Denver labor bulletin., 1917-03-24
Big BUSINESS OF AMERICA STUNNED
BY TRIUMPHANT REVOLT IN RUSSIA
Union
Come Over to Side of Plain People Worries Captains
of Industry; Victory For Democratic Form of
Government, Giving Workers a Voice.

Council of National Defense, when the
situation was put up to him. 'If la
Dor wants representation and recog-
milton, as this manifesto sets forth,
there it has both"
The idea that the workmen in each
plant or each industry to be affected
by war conditions should have part in
the actual management of their indus
try, and should, thru the organized la
Dor movement, have their say in ma
tional policies-even in the decision of
peace or war-does not seem to have
percolated far into the minds of the
militarist leaders of the administra-
ton. They have not defied the labor
movements program; they simply
cannot grasp the notion that organ
lied labor proposes to help run the
country. They can't believe it, as the
big newspaper can.
Big Business Is Stunned.
Even more significant of the import
ance of this defiant declaration by the
labor conference is the alarm caused
in big business circles in the ma
tional capital over the news from
Russia. At first, when it appeared
that the Russian revolution was a sur
face affair, and that the old regime
was merely to be funigated and
washed, the militarists and reaction
aries here were pleased. Then, as
the news came over the cables that
the revolution in Petrograd was caused
by a strike and a hunger riot, and
that the trade union leaders were the
ones to whom the regiments went
over, rather than to the duma leaders,
the anti-labor element in Washington
became worried. When they heard
that a Socialist representative of the
. -r-saA n Trr7Tn se-e N<
! in the new cabinet, that a republic
was to be established, and that free
( dom TO strike and freedom of speech
and press were decreed, they saw that
the end of the European war was in
sight. They saw that Germany would
not make war upon American ship
ping; that a German revolution or a
surrender of German militarism was
next on the program; that Russian
democracy would be the first to hold
out q hand Of peace to German DEM
would not be drawn into war unless
thrust in by some desperate move by
the reactionaries on both sides.
Other Revolutions Expected.
II the United States does not go to
war, and if the European war ends
within two or three months with revo-
lutions in Germany and perhaps in
Austria and Italy-where do the enc
mics of the organized labor movement
in this country find any comfort =?
Kaiser, car and emperor went to war
three years ago to stop the growing
power of the working class in their
realms. They have failed. 1t seems
now that the United States will not
even get into war. Her trade union
movement and her political movement
for industrial democracy have made
new demands. Government owner
ship is rapidly shaping into a majority
policy. Democratic management goes
along with it, as the condition of or
ganized labor's support of any admin
istration.
The heads of all of the national and
international labor organizations in
= the United States are watching the
news, hour by hour, with growing
hopes and maturing plans. They take
notice of the spirit of unrest in the
membership. voiced thus by the $500
organized machinists in Toledo, Ohio,
in a letter dated March 9:
! AT the regular meeting of Toledo