AMALGAMATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01226R000100040026-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 49
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 3, 2008
• Sequence Number: 26
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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L.A O3 H ALP L1BRY Tfe 5
.1 e
p.LlulL.I IN
THE TRADE UNIOff EvuCATsOMA1. LEAGUE
1o6 H. LASAU.E ST. CWcaga., 111.
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Militants, Notice!
Organise ! Join the Trade Union Educational
League. This is a system of informal committees
throughout the entire union movement, organised 'to
infuse the mass with revolutionary, understanding and
spirit. It is working for the closer affiliation and solidi-
fication of our existing craft unions until they have
been developed into industrial unions. Believing that
all workers should stand together regardless of their
social or other opinions, it is opposed to the common
policy of radical and progressive-minded workers quit-
ting the trade unions and starting rival organizations
based upon ideal principles. That policy is one of the
chief reasons why the American labor movement is not
further advanced. Its principal effects are to destroy
all radical organization in the old unions and to leave
the reactionaries in undisputed control.
The Trade Union Educational League is in no
sense a dual union, nor is it affiliated with any such
organization. It is purely an educational body of
militants within existing mass unions, who are seeking
through the application of modern methods to bring
the policies and structure of the labor movement into
harmony with present day economic conditions. It
bespeaks the active cooperation of all militant union
workers. For further details apply to the
Trade Union Educational
League
106 North La Salle Street, Chicago
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Labor Herald Library
No. 5
AMALGAMATION
By Jay Fox
N a really civilized society there would be no conflicting economic
I interests. There would be neither master nor slave, employer nor
employee, rich nor poor. Where these distinctions exist civiliza-
tion is merely a name, for there is bitter conflict between the rich em-
ployers and the wealthless workers; and this conflict increases in in-
tensity in exact ratio to the concentration of wealth and power on the
one hand and the corresponding increase of poverty and knowledge
on the other. This conflict of interests in society has come to be
known as the class struggle.
This war of the classes has raged throughout the ages. It is not a
spectacular war, not always have the participants even been conscious
of their parts in it. It is nevertheless universal and bitter, and all
play their parts in it. It is the real perpetual World War out of which
all other wars have sprung. The class war will not end by one party
defeating the other. Labor defeated will rise again. Capital licked
will make terms and resume the exploitation of Labor. The class
struggle will end when the causes that give rise to it are removed. The
economic structure of society must be remodeled before the basis for
a real civilization can be laid. That is the work of Labor organized
in its unions and equipped with the necessary knowledge. Armed
with knowledge and power, Labor will change the economic basis of
our common life and establish justice and equality where exploitation
and misery now reign supreme.
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THE FREE AMERICAN WORKERS
According to the moral ethics of our capitalist society the owner.
of the means of life are under no obligation to see that their fellow
beings, who do not possess such means, are provided with the oppor-
tunity to make a living. When the capitalist cannot make profits out
of the labor of the workers he turns them out, cuts off their source of
bread without the least compunction. They may starve to death for
all he cares. He is not their keeper except while they keep him in
fat dividends. When he needs more help he makes the announcement
at the factory gate where there are plenty of free Americans anxiously
waiting to serve him. They are free Americans-they cost him
nothing. That is the only sense in which Americans are free today.
While differing in many respects from previous forms of ex-
ploitation, capitalism is no less cruel and merciless. The capitalists
own the means by which we live and thus we are at their mercy in no
less degree than were our ancestors in the days of chattel slavery.
The kings of old ruled the world with an iron hand, but they had a
much smaller world to command than the Industrial Monarchs of
today. The wealth of America exceeds that of the entire ancient
world, and a few brainy men in New York City control the bulk of it;
as cold and unscrupulous a set of men as ever dictated the policies of
a nation.
The rulers of old hired thugs to pursue and capture their enemies,
had them slugged and cast into prison, framed up evidence and put
them through farcical trials before fixed judges who condemned them
to imprisonment or death as the order was given above. Wherein
does the practice of today differ from that, with the history of Labor's
desperate struggles against the armed hirelings of Capital and the
slaughter of men, women, and children in the great strikes at Pitts-
burgh in 1877; and later conflicts in Homestead, Chicago, Lattimer,
Cripple Creek, Ludlow, Michigan, West Virginia, and numerous other
places where the ruthless slaughter of workers was looked upon as
merely a matter of business? To pursue the analogy further we
might glance over the list of recent trials of a socio-political nature
where social heretics have been brought before the courts and con-
victed on perjured evidence and sentenced to long terms of imprison-
ment by hand picked judges. The jails of the country contain4hun-
dreds of such victims, martyrs to the cause of humanity, men and
women who dreamed of a better life than that which capitalism pro-
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vides. Modern capitalism leaves a trail behind it as bloody as that
of its predecessors and a record of cruelty and injustice just as black.
THE BEGINNING OF CAPITALISM
Modern capitalism had its beginning with the discovery of steam
power and the invention of machinery. Before the advent of machin-
ery the workers owned their hand tools and worked mostly in their
own homes. The development of machinery soon left the hand workers
without employment and they had to seek work from the capitalists
who owned the costly machinery. Thus they became dependent upon
the employers, who were not slow to take advantage of their new-
born power. Spurred on by visions of wealth and affluence the new
capitalists began at once to exploit Labor to the limit. Without or-
ganization, the helpless workers were compelled to labor sixteen hours
a day.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century factory workers had
to be on the job at 4 A. M. and work until dark for a wage that was
a mere pittance. A first class mechanic got 5oc a day. Laborers
worked for three and four dollars a month and board. Women toiled
in the cotton mills from dawn till dark for $5.5o a week. The cost
of food was not low in proportion to wages. Wheat was $2.io a
bushel, corn 75c a bushel. Pork sold for 2oc a pound and bread was
8c a loaf. Thus it will be seen that as an exploiter of labor, capital-
ism made a good beginning, and the precedent then established has
been loyally adhered to ever since. Every atom of energy that Labor
possessed has been coined into dollars, and we have today the doubtful
distinction of being the richest country in the world, while millions
of our workers are without the means of life.
The modern factory is an evolution, a growth, an amalgamation
of individual craft shops into great industrial units. When capitalism
was young and inexperienced every trade had its separate existence and
its separate owner, and each owner and employer was the keen com-
petitor of every other man in his line of work. In those days com-
petition was said to be the "life of trade," the incentive to capacity
production without which men would stagnate and deteriorate. However,
modern capitalists have discovered the utter fallacy of that idea, and
have discarded it after suffering tremendous losses through its ruinous
application. But they still believe in it for working people, however, and
insist most emphatically upon the application of its principles in their
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factories by the crushing of unionism amongst the workers. The
policy of every man for himself and to hell with the hindmost is held
to be the ideal condition for the workers. As for themselves, the
capitalists prefer the communistic idea of getting together into a com-
pact organization.
INDUSTRIAL UNIONS OF THE CAPITALISTS
The first stage of the capitalists' getting together came when they
discovered the economy and efficiency of the industrial factory. In the
manufacture of a machine the products of several trades are necessary:
draftsmen, patternmakers, moulders, blacksmiths, machinists, etc. Why
not gather all these crafts together under one roof and one manage-
ment? The idea was ideal from every viewpoint. It was adopted, and
the industrial factory was born. Capitalists have always been quick
to adopt new and valuable ideas. Therein lies their success. The
workers, on the contrary, are suspicious of new ideas and slow to
approach them. This accounts for the fact that after nearly a century
of capitalist success in the application of the industrial idea the work-
ers still adhere to the primitive craft union form of organization, al-
though it is carrying them to destruction day by day.
The industrial factory was soon followed by the industrial cor-
poration, which is really an industrial union of dollars. It was neces-
sary that the small craft owner, displaced by the industrial factory,
be taken into the industrial union, so the joint stock company was
created. This was a most important development in the evolution of
modern capitalism. In the early stages when capital was scarce it
made it possible for people with small means to become share-holders
in big corporations. Thus the industrial managers were given access
to large amounts of money necessary to the success of their dreams
of industrial conquest.
Under this system gigantic corporations were formed which gave
their managers almost unlimited power over the workers in their
employ and all others who came within the sphere of their influence.
For it is a truism that a capitalist's power is measured by the amount
of capital he controls, and that the men who control capital, control
the means by which the people live. All opposition to the will of the
new industrial monarchs has been ruthlessly crushed. The craft unions
were the first to get the sword. The unions, still in their primitive
form, became an easy prey for the big corporations. Not only did
these refuse to recognize the unions but they ferreted out the union
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men that were working under cover and discharged them. When
goaded to the limit of their endurance by the soulless corporations
the workers struck. A private army recruited by the bosses from
among the criminals and thugs of the slums and fully equipped with
modern implements of murder was let loose upon them with orders
to kill. Police, militia, and mounted cossacks were generally on hand
to help the private gunmen terrorize the workers and drive them
back to their slavery.
CAPITALISM CONTROLS THE GOVERNMENT
Not satisfied with their domination of local political and commer-
cial life, where they are absolute masters despite our democratic form
of government, the industrial monarchs have succeeded in corrupting
our State and National Governments, over which they hold sway as
absolute as any monarch that ever ruled the ancient world. A hun-
dred years ago it was said by the wisest students of social economy
that under our "democratic" form of government it would be impos-
sible for a group of rich men to get control of the government. Time
has shown that little is impossible to the possessors of wealth. Men
without wealth succumb to its influence. Lofty principles are fine but
they don't supply their champions with the necessities and comforts
of life. The masses without organization and economic education are
misled by the press, to vote for the men selected by the money power.
