The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1901-09-14
for which elected their successors are
chosen by appointment. .si

Inc nope or our Wage-earn1ng classes,
oppressed by court injustice, lies then
in organizing for political action that
Will aim at the top, for II government
10 directed in the interest Of the veal
thy and powerful at the top, it will not
be directed for the protection of the,
weak at the bottom. Therefore, we say
organized labor must organize for COM
mon political action in order to con-
serve the interests in it's ranks, protect
them against Entertainments of the
judiciary. and defend the liberties Of
our unions. And the opportunities now
lie before the labor unions to formulate
plans to this end.
The labor unions have long striven
to keep clear of politics. But it Is
through politics that others direct the
strong arm Of the law for their oppres-
sion, and it is through political action
that they must defend themselves from
such aggressions. Control of. the gov
eminent is the means used by the
money power for their oppression, 1t IS
through control Of the government that
the. moneyed power has been built up,
While the Wage-earners have been
ground down to poverty, it is by control
of the government that the many op-
pressed by that moneyed power must
defend themselves. Therefore it will
not do for organized labor to keep out
Of politics, for by so doing is to make
no use Of the only weapon that can be
effectively used for defense against the
strongest weapon used by the moneyed
power for their oppression, namely, the
strong arm Of the law.
To organize labor for common poll
teal action for common defense, is in
deed not the work of a single campaign.
But the plans for that organization, the
initial steps, must somewhere be laid,
and the leaders of labor unions cannot
do better than to undertake this task.
To effect such organization is, indeed,
no light undertaking, but it can be done
and it must be done if the encroach-
ments of centralized capital, through
the strong arm of the law, are to be
successfully resisted. To effect such
organization will take work, untiring
work. It will take a sacrifice of pro-
perty and the material comforts of life,
a contribution Of money by those who
have accumulated property. a contribu-
| ton Of time, which is the same thing
as money, by those who have no pro-
perty to give. But if our liberties are
| worthy of saving, such contributions
will be Forthcoming, such sacrifices
| cheerfully made. If men are not ready
to make such sacrifices in defense Of
their liberties they are unworthy of
liberty, and enslavement to the money
ed power will be their just reward.
Through the weapon Of the strike Or
ganized labor can at best secure but
one thing; a fair division of the sum
realized by the employer of labor upon
the sale of the product and available
for the payment Of wages and profits,
a fair division between the reward Of
employer as profits and wage-earner as
wages. And under fiscal and trans
portatton systems that lead up to in
dustrial stagnation, organized labor
through the weapon of the strike, can
not even secure this, for when. there are
more workmen than jobs the task OF
forcing up wages by strike, that is Of
forcing employers to pay higher wages
by making an artificial scarcity of la
Dor, is we'll nigh impossible. Moreover,
the wrecking of Independent producers
by determinations in transportation
rates is not only blow to those pro-
ducers-such wrecking is blow to the
wage-earners, for it builds up monopo-
lies and centralizes industries, and Just
as monopolies grow and the opportuni-
ties for employment become more and
~ 1f4 81 %~
as are offered by the nlonopolies and
clique ridden enterprises, the power Of
the wage-earner to command wages
grows less and less, and his necessity
of accepting such wages as are offered
by the clique enterprises grows with
his dependence upon them. So the pow
er Of the employer over the wage-earn-
er grows and the power Of the wage
Garner over the disposal of his own la
Dor diminishes. Besides the centraliza-
ton Of wealth weakens the power Of
the wage-earner to make, successful re-
sistence to aggressions.
Therefore, If organized labor would
! make successful resistance to these en-
croachments, if it would preserve labor
from the despoilment at the hands of
the powerful, it must make use of that
weapon so successfully used by that
power for oppression; namely, the
strong arm of the law; it must no
longer tolerate the direction of that
arm in the interest of the few and for
the oppression Of the many, it must d.
| rect that arm so as to overthrow that
system, and this overthrow can be &C.
complished through political action.
Let us hope that the encroachments Of
the judiciary on the rights of labor will
not only impel organized labor to make
common protest, but to back that pro-
test by organizing. for political action.
It Is the only way to fight injunctions,
the only way to fight aggressions on la
Dor made through the strong arm of
the law, strong though it be used for
injustice.
Will organized labor rise to the &C.
casion or will it fail? Will it take that
political action that will enable it to re-
sist the encroachments of centralized
capital or will it spurn to make use of
/ AA~A --H-3-H y.