United labor bulletin., 1912-06-06
Minimum WAGE and
SOCIAL REVOLUTION
Victories of the Labor Party in
England--Great Leader Says
Revolution is Ultimate
GoaI--An Article BY
James X. Hardie.
(By JAMES kerr HARDiE, M. p, Lead
(By JAMES kerr HARDiE, M. p, Lead
err of the Labor Party In EngIand.)
Continued from last week.)
The Doctrine of Strife.

The Doctrine Of Strife.
One further effect of the great strike
will be, fear, to give an impetus to the
Syndicalist movement. Prior to the
strike Syndicalism was quite unknown,
and all but unheard of among the work
ing classes. But, for reasons of their
own, the reactionary press saw fit to as
sumo that the strike was the outcome of
Syndicalist teaching and that it would
be conducted on Syndicalist lines. Even
the grave and stolid Times devoted many
columns of type, emphasized by scare
headlines, to this subject, and thus it
was brought prominently to the notice
of millions who would otherwise have re-
manned in complacent ignorance of even
the word Syndicalism.
Syndicalism in itself commands the
serious attention of all who are seeking
solution of the social and industrial
problem. 1t had its origin in France not
yet a quarter of a century ago. 1t Is
based upon the assumption that the
working class is at war with society and
with the state which upholds the existing
order, and that just as in warfare all
law is suspended, and everything which
can infict an injury upon the enemy is
justified, SO in the war against society
the same rules apply.
It's founders and advocates lay great
stress on the need for developing the in
dividuality of the worker, and by meth
cd of guerrilla warfare strengthening
both his class consciousness and his
power to strike the enemy effectively
Sabotage, that is, the destruction of the
property of the enemy, is part of its
methods. 1t frankly aims at making the
peaceful conduct of industry impossible
to the capitalist, who would thus be
forced to let go his hold upon the mines,
the mills, the railways. ETC., whereupon
the workers would step in and them
selves take possession.
The attitude of the Syndicalist toward
the state is frankly that of the anarchist.
The state to him represents the enemy
and is organized by the exploiters for
the express purpose of holding the ex-
plotted in subsection. The state, there
FORE is not merely taboo; it is the en-
emy The workers in each industry are
encouraged to carry on an active war
fare until they gain the ownership and
control of the capital invested therein.
When all industries have been SO trans
ferred and transformed into guilds, they
are then to federate together and create
the Industrial State, from which the ex-
ploiter and the oppressor will have been
completely eliminated. Such in brief is
the theory of Syndicalism. Hitherto 1t
has been confined in the main to France
and Italy, and it cannot be said that its
experiences there have been such as to
tempt workers elsewhere to place much
reliance upon it's methods. In SO far as
it succeeds in stimulating the proletariat
into greater energy and infusing into the
ranks larger proportion of self-rehance,
it's teaching is all to the good. But DO
not think that the British working class
is ever likely to take to it kindly, unless
driven to it by the stupidity OF their op-
ponents Should, for example, the state
attempt to curb or fetter the free action
of the trade unions, then a development
along Syndicalist lines would be GER
tainty.
Syndicalism. however, was not needed
to convince the British workers of the
need for closer organization of their
forces. For the last dozen years this
has been proceeding apace. The miners,
for example, although they are not all
in one union, are all organized in one
federation In like manner there is
General Federation of all trades and oc-
cupations for mutual aid and support in
times of strike. The Syndicalist has no
faith in accommodating funds for strike
pay. He desires the warfare to be guer-
rilla. With no funds in the unions, he
argues, there would be nothing for the
state to confiscate. The British worker,
however has great faith in a substantial
balance behind him when called upon to
strike. He likes to feel that for num-
ber of weeks at any rate he will receive
ten or more shillings a week from his
union funds, with an additional shilling
week for each child. He also, in many
cases, has a substantial sum to his credit
in the cooperative store and these give
him feeling of confidence when he is
col
"The State-'Ts U.s."
1t is a noteworthy fact, in this connec-
ton, that those districts of miners which
voted most solidly against a resumption
of work until the rates had been fixed
were those where the union funds were
most plentiful, and vice versa. Besides,
the British workman has not that dis
trust of the state which Is the special
characteristic of Syndicalism. He ap-
preciates to the full the fact that the
state as it now exists is a capitalistic in
stitution, doing out reforms to him
grudgingly, and taking care always TO
safeguard the rights of property and to
protect everything in the form OF priv
ilege and vested interest. He has, how
ever, been taught that the state is not
self-existing entity, but that the whole
organization and machinery of the state
reflects the interest which for the mo-
ment has succeeded in obtaining control
I of parliament, and that, therefore, an en-
| franchised democracy has but to unite
it's voting power to become that controll-
| ing influence, whereupon the state
ceases to be the master and becomes the
servant of labor.
| 1t is, this point of view which has led
to the formation, and to the hitherto
rapid growth, of the Labor party. To
understand the Labor party we require
l. l. 10, x,,I
| the industrial world here which was in
the last quarter of the nineteenth cen
tury. Prior to that Socialism had in the
main, been confined to our intellectuals,
capable and jealous men most of them,
but not in touch with and therefore un-