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The Labor Herald
I s quoted throughout the world as
d
An Authority on the American Labor
Movement
J
A friend, L a-Twtte de Clam-&$, aris, France, O rgm u i the
P
Red Trade t%im International, regularly reprints f rom T HELABOR HERAED.
A n enemy, B~hlletin f h e I ~item~nfional
o
Labor O fice, L eap8z
of NatiGns, G ntwa, ~ zoifz.e&az~d,
finds T HE_
T ,+~oa -HEPAL@ssential in cornpiling its:
e
reports 0- the American t rade unions.
5
'These ark on$ two of the many imtanees t hat cbuld be
recited. While the jabor rnovm-nent of t he world, as well a s
of America, is dividing into two opposing camps of thought,
me of which i sLn&iitallyfrieridly and the other hostile to
T HE LA&R H mu~b,yet both camps know "elat if is
The
Indisponsabb Mameine
if they wish to keep up-to-date on the vital c~uestions f m e
k
It is ~tnicluein its field, 5armt
the labor movement todayhe
?f $ - p
i? x$ ;
-r3
e arnot afford to be without it
&.*>y::i.
*q
f .;
y
.,
.
Send I n
This & h
a
Blaak
Trle L - ~ OH ERAR
r r8 No..La Sdlt St., C hisap, Ills.
Er1cloljecl find mmey order kz a-p3 for which
six months.,
s a d ma T w L nnon H m ~ m ar Dne
f
,
i
II
ik
,$
i
d
July,
+
;
The Railroaaeis' N
.!
nr
#\
THE LABOR HERALD
1922
gy$.
St%;p
•
AMALGAMATION
By W m. 2. Foster
This 64-page pamphlet, written by a practical railroad man of many
years' experience, fills a long-felt want of railroad unionists. Phase by
phase and step by step it scientScally and irrefutably establishes the case
for amalgamation. Place this pamphlet in the hands of the rank and
file and it will not be long until the f usyn of the sixteen railroad unions
into one body is an accomplished fact.
T HE VOICE
. of
LABOR
The Organ of Militant W o r k i n g ~ s
Expression
307
Published Weekly
$2.00 per year
Here is a model of trade union pamphleteering. In the seven chapters into
which the 64 pages of this booklet are divided are combined deep research,
cool analysis of fact, broad knowledge of the industry and of its history,
unflinching determination to move men and conditions upward and onward.
From the opening sentence, "The supreme need of the railroad men at the
present time is a consolidation of our many railroad organizations into one
.cwlpact body," to 'the closing prophecy that in time the consolidated railroad
il
unions wl "pit their enormous organization against the employing class,
end the wages system farever, a nd set up t he Long-hopect3or e m justice," there is not a drdl sentence i n the-book.
II
I
A feature of the pamphlet is a beautiful cover, designed by the mellknown a rtist, Fred Ellis.
All railroad groups of militants should make the distribution of t his
pamphlet a special order of business, and see to it t hat all railroad
unions in their respective localities are plentifully supplied with it. Let
us have your orders immediately.
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ADDRESS:
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"The Worker"
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CANADIAN NUMBER
THE ABOR HERALD
L
Published monthly at 118 N. La Salle St. S ubscri~tionprice $2.60 per year. T he Trade Union Educational League, Publishers.
"Entered as second-class matter March 23, 1922, a t the postoffice at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act o March 3. 1879."
f
Vol. I.
July, 1922
.
99
No. 5
Trades Unionism in Canada
B y Jack McDonald
T
H E trade union movement in Canada has
developed under the social and economic
conditions created by its peculiar position.
Canada is dominated by two great powersEngland and the United States. Politically a
part of the British Empire, Canada is becoming
more a nd more dependent in finance and indus.
t ry upon Wall Street. Downing Street and Wall
Street being at times in conflict, Ottawa (capital
of Canada) is bent and torn between them.
Moreover, the farming interest is raising its
voice, and having some peculiar interest at odds
with both Downing Street and Wall Street, complicates still further the situation. Capitalist
Canada is not a unit; it is a house divided against
itself. And the labor movement is just beginning
to make itself heard.
Canadian Labor also is greatly influenced by
two great labor powers, the British Unions and
the United States Unions. Partaking of the
philosophy and traditions of the British, yet it
is organically hooked up with the United States
unions because of the close ecoilomic connection
between the two countries. The great bulk of
Organized Labor in Canada is part and parcel of
the International Unions with headquarters in
the United States-yet
the Canadian, like the
British rather than like the U. S. movement,
stands for the Labor Party in politics and is
affiliated to the Amsterdam International.
Thus the Canadian Labor movement stands
somewhere between the British and United States
movements. ' I t finds it impossible to progress as
far as the British, but neither can it remain as
backward as the U. S. I t stands somewhere in
between, but, while the British influence of ideas
and programs is strong, undoubtedly the U. S.
influence of economic relationship is the most
vital and important.
Indegendeat and National Unions
According to available statistics there are approximately 300,000 t rade unionists in Canada.
The vast majority of these are members of the
"Internationals," of the great unions with headquarters in t he United States, mainly of t he Am-
erican Federation of Labor. In addition to the
Internationals, there are also a few independent
unions, or federations, which are nationalist in
character. Those in the railroad industry are
described in another article. Some of the other
most important ones are as follows:
T he C anadia~z ederation of Labor is a federaF
tion of purely Canadian unions. Its title is more
pretentious than its strength warrants, as very
few unions are affiliated, and these are weak.
The pioneers of this movement were the Pressmen who seceded from the International Typographical Union nearly 15 years ago, at the time
of the struggle for the eight-hour day. A T oronto local of Electrical Workers, formerly of
the International, now the Electrical Workers of
Canada, is the strongest unit in the Federation.
This local seceded from the International about
two years agd. Toronto, Ontario, is the center
of the Federation. Small units come and go, and
its total strength is never more than a few thousands. A s hort time ago an official publication
was launched, Canadian Pederationist, which, according to late reports, is in bad financial straits.
Generally speaking, the secession unions which
make up this federation are imbued with a narrow nationalist spirit, and have a deep prejudice
against being governed "from the other side."
T h e N atio~zal Catholic U nions a re of recent
origin, and are located solely in the French-Canadian Province of Quebec. Born and reared
under the direct control of the Catholic Church,
they are an attempt, ( I ) to prevent the organization of the Quebec workers in the same unions
with fellow workers in the other provinces, and
( 2) a n attempt to b ring t he question of religions
into the economic organizations of the workers.
They are confined solely to members of the
Catholic faith. Their strength has been gradually
increasing, and is now around 35,000. T here is
a strong sentiment among the employers in
Quebec against the International Unions. Quite
recently the Premier made a bitter attack upon
them., he was infuriated at the strong stand take^
by the Typographical Union. The question W&S
THE LABOR HERALD
THE L A B 0
July, 1922
.-
"Mibereas, we have discovered through p&ful exp r i m e s the utter futility of separate aetan on the
pad of t e workers organized merely along craft lines,
h
su~
tending to
the relative p osi~an
of the master-class; therefore be it
L
"Resolved, that this W ~ t e r n abor Copference plaee
itself on record as favonng the reorgWWabon of the
workers along Q dwtrial lines, so that by virtue of their
industtial strength the workers may be better prepare
to edorce any demand they consider essential to thew
m a i o t m c e and well-being.
r a i s a 31t 2 S'egislature, and the hfe@& made
h
wm
the International u --wuebec.
- But q m - ~ e Catholic unions, it. L int&esting
'
to note, have whetted the appetite of '&e workers
hrrorgrmization, a nd bid fair to thwa* the pur.- . -t-heir organizers. The m w r .epncesof - s i ~ n sgiven them, as a f o n d recog&ithn of
:
&eirirorgagked state, have also w e n an inkling
of what a real organization could and would do.
Reselution No. 3, carried, read as follows:
T k Luanber W orkms I n d d c s W , Qwioa of
"Resolved, that t,his Cbnvention recommends to its
Canada. formerly the British C olmGa Loggers, affiliated membership the s evemce of their a p i t i o n
-ih
were at one t&e a strong orgmim*
T he w t the ~ n t e r n a t i dorganizations, and that steps be
an
&kl
f all workers!'
presmt conditions are, however8 v a y adverse, taken to form of .i ~ dpolicyorganization or&@*is also
fie
cornittee
Section
w ith the i Ioiing down of mamy of the lumber interesting:
a nips due to the depression. The lumber
me opLjaa of th
it
be
workers .&came a miated to t he One Big Union to estabbh an indilStrkl form of org-ation.
.
a ,i ts inception, and were its greatest financial
t
I n May of that year came the memorable Winsupport. I n 1920, however, they broke away be- nipeg g e a d strike. While this was ane of the
cause of disagreement over the form of organiza- most g g c
+ &t
displays of working-chss solition, and took their present name. In spite of darity k^HarthAmerica, culminating h the
f i e hard times they are now going through, this ~&SO=&
af the strike leaders, it also gave
virile and r adial organization has blazed tke si mE V t t he formation of the 0. B. U. Which
t fh s o
m
for the Canadian labor movement by decid- csme h'3&e. T he m ovemat, under the s lop'n
ing jn Coovention, some months ago, for af5Xa- d industrial unionism and secession f m &a
t i ~ to the Red Trade Union International. '%"bgp Internationals, virtually swept the Westem ~ r & n
Gavg no rivals 'in ,.he C anidkn lumber g+
vinces. O Sdal figures placed the m mbership
an$ k revival in the industry w ill give these -1a t around 40,000. However, it fail* mtterly in
..
wsrts, th6 .opportunity of making t heir-pxtk felt its c&nt t o invade the %st. W m %%kecall
b
r
k-C ~ . a d a nce again,
o
that the -Eastern P rovines a re the i . ~ t M a and
l
, y kq.Dpe B
ig U~ioigrt.ates from the m f w a c e m anuIx&ring provinces, conitainhg %h$d k of
d
b
fg#& ? c 1, a t &l&y,hL1b1&~.- About the ppdahn of Canada, it I c l a r that '@s fact
. h91%
s
zsn.Aelegates f r m ~ r a d e sC O ~ m d, local h omed the 0. B. U. Sin&then there has been
~E
w&nspf the I ntemtionds, 0f the f our l4$itern progresiiwe decay in that
Pxovince3-British
Columbia, Alberta, h k a t - of memb@&ip are conflict
~ heycpPP Manitoba-met
a nd.
and m a some that it &om not exceed 4,000 and h W%mipeg
ae
a
momentous decis<ons.
alone &ea it have any strength. T&e~e not a
&
The.W estem delegation at tbe An&tl D.Eenin- trace of .ileft in Vancouver, while k h %
&
iiRg Tra* and Labor Congress 'had al1way4a m- Edmonton, Calgary and Saskatoon
h s e d the-ridicab o l eft-we+ Ap&mmkly be- strongholds, nothing but the name
r
c ombg. impatient a t thk slaw pzxyfrw of,&#& day, when & e 0. . U.is denouncing I n d p a l
B
ideas a rnongs~he Eastern workers, and withcat& W nm and the Red Trade Uniota Internationt
oi
goreseeing the distastrous effect that their d e al, we find most of its former spokesmen a rc now
c b i ~ n as to have on the
w
against ehe policy of dual unionis* and a& S or
this! oohference decided to
b M r i a l unionism through amalgamatioiq, ~d
all connections with the I a t m m M the program of the Red International; a o
tb
mw
a~~tions.
these may b mentioned Kavamgh of Vancouver,
e
%hw_Oae-Big Union has e hnged & b Magridge and Lakeman of Edmonton,
of
i ti~shmt e: Today ib most intense' propa&nda Saskatoon, and Fay of C algam
M
he be$ eleis:~gaimt..
industrial unignism T be Bulletin of ments a re thus departed fri!k f old mistake,
M ~ : ; E T . carried a long ediitoriak, since ~ q z h t e d and are now hard a t work in b $ East and West
&~
l
as-aCpmpMet, the burden +f which is that zr&&
(which a re now closer togethen &an ever before), .
a & c !Oa-kam unicrn for one indam is a r a t - endeavoring to consolidate the. labor movement
e b av
tiofiarjz~s+gp?" It map .therefore be-06 j nte~e& a s a whole. All now realize @at the $s
!t
pret a. M r w h a t was -the atti€ude of the f&.lgary requisite for even defensivk s+ggle 9 a unifiC mference;-did- lanrrched the. ( h e B ig U ddn. cat3on and consolidation of the e$&#ng arganizaE k s d j j t i ~ n r N ~ ~ hick w as caljried ~ ~@W&O~ES2,w
tions.
_.LL.~n
-.
ly.,-.qads-k.as d ~ w : - :. . :
B
s
n i - ~ p Lba Mpqp*2.%;d
.. .
~ e ~ ~ ~ m & f- w c !
4r--chigg-&itngs haee' t&m
T he .;art majoritf 4iw orkers in
p%G ---*%8tyear.* - ms r*:gt+wm;
;and
. . .-."
p&e
-
..
*-
l
MB
.
d
L
Canada belong to the internationals. The group of
first importance, as they constitute the keystone
in the labor movement of the country, is undoubtedly the railroad unions. The building trades,
metal trades, and miners, follow in order of importance. The Canadian District Council of
Metal Trades Department, A. F. of L., covers
the metal trades outside-the railways; the railroad shopmen constitute District No. 4 of the
Railway Department. The United Mine Workers have a membership of approximately 20,000,
organized in two districts, viz ;No. 18, in Alberta,
in the West, and No. 26 in Nova Scotia, the East.
Canada is a land of vast distances, which militate against frequent conventions in the trade
union r n v e r i ~ ~ the chief work must, of course
T.
be done ia the large cities. From Halifax to
Vancouver & a f ar throw, but the work must
o
be carried a, n that scale. This is the reason
that the miSqant union men and women of Canada have been inspired by the work undertaken
by the Trade Union Educational League, which
is working in the unions from coast to coast,
getting a common program into action in every
town and,citpr throughout the Dominion.
As a whole, the Canadian movement presents
even better opportunity for our work, for irnmediate results, than any other section. The
advanced in its social and
movement is -re
politicd outlook than the movement across the
line. The Dominion Trades and Labor Congress,
the counterpart of & A. F. of L. Convention,
not only has gene e n record for independent
political action, buf has taken the initiative in the
formation of Provincial labor parties, to which
w
trades tu&m w d ~ t h e r orking class organizations can affiliate. At the last Congress the basis
was laid for the linking up of these Provincial
parties into a Dominionwide Labor Party.
