The I. W. W.: A Study of American SyndicalismBrissenden, Paul F. (Paul Frederick)
History
The I. W. W.: A Study of American Syndicalism
Brissenden, Paul F. (Paul Frederick)
Industrial Workers of the World; Syndicalism
This vote-catching machine of which the previous speaker from
America (A. M. Simons) is so proud, will stoop to anything and
_go to any length to secure votes_. They have defended a lot
of scab unions of the A. F. of L. in California, have endorsed
resolutions condemning the Japanese and asking for their
exclusion from America, although we find that the Japanese,
with very little education in revolutionary unionism, make
better union men than the sacred contract scab of the A. F. of
L.
At the other end of the continent, in New York, they place
their candidates on the same ticket as Randolph Hearst, a
Democrat, a trust-buster of the Roosevelt type. I have in my
hand here a card ... asking the workers to vote for "Hearst
and Hillquit." "Hearst and Hillquit" for good government?
"Hearst and Hillquit" for socialism? No. "Hearst and Hillquit"
for votes! Hillquit, the "revolutionist," one of the leading
stars at this congress, the chief representative of this
vote-catching machine: Hillquit, who has fed you on lies
concerning the Industrial Workers of the World. If this is the
way to get socialism, I hope that such a damnable brand will
never be ushered in in my time. What bearing has this criminal
work on our grand old slogan, "Workers of the world unite"?
In America we have two kinds of unions, one is known as the
American Federation of Labor and the other is the Industrial
Workers of the World. One has a million and a half members
and the other has over 70,000 members including the Western
Federation of Miners, that is 40,000 miners and 30,000 directly
chartered members from the headquarters of the Industrial
Workers. The larger one is called by the capitalist masters
and their agents, "The bulwark of Capitalist Society," and the
chiefs at the head of this scab arrangement were classed by
Mark Hanna as his "able lieutenants," and that is what they
are.[331]
DeLeon and Heslewood endeavored to put through a resolution in
condemnation of the general position of neutrality taken by Socialist
parties in their relation with labor organizations. They believed that
a Socialist party should definitely endorse radical or socialistic
trade unions and officially frown upon all reactionary unions, and
especially condemn and discourage reaction wherever it might appear
among labor organizations. "Neutrality towards trade unions," reads
their resolution, "is equivalent to neutrality toward the machinations
of the capitalist class."[332]
The resolutions on this subject which were finally adopted by the
congress were much less militant in tone than the I. W. W. statement.
The prevailing resolution read in part as follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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