The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-02-28
A PARTY FOR LABOR.
BUCHANAN WRITES ABOUT WORK.
lNGhlEN IN POLITICS.

He Is a Populist and Believes That tn.
Wageworkers Should j DIN That PARTY Tn.
stead of Organizing by Themselves and
Thinks He Sees Success.
The air is full of labor parties and ru-
hors of labor parties. 1t seems to he
generally conceded that the workingmen
are ''golng into politics" for the purpose
Oh securing the justice they have been
unable to obtain through the old parties
This means, of course, that the intention
Is to try a workingman's party. Ever
SINCE there has been 'labor movement"
In this country there have been thinking
men who asserted that only through no.
htlcal action could labor secure and hold
Its rights; that under our system leeisla.
ton is the all powerful engine: that
while trades unionism could and does Of
1er protection to those within it's folds
up TO certain point those who con-
trolled the legislative machinery had
trades unlonlsts as we'll as all others at
their mercy when they chose to exercise
their power. Labor organizations have
pretty generally recognized this truth
during recent years, and concerted eff
forts to influence the lawmaking bodies
nave been the consequence. But it is
pretty generally understood now that
such legislation as labor has been able
to secure for itself always asked for and
gwen as special favor) has been only
palliative and of a temporizing character.
The new school of trades unionism de-
mands more than the sops of loose Joint
ed laws on factory inspection, child labor
and convict labor. These laws are all
right, when honestly administered, so far
as they go, but they are simply the feeble
efforts of quacks who think to draw the
patients attention from his deem rooted
disease by bathing his sores with a cool
ing lotion. And that sort of treatment
isn't any longer satisfying. Thinkers
and leaders in the ranks of labor have
become convinced that they can secure
nothing better than sops from the poll.
ticians who wear the collars of plutoc-
racy, and that the little advantages
already secured are slowly slipping
through their fingers; hence the determi-
nation to try new deal. The action of
the American Federation of Labor in
submitting to the unions affiliated in it
programme Of political planks has &C.
casioned great deal of activity in sew
eral OF the leading industrial centers of
IT, country. While it is not expected
that all the unions connected with the
federation will agree to the whole of
the very radical platform submitted by
the Chicago convention, it is sure thing
that most OF its planks will meet with !
general approval, and the mildest Of |
these would have been declared too
Revolutionary for a trades union 10
years ago.
With that platform adopted, after it
has been amended to please the unions,
the next step is the practical movement
to secure its enactment into laws. And
there we strike the critical point in the
new departure. I fear that the DISPOSE
ton OF the leaders in the movement is to
stand out for "a new party from the
ground up" a workingman's party pure
and simple. | say I fear that such will
be the case, because 1 am satisfied that
such Is not the proper course to pursue.
do not belong to that class who say,
1--WE have parties enough, and there is
no room for any more" just because
there are three or four parties, for there
cannot be parties enough so long as the
principles of a considerable number of
citizens are not represented If. how
ever, there is already party, thorough
ly organized and equipped, which stands
for the rights of the producers, then, so
far as the worklngmen are concerned,
there is no need for new party.
To all intents and purposes there is
such a political party. I refer to the
Peoples Party. / know there are many
men active in the labor movement who
have become so narrow minded in their
Judgment of things political that thew
denounce wholesale all political parties
and demand that labor shall wash its
hands of the whole lot" and organize by
itself and for itself. These men are so
blinded by prejudice that they cannot or
will not see that the Populist party is as
workingmans party as is
possible in this country. Its platform
the whole idea of the labor
movement. Its leaders and active work.
ers have nearly all been lifelong cham
plons OF the cause of the producers. Its
are the enemies of the wage
workers. admit that some of the de-
nands which labor union party would
include in its platform are not set out in
1etail in the Populist platform, but the
principle upon which every one of those
demands must rest underlies the whole
Populist movement.
If, instead Of expanding the effort nee
'ssary to the organization of party. the
rades unionists who are favorable to the
programme Of the American Federation
# Labor will identify themselves with
he Peoples Party and take an active
'art in its conventions and campaigns.
'latforms and candidates satisfactory to I
ne new trades unionism will be the .
esult. And there is more than an even
nance OF accomplishing something in '
his way. If the farming and wagework- ,
nIQCS0c 49,, L ~.