The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-02-05
Labor Goes In For Banking
(Continned from PAGE ]

CID wv, mas pGill up Il poNtiiul ViAlVV
holding clique, its own "servants
paid by its own dues and "strike'
funds, whose principal task is to thwart |
the will of the workers. As Lee of the |
railwaymen put it in his testimony be
fore Congress, Most of our time (mean
ing the time of the heads of the Bro
therhoods) is spent in holding down
the workers and preventing them from
going on strike
"You might sum up the most inn
pOrtant duties of fese self.confeSscd
| labor lieutenants of the capitalist class
under three heads: (l) collecting the
dues to insure fat salaries; (2)'Sitting
on the lid to thwart the will of their
rank and file; (S) scabbing on the
'outlaw" rank and file strikes. Maybe,
there S 4th and 5th, taking bribes
and appointments from the capitalist
institutions. and selling the labor
vote to the Republican, Democratic
and Socialist parties"
eyes, but"
"Shut up minute"
"Now the only thing that makes
them pay any attention to the will of
the rank and file, is the fear of losing
the dues-payers and their handsome sa
aries. Make them Independent of dues,
put the workers savings in labG.of-
ficial-controlled banks, build up big
fund, and you remove the last method
that the worker has of controlling his
servant, you make the labor-eader
completely Independent of the worker.
"But that ism all. Concentrate all
your funds in a labor bank. Then if the
government wishes to break union in
the interests of capitalism, it seizes its
funds, the whole war chest captured in
one move.
"You picket. or you boycott, and an
: injunction is gotten out against you in
| a capitalist court, You disobey, and the
employers attach (Which in plain Eng
lish means steaD your funds. How easy
, you make it by concentrating you
! whole war chest in one place.
"The workers. have nothing to lose
but chains, and their "leaders, u turn
ed bankers and financiers, are afraid OF
bank failures and appropriations
They have fortunes to lose. just as The
q possession of the big co-operatives, aui
newspaper plants and labor temples Of
Germany tended to make the Lcger
labor aristocrats conservative proper
ty-owners, just so and in even greater
, degree would the labor banks work il
the United States.
"And as for competing capitals
banks out of existence, don't kid your
self. You can no more do that than th,
co. operative industries have competed
capitalist industries out of existence
Nor, for that matter, can any saving
bank, however large, exist without in
vesting its funds in capitalist enter
prices. Why, they could crush you
bank over night if they wanted to.
Il
"Remember the ease of Ponzi, tn
I mOncy.wizard! He discovered mctho,
of making profit out of internationa
exchange, and incurred the eunity o
bigger financiers than himself by scab
i bing on them and paying more than th'
= average rate of interest on investment
! in place of 6fc,-6O%.
"Tbey decided to break him, an,
they did so overnight. They broke tn
- bank in which he had his funds dcpos
tied, by calling in its loans, depressing
g the valne of its securities, and refusin;
I it credit. Its funds melted away. 1t ha'
r to close its doors. And Ponzi couldn >
Il make good on his notes. Then they sen
J. him to Jail, And that was only figh
{ between capitalists,.
: "And taking up your point abou
{ financing the workers press ant
{ strikes. DO you suppose that a ban
s controlled by the A, =. of i. official
= dom would finance red paper like tn
c "Toiler" that has declared war o
/. determination against them. They woul
r strengthen their own yellow Officia
o press, and make IL more than rver in
Q dependent of the rank and file, bu
e rank and file papers would still hav
!. to get along on the contributions o
their readers.
. "And finance strikesl Do you SUI
u pose they'd finance an outlaw strike
IS And what strike that IS worth anythn
r. ism Z declared an outlaw strikeO Nor
likely they'd finance the official strike
breakers employed by the labor liout,
nants of capitalism in the namc of til
union"
% paused for breath, aud discovcrc
that ! was now lcciuring a very ehas
cued opponent, "f never thought q
those things" SAYS he,
"Po sum up" ] declared, "labC
banks would strengthen the hmcal
= cratic ofricialdom, the union "leadcrs,
BY insuring their salaries, making thcl
Independent of the dues'paycrs, an
,lgiving them funds with which to hin
@ scabs to break the outlaw strikes {
c their own rank and file. BY strength
u cnine these capitalist tools, we woul
be strengthening capitalism.
q "Second. we would strengthen caI