The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-10-09
Purcell, in MASTERFUL SPEECH
URGES WORLD TRADE union UNITY
BEFORE LABOR FEDERATION MEET
CONTINUED from page u


ity of labor.
Just as the governmental repres-
entatives of the United States are in
practically every country Of the world
giving effect to the policy Of your
government; just as the powerful
American trusts and combines have
representatives and agents in every
country Of the world, advancing their
interests, so must American labor be
in a position, also, to safeguard its
interests internationally.
Isolation a Mistaken Policy
Il tell you that the policy of isola-
ton is mistaken one. You cannot
afford to think only in terms OF the
United States, or the Americans. The
Monroe doctrine no longer holds good
for your government as its imperial
policy in the PHILIPPINES, in China and
elsewhere demonstrates. And it no
longer holds good for your capitalists
II can no longer hold good for you.
Circumstances, the development of
capitalism, the establishment Of great
industrial fabrics in Asia, Africa and
Australia, necessarily oompels you to
take world view and to act from
world standpoint.
It is fundamental urge, an insist
ent impulse. Of capitalism to 90 to
those places where labor is cheap and
where the raw materials are immediate
ly available. Capitalism, the trusts
and combines, businessmen generally,
know no frontiers.
Must Face Colonial Problems
THE capitalists are now concerned
about maintaining race purity or the
conservation Of jobs for the workers
Of any particular country They are
merely concerned about profits. Your
American capitalist is not concerned
whether his factory be in San Fran
cisco or Toxic, so long as he can
make the most OF It. II these foreign
workers working for very low wages,
receiving cents where you would be
receiving dollars, are working in a
Toxic factory or Shanghai factory,
or a Bombay or Calcutta factory. they
are none the less competitors to the
wage earners Of this country, just as
if they had bern working 'r San Fran
cisco, Chicago, or New YORK
Il want you to let that fact sinh
deeply into your minds, and TO reflect
upon it in relation to tbs enormous
development Of industriaHrm in Japan.
India, China, South Africa and the
other parts Of the world where there
are infnite reserves of poSr workers
workers Of the brown, yellow and
black races anxious and wiling 10
be drawn into the industrial vortex.
What will the wage earners of
America do to maintain their wage
and living standard? What viii they
do by pursuing a policy OF isolating,
shutting themselves of from the
world as though the world did not
exist?
Must Aid Exploited Races
And here | want to say that the
world is battle-ground of conflicting
inaustrialisms America aspires TO OBJ
tain the world market for her goods.
Britain aspires to obtain the world
market for her goods. Japan, Ger
many, France, all the capitalist coun-
tries do the same, and the world
market is woefully circumscribed, re-
stricted. AS things are, the tendency
must inevitably be for the world mar
ket to go to those countries where the
raw materials are at hand, labor is
underpaid, and the costs Of production
are low. And ! say further, that the
only hope for the future of American
labor, and indeed the worlds white
race, is for the trade union movement,
internationally, TO raise the status of
the workers in Asia and Africa. to
assist them with trade union organiza-
ton so that they may build up their
own trade union organization, and
thru that means secure higher rates
OF pay and better working and living
conditions. We, all the workers of
Europe and the western world, will
go down unless we help them to come
up. The only way we can help them
up is to assist them with our move
ment, united in one powerful trade
union international.
Nor is that all. We must now real
ize that the economy OF the world is
so highly developed. so technically ef-
ncient, and so extensive, that infinite
ly more can be produced than con-
sumed under capitalism. In Britain
we have IL per cent of our workers
permanently unemployed, and our ex.
perts tell us that unemployment must
grow increasingly.
Is Proud of Russia
Il have been in Russia. There 1
have seen the workers assuming vast
responsibilities and duties, carrying
thru the reorganization Of society un-
der frtghtful difficulties. AS a work.
man l am proud of the genius for or
ganization and the essential grip OF
things which my class in Russia has
displayed. Just as your president sent