William Z. Foster

“ Common sense demands, therefore, that the enormous army of railroad men be brought to the highest possible state of efficiency in unflinching opposition to our would-be masters. Under the prevailing federated form this cannot be done. Amalgamation is the only solution.
Federation is all right so far as it goes. It marks an important stage in the workers' development from craft to class unionism. It is at once an admission of the ineffectiveness of craft action and a striving for industrial solidarity. Federation always sounds the death knell of pure and simple trade unionism. ”

“ In trade union practice all over the world it is found that while it is feasible, although difficult, to get unions to merge together completely, it is next to impossible to induce one organization to surrender any considerable part of its members to another. This would especially be the case with our six semi-railroad unions. Deeply imbued as they are with craft union principles, and accustomed to fight bitterly over the control of a man or two, they could be depended upon to fight to the last ditch against giving up such large portions of their membership to the industrial union. ”

“ So long as the unions remain autonomous bodies, each with its own set of officers, just that long will they stand first for their respective craft interests, to the detriment of the general welfare, and just that long will real unity among railroad men be impossible. This can only be had when the unions are all amalgamated into one body. Then the resultant organization, with one set of officials, one interest and one goal, will develop such tremendous power that the workers will be able to make real progress on the long, hard road to emancipation. ”

“ Every means that human ingenuity could devise has been used without stint or limit to prostitute the nation's transportation system to the benefit of a few social parasites. Merciless exploitation of the workers, land-grabbing, stock-watering, rebating, bribing of legislators and judges, embezzlement, perjury—these are some of the criminal methods habitually resorted to in building up the present ownership of the giant railroads. The man who could figure out some new scheme to rob the people was hailed as a great inventor by the railroad crooks ”

“ Not only have the dualists failed to rally the masses to their program, but they have also failed to grasp the principles of solidarity. The spectacle of five dual industrial unions in one industry, all conceived in the name of solidarity, is tragically ridiculous. But that is the logical result of deserting the old unions and setting up utopian organizations. Other industries where similar tactics have been used show identical results.
In view of these facts should it not be evident that the long-hoped-for industrial union of railroad workers will not come through dual unionism? ”

“ Because the skilled workers have been unable to pierce its seeming truth, this pitiable sophistry has served to wreck many a promising get-together movement. Always contrary to fact, even when some of the trades were entirely unorganized, it no longer has a semblance of verity. Today every branch of the railroad service is so thoroughly organized that even the blindest cannot help seeing, if they only will, that each of the sixteen unions would add great strength to a railroad industrial union. ”

“ From a series of detached, semi-organized fragments, incapable of outlining a real general program, or of making a concerted fight for it, the army of the railroad workers would be transformed into a co-ordinated whole, animated by a common purpose for every man in the industry and able to exert united, tremendous strength to achieve it. ”

“ But could a more damning argument be found against federation than our present situation? The employers have declared war to the knife against the unions. And the latter, despite the many federations, are cringing under the blow, unwilling and incapable of helping each other. The railroad owners select one union or group of unions after the other and give them a beating, while the others, safe from attack for the moment, refuse to go to the attacked ones' assistance. ”

“ Besides this they have induced the pliable Railroad Labor Board to abolish the national agreements, and in many cases the eight hour day itself; wages have been slashed to the bone and more reductions are in sight. Piece work is being established on many roads, likewise company unions. In fact the railroads are carrying on a great drive—which is all too successful—to reestablish pre-war conditions of slavery for their workers. The only way this campaign can be resisted effectively is for the workers on the railroads to develop the strongest, most closely-knit organization possible. ”

“ The evolution of the unions will go on, in spite of occasional reverses, until all the railroad workers of America stand stolidly united in one organization, fully conscious of their common interests against the common foe, and determined to fight shoulder to shoulder to make them prevail. ”

“ Afflicted with lingering craft weaknesses, it develops only a fraction of the workers' potential power. Despite federation the employers are still able to play one group of workers against the others and thus beat them all.
Whenever a federation goes into action, whether in concference or in strike, its weaknesses are instantly apparent. The autonomous unions lack cohesion and unity of purpose. The craft point of view prevails. Each union, animated by its particular craft prejudices, and selfishness, looks first to the interest of its own members. ”

“ By force of circumstances the skilled workers are compelled to compose their craft differences and to act with the mass. At first they try to do so by federation; but eventually, because of the imperfections of this type of organization, they are brought to amalgamation. In this way alone can they achieve the power they must have. With the skilled workers' unions, even as with those of the unskilled, the alternative is, "Amalgamation or annihilation." ”

“ Faced by a united opposition, we railroad men cannot afford to have sectionalism, such as now exists, in our forces. We must not allow one part of our organization to be played off against the rest. We must present an unbroken front to the enemy. The railroad union situation must be brought to a uniform, national proposition. To do this it is necessary to amalgamate the sixteen railroad craft unions into one industrial union. ”

“ In an amalgamation along industrial lines the general railroad organization would necessarily exercise a far greater degree of control than the Railway Employes' Department now does. It would have to have full sway over the bargaining and striking activities of all the railroad metal trade workers, and be financed with portions of their dues to correspond. Nothing short of this would do, because genuine solidarity and unity of action is out of the question in an industry if one or more outside organizations have to be consulted and harmonized before definite action can be taken. ”

