Page:Olive Malmberg Johnson - Woman and the Socialist Movement (1908).djvu/43

 Rh process of evolution is inevitable. It points to the co-operative ownership of the already co-operatively operated means of production. The capitalist system his reached its fullest development. It has fulfilled its mission. Society can progress no farther capitalistically. If progress is to continue, Socialism is inevitable. But systems may retrograde. There have been long periods of retrogression in history. After the downfall of the Roman Empire there followed five centuries of dark ages in Europe. Progress had to work out through side streets and by-ways, so to speak. But the revival came in the fullness of time. It had to come. Human progress cannot be indefinitely stopped.

To-day it depends upon the working class whether progress shall continue in the direct road which evolution points out to the human race. The working class is the class of progress. It operates the means of production. It must be the future owner. Class rule must disappear and the whole people must be co-owners and co-workers. Before this can be accomplished, however, it takes much education of the workers. They must become class conscious, self-reliant and able to manage industry through their industrial administration. If the workers cannot rise to that point, however, then the course of wealth points inevitably towards imperialism, to the capitalist-feudal rule of a few and the absolute enslavement of the masses. There is no middle way. Wealth production and distribution are the determining factors of the status of the people, of freedom or slavery, of customs, ideas and laws. The to-morrow of the world is Socialism and freedom, or capitalist imperialism and coolie slavery!

Can the women of the working class, can any woman indeed, afford to ignore this? Woman's first instinct is as mother. For her child she is willing to sacrifice all. How can she stand lazily by while the dear little ones of to-day, the men and women of the future are threatened with slavery and oppression? Is it not worth a woman's while to spend a few short hours to learn about Socialism? Is it not her place to join hands with the workingmen for its accomplishment?