Syndicate

“ This syndicate system has given rise to a bogus imitation, which, however, appears to have met with but limited success. Circulars in lithographed writing, marked "private and con- fidential," and implying a friendly interest in those addressed, are sent to persons whose names are obtained in the manner already indi- cated. An invitation is given them to join a syndicate about to be formed to float a certain company, the profits arising from the operation being certain and enormous. Again, if it be such an excellent and certain venture, why offer a share to an entire stranger? ”

“ The right of syndicalisation is acknowledged to employers, private employees and workers, for the exclusive purposes of their economic-social activities.
The competent authority shall have a period of 30 days to admit or reject the recording of a labour or employer syndicate. The record shall determine the juridical capacity of the labour or employer syndicate. The recognition of the syndicate by employers and workers, respectively, shall be regulated by law. ”

“ All known inventions and improvements in the art of war had been thoroughly considered by the Syndicate, and by the eminent specialists whom it had enlisted in its service. Certain recently perfected engines of war, novel in nature, were the exclusive property of the Syndicate. ”

“ But these prosperous concerns are in most cases first taken up by a syndicate — that is, a certain limited number of persons behind the scenes — who finance and float the company, and when success has been attained, the public are granted the privilege of purchas- ing shares — but at such a price as the syndicate choses to put upon them, and, not seldom, that is the highest they ever attain. ”

“ The Syndicate was now hard at work making preparations for the grand stroke which had been determined upon. In the whole country there was scarcely a man whose ability could be made available in their work, who was not engaged in their service; and everywhere, in foundries, workshops, and shipyards, the construction of their engines of war was being carried on by day and by night. ”

“ What is syndicated industry (industries united in syndicates) ? Syndicates are huge industrial combines. When capitalist owners of various enterprises see that it is not worth their while to compete for each others clients, and that it is far more profitable to form a close union for the purpose of jointly fleecing the public, they organise syndicates or still closer combiner of manufacturers, namely—trusts. ”

“ As the firms united into a syndicate usually supply much more than half the products required for a given area, that means that the syndicate dominates over the market, and that the directors of the syndicates can fix very high prices and fleece their buyers like sheep. ”

“ Syndicates, subdivisions and tracts: these were the most popular terms of the day and nearly everybody had a finger in one or the other pie. There were enough subdivisions to accommodate ten million people; and enough syndicates to handle the 573 affairs of a nation. And talking about syndicates: the disagreement of members themselves as to values frequently prevented the consummation of important sales and resulted in the loss of large profits to the objectors as well as to their associates. ”

“ We need not at this time trace the growth of the trade union from its small and local beginnings to its present national and international proportions; from the little group of hand-workers in the service of an individual employer to the armies of organized and federated workers in allied industries controlled by vast corporations, syndicates and trusts. The fact stands forth in bold relief that the union was born of necessity and that it has grown strong with the development of industry and the increasing economic dependence of the workers. ”

“ The continental spinners have largely increased, but are developing into huge syndicates, all working on the schappe principle. The three chief syndicates, one each in Italy, France and Switzerland, work very much together, practically ruling the prices for yarns and raw materials. ”

“ In such a central gathering every one would be represented, because every person would be a producer of some sort, and whether he was a steel worker or a street sweeper or a newsboy, he would have a vote at the place where he earns his living, and would have a say in the management of his job. The great central parliament would elect an executive committee and a president, and so we should have a government of the workers, by the workers, for the workers." This idea is known as Syndicalism, derived from the French word "syndicat," meaning a labor union. ”

“ Here, no separate union can be kept at work while others go out. No employer's contract with one union can be enforced while other unions are on strike. Though there are "thirty-seven trades," they can all act as a single unit. ”

“ The Syndicalist has not quite made up his mind whether he will include the technical and administrative staff in the industrial Union which will own and operate each industry, nor has he worked out the relation to the State of individual industries or industry as a whole. [3] Most Syndicalists assume that the State and its legislative, administrative and executive organizations, as we know it, will cease to function and come to an end under a syndicalistic regime, and that the country will be governed by some organization representing the workers as a whole. ”

“ The idea of the general strike suggested itself to others. [38] At [Pg 43] the Congress of Bâle in 1869, one of the French delegates advocated the necessity of organizing syndicats for two reasons: first, because “they are the means of resisting the exploitation of capital in the present;” and second, because “the grouping of different trades in the city will form the commune of the future” ... and then ... “the government will be replaced by federated councils of syndicats and by a committee of their respective delegates regulating the relations of labor—this taking the place of politics.” ”

“ The unit is the industrial local, which is composed of all the workers of an industry in a locality. The various locals of an industry combine to form an industrial department. The departments join together to form the “One Big Union.” The organization is managed by a general secretary who is virtually the executive head. The general secretary-treasurer is assisted by an executive board elected by the six unions having the largest membership. A seventh member is elected by the other smaller unions. ”

“ All the Local Industrial Unions of a given general industry are banded together in the National Industrial Union. The National Industrial Unions are banded again stronger in the Industrial Department and then all Departments, six in all, are brought under one head, the General Administration of the I. W. W. One Big Union of all workers, welded together in such a manner that, imbued with the war cry: 'an injury to one is an injury to all,' all its members can act together in fighting the common enemy. ”

