place in the community, and will tend to feel and
inspire less of the bitter hostility which renders the
more extreme forms of class war possible. When
that time comes, the labor movement in America will
probably begin to take on forms similar to those of
Europe.
[33] Although uniformly held that the writ of habeas corpus
can only be suspended by the legislature, in these labor disturbances
the executive has in fact suspended or disregarded the
writ. . . . In cases arising from labor agitations, the judiciary
has uniformly upheld the power exercised by the military,
and in no case has there been any protest against the use of
such power or any attempt to curtail it, except in Montana,
where the conviction of a civilian by military commission was
annulled'' (``Final Report of the Commission on Industrial
Relations'' (1915) appointed by the United States Congress,''
p. 58).
[34] Literary Digest, May 2 and May 16, 1914.
Meanwhile, though the forms are different, the
aims are very similar, and industrial unionism,
spreading from America, has had a considerable
influence in Great Britain--an influence naturally
reinforced by that of French Syndicalism. It is
clear, I think, that the adoption of industrial rather
than craft unionism is absolutely necessary if Trade
Unionism is to succeed in playing that part in altering
the economic structure of society which its advocates
claim for it rather than for the political
parties. Industrial unionism organizes men, as craft
unionism does not, in accordance with the enemy
whom they have to fight. English unionism is still
very far removed from the industrial form, though
certain industries, especially the railway men, have
gone very far in this direction, and it is notable that
the railway men are peculiarly sympathetic to Syndicalism
and industrial unionism.
Pure Syndicalism, however, is not very likely to
achieve wide popularity in Great Britain. Its spirit
is too revolutionary and anarchistic for our temperament.
It is in the modified form of Guild Socialism
that the ideas derived from the C. G. T. and the I. W.
W. are tending to bear fruit.[35] This movement is as
yet in its infancy and has no great hold upon the rank
and file, but it is being ably advocated by a group
of young men, and is rapidly gaining ground among
those who will form Labor opinion in years to come.
The power of the State has been so much increased
during the war that those who naturally dislike
things as they are, find it more and more difficult to
believe that State omnipotence can be the road to the
millennium. Guild Socialists aim at autonomy in
industry, with consequent curtailment, but not abolition,
of the power of the State. The system which
they advocate is, I believe, the best hitherto proposed,
and the one most likely to secure liberty without
the constant appeals to violence which are to be
feared under a purely Anarchist regime.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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