The b ckwarhes's of the American labor
movement has been used as an argument by the
advocates of Canadian national unionism; they
have cited the lack of national autonomy, the
absence c power to bring strong pressure on the
%
Dominion Government, as their strong argumen.t
against the Internationals. However true i t may
be that the Canadian unions lack power,.it is certain that. such power cannot be achieved through
the policy of splitting up the movement as has
been done with the nationalist unions and the
0. . U. And just as the confusion of dual unB
ions is imsupportable, so also is the multiplication
of craft divisions that now exist. The only solidbasis of working q ass power industrial as well
as politicalj $ies in t he movement for consolidation and anialgztmticm. T hypresent Councils
of autonomous d o n s , separate headquarters,
separate constitutions, separate sanctions to pro-
<
cure for each projected a c t i ~ n ~ atlhis is-.oblsolete and must be scrapped. From a 'purely
financial point of view it is untenable. Millions
of dollars annually are literally thrown away
upon duplication of offices, editors, organizers,
and officials. Because of our lack of unity, amoqg..
the workers organized, we stand helpless before
the solid phalanx of the master class.
The trade union movement in ~ a n a d a ,a.~. ?n
other countries, is passing through its m o g ,
critical period. The employers @re attacking-.
viciously. The movement is relatively . -w_eak,,
Thousands upon thousands of the workers b gw,;
our weakness, and know that industrial' unionisg;;
is the answer. Nowhere is this message- g veft,
to the rank and file, but what is is received wifh
acclamation. Why then do we not make moTe
~ r o ~ r k?s s he reason is our lack of q rgani+t~n,o
T
among the militant unionists in the past. JV?,;
have relied upon a blast of trumpets. T hat ~ ~ 1 1 1
not do the deed. Steady, hard, plodding w o ~ % '
alone will suffice, and thoroagh org?n:za$on&Instead of being content with damning the _re$$:
tionary machine, we must build our o& machge3
-not for the gratification of p e r s o ~ l - a m ~ t i & s j ~
but for furthering militant unionism. The" Trade
Union Educational League has beexforrged f or
'I
this purpose, and is already taking @ *tlGe.'&sk;;
Let us all take hold, and with this .itls'fi&kp.t.ready to our hands, set to remoldiirg the -t&a;:
union movement along industrial lines, ; ~ f g ~ . @ ~ <
G- *
i t with a new spirit, and thus m ake i t fit f ~ , c p ~ g with the ruthless attacks of the capitiEst class.
.
e
READ
.
__.
,
.
The Labor Herald
-
FOR AUGUST
Special Printing Trades Number
also
.,
The C onvdon of the American
F h t i o n of Labor
reported by Wm. 2. Foster
This issue goes to press while the COVG
vention i s still i session, amd the c orn
plete report m1 appear n ext naofsth.
.1
S pecid articles or various p b q s
oz
of the labor movernemnt, Notes .
on th+e Internatio~uzl siduatiom,
ed;torkls, and the regular departments. This will be the h t issue
of THE LABORERALDefore the
H
b
National Conference of the T. U.
A-
-
THE LABOR HERALD
THE LABOR HERALD
First National Conference of the Trade
Union Educational League
Dual Unions on Canadian Railroads
d
T
HE First National Conference of the Trade
Union Educational League will meet in
Chicago, August 26th and 27th. Responding to the crying needs of the present situation
in the labor movement, it will bring together all
the organized groups of militant union men within the trade unions. At this gathering will be
worked out the national policies for the radical
unionists, plans for work in each industry, and
$e attitude to be taken toward the various burning questions before the workere
Surely this move is not premature; it cpmes
a time when the labor movement is on its
m t desperate retreat. The Convention of the
s
.A. F. of L. reports a loss of membership for the
year of over 700,000 members. This is an average loss for the year. The exact f i s r e a t this
time is certainly well over ~,ooo,ooo. Never before has the labor movement suffered such a loss
in strength.
+t
b
..
f n the matter of wages and hours, the retreat
is just a s pronounced. Following close upon the
heels of one another have come wage cut after
wage cut. Increase of hours has become the
order of the day. The drastic lowering of standards of the railroad workers, ~,aoo,ooo f whom
o
w now voting on a strike indicates the sitnation
@roughout the field of industry.
P ~liticalenslavemept has increased along with
the decreasing power of Labor. Injunctions of
the type of those issued by Judge Anderson ate
becoming established as "normal." Laws aimed
at Labor particularly are being passed in every
state, and by the national Congress. Within a
few days the Supreme Court knocked out the
Child Labor Law, and decided that union treasgries could be attached for damages to employers
because of strikes. Industrial Court Laws are
b$ng enacted, and Labor is being forbidden to
s w e . Black reaction swings its whip over Labor in the field of Government.
What have the leaders of the Arherican laber
movement to offer the workers in this crisis3
frothing. They are completely bankrupt. Now
@at hard times calls for Labor's reserve power,
h e conservative leadership is shown to have been
doing business on empty paper promises, with
nothing whatever to back them up. The first
moment they are called upon to meet real prob-
lems, to dispIay real leadership, they stand completely helpless aad impotent.
But if the leaders wi!l not act, then the rank
and file must. In every union and in every city
there are men who see our present plight clearly,
and who do have something definite to offer to
Labor to meet the situation. The Trade Union
Educational League is their organization. I t is
carrying a message to the rank and file, proposing
that we put our unions on a modern footing. The
retreat of Labor must be turned into an advance.
e
To accomplish this, W must wipe out the divisions which are the sources of OUP weakness.
We must have not more than one union in any
one industry. Besides this, these industrial kions must act together as regiments in a n army.
And finally, we m,ust give the workers a rnilitant spirit by teaching them that they have absolutely no substantial relief to look for as long
a s the wage system persists.
The First National Conference of the Trade
Union Educational League will be one of the
most important gatherings in the American labor
movement for a long time. It will mark the
birth of a new organization, crystallizing a new
tendency and will be one of those epochal gatherings that occur seldom in the lifetime of an individual. It is highly essential that every union
and every city and town be represented at this
Conference, so that it can give the benefit ~f its
advice and assistance in laying the corner stone
for the new radical movement in the mass unions.
Each Local League will be entitled to six delegates. Every city should try to send as nearly
that number as possible. As a matter of economy-, there will be a district conference for the
Pacific Coast held during July, which will enable
the active. workers there to gather in larger numbers and then send a few delegates to the National Conference in Chicago in August. All
other local Leagues will send their delegates
directly t~ the National Conference. One of the
mogt important items to come before the Conf%rwce ill be the permanent organization of
w
Districts, of which there will probably be fourthe Eastern, the Central, the Pacific and tht:
Canadian. Where there is more than one delegate from any locality, they should be chosen
from different industries. This win help to make
the Conference thoroughly 3epresentative. If
your local League is not yet fully organized, get
busy at once to complete your work, and prepare
to elect your delegates.
1
1
I
I
By P. Morton
',
T
H E railroad labor union situation in Canada
is muddled by dual and s ~essional nions
u
probably more than in any other country.
While the sixteen "Standard" railroad unions of
the United States and Canada, the Internationals,
have the
majority
*ose who
are organized, yet there is a flock of little outside organizations which sap the strength of the
railroad men a d render harder the struggle of
the workers. These dual unions draw away each
a portion of the more active workers from the
mass unim in its particular field; more serious
yet, the r esdthg confusion and factionalism becomes a n e
e
f or large additions to the ranks
of the "~n&&t O rder o;f Dues Dodgers."
8,
Neverth*,
the actual condition of the
railroad up5oms in Canada has not justified
d uali$q.to h e .extent that has been present
i the United States. In the United States
n
there have been a number of great strike movemeats whi* repressed by the International union
o&cials, $ouqd expression in "outlaw" strikes
and caused %he formation of some of the secessionist orgai&ations. T he vicious war carried
on against f ie h f o n s in the United States by
the railroad mecutives, under orders from Wall
Street, has a1.so c o~tributed to ploughing the
ground far dud d o t there. But these conditions did not exist &.nearly the s aqe intensity
i Canada. Our @ @ i supply of dual unions
n
~ @c
must rather be attdbuted to the fact b a t our
more active rank a nd filers have lacked a "balance wbwy' and have been open to every influence a nd ,slngggStion wafted on the season's
breezes, ' '' '"
~t w $ q there a re in Canada (counting
:g'
the stan&$.&im,
all have soae sort of
.
working &$:@gements, a s one) , s ix organizations
b iddkg a&si
each other for the support of the
shop trade^^ dive unions competing for the running crafts, ,&ght unions fighting about the clerks
s, s ix more disputing for the
and shop laborers, six over
, four dividing the telegmthe dining and sleeping
h group, with the excepfreight handlers, the In(the sixteen standarq
railroad orgm&a6ions) have many more of the
a
organized w ~ k than all the others combined
And the s&&td Internationals are also the organizations @at conduct the negotiations with
the companies f ar each group, with a few exceptions mentioned later. But though their member-
ship is small, the dux1 unions create much confusion and seriously weaken the whole mass of
the railroad workers. A few outstanding examples may be cited.
The "Best" Organizations
I n 1919, a man by the name of Best, formerly
of the Locomotive Engineers
a district
on the old Canadian Northern Railroad, started
a new union, called the Canadian Association of
Engine Service Men. ~e endeavored t o get the
,%ineers and firemen to-join, using the slogan
~
~ to~
was
a
of "canada for the ~
extent successful, obtaining a number of
those workers. But in a referendum vote recently taken of the employees of that road, they voted
two to one in favor of the International Unions.
Undoubtedly, however, this dual union will remain for some time yet to further complicate the
situation.
T he same' Mr. Best later started a secession
movement within the secessionist 0 . B. U. shopmen of Winnipeg, calling it the Canadian AS-'
sociation of Railway Shopmen. H e was for a
time able t o get a few shopmen, but it-seems to
be dying out. Another organizatiori fatliered by
this prolific begetter of dual unioris was the Canadian Association of Train Service Men.
The Canadian Railway workersi lnhastriai
Union
This embryo "industrial union" was launched
among the shopmen of Calgary in 1919, about
the time of the 0. B. U. movement. Its members were recruited from the workers on the
Canadian Pacific Railroad, but never got beyond
a few of the shop trades. Largely due to the
divisions caused by their secession and the numerous other dual unions, these S a m men are, for
the most part, l10t now members of any union.
The Unit+&Association of Railway E d o ~ e m
'
of America
There are only a few scattered members of
this organization in Canada, principally among
the running trades. Their propaganda against
the International Unions is, however, quite in;
dustrious. Recently an organizer for this union
in Eastern Canada made the announcement that
they were going to start a Canadian Section of
the United Association. Just how far it has gone
i s hard to tell yet, but it will probably be another
contribution toward division and disunity. .
The Catholic National Union
This organization was started a number of
years ago by some authorities of the Catholic
Church. Some of its organizers are priests, and
a
~
i
T .HE L A B O R H E R A L D
in, some cases where It has a f oohMJ t priests
k
act as bwiness agents. The reason @n for its
e
separate existence is that the I n ~ u n a Unl
i are too "radical," and hence bq a tendency
m
t o alienate their followers from the Chxch. They
claim to have 40,000 m embm, iawept&yg all
classes of workers. Their prirYci& sfzmgth is
in the p rovin~eof Quebec. Hqw & g they
n
a re on the railroads is problemti&a[; they have
ST
OE
I
shopmen and elerks, bat in k hp@xee a re
they a considerable factor en the
e ms
so far as wage m o v m a t s o r
a re
concerned.
all d k o a d employees of every craft. From
time to time it has secured a to&hold among the
shop a d ocher trades, only to lose it again a fter
a brief pwiod.
At present the Canadian Brotherhood has the
majority of the organized clerks and freighthandlers in Canada. I t negotiates with the Canadian National W r o a d for that group of workers, and also to same extent for the boiler and
engine room e mployes and shop laborers on that
road. In the last few years, however, the Clerks'
International has organized that group on the
Canqlian Pacific Railroad, and carries' on their
negotiations. For the last four years, b t h unions
The Chadian B r d d ~ 4 'lk@imatd
4
have been making great efforts to seeme comE mplam . \ I . ,
plete control, with the result that the hostility
This organization, like s&ier b. $s field, is
&
hem has become pronomeed. T his
largely "national" in clzaraI %We em- between its deplorable, and keeps many workers
!
%
&
situation
phasizing its peculiar ( h am
Znd
'
out of h t h organizations, continuing dborganizaparadoxically enough, t !m@B.
o
n w t a in order to organize the clerks,OB &e C k- tian. T he sign of progress here is, however, that
there is a move under way to amalgamate these
adian Northern Railm~d)whit&. h
two unions into one organizatioh.
into Virginia and D uluth This i s
Mean Federatiam d Railroad W.
4
h o n s t r a t e d t he fallacy :af "m&eflal"
1n-ti-1
~ m&eh'ho~d sati011
of
the r droads, aU of which cw &e international
r
,.
.
border,
~P~QY-A t 3k.s inception in 1909,
The American Federation of h i h ~ a d orkW
Was
n d a dual union, in the s tria s a g of the w d . ers 'made an attempt to get a foot lmld with the
At W h e theclerks, f r+t-Badlers,
l a b o m , r ailrad m xkers in Canada, and seea?d a few
and engine room eniq~lcryq~, . w e e m ; & sn that portion of the New York Cenetc.,
nr q
a
t&Ify u noEganw. m i fite&M aeijons tral, Wabash, and P ere Marquette lbdroads that
e
w%% jafiscktkn ~ ~ these r
e % hadQmade m tb-owh a section of Canada. H ere their
i
&
any energetic headway in Cam&. It m s only &fluence stopped, m has a a11 t imes been negd
$
a short time, Itowever, until the C km*
Bro- ligible, except for the p reve&m ~f mi@.
therhood tbrew open its membership h k o t o
The International B rotherhod of S ~btian mE
July, 1922
THE LABOR HERALD
9
than shopmen, ever joined it at any time. The
shopmen they did get were all in w estern Canada (west of Port Arthur and Fort W i l l i i s ) ,
and their numbers were not more than 50% of
the shopmen involved. This means that at its
strongest, &e 0. B. U. had no more than 1 t o
0
15% of the Western'railroad workers at the
height of its power. Never did they obtain
enough power to function as an ordinary union
in this field. The organization has now lost most
of its members, and has degenerated into a baseball pool establishment. The pools conducted by
the 0. B. U. Bulletin have done much to keep
that organization in existence. The B ulldin is
The
Big unia
being sold in immense numbers, for the pool
All of @ d ual and secessionist unions men- tickets that are printed therein ;but the influence
bm'-mhave been conservative or reaction- of the organization as such is rapidly dying.
tioned a
of their nationalistic posiAl this complication of unionism has resulted
l
philosophy of the labor from the original mistake of quitting the old orUnion differs from all ganizations. The membership, instead of work. I t has always been a ing to improve these organizations and to make
with a philosophy of the class them function effectively, has run off to all sorts
alist leanings. How- of union tangents, with the confusion we see.
