New Ulm review., 1920-07-28
ON 3RD
PARTY FAILUR {; /;
CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS OF La
BOR BLAMED FOR RUPTURE
AT CHICAGO.
TOO MANY DISCORDANT ELE-
MENTS SPOILED HOPES
FOR UNITY.

Amos Pinchot of New York, who was
one of the prominent figures at the
Chicago convention called by the
Committee of Forty-Eight for the
purpose of forming a Third Party, in
a statement to the press explains why
these efforts failed. One of the reasons
was the strong class consciousness
among the labor representatives, he
says, and another was the overcon-
fidence of a large number of Forty
Fighters in their ability to get all dis
cordant elements under the same roof.
In spite OF these reverses, Mr.. Pinchot
is till hopeful that a way to victory
may be found.
Great Opportunity Lost.
Mr.. Pinchot's statement reads as
follows:
"A great opportunity has been lost.
But the world is not going to the devil
because of a few hundred people,
differing as widely as the poles, met in
Chicago for few days and then went
on their opposite and irreconcilable
courses. It was blunder, in fact a
fasco, whose humorous side would
stand out if it were not for its real
tragedy. We Forty-eighters failed to
found a new party because we fell down
completely in our judgment of the
situation. We did not realize until
too late that the men who controlled
the Labor Party, with which we pro-
posed to join, were not bent on a new
peoples party, drawing from the whole
American public, but on a trades union
party with two specific purposes: ::
U to spread British guild socialism
in the United States and ~ to destroy
Gompers' leadership in the American
Federation of Labor by coaxing his
followers away from him into party
the formation of which Sam had
bitterly demo unced.
Plan Was Too Narrow.
''As a matter of fact, the plan of the
Labor Party leaders was narrower
even than a trades union movement,
for the platform they drew was so
extreme that, even in the organized
labor group, those who were not
socialists or communists would go in
only if coerced by the moral dis
cipline which the Labor Party leaders
have already established over the rank
and file of their organization.
"The rank and file itself Of the Labor
Party convention, as | got it's point Of
view, was not made up Of extremists at
all They were just average human
beings. If let alone, they would have
been satisfied with a political plat
form going as far as our ST. Louis plat
form; that is public ownership and
operation of railways, public owner
ship and private operation Of the
principal natural resources, no land
held out of use for monopoly or specu-
lation, civil liberties and full pro-
lection for labor's rights and an en-
dorsement of it's share in the manage
ment Of industry.
Union Discipline.
"But union discipline was strong at
Chicago, Class consciousness was
strong too, and the excitement of the
convention swept sober thought away
So that the labor crowd stood as a unit
for an extreme and little thought out
platform: Under the same circu y
stances, they would, in my opinion,
have embraced with equal unanimity
Sovietism or it's antithesis Anarchism
or our st. Louis platform, if Buck,
Bennett, John Fitzpatrick and Edward
Nockels had presented these programs
to the convention with sufficiently
fiery gestures and phrases On the
other hand, and by the same token,
if the leaders of the Forty-eighters had
presented Anarchism or Sovietism, the
labor convention would have rejected
them with an hurrah, not on their
merits or dement's, but because they
came from men whom they were told
to distrust.
An Illustration.
An incident will illustrate to what
extent class consciousness was in the
saddle. On Wednesday morning, after
the conference committee had been
| working practically without sleep for
I two days and nights, I went to the
convention and fell asleep in the back
|of the hall. The amalgamation was
already put through at this time and
| was awakened from dreams of new
great party and called upon to address
the gathering composed of Forty
Fighters, labor men and farmers. i
had no speech prepared and was not
expecting to have ITO make one The
dominant idea in my mind was that a
class platform and name would smash
our whole project higher than kite
and I made an appeal, as moderate
but as strong as I could upon the one
point, chat The convention should not
destroy the efforts of the men and
women gathered there, by founding q
party devoted to the interests Of q
small minority ofFSour one hundred anc
! ten million America My remarks
\ were received with about the .appre
! ciation that "a convention Of aSinr
Fleiners would have accorded to Il
! speech from Sir Edward Carson.
i Too Hopeful.
4 Evidently what I have already des
8 cribed made the. situation compli
/ Gated enough, but it was rendered
more difficult still from the fact tha
the Committee Of Forty-eight wa