New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1919-11-05
THE LABOR PARTIES,
Continued from page g.

to protect this right Of labor to refuse
to accept an unfair contract.
It has been only after labor has been
defeated in some great strike, or in a
series Of strikes, that political action
has been seriously undertaken. Once
undertaken, however, the purpose of
labor has everywhere rapidly advanced,
for the use Of the public power to defend
the rights Of Workingnen while on strike,
to the demand that the public be made
itself an employer Of labor, through the
public ownership and democratic man
agernent OF the instruments of social
service q
That means that the workers in the
great monopolized industries may be-
come their own employers.
This Is The Record.
1t was a series of strikes, culminat-
ing in the great strike Of 1890, all Of
which were lost by labor through the
misuse Of the public power by the en-
ployers, which created the Labor parties
of Australia and of New Zealand.
More than 20 years later it was
the. recurrence OF a series Of defeated
strikes which led to the. reorganization
of labor and to the, re-establ ishment
Of the greatest unity within the ranks
Of labor in both these countries.
It was the misuse of the public pow
er to the disadvantage Of the workers
Of both those countries which made
possible the new and more perfect
forms of industrial representation which
now prevail within the Labor parties.
It is Labor party resting on these
Industrial groups which promises to
place in its own hands at an early day
for administration Of the public power
in all the British possessions of the
South Seas. 5.z
It was a series of defeated strikes
which first secured labor representation
through the Liberal party in Great
Britain.
It was another series of defeated
strikes in which the labor organiza-
tons had been betrayed which took
the Labor party in Great Britain from
subordinate position in the Liberal
party organization.
1t was a further series of defeated
strikes which has forced the British
Labor party into. a position entirely
independent from all other parties,
and has finally made the Labor party
of Great Britain the most constructive
and the most aggressive force in making
the nation itself, through the public
ownership of the great monopolies, the
chief employer and the model employer
Of labor. That means that the workers
in these industries are to become their
own employers.
It was defeated strike which made
possible the organization and the VIC
tories of somewhat uncertain value of
the Labor party in San Francisco.
It was series of strikes, with la
Dor placed at disadvantage through the
misuse of public power, which gave the
trade unions of Milwaukee, through the
Social Democratic organization, the m as
terry Of that city.
1t was a series of undertakings, which
were brought to disaster through the
misuse of the political machinery Of
the State of North Dakota, which led
to the creation of the Nonpartisan
league and forced the farmers of that
state, as the first Labor party in Ameri-
ca, to 60 to the ballot box with an indus
trial organization created exclusiv ely
for political purposes and with pro-
gram Of demands Of particular advantage
to their own industry. That was carry
ing the demands of an indsutry to the
government, not as petition to others,
but as an expression of the determine
ton of the workers in a great industry
to provide for their own needs by taking
to themselves for industrial purposes
all the powers of the state government.
When all ndustries combine for a
like purpose the Labor party will be-
come invincible and industrial de-
mocracy a reality.