An article entitled, "Heed For a Better Understanding," which appeared in the "Voice of the Readers" section of the Naujienos (News), prompts us to call attention to certain misunderstandings which seem to have pervaded the minds of certain people in regards to present day social questions.

One of those misunderstandings is the imaginary antagonism between economy and politics. This misunderstanding exists in its worst form among anarchists. They believe that the economic struggle has nothing in common with the political struggle; they recognize the former, but advocate that the latter may be (and should be) entirely ignored. A similar understanding about these two struggles is often noticed among other people, non-anarchists, who 2recognize the advantage of the political struggle.

They state that it is impossible to obtain through political action those gains which are possible through organized economic efforts--that is, gains such as shorter working hours, higher wages, and better industrial working conditions. They agree that those gains which can be won in the political field, such as liberty, rights, lower taxes, better government, etc., are very desirable for the working people, but they point out that the economic interests of the people are much more important, because without certain economic gains the working people do not have an opportunity to exercise and enjoy their political rights. From that the conclusion is drawn that workers should first of all strive to promote their economic interests, and that the initial step toward this advancement is that they become organized "economically".

This is nonsense. It is nonsense to attempt to compare the importance of 3economics and politics. Both are equally important, and both demand our attention at the same time. Without the liberty to strike the workers cannot wage a successful struggle against the capitalists; at the same time, the right to strike is of no benefit if the workers are not organized into strong unions and are unable to take advantage of that right.

It is also untrue that no economic gains can be obtained through political action. Such matters as workers' insurance, regulation of wages and working hours in the industries, the protection of the health of working women, the abolition of child labor, and thousands of other similar matters can be gained through enactment of laws by the Government; and it is just as easy, and sometimes easier, to obtain these gains through political action as it is through economic struggle. Therefore, politics are not against economy, and vice versa; one is related to the other, and they are interdependent.

Another big misunderstanding that exists in the minds and imaginations of 4those people is that they explain in altogether incorrect manner the cause of capitalistic domination. They state that capitalists are able to exploit the workers because the underpaid labor of the workers produces tools (means of production) for them (for the capitalists); and since the capitalists own those tools, the workers are forced to work for them and submit to exploitation.

There is one thing wrong with that explanation. It is true that the capitalists profit from the underpaid labor of the workers; it is true that the underpaid labor of the workers produce tools (the means of production) for the capitalists; and it is also true that the workers, without the means of production, are forced to hire themselves out to capitalists and suffer under the yoke of the economic royalists. And it is likewise true that if the workers did not produce wealth for the capitalists for which they are not paid there could be no domination by capitalists. But why are capitalists permitted to claim and retain that wealth which the workers produce but for which they are not paid? It is because they are 5permitted to do so by the private property law. And that law is defended by the Government, or, more truthfully speaking, by the capitalistic class, which controls the Government.

Whoever controls the Government also dictates the laws in regards to private and public property. That means that the regulation of property rights, as well as the cause of the exploitation of the workers, is a question of governmental or political power.

He who does not strive to wrest political power from the hands of the capitalists is not fighting against the foundation of the exploitation of the workers, even though he emphatically denounces the capitalists and present social order. That is the reason why the anarchists and their imitators, the syndicalists, are not at all revolutionists.