Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1912-04-25

| H1E >, lut' mines, cue. nor ilectSSlIIlf
hy the workers at present engaged
| in those industries, but by the ma
/ ;on as a whole, and at the creation
! of the necessary machinery of gov
| ernment-''the state'-(not the
state" in the Socialist sense, which is
the people as a whole and which is.
therefore already in existence,
! through officials to be elected by the
| nation for the administration of those
means of life.
Oil and water do not mix. Syndical-
ism and Socialism are antagonistic
The Socialist is the Syndicalist police
man. Just freeze on to it.
The Syndicalist talks strikes in sea-
son and out Of season-advocate
sabotage" (the destruction of rail
ways, arsenals, etc.), welcomes CON
ficts with the armed forces of the
law, eschews the ballot box and goes
all out for the bullet
The Socialist says: Eight the pc
liceman and the soldier when there
is no other way, but don't forget You
are going to get the father and mother
of a beating every time-use the ballot
box, with the general strike as a
splendid spur to political action, TO
be used sparinely and with discre
ton. For the general strike is two
edged sword which cuts the worker
as often as it cuts the capitalist, at
least in it's present semi-sectional
form--for the world has never seen an
absolute strike of all trades and in
dustries-and when it does, to put II
in an Irish way, it will not be neces-
sary, for we shall have a proletariat
educated up to Socialism-we shall
have Socialism,
: Finally the Socialist must neceS-
sarily be a collectiyist as Well as
communist-the Syndicalist like his
half-brother the anarchist, hates col.
lectyism in any form.
How did the world get to the point
when its press and its books are
pregnant with the fear of Syndicaism
the new force?
We have to 90 back to 1884. when
Robert Owen, the father of English
Socialism, founded his Grand National
Consolidated Trade Union, the objec
tive of which was the emancipation OF
labor by general strike of all trades
and industries. This was just after
the repeal Of the combination law,
which gave The impetus to trade
unionism. b. partially freeing the
unions from Interference by the state
Gradually the grand national was bro
ken up, but the idea of the general
strike lived on. It again came up in
the Chartst riots of Lancashire Of
1912; in 1879 the Socialist League Of
William Morris vehemently espouse3
it, and in 1886 it flew across the At
lantic, where at Chicago, there was a
general strike involving about 100000
workmen for the eight-hour day.
Since then, the idea has gradually
permeated France. Italy, Austro-Hun
gary, Russia. Spain and Portugal
even Sweden and Finland giving their
adherence to it.
France however, must be taken as
the home of the idea in modern times,
and France is the strike barometer Of
Europe.
The first great forward movement
of the French trade unions (Syndi-
cates) took place after the favorable
legislation OF 1884, when a definite at
tempt was made to bring them into
the Socialist ranks. an effort which
met with complete success. The
French are not afraid of ideas.
After a time, bourses du travail,
corresponding to the British trades
councils ii. G.. joint committees OF
the various industries in any partic-
ular locality, united for joint action
were formed. these becoming feder-
ated in 1892 These bourses succeed
ed in launching distinctive work
ing class movement through the med.
ium Of organization by locality, which
proved more effective than the scat
tered Syndicates organized by trad .
Gradually labor policy, pure and
simple, anti-parliamentarian and bas
ed on the "class-War" idea, was de
yeloped, the new organization grad
ually building itself around the idea
OF the general strike This idea was
originally put forward in 1855 by ar
anarchist carpenter named Tortelier
Ultimately, what happened was that
this idea Of the strike catching on lik(
: wildfre in the revolutionary and vol
: canic temperament of the French PEG