Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1913-02-06


part. Without a goal, no direction
is possible, but more effectual even
than the goal has been the patient
and continuous labor of countless
tgitatOrs and administrators. Amid
4uarrels and dissensions, in spite OF
criticism and even violent antagon-
ism, in the very face of all those
Who were forever shouting that their
work led nowhere, the leaders of the
Socialist, Trade Union, and Cooper
alive movements have doggedly pur-
ued their great task. 1t is an his
.oric fact that no action of the en-
envy has ever seriously troubled the
march of the working class. Whether
fought or flattered, whether de-
nounced or fondled by the enemy,
the movement has gone forward step
by step. The chief obstacles in the
paths of 1.-THE Labor movement have
ever been the quarrels and dissens-
ions that have arisen among the
workers themselves.
The Syndicalist of today bears a
striking resemblance to what used to
be known as the Impossibilist and
the career of the Impossibilist is one
of the most devious and intricate
known to history. Whoever invented
the title deserves the name of genius.
The Impossibilist is the very essence
of Inconsistency. At one period he
is an Anarchist, at another fanat-
ical Political Actionist, at still an
other he is fanatical Direct Action
ist. In this country, the early ones
fought industrial action. They urged
the workers to abandon their unions
and to stop useless and ineffective
strikes. At that time they argued
that political action alone had rev
dictionary possibilities. Today the
Impossibilists fight Political Action.
Nothing but strikes will avail any
things In England, where the work
ers have developed three forms of
struggle, the Trade Union, the Labor
Party and the Cooperative, all three
are opposed by the Impossibilists.
They are anti-Trade Union, anti-par-
7iamentary, and antilCo-operative, On
the other hand, the Impossibilists of
France are Antiquarian entary, but
not antiTrade Union nor anti-Co-op-
erative. In Germany they fight the
Socialist party with the same venom
with which In Belgium and England
they fight the Labor parties. In
America, they now fight both the
Trade Unions and the Socialist party.
1t matters not what form of organi.
cation the working class adopts, the
ImpOsSibilist is found fighting that
organization. It seems to be a part
OF their temperament to dread "the
conservation of institutions" The
very fact that any work in the Labor
movement is quiet, persistent and
methodical, seems to arouse their
deepest ire.
It is only for these reasons that
their new cry, "The General Strike, y
has already done, as Guesde says,
much harm. "They substitute" as
Marx once said, revolutionary
phrases for revolutionary Evolution. y
The General Strike idea is not in it.
self menace to organization. Men
might discuss it calmly and even seri-
ously work toward the day when a
General Strike might be declared.
The idea is only alarming when it is
associated with the tactics of vote
no more, organize no more, build no
more. @
Napoleon once declared that an
army moves on its belly. For fifty
years or more the working class has
been welding powerful weapons of
battle. It has been filling its war
chests and stocking its commissariat.
1t has been laying the economic foun-
dalton for the coming battle, and he
who threatens the material basis of
the movement touches the most sens
tive spot in the life of Labor. The
workers win at any time argue toll
erantly upon the outcome Of the bat
tie, upon the various phases of life
that may exist in the future; but he
who says vote no more" organize
no more" infuriates the more intel
ligent, thoughtful, and constructive
in the working-class movement. The
Impossibilists may change their
views, as the idlers of another class
change their garments, with every
change Of wind and weather, but the
actual builders of the modern Labor
movement have learned the lesson
that Napoleon taught Anything
therefore, which menaces organization
or threatens to undermine the ma.
terial basis of the movement, men
aces the very possibility Of effective
action.
The Syndicalist utters the words,
THE General Strike" as a finality.
But the Trade Unionist asks, "Well,
then what?" Even the the most In
significant strike means the begin.
ming of troubles and of problems. Or.
ganization may seem of little import
ance In times Of peace Leaders,
funds, and papers may then seem OF
little consequence. But let war break
out, with multitudes of men looking
for information, for food, and fol-
guidance from their organization, and
not getting It Then what? The prob.
lem does not end, e begins with the
1 GenernI Hxl1n.