Young Socialists Magazine 1911 Jan June.pdf

It was during this ti me thatKarl Marx lived. He was born on•THE LITTLE SOCIALIST J[AOA..ZIJB~F ,. ,. ')When people complain of lowwages, of high prices. of unju ~ llaws, we always tell the:'n thatSocialism will remove all theseevils. But has it ever occurred tG),ou that there was a time when nobne,kn~w this word. Social ism.when no--one seemed to know howthe lot of the poor workman couldbe' improved? People already beganto realize that the capitalistsaT tiosses were growing rich ontheir earnings, but did not knowhow to change this condition. Somepeople tried living together in colonieswhere they worked togetherand divided equally the money theyearned. But . this did not helpmatters. very much.the 5th day of May, t818, at aplace in Gertnany called T re\'c ;(Trier). His father was a law\,e ra learned man, fro'll whom KarlMarx learned much that helpe r!him later in life. \Vhen he was oldenough Marx went to college, 1-k~, ~, ,\l ~.. ;:)fit , "" 'i'j'. \ .~ ~ .,"1'/" \J • ~\.';'; t\.~, " .'•too. was to study law, but couldnot bCl'O:lle interested in it. In ·,Il'ad of studying he would readc\'erything he could find about theworkers of his country aDd theirallcillpts to i r prove their condili('ll1.At the F-allle time he did allhe could to help them, indeed, didit ~o thoroughly that the PrussiangO\'ernment stopped the publicationof the Rhp1lish Ga::ctte, a newspaper:\Iao:: was editing. Marx,hO\\,l·\'I~ r. persisted in his agitationfor the workmen and·.was at, lastfon'cd to flee from Gemlany toParis to escape punish ::l1ent. Bu.here, too, he was pursued, until atla st. after li\'ing a short time inBrussels. in Belgium, he found :,~ lfe home in London. Here he,!l(~nt many years in study, workin~nu!. bit by bit. the idea which Wl!" ,{b y ("all Socialism.I'erhap" he would never have,un'ccded had it not been for thehelp of a man of whom you aliI:a\'e heard, one of our greatest Sol'i:lliHs.Fried rich Engels. The(friendship of Marx and Engels isone of the most beautiful thingsthat the history of Socialism has toSh()W us. These two men, both withwonderful minds, worked together'for many years for the welfare ofth ~ working class. While E ngelsIh'ed in London they were together:llmost daily, so that Marx's chil odren called Engels their seconrtfather. But even during ten yearsforced to go away. during ten year\:;in which the h )!O men were forcedto live apart, hardly a day passedon whicll they did not write to eachother. Marx did nothing before hehad consulted his friend, E ngelswas always ready and willing to doeverything for Marx and hi s family.·Together they wrote a shortbook called the "Communist Manitesto,"in which the idea, calledSocialism, is clearly described.This book, with another, larger annmore detailed, Karl Marx's "Capi·tal," is the foundation for the workof the Socialists all over the world.You children are too young tounderstand all that Marx's booksdid for the working-class, but youcan learn lessons just as valuablefro" his life. You can see that anidea which makes possible a friendshipSO steadfast and firm as thatof Marx and Engels must in itselfbe worthy of our support. And as~autiful as this friendship wasMarx's' Jove for h is wife. JennyMarx was the daughter of awealthy German nobleman namedvon ·Westphalen. She had neve ~known what it was to be poor, bu ~she gave up everything to marrythe wonder ful man who" sheloved. and went with him fromcountry to country, living throug'ldays and weeks of fear and danger.until at last they found a home inthe most miserable part of Lonthll.They were very poor. Marxwrote articles for newspapers.among them for the New Yor??'riblHlc. w~ i ch at that time, un-Je'(~""13)TRB LlT'l'LE 'SOCIALIST )(AOAUlfBm>E>~=:';:;:';;:;':7~7e"l(;£. By CARRIe W, ALLBN III~JA ' . "Youth is the May:day of Life!Youth is the time of expanding.budding growth.Under normal conditions, youthmeans joy, happiness, high idealsand bounding health.T he children and youth of to·day are the ,: en and wo nen of to·morrow.Upon their health and happines:i.upon their education and ideals, thehealthy life of the race depends.What are we doing to assurethiS? Are we destroying or conservingthis great force for thefuture? In an incredibly short timewe have taken our place at the heado f the great workshops of the~vorld. O ur industries, our rail·ways, our factories and mills arcthe largest in th.e world. All theforces of nature have been utilize,1~d developed. ] n our arrogantpride we po int to these things antisay: "Look at all we have done,Even in our youth, we have won ;\place for ourselves with the strongandmighty nations of the earth."Curioll sly blind we seem to thcfact that a te rrific price has beenpaid for all the wealth and developmentof which we boast. 'We see.nnot to know that steel mills and Whatfactories, palaces, libraries and uni·versities have been built at the expenseof the children of the nation.Thousands of children in thisfair land robbed of sunshine andhappiness, that a few may pile upco l oss~ 1 fortunes. T housands offittle ones herded in the cellars oilife, that a few may bask in sun·-shine and gladness.Thousands of fathers of theworking class are forced to work""""'JQ :" ':":':'-: .:.':.:.-: .:.,: .:.':.:. .:. EJ----------~ior starvation wages. 11 is impos­, jule for them to put good food inIhe mouths of their children. It i.o.impossible fo r them to put goo Iclothes on their bodies. It is impossiblefor them -to keep a decemroof over their heads. Educationfo r their children is out of th '!question, Sheer necessity force ;them to put their children to work,T housands of mothers of thewo rking class, forced to spendweary hours in toil. are utterl y un·ti tted to bring forth healthy chilodren. Co rpeJ1 ed to go out to workloy the day, the mot her can give n )lime 10 til e training of the children," He couldn't tend six side ",."aid a small child slave of the cot-1011 mills, when shown an ide .• 1picture o f the Christ chil d.That tells the sh,rlleful story.The poor little morsel of humanity,lobbed of all childhood and joy,('ould onl y express himself in terms" f bobbins and spindles.The majority of pcopie do not~c elll to think it of i!lll)() rtance to~'o n s ider what kind of citizens willmake these children.What kind of cit izens wi ll thc. bildrcn of Packingtown make?kind of citizens will thl!brc:tker boys make? What ki nd o fl' itizens will all the arm)' of chil·dren who come Ollt of Gutterlandmake?The captains of industry say... Pa!'s child labor laws. and ouriactories close." Why? Becausl!the children are cheap. There is" ore profit to be made out of them.To them it is always a . question :>fprofits. What matters the destruclionof the y~uth and the children.so long a..:. they reap profits,profits, prolits.So long as .mothers are undernourishedand over-worked, wewill have weak, sickly children. Solong as fathers are' in sufficie ntlypaid, we \\' 11\ have underfed, poorlydresscd children with s ta rve ~ 1brains and stifled ideals. So lonl-:as there i .. a profit system, we willI' ave a pitiful army of child slaves.We dell1a nd the wiping out of ;'lfystem which reaps profit from thedelicate flcsh of children.'Ne demand the right of everychild to bc a child, .not a slave.Wc demand that all OllT boys andgirls shaH have a chance to developfull hounding health and life.\Vc de1l1and an education whichr.hall include high aspirations andideals for our youth, so that theboys and f!irls of today shall be theclean-living-, high-minded men andwomen of tomorrow,--Youth i .. the :\Iay-da y of Life!The 14th of July of 1789and of 1889(Continued from p.te l )brutal e:>:plo ilation. and especiissue is dedicated ..5