On the Arrest of US Labour Leaders and State Power 1906

A Question of Power

If any further proof was necessary to sustain the contention of the Socialist that in the last analysis all law is purely a question of power, that proof has been furnished by action of the Colorado and Idaho officials in the seizure and kidnapping of Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone. Counsel for the prosecution has admitted in open court that there was no legal means that could have been used to bring the accused men into the State of Idaho, and that as in the opinion of the prosecution, law was in this particular [instance] defective, kidnapping was resorted to in order to further the ends of justice. There being no legal means of bringing the accused men within the clutch of the Idaho authorities, the officials of the two States did not for a moment hesitate to engage in a conspiracy to effect their purpose, and they did it with as little compunction of conscience and with as much zest as a gang of footpads might plan a hold-up. The entire affair has not been one of established legal procedure, but merely an instance of the brutal and conscienceless exercise of power that has always been displayed by those who have been foisted in to the position of rulers of men. Law is a grotesque farce, valuable only as a means of gulling those easily gullible ones upon whom human vultures prey. The superstitious reverence for it, and the abiding faith in its potency and power to shield him from harm are among the most absurd hallucinations that ever lodged in the mind of man. This superstition and abiding faith must be broken in the minds of the working class before it can ever attain to the dignity of a class of free men. The officials of Colorado and Idaho and their ilk elsewhere, are doing all that lies in their power to destroy that superstition and shatter that faith. Whether intentional or not their work is excellent in this respect.

Much adverse comment has been indulged in, even by the Socialist press, of the famous declaration of independence uttered by the notorious military strut and swashbuckler, General Sherman Bell of Colorado fame. When that gallant hero of the Rooseveltian brand said “to hell with the constitution, we’ll give them postmortems instead,” he was as correct in stating the true position of a class in power as he was blunt and to the point in phraseology. Acting as the tool of a class in human society, he was perfectly justified ln relegating to perdition any ridiculous laws or musty parchments flaunted in his face to frighten him from his purpose. There was evidently no superstitious reverence for grotesque concoctions and contraptions in the make-up of this valiant warrior.

It is not the law that holds Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone in custody, nor is it the law that can effect their release. They are held by the power represented by the executive machinery of the State, with its ruffianly police, sheriffs, military and other cutthroats. If these men escape with their lives it will be through fear, upon the part of the rulers and their ruffianly tools, of stirring to action a mightier power than even that of the State in its present hands. Were there no more fear of a working class uprising now, than there was when the so-called Chicago anarchists were murdered by the ruling class some 20 years ago, Moyer and his comrades would without doubt be likewise dealt with. The undisguised contempt for law displayed by the present rulers and their ruffianly tools should go far towards cultivating a similar contempt in the minds of the working class both for the law and its makers. True it is that so long as the power to enforce it remains in the hands of the master class, the workers will be compelled to bow in submission to capitalist law. Once the working class has conquered the power to enforce its will such law will be as unceremoniously brushed aside when found to stand in the way, as it now is by its capitalist sponsors. The power to enforce that which at a given moment will conserve a propertied interest, and not what may have been previously written upon parchment in regard to the matter, is the keynote. Hence power to do, is the only law that cuts any figure in the case. This power to-day rests in the hands of that class who would hang every workingman of the type of Moyer, Haywood, Pettibone, etc., were they not held back by the fear that an aroused working-class might strip this power from their hands. Until the working-class does take the powers of the State from the hands of the present rulers, and uses those powers to chase the whole thieving gang out of their control of industry, the infamies practiced upon the workers and those who lift their voices in their behalf will continue. And to tell the truth they should continue. The class that has the power to feed, clothe and shelter all people, must of necessity possess the power to determine what shall be done with the product. Place no faith in the law, you workingmen, unless it be the law of your class, and with all of the power of your class behind it to enforce it.

Above everything else workingmen should remember that the production and disposition of the material things of life are not determined by sentiment, love, justice, law or religion, but by power. The power to grow is the law of growth. The power to live is the law of life. The power to rule is the law of rule. The power to be free is the law of freedom, and none of these are man-made laws. Workingmen, if you would be free, you must seize the powers of the State in order to break your economic chains. It is purely a question of power.