N

EIL GORDON'S remark (in "Whither Russia" -September Industrial Pioneer) regarding the resolution of the "Transport and General Workers' Union Conference" in Great Britain that "a world-wide transport workers' union could prevent international war" is good advice. He says it is worthy of deep reflection. It is and ought to be made use of for the building of such an organization as soon as possible.

Let us look over the various anti-war nostrums and consider especially those advertised as immediate preventions. Being situated as before the war, with national groups balancing, we must be ready to cope with and vanquish potential imperialistic incendiaries, who are capable of starting another conflagration at any time.

We may thus eliminate as impossible of expedite accomplishment the removal of the fundamental cause of war, competitive world commerce. Also

let us put down as undesirable any league, of even all the civilized nations whose constituents are largely selected by respective governments (as are diplomats), instead of being elected by the people. It would certainly be used mostly as a club in the hands of the reactionary classes and function as does the Supreme Court of the U. S. A. To the world-court idea, of course, the same argument applies, and as such preachments as the referendum by the peoples are unreliable and practically infeasible, there remains just one worth-while proposition that will make bloody old Mars impotent for the present and spoil any come-back on his part, viz.: A Workers' Anti-War International.

Only those are apt to pull together whose interests coincide.

Omaha, Nebr., August 28.

H. MELL

Sir Thomson and

HE workers often sit in open-mouthed

of capitalist greatness. These tales are told, quite modestly, by the capitalists themselves. To hear them tell it they are the only real and true blue industrial wonder workers of the world. That is, they would gladly have the workers believe that they are the great inventors, scientists and discoverers of modern times. And that, thanks to their initiative and enterprise, the world is on the high road to paradisical happiness and boundless perfection.

However, in the unpolished language of the day, "that's all bull". The capitalists are not what they "crack"themselves up to be. Their scientists, inventors and discoverers are hired men. These hired men get fabulous salaries (at least, in print), like Steinmetz's $100,000 a year. But they are hired men, nevertheless. As for capitalist initiative and enterprise-why, that's to laugh!

In the "General Electric Review" for July appears the address of Sir Joseph J. Thomson before the Schenectady research laboratory of the General Electric company. This celebrated scientist, himself a salaried employe of the British government, was telling his fellow salaried scientists in the employ of America's giant electric corporation, about research laboratories in England, and how they came to be established there. Says he, "The Government came in, and they established a body, of which I am a member, and placed very considerable sums of money at our disposal,

form a research laboratory for the whole industry?' Well, that has been a sufficient inducement for research laboratories to be established, and I think in between 25 and 30 different industries."

Here's governmental beginnnings, supplication and inducement-where's capitalist initiative and enterprise? And we'll wager that the scientists in the employ of the General Electric Company have to initiate, supplicate and induce the financiers in control of that mammoth corporation to get a move on, too. It's the nature of the beast. He's "got to be shown" and it's always somebody else besides himself who does the showing before he initiates or embarks on any enterprise.

The only thing creditable about capitalists is the way they have reduced lying to a fine art.

DOCTORS DISAGREE

The usual differences of opinion that proceed every great depression is noticeable among capitalist authorities and writers. Some contend that "the fundamental conditions are sound;" and berate the speculators for their behavior in hammering down stocks.

On the other hand, Babson warns that the low wages forced by militarist governments on European workers are already shutting down American factories, and precipitating a crash.

And so it goes. Where doctors disagree it's wise for the patient to look out for himself.

T

HE government can always be relied upon to support those who own and control the industries and natural resources in any controversy with labor.

This is not primarily due to the fact that those who administer the different branches of the government are crooked or corrupt, but to the inherent function of any government, to defend the social and economic system under which it exists, and of which it is the most accurate reflection.

The relation of the government to the body politic is the relation of a pair of hands to the physical body of the individual. No matter how reprehensible or devoid of justice is the conduct of the individual, yet it is impossible to amputate his arms, graft them on the injured party and use them as a means of rectifying an injury done. Likewise is it impossible to amputate the arms of the body politic, graft them on an organization opposed to the social system it represents and use them as a weapon with which to combat that system.

With these philosophical facts in view, we can read "The Government,-Strikebreaker," by Jay Lovestone, a record of the government's activities in strikes and industrial controversies; and recognize these activities as a normal function of present day government and not necessarily as a result of wicked or corrupt men in office.

The War Period

The book commences with the war period, when the government considered it advisable and convenient to foster and support trade unionism under the guidance and control of a reactionary officialdom, and, as the author observes, in times of war, it is far more convenient to deal with groups of workers held in check by officialdom than with individually discontented workers.