.exmatWi'pa'c.5ical results of its organization ac- The situation will never be corrected until the
t ivi'h b m6een t o continue and extend the de- original mistake is made good by the active spirits
$Ir)ralsb,i%#gdty and division.
going back t o the trade unions again and taking
The m e Big Union, contrary to the opinion the mass of seceders with them. Except this is
of many p e o k never made any large successes done there is no immediate hope for solidarity
on the railre&&% Very few railroaders, other among Canadian railroad workers:
ployees is one of the three unions into which the
clerks and freight handlers are divided on the
Canadian section of the Grand Trunk Railroad,
and during recent negotiations for that g row of
employees all three organizations laid claim to
being the proper one to represent them. The result was that the officials of the railroad proposed
that they appoint a joint committee from the
three unions, which was done. It is certainly
some situa*
when the boss has to advise the
workers t o get together, and it is not hard to
imagine tba s tate of chaos that exists among these
wo&ers 017 the Grand Trullk Railroad.
n
Brothers to the 'Boss
By Jay Fox
me to ask: " m y a trade cators, the preachers, politicians and capitalists
league? Ahit our na- deny the existence of classes and denounce as
6onal s choof+$~kmsufficient f or a ll Prac- enemies of society all who point out the self evitical ubion aeedgtmithout you brothers handing dent fad. usure; they say, "there are capitalus o&
&$
nm-apmgled to torture o ur ists and working people, but they are not enemies.
stuff
about"l
They are the mutually dependent producerstired '
is SO much like two branches of one great industrial familyt W had better brothers,
e
fact, with common interests and
irst, he is a vic- asphtions.~ great mass of us believe
~~d the
e most pernicious that bunk in t he face of all the evidence to the
r known. dccond, h e dis- contrary;
we will continue -to believe
so
plague second Only to long as we refuse to "torture our tired brains"
doing a little thinking of our own.. ("Lazy
to
The kdrockrains," I would say, f a r it is quite evident they
b
t there are two classes don" get tired from use).
work for wages are in
If any worker deubts my statement let him
own the jobs constitute the
demarcation is $0 distinct look at the lineup in the coal strike. On one side
most unnecessary to point a re the coal barons, the fellows who' "own"
it out. BGt &ere is where the capitalist propa- the mines (the jobs), the courts trying strikers
effectively with our mental on the charge of treason, the newspapers and
from learning a basic truth, capitalists in general. On the other side, the
miners, supported only by their worker friends.
is absolutely essential,
See how v&@mently the newspapers and edu- Now I didn't make that lineup. It is there by
-
THE LABOR HERALD
reason of the economic law which "the pillars
of society" say does not exist.
Now it will be asked: since classes do really
exist why are the capitalists and their retainers
so persistent in their denial? The answer to that
question is also self eyident. T he capitalists
know that as soon as it becomes generally known
amongst the workers that classes exist there will
be a lineup in this country that will stir things
to their very foundation. The capitalists a re
shrewd men. They don't let their brains tire
for w aat of use. They know that classes exist,
but they don't want us to know it. It is because they know it that .they always put up such
a solid front when opposing us. A nd i t is because we d m J t know it that we. a re so much
divided amongst ourselves.
Here is where the function of our educational
w ork a mong t rade unions comes in, and there i s
nothing "new-fangled" about it eitherer I t is a
simple explanation of things a s &ey e xkt and
have existed for hundreds of yeais. The b unk
that there are no classes in t his c o t m w i s t he
great American lie. And as soon a s we g rasp
it in sufficient numbers we will lay &e foundstion f or a movement that will f ree u s from t he
octopus of capitalism in whose tentacles every
worker knows he is held.
T he reason why so little p rogress h as been
made by the workers of this country is due to
t he fact that so many of us believe we are oneW ith
hundred percent brothers t o t he boss=.
dominant in "our tired brains"
t hat
w e h ave been led without a halter by the henchmen of capitalism ; we believe t he b d s et before us daily by the newspapers ; we support the
politicians and lawyers who, in t he service of
the capitalists, yearly make more m d more laws
to enslave us ; we turn away from those of our
own dass whose untired brains have seen t he
fight of day t hru t he f akery of t he ''friendS of
labor;" a nd in various other ways we help +he
capitalists to keep u s enthralled, while they g o
merriIy on to the conquest of power.
of t he
N OW suppose w e come t o a
every proposal p ut f orward by the
t ruth
henchmen of capital is IW% f or capital a nd
against labor, t hat society a s it is organized today in all its various r am6cations is
a h uge machine designed and operated for one
spec& purpos-the-enrichment
of the rich at
the eqense of t he- p-. a -pitalist sociew by,
oor;
f or and of the capitalists.
T hat is a broad statement, b ut i t can easily
be proven. Look around you. HOW uch of
m
t he c ountry~swealth, all created by labor, does
labor possess? This counhy wag
nothing
when labor landed here. Today it is worth over
500 billion dollars, (richer than the great British
July, 1922
Empire), and labor, to whom all t hat,uncountable wealth really belongs, is stinting along in
the same old way, striving to make both ends
meet and pay the landlord for the privilege of
living in the houses it built.
How else could it be done, since the mass of
us don't want to "torture our tired brains" by
taking any t hought of our own material interests? The capitalists use their brains, while we
use our hands and y r k under their direction.
W e might as well not have any brains at all.
A m an with a horse makes the animal do all
t he work he is capable of doing and does himself
those things the horse cannot do. The capitalists
have a better graft. They train us workers to
do dl t heir work and give us grub only while
we work. The horse has the best job, his grub
is continuous.
I f there is still more proof wanting that this
is a capitalist-owned society, let US pursue the
subject a bit further. The jobs upon which our
living depends are "owned" by the capitalists,
who have the legal right at any time to cut off
o ur food supply and leave us to starve to death;
a nd we have no recourse in law. W e may die
of h unger and the men who cut off o ur f ood
supply are not held f or murder. T he jobs a re
their private property and the government stands
behind them with its courts and jails and hangmen, i ts mssacks, machine g uns a nd poison gasW e a re compelled by t he necessity of food,
clothing a nd shelter to g o to these capitalists and
meekly ask them f or permission to work at the
industries t hat we have created, paying f or t he
privilege all we produce over and above the scant
wages which t he capitalists have agreed to Pay
US. T hat is the condition of labor in "free Ame r b " a nd i t is t he Purpose of o ur present movement t o change it. W e a re determined t hat labor
shall be free in free America. And it is our opinion that t he burden of liberating labor lies in its
own hanqs and no where else. W e a re convinced
t hat t be ,first article of freedom is the right to
work without the permission of any man. This
means t hat in order to be free, labor must control
t he industries. S uch a consumation can only be
attained 'by t he organization of t he workers of
each industry into industrial unions, such unions
t o be formed by t he amalgamation of t he Present
tra@ unions.
T he Trade Union Educational League of Chicago is
cooperating .with the four Russian Famine Relief orp;anIzation8 whieh are puttina on a joint tag-day
throughout the city on June 26, for the benefit of the
Russian children. The organizations are, The Trade
Union committee, the Friends of Soviet Russia, American Committee for Russian Famine Relief, and
American Relief for Russian Women and Children.
5,000. women
be on the streets coflecting funds.
Volunteers should send in their names.
THE LABOR HERALD
July, 1922
Railroad Workers! To Action!
T
HE railroad workers are faced with the supreme decision-struggle
or slavery. We must fight, or we will be fastened with chains
worse than even those of the past. The Railroad Labor Board,
disregarding the solemn warnings of our unions, and the representatives
of Labor on the Board, have cut right into the very lives of all of us.
They have reduced us to a standard which will make it impossible to
live in the slightest approach to decency. They have taken the clothes
off the backs of our wives and children, and the food from off our
tables. There can be but one answer-STRIKE.
While we prepare with all our energy for the struggle, let us
end, once for all, this horrible travesty of having our representatives
sitting upon the same Board which is the instrument for our destruction. Withdraw the representatives of Labor from the Railroad Labor
Board at once ! Tell Wharton, McMenirnen a nd Philips to resign !
O ur unions must be immediately prepared for the strike. W e
have wasted many precious years, months and weeks, which should have
been used organizing our forces. W e should be prepared to throw one
great united army into this struggle. No crime so great has ever been
committed as that which has kept us railroaders divided among ourselves. Now that we are forced into the fight before we have attained
solidarity, we must bend every energy, every ounce of our strength, to
remedying this evil. Solidarity of the railroaders-this must be our
slogan. When the strike is called, let it be a general strike of every
worker on the railroads !
T he miners are already in the battle, fighting the same enemy
who so cynically forces us into the struggle. Their army of 665,000
have been fighting stubbornly for three months before we must strike.
Our cause is the same as theirs. Our forces should be united. W e
should not allow that they could, by any possibility, be beaten just as
we begin our struggle. Let us join our issue, and win or lose together; our fighting power will be thus increased a hundredfold!
The strike before us is at once our test and our opportunity.
If we measure b p to the fight, we can make it the turning point in the
present disasterous period. We can, joining hands with t he miners,
begin fmally t he struggle which will carry us forward instead of backward as we have been going for two years. We can turn our present
retreat into an advance. W e can become the advance-guard of the
entire army of Labor, which, inspired by our example, will make a
general assault upon the forces of capitalistic reaction.
All together-against
the railroad companies, against the Railroad Labor Board, against the capitalist class and their lickspittle Administration.
STRIKE.
July, 1922
THE LABOR HERALD
They M ove an Inch
i
A Story of Four Railroad Conveptians
I
I
By Wm. Z. Fostee
I
I
of Railroad Conductors, the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, and to a lesser extent the Brbtherhood of Railway Clerks, failed badly tb
measure up to the needs of the situation. Blit
they did move forward an inch nevertheless, and
in our stagnant labor movement that is not to
be sneezed at.
Facts About the Organizations
The B. of L. F. & E. opened its convention in
Houston, Texas on May Ist. This was the 2gth
There were pressince its foundation in
ent go5 delegates representing 1 20~0~0embers.
m
Debs was Secretary of this
From 1881 to
At its foundation the uoion fundtioned in wage matters, but after the great, idI
The situation on the railroads, f r m a union starred strike of 1877 it repudiated strike actioh
I point of view, is just about desperate. The cam- and confined itself to serving as a sick and d eaq
1 panies have wiped out the national agreements. benefit society. The enormous upheaval in tht
? They have gutted the eight hour day, and are middle '80's woke it up again and at its 188k
reintroducing piece work-that is where they do convention it readopted the strike policy. The
not farm out the work altogether to dummy con- convention of the B. of R. T., with 760 delegates,
' tractors operating without the pale of t
he Trans- opened in Toronto, May 9th. Approximately
' portation Act-and
company unions are being 180,ooo members were represented. The B. of
set up on various roads. All the organizations R. T., originally known as the Brotherhood of
; have taken cuts in wages, and now the Railroad Railroad Brakemen, was orgatlized in 1883. Like
I Board is going over them the second time., clip- the rest of the Brotherhoods, it encountered so
much opposition in its early stages that it had to
I ping their salaries again. Within the past few
weeks the Maintenance of Way workers* many function merely as a fraternal order. I t b e c d
of whom were cut to as low as 23 cents per hour, a genuine labor organization in 1885. It has asI
, have been reduced to a starvation wage; the six sets to the extent of $ 8 , 0 0 0 , ~ . T he 0. R. C.
, shop crafts have also been slashed another 12% opened its 37th convention in Cleveland the first
l o r so, and the latest are the Clerks, while the week in May. The organization consisting of
Telegraphers, the four Brotherhoods, and the rest 60,000 members, was founded in 1868. Until
are standing around waiting the convenience of 18g0 i t devoted itself to beneficial features; but
; the Board to guillotine them The general con- at that time it changed its constitution so that it
became a trade union. The B. of R. C. etc. held
' sequence is demoralization among the rank and
i file, a demoralization which not even the strike its convention in Dallas, Texas, beginning May
'vote can check. Many thousands have left the 1st. This was the 14th since the founding of
the organization in 1899. There were approxiI organizations, and many more will do so in the
' near future unless a way is found to stop the mately 150,000 workers represented. The Clerks'
union lingered along from the beginning? having
rout.
only a small membership. At the outbreak of the
In such a crisis one would think that our war there were only 6,500 members on its rolls.
leaders would do the necessary and logical thing ; Then it underwent a'tremendous grriwth, reportthat is, call a special convention of all railroad ing 175,000 members in 1931.
' organizations and there weld them together into
Warren S. Stone's Program
a compact body able to repel the assaults of the
I n the following recital of the progressive
companies. But of course nothing like that is
done. The movement is too much Gompersized measures considered by the four conventions the
for such action. The best that they do is to name of Warren S. Stone, Grand Chief of the
develop a mild progressivism. In their conven- Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, constanttions during the past month, the Brotherhood of ly occurs, despite the fact that his was not one
Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen, the Order of the four organizations directly-i~mlved. Thk
I
\
T is a basic law of life that all organisms, socia1 as well as animal, when confronted with
a new environment must either change to
meet the new conditions or perish. That is ex, actly the situation the railroad unions are now
1 u p against. Their environment has changed
\mightily in the last few years. The employers
, have become enormously stronger financially and
better organized; likewise they have taken on
a high degree of class consciousness and are out
to destroy all unionism. Unless the .unions can
meet these new conditions by revamping their
,methods, structure, and social conceptions they
must die. For them it is either eyolution o r ex, tinction. '
I
:
!
t
:
I
8
i
THE LABOR HERALD
13
reason for this was his great activity in connec- have been brought about and the fight stopped
tion with the conventions. He has developed a 20 years ago. Although the Switchmen were
definite railroad program, including closer af- long the most militant craft on the railroads
filiation, working class political action, recogni- their position in resisting the merger was wrong
tion of Russia, co-operation in general and co- and their arguments that brakemen and switchoperative banking in particular, building up of men cannot function in the same organization
the railroad paper? Labor, remodelling the con- were ridiculous. The fight .held the whole railvention system, etc., and he went from conven- road union movement back Moreover great
tion to convention to put it across. Three of harm was done to trade unionism at large by the
them, the Firemen, Conductors, and Trainmen, Switchmen who, taking advantage of their A.
he visited in person, and no doubt his influence F, of L. affiliation, systematically poisoned and
was powerfully felt at the other, the Clerks. And estranged the body of trade unionists from the
when a11 was said and done, nearly everything four brotherhoods.
progressive that was accomplished at the conBut an even more important amalgamation proventiong at least that of moment, was the result ject developed at the Firemen's convention. They
of his campa@.
decided to have their general officers sit in with
Stone is not a radical, quite the reverse. He the general officers of the B. of L. E. to map out
has showed time and again (lately at the Ladies a plan to merge the two engine service organizaGarment ~ ~ r k e r convention) his hatred of tions into one. When completed, the plan will
s'
revoIutisnis%s and thGir policies. Likewise, his be submitted by referendum to the membership
conduct in Lolding his organization aloof from of both unions for ratification. It is almost certhe general industrial struggles of the mass of tain $0 carry. This scheme is pretty much the
railroad workers, thereby gravely injuring the work of Stone. H e went to Hjouston and advised
cause af the workers and aiding that of the com- the Firemen to go through with it. Immediately
panies,shows conclusively that he lacks the larger after he stopped talking the resolution was a d o p
vision. Nwertheless in many minor aspects of ted. In explaining the advantages of the plan
the m o~@lent e has quite a streak of progres- Stone touched on the only real obstacle to amh
sivism. B q i t e his serious shortcomings he algarna$on, namely, the fear by the officials that
stands he& and shoulder above the other leaders ' they may lose their jobs. H e said, "It would
in the railmad k dustry, not only because he has materially reduce the number of field officers,
(while they have none), permit of having but one instead of two salaried
some sort of a ~~,
but also became h has the aggressiveness to Chairmen on each road, and all of that. Some of
put it through. Ckhpared with him the static these salaried Chairmen may be out of a job."
