"WE, THE PEOPLE”

Grey River Argus, 18 December 1940, Page 8

"WE, THE PEOPLE”

Reviewed by

James Scott

“We, The People,” by Leo Huberman (372 pages and Appendix) is the Left Book Club choice to hand in November. This book is a survey of the growth of the “production lor profit” system in America from 1<32 to 1939.

The Land of Freedom America was the land of the Hee, in the sight of God and man, all men were equal. Tens of thousands left the Old World, its intolerance, poverty and misery. In America one could worship how, where, or when one liked, or not at all, and be‘free from religious persecution. worn and bread were plentiful, there was freedom of thought, and for the landhungry peasants of Europe there was land in abundance. If new arrivals found wages and working condtioins unsatisfactory in the North there was plenty of room out West, and the frontier kept extending until it finally reached the western seaboard. Profits and War The author deals very fully with the political situation existing between England and the Colony from 1763 to 1766, and he shows quite clearly that it was the British mer-

chants’ greed for profits which brought about the “War of Independence.” To-day one wonders if there had been less greed, and more Christianity, in that period, would America have” remained part of the British Empire? The cotton-growing, slave-owning plantation owners of the South wanted cheap imported goods. The manufacturing employers of free labour in the North wanted 'protection for their industries. “By playing politics very skilfully the southern leaders kept political power from 1789 to 1860.” Then the North became dominant in the political sphere. On April 12, 1861 the Civil War broke out because the southern planters objected to having their profits reduced by paying a tariff on imported goods, or buying American protected goods made‘in the North. The North won and the U.S.A, started on the industrial career which was to make it the greatest producing country in the world.

Human Life Versus / Property With the growth of the manufacturing industries in the North, and the settlement of the West (which closed this avenue of escape to the militant workers) other means of redressing their grievances had to be found, and so came the birth of the trade union movement. 'The author covers the work of the Knights of Labour, the 1.W.W., the American Federation of Labour and the Congress of Industrial Organisation. “Why did Labour and Capital fight each other? Woodrow Wilson hit upon one of the reasons. Did you never think of it —men are cheap and machinery is dear; many a superintendent is dismissed for overdriving a delicate machine who wouldn’t be dismissed for overdriving an overtaxed man. You can discard your man and replace him; there are others ready to come into his place; but you can’t, without great cost, discard your machine and put a newone in its place....lt is time that property, as compared with humanity, should take second place, not first place.” The rigging of the Constitution, the Slump, Finance, the New'- Deal and the Supreme Court are all covered in different chapters. War Profits Chapter 14, “From Rags to Riches," is very interesting at the presenttime. In 1916 Woodrow’ Wilson was “re-elected on the slogan, “He Kept Us Out of War.” Ten million dollars a day were buying a lot of goods Americans wanted to sell, Allied orders for war materials made America prosperous. At first the Allies paid in gold, then with money from the sale of their American ' securities, next American bankers arranged credits.

“In 1917,” says the author, “things looked black for the Allies. On the military front, the situation was desperate. On the financial front, the situation was hopeless—further borrowing from Americans was- impossible. A smash-up was in sight. But by this time our own fortunes were so intertwined with those of the Allies that a smash-up for them meant a smash-up for us. If the crash came, for example, what would happen to our greatly expanded economic plant geared to war-time orders and war-time profits? What would happen to the holders of Allied government bonds, which, if the crash came, would certainly be in default? The collapse of the Allies must not happen....On April 6, 1917, the Congress of, the United States declared war on Germany.”

Is history going to repeat itself? “We, The People,” is one of the best of the many gc*)d books issued by the Left Book Club, and leaves one in no doubt that Capitalism is the prime cause of war. JAMES SCOTT.