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Class Warrior: On Political Action. 1903

Class Warrior
On Political Action. 1903

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Notes

table of contents
  1. Cover
  2. Foreword
  3. Introduction
  4. Part I: Selected Writings of E. T. Kingsley
    1. 1900   On Washington State’s Primary Law
    2. 1903   On Political Action
      1. On Reformism and Electoral “Fusion”
      2. On Trade Unions
    3. 1905   On the Single Tax
      1. On a Journey to Seattle
    4. 1906   On the Arrest of US Labour Leaders and State Power
    5. 1908   On the Socialist Movement and Travels across Canada
    6. 1909   On War
      1. On the Vancouver Free Speech Fight
    7. 1911   On Property
      1. On the Workers’ Awakening
      2. On Economic Organization
      3. On the Capitalist State
    8. 1914   On the Causes of the First World War
    9. 1916   On Carnage
    10. 1917   On Slavery and War
      1. On War Finance
      2. On the War Effort
    11. 1918   On the Bolshevik Revolution
      1. On Capitalism Getting Rich Quick
    12. 1919   On Control of the State by the Working Class
      1. On Reconstruction
      2. On Collaboration between Labour and Capital
      3. On Wealth
      4. On Gold
      5. On Class War
      6. On the Paris Peace Conference
      7. On Capitalist Civilization
    13. 1921   On the 1921 Canadian Parliamentary Election
  5. Part II: Selected Speeches of E. T. Kingsley
    1. 1895   On the Aims of Socialism
    2. 1896   On Socialism and the Economy
    3. 1899   On American Imperialism in Cuba and the Philippines
    4. 1903   On the Labour Problem
      1. On the Political Organization of Miners in Cumberland
      2. On Stirring the Emotions of His Audience
      3. On Wages, Profit, and Capital
      4. On the 1903 British Columbia Election
    5. 1905   On the 1905 Russian Revolution
      1. On Workers and Rockefeller
      2. On the Mission of the Working Class
    6. 1906   On the Paris Commune
    7. 1908   On Labour and Its Economies
      1. On the Working Class Using Clubs If Necessary
      2. On Working-Class Political Power
    8. 1912   On the Vancouver Free Speech Fight
    9. 1913   On the Vancouver Island Miners’ Strike
    10. 1914   On the Komagata Maru Incident
    11. 1917   On Conscription
      1. On Working-Class Opposition to Conscription
      2. On Conscription and Wiping Out Ruling-Class Laws
      3. On the 1917 Conscription Election
    12. 1918   On the Formation of the Federated Labor Party
      1. On Laws
      2. On Reconstruction
      3. On the Armistice and Postwar Moment
      4. On Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War
    13. 1919   On Lenin and Trotsky
      1. On the Belfast General Strike, Unemployment, and the Postwar Challenge to Capitalism
      2. On the Bolshevik Revolution
      3. On the One Big Union
      4. On the Class Struggle
      5. On the Machine
      6. On Capitalism
      7. On the Defeat of the Winnipeg General Strike
      8. On the Machinery of Slavery
      9. On Civilization
    14. 1920   On Mechanization of Production
      1. On the Paris Commune
      2. On the Collapse of Civilization
      3. On the Bankruptcy of the Capitalist System
  6. Part III: The Genesis and Evolution of Slavery
    1. 1916   The Genesis and Evolution of Slavery: Showing How the Chattel Slaves of Pagan Times Have Been Transformed into the Capitalist Property of To-day
  7. Part IV: On the World Situation
    1. 1919   On the World Situation
  8. Appendix
  9. Kingsley’s Speeches
  10. Index

On Political Action 1903

This letter by Kingsley published in the Western Clarion on the eve of the 1903 BC provincial election campaign appealed to workers to contribute funds to ensure the financial sustainability of the newspaper—a message Kingsley would repeat regularly over the ensuing decade as he drew deeply from his personal finances to subsidize the newspaper’s operations.

Time for Action

Editor Western Clarion:

Though not much given to letter writing, there is one matter upon which I feel a word or two needs to be said.

We are on the eve of the most important political campaign thus far fought in British Columbia. I say important for the reason of its being the first time a ticket of the revolutionary proletariat will have appeared on the ballot at a general election. There has been sufficient nosing around by royal inquisitions and other agencies to warrant us in believing that a vigorous and unscrupulous warfare will be waged against us during this campaign by the present ruling class of the province. This should prompt us to at once burnish up our weapons and prepare for aggressive action. One of our most effective weapons is the press. I am informed that the Western Socialist Publishing Co., Ltd., is hampered by an indebtedness of something like $1,200. This has been incurred in purchase of plant. No paper can be strong and effective if continually forced to gasp for breath. If this paltry amount were cleared off the way would be easy towards making the Western Clarion a powerful and effective means of spreading our propaganda.

I believe there are enough Clarion readers able to assist in clearing this matter off, and would each one do his little share no one would feel it. I for one would feel a deep sense of shame were I to remain indifferent and apathetic while a few comrades were staggering under a burden which I should assist in carrying.

Other Island comrades and myself have already subscribed for considerable stock in the W. S. Pub. Co. I hereby subscribe for additional stock to the amount of $5, and with the object in view of placing the Western Clarion and plant absolutely under the control of the Socialist Party of B.C., I request of the W. S. Pub. Co that when such stock is issued it be turned over to our Provincial Executive, to be voted and controlled by that body in the interest of our Party. This to include all stock taken or subscribed for by me up to the present time.

I am inclined to think the comrades in some instances at least have not taken proper interest in this and perhaps other matters. It is time we woke up. We must fight our own battle and carry our own burden. If we are too apathetic to do so we might well be likened to soldiers upon the “firing line” who are too shiftless to load a gun.

Get in line comrades.

Time is pressing,

Yours for action,

E. T. Kingsley

Nanaimo, BC, June 15, 1903.

—E. T. Kingsley, “Time for Action,” Western Clarion, 19 June 1903, 2.

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On Reformism and Electoral “Fusion”. 1903
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