Simmons maintained that already, in the cities of the North and East, ethnic lines had become class lines. The urban working class was split between skilled tradesmen from Britain, Germany and Scandinavia, whom he respected as the modern heirs of artisans, and unskilled workers from Southern and Eastern Europe, whom he detested. The new immigrants lacked the capacity to appreciate republican institutions. "Rebellion against tyrants to them," said Simmons, "means acceptance of Anarchism or Bolshevism, or at least German state Socialism."