Jewell, President & &e &ilway Employees' De- "But," he declared, "don't legislate for your
partmeat is a m y . I t is safe to say that if general officers, legislate for the rank and file of
s
the B m ~ d o o d f Locomotive Engineers were your Brotherhood and then you will get results.
a H i h d b &e A. F. o l L. Stone would soon put Forget y ow officers."
Sam Gai~pg&& watch.
Political Action
,
Amalgamation
All four organizations declared for the political
e af closer affiliation cropped up program inaugurated at the Chicago conference
The q
all am&& I s this respect the Clerks took the recently- 'I'his Puts nearly all of the unions on
u
lead ; ina,.,-&~d real understanding. They record for that movement, which looks like a
adopt& m r wlution, introduced by Wade Labor Party in the making. Quite evidently the
e
ShurdeE,, , e g f or the amalgamation of a11 railroad workers are tired of being kept political
body, and another re- cip'hers simply because Mr. Gompers refuses to
. T. De Hunt, the one think. I t will be only because of timid leadere Chicago Federation of ship i f, before these lines get into-print, they have
the A. F. of L. proceed t o not marched into the A. F. of L. convention and
s in every industry into a successfully demanded the abolition of the absurd
series of M m5rial organizations.
policy of Labor's "rewarding its friends and
The T h m , besides developing a movement punishing its enemies." Stone made a strong dew
for closer i-e&%o~ ith the conductors, adopted fense of the new political policy before the three
a reso1nticsa.L amalgamate with the Switchmen. conventions at which he spoke.
Should
gp~thi-ot~gh,and there is every prosRecognition o Russia
f
pect it w ill s @wthat the Switchmen's Union is
Another point in Stone's program is the esbroke and mfiWt furnish good paying jobs to tablishment of peace with Russia. In .some manits official do^; it will put an end to one of the ner he has developed a sympathetic attitude tomost disa&tronsinter-union wars in the history wards that embattled country. In the March
of Organized Labor. The amalgamation should number of the Locomotive Eagirzeers' J o~rnul
-
THE LABORHERALD
THE LABOR HERALD
there appears an editorial, doubtless with Stone's
0. K., in which Gompers is laced as seldom before because of his brutal Russian policy. I n his
scorching article the writer declares that Mr.
Gompers, "Like the gold-braided generals of
France, wants peace, but first he wants his bucket
of Bolshevik blood." He states further that the
well-informed labor leaders, political economists
and statesmen of Europe are agreed that Russia
must be rehabilitated before normal conditions
can be restored in the world. Then he says,
"Opposing them are the bloodthirsty Czarist
generals, the horde of ex-Russian landlords, noaccount counts, ignoble nobles, and other jobless
remnants of autocracy, together with a Russian
propaganda bureau in New York sponsored by
eminent Wall Street bankers and labor haters.
Truly Mr. Gompers has chosen strange bedfellows." Stone made no issue of Russia in his
convention addresses. The Clerks were the only
one of the organizations to take a favorable stand
itl the matter, and they demanded the recognition
of Russia and the establishment of trade relations with her.
Co-operative Banking:
A t the various conventions Stone made propaganda for another one of his measures, namely,
labor banks; but so far as the writer has fearned
at this time, the only organization to respond to
the proposition was the Clerks. They commissioned their officials to go ahead and organize a
bank to be owned and controlled by the union.
Thus added impetus was given the l a h r banking
movement initiated by Stone. Already, in addition to the original B. of L. E. institution, the
following labor banks, are either in speration or
being organized : the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers i Chicago, the Brotherhood Railway
n
Carmen in Kansas City, the Order of Railroad
Telegraphers in St. Louis, and the joint locals
of the four Brotherhood organizations in Minneapolis. The thing is growing too rapidlp. W e
can look for a crash soon, once the well-kuown
genus labor faker begins to take a hand at high
financing.
Building t he Jolurnat "Labor"
One of the striking features of the conventions
was that three of them, the Clerks, Firemen, and
Conductors, subscribed their entire membership
in a body for Labor, the weekly paper owned and
controlled by the 16railroad unions. This meant
an immediate increase in circulation of about
300,000 per week.
Rarely if ever has labor
journalism experienced anything of the like. And
again the hand of Stone is seen at work. The
building up of Labor is one of the planks in his
platform. For a long time the various organizations had backed the paper in a desultory way,
-
issuing all sorts of pressing and even frantic
calls through their respective journals urging the
membership to subscribe for it. But the Locomotive Engineers, which is to say Stone, were
the first to really take the matter seriously. At
their last convention they subscribed the whole
organization for Labor. Stone then took up the
propaganda for it in the ~ rganizations, dvocating
a
it in hib recent convention speeches. I t now
looks as though practically all the railroad unions
will take the paper en masse. Within a year or
two it will probably be one of the widest-read
labor journals in the world. L abor represents
one of the get-together tendencies now agitating
the railroad workers. Unless it falls short of its
true mission it will some day supplant the conglomeration of 16 railroad union journals that are
now in the field. Although now cold and official,
it should finally become the one great paper of
the one all-inclusive industrial union of railroad
workers.
Reorganizing the h v e n t i o n s
Particularly demoralizing to the railroad unions is their system of holding conventions. One
bad feature is the custom of having them in different cities each time. This reduces-the gatherings t o mere junketings and picnic parties. The
habit is for the delegates to spend more time and
interest in sightseeing than in considering organization business. Another bad feature is the
system of allowing one delegate from each local
union, with all expenses paid by the general organization. One effect of this is, in the larger
unions, to make the conventions practically into
mobs of 1000 to 1500 delegates apiece. Real
business is out of the question. And the expense is fabulously high. At their last convention the Firemen spent over $ &o,o~o, and the
Carmen, Conductors, Clerks, and others expended about the same. The result is that conventions become fewer and fewer as the delegations grow larger and the junketing spirit develops. And even when held they are practically
worthless.
For some reason Stone has singled out this
abuse, and during the recent conventions he broke
a few lances against it. At the Firemen's gathering he panned them (also the Conductors) for
their antiquated convention system. H e stated
that the Engineers have reduced their delegation
one-half, likewise their expenses. Besides, they
now hold all their conventions in the home city,
Cleveland. He declares that it took a long fight
to put the thing through in the face of the opposition of the cheap delegates, ever present at
conventions, who battled to get as much out of
the organization as possible for their petty graft.
He said, "We tried to get it through three conventions. We finally got it referred to a refer-
l
I
endurn vote of the membership, and by an 80%
vote they decided in favor of a reduetion of
delegates. This meant the end of having conventions for the purpose of having good times
and junketing trips." The Firemen, with their
convention costing them $52.06 a minute and
due to last a month, saw the point and appointed
a committee to work out a plan along the lines
suggested.
I n addition to holding all the Brotherhood conventions in one town, Stone aims to center their
headquarters in one place also. At present three
of them, the Engineers, Firemen, and Trainmen,
are located in Cleveland. Stone invited the Conductors 40 move in from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, so
that all might get together without much d s culty. But in this he was defeated, the old fogy
Order of Railway Conductors refusing; for sentimental rwsoins, to leave their ancient home.
They prorn$ied however to take up this weighty
matter again in their 1925 convention.
The Old Guard Re-elected
Few changes were made in the various administrations. Fitzgerald of the Clerks was reelected unanimously. Sheppard of the Conductors also gat by without difficulty. Carter of the
Firemen refused to run again, a fact which will
help amalgamation of the two engine service organizatims mightily. H e has become a historian
of his Brotherhood at the full salary he got as
President. Hk sirecessor is D. B. Robertson.
Bill Lee had opps&on in the Trainmen, Val
Fitzpakrick running &gainst hirn. But Lee won
out hmdi1y. T b &e spirits an his branchl of
the s mim who h w l d have been there to fight
him a m SSIF0ut d t he organization ; they quit
during & i4l5gfamed "oAutlaw"strike of two years
S
I
ES
ago. h e TS d e t o take much credit from this
affair,
as &e saviour of the Brotherhood.
i
He de
effort to have the "outlaws"
reinstat*
The railroaders of the country will
k a E a i ! t l with hirn f or another three years
unless
mqected happens.
Note
was the absence of the Plumb
Plan from W wnv6ntions. Though some railroaders c m t i a ~ eto do reverence to tlhis guild
system, it it3 near practically a dead issue. Sam
Gompers
a large share in its killing. Carter
said of f t in the firemen's convention, "The
propaganda that has been spread against it by
the r ailf~a$ka.nipulators and the big financial
interests has' rendered it impossible to establish
its principles
the name "Plumb Plan."
Such, in the main, was the work of the conventions. A li+&le as accomplished, but in view of
m
the prevailing crisis it was pitifully inadequate.
In one summary we have mentioned the work
of Stone o f t a , and his influence was undoubted-
ly great. None of the other big leaders had a
thing to offer. It was the old story of the oneeyed man being F i g in the land of the blind.
But some also felt the influence of our League in
the conventions. In discussing the Clerks' convention the I lli~z~isribulze said, "With a vote
T
that left no misunderstandiilg this convention
went on record in favor of the amalgamation plan
which the Trade Union Education League has
been advocating, and by the same kind of a vote
recognition of Soviet Russia and the establishment of trade relations by this Government were
demanded." Such mild advances as were made
will not sufEce. Nor will the oncoming strike
settle matters, though that must of course be
fought through to victory. The only thing that
can fully meet the needs of the railroad workers
is the realization of the program of the Trade
Union Educational League. First, the entire
army of railroad workers must be fused together
into one body, and then this organization must be
inspired with a revolutionary purpose. Only
when this is done will the railroad workers really
be fitted to h ake progress towards their eventual
goal of emancipation.
1
1
July, 1922
THE LABOR HERALD
The Revolution in the Office
By Earl R Browder
H
possible of the typical office of our great-grandfathers will seem quite primitive.
The particular stimulus which caused the
writer to dig up this description of Tellson's
Bar& office came when, recently, he had occasion
to drop into the counting room of a large modern
bank. There, in a large, well lighted room, were
30 or 40 machines, with electric motors, going
at top speed, filling the room with burr, click,
and hum, and the atmosphere of a small factory.
Attending each machine was a young man, model
of sartorial art, engaged with intense concentration in summing up the day's business of
many millions of dollars. Here was a battery of
adding machines, totaling the transactions of the
various departments ;there was an array of bookkeeping machines, swiftly and mechanically
segregating the items and posting them to inThe Office of Yesterday and Today
dividual ledger accounts.
Passing into a private office, one waited while
very dark, very ugly, very
6'1~
was very
the cashier completed a letter which he was
~ c o m m o ~ ~ o u s the partners in the H~~~~
No 'IWde
were proud of its smallness, proud of its dark- registering on a
her present to interfere with the privacy
ness, proud of its smallness, proud of its incowmdiousness. They were even boastful of its of the interview. Yes, there was a
particulars, and were f i r e , by elsewhere in the office, if wanted, as one could
minencein
an express conviction that, if it were less ob- tell from the sight of a Stenotype Machine at
another desk. Just outside the office door, was
jectionable, it would be less respectable . .
a Spruce young lad, feeding letters into a machine,
"Thus it had come to pass, that Tellson's was
and sta*ed
in
the triumphant perfection of inconvenience. After which turned them Out
bursting open a door of idiotic o bsthcy with a a jiffy- The paper which I was carrying needed
w,=& rattle in its throat, you fell into Tellson's the signature of a man in another p art of t he
hwn steps, and came to your senses in a building; but no boy was called to send it. It
two
miserable little shop, with two little counters, , Was dropped into a pneumatic tube, and with a
whirr and click was back in a moment with the
check
where the oldest of men made
necessary endorsement. The people in the office
as if the wind rustled it, while they examined
sipature by
dingiest of
which moved with a jerky, mechanical f recision, and
were always lsnder a show-bath of mud from went through standardized motions as if they
the &pier by were used to doing the same thing over and over
neettreet, and
s
wwe
their own iron bars p r o p r and the heavy shadow again, thousands of times a day. The whole
of Temple Bar. If your business necessitated effect of the place was that of a cross between
a modern machine shop and a sterilized, disinyour seeing "the House," you were put into a
fected hospital or toilet room.
species of Condemned H d d at the Ira&, w bm
Quite
you meditated on a lnisspeflt Pfo, m~ the ~~i~~an extreme contrast with Tellson's Bank!
offices
are not like
just as
came with its b n d s in its pockets, and you could
all offices in 1780 were not like Tellson's. But
hardly blink a t it in the dismal twilight."
An obvious caric&ture,you say. Granted. We both are typical of their times, and the contrast
do not need to insist upan the
of tells the story of a revolution of methods of inDickens. A caricature is an a aggetgtbn5 but dustry .as a
T he Office W o r k s
no one, so far as I know, has accused D i b s of
creating something which did not exist at all.
What of the human stuff whjch lives its life
Recalling that the quill still flourished in those in these contrasted environments? Has it changed
not so far-off days, and that the steel pen was as these outward farms have done?
still to come into use, and the. brightest picture
The office worker of 1780, according to DickUMAN life is a changing thing. Among
the many changes of the past hundred years
or so, none has been more compete than
that of offices, and office work. Machinery, the
great transformer, has been busy in the office,
to a- degree almost, if not quite, than it has been
at work in the shops. Social and political life
has been made over into something quite new,
so far as outward forms are concerned, and the
life of the office workers has kept pace.
How great the change has been is hard to
realize. But we get some small idea of it, if we
go to our bookshelf (or to that of a friend, as
the writer had to do), and dig up one of the old
favorite books, to read again the description of
an office in the year 1780. I have picked up a
book by Charles Dickens, and read of the office
of Tellson's Bank, by Temple Bar, London,
..
.
ae
en's sample at Tellson's, was a miserable being.
"Cramped in all kinds of dim cupboards and
hutches at Tellson's, the oldest of -men carried
on the business gravely. When they took a
young man into Tellson's London house they hid
him somewhere till he was old. They kept him
in a dark place, like a cheese until he had the
full Tellson flavor and blue-mould upon him.
Then only was he permitted to be seen, spectacularly poring over large books, and casting his
breeches rand gaiters into the general weight of
the establishment."
The ripe-cheese aspect of the Tellson book' keeper it+,of course, sufficiently in contrast with
the PZ*~
snappy, flashy, peppy office clerk.
Change, & age, no doubt, has writ heavy on
this sczcdl. But Dickens gave us no light upon
the soul beneath the heavy exterior of Tellson's
creatures. W e have to turn to another bookkeeper ia Pickensland, to see, touch,, and taste
of & &&I
spirit of the office-worker, the
UZI-~
and undying soul of the bookkeeper.
