How much Bolshevism is there in America? : $b Also a series of articles entitled "Russia from the inside"Dosch-Fleurot, Arno
History
How much Bolshevism is there in America? : $b Also a series of articles entitled "Russia from the inside"
Dosch-Fleurot, Arno
Communism -- Soviet Union; Communism -- United States; Labor -- United States; Working class -- United States
Right now the enemies of union labor of any kind can do about what they
please. There are plenty of men looking for work and they can break
almost any strike that might be declared. Union men and I. W. W. leaders
alike are sitting tight and are trying to save what they can to go on
with when the fight is over. They are not afraid of being done in
forever. They know this period of depression will pass, and, even if
meanwhile the open-shop campaign were carried to the point where every
union in the country were killed off, the union movement would spring up
again. Next time, however, they believe it might take the more
revolutionary form of industrial unionism.
LITTLE OF BOLSHEVISM FOUND IN I. W. W., MOST RADICAL OF AMERICAN LABOR
MOVEMENTS
_By Arno Dosch-Fleurot._
Copyright, 1921, by the Press Publishing Co. (The New York World).
The most radical labor movement in the United States, the one that makes
the most to-do over its revolutionary programme, is the I. W. W.
Whatever there may be of revolutionary tendency in America is in the I.
W. W., or closely affiliated. =But looking at America from the point of
view of Europe, if that is all we have produced in the way of
revolutionary material we are certainly in no immediate danger of
becoming a “Soviet republic.”=
The I. W. W. is popularly considered Bolshevik, and has thus been
advertised by the attacks the police have made upon it. There have also
been “criminal Syndicalist” laws passed against it which have enhanced
its importance. But an examination of what it is does not give cause for
serious alarm.
The I. W. W. has never been able to boast of much of a membership, and
it has barely enough members now to keep it alive. During the past few
weeks I have taken a fairly close look at the I. W. W., or what I could
find of it, and I should say it is more of a purpose, more of a labor
philosophy, than a movement. It is out for One Big Union, but it has not
even one small union that stays put.
Provided Organization of Labor Where No Other Union Could
It has provided a chance for organization when there was no other union
to do it. It went into the woods and the harvest fields and organized
the migratory workers. It had a free and easy way of organizing, and
they were free and easy men. In the woods it acquired some permanency.
The loggers of Oregon, Washington and Idaho are about the only active
members it has. The important consideration is how much revolution did
it instil into them? According to my observations, very little.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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