But Big Business was not asleep. Its leaders, though finding it expedient to deal temporarily with labor unions, were preparing to destroy the labor organizations that the war period made necessary, as soon as we had established freedom and democracy in Germany.

Immediately following the armistice. this country witnessed some of the biggest strikes in history, the steel and coal strikes; and therein the government played its true role. The injunction, the army and police were used against the strikers and the then Chief Executive and his attorney- general declared the coal strike illegal, resorting to a few clever sophistries, typical of the politician, to this end.

The Depression

After the short period of war prosperity that followed the armistice, a period of depression set in and with it an open shop drive. initiated and pushed by Big Business. Therein took place the most aggressive and concerted movement to destroy all forms of labor organization in the history of Amer

ica. Due to the craft division and disunion in the ranks of labor, this campaign was successful to a great degree; and though this drive has reached its apex it has not entirely subsided as yet; and, what is more, is likely to break out with increased violence with the end of the present temporary prosperity.

In contrast to labor, Big Business and employers in general, showed no lack of solidarity, as one of their secret circulars indicates. When an employer started a drive on a union, he had the support of the the entire employing class, backed by the big financial interests, acting through the Open Shop Association. The difference in method between Capital and Labor, in this respect, is, no doubt, the main reason for the success of the open shop drive. A divided force is always inferior to a compactly organized one.

These Open Shop organizations, always chanting their hypocritical songs of liberty and fair play, resort to the low and sneaking method of sending spies and undercover men into the unions, to single out the active workers for the blacklist and jail. This, too, is evidenced by one of their secret circulars.

Figures on Effects

A few figures on the effects of the last depression on both the working and the employing class are cited by the author. They are highly illuminating. January, 1922, the highest number of business failures, 2,723, hit the peak as the largest amount of interest and dividend payments were made, totaling $359,800,000. In 1921, the average monthly payments to security holders totalled $296,000,000. Taking 1913 as a normal year this was an increase of 100 per cent.

A survey by the author of 29 leading corporations showed that many corporations fared better in 1921, a year of depression, than they did in 1920, a prosperity year.

Circumventing Arbitration

These totals signify two things, one, an indication of what's happening to our friend, Mr. Small Business Man; and two, a demonstration of the fact, that with bankruptcy, unemployment and plenty of cheap labor on hand, as a consequence of them, hard times are not necessarily hard on large corporations; in fact, are even good times for them.

The author exposes the claims of propagandists, that wages have risen to an extraordinary high level, by showing that, considering real wages, or the actual purchasing power of nominal wages, wages have actually declined since 1910. His analysis is based on data published by the Federated Council of Churches, Catholic Welfare Council and Mr. Basil Manly, joint chairman of the War Labor Board during the world-war.

That employers have also a convenient method of circumventing arbitration, when unfavorable decis

ions are rendered, is also shown, when recounting the history of the packing workers' strike. Then an application for wage reduction was made by the packers to Arbitrator Judge Altuschler. It was denied on the ground that conditions in the industry, or the cost of living, did not warrant the cut. The company, thereupon, turned round, organized a company union, cut the wages and had the same approved by their farcical creature.

Of course, there was no outcry against this all too palpable violation of the arbitrator's decisions from either the press, or any other thought regulating institution. But we should, nevertheless, recollect that it was the packers and not the packing house workers who broke their pledges to abide by the arbitrator's decisions. That changes the nature of the act-according to capitalist ethics of victory at any cost.

There is a large degree of unity and control amongst the employing interests. According to the author, the Steel Trust controls 75 per cent of the anthracite and bituminous output. Twenty-five men control 82 per cent of the steam railroad systems operating 211,280 miles. These 25 men divide among themselves 193 directorships and sit together on the board of directors of 99 class 1 railroads. Against such highly centralized control the trade union' has as much chance as an army equipped with the muskets of a hundred years ago, has against a modern army equipped with airplanes and dirigibles. The results of the last three years are eloquent confirmation of the inadequacy of existing labor organizations to meet the highly organized capitalism of America.

Partiality of Courts

The partiality of courts towards capital, in labor disputes is another phase of the subject touched upon by the writer of "The Government,-Strikebreaker." He cites numerous decisions in which the dispensers of justice invariably favored property rights against human rights. And the same with the newspapers. In his interesting survey of them, the author finds them also on the side of the capitalists. Of course, these virtue-draped harlots always appear to be guided by what they term public interest, instead of any material interest to themselves, or their owners, who are invariably, men connected with big capitalist interests.

