124 lines
5.3 KiB
Plaintext
124 lines
5.3 KiB
Plaintext
<<<Text from _The_Blast_, Vol. 2, #5, 6/1/1917.>>>
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"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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TO THE YOUTH OF AMERICA
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By Alexander Berkman
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_________________________
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Tyranny must be opposed at the start.
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Autocracy, once secured in the saddle, is diffucult to dislodge.
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If you believe that America is entering the war "to make democracy
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safe," then be a man and volunteer.
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But if you know anything at all, then you should know that the cry
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of democracy is a lie and a snare for the unthinking. You should know
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that a republic is not synonymous with democracy, and that America has
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never been a real democracy, but that it is the vilest plutocracy on the
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face of the globe.
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If you can see, hear, feel, and think, you should know that King
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Dollar rules the United States, and that the workers are robbed and
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exploited in this country to the heart's content of the masters.
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If you are not deaf, dumb, and blind, then you know that the
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American bourgeois democracy and capitalistic civilization are the worst
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enemies of labor and progress, and that instead of protecting them, you
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should help to fight to destroy them.
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If you know this, you must also know that the workers of America
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have no enemy in the toilers of other countries. Indeed, the workers of
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Germany suffer as much from their exploiters and rulers as do the masses
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of America.
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You should know that the interests of Labor are identical in all
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countries. Their cause is international.
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Then why should they slaughter each other?
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The workers of Germany have been misled by their rulers into
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donning the uniform and turning murders.
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So have the workers of France, of Italy, and England been misled.
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But why should *you*, men of America, allow yourselves to be
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misled into murder or into being murdered?
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If your blood must be shed, let it be in defense of your own
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interests, in the war of the workers against their despoilers, in the
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cause of real liberty and independence.
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"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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REGISTRATION
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By Alexander Berkman
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_____________________
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Registration is the first step of conscription.
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The war shouters and their prostitute press, bet on snaring you
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into the army, tell you that registration has nothing to do with conscription.
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They lie.
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Without registration, conscription is impossible.
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Conscription is the abdication of your rights as a citizen.
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Conscription is the cemetary where every vestige of your liberty is to be
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buried. Registration is its undertaker.
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No man with red blood in his veins can be forced to fight against
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his will.
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But you cannot successfully oppose conscription if you approve of,
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or submit to, registration.
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Every beginning is hard. But if the government can induce you to
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register, it will have little difficulty in putting over conscription.
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By registering, you wilfully supply the government with the
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information it needs to make conscription effective.
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Registration means placing in the hands of the authorities the
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despotic power of the machinery of passports which made darkest Russia
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what it was before the Revolution.
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There are thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of young men in
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this country who have never voted and who have never paid taxes, and who,
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legally speaking, have no official existence. Their registration means
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nothing short of suicide, in a majority of cases.
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Failure to register is punishable by imprisonment. Refusal to be
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conscripted may be punishable by death.
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To register is to acknowledge the right of the government to conscript.
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The consistent conscientious objector to human slaughter will
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neither register nor be conscripted.
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"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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WAR DICTIONARY
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By Alexander Berkman
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_____________________
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ALLIES- The fairies of Democracy.
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BARBARIANS- The other fellows.
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CONGRESS- The valet of Woodrow the First.
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CENSORSHIP- The rape of Free Speech.
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CONSCRIPTION- Free men fighting against their will.
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CIVILIZATION- In God We Trust.
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DEMOCRACY- The voice of the Gallery Gods.
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FREE SPEECH- Say what you please, but keep your mouth shut.
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HUNS- Loyal patriots from Central Europe.
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HUMANITY- Treason to government.
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JUSTICE- Successful target shooting.
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KAISER- A President's ambition.
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LIBERTY BOND- A bone from a bonehead.
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LIBERTY LOAN- The bread line of the Unborn.
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LOYAL CITIZEN- Deaf, dumb, and blind.
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MILITARISM- Christianity in action.
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PATRIOTISM- Hating your neighbor.
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REGISTRATION- Funeral march of Liberty.
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SEDITION- The proof of Tyranny.
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SLACKER- Jesus Christ.
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TRENCHES- Digging your own grave.
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UN-AMERICAN- Independent opinion.
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UN-DEMOCRATIC- Ideals.
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UNIFORM- Government strait-jacket.
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VICTORY- Ten million dead.
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WAR- The propaganda of Democracy.
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***
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Which is the braver? The man who falls in line with the great
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majority or he that faces the wrath of millions for conscience sake?
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Do not confound us with the pacifists. We believe in fighting.
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Aye, we have been fighting all our lives-- fighting injustice, oppression,
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and tyranny. Almost single handed at that.
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We are not pacifists. But we want to know what we are fighting
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for, and we refuse to fight for the enemies and the exploiters of humanity.
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-Alexander Berkman
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