All politicians seek to curry favor with the capitalists who have the
money to reward them. The politics of this republic are run by men
who have made politics a profession, a means of gaining a livelihood,
and their ethical code is so elastic it permits them to accept money
from whatever source it happens to come. This is because the inter-
ests of the capitalists are served in every branch of the government;
To all intents and purposes the Government of the United States is
a branch of the associated industries. Whatever the industrial mon-
archs desire it to do, it does; even to the plunging of the people into
a bloody war. An illuminating commentary on our democratic form
of government is the fact that in every presidential election since 186o
the successful candidate has been the one with the largest campaign
fund-furnished by the masters of industry.
Likewise the control of our educational institutions has passed
into the hands of the industrial monarchs. Every university in the
country is ruled absolutely by the corporations who furnish the funds
for its upkeep and expansion, and they see to it that nothing is taught
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which might lead the students to suspect that the present industrial
system is less than ioo% perfect. The teacher who dares to hint at
any social heresy knows his fate. Nothing but the approved brand of
canned learning is taught and the student who emerges after three or
four years of cramming is generally a full fledged plutocrat and snob,
despising working people as lowbrow servers.
Nor do the children of the working people escape the polluting
influence of plutocracy. The school books are published by the book
trust. The state makes the rules governing the schools. In the
country districts we are permitted to elect the school boards, but they
have nothing to do with the education of the children except to hire
the teachers and do the janitor work. In the cities there are no work-
ing men on the school boards. Bankers and business men oversee the
education of the worker's children. As a result it often happens that
children learn to despise the proletarian ideas of their parents.
Even the church is not immune to the poison of capitalism. No-
where do we hear it raising its heavenly voice against the rapacity of
the money power. On the contrary, it almost universally looks upon
criticism of capitalism as heresy ; and the clergyman who has the
temerity to espouse the cause of Labor will soon find himself without
a pulpit. If the founder of Christianity were to come amongst us
today and preach a sermon such as he delivered when in the flesh, he
would be arrested under the criminal syndicalist law and sent to
prison for a term of years. Like all other institutions the church is
subject to its source of income. It has its function to fulfill in the
system, and the exploiters of the people furnish the funds to pervert
it from its normal course. To capitalism nothing is sacred but itself.
Its motto is: "Only the Servers Shall Survive."
But of all the institutions that have come under the sway of
capitalism, the press is by far the worst enemy of the people. This
is because it is the great avenue for the distribution of news. It
comes into daily contact with the people and subtly poisons their
minds against all ideas of change. It thus tends to keep them in
perpetual bondage to the plutocracy. It is the moulder of public
opinion and the chief avenue of propaganda for the powers that be-
it is the mouthpiece of money. In return for this servility it receives
the advertising patronage of big business, without which it could not
exist. Obviously the press has full liberty to wield its scurrilous pen
to the limit in attacking working people who refuse to accept the
capitalist system as heaven-sent, and it is common knowledge that it
takes full advantage of every strike and other expression of dis-
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content with things as they are, to malign the toilers and to incite
police and mob violence against them. But the workers have not the
same freedom to reply. Special laws have been devised by the hench-
men of capital in control of the "people's" government for the sup-
pression of the people's press and the punishment of editors and
speakers who have the hardihood to expose the rottenness of the cap-
italist system and advocate a change. Freedom of speech no longer
exists in this country because the people have no control over the
government. It is now the pliant tool of the plutocrats, doing their
strong-arm work in return for campaign funds and other forms of
graft. Capitalism is master of the world today.
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CHAPTER II.
THE INCAPACITY OF CRAFT UNIONISM
U NIONS of workingmen have existed from the earliest times.
Solomon's temple was a union job. Imperial Rome went down
before the sword of the "barbarians" after its corrupt and greedy
plutocracy, composing only 2% of the population, had gobbled up all
wealth of the vast empire and reduced its workers to chattel slavery,
a climax towards whit' our own empire builders are heading with
hastening steps. During ie middle ages the union workers lived and
worked in their own homes, each craft occupying a separate section
of the walled cities. The unions were known as guilds and included
employers and workers. In those days employers were themselves
workers and never employed more than a few men and apprentices.
The modern craft union, composed of workers only, is a product
of capitalism. As the employers became rich and the number of
their employers became large the clash of economic interests were in-
tensified. Then the workers began to see that their interests were not
identical with the interests of the employers. So they withdrew from
the guilds and formed their own organizations. In our times ignor-
ant and designing men in the labor movement have preached the false
doctrine of the identity of interest between Labor and Capital. But
the increase of wealth and power at the command of Capital and its
ruthless grinding down of Labor has made it perfectly plain to the
vast majority of workers that the assertion is a vicious lie designed
to mislead the toilers and keep them in perpetual bondage to the em-
ploying class.
The craft union was the natural starting point for the organiza-
tion of Labor. When unionism was young there were no industries
as we have them today and the industrial trust wasn't even a dream.
Shops were small and far between, and each shop employed one kind
of tradesmen only. Men who worked at the same trade, having in-
terests in common, were bound sooner or later to combine the con-
servation of those interests in a union. The craft union grew out of
the need of the tradesmen to protect their economic interests against
the aggressions of the employers.
The workers learned from observation that when a part of the
crew quit, the boss was greatly hampered in the operation of the shop
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while seeking other help. From this they deduced that if the entire
crew quit the boss would be up against it for a time at least, and
that if the men hung around the shop and used their persuasive powers
upon the men who came to take their places, he might have consider-
able difficulty in getting started, and in the meantime he would lose
trade and probably his entire business. Thus was evolved an eco-
nomic weapon of the highest importance, perhaps the greatest prole-
tarian discovery of all ages-the strike. The strike is the principal
weapon of consequence that the workers have at their command in
the every-day struggle with which to resist the attacks of the employ-
ers and improve their working conditions. That they have not taken
full advantage of this very effective weapon we shall see during the
course of this discussion.
CRAFT UNIONS FALL BEHIND
So long as industry remained in its primitive state the craft union
was able to cope with the employers who were weak and without
organization. Gradually, however, they accumulated more and more
wealth, combined their capital and their factories into larger industrial
units, thus laying the foundation for the great trusts that now domi-
nate industry. They followed this up by the formation of employers'
associations in the different industries, which were really industrial
unions of capitalists for the purpose of controlling output and prices,
and for fighting the unions. It was then we first heard of the "open
shop" and the campaign for the "freedom" of Labor.
Within a short time the whole face of industry was changed. The
primitive shop had been absorbed into the industrial factory, elimi-
nating the individual owners. Gigantic industrial corporations with
billions of dollars at their command became the masters of industry,
dictating the price of commodities, the wages of Labor and the policy
of our State and National Governments. While the captains of in-
dustry were creating these great industrial combinations what were
the leaders of Labor doing? Not a thing except to draw down their
fat salaries, and they never failed in that.
The startling revolutionary change in the organization of industry
made it absolutely essential that a similar change be made in the
structure of our labor unions. Movement is life. The person or the
institution that does not move dies. The American labor movement
has not changed to keep pace with industrial evolution and therefore
is doomed unless it awakens from, its torpor very soon. It was formed
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Io AMALGAMATION
to fight primitive craft capitalism. It now faces modern giant indus-
trial capitalism, before which its antiquated tactics are as a straw in
the wind.
The way to fight machine guns is with machine guns or better.
Only an idiot would go up against a machine gun with a bow and
arrow. Yet our Labor Generals have been leading their bow-and-
arrow craft-union batallions against the industrial machine guns of
capitalism with disastrous results-defeat after defeat, strike after
strike lost, wages slashed right and left, and the unions in retreat
before the onslaughts of capital. Such downright incompetency, such
dastardly betrayal of the workers has no parallel in history. If our
labor leaders had a twentieth of the brains, daring, and enterprise of
the leaders of capital we would have a union movement that could
at least put up a defensive fight. No suggestion of improvement in
our trade union tactics, no hint even that there is anything wrong in
our system of organization, has issued from the lips of our inane
leaders. They are utterly helpless in the face of the enemy.
In other capitalistic countries the union movement is in the process
of readjusting itself to meet the changed industrial development. The
European labor movement is far more progressive than ours and its
leadership has life and energy and initiative. It is not afraid of change.
It knows that its only hope lies in new tactics. It is fully aware that
craft unionism is out of date and must be replaced by a more power-
ful form of organization that will function industrially. It has learned
from its defeats. In every way the European labor movement, despite
its faults, is far in advance of ours. It is more progressive; it has
a much larger membership ; it has vastly more shop control ; and it
recognizes the basic economic fact that it represents, not a section of
society seeking to improve conditions by petty reforms, but a sharply
defined economic slave class fighting for its life and liberty against a
powerful master class determined to suppress with the iron heel every
aspiration of the workers.
WHY ARE OUR UNIONS WEAK?
When we come to seek the cause why the American labor move-
ment is, so reactionary it will be well for us to first learn what is the
main element that makes a union movement progressive. Who is it
that is forever preaching progress and kicking over the old outworn
institutions? Why, the rebel, of course! He is the busybody that is
perpetually hammering at us to "can" our !19th-century ideas and at-
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tach ourselves to those that are new and up to date ; he it is who
shocks and shames us into abandoning grand-fathery ideas that are a
hindrance to our progress, but that we cherish because we were
brought up( with them. Nowhere is the revolutionist a greater menace
to old-fogy ideas and practices than in the union. The union is his
stronghold bcause there he is up against practical problems that call
for solution by the most advanced methods. Now, when the radical
deserts the union and goes off by himself we can readily imagine what
happens. Lacking the stimuli to progress, it reverts back to old ideas
and stagnates in them. That is what has happened to the American
labor movement, and this is how it came about :
About thirty years ago the revolutionaries got the idea that they
could make greater progress by withdrawing from the old unions and
starting unions with radical programs. Headed by Daniel De Leon,
who wasn't a worker but a college professor, the revolutionaries went
off by themselves and started the Socialist Trades and Labor Alliance,
a supposedly correct union believed to answer all the requirements of
the social revolution. Its theory was a success except in the getting
of members. When the rebels quit them, all progress stopped in the
unions. In thirty years we have hardly advanced an inch. In other
countries the workers have kept abreast of the times. They have the
revolutionist amongst them, they have been there all the time. Only
here have they deserted the unions and left them to their fate in the
hands of reactionary leaders.
