The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1919-03-07
Correspondence Labor Press)

lesson Europe has for the. American
working people:
Get down to brass tacks, get down
to the definite things of today, look
to the inspiration that is in Amer
ica. Forget dreams, except in spare
time, throw away dogmas, and quit
looking to Europe as place where
great minds PROFOUND nothing but
the great truths of life twenty-four
hours a day.
Europe is full of leaders, full OF
men who PROFOUND learned formu-
las that make good business for
book sellers. Europe is full of men
who have their groups of followers
who dote on formulas. Pick any
six of the best known leaders and
you can get six methods of work
ing class action, as it is called. You
cannot by any possibility get out
of those six less than five meth
DDS, for not more than two out OF
six could ever agree.
Take Shaw. Henderson, MacDon-
aid, Snowden, Lansbury, Smile.
Could you get them to agree on the
details of a League of Nations
Could you get them to agree on
what ought to be the status of in
dustry today or tomorrow? You
probably couldn't get them even to
agree on how to boil eggs!
Even among the straight trade
union leaders there is small agree
ment. Take Wilson, Bowerman,
Thorne, Appleton, Clynes, Thomas.
There is more agreement among
these men, because they are more
in contact with the hard facts of
real life-they have to be. But even
among them there is not the eye
single kind of team work that
Americans know. And the minute
they get away from the hard fact
side of life-which not all Of them
do-they, too, scatter fire.
1t should be said that men like
Appleton, of which there are few,
stay close to earth and waste prec-
ious little time side slipping in the
clouds. It's the clouds stuff that
intoxicates!
The world today needs work. II
needs straightforward effort. II
needs strong teamwork. If the
state of things in England and
France proves anything it proves
that there's. only one place to dc
constructive team-work-on the
ground.
Leaders here, mostly, are chasing
formulas. Men who might be tow.
ers of strength in the present try
ing time are weaving words to-
gether.
Formula, formula, formula-who's
got the latest formula? Was the
chicken first, or was it the egg?
Here are some facts about Eng
land:
Demobilization is going on.
Factories are being converted to
peace time work.
They may not hold all the men
who return from the front.
Unemployment is in prospect for
many.
Anarchy reigns no further away
than the war was a few weeks ago
British housing is 100000 homes
in arrears of its normal inadequate
supply.
Raw materials are not at hand
yet and they must be imported.
What are the leaders Jdoing
Some are working furiously at these
problems. The trade unionists who
think and act in terms of definite
work and machinery are actually
thinking in terms of today and to-
days vast problems. The politicians
are plotting everything out in nice
theories, pretty platitudes and res
onant formulas.
What is the result? The result
is that the big voice in the settling
of the practical problems will be
the voice of the business masters
and the voice of the money schem-
ers and the voice of profiteers, and
of the old line politicians, who
never allow themselves to get very
far away from the thing of the
moment. They are willing that la
Dor leaders should dream about
Utopia-they prefer it, in fact.
If there is progress to be made