The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1912-01-19
power OF UNIONS
Labor Must Be AmaIgamated to
Fight Successfully.
UNITY VERSUS FACTIONS.

Weakness of independent Trade Or
ganizations-Workers Cannot Win In
the Contest With Capital Until All
Are Banded Together.
/ If one man in factory makes a de-
mand for more wages the chances are
100 to that he will be discharged.
Even though the workers of an en-.
fire trade all over the country adopted
the independent union idea and be-
came thoroughly organized in such
they would still have no show in case
the employers organized nationally and
opposed them, and this would be true
for the reason that they would have no
right to expect aid from the unions of
other trades who believe in the unity
idea and who for that reason are af-
fliated with the American Federation
of Labor. No matter how large or
strong an independent organization of
labor may be. no matter if it is part
of Il shops crew or the workers in a
city of given trade or the workers
of a nation in a given trade, there
must eventually come time when
their own resources are not sufficient
to meet an emergency which they
could not foresee, and in that hour
the absence of the support they need
may very likely doom them to crush
ing defeat. usually followed by an ear
~ dissolution.
When a man who knows he cannot
stand alone as an individual gets the
idea into his head that. with his few
fellow employees in his department
of one factory can stand alone he is
thinking at cross purposes. and If he
carries this misleading line of thought
notch further. in the formation of
all the employees in the factory into
one independent union, he is going still
further astray, and If he takes the
workers of all the factories of the city
into his Independent union scheme he
is becoming more and more threatened
with disaster, and if he extends it to
the extent of making it an independent
national union he is erecting what
must prove to be monumental fail
ure. carrying down with it in ruin the
material well being Of the workers in
the industry.
The fundamental fact that the shoe
worker, for instance, should get firmly
fixed in his mind is that every single
shoe worker needs the loyal support of
every other shoe worker at all times,
in fair weather and in foul. He fur
Their needs to understand that after the
shoe workers are banded together as
one their union must be a part of the
great family of unions embracing the
unions of all trades. the American
Federation of Labor.
When the national union is in aflilia-
ton with all other national unions it is
giving its support and strength to the
labor movement. lit is helping the labor
movement to be strong, and in order
that the labor movement may return
to it all the strength it ever gave null
tiplied a hundredfold
In the eyes of the orthodox unionist
one who believes in union for himself.
but not for others. or in union by him
self, but not with others. is not ii un
ion man, but he is simply selfish
egotist, acting for his own betterment
and without the slightest regard for
the welfare of others.
Such a man or such union cannot
possibly be permanently successful.
The only effect either can have upon
the labor movement is to weaken it by
division, not Intentionally perhaps, but
certainly nevertheless, because by the
very act of creating or maintaining an
independent faction they set up oppo-
sition of rival camps in the labor of
the trade, and not only this, but. what
is of vastly more Importance, they pre-
vent the legitimate union movement in
the trade from deriving the full meas
ure of benefit that accrues to any
movement from the presence of har'
mony and unity and from the absence
of division and factional strife
These are some of the essential
points of difference between unity and
factionalism, and, no matter what form
these manifestations may take, the
whole structure is built upon the foun-
dation of error, laid when the worker
first realizes his impotence as an indi-
vidual. but does not think clearly
enough or see straight enough to real
ize that the same logic must compel
him to organize concusively with ev-
cry one in his industry and with every
one in all other industries. so that the
power Of labor may be great and its
victories satisfactory and beneficial to
all who toil-Shoe Workers Journal