The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1913-01-17
V. is 1T A DISEASE OF INFANCY?
BY Robert Hunter.
Courtesy of The National Socialist

vocates of the general strike invari-
ably call to our attention the effective
ness of this weapon in France, Spain,
Italy, and Russia. Some have even
mentioned China and Japan. They tell
us that in these countries there is in
dustrial unionism, and that marvellous
results have come to the working
class through general strikes. Of
course they do not mean THE general
strike. All they mean is that various
craft unions or industrial unions de-
clare sympathetic strikes.
No, it is an interesting fact that it
is in aXactly these countries that Ia
Dor organization is most backward.
Unionism is there in it's infancy. Even
trially of the countries mentioned, the
trade union movement is far behind
that of Germany, Belgium, Denmark,
Austria, Britain, etc.
Legien, the leader of the great Ger
man unions, said at the international
socialist congress at Stuttgart: "The
French comrades are accustomed to
say: We have no organization, but
we have a temperament 1t is not with
temperament one fights the employer.
AS soon as the French have an actual
trade union organization they will
cease discussing blindly the general
strike, direct action, and sabotage"
Vliegen, the Dutch leader, declared
at the previons congress, at Amster-
dam: 'Tt is not the representatives of
the strong trade union organizations
of England Germany, and Denmark,
who wish the general strike; it is the
representatives of France, Russia, and
Holland, where the trade union organi-
zation is feeble or does not exist"
Chauvin, a French leader, makes
the same observation: wherever
powerful trade unions exist, they do
not speak of the general strike; wher-
ever they are unanimous for the gen
eral strike, the trade unions are fee
BILE We, the adversaries of the gen
eral strike, are the most active parti-
sans of trade union organization. I
have myself organized in Paris one of
the strongest of the trade unions. If
there were in Paris some trade unions
that would be the end of the influence
Of the general strikes"
Iglesias, the best known Spanish
socialist, declares that the general
strike agitation in Spain is conducted
solely by the anarchists. "They car
ry on he says, "a constant agitation
against strike funds. What they want
is simply that the workers, made des-
perate by famine and refusal of the
masters to grant them all they de-
mand, should be driven to violent
measures. What have been the re-
suits of the attempts at a general
strike? Not one success and always
immense injury to the workers. Here
the dissolution of an organization;
there law suits and prosecutions, some
other place, many 'militants dis
patched to the cemetery or to prison "
Speaking of the strike at Barcelona,
he says: There was not among these
thousands of workers either unity of
thought or plan of action. After hav-
ing thoroughly plagued the population
lnx nd
nothing left but to return to work
without having obtained anything for
the metallurgists. The only result of
this adventure was bloodshed in sew
eral encounters between the workmen
and the soldiers, leaving many dead
and a great number of prisoners"
Greulich, the wonderful veteran of
the Swiss labor movement, declares
that "all the attempts at general
strikes have hurt the workers them
selves, destroyed organizations form
ed with difficulty, and consequently
obliged the workers to toll again at
building up their movement Wasting
OF power! II - easy " uNihbiiShA htN
that there where the general strike is
preached, the organization of the
unions is very much retarded. By the
fruits one recognizes the tree. There
where the unions have acquired a
sure power and a certain vitality, the
general strike is considered by the
workers as a Utopia.
"The general strike is childish fan
cy of poorly organized workers. The
| English workers lived in this dream
from about 1SSO-1S4O and they made
many times remarkable attempts to
realize this dream-attempts com
pared with which the general strike
of today is but child's play. They
covered entire industrial centers, and
stopped work in all the factories and
mines. The revolutionary energy was
not lacking in them, where they me-
with resistance; they beseiged fac
tories and set fire to them; they
fought valiantly with police and tbs
military. And if the general strike
had been really a decisive power, Eng
land would not have had enough sol
diers to render herself the master"
A short time ago Gustave Herve, the
most daring and brilliant of all the ad