Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1922-08-18
THE RIGHT TO SCAB
Bv Oscar Ameringer

tyranny of the union. A celebrated
educator has even gone so far as to
call him hero.
In addition, these friends of the scab
stoutly assert that every man-and
by this they mean the scab exclusive
ly-has a sacred right to sell him
self to anybody, for any price and for
any kind of work.
Now, in the first place, there is no
such thing as a right to work, neither
in this nor any other country.
Working people do not go to en-
ployers and demand" work They
ask for it, beg for it and sometimes
fight each other for it.
Employers are not enjoined from
closing their factories or mines. No
body ever has employed gun men to
protect wage workers from being
locked out. At no time was the mill
tary called upon to lead jobless men
back to their jobs.
Only recently four million unem-
ployed pounded the highways and by
ways of this country. Nearly one
fifth of our population found itself
reduced to the verge of poverty. And
yet no one in authority ever dreamed
of enforcing this blessed right to work.
No, "the right to work. is the ex-
elusive prerogative Of the strike
breaker. He, and he alone, can awake
the strong arm of the law for the
protection of his job
And he is also the only traitor that
is praised by the "best people"
When a working man seeks work in
mine we say to him: Brother, Join
our union. The work in this labyrinth
of black, damp caverns is hard and
dangerous. Death turks behind every
pillar, above vour head and from
many yawning holes.
"They used to work US here four
teen and sixteen hours per day. For
months we never saw the blessed light
of day: Still further back, they even
hitched our women and children up
with dogs and donkeys to pull out the
coal
"Then we organized this union.
We fought and suffered and sacrificed
for generations to build it up. It's
our only weapon and our only hope
the only thing that raised US up from
the crawling brute we used to be.
eve still are far from being full
fedged human beings. We still live
in huts and shacks and barely earn
enough to rear our young. However,
we have made the start and the union
that brought US thus far will take us
further still.
"Come in, brother. We share with
you all we have gained through suffer-
ing and sacrifice Your troubles shall
be our troubles. Your struggle shall
be our struggle. We will take care of
you and yours in sickness or death.
And, above all, we protect you against
those who would suck the marrow of
your bones, the blood that flows in
your veins"
"Our union is sanctuary for all the
burdened and heavy laden of every
race and every cline. We take them
all into our brotherhood, be they
white, red, yellow or black.
"Verily, there is not a chuch in
Christedom that will open its gates
as wide as we have opened our union
door.
"Yet, there are men who will not
join our flock Men who never would
even dream of toiling in a mine year
in and year out, until their life is
spent, as we do.
"These men wait like buzzards on a
fence until We are engaged in one of
those life and death struggles called
strikes. Then they swoop down on us
to take our jobs for week or month
until our back is broken.
"Such men may have a right to
work, but if they have then Judas had
a right to take the thirty siverings
and lead the Roman horde to the pray
ing Carpenter in the garden of Geth-
semane; then Benedict Arnold had the
right to direct the soldiers of King
George to the sleeping fort on the
Hudson-then every spy and traitor
has right to sell his labor to the
enemy"
He who violates the law of the
group or herd is called a criminal in
times of peace, a traitor in times of
war And this holds good whether
the group is composed of twelve dis
ciples, a regiment of ragged continetal
soldiers, an army or labor union
I do not fatter myself that I am
able to convey to others the deep,
primitive hatred that union men have
for scabs.
Only a hungry wolf, with litter
of pups pulling on the teats of
starving mate, who is chased away
from his kill by other wolves who
make it their business to hunt only in
the vicinity of starving wolves only
he can feel how working men feel
about the scab.
These lines are not written in glori-
fication of violence in labor troubles.
Their purpose is only to offer a
glimpse into the depths in which
violence is terminated.
The antagonism between capital
and labor is too elemental, too
profound to be solved by force and
violence. And the worker who resorts |
to them is as foolish as the employer
of gun men or the statesman with his
injunctions, jails and machine guns.
N