As Strasser and men of his ilk grew more and more absorbed in the practical problems of the everyday struggle of the wage-earners for better conditions of employment, the socialistic portion of their original philosophy kept receding further and further into the background until they arrived at pure trade unionism. But their trade unionism differed vastly from the "native" American trade unionism of their time, which still hankered for the haven of producers' cooperation. The philosophy which these new leaders developed might be termed a philosophy of pure wage-consciousness. It signified a labor movement reduced to an opportunistic basis, accepting the existence of capitalism and having for its object the enlarging of the bargaining power of the wage earner in the sale of his labor. Its opportunism was instrumental--its idealism was home and family and individual betterment. It also implied an attitude of aloofness from all those movements which aspire to replace the wage system by cooperation, whether voluntary or subsidized by government, whether greenbackism, socialism, or anarchism. Perhaps the most concise definition of this philosophy is to be found in Strasser's testimony before the Senate Committee on Education and Labor in 1883: "_Q._ You are seeking to improve home matters first? "_A._ Yes, sir, I look first to the trade I represent; I look first to cigars, to the interests of men who employ me to represent their interest. "_Chairman_: I was only asking you in regard to your ultimate ends. "_Witness_: We have no ultimate ends. We are going on from day to day. We are fighting only for immediate objects--objects that can be realized in a few years. "By Mr. Call: _Q._ You want something better to eat and to wear, and better houses to live in? "_A._ Yes, we want to dress better and to live better, and become better citizens generally. "_The Chairman_: I see that you are a little sensitive lest it should be thought that you are a mere theoriser, I do not look upon you in that light at all. "_The Witness_: Well, we say in our constitution that we are opposed to theorists, and I have to represent the organization here. We are all practical men." Another offshoot of the same Marxian _Internationale_ were the "Chicago Anarchists."[17] The _Internationale_, as we saw, emphasized trade unionism as the first step in the direction of socialism, in opposition to the political socialism of Lassalle, which ignored the trade union and would start with a political party outright. Shorn of its socialistic futurity this philosophy became non-political "business" unionism; but, when combined with a strong revolutionary spirit, it became a non-political revolutionary unionism, or syndicalism.