The time is fast coming when, in the natural course of social evolution, this system, through the destructive action of its failures and crises on the one hand, and the constructive tendencies of its trusts and other capitalistic combinations on the other hand, shall have worked out its own downfall.
We therefore call upon the wage-workers of the United States, and upon all other honest citizens, to organize under the banner of the Socialist Labor party into a class-conscious body, aware of its rights and determined to conquer them by taking possession of the public powers; so that, held together by an indomitable spirit of solidarity under the most trying conditions of the present class struggle, we may put a summary end to that barbarous struggle by the abolition of classes, the restoration of the land, and of all the means of production, transportation, and distribution to the people as a collective body, and the substitution of the co-operative commonwealth for the present state of planless production, industrial war, and social disorder; a commonwealth in which every worker shall have the free exercise and full benefit of his faculties, multiplied by all the modern factors of civilization.
With a view to immediate improvement in the condition of labor, we present the following demands:
1. Reduction of the hours of labor in proportion to the progress of production.
2. The United States to obtain possession of the mines, railroads, canals, telegraphs, telephones, and all other means of public transportation and communication; the employés to operate the same co-operatively under control of the Federal Government and to elect their own superior officers, but no employé shall be discharged for political reasons.
3. The municipalities to obtain possession of the local railroads, ferries, water-works, gas-works, electric plants, and all industries requiring municipal franchises; the employés to operate the same co-operatively under control of the municipal administration and to elect their own superior officers, but no employé shall be discharged for political reasons.
4. The public lands to be declared inalienable. Revocation of all land grants to corporations or individuals, the conditions of which have not been complied with.
5. The United States to have the exclusive right to issue money.
6. Congressional legislation providing for the scientific management of forests and waterways, and prohibiting the waste of the natural resources of the country.
7. Inventions to be free to all; the inventors to be remunerated by the nation.