to hold office for two consecutive years. .1 In the entire absence of coercion they yet expect no conflict of interests. There will be co-operation under a government in which sovereignty is vested in the individual. They want "liberty". When the individual is free to develop his powers, he will live and work in freedom, and no man's hand will be against his brother. Their conviction on this point is summed up in the following statement: "The I. W. W. is composed of free souls to whom liberty is a religion and 2 individualism a reality. This ideal is criticised by the W. I. I. U. as follows: "The goal of the W. I. I. U. differs from that of the I. W. W. in contemplating a highly centralized and co-ordinated form of social control of production and public service, instead of aiming at a decentralized Anarcho-Syndicalism. The goal of the I. W. W., so far as it can be said to have any, is ownership and management of different industries by the workers engaged therein, independently of one another so far as such a system would be conceivable at all. The W. I. I. U. holds that the goal of the I. W. W., even if it could be realized, would be nothing but confusion and anarchy."3 Yet I. W. W.'s confidently expect order, peace, and plenty because of industrial patriotism and the perfectibility of human nature. They strive to develop an intense 1. Constitution of I.W.W., By-Laws, Article XII. 3. Industrial Union News, Jan. 3, 1920. I.w.W.'s deny that their goal includes the ownership of different industries by the workers engaged therein, See above. spirit of solidarity, of patriotism to the working class. With I. W. W.'s, this is a cardinal principle. Differences of color and language are no obstacle to them. In their organization, all workers, be they Caucasian, Mongolian, or Negro, are all on the same footing. An injury to one is an injury to all, they say, and members are taught loyality to one another. In the face of the use of injunctions, militia, and bull pens, they affirm that "it will be possible to make the use of injunctions and the militia so costly that the capitalist will „1 not use them. They have been thrown into jail by the hundreds; they have been clubbed senseless, deported from their homes, maimed and killed, and they utilize persecution to fan the flame of class patriotism. Once victory is attained, a higher plane of civilization will be achieved and human nature will improve. Haywood says, "Human psychology will change if given an opportunity."2 Under the new society people "will grow, physically, intel 3 4 lectually, and morally." Haywood believes that with responsibility placed upon the individual his conception of his responsibilities will increase. In other words, an ethical transformation will take place which will develop social responsibility. The wage system of exploitation, so another I. W. W. contends, destroys both the individuality of the worker and his sense of social responsibility. "Our ultimate goal," he says, "is an ethical transformation - a transformation in the 1. Vincent St. John, "Political Parties and the I. W. sense of duty and, since men's ideas are determined by the way they obtain their living, our way to the ultimate of our purposes lies in an economic transformation.......Industrial Democracy.....would mutualize the interests of mankind. It would co-ordinate our productive efforts and completely adjust us to the prevailing industrial process. In fact, industry would then be a completely social process, and, being such, would fully develop the sense of social responsibility, which would mean that our world would be as it should be in economic, in social, in ethical harmony. We come back again to the ancient idea of mutual service as the driv- ing force in human affairs, and the practical translation of that idea into fact will be.....The Industrial Democracy."l 3. Tactics Against the Employer "Direct action" assumes interesting forms, characteristic of the I. W. W. They will sign no time contracts with employers. When strikes are used, they aim to strike when employers can least afford a cessation of work during the 2 busy season and when there are rush orders to be filled. They do not believe in long drawn out strikes. "Failing to force concessions from the employers by the strike, work is resumed and a more favorable time awaited to force the employers to concede the demands of the workers." The idea 3 1. Abner Woodruff, in One Big Union Monthly, June, 1919. 2. Vincent St. John, "The I..., Its History, Structure and Methods," 18. 3. Ibid. |