International May Day and American Labor Day: A Holiday Expressing Working Class Emancipation Versus a Holiday Exalting Labor's ChainsReinstein, Boris
History
International May Day and American Labor Day: A Holiday Expressing Working Class Emancipation Versus a Holiday Exalting Labor's Chains
Reinstein, Boris
Labor Day; May Day (Labor holiday); Socialism; Working class -- Political activity
They are taught that to accomplish this unification of the labor forces
the labor union must be an open union; that it is criminal and suicidal
for labor to prevent a single wage-earner, whatever his creed, color,
nationality or race may be, from becoming or remaining a member of the
union of his or her industry; that, consequently, exclusion laws against
wage-earners of any race or nationality whatever, high initiation fees,
assessments and dues, catchy trade examinations of applicants for
membership, practically prohibitory apprenticeship rules, “closing of
union books,” driving of members from the union by imposition of unjust
and excessive fines, that these and similar measures are only
contrivances to prevent the forces of Labor throughout the country and
throughout the world from coming together to advance their common
interests.
The workers are taught on May Day that a true, up-to-date labor union
must recognize that it is not true that wealth is the joint product of
capital and labor, in other words, of the capitalist class and the
working class whose claims can and should be harmonized through
“collective bargaining” and methods of conciliation, mediation and
arbitration.
It must recognize that, on the contrary, LABOR ALONE PRODUCES ALL WEALTH
and TO LABOR BELONGS ALL IT PRODUCES.
It must recognize that the employing class as a class of social
parasites, has no real claim to any part of the wealth produced that the
workers should be bound to respect.
It must recognize that instead of the absurd aim of securing “a fair
day’s pay for a fair day’s work” the labor union movement must aim to
secure for the wealth producers the opportunity to enjoy with their
families every particle of the wealth they helped to produce and all the
benefits of a civilized society.
It must recognize that such a union, planted upon the ground of the
class struggle instead of class peace, must, in order to succeed, be
militant in character, democratic in conduct, and be guided in all its
acts and utterances by the spirit of brotherhood and solidarity of the
international working class. It follows therefrom that:
To preserve and develop its militant spirit the union must leave the
work of providing for sick benefits, death benefits and other such
ambulance and insurance features to insurance companies, fraternal
orders and other such organizations outside of the union proper;
The union must never conclude contracts or agreements with employers
which in the least interfere with the right of any member of the union
to strike or deal any blow at the employers whenever considerations of
self-preservation or of solidarity of the Labor Movement require it;
To protect itself against being sold out, against favoritism, corruption
and demoralization the membership of the union must retain in its own
hands and not entrust in the hands of a leader or leaders the final
power of ordering or calling off strikes, control over distribution of
jobs, etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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