Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1911-11-09
|The Hartmann
Railroad SMkG
fBy Euoene Y oebs.l

\
rRHE strike Of tEA shop. office and
yard employees Of the Hartman
railway system has not come at
an opportune time far the, strikers,
nor has the interninsble delay in
finally ordering the strike added to-
the prospects ofvictosy hut the strike
is on and all the powers there Is in
organized labor shonld be put behind
lit.
It Is when such i battle is being
fought that Socialists. above all others
must show their coIors, and, by the
support they give the strikers. show
where they stand.
The significant feature Of this strike
is the tendency it marks, clear and
distinct, on the part Of the rank and
|ile, toward Industrial unionism and
class solidarity.
The employees in the shops, offices
and yards are very close together in
their daily labors, and they instinc-
lively feel and are now bravely fight
ing for working class unity and indus
trial solidarity and eeserve the loyal
support OF every true union worker
and every Socialist in the land.
What spectaeie the several
..brotherhoods" present in this life
and death struggle! Tied fact to the
corporations BY their craft agreements
these unions are G Compelled to serve
as the active allies 81 the corporations
lin crushing the life out Of their own
union brothers. Thousands of them
revolt against such rnion perfdy, feel
ing themselves outraged in their en-
forced betrayal of ..heil fellow work
ers, but they are titd hand and foot.
helpless. for If they go to the support
of the strikers, they are guilty OF the
high crime of violating the "sanctity'
| Of their craft agreement the penalty
flor which is discha Sc by the corpora
ton, expulsion BY the brotherhood, and
blacklisting by both.
| SO that while the shopmen are
brayely fighting the battle Of organized
labor, the brotherhood engineers,
conductors and ira n,nen are hauling
scabs over all the system, delivering
them where they are wanted and
working hand in g-cve. with these
scabs and the corporation to defeat
their own union brethren and start
them on the road to the blacklist and
persecution that ends at the county
house and the potser's field.
Surely the eyes of more and more
must be opened to this destructive
form Of unionism ami every such OBJ
ject lesson as is now presented at
least serves It's purpcse in Fastening
1.-THE end Of craft ulslOnism and usher
ling in the era Of an industrially or
Iganized working class.
I The high officials 81 the Hartman
system very shrewG,Y concluded that
they could not AFFORD to deal with the
employees in their united capacity.
They were perfectly willing to deal
with the SEVERAL INDIVIDUAL
| BROTHERHoODS. praising them
highly for their "sase and conserva-
tive policy" etc.
Oh, how the co -porations do love
1.-THE several individual brotherheods!'
land how proud these brotherhoods
should he OF the flattery Of the cor
|porations which use them as strike
breakers to batter the brains out Of
ItheiFalnion men ahcn they 90 out on
strike!
When the railroad corporations all
limited to stamp the last spark of life
Iout Of the American Railway Union,
the Railway Managers' Association
vowed that never again should such a
union Of railway employees be allowed.
Ito raise its head in the United States.
lThe Hartman strike shows that they.
have not forgotten their vow. u.
This strike Is for a vital principle,
Lit is our strike as wei as the strike Of
those who are on tbs firing line. Let
Ius stand behind these fighting railroad
employees solidiy and give them all
the support in our p. wer to the end.
g.