The Connecticut labor news., 1924-07-12
LABOR IN THE 1924 CAMPAIGN
By SAMUEL GOMPERs From the American Federationist Tor Juiy)

party measure, either Republican or Democratic, and Labor has never had 1 any wish that any party should seek 1 to exclude any other party from sponsorship of and support for La bor's demands.
 There is nothing inherent i'll any Labor demand to stamp 1t as impos- sible of acceptance by men of any political allegiance There is nothing in any Labor demand to stamp 1t as Republican or Democratic. Nor is there anything i'll any Labor demand that inherently requires a new politi- cal party for its success.
 It IS all condensed i'll the simple statement that essentially Labor's de- mands are not political.
 To enter into a partisan relationship with any political party-even a party which might call itself Labor Party would necessitate the espousal of propositions that were not an out growth of the labor movement and it's requirements. The labor movement would have to participate in the fight for or against propositions of a purely political nature having nothing to do with Labor.
 And regardless of what the intel 1ectuals may say-they must be say ing something at all times-there is no partisan political labor movement anywhere, in America, Europe, or elsewhere, that has yet demonstrated its real value to Labor or to the masses of the people generally. That is said, not as criticism, but as a judgment on the results achieved. The American trade union move ment is labor movement. It has to its credit achievements unrivalled any where else i'll the world. It has dem onstrated the soundness of it's own contention, which is that labor move i ment cannot also be something else and maintain its labor character and secure its labor results.
 The so-called third party movements may gratify certain ambitions. They may suit certain purposes. If the time comes when neither of the now dom inant parties responds to the will of the people, then the people will either rebuild one or both of them, or aban don both of them in a great revolt and rebuilding; that will not be the sore of thing we know today as third party movement That will not be the carbonated performance of little cote ries, nor the calculated political sabo tage of revo1utionists.
 American labor has developed IS non-partisan political policy out of long experience If experience had shown better method that better method would have been adopted. No move ment in the world responds more readily to the teachings of experience | than the American trade union move ment; none is less afraid to blaze the way along new lines, if there is proof that those lines are sound.
 In that connection the temptation 1 is to speak frankly and to say that many of those who shout so loudly for partisan political action do so because
 they are afraid not to-they are afraid
 that they will lose caste in their sur
 roundings afraid they will no longer
 be considered good proletarians, good
 revolutionists, good uncompromisers. This is all very silly for hunon beings,
 but after all many human beings are
 silly and many are sadly lacking III
 conviction. purpose, and courage.
 That is the political status of Amer
 ican Labor, as the great 1924 campaign
 gets under way. American Labor will
 be partisan to principles. 1t will fight
 to the finish against every candidate
 who is opposed to those principles; it
 will fight to the last For every candi-
 date who is for them; and it is all the
 same whether they are candidates for
 the presidency, for congfsss, or for
 the least and most humble office in
 the last small village on the furthest
 border line. And Labor is going to
 win tremendous victories this year!