De Leon and his followers deduced a theory from somewhere
that the unions were not susceptible to the ordinary laws of evolution.
They avowed the unions could no more change their policies and-con-
stitutions than the leopard could change his spots. Acting upon this
theory, they whooped it up for the new union, but nobody joined it
except themselves. All their good radical energy was wasted on that
child of the professor's brain, energy that could have been used to
such good effect in building up and revolutionizing the old unions..
UTOPIAN DUAL UNIONISM
Many similar utopian experiments have been made to cast aside
the whole labor movement and to start entirely with a new organiza-
tion. These have had a very serious effect upon the organization of
Labor as a whole, an effect approaching disaster. They have drawn
away the revolutionists and progressives from the old trade unions
where they were most sorely needed to offset the capitalistic teachings
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of the reactionary leadership and to give impetus to the awakening
radical sentiment among the rank and file. It was like taking the igni-
tion system out of a motor car, to withdraw these militants from the
unions. The unions became dead to every urge of progress, and where
they did not retrogress, they stood still. The conservative leaders
rejoiced at the radical exodus. They were happy to be rid of those
who watched them and questioned their policies; they would now have
things their own way. And with what result we see today, a labor
movement utterly demoralized and incapable of taking even a defensive
stand against the attacks of industrial capitalism.
Our present labor leadership is hide-bound and capitalistic. Nat-
urally it cannot go very far in fighting capitalism. It will not take a
determined stand against capitalism, for that would be socialistic. It
will dicker with capitalism where capitalism is willing to dicker with
it. When capitalism gets big and strong it turns the labor leaders
away. Turned down by the big capitalists they go back to Washing-
ton and dicker with the capitalist Congress. They won't tolerate a
labor party, as that would be anti-capitalist. They won't favor a
change in the form of the unions to meet the demands of industry,
for that would be radicalism. They lean back in their swivel chairs
and reflect : "The big fellows have turned us down but there are still
a number of small concerns willing to dicker with us. While those
remain the unions will be safe for our salaries. We stand pat."
THE FAILURE OF CRAFT UNIONISM
Now let us see if this is not literally true. Apart from the rail-
roads there is not a large corporation in the country that has a union
agreement, and not so many of the small ones for that matter. All
the big corporations have turned the unions down cold, and the unions
have never been able to work enough men in under cover to make
even a dent in the operation of the plants by a walkout. It has been
impossible to get unity of action among all the different unions that
cover a big plant, either to colonize it or to make a drive for mem-
bership in the open amongst the employees. There are too many unions
and not enough unionism.
Here is a case in point to prove my assertion : The General Elec-
tric was a union plant. The molders had a grievance and walked out.
The company sent their patterns to a scab foundry. Scab castings
came in. Union machinists finished them up. Union metal polishers,
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union electricians and all the other different unions worked on them
and not a thing happened. Some of the men didn't even know that
the molders were out. That happened two years ago. The strike was
lost. It was lost at its inception. How could it be won under the
circumstances? That is the sort of unionism we have in America and
the reactionary leadership is opposed to a change.
Strikes are being, lost every day for want of allied union support.
Single unions strike. The other unions stay on the job and the end
is disaster for the strikers. Indeed, so few are the strikes that are
won nowadays that one is inclined to think that if the general run of
unionists knew the figures they would decide to stay on the job and
lose rather than suffer the loss of a strike and bear the humiliation
of being licked. But they should know the weakness of their craft
unions, that they may be stirred to take measures looking to their
improvement. The leaders don't suffer by lost strikes. Their pay goes
on just the same, win or lose. They take no chances.
The winning of individual strikes is a thing of the past. Even
where a number of unions band together and strike they fail unless
the entire corporation is closed up. The recent railroad shopmen's
strike has proven this. Seven crafts were involved in this strike in-
cluding the entire mechanical departments of the roads. The mechan-
ical department of every railroad in the country was tied up tight.
The walkout was complete. But the trains kept on running as usual
until the equipment began to break down from lack of repair. The
train crews and trackmen, clerks, telegraphers, etc., stayed at work.
The companies built bunk houses and gathered scabs. Some compa-
nies made settlements with the strikers but in no case did the men
get the wages they struck to maintain. The other companies refused
to deal with the' strikers at all. The strike has been a sad failure, and
that failure is not due to the lack of solidarity on the part of the men
involved. They stood loyally together, and shoulder to shoulder they
faced the gaint railroad corporations and the U. S. Government that
attempted to break the strike by its drastic injunction.
The shopmen's strike failed for want of union support. The nine
unions that stood by the companies killed it. Had these unions pos-
sessed the real, the true spirit of unionism-one for all and all for one
-they would have walked out with their brothers and the greatest
strike in history would have been won, hands down, in twenty-four
hours. Be it said for the men, however, that the sentiment was strong
for a walkout. They were in full sympathy with their brothers on
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14 AMALGAMATION
strike. They knew that the shopmen were fighting the fight of all
railroad men, that the loss of the strike meant defeat for the men
who stayed at work as well as those who struck, that if the companies
can lick the shopmen today, tomorrow they will tackle the trainmen.
But the men could not get action. They belonged to nine different
unions with nine sets of reactionary, capitalistic leaders who don't be-
lieve in sympathetic strikes. The sympathetic strike sentiment was
stifled and the men were forced to stay on their jobs and knowingly
helped to defeat their fellow unionists by cooperating with scabs, virt-
ually becoming scabs themselves. Another case of too many unions
and not enough unionism, augmented by too many leaders and no
leadership.
This history of the shopmen's strike tells the whole story of our
antiquated craft union movement and illustrates in the clearest possible
way its inherent weakness. The railroad workers are organized in
every department from the section men to the engineers and office
men ; thus there was no obstacle to a general walkout in support of
the shopmen that could not have been easily overcome had there not
been so many unions, each master of its specific job and owing alle-
giance to no other. Sixteen different kinds of jobs and 16 separate
unions to take care of them. Why 16? A railroad is not organized
that way. A railroad has one organization, with one center, one head,
and all departments are mere extentions, arms reaching out from that
center and always responsive to its commands. That is real organiza-
tion and by having it a railroad can function properly and concentrate
its force at any one point at will. Now suppose a railroad had an
organization on every division, each independent of all the others. It
doesn't take much thought to see how soon the system would be
balled up. Yet that would be, only a fraction. of the number of organ-
izations the workers have on every railroad. The logic of the situa-
tion is clear-fewer and stronger unions are the prime necessity of
the hour.
Our unions have practically the same form and use about the same
tactics that they started out with at the dawn of industry. It has never
occurred to the leaders of Labor that when the foundry, machine and
blacksmith shops were combined under one management that these
mechanics should also be united in one union. The concentration of
the shops made for economy in production and efficiency in manage-
ment. It reduced competition amongst the bosses; it increased their
control over the market; it magnified their power over the workers
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AMALGAMATION 15
many fold. All of which does not seem to have had the least effect
upon the leaders of Labor who have kept on fiddling upon their one-
string unions, blind as bats in daytime to the tremendous changes
going on all around them. The criminal inefficiency of the leadership
is costing the workers millions of dollars and millions of hours of
labor yearly; not to speak of the loss of highly important educational
opportunities that every progressive labor movement provides for its
membership. The incapacity of craft unionism has been proven a
thousand times over in recent years.
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CHAPTER III.
AMALGAMATION THE WAY TO PROGRESS
AT this stage in the evolution of industry the strike of a single
union has no more chance of success than did the strike of a single
workman twenty-five years ago. Organization is subject to the same
evolutionary process as all other social institutions, and organizations
of labor are no exception to the general rule, although there is a
philosophy to the effect that it is. Capitalism, as we have seen, has
evolved from its primitive stage of craftism into gigantic industrial
combinations. Labor unionism must follow or it will be wiped out.
It must consolidate it ranks ever more firmly through a steady process
of amalgamation.
THE WAY THAT FAILED
For many years it was the fate of the American labor movement
not to recognize this fact. The militants held almost universally that
the old unions were static and incapable of evolution. They believed
that they had to set up new unions to replace the old ones. The new
ones were, of course, modeled on the most advanced industrial lines.
Everything was provided for that would be necessary in the march
of Labor to the goal of its ultimate destiny. The best economic
thought was consulted in the drafting of charts for such organiza-
tions ; every detail was worked out on scientific lines. Nothing was
lacking on paper to make them complete in every respect. But the
program failed nevertheless.
