Page:May Walden - Woman and Socialism (1909).pdf/20

 20 most half a million voters, although not all of them are dues-paying members of the party.

Unlike the Republican, Democratic and Prohibitionist parties, the members of the Socialist party all over the world support their party by paying monthly dues. This money is used to keep lecturers and organizers in the field, and to pay the salaries of the state and national secretaries who direct the work. No person is excluded from membership because he or she is too poor to pay dues, but everyone who can pay is expected to, because the party must depend upon the working class to emancipate itself from slavery.

It is quite proper at this point for women to ask, "What part can I take in this work? Is it not all politics? Women have no vote."

True, in most states women have no vote. It is also true that the Socialist party is a political party. Nevertheless, we Socialists insist that women should join the party and work shoulder to shoulder with the men for our emancipation.

The freedom that we crave, and which we must have, is economic freedom. We working people are all slaves, and women are in greater slavery than men, for we are slaves politically, economically and socially. Analyze the situation and see if we are not.

Politically, we are slaves, because we have absolutely no voice in choosing who shall make the laws that govern us. Do you think, my sisters, if we could vote, that we would vote for