As a postal history collector, I was recently successful bidding on an eBay postal cover that was sent by D.R. in Ariel, Washington, USA, to Mrs. Laren Burkischer at Havana, Ohio, on Oct. 27, 1913. On the back of the cover were three different slogan “SOCIALIST PARTY — WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE” label stamps.

First label reads, “Socialists say: The Trusts will own the Nation — Till the Nation owns the Trust.” Second label reads, “Socialism means the Golden Rule against the Rule of Gold.” Third label reads, “What difference does it make to you how ‘prosperous’ the country is if your stomach is empty? VOTE FOR SOCIALISM.”

This is a 105-year-old cover and it was sent four years before the pair of Russian Revolutions of 1917. This was one of the most explosive events of the 20th Century. The violent revolution marked the end of the Romanov dynasty and centuries of Russian imperial rule. The Bolsheviks, led by leftist revolutionary Vladmir Lenin, seized power and destroyed the tradition of the czarist rule. The Bolsheviks would later become the Community Party of the Soviet Union.

Today, in America, we are against witnessing a surge of socialist political sentiment.

One wonders how successful our nation would have been these last 105 years under socialism compared to capitalism. Could we have gone the way of Russia and the many other socialist countries?

RUDY BAUER,

Alpena