Socialism As It Is

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"The unions are chiefly occupied in the effort to use their power
to shape the labor contract in their favor, and do not consider it
as their task to propagate this view, but holds the propaganda as
being the task rather of the Social Democratic Party and its
organizations."

Even the struggle for higher wages and shorter hours carried on by the
unions, Legien says, is fought in the consciousness that it will make
labor "more capable of the final solution of the social problem." He
reminds us that the overwhelming majority of the German unionists are
Socialists, and says that the labor conflict itself must have led to
this result, though he does not want the unions to support the party as
unions. In other countries of the Continent, unionists go even farther.
In Austria, Belgium, and elsewhere the two organizations act as a single
body, and in France, not satisfied with working for Socialism as members
of the party, unionists also make it a declared end of their unions,
independently of all political action, and shape their everyday policies
accordingly.

It is only when we come to Great Britain that we find the unions in a
conciliatory relation with employers such as has hitherto prevailed in
the United States. The relation between the unions and capitalistic
"State Socialists" of Great Britain has been friendly. As I have already
noted, the enthusiasm of the British unions for the social reforms of
the Liberal Party and government has hitherto been so great that they
consented that the increase of the taxation needed to pay for these
reforms should fall on their shoulders, while the wealthy classes made
the world ring with epithets of "revolution" because a burden of almost
exactly the same weight was placed on them to pay for the Dreadnoughts
they demanded, and because land was nationally taxed for the first time,
Mr. Churchill himself conceded that his social reform budget "draws
nearly as much from the taxation of tobacco and spirits, which are the
luxuries of the working classes, who pay their share with silence and
dignity, as it does from those wealthy classes upon whose behalf such
heart-rending outcry is made."[249]

Perhaps the fact that the labor unions of Great Britain _up to 1910_
spent less than a tenth part of their income on strikes was a still
stronger ground for Mr. Churchill's admiration, since he had to deal
with the strikers as President of the Board of Trade. While the national
income of the country has been increasing enormously in the past two
decades, and the higher or taxed incomes have more than doubled (which
is a rate of increase far greater than the rise in prices), the income
even of unionized workers has not kept up with this rise. In a word, the
propertied classes are getting a larger and larger share of the national
income (see Mr. Churchill's language in preceding chapter). Now should
the unions continue in the moderation of their demands,--or even should
they obtain a 10 or 20 per cent increase (as some have done since the
railway and seamen's strike of 1911),--_the propertied classes would
still have been getting a larger and larger share of the national
income_. From 1890 to 1899 prices in England are estimated to have
fallen 5 per cent, while wages _of organized working-men_ rose 2 per
cent; from 1900 to 1908 prices rose 6 per cent, while these wages fell 1
per cent. A 7 per cent improvement in the first decade was followed by a
7 per cent retrogression in the second--_among organized workers_.[250]
There is then no probability that the British unions will check the
constant decrease in the share of the total wealth of the country that
goes to the wage earner, until they have completed the reversal of older
policies now in progress. That this may soon occur is indicated by the
great strikes of 1911 (which I shall consider in the next chapter).

The American unions also are beginning to take a more radical and
Socialistic attitude. At its Convention at Columbus, Ohio (January,
1911), the United Mine Workers, after prolonged discussion, passed by a
large majority an amendment to their constitution, forbidding their
officers from acting as members of the Civic Federation. This resolution
was confessedly aimed at Mr. John Mitchell, as Vice President of the
Civic Federation, and resulted in his resignation from that body. It
marks a crisis in the American Labor movement. The Miners' Union had
already indorsed Socialism, its Vice President is a party Socialist, and
its present as well as its former President vote the Socialist ticket.
Having forced the Federation of Labor to admit the revolutionary Western
Federation of Miners into the Federation of Labor Congresses, the
element opposed to Mr. Gompers and Mr. Mitchell's conservative tactics
has, for the first time, become formidable, embracing one third of the
delegates, and is likely to bring about great changes within a few
years, both as to the Federation's political and as to its labor-union
policy.

