Title | The road to power, or, the constructive elements of socialism |
Creator (LCNAF) |
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Publisher | Literature Bureau of the Workers' International Industrial Union |
Place of Creation (TGN) |
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Date | 1919 |
Subject.Topical (LCSH) |
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Genre (AAT) |
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Language | English |
Type (DCMI) |
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Original Item Extent | 33 pages: chart; 17 cm. |
Original Item Location | HX86.D25 1919 |
Original Item URL | http://library.uh.edu/record=b8304529~S11 |
Original Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
Digital Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/scpamp |
Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
Repository URL | http://libraries.uh.edu/branches/special-collections |
Use and Reproduction | This item is in the public domain and may be used freely. |
File Name | index.cpd |
Title | Image 5 |
Format (IMT) |
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File Name | uhlib_12374394_004.jpg |
Transcript | THE ROAD TO POWER -OR- The Constructive Elements of Socialism I. Consequently, through the importance of their economic function, through their irreplacability in the process of social production, the power of the working class is much greater than its numerical strength would have it appear. However, mere numbers and economic significance can not alone give a class power, if it is not conscious of the same. If a class has not recognized its peculiar position in society, and the distinct interests interwoven therewith; if a class, thoughtless and enervated, submits to the domination of its oppressors, thinking this to be the eternal order of things, then all its numbers and economic significance will not carry any weight. Therefore, to these factors of working class power, clear conception and knowledge must be added. Only through class-consciousness will this large number of workers become a contingent of workers for its own class, only thereby will they become conscious of the might slumbering in their economic irreplacability, and be able to apply the same in their own interests. Class-consciousness first infuses this gigantic, muscular but dead body with life, and makes it competent to engage in class activity. —Anton Pannekoek. |T is a recognized and accepted proposition A amongst Socialists that Socialism derives its claim to a science from two branches of scientific investigation: The first, Marxian Economics, is a thorough dissection and profound critique of capitalist production; and the second, the Materialist Conception of History, provides the student with a theory for the understanding and appreciation of historical phenomena or social development. Through the application of the Socialist method of historic investigation to social evolution, the various and ever changing stages in the complex development of mankind assume a more distinct form, and the driving forces and causes under- |