The Connecticut labor news., 1923-03-30

ists and the 1. w. w., have long designated Gompers and the Amer ican Federation of Labor as Ire actionary" In 1917 pacifsts took up the cry, and then the friends of the Soviets-until it has been echoed in and newspaper by our entire pseudo- liberal >ntelligentsia.
 Like the British Labor Party mem bership, these "intellectuals" are either declared Socialists or support CTS of the Socialist and Bolshevist movements against all their oppo- nents. It is from that standpoint that they attack American labor and, strange to say, receive the sup port and sympathy of conservatives, even of certain international imam ciers.
 Certainly, American labor is reac- tionary-from this Bolshevist or pro Bolshevist standpoint. Here is what Gompers says about it: "The mar rowness of trade unionism:' This value, in every camp and even III every grouplet of 'intellectuals' In going the whole round of the isrns, Sociological, ethical, legal, political, reformatory, played d-out popular crazes, or Just out social panaceas, one will hear expressed by the lead CTS a sentiment that the trade union $ ists are hide-bound conservatives be- cause they decline to rush in body to take the magic medicine for soc1al ills offered by the particular '1sms ad- vocated by the critic in each part1cul- lar case. "A trade union is not a machine fitted to the work of directly effect oH civic cocIa1 and n0ITfICal changes necessary in society. But it first of all teaches the working classes the power of combination. Thence forward, it disciplines them, leads them to perform tasks that are possl- ble, and permits the members of any of it's affiliated bodies to attempt any form of socia lexperiment which does not imperil the organization as a whole" The organization, democrat ic control, must come first: That IS organized labor's admitted limitation, But 1t IS essential Labor Has No Use For "Isms. - The man who understands this democratic viewpoint least of all IS the radical and doctrinaire Intellect ual." Gompers and labor "decline to be limited to any particular ism. That is sufficient to condemn them m the intellectua's eyes. They move in some lower region, they do not live in the atmosphere of ideas and ideals. But Gompers- denies with all vigor that merely because the A. F. of L. is not governed by some so- called social philosophy 1t must "work blind4y from day to day. ~On the contrary, he contends that its method of learning from experlence and not tying itself to a priori hy-- potheses is the only scientific method and asserts that labor is constantly leading, not following, the intellect uals in developing basic and reliable economic and political thought.
 Gompers rejects theoretical rad1- calism, but he scarcely assigns a con servative role to organized labor He says: "The, true object of the labor movement is the seeking of ra- tional method by which these (social wrongs may be righted. Trade union ism is the soundest base yet lad tor every project that gives prom1se to the working Glass for firm and solid advance. Moving step by step, trade unionism contains within itself, as movement and as "a mechanism, the possibilities for establishing whatever social institutions the future shal develop for the workers as the pre- destined universal element in Contro of society,""
 The so-called conservative labor leader is more advanced than the radical intellectual in his conception of "the class struggle The mex perienced intellectual wants to set that struggle forthwith intensified The experienced labor leader desire: to see the struggle broadened ano democratized, and wants to proceed
 o1 of ha that the wage earner may be bettel prepared by reason of his improve ment to carry on more effectively th' struggle for his improvement The wage earner will steadily become no onl whore effective and more 1ntell1 gent and humane in fighting tor h1 own advancement, but more efhc1en in industry and more valuable tt society.
 Actual Class Struggle.
 Here is class struggle sure enOugl though in some ways it is the yer reverse of the class struggle of Kar Marx and the Socialists. The tact however, that improved condition lead not to contentment but to tur ther demands-more strongly assert ed and more effectively backed u than ever-insures the cont1nuatlo of the struggle Human nature bein what it is, the growing demands. "the working class" will inevitabl continue to be met by resistance "the employing class.
 "Because the workers are dete mined to demand a greater and evt greater share in the general produc the economic interests of these tW are not harmonious" says Gomper Not only is labor's share to becon constantly greater and the employer share constantly smaller, but Con Ders is ready for the day when prof will be entirely eliminated" | does not predict that event, and ce