John Burnett

“ The industrial boycott almost invariably, but not always or necessarily, is a phase of the strike or lock-out, but it sometimes exists apart from either. It is generally used against an employer who refuses to concede the demands of his workpeople or of a trade union, but it is sometimes applied by one organization of workmen against another. It may accompany, or supplement and follow, an unsuccessful strike, or it may be wielded against an employer having no dispute with his employés, simply because they do not belong to any trade union. ”

“ It is chiefly, however, as an accessory to the labour conflict that the boycott is called into requisition, and in this way its application as a branch of industrial warfare has, in the United States, been brought to a pitch of perfection not attained, or, indeed, attempted elsewhere. Sometimes it is directed to stop the supplies of a manufacturer's raw material—the stoppage of his supplies of labour can hardly strictly be termed a result of the boycott, as it is simply an incident of the ordinary strike. ”

“ New York is a State in which the chief industries are, perhaps, more diversified than in any State of the Union, and the character and extent of the City of New York mark it as a great centre of the American labour movement. The New York Labour Bureau is a powerful and energetic institution liberally subsidised, and with a strong, ably-managed staff. It possesses power to hold sittings and take evidence in any part of the State, and both employers and workmen can be compelled to make returns or give evidence before it when called upon to do so. ”

“ The interdict or excommunication of the ancient Church was but the modern 'boycott,' on a gigantic scale, applied to feelings and sentiments in human nature peculiarly sensitive to alarm. In another dress it is the 'taboo' of society—the 'sending to Coventry'—of people and habits or manners which do not conform to conventional standards. ”

“ The usual British strike boycott aims only at preventing the employer obtaining other men, or from getting his work done at other places, but we are almost entirely strangers to that form of trade interdict which aims at compelling the surrender, or ruin of an obstinate employer by stopping the sale of his goods. A couple of years ago the London bakers during their movement for shorter hours of work made a few demonstrations after the American style but were not very successful. ”

“ A more acute stage is reached when, for instance, if the men live on the premises of the employer they are ejected from their houses, and may even be prevented from obtaining other dwellings in the locality; or, on the other hand, when the workers use all their power to induce their fellows and the general public to refrain from buying the produce of their employer. They may lose in the strike, and may return to work without having effected their object, but if they can institute a close boycott they must win in the end. ”

“ Theiss met the representatives of the unions concerned in the movement against him. The terms offered to Theiss were: the discharge of all the men who had remained during the strike, and the employment of members of the various organizations which had instituted the campaign. Union rates of wages should be paid and none but union men were to be employed. To crown all, Mr. Theiss was to pay $1,000 as 'expenses of the boycott.' He agreed to all this and drew a cheque for the amount stated. ”

“ According to the evidence the chief boycotts had been aimed at bakers, brewers, cigar-makers, starch-makers, flour millers, and newspapers. Most of these were claimed by the union as successes.
At this time the boycott had become an established institution in labour quarrels, and had its press organ in the New York Boycotter. As then understood the industrial boycott was, perhaps, best defined in a labour organ known as John Swinton's Paper: 'To boycott a concern simply means to refrain from having anything to do with it. You boycott a dry goods firm by refusing to deal with it ”

“ In America, as has been remarked, it has chiefly been successful where the article boycotted was one of general consumption by the mass of the people, and in instances where the case of the workmen has been so strong that public sympathy has been sufficiently enlisted in their favour to cause the great body of consumers to refrain from buying the productions of the firms denounced. ”

“ A noted case is that in which an organization called the 'Carl Sahm Club' directed a boycott against a Mr. Theiss, proprietor of a music-hall on the ground that he employed non-union musicians. The Waiters Union and the Bartenders Union also had a grievance against Mr. Theiss. These bodies all made common cause and commenced a joint boycott of the music-hall. Pickets posted in the locality of the hall distributed circulars setting forth the grievances of the men and appealing to the public to boycott Mr. Theiss. These pickets were on duty two weeks. ”

“ Organized boycotting of a concern is carried out when the trade unions unite in refusing to purchase any of its wares, or have any dealings with it, and thus attempt to break down the business of the concern which is antagonistic to them.' Mr. ”

“ Of those settled the duration varied from one week to two-and-a-half years, the average duration of 22 cases in which the time was ascertained being slightly under four months. The 'remarks' column in the table of boycotts contains a few hints as to the effect of some of these attacks upon the business of offending capitalists. ”