The Socialist Trades and Labor Alliance was the first union of
this character ever set up. It struggled along for ten years, never
having more than a handful of members, and it was absorbed into the
amalgamation that composed the I. W. W. in 1905. The Alliance at-
tacked the old unions viciously. It had an able leader who possessed
a vitriolic tongue that he did not spare, but to no effect. The scien-
tific industrial union was let severely alone by the workers. In spite
of this failure another attempt on a larger scale was made in Chicago
in 1905. By that time the "new union" idea had gained intense popu-
larity amongst revolutionists, who had come to look upon the old
unions as only fit food for the fishes. They regarded these bodies as
hopelessly lost, so deeply were the antiquated craft unions immersed
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in conservatism. They declared that the reactionary craft leaders were
so firmly intrenched that it would be utterly impossible to dislodge
them if that were tried. But the I. W. W., despite the great start
that it got, has likewise proved incapable of replacing the old craft
union movement with a new organization. Today is has far fewer
members than when, it was formed i8 years ago. Many other dual
unions, most of them operating in single industries, have had the same
fate. With but a couple of notable exceptions, they have never suc-
ceeded in getting a real grip in the industries.
The reason for this is that the dual union method is wrong. In
the fight of the progressive elements against the reactionaries in the
unions splits and secession movements are sometimes inevitable. The
thing that is wrong is to advocate them as a settled policy, instead
of doing all possible to avoid them. Splits are injurious because they
set worker against worker and bring confusion and weakness into the
movement. In this country they have resulted in pulling the great
number of militants out of the mass unions and leaving these organ-
izations in the unrestricted possession of the reactionaries. This is
why our movement is so far behind in development.
ABANDONING PAST MISTAKES
The method proposed by the Trade Union Educational League,
an educational body composed of militant workers inside of the trade
and industrial unions, is the exact opposite of the dual union program.
Instead of pulling the active workers out of the mass organizations,
be these A. F. of L. or independent, its plan is to keep the militants
in these unions where, by organization and activity, they can put new
life and vim into them. This is in harmony with the best policies of
revolutionaries as practised all over the world.
The League maintains that it is not necessary to go off and start
a new union just because one gets a new idea or has a tough struggle
with the reactionaries. Experience proves that it is far easier to re-
model the existing old organizations. It repudiates the spurious sci-
ence which alleges that labor unions are not subject to the influence
of a changed environment; that they are crystallized institutions in-
capable of modification. This charge, baseless and unscientific, was
made originally under mistaken apprehension. That the unions have
not kept pace in development with the capitalist institutions is largely
the fault of the very rebels who condemn them. These militants de-
serted the old unions and left them to their fate in the hands of the
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reactionary leaders who have run them into the ground. But now,
seeing the error of their old tactics, the militants are organizing them-
selves inside the mass unions and are working vigorously for the plan
of amalgamation.
During the years that the radicals have been endeavoring to build
up utopian dual unions, the old unions have been approaching amalga-
mation by very slow and careful step's and without being aware of
what they were doing. Reacting to the pressure of the capitalists the
unions have been closing in toward each other. In the various feder-
ations we have the expression of this abandonment by the unions of
their former isolation.
It is a remarkable fact in the history of the labor movement that
all forward movements had their beginning at the bottom, down
amongst the rank and file. There is no record where the leaders have
taken the initiative in any progressive move. But there are cases in
plenty where the leaders have barricaded the path of progress and
held back the regular forward movement of union affairs for a time.
All blocking of progress is only for a time, and often a short time.
The reactionaries are soon swept aside by the rising tide of progress.
The federation movement first made its appearance amongst the build-
ing trades at a time when the International unions were too weak to
block it. It went on for a time and the leaders saw it wasn't going to
disturb things as they were, so they approved. It spread to other in-
dustries and finally became universal.
It is every evident, however, that the leaders were determined
that the process of getting together would not proceed any further,
not if in their power to prevent it, for they have fought bitterly every
suggestion that the idea be carried to its logical conclusion. They saw
that any further advance along that line would involve fundamental
basic changes in the unions, including the possible abolition of some
of the salaried offices ; and no well-paid officer, regarding his personal
welfare as paramount, would consider practical and good union policy
any change that might involve a reduction of his salary. But alas for
the stability of officialdom, change is the order of evolution !
CRAFT AUTONOMY A FETISH
Federation appeals to the craft unions because it insures their
craft autonomy. The unions are all strong on "craft autonomy," which
means to them the mastery over their own craft and the right to do
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as they please, irrespective of the rights of other trades that work
beside them and whose liberties are tied up absolutely with theirs.
Craft autonomy is a holdover idea from the craft stage of industry
and it stands today in the same category as that other ancient slogan,
"individual freedom." Today the individual cannot have any freedom
that is not bound up with the freedom of the group of which he is a
part. Within the group or union he has a freedom compatible with
the freedom of all the other members of the union, but he cannot be
permitted any freedom that will involve the liberty of the other mem-
bers of the union. For instance; the individual is not permitted to
make his own terms with the boss. Why? Because the union can
make better terms for the individual than he can make for himself.
Were he so permitted the whole theory of unionism would be under-
mined and the union might as well dissolve.
In the industries the craft occupies a place parallel to that of an
individual in the craft union. It knows that the union of unions, the
union of all the crafts in the industry, can make better terms for the
several crafts than can any one of them individually. This discovery
has been the basis of federation, and now of amalgamation. When the
individual joins the union he trades his individual liberty to make
his own terms with the boss, a very shallow privilege at best, for the
more substantial returns in higher wages and shorter hours that the
union procures for him. In like manner the craft union trades its
"autonomy" for the better conditions the industrial union secures for
its members. In both cases, the individual and the craft union alike
get the best of the bargain. The "liberty" they give up is no liberty
at all. It is pure-and-simple illusion. When an individual joins a
union, or a union the industrial union, what takes place is simply this:
They both get somebody else to perform a disagreeable duty for them,
and do it a lot better than they could do it themselves.
WHY FEDERATION FALLS DOWN
The words "Freedom" and "Autonomy" sound well to the ear, but
they don't get us anywhere when we go up against a big capitalist
combination. Craft autonomy has been the bane of the Labor move-
ment for many years. Fearing the loss of their mythical autonomy,
the unions have not tied up together as tightly as they should have
done. The consequences have been disastrous in many instances. The
federation idea insures craft autonomy, because the unions would not
join otherwise. In the federation each union is still master of its
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own destiny; it recognizes no power greater than its own; it controls
its own particular kind of work and makes its own conditions most
of the time. At such times as it "kicks-in" with the federation it still
refuses to confer any of its power upon the federation, thus leaving
the latter helpless. At such times unions through their numerous offi-
cials, get to wrangling and there is often a split in the midst of a
strike. Time after time crafts have deserted the federations and made
separate terms with the bosses. The latter know only too well the
weakness of federation and have not been slow to play union against
union over and over again. And the narrow selfishness of craft union
leadership has made such union non-unionism possible.
Each craft union is a little republic and has its narrow craft
selfishness highly developed through the years of individual craft union
struggle. It cannot be relied upon to stand the strain of long drawn
out federated fights; and the federations being powerless to control
their craft units often go to pieces in the midst of a strike. So long
as these little craft republics exist there can be no real unity and soli-
darity in the Labor movement. Each craft will continue to fight for
its own particular place in the Sun, itself deciding just where that
particular place shall be. In the scramble for craft placement the
broad and all-important issue of industrial unity and solidarity is lost
sight of and chaos reigns supreme.
When the unions amalgamate, as they must, the question of auton-
omy will be settled once for all. Then all power will be passed on
to the industrial center and the crafts will be directed by it, as the
individual member is now directed by his local. The industrial union
will be the unit of authority. We cannot have industrial unity until
we have one union with one4 treasury and one directing center. Feder-
ation cannot supply these essentials of unity and therefore has proven
a failure, and must make way for the superior form of organization.
THE NECESSARY NEXT STEP
Amalgamation is inescapably the next step in the evolution of the
labor movement. It is the most practical and the easiest way to bring
about the desired result, industrial unionism. It is the evolutionary
process, the way mankind in the mass moves. Sometimes the mass
may be driven out of its workaday channel, as in times of war; but
left to itself it will mosey along in its natural way, adjusting itself to
new conditions with the least possible disturbance of old customs and
ways of life. It is not surprising then that the workers have not
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jumped into the new forms created for them right out of the intellect.
The new "scientific" unions covering all industries were doomed to
failure from the start. Amalgamation appeals to the worker because
it is something close by. He doesn't have to give up his union that
has become part of his life through years of association. He can
understand the program of amalgamation, which is simply to fuse to-
gether the existing mass organizations in his industry. Instinctively
he realizes that this is a step in harmony with normal labor union de-
velopment.
If we look over into Europe we will see that our brother unionists
have got quite a start on us in the matter of industrial unions, and in
every case their method has been that of Amalgamation. The old
craft unions are being lashed together, yea, rivited, never to be torn
asunder. Over there industrialism is more clear to them than it is to
us. And there is a reason. Over there they haven't had any "intel-
lectuals" charting fancy scientific universal industrial unions with
which to lure the militants away from the unions; and as a conse-
quence real industrial unionism is well on its way. Amalgamation is
the only method they think about over there; and Amalgamation is
doing the work, as it will here just as soon as we get down to busi-
ness. There is no excuse for us now not to go right along and put
this big job over. What others can do we surely can, and now that
the militants are coming back to the ranks there is no doubt that the
big Amalgamation drive will sweep the country clean of craft unions
and bring our labor movement up to the intellectual level of other
countries. Industrial unionism, through amalgamation, will soon be
a reality in America.
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22 AMALGAMATION
CHAPTER IV.
B Y the time a movement gets to be a movement and has people
boosting for it, it has traveled a long time unseen. For many
years the workers have been clearing the ground for amalgamation,
actually doing the preparatory work, by trying out another and less
radical form of union affiliation, namely, federation. Seeing that con-
ditions were ripe and over ripe for the inauguration of amalgamation,
the Trade Union Educational League came along and made amalga-
mation the object of its first big drive. These League militants, who
honeycomb the entire labor movement, report that the workers are
ready for Amalgamation right now, if they could only get action on
their International officials, who stand in the way of every new idea
for fear it might explode under their seats and throw them back into
the ranks of the working class.
