Abner E. Woodruff

“ Man is like the bug—he travels in the direction of the food supply—and institutions are like men—they perish when unfed. The master class, besieged upon the economic field by an aroused and class conscious proletariat holding the sources of wealth in its determined grasp, must go down in defeat and its class institutions must be drawn down with it into the abyss, thus clearing the field and making room for those better and fairer structures which the genius of the new society will erect. ”

“ The discovery and use of fire is the great turning point in the history of man. It sets him completely apart from the other animals and opens the way to all the social progress he has made. No fire—no family; no family—no domestic arts, no domestication of the animals, no progress, no civilization—nothing—only just beastly conditions. No wonder the Savage worshiped the fire! ”

“ He must be quick of body and alert of intellect—only as a trained man is he useful to the masters—therefore his reactions on his environment are more intelligent and more vigorous than those of any servile worker that has preceded him. He takes up the cudgel to defend himself. All the knowledge of the world is at his command and he quickly learns that labor power applied to the materials of the earth is the source of all wealth, and that the source of the master's riches lies in his appropriation of the surplus of wealth remaining after the workers are miserably fed, clothed and housed. ”

“ The free workingman sold his labor-power for a price, therefore he was said to work for himself, and he took this price, or wage, and went into the open market where he bought food, clothing and shelter. In each event—whether as slave, serf or freeman—all the worker really got was food, clothing and shelter.
In truth, the freeman was not a free man. The lands and tools of production were still privately owned. The workman possessed no property on which he might employ himself—he had merely labor power and he must sell that power in order to live. ”

“ Is it amazing that this class, having the wealth of society within its grasp, should seek to take possession?
History teaches us that, in each epoch of the world since the advent of private property, some one class has been dominant; that the civilization of each epoch was the product of the then ruling class; and that a subject class grew and expanded within that civilization and finally made itself the dominant class. The new class created a new society and, in its turn, was displaced by yet another class which set up another society in its turn. ”

“ Modern industrial methods have destroyed individuality—"by group effort, or team work about the machines, the proletariat earns its bread"—"access to the machines is the basis of proletarian life"; and, with the loss of individuality and the property idea, the workers think no longer in the restricted terms of property institutions, but in the terms of an industrial class. Realizing themselves as a class—knowing that only as a class may they hope to survive—they attack modern society in the place where they function within that society—at the point of production. ”

“ The machine proletariat recognizes itself as the product of the machine, and, just as the craftsmen organized into craft unions on the basis of the hand tool, because it was the source of their living, so do the proletarians organize into industrial unions, on the basis of the machine—that being the source of life. They do not recognize skill as a property, giving anyone an aristocratic standing in labor, for the conquering machine rapidly destroys such skill as yet survives. ”

“ Knowledge of every kind must be collected and they applied themselves to the task with the greatest enthusiasm. Gathering and garnering from every possible source, they built up the noble sciences. Chemistry, engineering, invention, processes, machinery—the iron slave with steel fingers took his place in the factory with a human slave as his groom. ”

“ Industrial Democracy comes only by the desire and with the consent of a conscious class—an organic division of the people—and that class is the machine proletariat; the workers trained in the processes of industry, experienced in social production, living and working on an identical plane of material interest, subjected to the same economic influences, constant, stable, harmonious, and capable of discipline and responsibility. ”

“ We justify the existence of an institution by showing that it meets the needs of a class in society and then determine the means by which it was established. All social institutions are rooted in economic necessity and we need only to know the mode of wealth production and distribution prevailing in any historical period to be able to explain all the social phenomena of that time. ”

“ Collective bargaining is a principle with the craftsmen and, since they choose to accept the laws and standards of the master class, it is but natural that they should regard their bargains, or contracts, as holy and sacred, even when such contracts force them to work alongside of men who are "scabbing" or "black-legging" on other craft unionists who may be out on strike. They are thus forced into the paradoxical position of paying strike benefit assessments with one hand while they filch away wages with the other by working with the scab or black-leg and aiding the boss to break the strike. ”

“ The proletariat, being now an awakened class, with an experience peculiar to itself, conscious of its position in modern society and of its class needs, and with a vision of a future condition of economic equality and social freedom, organizes into One Big Union, in order to solidify its strength and carry on the class war in a systematic manner. Necessarily the Industrial Workers of the World has three functions to perform: First, to oppose and break down the power of the master class; second, to build the new society within the framework of the present society ”

“ Without doubt, they continue to accept the wage system as a finality and seek only to maintain themselves as integral parts of that system. While they struggle and fight for a larger wage, there is no apparent knowledge that the wage is merely a portion of the worker's production and not a reward for services rendered—their cry is "a fair day's wage for a fair day's work," the only question being "what is fair"? ”

“ Therefore, the common method of living forced upon the proletariat by modern industrial development and methods, furnishes those common experiences which generate its common mind, inspire its common ideals, and energize its common purpose towards the construction of a new society. The proletariat has no choice—it must proceed—the law of evolution is imperative. The miseries of a suffering humanity justify its every act and deed. ”

