Excerpt from Labor and the Next War The working people of the United States live in a new period of history. The old period ended in 1917 when we entered the world war. As a result of the war the United States is a nation that differs much from the old nation before the war. We live in an imperialist period of American history. What does imperialism mean? It means the extension of power and American rule over other peoples and nations. It means a lust for conquest. It means the suppression of the aspirations of peoples overseas. It means either control of or dictation to their governments, and this eventually leads to annexation. It means large naval power to keep these peoples in submission. It means a permanent militarism which cursed the peoples of Europe for a generation before the world war. Workingmen may ask, How does all this affect us and our families? Why should we worry? The answer is that no government can be a tyrant abroad without becoming a tyrant at home. It cannot suppress freedom overseas without suppressing it at home. It cannot make slaves of other peoples without making slaves at home. If it cares not for the institutions of other peoples it will have little regard for any at home that stand in the way of its domineering rule. If it imposes autocracy on others it eventually will impose autocracy on you. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.