tend to try to
disturb the self-employing farmer in any way in his occupation and use
of the land. In a declaration adopted in 1909, when, by a referendum
vote of nearly two to one, the demand for the immediate collective
ownership of the land was dropped from the platform, the following
paragraph was inserted:--

"There can be no absolute private title to land. All private titles,
whether called fee simple or otherwise, are and must be subordinate to
the public title. The Socialist Party strives to prevent land from being
used for the purpose of exploitation and speculation. It demands the
collective possession, control, or management of land to whatever extent
may be necessary to attain that end. It is not opposed to the occupation
and possession of land by those using it in a useful bona fide manner
_without exploitation_." (My italics.)

Those American Socialists who have given most attention to the subject,
like Mr. Simons, have long since made up their minds that there is no
hope whatever either for the victory or even for the rapid development
of Socialism in this country unless it takes some root among the
agriculturists. Mr. Simons insists that the Socialists should array
against the forces of conservatism, privilege, and exploitation, "all
those whose labor assists in the production of wealth, for all these
make up the army of exploited, and all are interested in the abolition
of exploitation."

"In this struggle," he continues, "farmers and factory wage workers
must make common cause. Any smaller combination, any division in the
ranks of the workers, must render success impossible. In a country where
fundamental changes of policy are secured at the ballot box, nothing can
be accomplished without united action by all classes of workers.... The
better organization of the factory workers of the cities, due to their
position in the midst of a higher developed capitalism and more
concentrated industry, makes them in no way independent of their rural
brothers. So long as they are not numerous enough to win, they are
helpless. 'A miss is as good as a mile,' and coming close to a majority
avails almost nothing."[230]

Looking at the question after this from the farmers' standpoint, Mr.
Simons argues that many of the latter are well aware that the ownership
of a farm is nothing more than the ownership of a job, and that the
capitalists who own the mortgages, railroads, elevators, meat-packing
establishments, and