There was another group, larger and still
more determined, which believed that the war was a conspiracy of
allied capitalism to rivet its power upon the world, and this group
wanted the party to stake its existence upon a struggle against
American participation. These two groups contested for the minds of
the rank and file of the members, who seemed to be bewildered by the
magnitude of the issue and the complexity of the arguments. Peter's
orders were to go with the extreme anti-militarists; they were the
ones whose confidence he wished to gain, also they were the
trouble-makers of the movement, and McGivney's instructions were to
make all the trouble possible.
Over at the I. W. W. headquarters was another group whose members
were debating their attitude to the war. Should they call strikes
and try to cripple the leading industries of the country? Or should
they go quietly on with their organization work, certain that in the
end the workers would sicken of the military adventure into which
they were being snared? Some of these "wobblies" were Socialist
party members also, and were active in both gatherings; two of them,
Henderson, the lumber-jack, and Gus Lindstrom, the sailor, had been
in jail with Peter, and had been among his intimates ever since.
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