Of course, it must not be understood by this that the officials are
going permanently to block the way to Amalgamation. The move-
ment is now being organized in every industry in the country in-
cluding Canada; for, so far as the labor movement is concerned
there is no boundary line between us and our brothers to the north.
As unionists we are one nation, with one flag, one goal and one com-
mon enemy to conquer. The enemy has tried to separate us, but we
still hold to our one union idea and Canada holds her place as one
division of the proletarian army of North America.
The great stimulus to the movement is the breakdown and failure
of the craft unions and the federations of craft unions. The federa-
tions have at times done good service by holding the unions together
when making the demands upon the bosses. But on the whole they
have failed in their mission to unite the craft unions, and now the
demand for a better tie has been raised and the Trade Union Educa-
tional League answers with "Amalgamation."
THE RAILROAD INDUSTRY
The movement for amalgamation is being given special attention
by the railroad men whose recent sad experience in the shopmen's
strike has been an eye opener to them and has quickened their minds
to the crying need of the transportation industry. These railroad men
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AMALGAMATION 23
have seen swept away at one fell swoop all that had taken them a
quarter of a century to secure. The Railroad Labor Board, a body
created by the Government to do the dirty work of the railroad com-
panies, issued an order breaking down the conditions of toil on the
roads and cutting the wages of the men ; and the "Peoples" govern-
ment issued an injunction to help put the dastardly ukase into effect.
The Government came out boldly on the side of the railroads and
said it would use all the power at its command to break down union
conditions on the railroads and establish the "open shop."
The seven shopmen's unions struck against the order of the
Board cutting their wages, increasing their hours at the will of the
roads, making Sunday work single time, abolishing overtime and es-
tablishing piecework. The railroads fully expected the men to strike,
but they had no fear that the strike would become general. They had
not so far attacked the conditions of the train and engine men, and
they knew the latter would not strike to aid the shopmen. Craft union
experience told the companies that it was perfectly safe for them to
let the shopmen strike if they wished, that the other unions would
stand at their posts, and they did. Nine union stayed on their jobs
and helped the companies lick the other seven. That's the sort of
unionism we have on the railroads ; it's the sort we have all along the
line throughout all the industries, and it is the sort we will continue
to have till we put over the amalgamation project.
All the trainmen knew the ugly position they were in. These
men who took extra chances with their lives by operating defective
rolling stock, knew that if they stepped down from their cabs and
cabooses and folded their arms the shopmen would win mighty quick ;
and they knew further that the defeat of the shopmen would reflect
upon their own conditions. They knew that they would be the next
to be put to the sword. All this was perfectly plain to them but they
couldn't do anything about it. They were not prepared for such an
emergency. They belonged to nine different craft unions with nine
reactionary sets of leaders. Under the conditions it was impossible
to act.
Although organized zoo per cent the railroad unions were still
powerless to defend the workers. They stand condemned as anti-
quated implements of war, absolutely powerless in the face of the cen-
tralized railroad dictatorship. The 16 railroad unions must be amalga-
mated into one powerful fighting machine in the near future, or the
"open shop" will be established in every department of the service; and
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these disunited unions will be used as the principle means of bringing
it about. The shrewd and brainy railroad masters will continue to
play these 16 unions against each other like so many pawns on a chess
board.
Amalgamation of the old unions is the only thing that is talked
about as a remedy for the present deplorable railroad situation. The
dual union idea is dead among railroad men. Nobody is thinking
about organizing new unions. "I should be the first one to oppose
any such program. The lessons of past experience warn against any
such further attempt. The rank and file must insist upon getting to-
gether and must furnish the impetus for such concentration and com-
bination as are necessary to unite all the workers of a given industry
within one compact and militant body," wrote Eujene V. Debs in a
recent issue of THE LABOR HERALD. As a leader of the defunct Amer-
ican Railway Union Brother Debs learned the futility of dualism. He
is now a staunch supporter of the Trade Union Educational League
and its program of Amalgamation.
To organize the movement for Amalgamation a conference was
held in Chicago at which were present militants of all 16 unions. This
conference issued a plan of Amalgamation and elected a committee to
carry on the propaganda. The Railroad Amalgamation Advocate was
established as the official organ of the Committee. The work of this
Committee is being financed by voluntary subscriptions. Already the
idea and plan has been endorsed by thousands of the local unions.
Many local and system federations and two big International railway
unions have adopted the plan. The idea is steadily gaining adherents
and it is confidently expected that the railroad workers will be one of
the first industrial groups of unions to close up their ranks and present
a solid front to the enemy.
THE METAL TRADES
No industry in America is weaker from an organization standpoint
than the metal trades. In this tremendous industrial division there
are, according to the U. S. i92o census, 4,476,137 workers employed.
Of these not more than 200,000 are organized. But they are divided
up into 30 or more unions. Thus a united front amongst the workers
is totally impossible. The bosses have gone ahead for years building
trusts and super-trusts through a process of amalgamating their com-
panies. But the unions have stood still, adhering to their antiquated
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policy of craft organization. Consequently the workers are demoral-
ized and helpless in front of their ruthless exploiters.
Amalgamation sentiment, propagated by the International Com-
mittee for Amalgamation in the Metal Industry, is rapidly spreading
in these basic trades. A definite plan of consolidation has been put
out by the Committee, scientifically providing for the merging of all
the existing organizations into one body. A number of years ago the
International Association of Machinists, by referendum vote, went on
record to bring about amalgamation. But inasmuch as the whole
matter was left in the hands of the officials nothing further was done
about it. The new moment is strictly a rank and file proposition. Its
aim is to educate the great masses to its concrete goal of amalgamation
and to fight the thing through at all the conventions of the metal trades
organizations. Amalgamation is now a burning issue in this industry.
THE NEEDLE TRADES
In the clothing industry there are seven International Unions, to-
taling about 300,000 members of the 520,777 employed in the entire
industry. There is a strong movement on foot, led by the Interna-
tional Committee of the Needle Trades Section, T. U. E. L., to com-
bine all these into one powerful industrial organization. To this end
a concrete plan of amalgamation has been worked out and printed,
and is being popularized widespread amongst the broad masses of
clothing workers. On May 5-6, 1923, the Needle,Trades Section held
its first national conference in New York, with all important clothing
centers in the country represented. Chief among its acts was the
working out of plans to push through amalgamation in the near
future.
One great union in the industry, the Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers, stands committed to the calling of a general convention to amal-
gamate all the unions. The other organizations quite generally endorse
the principle of a needle trades alliance, or federation. Since the
amalgamation movement has grown so strong in the industry the advo-
cates of alliance have the more vigorously put forth their proposition
as a substitute. But the great rank and file will have none of it. The
needle trades workers will probably be the first in this country to
actually combine their several unions into one industrial organization.
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26 AMALGAMATION
THE BUILDING TRADES
The amalgamation movement is growing steadily among the build-
ing trades workers, due largely to the work of the International Com-
mittee for Amalgamation of the Building Trades. For many years
these skilled workers, strategically situated, went along upon an indi-
vidualistic basis with each craft fighting its own battle regardless of
the interests of the others. In i9o8, they formed themselves into the
loosely-constructed Building Trades Department of the A. F. of L.,
to which 16 of the 17 important national craft unions are now affiliated.
This federal form of organization has failed completely to bring about
solidarity of the building trades workers. Time after time the em-
ployers have smashed the organizations by playing off one set against
the other. The present situation in Chicago offers a typical example
of this division inherent in craft unionism. Judge Landis, foisted upon
the unions as an arbitrator, handed down a decision which half
the organizations accepted and half rejected. Result, the movement
is split in the middle. Trades which prided themselves a few years
ago upon their sterling unionism are now openly working with Landis-
award strike-breakers under police protection. The lessons from this
and hundreds of similar incidents in the history of the building trades
workers are -beginning to be understood, and throughout the industry
the movement is rapidly growing to supercede the present loose and
ineffective federative system by the amalgamation of all the unions
into one solid organization.
THE PRINTING TRADES
Like the workers in all other industries, those in the printing
trades are suffering from craft division. Split into six organizations.
comprising only 145,000 out of the 291,000 who are employed in the
industry, the printing trades workers are increasingly helpless before
the "open-shop" drive of the employers. The loose federations amongst
them are powerless to bring about real solidarity, even as this is the
case in other industries. Most of the large printing plants of the
country are non-union, including Rand-McNally & Co., Curtis Pub-
lishing Co., Doubleday, Page & Co., etc.
The national 44-hour fight, begun on May 1st, 1921, and still going
on, has emphasized the weakness of craft unionism in the printing
trades. Only two of the organizations, the International Typograph-
ical Union and the Photo-Engravers, have been rble to make anything
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like a real showing in this bitter struggle. But even they have suffered
heavily, the I. T. U. losing a considerable percentage of its member-
ship and spending $15,000,000 in strike benefits. As for the Pressmen
and Bookbinders, they have been dealt severe blows, in many cases
losing heavily of their membership and failing to gain the, goal sought.
Even the Stereotypers and Electrotypers have not escaped unscathed.
The fight was marked throughout by all the evils of craft division, and
it points out clearer than ever the lesson that if printers are to progress
they must unite their forces.
Two International Unions, the I. T. U. and Bookbinders, have en-
dorsed the principle of amalgamation. But their officials are doing
little or nothing about it. The rest of the unions in the industry en-
dorse the usual "closer affiliation" substitute. The real work for amal-
gamation is being carried on by the International Committee for
Amalgamation in the Printing Trades, which is campaigning in all
printing trades organizations for a general merger of all the existing
unions into one body.
