The Washington herald., 1912-05-26
aunMnan.a

ff1Uce, HIaSl., lA1t Wlulct, aiulr LNrN
lprblie diseussion Of the movement has
ben growing. and nov almost evsp-
body hss cone sort Of a idea right O.
wrong. Of the. new ana fsvoiudonary
crusade BY the wsge-earnine elasses.
Does syndicslism seek to destroy the
present forms Of government in this
counfyi Is Il reaching out to seize
mills, mines, and other forms Of prop
erty and hand them over to the en-
ployesi
SyndicaIism originated in France and
has come to the United States BY way
Of Eaglznd. American syndicallSm, M
Der the name of industrial uni6nisnls {
was born at Chicago in 1905. when the
Industrial Workers Of the World' or
ganization was formed under the tute-
lage of Eugene v. Debs. w D. Hay
wood, and other leading Socialists. Syn
dicalism is a branch Of Socialism that
seeks to abolish the present system Of
ownership of the @means of production.
distribution. and exchange OF the
three main forms Of Socialism common
ownership or communism, state owner
ship or oollectiyism, and group owner
ship, syndicalism evidently belongs to
the third dsss. In this country synd-
calism plans to give each trade (not
each union, as in Franee) control and
ownership Of its own resources To
accomplish this some sort of revolu-
ton viii be necessary.
American syndiealists marked out at
the beginning FIVE paths which they be-
lieved would lead to their object, name
iy: Anti-militarism, no participation in
elections or legislation, the passive
strike, the general strike, organization
of the miscellaneous trades. The sec
ond principle since has been modified
50 that now the American syndicalists
are not opposed to political action, but
they want to use it exclusively for the
purposes of industrial democracy.
The general strike, according to the
syndicalist theory, may be ordered any
time without any special grievance, and
it is considered by syndicalism to be 4
perfectly justihable way of running or
crippling an industry, a district, a state,
or nation, whenever a fitting oppor-
tunity presents itself. The I. w. w.
scarcely had been organized when Il
began to agitate along the Pacific, from
Lower California to British Columbia,
especially among dock hands and lum-
Der men. Much destruction of property
of the employers was laid to the or
gsnization, and in 1908 Debs and the
Detroit faction in the Socialist Labor
party announced that they. had cut
loose from the syndicalists. The l. w.
w. did not get active in the East, how
ever, until last winter, when the tex
tile strike occurred at Lawrence, where
both the passive" and the general
strike were brought into action.
The theory of the passive" strike Is
to reduce the output of the shop where
the strike takes place and to harsSs
and drive the employer out of business.
The principle of mo contracts" with
the employers never has been openly
part of the American syndicalists,
though many of them preach it along
with their line of direct action"
The anti-militarism propaganda of
American syndiealism has not been car
ried out openly, but it is asserted by So
cialists that the L w. w, has about 500
converts among the United States
troops and that emissaries secretly are
preaching to the enlisted men the syn
dicalist creed, that no one is under re-
quirement of conscience to serve under
arms, because it is by force of arms
that governments support the existing
capitalist" classes.
1t is denied by Samuel Gompers that
the A. F. of L. favors the syndicaist
programme. He says: %The ultimate
object of syndicalism is social revolu-
ton through an all-eneompassing strike
of the working classes. The nonwage-
working classes are to be deprived Of
their sustenanee and thus terrorized in
to acceptance of the new social system"
As stated, syndicalism originated in
France, where it got its name from
"syndicat ouvries," meaning trade
unions. When taken up as active propa-
ganda it grew so strong that it nearly
wrecked the French government two
years ago during the BRAND regime,
who, though himself former Socialist,
had to adopt the most radical and dras-
tic measures, in the railway strike, to
save the country from a revolution