Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1913-02-13

| lion as precisely those men who advo-
cafe an immediate General Stfike
Iney never cease denuoncing thekim.
mediate reforms demanded by the
socialist Party, and they love nothing
so much as to dwell upon what they
call the utter helplessness of Trade
unlonism. Their criticisms consist of
| the following indictments: That the
| socialist Party is a middle-class re-
FORM party, full of confusion and com.
promise; that the Trade Unions O.
this country are differed by the
ileutenants of. the Capitalist Class:
that 1t believes in harmony between
Capital and Labor; that it is an arts
tocracy which refuses to unionize the
lnsk1lled, and that it is an organiza-
tlon for the production of scabs.
| NOW, if the advocates of Revoln-
slonary Unionism believe their own
statements, then it is quite impossi-
Die that they should be serious in ure.
ing the working class here to under.
AXE General Strike. Surely, no one
hould know better than they that
ne General Strike has not the slight
est chance of success where the La
Dor Movement is in state SO degen.
rate as they claim.
Passing over, however, as absurd
,riticisms of that sort, there are in,
4 iced certain conditions in our Labor
movement which make any discussion
II an immediate General Strike the
essence of folly. The parents of the
General Strike idea urge it as the
sole effective means of bringing the
social Revolution. They overlook the
important fact that the working class
n this country at least, does not want
revolution, nor would any but a
small minority lift a finger to create
l revolution. The General Strike is
% be sure. one weapon of several that
night be chosen for the purpose Of
revolution! But SO long as men do
not want revolution, the first neces.
sity is not to glorify weapon. but
to make men realize the purpose of
having one.
In a country where the mass of
workers. still vote for Capitalist can
iidates, where they are still tied to
me old political machines where
hey still read, enjoy, and follow Cap
ltal1st papers, and where millions OF
them do not even see the necessity
OF Trade Union Movement or of a
eSocialist Party, what could be more
: teh1ldlike than discussion limited tc
i small lotteries, as to whether the
! spiked club, the pamphlet, the vote
the bullet, or the strike is the sole
: effective revolutionary Weapon
what we most need in America is ed
tucat1on and organization. When that
work of education and organization
; has been done, the choice of weapons
70 accomplish the ends sought by La
Dor will be comparatively easy.
4 Paul La Fargue, number of years
ago., called attention to the fact that
the Lockout is an inverted General
Strike. 1t is. he said, weapon of
the bosses, and he mentions the fact
that the threat of Lockout was used
to defeat Bryan and to elect McKin-
ley. The Socialist Party is being
fought with the same weapon. In ev-
cry Political campaign, when 1.-The So
cialists have chance OF winning, the
BOSSES play this card, They threaten
the workers whit IA, shut town., In. Los
Angeles, Milwaukee, and Schenecta-
dy, the Capitalists declared, q eff the
Socialists win, Capitalism will be
driven out of town" The threat is
also used to prevent Trade Union Or
ganization. How familiar ~ is /, the
sound of these words: s"Thfs shop VIII
remain, an open shop or we rWille close
down." And it must not be, forgotten
that these! threats are usually effect
i've where the workers are not, per-
meated with the Union spirit, and with
Socialist education. TheTo,aVerage
workingman leaves the Union. alnoe
and votes submissively the ticket of
his employer frather than endure the
hardshipso Of unemployment Is it not
well to ask, therefore, if the, threat
OF lockout suffices to intimidate the
working class of America, IS the agi.
tation for a General Strike ,hkeIytto
prove enticing?
Many advocates of the General
Strike utterly refuse to take any ac-
count of these practical considera-
tons. They seem possessed the
idea that1they can ignore this lack
of education and even carry on "a
General Strike whether or not, the or
gained portion of the working class
co-operates in the strike. They seem
to believe that the millions of un-
skilled and unorganized will arise in
mass when the call is made. Some of
them weep. and wall over the misery
of the unorganized. They have moth
ing but contempt for thes UNIONS
nothing but admiration for the unor-
ganized, even for those who have been
called thea slum :, proletariat. I must
confess that / can see neither Idge
nor sense in their position The only
admiration I have for the working
class is for the/organized portion of
the working class One may have COM
passion for those Wretched creatures
whose. ignorance and folly lead them
to bear patiently and accomplishing.
ly day in and day out the whip Of
hunger and the sting of want. But the
only workers one fcan really, admire
are the organized fighters who, how
ever conservative they may be, have
at least informed their masters that
there is . line drawn somewhere
You can 50 thus far and no farther
the organized workers say to the Cap
italists, and that position, in my 'Opin-
ion. is. the beginning of enlightenment
and bears the germ of the social rev
olution. But that portion of the work
4