This action of the Miners was followed a few months later by the
election to office of several of Mr. Gompers's Socialist opponents in
his own union (the Cigarmakers). Then another of Mr. Gompers's most
valued lieutenants (after Mr. Mitchell), Mr. James O'Connell, for many
years President of the very important Machinists' Union, was defeated by
a Socialist, Mr. W. H. Johnston,--after a very lively contest in which
Socialism and the Civic Federation, and their contrasting the labor
policies, played a leading part. The old conservative trade unionism is
not only going, but it is going so fast that one or two more years like
the last would overwhelm it in the national convention of the Federation
of Labor and revolutionize the policy of the whole movement.

The change in the political attitude of the American unions has been
equally rapid. Until a few years ago the majority of them were opposed
to cooeperation with any political party. Then they decided almost
unanimously to act nationally, and for the time being with the
Democrats, and this decision still holds. More recently several local
labor parties have been formed, and the Socialist Party has occasionally
been supported. The only question that interests us, however, is the
purpose behind these changing political tactics.

It is natural that unionists on entering into the Socialist Party
should seek to control it. Socialists make no objection at this point.
The only question relates to their purpose in seeking control. A
prominent Socialist miner, John Walker, has frankly advocated a Labor
Party of the British type, while others wish to turn the Socialist Party
into that sort of an organization; while the Secretary of the Oklahoma
Federation of Labor, on joining the Party said: "Let us get into the
Socialist Party--on the inside--and help run it as we think it should be
run," and then gave an idea of how he proposed to run it by accusing the
Party of containing too many people "who are Socialists before anything
else." This is a common feeling among new labor-union recruits in the
Party. It is difficult to see the difference between those who share
Walker's view and want to carry out the present non-Socialist political
program of the unions through a non-Socialist Labor Party and those who,
like this other union official, expect to use the Socialist Party for
the same purpose. Let us notice the similarity of certain arguments used
in favor of each method.

"The Socialist Party," says the organ of the Garment Workers'
Union, "does not command the confidence of American labor to the
extent of becoming a national power in our day and generation, and
it is, therefore, necessary that the working class should turn its
attention to the formation of a party that will be productive of
practical results in sweeping away the legislative and the legal
obstacles that now stand in the way of our rights and
progress."[251]

"Much is being written and said nowadays as to the danger of
Socialism and in favor of trades unionism," writes the _Mine
Workers' Journal_, "To us the condemnation of the Socialists,
coming as it does from the capitalistic press, is a reminder that
of the two evils to their selfish class interest, they prefer the
least.... It is useless to attempt to divide trades unionism from
Socialism. It cannot be done. They have all learned that their
interests are common; they know that labor divided will continue to
suffer, and will hang together before they will allow capital to
hang them separately.

"Indeed, looking at trades unionism in all its phases and from
every angle, we fail to see why Socialism and it should be
separated. The man or men in the movement to-day who are not more
or less Socialistic in their belief are few and far between and do
not know what the principles of unionism are, or what it stands
for. We are all more or less Socialistic in our belief."[252]

A perusal of the labor papers in general shows that while a number agree
with the Garment Workers a still larger number share the opinion of the
_Mine Workers' Journal_. Yet what is the essential difference?