“ The law of supply and demand of commodities sets itself up in the affairs of men.
Next to the discovery of the use of fire, the institution of private property has probably had the most effect upon the progress of mankind. The individual, thrust again upon his own resources; every incentive to "get ahead," to accumulate a supply against the rainy day or old age when he may no longer be productive, held before him, suffers a revival of every base and cruel primitive instinct. ”

“ In savage times the bodies of prisoners taken in battle were sometimes eaten by the victors, but when barbarism came into vogue and it was found that a man could produce from the earth more than enough to feed himself these prisoners were enslaved. They were the property of the tribe and, as such, produced for the tribe. But when private property came into existence it was quite normal that the slaves should also become private property. Indeed, so profitable was the labor of slaves that, in the course of time, we find nations waging war to enslave other nations. ”

“ The very nature of capitalist production forces him to think and, thereby, his wits are exercised and sharpened. The "Machine proletariat" as this class is now beginning to call itself, is not to be measured by the old slave or serf standards, but by standards of its own. ”

“ Being ignorant of the business, he is a coward.
Upon this ignorance and cowardice the Plutocrats built themselves. Manipulators and stock jobbers are they, and the other fellows' weakness makes it an easy matter for them to gain control of industry. Under their rule small enterprises disappear—being swallowed up or merged in the trusts. All the old dividing lines in production are wiped out. Not only are individual plants merged to form an industrial trust, but allied industries are brought together in great departmental trusts. ”

“ Furthermore, the slave and serf could always work, for it was vastly to the interests of the master and baron that they should produce in abundance, but the wage slave may be denied the right to labor—he can be excluded from the field or shop. His labor power is now a commodity and no one need buy unless a profit appears in the labor. No one is responsible for him or to him—he is a free man and all modern obligations are paid in cash. ”

“ Environment is the ruling force in the lives of men—they are moulded and moved by the things about them—their ideas come from their experiences—their thoughts and actions are determined by the manner in which they get their livings—and in a world so changed by the use of machinery, we find that the modern working class differs very much from the slaves and serfs that preceded it. The slaves worked with the simplest tools that moved as fast as they moved. ”

“ The growth of the Merchant Class, the rise of the Factory System of production, with its subdivision of labor in the shop, and the quarrel between the Guild Masters and the Journeymen brought about the overthrow of Feudalism. The Capitalists introduced Machine Production and the Corporate method of ownership; and these now give way before the Plutocrats, who rapidly Industrialize all production and prepare the world for its next progressive step. ”

“ All our thinkers are quite agreed that the State, as such—the coercive instrument of economic class power—must disappear with the classes that have upheld it, and, in its place, must appear an "administration of affairs," an economic institution conforming to the needs and aspirations of an economically free and fluid industrial society. ”

“ The constant warfare between the classes brought one class after another into power; in each case building a form of society which met the needs of the class holding power; until at last there is but one class that has never yet held power. This last class—the Proletariat—is peculiar in this, that it must do away with private property in order to obtain its power. By this act, it will abolish all classes (itself among the others) and will, at the same time, build a new society based on Social property and the Industrial method of wealth production—the Industrial Democracy. ”

“ Its struggles constitute a daily battle, taking place on the farms and in the mills, mines, shops and factories—around the machines, by access to which it lives—therefore it must organize its forces at the machines and in terms of industry in order to fight successfully. Without an organization conforming consistently to present economic conditions, it is a defeated class. It must marshal its hosts on the true battlefield—in the place where it daily meets its enemy and where its class weapons are ready fashioned to its hands. ”

“ The tendency of the machines toward perfection, naturally causes the great majority of the workers to become machine attendants to the approximate a level, so far as skill is concerned; thus breaking down the craft and other artificial barriers that formerly divided them. The machine process of production prevents the separating out of individual outputs and results in a practical equality of wages. This equality of wages naturally standardizes the livings of the various workers and causes them to flow together as a class. ”

“ Rearrangement of plants and team work are devised to get the most and best work out of gangs and working forces. Automatic systems of management, by which the workers practically drive themselves, are introduced; and profit sharing, piece rate and bonus systems of payment, which are intended to induce the slaves to work themselves to death for a supposed increase of pay, are instituted.
Although the middle class, which is being consistently wiped out, screams with agony and uses every possible reactionary device, the process of the centering of wealth goes steadily forward. ”

“ They learn also that there must be a constant effort to raise the rate of pay to keep pace with the increased production and cheapening of gold, on which the prices of all commodities, including labor power, are based.
The proletariat is at bed rock. It views the world and the institutions of society from the standpoint of utter disillusionment. Everything is naked before it and its attitude is one of absolute disgust and uncompromising hostility. ”

“ There is a leisured class which has time for culture; and art, poetry, music, literature, the drama flourish. The classes are sharply divided—they clash—the class struggle is on, with all its bitterness. Wealth concentrates; power centralizes; the family is settled in its form; and religion, changing from the worship of the many gods to the adoration of only one, pushes that god off the earth into a heaven in the great beyond.
ROMAN CIVILIZATION
The very interesting periods of Barbarism and Chattel Slavery were the parent periods of Feudalism. ”

“ In their keenness to be social saviors the politicians, who usually know very little about industry, fail to realize that the workers must control the industries through their own associations, if the spirit of democracy is to be preserved and promoted. Working class control of the industries means democratic participation and control in all production and in the social life flowing from it ”