T he na&e of this immortal office clerk, this epitome of the book-keeper through the ages, is
Uriah Heep,
"MG Master Copperfield?" said Uriah. "Oh,
no ! I'm a very umble person."
'It was no fancy of mine about his hands, I
observed; fox he frequently ground the palms
against each ,other, a s if to squeeze them dry and
warm, besides of%= wiping them, in a stealthy
way, on his p ocketbdkerchief.'
"I am well a w e ;&at I am the umblest person
going: said Ud& R eep modestly ; "let the other
be where he m y . My mother is likewise a very
umble per~o6. W e live in an umble abode,
Ma@ G ~~iperfidd, have much to be thankbut
ful fm. U father's former calling was umble.
y
He wqs a m&on.'*
At I ~ w are on solid ground ! @re i s somee
thing ~&&ke, mchanging like the rock of ages.
Uriah Bhzp is not dead; he is immortal. H e
can be mesa in any city, in almost any office, still
urnble, & @- Phankful. Sometimes, indeed, he
takes t b j b m a ~ f the other sex, and is called
o
Pollyam% B e i s ever present and everlasting.
He is & &
' a worker.
Far l &,~&.fsa writer to slander those unthe
f ortunam w h m e condemned to spend their lives
f
in an oi3i&g K m ~ d spetlt many, the best, years
manhood there. H e knew
of you& W yomany .
i n fhe same unholy calling who,
in&
were strangers there, seeking allike hr&ways f w a way Gut tanything. He speaks
not of t h awklmtal o&e worker, the one who,
~
f
from for& J ~ircumstance, inds himself trapped
there for a time- No, l ~ speaks 6f the type, the
e
natural o fke qorker, the one who, from choice
'
I7
THE LABOR HERALD
and fitness, finds a career in this unblest sphere.
.
Such a person is Uriah Heep, immortal.
-
Even Uriah H e w Chansres Todav
Immortal, we said. But such a term is not
strictly true. The revolution in the office has
been working its alchemy. In spite of Uriah,
and in spite of Uriah's boss (who is another
story, deserving separate treatment), the m chine
is marching forward with iron feet: slowly but
surely its transforming power enters, and the
radium of its energy plays upon the soul of Uriah
Hkep, the office clerk. Under this influence,
Uriah is gradually but certainly being remade.
He is b ecomin~ real human beinc. a role tara
"
,
ian. T his is hzw it is beina done:
T he change in the office which has wrought
the greatest transformation in the worker, has
been higher organization and greater numbers.
The old bookkeeper was almost a self-sufficient
working unit. This is no longer so. The modern
worker is a cog in the office machine. The office
cannot run until each man is a t his place, for
one depends from moment to moment upon the
other. The division of labor in a modern office
rivals that in a Ford auto factory. Every hour
of work impresses upon the young man today,
that he amounts to little at all except as part of
the great machine. Together with this, goes the
growth h numbers. The general office man,
handling the entire accounting process and general corresponce, is of little account. His numbers are small, and his influence is smaller. No
one pays any attention to him. T he field is dominated by highly organized, minutely divided,
officesof trustified industry, gathering from tens
to hundreds under the same roof in the same
integral organization.
With this new condition, office workers play
a more and more important e conodc role. The
office has become a nerve center, regulating $he
every action of the industrial machinery from
moment to moment. Always a strategic point,
it now becomes as vital to business as the solar
plexus is to the body. The entire reflex action,
the normal physiological processes of the body
of industry, are stimulated and regulated by the
office. More than any other phase of the industrial process, the office is vital. Cut off the office
and the industry withers and dies. A general
strike of office workers would create more consternation in a day than a strike of the miners
for three months.
Under these modern conditions of the machinemade office, the office worker has became a proletarian, so far as social position and interests are
concerned. But his soul, the soul of Uriah Heep,
has stubbornly resisted the forces of change, and
only in this generation can we see the beginnings
A
w
THE LABOR HERALD-
July, 1923
of a change therein. A working-class understanding and spirit, is gradually being created
by the continuous and steady play of these modern conditions upon the humble office worker of
tradition.
revolutionary in Germany. Throughout Europe
they are joining the vanguard of the workers.
The primeval slime of the Uriah Heeps is beginning to stir with t he spark of life of workingclass consciousness, weak as yet but gaining
s trength with every passing hour. Between the
The Dawn Of Social Revolution
office clerk of the time of Dickens, and the same
If asked to name the most revolutionarv Dor- person today, there is all the difference between
t ent in social life today, the writer would point the a m e b a a nd the pithecanthropous, o r apeto the fact that office workers are beginning to man. And such a marvelous evolution, in such
a short time, gives us the definite assurance that
organize into unions-into labor unions affiliated this spiritual "hairy apeJ' of the modern office
to the hod carriers, the garment workers, the worker is assuredly going to continue his progprinters, and the whole world of labor. The be- ress. H e is going to go onward and upward,
ginning is pitifully small in America, it is true, proceeding firmly up the ladder of evolution,
but progress is surely being made. Out of the until he blossoms forth as a real human being,
couple of million or so of commercial office a proletarian, a union man with a solid organizaworkers, there are at least 5,000 to 8,000 organ- tion of his own.
ized, and tens of thousands of railway clerks
All hail this budding marvel of progress ! Nlaare united in the same union with the freight t ure is grand indeed! O n that fair day when
handlers. Who can overestimate the vast chasm we welcome the class-conscious, revolutionary
bridged, the t rewndous leap in social evolution, International Union of Office Workers, affiliated
that is witnessed in this fact. I n Europe prog- to the R ed'Trade Union International, voting for
ress is even more rapid. Great unions of office a general strike of all capitalist industry and the
workers exist in Germany, Czhecho-Slovakia, setting up of the Workers' Republic, then we
Italy, England, and other countries. The Berlin will say, "The task is done. Old Mother Nature,
office workers organization is one of the most You can do no more."
<
A
THE MACHINIST GRAND LODGE
Lawrence, Mass. . . . . 172
ELECTION
Laconia, N. Hl. .. . . . 1326
HE final vote in the late Machinist Union Haverhill, Mass. . . .. 1208
T
election was :
W M. H. J OKNSON. . . .. 41,837
W M. ROSS KNUDSON..14,598
T his was the first attempt in any A. F. of L.
union to test the real revolutionary strength.
Knudsen solicited and received only the votes
of those standing on the class struggle, unconditional surrender of Capitalism arid Affiliation
with the Red Trades Union International.
K nudsenJs vote was 26% of the total and as
the total vote was about one third of the m a bership it is safe to say that 45,000 members in
the I. A. of M. stand with K nudsen.and his
ideas.
In fact the strength is even greater if one
analyzes the election. The total vote cast in the
progressive lodges was zbout 15% t o zo% of
the local membership while in the conservative
locals (for some well founded reasons) the vote
was from 75% to 100% of the membership. I n
fact 23 lodges voted from 150% t o 260% over
their membership a nd this being too raw their
vote was thrown out. To give an illustration :
Lodge No. members Ballots
Findlay, Ohio . . . . . . I393
4
104
Woburn, Mass . . . . . 1243
3
61
Jamestown, N . Y.. . 566
12
97
I6
64
I53
38
Cincinnati, Ohio. . . . 1042
168
H artford, Conn. . . . . 606
50
Lowell, Mass.. . . . . . 745
81
S tamford, Conn. . .. . I054
81
Philadelphia, P a . . . . 816
55
67
Indianapolis, Ind. . . . gro
140
I55
Schenectady, N. Y . .. 646
215
277
Lowell, Mass.. . . . . . 138
284
454
O thers could be given but they must be saved
for evidence. Knudsen, of course received' no
vote in these lodges and someone's hard work
went for nothing.
In fact, jokingly, after the election many were
bragging about their sore wrists due to an over
exertion in marking ballots. What many are
asking a nd which seems a puzzle, is how did the
lodges with small membership get so many ballots? And furthermore how are those tJxit did
cast their vote in regular form in these thrown
out lodges going to have their votes recorded?
But tomorrow belongs to those that really represent the histhric rising class and with their
rise all these mishaps of today will disappear.
Tomorrow belongs to the real progressives and
such action as took place in the recent Machinist
Union election will only cause real men to work
that much harder for a real Labor Movenient.
.
27
27
29
35
46
69
I
*
July, 1922
T H E LABOR HERALD
19
A Labor Program That Means Something
4
B y Hulet M. Wells
Representative o f the Seattle Central Labor Council to the Red Trade Union International.
O R American trade unionists to correctly ap- less to counteract. The end of the war brought
praise the work of the Red Trade Union unemployment in some countries where there had
International in its first World Congress at been a great destruction of capital goods, but-in
Moscow, it is necessary to remember that the the United States it prevails for quite a different
atmosphere in which we met was quite different reason, labor being so productive that, at the
from here. I n our country we are immersed in scale of living permitted to the working class,
the humdrum details of our daily struggle, until the product of full time labor can not be conthe greater struggles of the whole human family isumed.
T he greatest prosperity that our workers ever
toward a larger, freer life is oftentimes obscured.
In Russia the goal of a great struggle has been enjoyed was during the period of our greatest
reached; the working class has accomplished waste. Unemployment is a disease inherent in
the capitalist system, and it can only be dealt
that which the faint-hearted say is impossiblethey have t k o w n off the chains of class oppres- with by a labor movement that is not afraid to
sion within Russia, and their destiny is in their attack the svstem itself.
There can be no sane consideration of the
own hands.
We found, tempering the exultation of victory, unemployment evil until we lay bare its root and
the agony of the Russian workers, endurind with discover it to be the fact that all production is
fortitude all the sufferings that the hate of the carried on solely for the purpose of &aking profit,
capitalist world could inflict. Many of the dele- and with no responsibfiity on the part of the
gates were from other coutries where the condi- profit takers for the lives of those that create the
tions were ripening for revolution. No one knew wealth. Heckert, of Germany touched this point
what the day might bring. Seeming miracles oc- when he said, "From the moment when the capicurred, like the veiled women of the East, who talist ceases to extract profits and begins to incame bearing International greetings. There were cur losses, he loses all interest in production.
crowds, cheers, and banners, and wreaths laid on W e are witnessing it in France, where a big
graves. And over all there loomed a new terror French statesman a n d manufacturer was asked
why he had put out his blast furnaces and thrown
-the black shadow of famine.
An emotional setting was created by all these thousands of workmen into the streets. H e anthings, which, I realize the reader cannot feel. I t swered: "I produce only while production is
was a memorable experience for those who lived profitable, otherwise I a m unable to produce any
it, but here in America it is hard to realize, be- more.' "
I n its manifesto on world conditions the Concause there is nothing like it in our life. What
can be understood is, that we must look beneath gress drew the following picture of the economic
the colorful environment and revolutionary situation in America :
"A very similar picture we find in the U. S. A.
phraseology to get at the real work of the ConFive million unemployed. War profits have
gress.
ceased. Factory after factory is being shut
Unemployment
Some of the subject matter and considerable down. The workers in large masses now find
06 t he discussion has no application to the pres- themselves thrown out in the street. They may
ent status of the labor movement here, and it go now; they are not wanted any longer. The
would sound startling and confusing to many trunks are packed. 'Democracy' is celebrating
because it concerns only people who are engaged its victory, and is beginning to introduce the
in the actual, revolutionary transition from one "open shop," simply employing unorganized
state of society to another. But the main work labor. What are they doing who were supposed
of the Congress embodies a sound, adequate, to give warning of this misery inflicted on the
coherent, practical program which the trade union working class? The leaders of the trade unions
movement of America must understand and do nothing. They consider it inevitable like the
adopt, if it is going to find itself and continue ocean tide, and, like obedient serfs they kiss the
to serve t 6e working people of this country.
hands of their masters."
Workers' Control
Unemployment is the weakest spot in the capiW hat. then is to be done? This is considered
talist system. I t is a great, growing canker that
the old methods of trades unionism are power- in the tactics outlined under the heading of
F
THE LABOR HERALD
a0
"Workers" Control." But the first thing of all
things to be done-the essential prerequisite to
the success of any tactic-is to begin t o act like
men, like men who have a small degree, at least,
of courage and intelligence. And here I wish
to quote again the apt words of the Congress:
"If the capitalist class dares to be aggressive
at t he present time and throw m b s of workers upon the streets, it is because the working
class feels itself inferior, and imagines t hat the
gigantic capitalistic machinery is simply unconquerable. You continue to look up to the capitalist class. Mariy of you consider the established
division of labor quite natural-the' rule of one
class and the subjection of another. Arise from
your knees, and the capitalist class will not appear so strong to you as before."
The subject of Workers' Control was reported
to the Congress by Tziperovich of Russia, but
the idea ran thru every subject osl t he agenda,
d
and may be said to be the k eyn~te the Congress. Especially is it related &Q &e subject of
unemployment. Heclrert, in his discussion of
factories and workshops said, "Comsade Zipero v i h and myself have put great stress
the
importance of the present unemploymezlt in the
working class movement. I t is important for
us to utilize these forces."
The following are a few extracts fxom the
report of Ziperovich, adopted by the Congress:
"There is no necessity for me to dw&? upon
the details of the crjsis which all c a p i t a v m untries are now living thru. T he crisis b 84f ost
m
characteristic expression of the fact t hzt the
capitalist class is unable to master the chaos in
production, which it itself established as an orThere developed
ganizer of production . .
a crying contrast between the misery and despair
of t he eapiof the working class and t be 1-q
talist class. This gave birth to a new thought
which suggested to the working masses that t he
capitalist regime is a regime of d e s t m i o n and
wholesale ruin, and that it is necessary t o create
some new f c ~ m sof mutual relations between
labor and capital-forms which w odd do away
once and for all with the existing sy.stem of oppression-and the idea of workers' control has
rapidly developed."
Now, it may be that you .Sinkthat these words
have reference to some time in the remote future,
and that it is merely a repetition of the usual
demand for social revolution couched in t he formula of political socialism. Not a t all. I am
proposing and the International is proposing, a
practical plan of action for the trade unions
now, a plan to cope with unemployment, lock-
.
July,
1922
outs, jurisdictional disputes, and t he breakdown
of your or&nization due to the struggle for jobs,
It is not expected t hat in the present time in
America we should mount any barricades or forcibly seize .any factories. The first revolutionary
step must be taken is to.strike f or the right t o
work.
Wlhat i s the situation in which we are placed
in America at the present time? . The richest
natural resources in the world, the most highly
developed machinery for production, and millions
of people in destitution because they are shut off
from the opportunity to work. We have also
the most powerful and arrogant capitaIist class
in the world, and a labor movement weak and
inefficient because it does not know how to meet
the situation. The leaders of the Red Trade
Union International are telling you how to meet
it. I commend you the words of Tom Mann:
" Eveg industry should carry its full complement of workers, and carry them constantly. If,
as is sure to be the case, 'there are fluctuations
in the amount of work to be done, such fluctuations must not be met by discharging a percentage of the workers, thus depriving them of the
means pf sustenance and precipitating their
families into social distress. Such fluctuations
must be met by the adjustment of working hours
over as much of the industry as may be desirable ;
if need be, of course, over the whole industrial
field."
