Communism; Industrial Workers of the World; Socialism
The American "Syndicalists" are the I. W. W.'s, and their methods are
those of "industrial action" by means of industrial unionism. In other
words, they are seeking to organize "One Big Union" in order, as the
"Preamble" to their Constitution asserts, to "take possession of the
earth and the machinery of production." These are the methods and means
recommended by the Moscow International to the rabid Socialists
affiliated with it all over the world.
These methods and means, urged by the Moscow Manifesto, were evidently
adopted in Hillquit's manifesto, which led, by the party's adoption of
it, to the American Socialist Party's strong commitment of itself at
Chicago to "strongly organize" on "industrial lines" the "bulk of the
American workers" into "one powerful and harmonious class organization"
ready for "industrial action." The preamble to the Constitution, also
adopted at the Emergency Convention of 1919, according to Trachtenberg's
Labor Year Book, 1919-1920, page 410, stresses the same thing:
"The Socialist Party seeks to organize the working-class for
independent _action_ on the political field, not merely for the
betterment of their conditions, _but also and above all with the
revolutionary aim_ of putting an end to exploitation and class
rule." And it adds: "To accomplish this aim, it is necessary that
the working-class be powerfully and solidly organized also on the
economic field _to struggle for the same revolutionary goal_."
Trachtenberg's 1919-1920 Year Book, page 409, tells us, too, that the
party at its Emergency Convention "adopted a series of resolutions,"
including two described as follows:
"_Co-operatives._--Favoring the establishment of co-operatives and
recommending that literature be distributed on the subject."
"_Economic Organization._--Favoring industrial unionism and
establishing a labor department in the party for the preparation of
literature and more active work among the labor unions."
We know what the last-mentioned resolution means; and the meaning of the
propaganda for "co-operatives" becomes plain when we read in
Trachtenberg's same Year Book, page 393, that this co-operative movement
has been defined as "The state within a state."
Indeed, these two resolutions, favoring propaganda for "co-operatives"
and "industrial unionism," seem to be explained in the "Preamble to the
Constitution of the Socialist Party," adopted at Chicago on September 6,
1919. A single sentence in this Preamble, which we quote from
Trachtenberg's Labor Year Book, 1919-1920, page 410, tells us what the
Socialist Party wants and the means by which it hopes to get it. Here is
the sentence: "The workers must wrest the control of the government from
the hands of the masters and use its powers in this upbuilding of the
new social order, the Co-operative Commonwealth."
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