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
"Union scabbery" helped to create a kind of "union snobbery." The
craft idea tended to develop the idea of caste among workingmen, and
the skilled were set off from the unskilled as the "aristocracy of
labor." The industrial unionists emphatically declared that a true
labor union must include all workers, the unskilled and migratory as
well as the "aristocrats."
We are going down in the gutter [said Haywood] to get at the
mass of the workers and bring them up to a decent plane of
living. I do not care a snap of my finger whether or not the
skilled workers join this industrial movement at the present
time. When we get the unorganized and the unskilled laborer
into this organization the skilled worker will of necessity
come here for his own protection. As strange as it may seem to
you, the skilled worker today is exploiting the laborer beneath
him, the unskilled man, just as much as the capitalist is.[127]
But ultimately, according to Sherman, all workers--not merely the
groups connoted by the term "working-class"--must be grouped in the
proposed organization.
We don't propose [he said] to organize only the common man with
the callous hands, but we want the clerical force; we want the
soft hands that only get $40 a month--those fellows with No. 10
cuffs and collars. We want them all, so that when a strike is
called we can strike the whole business at once.[128]
A third type condemned by revolutionary unionists was the so-called
"labor lieutenant." This latter "mis-leader" of labor was the symbol of
another objectionable feature of the A. F. of L., _viz._, the identity
of interests assumption. Naturally the idea that the interests of
employer and employee are identical, is the only consistent one for an
organization based on the craft idea. It is said that Mark Hanna once
referred to the organizers and officials of the trade unions as the
"labor lieutenants of the captains of industry."
The revolutionary (industrial) unionists believed that collusion
existed between the tool-owners and the labor leaders of the country.
It was declared on the floor of the convention that "the trade-union
movement has become an auxiliary to the capitalist class in order
to hold down the toilers of the land."[129] The delegates from
the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance (members of the Socialist
Labor party, though not formally present as such) were especially
uncompromising on this point. At the 1900 convention of the Socialist
Labor party the following amendment to its constitution was adopted:
If any member of the Socialist Labor party accepts office in
a pure and simple trade or labor organization, he shall be
considered antagonistically inclined towards the Socialist
Labor party and shall be expelled. If any officer of a pure and
simple trade or labor organization applies for membership in
the Socialist Labor party, he shall be rejected.[130]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account