Unemployment insurance, he says, is ' biserably inadequate, the full wage is what m t be
s
demanded, and it will be obtained, or a hlish the
wages system." And here is his primary c4emand
which, in my opinion, ought to be written into
the strike demands of every important industry,
'Accept responsibility for all uaem&!~ymenb
in the i nd~stry, d undertake to
m
'~ke'sg
hours so t b t virtually there shall ba m www
a
ployment; and f or ad1 men to receive @ages for
every-week i n the yew."
That is what the miners, the building t%%desmen,
the printers and all the rest of u s oag& t o agitate, organize and strike for, wages tor the h e
being a secondary matter. The h t .
@EP in
workers' control is contra1 of the pi& & work.
I
The. employing class will, of course, &wort t o
any artifice in order to save their p-.
But
capitalistic profits are not as sacred3 &e right
of men t o work. Industries that c mpot meet
that obligation should be taken over br society
a s bankrupt institutions. The o m e s dhould re- ,
eeive no compensation until the c h h ~f the
o
creditors are adjusted; in other wad no more
than the capitalization of 'whatever h o m e may
remain, at prevailing prices for p rohcts, after
July,
1922
THE LABOR HERALD
A LL the workers are paid union wages for full
time.
Industrial and Dual Unions
T he report on workers' control closed with the
following reference to industrial unionism :
"Workers' Cpntrol may also be made use of as
an argument for the speedier reconstruction of
the unions upon an industrial basis, instead of
by profession or trade. Workers' control can
be systematically carried out only when all the
workmen within a definite concern are united in
one bady."
Indus@ial unionism will also end the absurd
jurisdictimal disputes that disgrace our. movement. . Primarily, of course, such quarrels as
those hetween the carpenters and sheet metal
workers and. between the steam engineers and
electrical workers have their root in unemployment. It is one more evidence of the struggle
for a chance to work.
The importance of building strong industrial
unions to conform t o the powerful combinations
~f capital in modern industry, has long been emphasized by the radical wing of American labor ;
but for twenty-seven years a most peculiar policy
h is been advocated, that we should completely
destrtoy our unions, into which we have with such
effort o rgarbed some .millions of workers, and
start to build again from the beginning.
Nearly all the Russian leaders, Lenin, Buch-
.21
arin, Zinoviev, Radek, and many others have
expressed their amazement at such childish tactics as those advocated by the I: W. W.. Tomsky, the former president of the Russian &ions
has said, "The exit in itself is in its essence
equivalent to flight from the field of battle,
dictated by cowardice in the face of the complexities and difliculties of the struggle."
Secretary Lozovsky, speaking at the Congress,
said, "We want to clean house, not to pour
kerosene over it and set it afire." Writing on
the aims of the International he says: "To leave
the unions and set tip small independent unions
is an evidence of weakness ;i t is a policy of despair and, more than that, it shows lack of faith
in the working class."
T he four points covered here are closely related, and form an immediate trades union program so essentitl that I beg to remind you of
them once more by summarizing them in four
short sentences :
I. T he trade union movement is becoming im. potent under the curse of unemployment.
2 A progressive assumption of Workers' Con.
trol is the only remedy.
3. Successful assertion of Workers' Control requires industrial unions.
4. Those who believe in this program must stay
within the existing unions to accomplish it.
W e Demanded Bread But Got a Stone
T
HE p r o g r q of the Trade Union Educa- ing its substance, which can be achieved only at
tional Leagtlc h ~'been getting a startlingly the expense of craft autonomy, will not solve thq
s
strong hold in the unions, in the last few
months. Gompers and his Crown Prince Woll,
c a n n ~ t e blamed for being worried somewhat.
b
Their m p *
of calumny which was reported
~
c
in the last t m issues of THELABORR A L Dontinues unabztkxl. But even their stupidity is not
so complete that they cannot see its failure.
Gradaally t h w a re being forced to answer the
demands for 'more solidarity. The rank and file
are demanding the bread of amalgamation ;
Gompers, Woll & Co. offer them the stone of
federation.
"Efforts of the A. F. of L. f or the future will
be to strengthen labor alliances and form a closer
co-ordimtion of kindred trade ' groups," says
Woll in a copyrighted article for the Cosmopolitan News Service. He adds; "The sentiment
,of this c onveeiag of the A. F of L. is most em.
phatically 6 pased t o amalgamation and the doctrines pre~elaedby Foster and other groups."
Such l i~-serviceo labor solidarity while denyt
problems of the labor movement. Gompers and
Co. are in the position of answering, not the
questions of THELABOR ERALD, ut the quesH
b
tions which history presents and which are repeated in threatening tones by masses of the
workers. Sophistry will not help them.
How can the unions get more power? That is
the question before the movement. Our troubles
arise from our weakness. We must have strength.
Gompers says we will get it by being good little
boys, and not offending the Chicago Tribune;
THELABOR HEBALD the Trade Union Eduand
cational League say that we will get it by uniting
all our scattered forces into one union for each
industry, and bringing all these industrial unions
together like regiments in an army. The forces
of capitalism are crushing the workers into a
realization of the absolute necessity of this amalgamation. Nothing can take the place of pow-
3J
@,in
P;
22
THE LABOR HERALD
e r, not even the sophistical arguments of Gompers or Woll.
The fire which has been built under the reactionary officials is causing further frantic gymnastics in their propaganda. A few weeks a go,
THE ABOR ERALD said to be in league with
L
H
was
Lenine and the Soviets; then it was solemnly
insinuated that the employers were financing it.
And now, to keep up the entertainment, the
Crown Prince brings in a variation. H e says:
"It is a recognized fact that Foster is a member
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers' Union
of America and apparently is being financed by
that body in his campaign of "boring from within" for no other reason than the self-aggrandizement of Sidney Hillman."
Aside from the fact that Foster is NOT a
member of that organization, that the League is
NOT being financed by that or any other body,
but by the individual rank and filers, and that the
modest Sidney Hillman, although president of
one of the most progressixe organizations on the
continent, is NOT receiving aggrandizement
from its work-aside from these falsehoods, the
statement may be correct.
I t is the natural instinct of the reactionary to
thus blindly attack all signs of progress. Woll
lumps t he League, the Amalgamamted Clothing
Workers, the Soviet Government, the Federated
Press, and every other achievement of &e milit ant workers, into one general menace te himself
and his kind, the f lunkvs of cagitali*,
A,nd
in t his he is no doubt correct-but he rpakes a
fundamental mistake when he i d e n a s t he interests of reactionary officialdom with t hai of t he
rank and file of labor. The rank and filers know
better, anyway. T his i s illustrated by a letter
written by Local Union No. gg, of the Molders,
to the Editor of their International Tournal:
A Word From the Rmk and File
"Local 59, 1. M . U. of N. A., having read the
article by Matthew Woll, in the J o ~ r d entitled
,
'Foster Scheme for Rulership' etc., desires to enter a protest against such an unwarranted and
scurvy attack on the amalgamati& movement by
resorting to lies and v<lification against its chief
spokesman."
"We have endorsed the movement f or amalgamatio in t his country, because we have learned
by bitter experience that the old craft method of
warfare against the modern industrial capitalist
is antiquated."
"In his entire article, Matthew Woll makes no
attempt to answer the arguments of k l g a m a tion advocates; but instead resorts to personalities, which have nothing to do with the subject.
We might accuse Woll, in like manner, of being
July,
1922
governed by ulterior motives in this matter. Wtf:
might accuse him of belonging to that detestable
sect known as "Swivel Chair Artists" who are
so numerous in the American labor movement
today, and who tremble with rage because they
know their pie-cards will be no more when the
workers amalgamate. W e might accuse him of
being in league with big business to keep the
workers divided. Of course we don't accuse him
of these things personally-but those are the very
tactics he uses against the amalgamation movement adherents."
"Now we are of the rank and file of the labor
movement a nd we know that the workers want
amalgamation : i t is peculiar that the International officers of all the unions, almost without exception, are oposed to it. They have never yet
given any logical reason as to why they are
against it, while the Trade Union Educational
League gives a long array of facts and reasoning
as to why it should be done. THE LABOR
.HEBALD,
of which Woll speaks in such venomous
language, expresses the spirit of the workersthis we know-that is why it is so popular."
This letter is signed by the president and corresponding secretary of Local 59, Chas Blome
and Louis Schneider, respectively. It is a good
example of the spirit .5vhich is raging throughout
the labor movement, and which is responsible for
the rage, fear, and desperation, with which these
powerful officials are throwing their entire resources inta battle with the little baby organization, the Trade Union Educational League, which
has only been able for a little over four months
to even publish its magazine.
Keel,
the Reactionaries
Hopping
I f any assurance were needed that the program
of the T rade Union Educational League offers
hope of t he future, that assurance has been given
in t he strongest possible way by all thme attacks.
When the bankrupt leadership of the American
labor movement, in a period of retreat and demoralization, go before their C o n ~ m t i o nwith
no constructive proposals of any kind whatever,
and consider it necessary to spend their time and
energy in denouncing a little educational organization, it is because they know their o wn bankruptcy and know who is hitting close to home in
attacking them. And we can give assurance to
Messrs Gompers and 'his Crown Princeg t hat the
fire which make's them so uncomfortable will continue to bum. The demand f or amalgamation,
for industrial unionism, for militant policies, and
for the Workers' Republic, will continule to grow
until it overwhelms them and their kind, takes
control of the labor movement, and begins the
workers' forward march to all power.
T H E LABOR HERALD
How I Became a Rebel
A Symposium. Part 2
Editors' note;-A fundamental part o f the Xenera1 revolutionary pro.eram i s to make rebels;
to develop m en and w omen w ho have definite2y
broken w ith capitalism and w ho are looking forw ard t o the establishment of a Workers' S ociety.
But how can such r ebek be w d e ? T o throw
some Iiglzt on t h k a ll-im@rtmt query, T EE
LABOR ERALDa asked prominent figures i n
H
h
d l branches of the. r d i c d m ovement, t o e xpjaia
b riefly just how, why, and under w hat circumstances, they became convinced that capitalism
hod t o be
' way w ~ Thk inrtallnrent
.
completes the S y n p o s i u a
I saw an old man weeping as he was put in the
little town lock-up at Adams, Mass., for vagrancy.
W hat a torment of questions stirred my mind
t hen! Nor will I ever forget my childish horror
when a girl's hair was torn off by the belting in
a mill across the street from our school and the
mill stopped for only a few m,inutes. Imperceptibly my t hought processes began to question
p overty which was obviously the explanatioll of
these tragedies-
My f ather had worked his way througll college, studying civil engineering. B ut he had
been burdened by his mother's large family and
had commenced i ate. a real h andica~i n comDetition with younger'men. The r eskt was that
B y Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
although he is exceptionally talented, it was not
f I S difficult to say how, when or where our easy to secure continuous employment and the
rebellious spirits were born ! Possibly we are actual pinch of poverty was brought home to us
but fortunate inheritors of a rich legacy. more than once. This visualized the problem
Undoubtedly countless generations of wild Irish as no amount of abstract reading could have done.
ancestors who fought and fled into the hills and
So I was in a receptive state of mind for
died for Irish freedom, contributed much to mine. radical thought when I joined a school debating
One great grandfather lay all night in the ditch society. W e grappled with the problem of capinear his little house,
tal and labor, ,woman suffrage, the trusts, etc.
watching for a light in
During the big anthracite strike of 1902 one of
the window which meant
our favorite topics was "Shall the Nation Own
his wife came safely
the Coal Mines?" A strike of the elevated roads
through childbirth. Anin N. Y. brought the questions of municipal
other went to join the
ownership of transit systems before us. I began
French when they landed
to see that message of hope, that comes to all
at Calala Bay and never
of us, "Socialization of industry."
returned. My grandfather came to Maine to
I heard Tom Lewis at a Socialist street meetescape' hanging.
But
ing, and many other excellent speakers at the
life in t he land of the
old Harlem Socialist Club. Sometimes when I
free was not easy in
g et low-spirited about the value of speeches, I
recall how inspired and thrilled I was by them.
They were foreigners to the Yankees and had Finally I thought I too could speak. I was not
to fight their way to economic and political yet sixteen and I chose the ambitious topic
equality. It is strange that the same historical "Woman and Socialism." While I still am inbackground has not produced more rebels of tensely interested in how to reach women, I fear
Irish blood in this country ! Many of the second I know far less today than I did then. I went
a nd third generation are policemen and poli- into the East Side. I m et the garment workers,
ticians, causing a race that should symbolize then in the throes of great struggles and learned
freedom to be hated and feared as tools of tyran- of the idealism and fighting spirit of the Russians
ny. But America seems to have a similar dis- and Jews. I plunged into street speaking and
integrating effect on the second generation of loved it intensely.
I was "converting the
other races, as well.
masses!" H bw t he fresh idealism and enthusSympathy plays a large part in molding the iasm of youth carries us along. But it is a
child mind. I remember little episodes which stream that refreshes and revivifies our moveleft indelible impressions. A woman who had ment. Intolerant and uncompromising, it is relost all the fingers of one hand in an unguarded buffed a nd chilled, by older "practical" people!
machine went by our house daily. I could not The creation of a sympathetic understanding and
understandl why this poor woman must still work. appreciation of those who must tread this stormy
I
24
i
THE LABOR HERALD
fight an evil or defend the under dog.
This may answer the question as to how I became a rebel or perhaps I should say why Mother's four sons turned rebels before any of them
turned twenty-one.
I t was not from what I read, because I was
active in radical circles long before I could read.
I t came from what I lived.
Before I was eighteen years of age, I joined
hands with the "Green-Backers," a t twenty, 1
read, "Progress and Poverty" and, became a
"Single-Taxer."
Later I joined the "Populists
Party" but, through it all remained active in the
Organized Labor Movement ; studying and reading, of course, added fuel to the fire. I n my
search for good pamphlets and books, I came
across the "Communist Manifesto." This, of
course, helped weld still more closely my inherent
rebel spirit. Twenty-four years ago, I joined
the Socialist Labor Party and, four years later,
the Socialist Party where I have remained ever
since;
So, the question as to just how I became a rebel
is still unanswered. I guess dear, little Mother
could have answered the question better than I.