“ If we are going to have a general struggle the workers must go into it properly organized and prepared to effectively support each other to the limit.
Federation must give way to amalgamation, just as isolation gave way to federation. There is no other way out of it. In the phase of isolation the unions, in spite of their handicaps, made considerable headway and abolished many abuses. In federation they have vastly increased their power and established conditions that amount to a semi-revolution in the railroad industry. ”

“ The only protection the workers have had from the most savage exploitation, the sole thing that has kept us from sinking into complete degradation is our trade unions. These organizations have achieved results entirely upon the basis of the amount of power they have been able to exert. The railroad owners can appreciate no other argument than that of might. ”

“ Everywhere is system, organization, standardization. And now it is proposed in powerful railroad circles to secure legislation fusing all the railroads into one gigantic system of ownership and operation. This is the logical outcome of the ceaseless tendency towards combination.
Now the effect of all this consolidation and interlocking of company interests is to make railroad Labor's fight much more severe. Today when the unions enter into battle with one company they have them all to fight. ”

“ In fact, the United States is the only important country in the world where the industrial form of union is not predominant among railroad workers. Here alone, where the need for solidarity is greater than anywhere else, is the antiquated craft type supreme—which does not speak well for our spirit of progress. ”

“ The natural result of such absurdities is that conventions are becoming fewer and fewer. But with a general industrial union, basing its convention representation upon the system amalgamation instead of the local union, there would be only a few hundred delegates in attendance, and they would be there for business. National assemblies could be held annually for a fraction of what it now costs for the mass craft gatherings, misnamed conventions. ”

“ This is the normal course of labor union development, the natural way of building industrial unions. Dozens of industrial unions in Europe have taken it, and our American trade unions are following suite. In common with other groups of unions in the food, clothing, metal, transport, building, printing, and other industries, the railroad unions are now in the secondary, or federation phase of development. That is the significance of their multitudinous local system, divisional and national alliances, which constitute the most elaborate maze of federation ever constructed by unions anywhere. ”

“ In their greed to make money they consider all means legitimate. They are the biggest single gang of thieves in the world. Humanity and fair play cut no figure with them. So long as their own profits are forthcoming they care not a rap for the sufferings of their workers. That is why they have so bitterly fought every working improvement in the railroad industry; collective bargaining, better wages, shorter hours, the sixteen-hour law, the safety appliance laws, etc. ”

“ The foregoing propositions have been written around the thought of the whole sixteen unions making a concerted move for amalgamation—for that is what should happen. The proposed industrial union should contain all the crafts, as the situation demands complete solidarity all along the line. Each of the organizations, no matter what its special conditions, has at once much to contribute to such a combination and much to gain from it. ”

“ It is extremely doubtful if the total number of railroad stockholders will run over 100,000. And the great majority of these are small fry, owning only a share or two apiece. It has been estimated that one per cent of all the stockholdrs own over 50 per cent of all the stock. It is to support in luxury this minority of parasites that the vast army of 1,850,000 railroad workers keep the 235,000 miles of railroads in operation for beggarly wages and under the most unfavorable working conditions. ”

“ In the foregoing pages we have pointed out the militant aggressiveness and fathomless greed of the railroad companies, how they are seeking to enslave their workers, and that the only hope of the latter is to make united resistance as one great army. ”

“ Faced by the growing power and limitless greed of the railroad companies, railroad workers have for many years past sensed more and more clearly the need for the greatest possible solidarity among themselves. ”

“ The evolution of the transportation unions, like all others, is to be measured chiefly by the extension and solidification of their fighting front against the employers. The first fighting unit used by the transportation unions consisted simply of the few workers in a single trade employed in only one town of a railroad system. For example, the conductors working out of a certain division town would negotiate an agreement with the company. Thus there might be a dozen agreements in effect for this one craft on the whole railroad. ”

“ It was the same with the divisional federations and every other progressive movement initiated by railroad men. Such conservatives are the greatest of all hindrances to the progress of the working class. They hang like a millstone about its neck. Their opposition is more destructive even than that of the employers themselves. ”

“ In fact, it is the most practical and efficient method yet evolved to handle so many categories of workers as are to be found in the railroad industry. Conditions here make it advisable, however, that for a time at least there be more departments in the proposed industrial union than there are in the N. U. R. For it is idle to suppose that our highly individualistic craft unions, accustomed as they are to so much autonomy, would rush into an industrial union that would at once wipe out their trade lines. ”

“ The united railroad workers of America, possessed of one organization and one will, would meet in general national convention to work out their common problems. Along with the obsolete craft conventions would go their equally obsolete system of representation. As the industrial union would be a huge organization containing many thousands of local unions, naturally the local union as a basis for convention representation would have to be discontinued. ”

“ Of its organization machinery, which is strictly modern in type, a very important feature is the manner in which it ascertains, harmonizes and defends the interests of its variegated membership. To do this properly is always a big problem for broad-sweeping unions of the industrial type—to at once give expression to the many crafts, and yet to avoid the bitter wranglings that ruin the efficiency of the unions in the two primitive stages of isolation and federation. ”

“ It would be wrong, however, to leave the impression that the railroad magnates have confined their efforts to exploiting Labor and defrauding the Government. That would be to misrepresent their nefarious business ethics. Their policy is to grab everything in sight that is not nailed down, no matter whom it may belong to. They are impartial in the matter. They rob each other as freely as they do outsiders. ”