The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1917-08-31
DUAL UNIONISM
A DEADLY ENEMY

Any man who in this day and age
induces a group of workers to Sc
cede from the bona fide labor move
-ment and to form a dual union COM
mits positive treachery to the work
ing class. Ignorance cannot eX-
cuse him; for if any one lesson
stands out clearer than another in
the labor experience of the past 20
years, it is that about the only eff
feet of dual unionism is to spread
disruption and ruin among all the
workers involved.
Such a thing as a dual organiza-
tions succeeding is practically I'M
heard of. 1t makes no difference
what purpose the seceders have in
mind or with what eclat their move
ments begin, sooner or later being
cut off from the support of the
main branch of labor movements, they
wither and die, or, after a de-
structive struggle, are absorbed by
their parent organizations.
Dozens of instances could be cited
to prove this fact. There is hard
ly an international union in the
country but what at some time or
other has fought and conquered a
dual union in its field of action. Some
of the worst dualistic splits in recent
years were among the shoe workers,
machinists and electricians And in
each case, although for time the
dualists seemed to be getting the
best of it, the affair wound up it's
disastrous course by the parent union
winning the fight.
No better illustration could be
found of the folly of dual unionism
than in the railroad industry. For
rs years this industry has been ours
ed with dualism. For all these
years sseceders, in first one organ
ization and then another, have fought
the railroad trade unions, and the
sum total of their efforts has been
merely to hinder these organizations
and thus play into the hands Of the
railroads. They have been absolute
ly unable to establish any secession
lists organizations. Some of the
dual unions that have gone down
to defeat in the railroad industry are
the American Railway Union, Social
list Trades and Labor Alliance, Unit
ed Brotherhood of Railway EN-
ployees, Industrial Workers of the
World, Industrial Railway Union,
Railway Workers Industrial Union.
and American Federation of Railroad
Workers. The amount of damage
done by these dual organizations can
never be told.
A typical illustration of the Grim
inal folly Of dual unionsim was seen
in the recent secession movement
among the Montana miners. A
number of malcontents in the Butte
Miners Union, instead of sticking to
the union as they should and fight
ing out their differences there, raised
an internal rumpus, broke up the
old union and started a new one
For a time things looked very rosy
for the dual union, as is usually the
case, but when the time of stress
came and it became necessary to get
the support of organized labor, this
support was not forthcoming and the
new union collapsed as quickly as it
had risen. =
The general result was that the
ten thousand miners of Butte lost
every trace of unionism, and as is
usual in the case of dual unionism,
about the only ones who benefited
were the employers. For years they
had been fighting the Western Fed
Grafton of Miners, vainly spending
millions of dollars trying to .injure it.
And, what they were unable to do
with all their millions, the dual un-
ionists did for nothing by breaking
up the stragetic Butte Miners
Union.
Again, we repeat, any man who
encourages the formation of dual
unions is guilty of treason to the
working class. Long experience
proves that his activities result prof
itably only to the employers. To
the workers they bring strife, dis
ruption and defeat. Beware of the
man who proposes to quit the old
union and start a new one.
WILLIAM E. FOSTER.