In the manufacture and distribution of food products the same
division and weakness exists as in other industries. There are nine
of the most important unions, one of which, the Amalgamated Food
Workers, an industrial union with its stronghold in New York, is an
independent organization. Of the at least 1,5o0,00o workers in the
various branches of this great industry, not more than ioo,ooo are or-
ganized. From the point of realizing their common interests the
workers in the food industry are very backword. Even the principle
of federation has not come to be practiced amongst them. Each union
goes its own way regardless of the rest.
But if the workers are sluggish in improving their organization,
the capitalists are not. Every branch of the food industry is being
rapidly trustified. The great packing interests are steadily combining
their forces and extending their control. Likewise the combinations
making up the sugar and flour trusts. The baking interests and the
hotel companies are merging into larger and larger units. And in the
retail section of the industry chain restaurants, grocery stores, etc.,
multiply apace.
At last the workers are beginning to awaken somewhat to the
necessities of the situation. Two of the International Unions have
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declared for a general consolidation, the Amalgamated Food Workers
and the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen. The in-
strument of the militants for carrying on the educational work among
the rank and file of all the organizations is the General Committee for
Amalgamation of All Unions in the Food Industry.
The shoe and leather industry is a classic field of dual unionism.
There are at least a dozen organizations, all indepedent of each other
and all antagonistic towards one another. Consequently not more than
30% of the industry is organized. In this industry the need for amal-
gamation is a crying one. Recently the many independent unions tried
to amalgamate, but the movement only partially succeeded. The offi-
cials of several of the organizations, seeing that there was no chance
for them to be elected to official positions in the new amalgamated
body, got out injunctions against the latter organization and did every-
thing possible to prevent a general consolidation.
With this example in mind, the militants in the industry are now
proceeding upon a more fundamental plan. They have organized the
International Committee of the Shoe and Leather Industry. Its policy
differs from the old amalgamation program in the important respects
that it is based upon winning over the rank and file, not simply the
officialdom, to the necessity for amalgamation, and that it includes
the A. F. of L. unions as well as the independents. The International
Committee held its first national conference in Boston May 13th, where
definite plans were laid out to intensify the campaign for amalgamation
in every leather union and industrial center of the United States. In
its attitude towards the many unions in the shoe and leather industry,
the International Committee undertakes to put into effect the general
principles outlined by the T. U. E. L. for such complicated situations
where many unions exist in opposition to each other. The League's
statement follows :
Relations Between Rival Unions: Where, because of voluntary
withdrawals, mass expulsions, splits and secessions, or independent
organization, certain unions exist separated from the main mass unions
in their respective crafts or industries, the policy of the Trade Union
Educational League is as follows :
(a) Where the independent unions are weak in numbers and in-
fluence, consisting chiefly of militants, they shall work for re-affilia-
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tion with the stronger organizations in their industries, either as groups
or as individual members, and thus bring the militants into their proper
position among the organized masses.
(b) Where the independent unions are strong numerically and
actually function as mass organizations the League shall do its utmost
to upbuild and maintain them. But such unions shall not war against
the old organizations nor pull individual or local unions away from
them. In cases where two or more mass unions exist in an industry
in rivalry with each other, the League militants will remain in their
respective organizations and work to put into effect the following gen-
eral policies: (i) to bring about temporary adjustments of the juris-
dictional disputes between the affected organizations and to turn their
attention away from fighting each other and towards the organization
of the unorganized; (2) to carry on an energetic and persistent cam-
paign for amalgamation of all the rival unions, A. F. of L. and Inde-
pendents, into one industrial body.
THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY
The textile industry is one of the oldest in America. For 133
years it has been ruthlessly exploiting men, women, and children. A
low degree of organization prevails. Of the 1,000,000 workers in the
industry, not over ioo,ooo are organized. These are split up into fully
a score of unions, squabbling amongst themselves, and constructed ac-
cording to every known type. The employers, on the other hand, are
well organized and trustified. In no industry in America are the trade
unions so variegated and the workers so helpless and underpaid as in
the textile industry.
There is no outlook for the textile workers better than that of
slavery unless their great number of unions are brought together and
united. Long ago the employers quit the foolish policy of competi-
tion. Under the leadership of the General Amalgamation Committee
of the Textile Industry, which like the other similar bodies is a rank
and file proposition, the workers now are also carrying on an agita-
tion for one union of all textile workers. This Committee held its
first national conference in New York on May 5, 1923. In this industry
the workers are so demoralized and helpless that amalgamation will
be difficult to bring about. But the militants are going at the task
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with vigor and intelligence, and will soon bring order and solidarity
out of the present chaotic conditions.
THE MARINE INDUSTRY
A few years ago the marine transport industry was one of the
best organized in America. As a result of the war situation the Inter-
national Longshoremen's Association and the Seamen's International
Union built themselves into powerful organizations controlling most
of the workers in their respective branches. But incompetent leader-
ship, coupled with the inescapable weakness of craft unionism, has
wrecked these organizations. Since the war they have lost strike after
strike. Thousands and thousands' of their members quit in disgust and
gave up unionism altogether. Other thousands joined in secession
movements of various kinds. The general result is that the industry
is now split up into at least 30 organizations, all in rivalry with each
other. With such a demoralized front the marine workers are practi-
cally helpless, the employers having virtually a free hand in establish-
ing wages, hours, and working conditions.
In May, 1923, rank and file elements in these various organizations
of the marine industry have formed a Committee to propagate the
amalgamation of all the unions into one body. This is known as the
International Marine Workers' Amalgamation Committee. It is carry-
ing on an agitation in all the ports of the United States and Canada.
THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY
The same as in all other spheres, the amalgamation movement has
spread to the tobacco industry. For many years the cigarmakers were
labor aristocrats, being highly skilled mechanics. But industrial evolu-
tion has shaken them from their strategic position. The introduction
of the mold, the endless rubber belt, and machinery of various sorts,
which has enabled the employers to use unskilled and semi-skilled labor,
broke down the old craft monopoly. A further factor in weakening
the workers was the trustification of the industry and the building up
of tremendous reserve funds by the tobacco kings.
While this evolution of the industry was going on, the union failed
to keep pace. It clung tenaciously to the old outworn policies, with
the result that it has been practically shoved aside by the onward
march of industrial development. Only a small fraction of the in-
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dustry is organized, and the trade union officialdom is helpless to
do anything about it. In this crisis the rank and file are stirring.
They have organized the Amalgamation Committee for the Tobacco
Industry, and are advancing the program of consolidating the several
unions in the industry into one. They propose to renovate and revivify
the movement from top to bottom. Their program of reorganization
is thorough-going and complete.
THE COAL MINING INDUSTRY
Although the coal miners have an industrial union which takes in
all classes of workers employed in and around the mines, their ex-
perience of the past few years shows that they must seek to develop
still greater combinations. They have organized a rank and file com-
mittee known as the Progressive International Committee of the
United Mine Workers of America. In its general program occur the
following statements regarding amalgamation :
The Progressive Miners heartily endorse the movement to amal-
gamate all the craft unions of the country into a series of industrial
unions. In its early days the coal mining industry was afflicted with
craft unionism, but the miners saw fit to combine all their unions into
one organization to cover the whole industry. In the great fights that
have since occurred the industrial form of our union has stood us in
good stead. Had we been so organized that one part of the working
force remained at work while the rest were striking, we would have
been defeated and our organization broken up long ago. Speaking
from experience, we heartily recommend industrial unionism to the
labor movement as a whole, and we pledge ourselves to do whatever
we can to bring it about.
There must be created a real fighting alliance between the men
who dig the coal and those who haul it. This must not be a weak
affiliation such as exists at present, which produces merely an exchange
of friendly telegrams of sympathy when either group is on strike. The
miners and railroad workers must actually join forces for united action
and fight side by side in times of strikes.
The sentiment for amalgamation is rising rapidly in all the in-
dustries. As a result of the great "open shop" drive of the last few
years the workers are coming to understand more and more that the
old craft unions are helpless in the face of modern, highly-organized
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capitalism. The Trade Union Educational League, through its system-
atized work of education, is organizing and directing this sentiment
along practical lines. It has made amalgamation one of the burning
issues now before Organized Labor. As a result of its efforts several
International Unions, 14 State Federations, and countless city central
bodies and local unions have declared for amalgamation. The Amer-
ican labor movement is about to advance from its primitive condition
of craft unionism to a modern and effective state of industrial union-
ism. Only in this manner can it withstand the "open shop" and forge
ahead on its way to ultimate freedom. The list of amalgamation com-
mittees follows :
International Committee for Amalgamation in the Railroad Industry,
Otto H. Wangerin, Secretary-Treasurer,
411 Dakota Bldg., St. Paul, Minn.
International Committee for Amalgamation in the Metal Industry,
John Werlik, Secretary-Treasurer,
1432 So. Keeler Ave., Chicago, Ill.
International Committee of the Needle Trades Section, T. U. E. L.,
Joseph Zack, Secretary,
208 East 12th St., New York City.
International Committee for Amalgamation of the Building Trades,
Ed. Johnson, Secretary,
1o6 No. La Salle St., Room 41, Chicago, Ill.
International Committee for Amalgamation of the Printing Trades
Unions,
E. L. Lee, Secretary,
520 West 163rd St., New York City.
General Committee for the Amalgamation of All Unions in the Food
Industry,
V. H. Sundell, Secretary,
1114 Wellington Ave., Chicago, Ill.
International Amalgamation Committee of the Shoe and Leather In-
dustry,
J. Kassner, Secretary,
6o Pemberton Square, Room 31o, Boston, Mass.
