The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-07-23
LABOR AND POLITICS E.
IS THEME OF RUSSELL
SKETCH OF WENDELL PHILLIPS
AND HIS SYMPATHY FOR LABOR.
No Sooner Was the Question Of Afri-
can Slavery Out of tho Way When
Phillips took Up the Labor Question.
Could See No Remedy for Labor Ex-
cept Through Organization and
Thon Into Politics,
by Charles z. RusselI,)

greater movement for the emancipa-
ton of all men that toll. Most Of the
other abolitionists were content to rest
when African slavery was abolished,
as if hat were the end; whereas Phil
lips looked upon it as an incident in
a worldwide struggle. Success and
the war had thrown about the others
of the anti-slavery band pleasing
hale of responsibility. From being
denounced, vilified, lied about, ostra.
cized, pilloried as pestilent agitators,
disturbers Of social order, men that
were trying to arouse class against
class, low, vile creatures, they had
found liberation and even some degree
Of applause. The agreeable change
was too much for the moral stamina
Of ordinary men.
Rut Phillips never cared what peo-
pie said about him. He was the one
man Of his time that could not be
reached, bought, silenced, controlled,
inundated, cajoled, influenced or pro-
vided for" He was not deceived about
conditions because the respectable
elements were all against him. He
cared nothing for public office; hence
he could not be approached with Of
|fers Of preferment. He had no am
bition for wealth; hence 1t was not
possible to arrange for him any nice
jobs as counsel for this railroad or
that merger company, or the other
thieving trust. He was utterly indif
ferent to the verdict of society; hence
it was impossible to cow him by
threat Of social ostracism. He would
have his say and nothing could stop
him. All the reactionary elements
could do was to hate him and lie
about him, and they fulfilled both du-
ties with careful, patient industry.
No sooner was the question Of Afri-
can slavery out of the. way than Phil
lips took up the labor question, Of
ton to be part. With his usual I'M
erring intelligence he put his finger
straight up the two possible remedies
for the existing evils Of the growing
absorption Of all wealth and power
into the hands Of a few.
These remedies were the perfect or
ganization Of labor and the entrance
Of organized labor into politics.
He declared again and again that
otherwise there was no possible hope
for the republic. He said that unless
the Workingmen Of America became
factor in politics, organized, equipped
| determined, the country would inevi-
! tably drift into an oligarcy Of wealth.
governed absolutely by the corpora
lions. This was more than thirty
years ago, when even many men pre-
pared to go along with him thought
his prophecies too pessimistic. We
have seen every one of them so veri-
fed that he seems now like an inspired
seer.
It was through the influence of Phil
lips that the first labor reform con-
Vention ever held in this country was
called. 1t was at Worcester, Mass,
September 4, 1871. Phillips presided
and presented the resolutions, Of
which, it is needless to say, he was
the author. They were the strongest
expression Of radical labor faith that
had ever appeared in this couitry.
They declared, in the plainest terms,
unending war against the system of
wage slavery, war for an eight-hour
day, war against the corporations,
war against government aid to private
fortunes, war against conditions that
|
want and misery.
In presenting his resolutions Mr..
Phillips said:
Il regard the movement with which
| this convention is connected as the
grandest and most comprehensive Of
the age. And I choose my epithets de-
liberately, for I can hardly name the
idea in which humanity Is interested
which / do not consider locked up in
the success of this movement of the
people to take possession Of their
own.'
In his speech before the Internation-
al Grand Lodge Of the knights Of
ST. Crispin, April, 1872, he said:
Il do not care exactly what your
idea is as to how you will work,
whether you will workin this channel
or in the other. I am told that you
represent from seventy. thousand to
one hundred thousand men, here and
elsewhere. Thing of It! A hundred
thousand men! They can decide the
fate of this nation. Give me fifty
! thousand men in earnest, who can
agree on all vital questions, who will
swear by all that is true and just that
for the long years they will put their
great idea before the country, and
these fifty thousand men will govern
the nation. So, If you have one hun
dred thousand men represented before
me, who get hold of the great ques-
ton Of labor. and, having hold OF it,
grapple with it. and rip it and tear it
open, and invest it with light, gather
ing the facts, piercing the brains with
the facts-then know, as sure as fate
though may not live to see it, that
THEY WILL CERTAINLY CONQUER
THIS NATION IN TWENTY YEARS
1t is possible that they should not. And
that is you power, gentlemen.
II rejoice at every effort working
men make to organize; do not care
on what basis they do it, y
Further on he said:
LET me tell you why am interest
ed in the labor question. Not simply
because of the long hours of labor; not
simply because of a specific :oppres-
sion of a class. sympa thize with the