The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-05-07
The World Revolution and the Immediate
Tasks before the Industrial Organizations
of the British Workers.
By J. T. MURPHY.

against Russia. That the capitalist
governments will not cease to make
attempts to raise armies for that
purpose l do not doubt. But, at the
moment, the Russian workers are
consolidating their position while the
Western workers are moving steadily
in the direction of Revolution. They
have more powerful governments to
overcome, greater forces Of reaction
with which to contend, more highly
developed technical forces against
them, and, consequently, more tor
tuous path to travel towards the
Revolution. Powerful as these forces
against them may be, the inexorable
economic forces of capitalism are
weakening their power and driving
the masses into ever more powerful
combinations-first for defence, then
defiance and conquest.
Struggles and protests, open con-
flicts with the "Whites" are enumer-
able throughout the capitalist coun-
tries. Distress is everywhere. The
British Empire is being shaken as
never before. War is being waged
in ireland. The millions of India are
rousing themselves to action. The
economic pull of the United States
on Canada calls forth alarms and
fears; the demand for separate re-
presentation of the Colonies in the
League of Nations are all indications
of the strain that is being put upon
the Empire. And everywhere in the
Colonies and dependencies, in friendly
nations and unfriendly nations, ir
"Allied" countries and "enemy" coun.
tries, class alignments of forces are
becoming clearly in the ascendent
International working class solidari.
ty passes from the realm of utopia
to practice. The masses rally toward
Moscow. The reactionaries rally to
Geneva. The one looks to the Com
munist International, the other to the
Iaoo,,a of Nations
The Workers Lineup.
These are the two extremes. We are
in the period when the working mas.
ses are passing from one to the
other. Large forces are already or
either side. For long years the work
ers' organizations, especially the
Trade Unions, have been under tht
domination of the ideas associated
with the Labor policy Of the League
of Nations, the policy of adaptation
to capitalism. The Second Interna
tional fostered these notions. Th'
Amsterdam international fosteret
and fosters these notions. The wa
destroyed the Second Internationa
and gave birth to the Third or Com
munist International which focused
and led the fight for the ideas as
sociated with the workers conques
of capitalism.
The transition proceeds apace. 1
is illustrated in the political partie
by the tremendous rally to the Com
munist International and the attemp
to constitute a fourth international
In Trade Unionism by the rally t
the Red International of Trade an
Industrial Unions, the close ally o
the Communist International, an
the establishment of the Interna
tional Federation Of Trade Union
at Amsterdam.
Phases of British Movement.
In the face of this situation, W
find that the British movement
still insular, almost unconscious c
internationalism Politically, it
dominated by Laborism which
fabbly and nationalistic. It's Con
munist Party is exceedingly sma
and undeveloped and inexperience
in revolutionary practice. Industrial
ly, the workers movement is chara
terized by powerful unions strong
centralized and dominated by a r
| formist policy. Indeed, the tendent