The Garment Workers' organ claims that the European Socialists and trade
unionists support one another's candidates and unite their power without
the Socialists demanding the indorsement of their program, and argues
for that policy in this country. This statement is not accurate. Only in
England, where there has hitherto been no independent Socialist action
of any consequence, has there been any such compromise. On the Continent
of Europe the Socialists usually agree to leave the unions perfect
freedom in their business, and not to interfere in the slightest with
their action _on the economic field_, but there is no important instance
in recent years where they have compromised with them at the ballot box.
And this error is shared by the _Mine Workers' Journal_, which, as I
have just shown, is friendly rather than hostile to Socialism. In
another editorial in this organ we find it said that "whenever Socialism
in America adopts the methods of the British, and other European toilers
and pulls in harness with trade unionism, it is bound to make headway
faster than at present, because there is scarcely a man in the labor
movement that is not more or less of a Socialist." Here again the
British (Labor Party) and the Continental (Socialist) methods are
confused. It is true that the Socialist parties and the labor unionists
everywhere act together. But there are two fundamental differences
between the situation in Great Britain and that on the Continent. A
large part of the unions on the Continent are extremely radical if not
revolutionary in their labor-union tactics, and secondly, the
overwhelming majority of their members are Socialists in politics.
Surely there could be no greater contrast than that between the
swallowing up of the budding Socialist movement by non-Socialist labor
unions in Great Britain and the support of the Socialist Party by the
revolutionary unionist on the Continent.

In America only a minority of the unions are definitely and clearly
Socialist. The local federations of the unions in many of our leading
cities have declared for the Party. Among the national organizations,
however, only the Western Federation of Miners, the Brewers, the Hat and
Cap Makers, the Bakers, and a few others, numbering together no more
than a quarter of a million members, have definitely indorsed Socialism.
The Coal Miners, numbering nearly 300,000, have indorsed collective
ownership of industry, but without saying anything about the Socialist
Party. Besides these, the Socialist Party, of course, has numerous
individual adherents in every union. On the whole the Socialists are
very much outnumbered in the unions, and as long as this condition
remains, the majority of Socialists do not desire anything approaching
fusion between the two movements.

Half a century ago, it is true, Marx himself favored the Socialists
entering into a labor union party in England. He assumed that English
unions would soon go into politics, whereas they took half a century to
do it; he assumed, also, that when they entered politics they would be
more or less militant and independent, and he never imagined that during
fifteen years of "independent action" they would oppose revolutionary
and militant ideas more than ever, and would even go so far in support
of the Liberal Party as almost to bring about a split within their own
anti-revolutionary ranks. Certainly Marx expected that they would accept
his leading principles, whereas only the smallest minority of the
present Labor Party has done so, while the majority has not yet
consented to make Socialism an element of the Party's constitution,
confining themselves to a broad general declaration in favor of "State
Socialism"--and even this not to be binding on its members.

Marx's standard for a workingmen's party was Socialism and nothing less
than Socialism. In his famous letter on the Gotha program addressed in
1875 to Bebel, Liebknecht, and others, at the time of the formation of
the Socialist Party and perhaps the greatest practical crisis in Marx's
lifetime, he said, it will be recalled, that "every step of real
movement is more important than a dozen programs," but he was even then
against any sacrifice of essential principle. He saw that the workingmen
themselves might be satisfied by "the mere fact of the union" of his
followers with those of LaSalle, but he said that it was an error to
believe that this momentous result could not be bought too dearly, and
if any principle was to be sacrificed, he preferred, instead of fusion,
"a simple agreement against the common enemy."

While Socialist workingmen, then, are inclined to attach more importance
to the Socialist Party than to conservative unionism, they expect the
new aggressive, democratic, and revolutionary unionism to do even more
for Socialism, at least in the expected crisis of the future, than the
Party itself. The tendency of the unions towards politics is merely an
automatic result of the tendency of governments and capitalists towards
a certain form of collectivism. Far more significant is their tendency
towards Socialism whether through politics or through the strike, the
boycott, and other means.

Trade unionism, transferred to the field of politics, is not Socialism.
The struggles against employers for more wages, less hours, and better
conditions has no necessary relation to the struggle against capitalism
for the control of industry and government. The former struggle may
evolve into the latter, and usually does so, but long periods may also
intervene when it takes no step in that direction. Moreover, a trade
union party of the British type, whether it takes the name Socialist or
not, if it acts as rival to a genuine Socialist Party, checks the
latter's growth.

When revolutionary labor organizations composed largely of genuine
Socialists enter into politics, the situation is completely
reversed--even when such organizations take the step primarily for the
sake of their unions rather than to aid the Socialist Party. This
situation I shall consider in the following chapter.

