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Class Warrior: On the Armistice and Postwar Moment. 1918

Class Warrior
On the Armistice and Postwar Moment. 1918

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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 the Armistice and Postwar Moment 1918

Report of a speech by Kingsley in Vancouver’s Rex Theatre on 24 November 1918 during a Sunday evening mass meeting of the Federated Labor Party, examining the postwar moment in the wake of the signing of the Armistice that ended fighting on the Western Front.

Kingsley Asks the Question: “And Now What?”

Record Meeting at the Rex Theatre When Labor Party Re-opens. Capitalist Domination Spells Wastefulness as Well as Robbery.

Speaking at the Rex Theatre meeting of the Federated Labor Party on Sunday evening last, Mr. E. T. Kingsley allowed himself to adopt the role of prophet, when referring to the present Russian government, expressing the belief that they would be displaced by a bourgeois government and that they were apparently a little ahead of their time.

The great show of the last four years had ended in an armistice. Semi-feudalism had been conquered by the capitalist democracies of the western world. The policy of blood, iron and ruthlessness would be compelled to give way to the cunning of the bargain counter and the domination of “trade.” Soon there would be a gathering of the “business interests” to count up the assets and portion the plunder. The press might be expected to outdo even its previous record of deceit and hypocrisy. Bold pretensions toward liberty and democracy would still be used to cover up schemes of conquest.

This week they had been treated to a spectacle of 60 to 80 ships of a vanquished people making surrender under conditions which smacked strongly of “opera bouffet.” Four hundred battleships of the highest glass [sic—class] were on the job to help convey the impression that right was might. To him the whole proceeding seemed undignified and not in accordance with common decency.

Returning to Less Freedom

The big job was over and the men would be looking to return and what would they find on their return? They had risked all in an alleged fight for freedom—would they find a greater freedom awaiting them on return or was it not actually true that they would find that the shackles were even still more firmly fastened to their limbs and that oppression was greater than when they left. There was awaiting them a battle at home in which they would be compelled to join for the ruling classes were even now preparing for a resumption of conditions which left the workers with only one real line of action—political action.

Turning to the question of production, the speaker claimed that no real improvement was manifested in spite of the huge machinery of industrialism which had been erected. Clothing today was poorer than when it was handmade in the home and, moreover, the original handloom product was cheaper than any now obtainable. The same applied to articles of food.

Essential and Non-Essential Work

Half the working force of the world was gathered together in cities and did not produce a mouthful of food. They were engaged in the non-essential occupations which were part of a discredited system. Many of the “industrial monuments” of today could be compared in usefulness to the ancient pyramids of the banks of the Nile, yet they represented a tremendous amount of human labor. All the food, shelter and clothing needed by these people were produced by others while the mass of work on which they were engaged was of little real use to a well-ordered human society.

“Crown Prince” of the U.S.

The empire of industry would not be easily overturned. The red flag was never so much in evidence as now, but there was little chance of the establishment of Socialist republics without bourgeois interruption. The Houses of Parliament could not suddenly be filled with working class representatives. The empire of capitalist magnificence had been slowly reared and would be gradually superseded.

After a number of illustrations to show the futility of the present piling up of “promises to pay,” Kingsley stated that he would not be surprised that Scheideman (whom he referred to as a “pale pink red”) was induced to resign after getting a look at his new job as chancellor of the German exchequer, and the same was true of the “crown prince of the United States,” who resigned last week. “You cannot produce food, clothing and shelter and let it go from you and be paid for it except in promises.” The only revenue producer was labor in requisition, which was the only property on earth.

Legal Methods If They Existed

There could be no relief until the working class controlled the powers of government. There was no telling when the polls would again be open. His advice was to use the legal means of the ballot; but he would take care to point out that in some countries force had been resorted to because legal means were denied the workers, and it might be well to remember that in some countries where legal means had been so restricted as to be useless or had been removed altogether.

There was talk of reconstruction on the part of the people who were always trying to “do as good.” The speaker said experience showed they could be relied upon to “do us good and plenty.”

We must be free to speak our minds and to engage in political conflict and all support must be withdrawn from the class who rule and rob.

Mr. R. P. Pettipiece occupied the chair.

—“Kingsley Asks the Question ‘And Now What,’” British Columbia Federationist, 29 Nov. 1918, 1. See also “Kingsley and Society,” Vancouver Daily World, 25 Nov. 1918, 12.

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