Workmen's advocate., 1888-11-24
PAR APH XIX
A FAR-REACHlNG AND RADI-
 CAL PLANK.
An Industrial System and PeOpl e's Commonwealth Failure of Pri. yate Cooperation - The
 Lessons Taught-The
 Emancipation.

While making the foregoing de mands upon the State or National Gov ernment, we will endeavor to associate our own labor:
 "To establish cooperative institu- tions such as will tend to SuperSede thc Wage, System, by the introduction of a Co-operdtirc Mdustt1aI System"
 Before entering into a discussion of this paragraph let Ills cite in connection herewith one of the above referred to foregoing demands viz: Paragraph XVIII, That the Government shall ob- tain possession by purchase, under the right of eminent domain, of all tele- graphs, telephones, and railroads. and that hereafter no charter or license be issued to any corporation flor construction or operation of any means of transporting intelligence, passengers or freight What does this mean: How many members of the Order comprehend the scope and meaning of the above two paragraphs :! It means nothing short of the total abo- Htion of the Wage-System, and the es- tablishment of a "Co-Operatlve Com monwealth."
 This sounds very radical but neverthe- less it is the goal that we have set, and it behooyes us to discuss the means that we wish to employ to reach that goal. Shall we encourage the establishment of small cooperative enterprises all over the country with view to having Labor f hni, tnl by employers? No, Why not: Be- cause such enterprises usually require a greater amount of capital that can be furnished by the men employed therein; consequently they are compelled to call upon their fellow ori1nlea for loans and to promise dividends in return for such loans. That curtails their profits to a certain extent, and makes those ad- vancing the loans none, lenders or eX- ploiters of labor on a small scale
 But the greatest struggle comes after the enterprise gets into operation and comes into competition with large priv ate CapitalistlC concerns, possessing un- limited capital, more and better machin- cry, finer division of labor (which means a better exploitation of labor. and larger market facilities
 The cooperative enterprise under our present system of production Is com pelled to resort to the same methods em- ployed by private capitalsuc enter prises, but such course would ultimate ly trustrate the higher objects of CO., operation.
 Production to-day is conducted on a large scale requiring immense working ,l tnh In I hIII r. f1,,,rl and machinery. But all these requisites known as the Means of Production, are owned and controlled by the capi- talistiC class.
 Cooperative enterprises may afford temporary relief ill occupations or trades requiring but a small amount of capital and where limited number of working men are employed but 1t Is not the ob- ject of the Labor Movement to assist and elevate the few, but to emancipate the workmen as class. and that is the ob- ject intended by paragraph XIX.
 Suppose the railroad employees of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, or the coal miners of Pennsylvania, or the em- ployees of any one of our large cotton mills should want to cooperate for the purpose of running the railroad, coal mines or cotton mill How could they raise the necessary capital? It would require more capital than could be raised by the combined pecuniary aid of all the labor organizations of the country.
 We know from experience that it re- quired the united effort and assistance of the K of L. order few years ago to get small cooperative coal-mine start ed somewhere in the State of Illinois, and it is doubtful if that mine is worked to-day comparatively. What was the experience of cooperative coal mine about two or three pears ago, also in the State of Illinois possibly the same mideJ when after having entered into con- tracts with a number of Chicago busi- ness men to furnish coal at lower price than was demanded by the Coal pool, they were informed by the railroad companies that they could not transport more than one carload per day. The Coal pool controlled the railroads, and the cooperative coal miners were con- vinced that their mining would be fruit less unless they controlled the means of transportation.
 It is not necessary to cite the many failures of private cooperation, nor the comparatively few successful undertak- ings.
 We know from experience that under the present capitalistic industrial sys. tenn private cooperation of workingmen as a rule has failed.