p. 7 | The Socialist Platform

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 11, 1908

The Socialist Platform

At the recent convention of the Socialist party in Chicago a platform was adopted which indicates quite clearly the general aims of socialism. The demands of this party, as summarized in the Independent (New York), are these:—

1. The national ownership of railroads, telegraphs, telephones, steamships, and all other means of transportation and communication.

2. The national ownership of all industries which are organized on a national scale, and in which competition has virtually ceased to exist.

3. The extension of the public domain to include mines, quarries, oil-wells, forests, and water-power.

4. The scientific reforestation of timber lands and reclamation of swamp lands.

5. The absolute freedom of press, speech, and assemblage.

6. That religion be treated as a private matter—a question of individual conscience. No toleration of clericalism as a political power, and no discrimination as to taxes in favor of religious bodies.

7. The improvement of the industrial conditions of the workers:— (a) By shortening the workday in keeping with the increased productiveness of machinery. (b) By securing to every worker a rest period of not less than a day and a half in each week, including Sunday when practicable. (c) By securing a more vigorous inspection of workshops and factories. (d) By forbidding the employment of women in all industries harmful to their morals or health. (e) By forbidding the employment of children under sixteen years of age. (f) By forbidding the interstate transportation of the products of child labor, of convict labor, and of all uninspected factories. (g) By abolishing public charity, and substituting in its place compulsory insurance against unemployment, illness, and accidents, invalidism, old age, and death.

It is not within the province of this paper to deal with political issues as such; and we present this abstract of the socialist platform without comment, merely as a matter of general information.