In conclusion, the author urges the formation of a Labor Party as a step towards the elimination of these disreputable social conditions. This appears contradictory; as at the outset of "Government,Strikebreaker," the author starts out with the hypothesis that government is a committee of managers for the affairs of the capitalist class. That it is, in brief, a reflex of capitalist ownership and control. If such is the case, what difference does it make who the committee men are? They must reflect dominant economic ownership, i. e., interests. A plea for a Labor party is an implication that government is an impartial body for the regulation of the affairs of society; instead of a reflection of economic ownership and control. It also implies

that government is being subverted by corrupt politicians, so that all that is needed is the election of lily-white Laborites, who will restore government to its "natural" impartiality. What illogic! and what nonsense!!

The belief that a labor party would be any different than any other party in the administration of government is not only theoretically untenable, but practically impossible. For wherever the laborites have been given power, as in Australia, England, Germany, Milwaukee, U. S. A., they have found it impossible to overcome the dominance of capitalist ownership and control. The workers must first get economic power wherewith to change economic ownership, before they can be real, not imaginary, political factors. All else is a pipe-dream. But though the author of "The Government,Strikebreaker" is a failure when he attempts to prescribe remedies, as a historian of contemporaneous events he is exceptionally praiseworthy. It is this feature, its history of current facts, that makes his book interesting and worth-reading.

J

UST at a moment when the I. W. W. has given a fresh demonstration of its growing strength and activity, there appears again an insistent demand for a more comprehensive pronouncement of its principles and philosophy. The cataclymic defeats visited upon those sections of organized workers in the labor movement who were supposed to be strategically and numerically the strongest, = namely, the shop craftsmen on the railroads and the coal miners, had thrown the great body of workers organized and unorganized alike, into a state of confusion. The subsequent activities of [ the I. W. W., coming as they did when the outlook for labor was painfully uncertain, again jolted the workers, this time to a realization that the exploiters of labor were not by any means invincible and could, if properly but firmly handled, be made to grant innumerable concessions to the workers of America.

A

The peculiar circumstances accompanying this ebb and flow in the fortunes of labor, accentuated to an extraordinary degree, discussions on the potentialities of the philosophy, principles and tactics of the I. W. W.

Startling the Watch Dogs

The measure of success attending the big strikes of the I. W. W. on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the construction and lumber camps thruout the West, startled the watchdogs of capitalism, press, pulpit and pedagogue into a hectic activity. Each and every incident, big and small, came in for its share of criticism, the more important or unusual exciting the admiration or hostility of individuals or interests emotionally or economically affected.

Outside of provoking a further interest in the I. W. W., the discussions contained little of permanent value. Many were frankly ridiculous, displaying an appalling ignorance of the I. W. W. or the part that it is to play in the fight for Labor's emancipation. The New York preacher who, reacting emotionally to the activities of the I. W. W. in closing the bootlegging establishments in Portland, Tacoma and Seattle for the duration of the strike in defiance of the authorities called upon the I. W. W. to proceed to New York and perform a similar act in the Gotham village, merely lived up to the reputation of his kind and demonstrated a lack of understanding of the forces under

D lying social progress. The I. W. W. clamped on the lid on the "blind pigs" not out of a holy regard for the people's moral but because of sheer economic necessity. Economic necessity is the motivating force back of all the activities of the I. W. W. The form of organization adopted by the I. W. W., the unsocial tactics used in its strikes and the principles upon which it is organized, all grew out of the conflicting economic interests of master and slave. This clash between classes, master class

and slave class, employing class and working class provides the reason for the existence and the philosophy of the I. W. W.

Want Amid Abundance

The workers are ever in want in a world of abundance while the wealthy and prosperous overlords of industry enjoy the fruits of the labors of working men, women and children. In the words of a contemporary "The road to prosperity is never trodden by the feet of the man who does the actual work. The man who lives in ease and luxury is the man who farms the farmer and works the worker. At no time in the world's history has the man who actually produced wealth been wealthy or even well fed or housed or clothed. Hence the premium of the present system is upon the man who is 'too strong to work.' His strength lies in his will to evade labor and to compel others to labor for him. Of the struggle to change that, comes all 'the unrest of today'." By a process, shrewd and clever, the employers of labor have succeeded in not only withdrawing from the workers that which they (the workers) have produced, but have persuaded them that robbery in this instance is perfectly alright. During periods of industrial turmoil, the effect of this deception becomes evident.

