art Young were no less outspoken and manly.
The example of one man had worked a glorious change in the attitude of a big national movement.
The Red Flag It has ben a common occurrence that people whose past will least bear investigation, are loudest in their protestations and their professions of the very virtues they least possess.
The latest example of this noble human characteristic is Mayor John Hylan, of New York City, that priceless jewel in the crown of Tammany, who was elected with the wholehearted support of the most flagrantly un American element of the city. We can appreciate that Mayor Hylan would do his damndest, once his election was assured, to wipe this unpleasant stain from his fair name. It came with particularly good grace, therefore, from his Honor, to be the first public official in this country to forbid the use of the red flag at street and hall meetings and to outlaw it as the emblem of Bolshevism, this bogy of every respectably stupid American citizen.
The alleged cause that inspired this patriotic outburst on the part of the gentleman in the City Hall was a peaceable parade arranged by Local New York in honor of the German Revolution, which was brutally attacked by a mob of sailors, sent there by the National Security League and other patriotic organizations of the same caliber. That the attack was entirely unprovoked, that the rowdies in uniform, with admirable impartiality, beat up men and women alike for the unpardonable crime of wearing a red button, even the capitalist press was forced to admit. It was clear. Something had to be done about it. Such outrages could not be permitted to occur on the orderly streets of the City of New York. The Socialists must be stopped from provoking such unlawful demonstrations.
But the New York Times, of Wednesday morning (the demonstration was held on Monday night) with characteristic bluntness, gave away the truth. On Tuesday evening, according to their report, a banquet of the Society of Arts and Sciences was held at which a number of prominent politicians and capitalists started a crusade on the Red Flag. Job Hedges, a Republican politician who enjoys the enviable repu