Mr. Dooley on Strikes. (1911)

 From the March 1911 issue of the Socialist Standard

“I see the sthrike has been called off,” said Mr. Hennessy. “Which wan?” asked Mr. Dooley. “I can’t keep track iv thim. Somebody is sthrikin’ all th’ time. Th’ Brotherhood iv Molasses Candy Pullers sthrikes, an’ th’ Amalgamated Union iv Pickle Sorters quits in sympathy. Th’ carpinter that has bin puttin’ up a chicken coop f’r Hogan knocked off wurruk whin he found Hogan was shaviti’ himself without a card fr’m the Barbers’ Union. Hogan fixed it with th’ walkin’ dillygate iv th’ barbers, an’ the carpinter quit wurruk because he found Hogan was wearin’ a pair iv nonunion pants. Hogan wint down town an’ had his pants unionised an’ come home to find th’ carpinter had sthruck because Hogan’s hens were layin’ eggs without th’ union label. Hogan injooced th’ hens to jine th’ union. But wan iv thim laid an egg two days in succission, an’ th’ others sthruck.”

Blogger's Note:

"Mr. Dooley (or Martin J. Dooley) is a fictional Irish immigrant bartender created by American journalist and humorist Finley Peter Dunne . . . " For more information, keep reading . . . 

Answers to Correspondents. (1911)

Letters to the Editors from the March 1911 issue of the Socialist Standard

P. Wright.—You are to be congratulated upon the alacrity with which you drop the religious issue. The point you try to uphold, however, is not a whit more defensible. It is not because production is carried on by a class that it is held to be social. Your “syllogism” is therefore beside the point.

“In dealing with production the word ‘social’ does not ’embrace every unit capable of taking part in that production.” You are evidently entangled in the coils of the absolute. All things are relative. The means of production in the middle ages were petty, individual, and practically self-sufficing. Today they are none of these things. Contrasted with the primitive tool the modern machine is a social instrument. The producer with his household is no longer self-sufficing. He depends on the simultaneous activity of millions. Even apart from the modern and essentially social factor of specialisation and the division of labour, the unit of production is now entirely dependent on the existence of huge and complex social organisations and forces, for production, regulation, communication, transport, and exchange. Both historically and economically considered, modern production has an obviously social character ; so much so that it cries aloud for social ownership, and the assertion that it has not this nature to-day is as little worth serious attention as is the statement that the earth is flat.

S. Hadden.—The term “general” means all industries, and contraction can take place, for instance, by a larger amount of profit being converted into revenue.

Acknowledgments. (1911)

From the March 1911 issue of the Socialist Standard

RECEIVED —

“Western Clarion” (Vancouver, B.C.).

“Weekly People” (New York).

"New York Call" (New York).

“Gaelic American” (New York).

“Western Wage-Earner" (Vancouver, B.C.).

“Civil Service Socialist” (London).

"The New World" (West Ham).

“Freedom” (London).

Books Received. (1911)

From the March 1911 issue of the Socialist Standard

"The Christ Myth," by Arthur Drews, Ph.D. T. Fisher Unwin 7s. 6d. (Will be reviewed next month.)

"The Concentration of Capital: a Marxian Fallacy," by W. Tcherkoff. Freedom Press, 127 Ossulton-st. N.W.

Suppression ! (1911)

Party News from the March 1911 issue of the Socialist Standard

News comes to hand as we go to Press that the Islington Borough Council have declared their sympathy with and fellow-feeling for, the bourgeois murderers of thirty thousand Parisian working-men, -women, and -children. They have suppressed the Commune Celebration Meeting which our Islington Branch were arranging for the 20th March, at the Caledonian Road Baths.

The Commemoration Meeting will he held on March 20th at 8 p.m. (doors open at 7.30) at the Myddleton Hall, Almedia Street, Upper Islington.

All Workers should come and listen to what your masters say you shall not hear. Nothing to pay.

Islington branch. (1911)

Party News from the March 1911 issue of the Socialist Standard

ISLINGTON BRANCH

Are holding the following lectures on Thurs. evenings at 8.15, at Co-operative Hall, 144, Seven Sisters Road (entrance in Thane Villas).

Feb. 2nd—”Socialism versus State and Militarism” …… T. W. Allen

„ 9th—”Society and the Genius”…… A. Reginald

„ 16th—”The Economic Position of the Workers” … J. Fitzgerald

„ 23rd—”The Futility of the Reform Movement” … H. J. Newman

„ 30th—”Socialism and the Religious Question” ……

Have you read “Socialism and Religion,” the latest S.P.G.B. pamphlet? It will interest and enlighten you, whatever may be your outlook on the religious question. It is an important addition to working-class literature.