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258 VIOLENCE AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT
repressive force, a State, is no longer necessary." (27)
The syndicalists are, of course, quite right when they
say that State socialism is an attempt to allay popular
discontent, but they are quite wrong when they accept
this as proof that it must inevitably sidetrack socialism.
They overlook the fact that it is always a concession
granted grudgingly to the growing power of democracy.
It is a point yielded in order to prevent if possible the
necessity of making further concessions. Yet history
shows that each concession necessitates another, and that
State socialism is
growing with great rapidity
in all
countries where the workers have developed powerful
political organizations. Even now both friends and opponents
see in the growth of State socialism the gradual
formation of that transitional stage that leads from
capitalism to socialism. The syndicalist and anarchist
alone fail to see here any drift toward socialism; they
see only a growing tyranny creating a class of favored
civil servants, who are divorced from the actual working
class. At the same time, they point out that the condition
of the toilers for the State has not improved, and that
they are exploited as mercilessly by the State as they
were formerly exploited by the capitalist. To dispute this
would be time ill spent. If it be indeed true, it defeats
the argument of the syndicalist. If the State in its capitalism
outrageously exploits its servants, tries to prevent
them from organizing, and penalizes them for striking,
it will only add to the intensity of the working-class
revolt. It will aid more and more toward creating a
common understanding between the workers for the State
and the workers for the private capitalist.
In any case,
it will accelerate the tendency toward the democratization
of the State and, therefore, toward socialism.
As an alternative to this actual evolution toward social-