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| 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 22 |
| Format (IMT) |
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| File Name | uhlib_12374394_021.jpg |
| Transcript | 20 THE ROAD TO POWER and to estimate their relative importance in preparing for and carrying out that act of emancipation. We will first examine the function played by politics in the class struggle. It is now generally recognized that the existence of a political struggle presupposes the existence of an economic struggle: i.e., that political differences and antagonisms have their origin in economic differences, etc. Therefore, every political struggle is fundamentally an economic struggle; and the eradication of the industrial struggle of the classes spells, consequently, the eradication of politics. The existence of political parties and a political life in general is based upon the existence of classes which again have their roots in the peculiar property prerogatives and relations inherent in the economic system of a particular historical period. With the disappearance of economic classes, social and political classes will also disappear. Therefore, as stated before, the abolition of all property prerogatives in economic life by the Socialist workers also implies the abolition of all political differences and the automatic ceasing of the political struggle. The political struggle, as carried on by the class-conscious workers and pursuing but one objective, can, therefore, be utilized and exploited by the proletariat for only one purpose, namely: to abolish Capitalism. By using the political arm in this manner, the political victory of the workers will, naturally, be synonymous with the abolition of classes—the abolition of politics. Thus the political struggle is engaged in by the workers to carry on revolutionary Socialist propaganda. This struggle has, however, purely a destructive function, because a general political victory of Socialism spells the downfall of political government and the advent of the Industrial Republic, a society without classes and political antagonisms. The possibility of such a decisive Socialist victory |