The guardian. [volume] (Boston, Mass.) 1901-1960, 1939-11-18

workers, as they began to organiza
into unions in the steel and meat
packing industries, found an eco.
nomic excuse for their prejudice
from the fact that employers were
in the habit of bringing in colored
strike breakers to break strikes
Even in the 1887 strike against the
Little" Steel Companies. colorqd
strike breakers We're active in the
Youngstown area, to the detriment
of amicable race relations between
the white and colored EMPLOYEES,
Luckily, in the case of the white
trade unionist, a very powerful in.
fluence is working to overcome race
prejudice, namely, his self-interest
as soon as that self-interest is pro.
perly understood.
The job of winning concessions as
to wages and hours and preventing
arbitrary discharge by the boss is a
gigantic one whenever the employ.
er is determined to fight the union
as is so often the case in the large
scale mass production industries.
The employer, of course, starts with
financial resources UNNECESSARILY
superior to anything that the work
ers can possibly muster, either
singly or together. Such resour-
ces enable him to comb the country
for scabs, to offer especially high
pay, temporarily, to such scabs, to
influence public opinion, and some
times to plant spies or agents pro-
vocateurs among the ranks of the
workers, as is amply proved by the
investigation of LaFollette's sena-
torial committee on civil liberties.
The worker on his part, when he
goes on strike, cannot afford to
travel afar hunting another job to
keep his family fed while the strike
lasts; and if he did, he could only
find a job at the present time if he
were extremely lucky.
Even more important, the corpOr-
ate or individual owner in industry
has the right to hire and fire, the
power to promote and denote At
present, this legal right to give and
Withhold employment means in ac-
tual practise the right to condemn
a man and his family to the tender
mercies of the public welfare relief.
1t constitutes a tremendously pow
erfully economic club in the hands
of the owners of industry which is
not adequately balanced by any
similar club in the hands Of the
workers, no matter how strongly
and completely organized they may
be.
Added to all this preponderance
of economic power on the side Of the
employer in any wage contract be-
tween the owners of industry and
unorganized workers, is the fact
that in nearly every case where the
workers are trying to establish
union in an industry and locality
where unions have not been reCOg-
nized and dealt with by the en-
ployer before, the state and local au-
thorities are on the side of the en-
ployer in any economic conflict The
police may, therefore, be counted
on confidently to be vigorous in pro.
tecting the scabs, and lackadaisical
in preserving the right to picket or
in forcing upon recalcitrant employ
ers the duty of bargaining collec-
lively.
To overcome all this heaped up
economic and political power, the
workers can only rely on the solid
arity of labor. Unless this solidar-
ity embraces all workers, whatever
their race, national origin, or color,
the chance of union victory in any
labor struggle is slim indeed
10 hn nnnti,1,nd u, +lnn nnY+ iSsnpl