B y Wm. 2 F
. oster
O R me to become a rebel was an easy, natural course. My father was an Irishman and an
ardent patriot. He was driven from Ireland
in the latter '60's, because he was implicated in
a plot to overthrow all the English garrisons in
the country. Upon its exposure he had to flee
post haste to escape jail. In later years, as his
B y James H Marrrer
.
family grew up in the
AM asked to tell how I became a s
&
This,
United States, he fed us
I fear, is not any easy question to answer.
on hatred for the oppressor Eng1md.- Tt was
I am decendant of old, c onsemtive P n en
the intellectud m at and
sylvania stock, was born in a sh.itnty d uring t he
drink of our
lives.
stormiest period of the Civil War, reared a tqng
I was raised ~ $ 4 the
very poor and superstitious people, left fgtherkss
. burning amhiti- of one
a t the age of seven. I became a news boy first and
a factory worker before d y tenth birthday. I
day taking a a ~ ~ po e
art
was a machinists' apprentice a t fifteen a d a
in the liberati@' of Iremember of the Knights of Labor at sixteen. Less
land. As I @eW older
and began to m d @ ? what
than thirteen months of my life were spent in
school. What education I did secwe, I gat, not
was going a W me 1
t
Wr. . FOsT*
'
on acocunt of the State, but in spite of it.
was q u i d to
everything was not as it should bk. Tb? F rongs
Handicapped, of course, on account of being
illiterate, yet a greater handicap was the misfor- of the workers made a ready appeal % me. It
tune of having a step-father who knew less than seemed as natural to hate capitalistic * m y in
&eland.
I did and who never tired of gloating about his' t he United States as English Tyranny i
superior wisdom. The one outstanding asset of From my earliest recollection I w& N t a n t l y
was I
my life was my dear, little mother, to whom not ' partial to striking workers. Parti*$@
impressed by the many strikes in the w r b y anone of her four sons ever spoke an angry or unn
kind word. She was lovable, gentle and yet, thracite coal fields-I was raised i PhEhdelphia.
when roused, knew no fear. She was ever ready T o myi boyish conception the coal opaa'tors were
to share her last crumb with the unfortunate, inhuman monsters, and after all, I was not far
path would save much preeious force for our
movement.
One night I was arrested on 39th St. and
Broadway, by an apolegetic policeman, bailed out
by a saloon keeper and given some fatherly advice
by the Irish magistrate on the futility of preaching Socialism to Broadway. Of course this was
a dreadful shock at high school and eventually
resulted in my enlisting actively in the labor
movement,
It must have been about this time that I heard
Debs and DeLeon speak together on "Industrial
Unionism." It was immediately after the launching of the I. W, W. and it certainly worked a
turning point for me. I really began to place
my feet on the ground and tread a definite path.
Out of the first flush of youthful emotion, I
passed into' a second stage-based on a firm
conviction which I still bold to, that the union
movement is the real and lasting labor movement. I .saw a new society built by the organized workers-not along geographical but industrial lines, Regardless of diiferences of
opinions on forms, methods, and tactics, the fact
remains that it is the movement af power, i t is
at grips with capitalism in the strategic phce, the
point of production. It speaks the worker's
language. I have no faith elsewhere than i t he
n
industrial organization of the workers, and I
have unlimited faith in the promise o.f life and
liberty it holds out for the future and the eventual
ability of the workers to put it across. S o I
remain l i e my Irish, ancestors, a rebel!
F
I
i
THE L A B 0R HERALD
July, 1922
wrong. The free silver agitation in the the '90's
a ttracted me greatly.
But I never got by bearings until one Saturday night in the summer of 1900, when I was
19 years old. Walking along South street I ran
into a Socialist soap boxer at the corner of
Broad street. H e was the first Socialist I had
ever heard speak and I listened amazed. The
whole thing was a revelation. Whatever prejudice I had been taught to have against Socialism
melted away like snow before a summer sun.
The t h i i was clear at last. My rebellious spirit
saw the broad way to its gcial. Though I said
nothing to the men conducting the meeting-I
have o f h a wondered since who they were- I
l eft a cmvinced Socialist. After that the rest
was easy. I plunged head over heels into revolutionary literature, reading everything indiscriminately a nd gradually swinging from right
to left in my conception. I was "m2de7' that
Saturday d g h t in Philadelphia. That's how I
became a rebel.
B y Robert Minor
Y A childhood of poverty I was moulded
for life membership in the working class.
When I left school at fourteen to work
i f1 a sign painter's shop my love of picture making devehped t o a fierce passion. It may seem
incredible that this had a great deal to do with
making me a rebel, but I say seriously that even
the scant, pitiful art possibilities of a sign shop
gave me an impression
of conflict between every
artistic impulse and the
ife.
needs ef c ~ m r c i all
Few aa$si&is know that
sign p n l a t i a g shops
cover m y really talented y g m g workers,
but my W eyw s w and
a
understa& ' &e conflict
b e t w e pqsg w orked
MnrOB
instinct %&r
beauty and
the need &f & I
shop to drive for money.
T he s%i@m$s of the wages of a sign painter's
a p p r e G w S & 0 ~ me from that small Temple of
e
the carpenter's trade. Here
liar pride of the craftsman.
to have a relation to art,
day that it has. My relatives g & @& a t of this and into a "nice clean"
u
ce, with a chance to work
railroad. But I couldn't
branded with a different
f f t o wander on freight
laborer. Fifteen hours a day
on a farm, ,&6fty cents a day, soon gave me my
B
7
25
fill of agriculture; and I drifted into easier jobs
at ten hours a day with pick and shovel. This
was the serious beginning of the opening of my
eyes. One day an old mule-freight teamster
caught up with me on a lonely Texas road and
told me I could ride if I was a working man. On
the wagon he gave me a long tirade on the
wrongs of the working people and the need of
the working class to stick together and make a
revolution. H6s words sunk into my memory
to stay.
At camp fires in railroad construction camps
and on the freight trains and in the "jungles,"
the conversation of wandering laborers from all
quarters of the earth gave me my "cosmopolitan
culture." Here I learned the indescribable beauty
of that spiritual fraternity of cummwlism which
was poured a few years later into the songs and
the deeds of the old-time I. W. W. And I
learned the dreadful curse of God upon a scab.
When I returned to my native town to work
at the carpenter trade and joined the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, my
rather crude working class loyalty got a slightly
more definite form. Two members of the Union
puzzled me by endlessly talking Socialism; of
t heir hifalutin words I couldn't remember a thing
except the constant repetition, "Carrol D. W right
to the contrary notwithstanding." But I learned
more definitely what a scab is. The order came
for all hands to make a stand for the Union
scale of wages, which was not being paid. I
was the only Union mkmber on my building job,
and I walked out on strike alone. I never got
another job at the carpenter trade.
I wandered about Texas and New Mexico on
freight trains, looking for work living by handouts, learning the peculiarly bitter lesson of the
unemployed man sleeping on the open ground in
Winter.
Unable to get work at .carpentering or sign
painting, I found a job as cartoonist for a small
daily newspaper. This was my entrance to a
trade that has taught many a man what a rotten core is inside of the social system. I didn't
notice i t at first, but was for some time absorbed.
in the rapid ambitions of the newspaper life. I
got a better job on a big St. Louis newspaper.
But about this time the trial of Willim D. Haywood at Boise, Idaho, came to disturb me-to
awaken all of the old-time dreams-the call of
my class. Simultaneously I met a Russian Jew,
the first one that I had ever known. The strange
talk of this man changed my understanding of
what life is for. He filled me full of the fever
to learn and feel. At first this merely stimulated
my work and brought me some of the petty newspaper success that I had thought I wanted. Now
that it c am, I didn't want it. About 1908 I
26
I
I
THE LABORHERALD
went into the Socialist Party. I was elected to
the City Central Committee, but drifted out of
the party as it began to change its character,
about 1912, and began to take an interest in t he
Anarchist movement.
THE LABOR HERALD
July, 1922
stuff. I came home i n t he steerage, amongst
"my kind." I had advanced a long way-I had
learned that s oldiers, a nd not unarmed people,
m ake revolutions. I t opened wide vistas of
thought.
The last underpinning of respect for the "demA t the age of 29 I g ot my first opportunity t o
ocratic" social organizatioll was knocked o ut of
study art, and went to Paris with my saved-up
wages to attend the French national axt school. me by the Mooney case. I happened to be in
To my bewilderment I found that t he ''art California and was drawn into the organization
schools" have not the slightest interest in a rt, b ut of t he Mooney defense. The Chamber of Comconcern themselves solely with teaching men t he m r c e , t he street car corporation, "respectable"
way to make money, which I already knew. T hey labor union officials, strike-breakers, p oliamen,
have exactly the same motives as t he s ign paint- petty criminals, pristitutes and " class-con~cio~s"
ers' shop in Texas. This shook m e off t he t rack petty b usimss men, eonspired t o frame up and
ih
again. I could not associate w t the f oul bour- h ang strike leaders. Helping to untangle this
geois in the art academies. I n the working class amazing conspiracy, opened up to my eyes cataneighborhoods of Paris I learned t he F rench Ian- combs of crime and filth upon which capitalist
g uage mainly by listening to agita-'
speeches, society is built, of the existence of which I
a nd with the language I absorbed a gpicil P aris could otherwise have had only a feeble dream.
I had never before known that e very Labor caw
working-class point of v iew-&&ch~-s~didappetite in a criminal court is a stage play deliberately
ism. I returned to New York wi*
a fixed i n advance by direct bribery of witnesses
for the job I h ad already crmfn&&l fm,
and, usually, of the jury. The staggering com- '
cartoonist on the New York World.
pleteness of it is almost incredible to me even
t he first
ieghpl$
in now, a s i t will be incredible to t he reader. It
my new job were to begin a serkS of @*ens
like standing on a mountain while &e mists
to
f or blow away, revealing in t he valley the terrific
which were to be a
a bomb
( July 4, '9143
battle of t he
; t he thundering sounds of
*aS
ander Berkman and Emma
life a re shown to be artillery, a nd t he dimly swirla ffair with which they had n othing % &, b ut kg s aouettes become men in t he grapple of
which the "World" wanted t o h $ a n E I &em ~death.
~
I
i n one of its well-known cireulaCim d riww F or
That is d l of "How I Became a Rebel."
refusing to participate in this, and petlwps also
for sugge?ting that I &ght pwbBdP gFotest
But &e t h e had already c&e when
8
against it, I was reduced to the rmk of @@~onist rebel" didn't mean anything l
G e m s Washtake ington was a rebel, b ut if brought &g
for the eveningedition of ae
sospace to mention this only because i b 4 ~ .umi- cieN ot
s
he would not fllIICd.l
ss, such.
n ating to show how a man is %twiny beaten Robespierre was a rebel, but he W(I*%
have
along the path to one side or the other o f &e any significance now* Emma
a
class struggle. I was allowed to make anti-my revolutionist in July, 1914, but to
't
cartoons to m y heart's content k the E W ~ Qean
m
And I discavmdt
:
.
refor about a year- Then a st ran^ * g
turned from a trip t o Russia in Igrg
fhXM*
1 of t he @ eat newspapers
''
a r ehlnjust *generally, without t akiner definite
( a c e ~ t he Hears' press) were "&d@3'
place i n the ~
~revolution, ~ g&*t mean
~
lined
'
O the war On the Eng1ishhFpa4 any more than being a Methodist
R
poticed
side. I was ordered t o begin t urning my ear- while I w as in a military prison thait
~Scers
toons to the Allied side. I quit and went over to dispUted very seriously as to whether
an
the New York
where
Anarchist o r a Bolshevik, and upon
make revolutionary cartoon3.
I was only an Anarchist they t r
m uch
L ater, I went to Europe as c arresponcht i qr a s a moderately respectable man. Thh
humiliated me, and set me to w onddib8,
a "liberal" newspaper syndicate, There I saw
a s plain as daylight the beginning of "the transSO, "Hbw I Became a Rebel" da&&'t mean
forming of the Capitalist war into civil war a ud
I
anything, and the story's no good. B ~ wberevolution"-the
event of which Lenin's little
came a s pecified kind of a rebel agajn'& o specific
group in Switzerland was the prophet. This prediction o f' course ran like a red 'thread t hrbugh thing a nd for a specific thing in a S~EE&C wayn
*
that is the only tale that means a.
all of my writings and stuck out in m y drawA nd that's a different story.
ings. The newspaper syndicate quit printing my
Packinghouse Workers' Convention
By Tom Matthews
fswd@t
'
.. .
Z
..rn
"w
Ea
*E1llg
*
1
~
i
.,
HE s truggle of the packinghouse workers
has convinced me that the unions must
be reorganized upon an industrial basis."
This is the statement of a well-known official in
the labor movement of the Middle West, at the
conclusion of the recent strike. An1 there can
be no doubt that the packinghouse strike, and the
events leading up to it, is one of the greatest
object lesons in the history of the American
Federation of Labor. The union which called
that strike, and in which the packinghouse workers were formerly organized, the Amalgamated
Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North
America, is meeting in convention on July zqtb,
a t St. Paul; it will be of interest to review some
of the problenls which that convention must
face and solve, keeping in view the lessons of
our recent struggle.
The initiative i n calling this convention , t o
take stock of ourselves and reshape our organization and policies, was taken by District Council No. 5, of Omaha immediately a fter the strike.
In its open letter, early in April, the Council
stated: "We believe t hat we should take in all
the workers in the packing industry from the
time the car is set with live stock until the finished
product is delivered to the consumer." In theory
the Butcher Workmen's Union is already organized on the plan of one union for the industry.
The charter from the A. F. of L. authorizes the
organization of "all wage earners in any way
connected with slaughtering and packing establishments." But this has not been carried out
in practice. O ne of the big tasks of t he coming
convention is to see that this is done.
Remctimq Officials and Other Evils
T he nature of the present officials of the Union
is shown in the splitting up of the solidarity of
the workers, where the possibility was present
of bringing them all into one organization. They
are reactionary. tThey have shown it in many
~
ways, and consistently try to block every progressive measure proposed by the r ank and file.
Thus in the convention of July 1920, w he~lt he
Omaha delegation tried to establish measures
which would have prev-ented t he forcing across
of the agreemient, 'which came in March, 1921
a nd tied the workers hands when the packers
were comparatively weak, these propositions
were defeated by t he machine. The high-handed
methods used in this a nd similar situations,
created much dissatisfaction and weakened the
in the membership gave a fertile
er crying evil, that of the dual
unions. Disgusted and disappainted with their
organizations' official policies, many of the rank
and file fell victims to the dual union propaganda.
This policy of running away from the fight has
injured the union. Fortunately, this is being
overcome. At the coming convention the progressive elements must fight against the remaining dual union ideas, as well as against the reactionary policies and officers.
International Solidarity
When the packinghouse workers have established a real union, with some kind of power in
the industry, they will immediately have another
problem, that of international solidarity. The
great packing trust has established itself in Australia, Canada, Brazil, Argentine, Uruguay,
Paraguay, Chile, Venezuela, New Zealand, Great
Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Denmark.
The trust is becoming more international every
day. While the undertakings in other countries
are not so extensive as those in the United States,
they are ever more important, and form a constant resource for the employers in the fights
against the union. For this basic economic reason, without considering at this time the other
compelling forces, we must decide the question
of international affiliation. T he Red Trade
Union International offers the only opportunity
for this international unity.
The packinghouse workers have shown by
word and deed that they want a leadership of
broader vision and ideals than that with which
they a re now blest Not only must we struggle
for living wages and human working conditions,
but we must also look forward to the time when a
new system of society can be brought into being;
a system of society that wil1,put an end to this
miserable struggle for bare existence-a time
when we can abolish the exploitation of man by
man, and establish the Workers' Republic.
