Socialists elected twelve members of the council. In the Several strikes were inaugurated in Uruguay, in sympathy with the striking railway and transport workers of Argentina. As a result of the strike an eight-hour law was declared by the government. Two Socialists sit in the National Legislature of Uruguay. "Several strikes took place in Chile where the Socialist movement is growing rapidly and is supported by the labor organization." A split in the Socialist movement of Mexico occurred at the convention of the Socialist Party in the fall of 1919, when a seceding faction organized the Communist Party. The split is attributed to the undue influence exercised by the representatives of the A. F. L. in Mexico, who are also members of the Socialist Party. Two Pan-American Congresses took place in 1918 and 1919. The first of these was a Pan-American Labor Conference at Laredo, Texas, in November, 1918. It was under the patronage of the American Federation of Labor and was attended by delegates of the labor unions of Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Salvador, and Colombia. The sequel to this was a Congress in New York in July, 1919. In both cases, the South American and the Central American delegates showed signs of radical tendencies and socialistic and, at times, communistic ideas, which led the American delegates of the Federation of Labor to show a lack of sympathy with a part of the proceedings, which did not please the Mexican delegate, J. de Borran, who complained of the reactionary character of the A. F. of L. in a communication to the New York "Call." Of quite a different character was the first Pan-American Socialist and Labor Congress, which met at Buenos Aires, Argentina, between April 26th and May 1st, 1919. The representatives of the American Socialist Party could not be present, as they were denied passports. The countries represented were Chile, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay. The Socialist member of Parliament of Argentina, Dr. Bravo, was made President. The Congress showed its communistic tendencies by the messages it sent to the revolutionary proletariats of Russia, Germany and Hungary. It passed resolutions elaborating a very detailed program of economic and social and even political character. It established a permanent labor and socialist secretary at Buenos Aires, charged with the interests of the Socialist and labor movement in America, and empowered to select the time and place of the next congress. It must be noted that the Argentine Socialist Party was represented at the Berne conference by two delegates, Drs. Tomasso and Justo. To complete the picture of the circumstances and the results of the strikes during 1919, which were referred to above, we must add that the strikers in Lima and Callao, Peru, in January, 1919, demanding an eight-hour day and a 50 per cent. increase in wages, were successful in obtaining from the government an eight-hour day decree and the designation of the Supreme Court as arbitrator in labor disputes. But in the course of the strike there was great disorder. The strikers were shot and arrested and troops were used to quell the disturbance. In connection with the disturbances among the miners in Chile in December, 1918, the President, in discussing martial law, spoke of the disorders as provoked "by Bolsheviks who have managed to reach the country." This connection of I. W. W., Russian or other alien agitators, with the South American labor troubles, is generally considered to be more a fact in the case of the Argentine troubles, where the strikes, curiously enough, broke out at about the same time as the Peruvian strikes, both in and near Buenos Aires. The strike involved not only industrial workers, but almost every branch of municipal employees; martial law was declared and machine guns were used against the workers in street fights. The strike of the harbor workers was the most difficult to settle, and here again was seen the hand of the International agitators. There is the beginning of an extensive Bolshevist agitation in Central America centered in Guatemala, looking toward a union of the five republics in a single communistic state. SECTION II AMERICAN CONDITIONS-AN HISTORICAL REVIEW Sub-section 1. Socialist Movement in America. 2. Anarchist Movement in America. 3. Revolutionary Industrial Unionism. 4. Socialist Propaganda in Educated Circles.. [499] 503 839 871 967 1143 |