FOOTNOTES:

[240] Eugene V. Debs, "His Life and Writings," p. 140.

[241] John Mitchell, "Organized Labor," p. 208.

[242] Miss Hughan in her "American Socialism," p. 220, quotes an
expression of mine (see the _New York Call_, March 22, 1910) in which I
said that "petty reforms never have aroused and never will arouse the
enthusiasm of the working class and do not permit of its cooeperation,
but leave everything in the hands of a few self-appointed leaders."

Miss Hughan herself points out that I have never considered all
so-called reforms as petty (see "American Socialism of the Present Day,"
p. 216) and quotes (on p. 199) an expression from the very article above
mentioned in which I define what reforms I consider are of special
importance to the wage earners, namely, those protecting the strike, the
boycott, free speech, and civil government. I even mentioned labor
legislation on a national scale. The petty reforms I referred to were
State labor laws. These will not only be carried out by non-Socialists,
but receive very little attention from active labor bodies such as the
city and State federations, which are almost wholly absorbed in the
greater and more difficult task of defending the strike, boycott, free
speech, and sometimes civil government. Labor will do everything in its
power to promote child labor laws, workingmen's compensation etc.,
except to give them its chief attention instead of the struggle for
higher wages and the rights needed to carry it on effectively. As a
consequence these matters are left to a few selfish or unselfish
persons, who are "self-appointed leaders," even when the unions consent
to leave these particular matters in their hands. For active cooeperation
of the masses in the legal, economic, and political intricacies of such
legislation is not only undesirable, but impossible under the present
system of society and government. Labor must govern itself through
instructed _delegates_, while such work can be done only by
_representatives_, who must often have the power to act without further
consultation with those who elected them.

[243] George H. Shibley in the _American Federationist_, June, 1910.

[244] Samuel Gompers in the _American Federationist_, 1910.

[245] John Mitchell, "Organized Labor" (Preface).

[246] Eugene V. Debs, _op. cit._

[247] Karl Kautsky in _Die Neue Zeit_, 1909, p. 679.

[248] Karl Kautsky in _Die Neue Zeit_, 1909, p. 680.

[249] Winston Churchill, _op. cit._, pp. 77, 336, 337.

[250] _Die Neue Zeit_, June 11, 1911.

[251] The Weekly Bulletin of the Garment Trades (New York), 1910.

[252] The _Mine Workers' Journal_ (Indianapolis), Aug. 26, 1909, and
April 21, 1910.

CHAPTER V

SYNDICALISM; SOCIALISM THROUGH DIRECT ACTION OF LABOR UNIONS

In America, France, Italy, and England, as well as in Germany (in a
modified form) a new and more radical labor-union policy has been
rapidly gaining the upper hand. This new movement--in its purely
economic, as well as its political, bearings--is of far greater moment
to Socialists than the political tendencies of those unions that
continue to follow the old tactics in their direct relations with
employers.

In America and in England, unfortunately, the name given to this new
movement, "industrial unionism," is somewhat ambiguous. A more correct
term would be "labor" unionism as distinct from "trade" unionism, or
"class unionism" against "sectional unionism." By "industrial unionism"
the promoters of the new movement means that all the employees of a
given industry are to be solidly bound together in a single union
instead of being divided into many separate organizations as so often
happens to-day, and so as to act as a unit against the employer, as, for
example, the steel workers, machinists, longshoremen, structural iron
workers, etc., are all to be united against the Steel Trust. The
essential idea is not any particular form of united action, but united
action. Certainly the united action of all the trades at work under a
single employer or employers' association is of the first importance,
but it is equally important that "industrial" unions so composed should
aid one another, that the united railway organizations, for example,
should be ready to strike with seamen, dockers, etc., as was done in the
recent British strike. An interview with Mr. Vernon Hartshorn, who
recently headed the poll in the election for the executive committee of
the important South Wales Mining Federation, indicates the tendency in
Great Britain at the present moment--when both coal and railway strikes
are threatened on a national scale--not merely towards industrial
unionism, but towards the far more important _union of industrial
unions_, which is really the underlying idea in the minds of most,
though not all, of the propagandists of "industrial unionism."