FRANCE
IERRE D UMAS, once very well known as a n
Anarchist, has become a royalist. H e is now affiliated to the group supporting the notorious journal,
L'Action Francaise.
P
BuEalo, June 8, 1922
"A splendid meeting took place here last Sunday and
reports of actual accomplishments were given. A ll
disaffected local Carpenters Unions w ill be brought
back to the Central Trades and Labor Council, Local
374 reporting as the first to have taken this step. Will
have lots more to report when all our members get
busy."
Fraternally, F. H. S.
THE LABOR HERALD
THE LABOR HERALD
had to be suddenly c ut off because there were n o funds
t o pay railroad fare and wages of investigators. T he
Sacco-Veflzetti Defense Committee, Box 3 , Hanover
7
St. Station, Boston, Mass., is in need of maney. Readers of THE LABOR ERALD a re urged t o r e p a s t their
H
unions to donate to this fund.
T he Mooney-Billings Case is facing a d iEermt s ort
of crisis, but one requiring action by the m i a n s also.
A s stated in this column last month, Gewemor Stephens
i s refusing to act on the question of a p wdon on t he
grounds that "Labor is not i n t e r e s t e d . ' X e Chicago
Federation of Labor, and many other b&es of t he
labor movement, have sent t eleaams d e m d w
action
f r o m Stephens. But the respor& has a& J
&
been
g reat enough. Telegram and letters
be poured
in to Governor Stephens, State &pt&$, Sxcramento,
California, demanding an imme&ste ah$ w d i t i o n a l
meat.
of the members of the f.
against militant union men.
a fter it came Sacco-Vanze
W.
possible t o say as we go to press whether t he Progressive or conservative candidate is elected, although the
Progressive, Trotter, is a couple of hundred votes in
the lead. The vote for President was
McParland, progressive . .............. 28,640
Barrett, conservative ................. 24,908
I
POLAND
N t he International Press Correspondence A. Macie-
jewski gives facts and figures about the Polish trade
union movement. The organizations are badly split
along national, racial, a nd religious lines. The principal o n e , with the amount of their a mberships, a re
a s follows: C eIltrd Commission m chss Unions
f
(Socialist) 4 2 0 0 Jewish Trade Unions go,oaa, P olish
0,0,
National Trade Unions (Patriotic) 6m,mo, @d Christion Unions (Catholic) SQ,W. T he indtds*J
f orm
of organiz.atioq quite generally prevails among the variCorn- ous groups. The Sqcialist unions are a miated t o the
future Amsterdam trade union International.
The C oqrmup~is~re very active in khe t rade union
a
moveae'r& g&tul&i-ly & e Socialist sectiari o i it. They
h
a
*
have s&at&fl ' hdjprity in a number o organizations,
i ncltlag &6 bidl&g T rades, Leather Workers, Wood
Wo~&er&I&
@
%per Workers. They also have large
o r@&~d m borities in the Metal Workers, Factory
Wbpl&a,' Food W orkers, Railroad Workers, Tobacco
W&rkps, e c I n addition t h e j have won control of
t.
&e G eriMl Labor Councils in the important industrial
cenfers rrf Warsaw, Bialystok, Posen, Kalisz, etc. A
bitter sittvggle ,for control is g o i n a on between then?
a nd k g n dormist Socialists. The latter have expelled
h?
hundreds of Communists from the asks. This
b rought t h e Communists t o .the p oint wherk &ey h a d
ta d ecide iI t hey should u ndertyke to o w n h e a n e w
' labof m ovmmt.
T hey voted to stay and w e within
and t he oId unions, no matter how di%eu& &e %&. T hey
t o a r e e r g a n i d n g t h e expelled tm:~bms &to weparate
tamions, pending the time w b &
ay will a a ble t o
h
&
o
force their readmittance by t w%@ r m k h h
THE INTERNATIONAL
GERMANY
T
H E C b h t t e e of Nine, consisting of three members
each from t he Second "Two and a half" and Third
1 nternat;imds a nd commissioned to lay the foundations
for a united f ront of the world's ~ roletariat,has broken
up a nd & ~ b m d e d . Inability t o unite upon a common
program
"the cause. It proved impossible, even
- me
pressure of the bitter reaction, t o
under
u nite &B &&&~~tionary Communists with the reformist
Socia&&,
b i s now apparently a struggle to the finish
between l!&p f or mastery of Labor's forces.
i
zo%, a re women. The unions with the largest percentage of women workers are as follows:
T extile Workers . .................. 430.350
Factory Workers . .................. 187,412
Metal Workers . .................... 173,914
F arm Workers . .................... 170,043
Tobacco W orkers . ................. 101,292
Clothing Trades . ...................
75,143
Book Binders . ......................
62,379
T ransport Workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
58,490
Municipal & State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
53,383
In many of the organizations the women' members
are in the majority. In the Textile Workers they
number 430,350 a s against 226,499 men, in the Clothing
Workers 75.143 to 49,233 men, in the Book Binders
62,379 to 25,016, etc. The General Federation of German Trade Unions will hold its 11th convention in
Leipsig, beginning June 19th.
w
RUSSIA
[ THIN the past two months three important new
affiliations have joined the Red Trade Union International. The first was the Norwegian Trade Union
Federation, with 223,588 members. At the Congress
of the International Federation of Trade Unions (Amsterdam) held in Rome recently, Ole Lian, General
Secretary of the Norwegian movement announced his
organization's withdra'wal from that body. The Workers' Federation of Chili has also joined the Red Trade
Union International. This movement is, next to that
of Argentine, the strongest organization in S outh
America. The third new affiliation was the Sailors'
Union of Germany. This organization is independent
of the German Transport Workers' Union and it contains the bulk of German seamen. Formerly it had a
strong Syndicalist tendency, but this has now about
disappeared. I n Great Britain sentiment develops
rapidly in favor of the Red Trade Union International.
At a conference organized by the British Bureau early
in April, 270 delegates were present from all over the
country.
B OqK NOTES
f
ITALY
HE International Federation of Trade Unions, Am-
T
"9 &m n early 83 y ears of age.
blac%dked
by t he .oorporations, a nd
has k i m a r i s o x n e and a agir Yo
t e q r i s e d brave battle exposing the
of ~ u & & + c o m ~ n a ~ & y supreme a d m i ~ t & d .I
m
i
am d pou. I
&
sigaing arder. f 6r q: e
m
*
Em
LAFa
E.
-"
This
&om a I&$< & st rs&ved s h m v ~ he
t
spleadid sg@it i l c h i m d h g '& eriC.6ess'og TEB bip~
i
H_=n
and t-he Leame. You young EQ* b aveiybti
a s much e nkhushsm w thiri comrade of 83 pars? ='
.....................
Bars and Shadows,'by R dph
1,977,090
., ................
677,465
h hoduetion by Scott Nearing.
...................
..................
477,262
450,032
..................
104,750
7 members, 1,618,296, o r over
F
s terdam) held its third convention in Rome, April
20-26. Over IOO delegates from 20 countries, representing approximately 22,ooo,ooo workers, were in attendance. The principle subjects dealt with and the
action taken thereon are as follows: ( I ) Genoa conference-this ,was condemned as a capitalistic scheme
and demands were made upon it to unconditionally
admit Russia to the comity of nations and to grant
credits to all exhausted countries from an international
loan to be floated. The only proposition submitted to
the conference that was endorsed was the Russian demand for disarmament. (2) Means of combating future
wars- a referendum was ordered among the 3,500,000
metal workers of the world to declare a strike in case
of war. (3) How to *withstand the worldwide capithis an intensified campaign of
talistic reaction-for
organization was ordered. (4) Relations with the Red
Trade Union International-recognition
was given to
the previously stated figure of 16,ooo,ooo members for
this organization, but hostility was shown towards
recognizing or working with it. Its policy of building
nuclei within the old unions was condemned. ( 5)
Absence of American and Russian trade unionistsefforts are to be made to win the affiliation of these
bodies. Much scoffing was heard because the A. F.
T H E LABOR HERALD
of L. had withdrawn its affiliation with the plea that
the Amsterdam International was too radical. The
old officials, including J. H. Thomas, President, Leon
Jouhaux, Vice President, and Edo F i m e n , Secretary,
were all reelected. The next convention will be held
in Vienna
r
'-1'
D ENMARK
/\N A ~ r i l24th. the meat lockout, which had lasted
"
w a l m ~ & ttwb month; came to an end. The settlement carried with it a reduction in wages of 15%. or
12% among the poorer paid workers, semi-annual readjustment of wages in acordance with the varying
cost of living, reduction of overtime rates to z 5%-fG
the first hour and 33%% for the second hour, and
maintenance of the eight hour day with minor modifications. There is considerable discontent among the
rank and file of the unions, they feeling; that their conservative leaders have sacrificed their interests.
July, 1922
-
a class basis. As the T a b Vale decision, at first a great
defeat. finally resulted in a victory by producing the
Labor Party, so the present disaster will probably
change eventually into a great success by uniting the
scattered trade unions into one mighty, undefeatable
organization. British Labor is now at a turning point
in its history.
Book Department of
THE LABOR HERALD
Live Wires Wanted to Circulate the Following book^:
THE RAILROADERS' NEXT STEP-AMALGANATION.
(Seoond Edition).
By Wm. Z Foster. 64 pages. Revised and Enlarged.
Single copies, 25e each ; 10 to 200 copies, 150.
STORIES OF THE GREAT RAILROADS.
By Charles Edward Russell. 332 pages. $1.25 p er copy.
THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE.
By Wm. Z. Foster. 865 pages Cloth, $1.75; paper, $1.00 per copy.
RESOLUTIONS AND DECISIONS OF TPTE FIRRT WORLD CONC3RESB OF
REVOLUTIONARY TRADE UNIONS-MQSCOW. 96 pages. 15c per copy.
THE RUSSLAN REVOLUTION. By \Vm. Z. Foster. (Sold out.)
THE REVOLUTIONARY CRISIS OF 1Q18-1921I N GEBMANY, EBTOLABlD,
ITALY AND FRANCE. '
By V m , Z . Foster 64 pages.
a n g l e oopies, 25c; 10 or more, l 5c.
A British Laborillustration of than American further
CURIOUS
how much
is advanced
Labor
is furnished by the current issue of "All Power," British official organ of the Red Trade Union International,
which contains an article by George Hicks, President
of the National Federation of Building Trades Operatives. To get an idea of what this means try t o imagine
John Donlin, President of the A. F. of L. Building
Trades Department writing enthusizsticallg- 'for the
Liberator o r THE.LABOR ERALD. would seem
H
That
a miracle.
The Federation of Building Trades Operatives made
ENGLAND
~
i long fought lockout in the British metal trades UD of 16 organizations with s o o , members and headed
E
has come to an end with a d'efeat for the men. b Hicks,
one of the new types of industrial unions
;
The latter have been forved to accept the employers' in the making. Though technically still a federation, it
terms, which carry with them very heavy wage cuts is rapidly digesting its many unions heading straight
and much less control for the unions in the shops. for an industrial union that will include the entire
The struggle lasted I4 weeks and at one time there were building trades. I t was formed as a result of the great
almost r,ooo,ooo men involved. The depleted s b t e of amalgamation movement launched by Tom Mafin and
the unionsl.funds, coupled with a terrible u neiaplopent, his comrades in 1911. In the current issue of T he
made the struggle one of the worst in British indus- Operative Builder, Mr. Hicks, outlining the history and
purpose of the organization, says :
trial history. I t is a big defeat for War.
I am sure that the great campaign of 1911 to 1914
T he great lockout is the aftermath of the c@lapse of
for full and complete a malgaqtion of all building
the Triple Alliance a year ago. At that h e &e highly
trade unions into one industrial organization had
organized British emiployers took the measure of the
a most marked effect in developing the mind of :he
trade union movement. They saw that its leaders, bred
worker for bigger and better forms of unity. I t
in the old Lib-Lab school of unionism are incapable
helped him to realize that it was not s a c i e n t
of making a fight on cIass lines so they passed the word
merely to desire better things, but that if he wanted
along for a general assault against the whole movet~ realize them he had to work for them, and the
ment. The attack on the metal trades organizations
scope necessary for such work did not lie in being
was headed by Sir Allan M. Smith, President qf the
separated from his fellow man, but in' co-operation
Engineering and National Employers' Federation. H e
with h im Complete amalgamation has not yet been
demanded that the Amalgamated Engineering Unim acrealized, but again let-me say I feel as confident of
cept conditions calculated to break the power of the- orit coming into being as of daylight following darkganization. The leaders agreed, but the m
e k feated
ness. We ought to have it now. We will have it
the proposition on a referendum, Result a lackqut of
as soon as the workers demand it, W e must
350,000 machinists on March 11th. Then the employers
broaden the outlook of the rank amj a e . One
moved against the rest of the trades, whose leaders
union with one aim-that is to sieze each opporh ey h e w were only too willing to capitulate. For a
tunity for improvement of status, to work in cot h e the 47 other metal trades unions made a show
operation with other unions for mutual aid and
csf a united front, but they finally turned tail on the
ink up and fraternize d the
protection, to l
E. U. and entered into separate negotiations with
workers of the world' to assist in the d l i s h m e n t
the employers on the basis of terms rejected by the
of the Co-operative Commonwealth.
A. E. U But this treason did them no good, i t only
.
T i k of an American building trades e n chier
hn
encouraged the employers, with the outcome that the
47 found themselves locked out also on May 3rd, adding talking like that! The "old guard" w d h v e him
arrested and examined for his sanity.
600,000 more men to the fray. After endless negotiaThe London Daily Herald, the big daily paper of
tions, in which the e mloyers displayed unshaking determination to cripple the unions and the union leaders Organized Labor in Great Britain, has been SWBLT he
gross timidity and lack of solidarity, the settlement Joint Committee, representing the General, Ckeund of
Comwas finally arrived at, first by the 47 unions on June the Trade Union Congress and the Ex+w
znd, and the Amal@;amated Engineering Union on June mittee of the National Labor Party, has O ~ t oB its
rescue by agreeing to take care of its d a t =ti1 their
12th.
The British labor movement is stirred to its depths brganizations hold their national conuentim& in June
over this latest defeat. Something drastic will be done and September respectively, when definite a m g s e n t s
about it. Unlike Americans, the British trade union- will be made to put the paper on its f@ t kancidy.
i
ists are accustomed to learn by their defeats. M y y For a long time the Daily Herald has &&%n dire
are now declaring that old-fashioned trade unionm~~financial straits, ascribable chiefly to the iadastrial dejust about
has reached the limit of its usefulness and cannot stand pression. At the time this relief came it.*
before such powerful employers' organization as the to expire. The recent anti-union twist 09 the British
Federation of British Industries. An insistent demai~d press (hitherto comparatively fair to Wsk] has no
l
is being made for the amalgamation of the entire labor doubt moved the conservative trade m10~eaders to
movement into one organization which shall fight on save the Daily Herald.
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