Conscription

Hellraisers Journal: Joe Hill and the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906

Submitted by JayRaye on Sun, 04/24/2016 - 12:57pm
Organize! Oh, toilers, come organize your might;
Then we'll sing one song of the workers' commonwealth,
Full of beauty, full of love and health.
-Joe Hill
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Tuesday April 24, 1906
From The San Francisco Call: Fire Boundary Twenty-Six Miles

San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, Fire Boundary, SF Call, Apr 23, 1906.png

Hellraisers Journal: John Sloan & Charles Erskine Scott Wood on "Patriotism" from The Masses

Submitted by JayRaye on Fri, 03/18/2016 - 12:30pm

Let those who own the country, who are howling for and profiting
by preparedness, fight to defend their property.
-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

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Saturday December 18, 1916
From The Masses: "Do You Believe in Patriotism?" Part II

In the March issue of The Masses, various Socialist writers responded to the question, "Do you believe in Patriotism?" Yesterday Hellraisers featured the answers to that question from two prominent Socialists women, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Sara Bard Field. Today's edition features the responses of John Sloan and Charles Erskine Scott Wood:

From John Sloan

the masses cover june 1914 ludlow (2).jpg

If I had to love a country I could love no country but this, nor could I find a fitter one to hate.

I put Patriotism with the other isms,-Militarism, Anarchism, Capitalism, Individualism, Socialism, Dogmatism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Rheumatism (I had almost written Catechism), but I am answering your question. I hope that social progress will eliminate all isms-though in the case of Futurism we have a hard one to catch.

Patriotism licks the boot of capitalism and until the earth-worms get the latter's carcass, he will need patriots. As the wage system will never enable the people of any country to consume all their products with a profit to the owning class, foreign markets are a necessity to be fought for. Patriotism is a potent means of providing the fighters. Conscription is another powerful persuader and Our Country has both (see Dick military law passed by congress in 1903 and 1908).