"I think it a very silly business," exclaimed Mr. Hartshorn
emphatically, "for the workers in different industries to be
proceeding with national movements independently of each other. A
short time ago we had a national stoppage on the railways; that, as
a matter of course, rendered the miners idle. Before that we had
something in the nature of a national stoppage in the case of the
seamen's dispute; that, also, in many districts paralysed the
mining industry and rendered idle the workmen. Now it appears
likely that the miners will be taking part in a national stoppage
which, in turn, will render the railway men and seamen idle.

"The idea is gradually dawning upon all sections of organized labor
that the right thing to do would be for these three unions, through
their executives, to establish a working alliance by means of which
united action should be taken to secure reforms which would result
in the raising of the standard of living of the whole of the
workmen employed in these undertakings. Of course the grievances in
different trades differ considerably in points of detail, but they
all have a common basis in that they relate to wages and conditions
of work. If the three organizations could be got to act together
with a view of establishing a guaranteed minimum wage for all
workmen employed, then not all the forces of the Crown, nor all the
powers of government, could prevent them from emancipating
themselves from their present deplorable position."[253]

It is equally necessary for the unions in order to obtain maximum
results that a special relation should be established between the
members of such trades as are to be found in more than one industry.
Teamsters, stationary engineers, machinists, and blacksmiths, for
example, whether employed by mines, railways, or otherwise, can aid one
another in obvious ways--as by securing positions for blacklisted men
and preventing non-unionists from obtaining employment--by means of a
special "trade" organization or federation that cuts across the various
"industrial" unions or federations. All this, indeed, is provided for in
the plans of the "industrial unionists," in the idea of gradually
reorganizing the present loose Federation of Labor into "a union of
unions," or, as they express it, "One Big Union." This last term also is
not very fortunate, for it is by no means proposed to form one
absolutely centralized organization, like the former Knights of Labor,
but to preserve a considerable measure of autonomy for the constituent
industrial unions. Neither does the new unionism require, as some of its
exponents allege, the abolition of the older _trade_ unions, either
local or national, but only that all unions shall be democratically
organized and open to unskilled labor, and that the general
organization, of which they are all a part, shall be the first
consideration, and the local groupings whether by trade or industry only
secondary.

The principle of the new union policy is exactly the same translated
into terms of economic action, as the principle of revolutionary
Socialism as conceived by Marx, and hitherto applied by Socialists
chiefly on the political field. In the Communist Manifesto Marx says
that the chief thing that distinguishes the Socialists from the other
working-class parties is that the former "always and everywhere
represent the interests of the movement as a whole." So while the older
unions represented the economic struggle of certain more or less
extensive parts of the working class, the industrial unionists aim at a
unionism that represents the whole of the working class, and, since the
ranks of labor are always open, all non-capitalist humanity. A closely
organized federation of all the unions will rely very strongly upon
numbers and embrace a large proportion of unskilled workers. It will,
therefore, be forced to fight the cause of the common man. But this can
only be done by fighting against every form of oppression and
privilege--all of which bear on the men at the bottom.

The industrial policy idea has received its most remarkable indorsement
in the great British railway strike of 1911. Before showing what lay
behind this epoch-making movement, let me refer to the great change in
the British Union world that preceded it.

In 1910 there occurred an unprecedented series of strikes in the four
larges industries of the country, the railroads, shipbuilding, cotton,
and coal-mining--all within a few months of one another, _and all
against the advice of the officials of the unions_. The full and exact
significance of this movement was seen when the hitherto conservative
Trade Union Congress, after a very vigorous debate, decided, on the
motion of Ben Tillett, to take a referendum of the unions on the
question of the "practicability of a confederation of all trades" and on
the "_possibility of terminating all trade agreements on a given date
after each year_."