The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1877-06-16
THE CRUSADE AGAINST TRADES
UNIONS.

1t is clear that capital intends if possible,
to annihilate the trades unions. Assaults
are being made upon them in all directionsr
and the unions generally go down in the
conflict. One by one the defences Of labor
against capital are being demolished, and
year by year labor is driven down lower
in the scale Of humanity. The invention
of labor saving appliances has heen one
cause of the weakness of unions. Very
few men are now taught trade, in the
old meaning Of the term. Almost all
trades have teen revolutionized and
skilled labor is less and less in demand.
Machinery and raw hands have supplauted
1t. Men change from Ole occupation to
another, according to wages or the demand
for labor. Consequently men have no
particular trade, and no special inducement
to join any particular union. 1t j. in
vain to tell them longer to unite and or
game for protection. Constant defeats
for half century have demonstrated the
inethciency Of Grades unions to accomplish
! half Of what labor is entitled to.
All this Is really progress, because it
compels the wages class to take new and
broader views of their position, and the
remedies needed. No man despairs. Men
feel instinctively that there must be a rem
edy somewhere. They must have fewer
hours Of work and more wages Expert
ence has shown that little fights with cap
ital for this or that settle nothing. What
is gained to-day is lost tomorrow.
1t is hard TO bear all this. but it teaches
lesson that could not be learned without
it. Defeats that stimulate labor to higher
aims ard ends are better than victories
that would have left it in satisfied serfdom.
Labor has been driven to question the
right Of capital to hold i in industrial
bondage. 1t demands by what right capt.
tai seizes upon more than half its earnings
IL asks why capital, which does nothing,
should have palace, while labor, which
a hovel 1t is thinking of a great many
things, and asking itself great many
questions which would have been ignored
had its belly been filled and its bcak
clothed.
What power had the southern slave over
his work or his rations Did not his
owner have divine right to decide all
this for him } And does not manufacturing
capital likewise claim its divine right I"
to decide upon the hours Of work and the
wages Of its northern slaves
As southern emancipation broke one set
of chains, northern emancipation Of the
wages class must break another. Indus
trial self-government must take its place
alongside of political lf-government
Shall a man be master of himself or an in
d1strial serf That is the question to be
solved, and the tyranny Of capital is driving
labor to its solution. All is happening for
the best, and one step leads to another
that must be taken i'll its place to lead la
Dor to the pinnacle of industrial indie
pendence.
The defeat Of trades unions therefore,
does hot imply the final subversion of la
Dor. Nothing Of the kind. There are
other forms Of union broader and more
potent. Labor itself must decide whether
it will remain in serfdom to capital, or
achieve its freedom. When it has resolved
upon the latter, the proper form of union
and plan Of battle will come to the front.
Let every man think and talk Independence
until it becomes the settled purpose of
his life.