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General Amalgamation Committee of the Textile Industry,
Albert Fleischer, Secretary,
208 East 12th St., New York City.
International Marine Workers' Amalgamation Committee,
Joseph Stone, Secretary,
208 East 12th St., New York City.
Amalgamation Committee for the Tobacco Industry,
C. J. Blockland, Secretary,
200 I St., South Boston, Mass.
Progressive International Committee of the United Mine Workers of
America,
Thos. Myerscough, Secretary,
35 Miller St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
All militants should get in touch with the Committees in their
respective industries.
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CHAPTER V.
DEPARTMENTALIZED INDUSTRIAL UNIONISM
A COMMON objection to amalgamation is the argument that the
industrial union will throw all the workers together in a general
mass, eliminating craft identity and thus creating a confusion and
general indifference among the rank and file that will weaken rather
than strengthen the organization. This would, indeed, be a vital ob-
jection were it true. But ,all over the world where such industrial
unions exist they are formed on the basis of departments, each of
which contains several closely-allied crafts. The League is urging this
same form here. In each industry there will be one organization
covering the whole body of workers, but this will be sub-divided into
sections or departments for the principal branches of the industry.
This will enable the respective trades to handle their particular prob-
lems efficiently and at the same time benefit from the strength of the
whole mass.
Thus, far from being a confused mixture, the departmentalized
industrial union will be a system of perfect order. Each department
will handle its own line of work efficiently, and all departments will
be blended together in the general organization through their repre-
sentatives on the national executive board. Compared with this modern
system of organization the present.craft unions, each going its separate
way and duplicating the union work of the industries as many as thirty
times, is confusion worse confounded. The departmentalized union
will be like an army, with its separate branches of artillery, cavalry, in-
fantry, etc., but all welded together into one powerful machine.
Under the industrial system of unionism the workers will obtain
tremendous power compared with the craft or federated form. Unity
of action will at all times be obtainable. There will be no craft or
departmental strikes without the absolute assurance that the whole
industrial union stands solidly behind them with the combined strength
of all. The painful spectacle of unions going down to defeat before
the onslaughts of combined capital, while allied unions stand by with
seeming indifference and give their fallen brothers no helping hand,
will be a thing of the past. Such preposterous unionism will be buried
so deep it will never be revived except 'n scornful memory. It will
then be difficult to imagine that the workers ever had such short-
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visioned, narrow-minded, self-centered unionism, as our present sys-
tem.
With the advent of departmentalized industrial unionism will come
many advantages. One will be the end of the dual union scourge.
Once industrial unionism is established all the workers, -regardless of
their other differences, will gravitate to the powerful organizations.
Likewise great financial economies will be made. The amount of money
and time wasted through the duplication of offices, officials, journals,
conventions, etc., in our craft unions is appalling. Let us consider the
metal industry as an example. In that great industrial division there
are 24 International Unions, maintaining 24 expensive headquarters,
with 24 high-salaried presidents, and 24 high-salaried secretaries to
adorn them. They publish 24 costly journals, and have 24 interna-
tional executive boards that keep the industry going 24 ways and
getting nowhere. They have 24 sets of organizers and their combined
work totals less than io% of the total workers in the, industry. They
hold 24 separate conventions, each one of which costs the workers
large sums of money. They have thousands of duplicate sets of local
officers, business agents, etc., at a tremendous cost. When these 24
unions are amalgamated all this wasteful duplication will be abolished
by the introduction of an efficient system of modern management.
There will be but one headquarters, one set of officers, one journal,
and one convention. Where chaos and wastefulness now exist, then
there will be order and economy. By combining their plants the mas-
ters of industry cut out such foolish wastefulness many years ago. It
is high time that Labor did the same.
But above all, departmentalized industrial unionism will give the
workers the power they now so badly need. The enormous strength
that the industrial unions will have is the big idea behind amalgama-
tion. At present the 24 metal trades unions, for example, are weak
and impotent through their hopeless division. But once they unite and
make a general assault on the "open shop" employers, headed by the
Steel Trust, they will be invincible. The same will be true of the
unions in the other industries. The capitalists rule not so much because
they are strong as because we are weak. When Labor learns to rise
above its petty craft point of view and to draw itself into great in-
dustrial batallions, then the domination of the exploiters will be doomed.
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The next great step in the workers' march to industrial freedom is the
formation of great departmentalized industrial unions in every in-
dustry.
Amalgamation will proceed in an orderly fashion. There need be
no violent disturbance of the existing organizations, with their long-
established customs, dues systems, etc. The /process can go ahead in
a steady progress. The first step in amalgamating the unions of an
industry will be to call a convention of all the unions agreeing to
amalgamate. These will resolve themselves into an industrial union, and
elect a general executive board to which all the unions taking part
turn over their international business. For the time being all these
unions will remain practically intact, each one becoming a department
in the amalgamated union. When other unions decide to come in they
simply elect their quotas of delegates to the general executive board
and take their places as departments in the big union. The proposi-
tion is simplicity itself. There is no suggestion of throwing the crafts
together in a confused mass.
This first step, by joining the unions under one head, accomplishes
the main aim of amalgamation by actually uniting the workers' forces.
Later on, when the workers come to thoroughly appreciate the value
of industrial organization, the final stage of amalgamation can be ac-
complished by a gradual standardization of dues and benefits systems,
and by a reduction in the number of departments. In the metal trades,
for example, the 24 craft departments will eventually be reduced to
five, in about the following order : Department No. i, to include metal
miners, smeltermen, and blast-furnace workers ; No. 2, iron, steel, and
tin workers ; No. 3, mechanical trades ; No. 4, unskilled workers ; No.
5, technical and clerical workers. In the railroad industry the i6 crafts
will eventually be cut to six departments, as follows : No. i, engineers
and firemen ; No. 2, conductors, brakemen, and switchmen ; No. 3,
telegraphers, signalmen, and dispatchers ; No. 4, clerks, station agents,
freight handlers, express and baggagemen ; No. 5, boilermakers, black-
smiths, machinists, electricians, carmen, sheet metal workers, station-
ary firemen ; No. 6, maintenance of way workers. The same principle
will apply to the other industries. With such departmentalized unions,
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the organized workers will be incomparably better fitted to develop
their full strength for the tasks in hand, whether these be the organ-
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DIAGRAM SHOWING THE PROCESS OF AMALGAMATION IN THE METAL
TRADES, CREATING A DEPARTMENTALIZED INDUSTRIAL UNION
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izing of the great masses of workers or the putting of pressure upon
the employers to secure a higher standard of life.
To the superficial observer amalgamation of the 16 standard rail-
road unions is the most critical of all the problems of the industrial-
ists. Many assert it to be quite impossible, due on the one hand to
the great differences in the amounts of dues paid by the members of
the various unions, and on the other hand to the fact that there are
six unions employed in the railroad service that are not basically rail-
road organizations. But both of these problems are capable of easy
solution once there is a real determination to amalgamate. Industrial
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DIAGRAM SHOWING THE PROCESS OF CREATING A DEPARTMENTALIZED
INDUSTRIAL UNION THROUGH AMALGAMATION IN THE RAILROAD
INDUSTRY
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unions in other countires have mastered both of them, and the same
thing can be done here.
As for the dues problem, that is readily solved through the depart-
mental system. In each department, if necessary, different scales of
dues and benefits can prevail. It is merely a technical problem such
as has been worked out by every life insurance companyfin the coun-
try. As for the unions that are not entirely railroad organizations,
the solution for them is that they will be affiliated two ways. The
machinists, for example, will be affiliated to the metal trades indus-
trial union, and also to the railroad union, paying part of their dues
to each organization. The railroad union, in order to secure united
action of the railroad workers, will have control of the strike activities
of the railroad machinists. This system of double affiliation has been
worked out by many big unions and proves thoroughly satisfactory.
There is no need nor intention to split the railroad metal trades in
order to bring about an industrial union of railroad workers.
The departmental plan of industrial unionism will be adopted in
all the industries, because it is the only scientific method of defending
the interests of the workers. It is the result of a crying need for a
system of organization that will meet the demands of modern indus-
trial evolution. The old clumsy method of each craft fighting its own
battle is as much out of place as would be an ox-cart service in com-
petition with modern railroads. Whether in the matter of economy
and efficiency of administration, or in the defense of the workers' in-
terests, departmentalized industrial unionism is incomparably superior
to our present primitive and outworn craft organizations.
THE TEST OF EXPERIENCE
The system of departmentalized industrial unionism, as above out-
lined, is not a new and untried theory by any means. Our European
brothers, who are far ahead of us in the matter of tactics and organ-
ization, have had such industrial unions for many years. For a long
time they have been amalgamating their original craft unions into de-
partmentalized bodies, with most satisfactory results. The English
railroad workers show us a very fine example in their National Union
of Railwaymen. This amalgamated union embraces all classes of rail-
road workers. It is divided into four departments which, giving the
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various crafts ample representation, function with harmony, order, effi-
ciency, and service as their outstanding features. Since its formation
upon the departmental plan in 1913, the N. U. R. has made remarkable
progress in combining the railroad workers of Great Britain. Other
samples of this type of union are the Transport and General Workers'
Union, the Amalgamated Engineers' Union, and the Federation of
Building Trades Operatives.