The miners believe that the coal "operators" are entitled to a profit, and in their inability to see that the "profits" of a coal "operator" (who occupies his time operating a golf stick, not a coal mine), are a part of the total wealth produced by the workers, lies the cause of all the lost strikes. The railroader, be he engineer, gandy dancer or shop craftsman, believes in the sacredness of contract and the bosses, by waving a bit of parchment, can get them to scab one another back into the slave pens. A contract is nothing more than an agreement entered into between the workers and the masters, whereby the workers agree to submit themselves for exploitation over a period of time without interruption. As if there could be anything sacred in this. The railroad workers, too, believe that profits are justified and always seek to be "fair" to the owners of the various railroad systems, submitting to wage cuts and running their strikes in a half-hearted manner as if they were doing something that is morally and ethically wrong. The daily newspapers are frequently commenting on the transportation problem, throwing out dark hints (to the workers) of the coming bankruptcy of the railroads.

Bad Effects of Craft Reasoning

The workers fall for this stuff and are humbled accordingly. "What chances have we", they reason illogically, to be sure, "of getting better wages and working conditions, if the owners themselves are losing money?" and they suffer in silence, protesting only when human endurance reaches the

breaking point.. All the while the high moguls of transportation are busy evolving schemes to displace thousands of workers by developing the "trunk system" thus dispensing with branch lines and using motor trucks as feeders and short distance carriers. In every industry labor-saving devices are constantly being introduced, undermining the skill of the individualist and throwing thousands of workers into the ranks of the unemployed. Still the workers desire to be "fair," fair to a class that is always heaping abuse upon abuse, throwing misery and despair into the ranks of the gullible slaves.

The American Labor movement, confronted on every side with industrial development, is slow to respond. Even the crushing "open shop" drive of the one big union of the bosses, the Chambers of Commerce, found the workers on the defensive.

The A. F. of L., with its head of ivory and feet of clay, neither desired to do more than make a pretense at resistance nor yet stand erect upon its own ground. It was and still is too much a creature of Wall Street to be of service to the workers. When the answer to the "open shop" "no union" drive was "more and ever more union" it replied by stifling discussion within its ranks and with threats of expulsion upon those who sought to remould the A. F. of L. to meet modern requirements. The passing of years has found the A. F. of L. more frankly and openly against the workers, even going so far as to express an admiration for the "open shop," in preference to an industrial organization of the workers. The A. F. of L., rather than submit to a reorganization would expel every union affiliated with it and become an instrument and an adjunct of the "company union" inclinations of the employing class. It is well, however, to remember that the A. F. of L. is not the American Labor Movement but only a pitiable manifestation of it. It offers to the workers a perpetuation not an ending to the present brutal system of wage slavery. It does not seek to organize the workers, and where the workers themselves express determination to organize in spite of everything, it steps in wherever possible and tries to strangle the new endeavor or turn it along the sterile pathway of craft unionism.

Segregation Conscious Disorganization

The segregating of miners into districts, the railroad workers into shop craftsmen and brotherhoods with further subdivisions, are but a few indications along this line and constitute a conscious and a deliberate attempt at a disorganization of the forces of labor. The A. F. of L. will, with the aid of the scab, the thug and the boss's blacklist, resist every attempt to reorganize in those industries where they for the time being have a measure of jurisdiction.

Reorganization will, however, proceed in spite of this.. The only way out of the wilderness of wage slavery with its concomitant evils of poverty, prostitution and ill health is thru an economic or

ganization of the working class. The workers must organize as workers with the barriers of race and religion no longer hampering them in their efforts toward freedom. They must organize to secure control of the means of producing the necessaries of life and forever put an end to a vicious system of exploitation of one man by another. The fight will be bitter and far-reaching in its effects.

Let us hearken to the words of a wise man, one who is himself apparently sick of this degrading system.

"One reason the world has moved forward so slowly is because the people have been deadened with too much work. Thinking is the only thing that gets us ahead." "The world was made for all of us instead of for some of us, and things must be arranged to fit the average human being." (Henry Ford).

The appeal of the I. W. W. is to workers who think. The great body of workers are too weary and work worn, too deadened intellectually to figure out the intricate workings of this class struggle. But they can be shown, and learning, will respond. Without them the goal is impossible of attainment and so to the intelligent workers the I. W. W. says "Come, join in the big fight for freedom; line up in the I. W. W. and bend with a vim and determination to end the era of wage slavery!"

MOVING BACKWARDS

Another reaction! The New York Leader, once the New York Call, is now, more than ever before, an AFL organ. One of its leading articles is headed "AFL Sounds Call for Democracy in Industry!" No doubt the New York pressmen, who, much against their will, were driven back into the clutches of big capitalism by the AFL will appreciate both the Leader and AFL "democracy in industry" over much. But what would you have? A liberal newspaper that would sooner be right than conventional?