Evening star., 1920-01-13

unsympathetic toward most of the
new movements: that all vital think
| ing and new leadership is frowned on
| by Gompers. They say that he does
not believe in a labor party. nor in the
| Plumb plan. nor in the more or less
'ague but powerful demands for more
! 'socialiZa ton in industry. He sees
the new unrest, but he knows only
| the rules of the old game as he has
played it for fifty years. He has in
deed tried to adapt himself to the
! new conditions-fcr example, in sup
porting a movement, which he could
not have prevented, on the part of
progressives. like Fitzpatrick and
Foster. to organize the meat packing
industry at Chicago and later the
rowed. in part. from the l. w. w.
And he has welcomed into the fed
GRAFTON some of the ADLER young rad
icais. hike Foster. who are now Dor
ing from within using the machin-
cry of the federation for pressing
agitation and organiZat lion along the
new lines
Stacked on All Sides.
Thus Gompers. with the wonderful
machine he has built up, finds himself
attacked upon all sides. "A labor party
movement. begun scarcely a yo-r ago
and led by men in his own camp. is
spreading like wildfre. There were
never so many unauthorized and un
controllable strikes as there have
been recently. Gompers advised the
! steel workers to delay their strike
as the President requested: but they
paid no attention to him. There have
been powerful and successful insur
gent unions Ike the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers-growing up out
side of the federation. He eXcom
municates them, but it does no good.
And finally. to cap the climax. the as
..ocjat:nO with Governments agencies
formed during the war, which Com
ners ana the a. +. of Y. felt to be
such a bulwark of strength, has sud
denly crumD Dled away. He is no longer
locked to and courted as the supreme
arbiter and spokesman of labor. lie
could not even prevent the govern
ment from enjoining the coal miners.
Thus the whole great world of la
Dor in America is in a new ferment-
stirred to it's depth as it never was
before.
Tendencies Now Apparent.
AS regards the tendencies now ap-
parent it may be divided into three
great groups:
1) The old conservative unionists
of the A. F. of l.. led by Gompers
While this group is wholly non-revo-
lutionary. it is still very powerful,
and if aroused. if it sees any of it's
liberties slipping away. it Will prove
a tough fighter. This is equally true
of the great railroad brotherhoods
The present policy on the part OF
many employers and politicians to-
ward indiscrin1inate attacks on al! or
ganized labor tends to drive these
conservatives into more radical po-
sition Gompers. for example. hnds
himself now attacked by an employer.
Gary, and politician. Pomerene. tol
Just the kind of radicalism he mas
hpap frhting all his Ire.
(2l The new progressive group
This is mostly made up of the left
wing within the A. F. OF L.. which
has been fighting Gompers for years
and has now formed national lapor
marty. with program much more
radical. more sociaIistic than that OF
the A. F. of L. No one knows YET
how strong the sentiment behind the
movement is. but from what saw
at the convention in Chicago ! shouio
Judge that it would take very little
to precipitate a considerable number