“ Among the various syndicats and associations of syndicats of workingmen and of employees of both sexes existing in France and in its Colonies, there is hereby created a uniform and collective organization with the name General Confederation of Labor. ”

“ A Bourse du Travail is a local organization, not of any one trade but of local labour in general, intended to serve as a Labour Exchange and to perform such functions for labour as Chambers of Commerce perform for the employer. [25] A Syndicat is in general a local organization of a single industry, and is thus a smaller unit than the Bourse du Travail. ”

“ It takes “all measures necessary for the maintenance of syndical action in the field of economic struggle.” It also tries to induce isolated syndicats to join their Bourses du Travail.
The “Section of the Federation of Bourses du Travail” is formed by the delegates of the local, departmental and regional central unions. The delegates take the title of Comité des Bourses du Travail. [185] The section appoints its own secretary, assistant secretary, [Pg 165] treasurer, assistant treasurer, and archivist, and these five members form the executive committee of the second section. ”

“ The representatives of the local control committee participate at the sessions of the management of the mill or factory, having only a voice, but no vote in the matter. The rights of administration of the establishment remains with the management and therefore the entire responsibility for the work of the enterprise rests with the management.
6. The coordination of the workers’ control within the limits of any given industry must be centered within the industrial (vocational) union. The union creates a Workers’ Control Department which is responsible before the management of its union. ”

“ On the other hand, the revolutionary syndicalists have in the syndicats a tremendous force for their revolutionary ends. The close relation of syndical life to all political and economic problems gives the Confederal Committee the opportunity to participate in all questions of interest. The high cost of living, the danger of a war, the legislative policy of the government, troubles among the wine-growers, any public question, indeed, is the occasion for the intervention of the Confederal Committee. ”

“ The Syndicalist movement, native to France, but spreading the influence of its ideas over the whole industrialized world, the Industrial Unionist movement, the American equivalent of Syndicalism, and our own doctrine of National Guilds, or Guild Socialism, are all conscious attempts to build a policy upon the half-conscious tendencies of Trade Union action. In all these the claim is made in varying forms that the workers themselves shall control in the common interest the industries in which they are engaged. ”

“ The Federation is divided into five departments, representing the most important groups of labor: the Building Trades, the Metal Trades, Mining, Railroad Employees, and the Union Label Trades. 1 Each of these departments has its own autonomous sphere of action, its own set of officers, its own financial arrangements, its own administrative details. Each holds an annual convention, in the same place and week, as the Federation. Each is made up of affiliated unions only and confines itself solely to the interest of its own trades. ”

“ Slaves of the same master, bearing the same claims, suffering from the same evils, having the same aspirations, the same needs and the same rights, we have decided to set aside our political and other preferences, to march hand in hand, and to combine our forces against the common enemy. The problems of labor have always the power of uniting the workingmen. [68]
The first question on the program of the Congress was the “prospect of a Federation of all workingmen's syndicats.” ”

“ The employers’ associations are called syndicats patronaux. "A trade union is a combination of persons engaged in the same trade without any reference to locality; they may be and generally are widely distributed in many places; the bond is the trade, not the locality; hence the use of the singular number. There is another kind of combination formed by several trades in the same locality and called a trades council; the bond is the locality, not the trade. Both forms of organization exist in France; the trade union is called syndicat ouvrier, and the trades council bourse du travail. ”

“ We all agree to proceed by way of conciliation, but we all have also recognized the necessity of guaranteeing our rights by a serious organization which should give the workingmen the possibility of entering easily and without fear into agreement with the employers.... It is thus in order to avoid strikes, guaranteeing at the same time the wages of the workingmen, that the delegates of 1867 solicit the authorization to establish syndicats in each trade in order to counter-balance the formidable organization of the syndical chambers of the merchants and manufacturers.... ”

“ Compared with this modern system of organization the present craft. unions, each going its separate way and duplicating the union work of the industries as many as thirty times, is confusion worse confounded. The departmentalized union will be like an army, with its separate branches of artillery, cavalry, infantry, etc., but all welded together into one powerful machine.
Under the industrial system of unionism the workers will obtain tremendous power compared with the craft or federated form. Unity of action will at all times be obtainable. ”

“ Dues paid by the Union to the General Organization are fifteen cents per member per month.
If those who sign the Charter Application Blank are employed in the same industry they will be chartered as an Industrial Union Branch, with jurisdiction over all wage workers employed in that industry in that locality. If the signers of the Charter Application are employed in two or more industries, they will be chartered as a Recruiting Union. ”

“ In case the members of a subordinate organization of the Industrial Workers of the World are involved in strike, regularly ordered by the organization, or General Executive Board, or involved in a lockout, if in the opinion of the President and General Executive Board it becomes necessary to call out any other union or unions, or organization, they shall have full power to do so. ”

“ The task of the syndicalists is to organize the more or less vague class-feeling of the workingmen and to raise it to the clear consciousness of class-interests and of class-ideals. This aim can be attained only by organizing the workingmen into syndicats. The syndicat is an association of workingmen of the same or of similar trades, and is held together by bonds of common interest. In this is its strength. Of all human groupings it is the most fundamental and the most permanent, because men in society are interested above everything else in the satisfaction of their economic needs. ”