The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-04-13

AMERICAN sYNDICALIsM; THE I. W. W.: b
John Graham Brooks New York-The Macmillan
Company.
In chapter Introductory to his new
book, John Graham Brooks consider,
the Socialist invasion of America q
movement of tremendous growth within
the past few years. Our very prosperity
our higher wages the mobility Of oui
labortng class. the immediate effect OF
our freer ways upon the incoming peas
ant all tend, as Mr.. Brooks sees them
to make the United States fruitful
field for Socialism in its more revolution.
airy character. And IL the invading
movement is to be opposed, he adds, II
must first be understood He says:
Every attempt to outlaw it, to Willy
or browbeat II, will prove the friendliest
service its opponents can render to a
cause they fear. Let an irritated
citizenship itself play the anarchist as
In San Diego and in several Eastern
communities; let 1t act in heat and with
suspicious disregard for justice, and a
hundred new avenues of influences are
opened to men like Ettor and Giovan-
nitti."
The authors inquiries show that where
the j. w. w. has been most active,
unionism has been crippled. At Low-
renee one leader declared \that Com
per's takers had been kept out and we
had our chance. Labor unions proper
''are among the educational and con-
sentative influences of our times" AS
for the revolutionary body which supplies
Mr.. Brooks theme: The /. W. w. taps
labor strata not only lower than those
of the trade union. but still lower than
those from which Socialism, as a rule,
gets recruits. 1t appeals to youth, to
those detached and irresponsible; to
those free to follow a life of adventure;
TO those that rebel at the discipline Of
the trade union. 1t easily becomes
brother to the tramp and the outcast.
n, is there one of those traits that
is not a source of temporary strength
from its own point of view: that of
rousing and fostering discomfort, of
hectoring and obstructing the solidities
OF capitalism. For our own country il
has significance that the newer immigra-
ton is everywhere conspicuous in the
J. w. w.
The older American leadership has to
consider that in all its tactics. That
so many of these newcomers are without
votes is no mean asset for revolutionary
propaganda. In the language of the Eng
1ish suffragettes. Because We have no
votes, We must choose other means TO
gain our ends is an argument the au-
thor says he has often heard used
Or the same nature as characteristic
is the youth of the membership. The
groups he saw in the West bore this
stamp on Enthusiastically as to suggest
bodies Of students at the end of a rather
jolly picnic. The word bum usually
applied to them in that region does not
fit them. There were plenty of older |
men, as there We're men Of every appear |
ance of being down and out" with trou-
sers chewed of at the heels after the |
manner of tramps, but in face and bear |
ing they were far from buns"
The organization. says Mr.. Brooks, gets |
great strength from its interest in I'M
skilled labor. Sabotage and violence are |
conspicuous parts Of the l. W. W. pol |
icy. Leaders declare that consumers !
have nothing to fear from their prac-
tees: that cit is all against the boss
And sabotage is susceptible to ingenious
turns arp1rn.- ---'' - a.s.--. !