The daily Nome industrial worker., 1917-07-10

FdultdIS Nlu HOC COhtIOl IO Su'H sufficient extremes the Unions In Arizona before their arrival, is 1t to be believed that merely by chang ing the name the continuous wolA of rag-chewing upon various econo- mic subjects, the miners en masse would be changed?
 Now no person can imagine any such thing. On the contrary, be- cause the majority of workers are not radical, and continuous eduCa tion is required before they will even assimilate radical ideas, the or ganizations whether they went by the name of I. w. w. or Western Federation of Miners would be ex- actly the same.
 It is not, and it is a myth and outrage fallacy has been perpe- trated upon common sense of the people to say otherwise, the leaders who are responsible for the poli- cies of the rank and file It is the rank and file itself. The rank and | file tolerate Gompers, tolerate labor l fakirs, tolerate this, that and the other tactic which many others within the union reject.
 The very history of the Industrial Workers of the World is practical proof of this. That organization has scoffed at the notion of leaders, but 1 just the same they have those who were just as much as the executors of the will of the majority, the men who endeavored to shape those pol- cies in line with their own views. exists in every organization, denials | to the contrary notwithstanding i But it is remarkable that some of these men and women hold on to 1 official positions which may be the reward and measure of their merit and ability and capacity, but which 1 possesses a permanence indicating that they are leaders in the accepted sense of the term.
 Moreover, this has led into vari. ous dissensions in the ranks Of the l l. w. w. itself. Factionism re- suited in that organization sunder- ing into sections which either re- suited in the formation of another society or organization or was ~e- moved bodily into the outer dark ness.
 | There are things which leaye much to be desired in all unions af- fiiated with the American Fedora ton of Labor. Some of the leaders should have been placed upon the shelf long ago. Many of the tactics are especially deplorable. But they have been done with the approval and sanction of the rank and file. |: is an absurd idea to imagine thet this same rank and file is rigidiy excluded from absorbing the trath as propagated by the Industrial Workers of the World. They are not; they come in contact With radi- cal ideas such as they purvey al most every day of their lives. Bat they remain reactionary. They are reactionary on the job and off the job. And they would be the same whether they would be members of a union affiliated with the A. F. of l.. or a union affiliated with tfe 1. w. w. The charters do not count. The men do. And it is merely a form of tactical superstition to he
 ieve that there is some especially saving grace in the gospel as propa- gated by on I. w. w. and none in such as is propagated by the others.
 This paper believes firmly in in- dustrial unionism. But this paper can no more compel the workers to accept industrial unionism from ith standpoint as one can get man to delight in something which h2 regards from a totally different point of view.
 These who believe that by joining the I. w. w. the millennium will be hastened are welcome to that view; those who believe that any thing can be accomplished before the ma jority are ready to act and believe as they act, may as well forget it.
 That a militant minority can do many things, and can control, we know is correct. How can we be llinre otherwise with capitalism fore