In Germany, industrial unionism has reached a higher degree of
development than anywhere else. The Metal Workers' Union is the
largest industrial union in the world. It has a membership of 1,800,000,
and it covers all branches of the metal industry. It has numerous
departments through which all the different trades function and have
their being as integral parts of the big whole. The entire departmental
system of this giant combination of metal workers operates with
smoothness and efficiency. The Metal Workers' Union was con-
structed by a series of amalgamations of primitive craft unions that
once struggled along individually as our own are still doing. In
Austria the workers have declared for the combination of their craft
unions into industrial organizations, and in Australia this is now a
practical fact. Twelve industrial unions contain about all the workers
of Belgium. The Scandinavian workers are re-adjusting their craft
unions upon an industrial basis. The work of amalgamation is going
on all over the world. Only in America is it lagging.
The American capitalists lead the world for enterprise, daring,
and militant progressiveness. The American labor movement leads
the world in the opposite directions. It is fully 30 years behind the
times in its ideas and organization structure. Its officialdom has per-
sistently remained capitalistic and has tied the labor unions to the
chariot of industrial despotism. This bond must be broken and Labor
released from the thralldom of capitalist thought by the sturdy mili-
tants who are now assembling under the banner of the Trade Union
Educational League. The accomplishment of departmentalized indus-
trial unionism through amalgamation is the first and most important
step in this great work of emancipation.
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AMALGAMATION 41
T HE Trade Union Educational League occupies a unique place in
the labor movement. It was born out of the need of the American
labor movement for a stimulant that would vitalize it into life and
activity. It is the first attempt to carry education to the heart of the
trade union movement in a systematic and organized manner. Deserted
by the radical element for so many years, the trade unions have stag-
nated and stood still, while the organization of industry and the cap-
italist system has gone on rapidly. Especially has the leadership of
labor degenerated, until today it is the laughing-stock of the unionists
of the world. The American labor movement, as exemplified by its
official leadership, has become a stagnant pool, conservative, capital-
istic, and reactionary to the last degree. It is the function of the
League, through the organization of the militants, to change all this
and to put our labor movement where it rightfully belongs, in the fore-
front of the world labor war for the emancipation of the toilers of all
lands.
Organized in Chicago in November, 1920, the League now (June,
1923) covers every industrial city and town in the United States and
Canada with its groups of militants. The charge made by Mr. Gom-
pers that the League was imported from Russia to destroy the Amer-
ican labor movement is definitely refuted by the fact that it already
has a long history in this country. Its earliest forerunner was the
Syndicalist League of North America, organized in 1912. This body,
formed according to the principles of French Syndicalism, was designed
to crystallize militant sentiment in the trade union movement. But
the dual union idea being generally prevalent at the time, it died after
two years' struggle for existence. The next effort was the Interna-
tional Trade Union Educational League, formed in 1916. For the
same reason, the dominance of dual union tactics, this organization
also died shortly. It was only with the foundation of the present
League that a receptive field was at hand for the organization of the
militants in the mass unions generally.
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The Trade Union Educational League is a revolutionary organ-
ization. It holds that the capitalist system, because of the contradic-
tions in itself, not only exploits and robs the workers but must also
lead to such a collapse that it will have to be replaced by a new so-
ciety in which the principle of production for use, not for profit, shall
prevail. The League subscribes to the formation of a Workers' Re-
public. It advocates the dictatorship of the proletariat, which means
that none but the hand and brain workers, industrial and agricultural,
should rule society. To this end one of its chief aims is to propagate
revolutionary ideals amongst the masses. Upon all occasions it seeks
to point out the injustices and incompetencies of the present industrial
and political system, and to indicate the only remedy, the abolition of
the capitalist system and the establishment of the rule of the workers.
The League gives its heartiest support to Soviet Russia, the first at-
tempt of the world's workers to put their inspiring and scientific pro-
gram into effect.
In the preparation of the working class for its inevitable role of
controlling production and society generally, the League does all in
its power to strengthen the various types of labor activity and organ-
ization. Above all it stresses the necessity for the most compact organ-
ization possible on the industrial field. It condemns the present primi-
tive system of craft unionism and demands a complete reorganization
of the labor movement upon an industrial basis. Its campaign in this
direction is meeting with wonderful success. Amalgamation has now
become, because of the League's efforts, the principal issue before the
labor movement. Great numbers of organizations have endorsed its
program, including 14 State Federations of Labor, 7 International
Unions, scores of central labor councils, and thousands of local unions.
The establishment of industrial unionism in America is a project for
the very near future. As a first step, the League is advocating the
consolidation of the crafts in the various industries into single unions,
each of which shall cover an industry. But the evolution will not stop
there. The process of amalgamation must go on unceasingly until,
finally, industrial unionism has become class unionism, and the whole
mass of Labor has been brought into one army under one head. With
one common interest and one common goal, the whole working class
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must be so organized that it can move- as a unit against the ex-
ploiters.
Together with an industrialized labor movement, the League strives
for a strong political organization of the workers. It advocates the
class struggle and condemns the principle of class collaboration,
whether on the industrial or political field. The Gompers policy, which
has been forced upon the labor movement as a whole, has not only
reduced the workers to a political zero in the various legislative bodies,
but it has also been the means of poisoning the unions with capitalistic
economics and corruption. The building up of a militant labor party
is one of the most important necessities of the labor movement. In
this work the League is doing yeoman service. It is carrying the fight
on this issue into local and national unions everywhere and defeating
the reactionaries. One of its most important propaganda feats was
the taking of a referendum vote on the subject of independent working
class political action, among 35,000 local unions. The further progress
of Labor in this country awaits the development of a great party of
the working class.
The Trade Union Educational League is bitterly opposed to the
policy of national isolation set up by the reactionary labor bureaucracy
in Washington. Mr. Gompers is so lily-white capitalistic that he re-
fused to continue association even with the pale-pink Amsterdam In-
ternational of Trade Unions. The latter made some mild statement
which he interpreted as socialistic. That was enough. He immediately
issued a manifesto denouncing it and withdrawing our affiliation. Conse-
quently our movement stands isolated from association with the work-
ers of Europe and the world. On the basis that capitalism is world-
wide in scope and that the fight of the workers, to be successful, must
therefore encompass the toilers of every nation, the Trade Union Edu-
cational League demands and is working for the affiliation of our labor
movement to the fighting organization of the world's workers, the Red
International of Labor Unions.
iew type of militant leadership for the labor movement is an-
plank in the general platform of the League. As things now
in the trade unions, the leadership is a disgrace and a tragedy
workers. workers. Our present trade union officials, with few exceptions,
` )verbearing and tyrannical with the workers and subservient and
9 towards the capitalists. They are, overpaid, unimaginative, ignor-
'It too often, corrupt. They must be replaced by fighters, men
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44 AMALGAMATION
who know what the class struggle is and who have the courage to
fight it through to its inevitable conclusion. The raising of the stand-
ard of American labor leadership is one of the greatest tasks being
undertaken by the League.
THE LEAGUE ORGANIZATION
The Trade Union Educational League is based upon the principle
of organizing the militants in all mass trade unions, A. F. of L. and
independent alike. Its policy is the reverse of that of the old-time
dual unionists who advocated pulling the militants out of these masses
and forming them into little separate groups. The League is not a
dual union in any sense of the word. It is purely an educational or-
ganization. It issues no membership cards, collects no dues, and gives
out no charters. To join it all that is necessary is to belong to some
mass labor union, accept the principles of the League, and subscribe
to its official organ, THE LABOR HERALD. This journal, published
monthly, is one of the best in this country; it is brimful of timely
articles, bristling comment and international labor news.
The system of organization adopted by the League follows the
industries in its general make-up. In each industrial center it has a
group whose members are drawn from the different craft unions in
all industries. These local general groups carry on the educational
work generally in the various centers. Nationally, in the several in-
dustries there are also committees. 'These have been described else-
where in this pamphlet. They encompass all the militants in their
several industries and superintend the work of education. Further the
League divides itself into four districts, Eastern States, Central States,
Western States, and Canada. Conferences are held from time to time
by each of the National Industrial Sections, and also by the four dis-
tricts. The League itself holds general conferences yearly. The organ-
ization is financed by voluntary contributions of individuals and local
unions, by the sale of literature, and through the Sustaining Fund.
Every worker who has his own best interests at heart ajjr
understands the problem of the labor struggle should join ban(, 'Phthe League. It is a forgone conclusion that there is no hope fo:.; 0
American working class organized as it now is. We are at the all
lute mercy of the bosses. Owning the jobs and controlling the Goveri,
ment they can sit back and dictate the terms of work. Our orga
tions, political and industrial, are too weak to withstand th- Th,
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The whole movement must be reorganized and regenerated according
to the League's plan. This fact is so self-evident that one can hardly
imagine .ktelligent workers holding off for long from starting into this
work of preserving and building up the labor movement. We have
come to a parting of the ways. One way, the way of inaction, leads
surely 'o "open shopism" and slavery. The other, the way of militant
activity, leads to stronger organization and finally to freedom. It is
up to us. We hold our social destiny in our own hands.
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Militants!
Help forward the cause of Amalgamation.
and Labor's progress generally.
This pamphlet should be in the hands of
every worker.
o=
Every local union should order copies for its
entire membership. See that this is done.
Liberal commissions paid to agents.
Be our representative in your town..
BATES (Postage Prepaid)
Single Copies - - - 15 cent per Copy
Orders of 10 to 200 - 10 cent per COPY
BPEOIAL BATES TO AGENTS
ALL OBDEBB PAYABLE, IN ADVANf3E
Bend Remittances to the
Trade Union Educational
League
106 N. La Salle St. Chicago, Illinois
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READ
THE LABOR HERALD
A Constructive, Militant
Monthly Labor Magazine
WM. Z. FOSTER, Editor
Subscription $1.50 per year
OFFIMAL ORGAN OF THE
Trade Union Educational
,League
106 N. La Salle St. Chicago, Illinois
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