Workers' association

“ Here he can satisfy that longing for the recognition of his point of view denied him in the great factory and here he can meet men of similar condition, on terms of equality, to discuss freely and without fear the topics that interest him most. There is an immense psychic potency in this intimate association of fellow workers, especially in some of the older unions which have accumulated a tradition. ”

“ During the very first storms of the revolution, the French bourgeoisie dared to take away from the workers the right of association but just acquired. By a decree of June 14, 1791, they declared all coalition of the workers as "an attempt against liberty and the declaration of the rights of man," punishable by a fine of 500 livres, together with deprivation of the rights of an active citizen for one year. [6] This law which, by means of State compulsion, confined the struggle between capital and labour within limits comfortable for capital, has outlived revolutions and changes of dynasties. ”

“ One of the aims of the Labor Movement is to secure such changes in the run of things that “the workers should own their jobs.” Well, some of the unions of the A. F. of L., bakers, printers, etc., have secured such a hold upon their trade in certain localities that they succeeded in putting into their contracts with the employers provisions that the union is to act as the employment agency for the employer, and the latter, whenever he needs help, must take whomever of its membership the union will send to him. ”

“ The One Big Union, therefore, seeks to organize the wage worker, not according to craft, but according to industry; according to class and class needs. We, therefore, call upon all workers to organize irrespective of nationality, sex, or craft into a workers' organization, so that we may be enabled to more successfully carry on the everyday fight over wages, hours of work, etc., and prepare ourselves for the day when production for profit shall be replaced by production for use. ”

“ The union's consistent aim for many years has been to expand its membership, to obtain shorter hours and increased wages, and to enlarge employment opportunities for its members. To achieve this latter goal-that is, to make more work for its own members the union realized that local manufacturers, employers of the local members, must have the widest possible outlets for their product. ”

“ Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, and shall also have the right to refrain from any or all of such activities * * *.' 61 Stat. ”

“ Categorically defending the consistent introduction and application of the principle underlying production as regards all categories of workers, not accepting into its labor organizations those unions which are built on guild, corporation and narrow trade lines, for the purpose of better serving the economic interests of the most typical industrial groups and categories, the organization of sections on a local and national scale is allowed within each vocational union. ”

“ Organized labor, ever running ahead of legislation in its standards of hours and sanitary conditions, provides a school of education and experiment for the whole community, by procuring for trade unionists working conditions which afterwards serve as the model for enlightened employers, and as a standard that the community in the end must exact for the whole body of workers. ”

“ And now a far greater organization has come to take its place—as much greater as the American Railway Union was greater than the old union—and that organization is the Industrial Workers of the World. This great union is organized on the basis of the class struggle. It makes its appeal to the intelligence of the working class. It commands you workingmen to open your eyes and see for yourselves; to use your brains, and think for yourselves; to cultivate self-reliance and depend upon yourselves. ”

“ And this brings an important fact to our attention, and that is that the struggle in which we are engaged today is a class struggle; and labor unionism to be of any real value to the working class, must be organized, not along craft lines, but along class lines.
The Industrial Workers is a working class organization, so all-inclusive, so comprehensive, that it will embrace every man and woman who does useful work for a livelihood. ”

“ The social character of labor is the point that a real working class movement must stress, and the social importance of the points for which the organized workers contend, in their demands, is the logical and successful way for a union movement to make progress. This is the way of revolutionary preparation. For, as working class organization extends, its influence is felt socially. That influence is necessarily beneficial and advantageous. A genuine labor movement is constructive, and social construction, or reconstruction, is predicated upon industry and the social industrial relationship. ”

“ However, he remains a "helper" and should he find himself out of employment he returns to the realm of the unskilled and poorly paid. Should he secure employment in an organized shop in some other calling, he may again become a "union helper" upon the payment of a new initiation fee and new dues. Should he desire, in view of industrial uncertainty, to retain his old along with his new union membership, we have the lowest paid worker in industry called upon to furnish the greatest financial proof of his adherence to, and belief in unionism. ”

“ Now, as the unskilled or little skilled worker in the course of a few years may find himself attached to several trades—boilermaking, machinist, pipe fitting, firing, mining (coal or metal) , building, etc.,—it not only is financially impossible for him to retain union membership, but it is heartless and absurd to expect him to. ”

“ I admit that this Workingwomen's Association is not a trade organization; and while I join heart and hand with the working people in their trades unions, and in everything else by which they can protect themselves against the oppression of capitalists and employers, I say that this organization of ours is more upon the broad platform of philosophizing on the general questions of labor, and to discuss what can be done to ameliorate the condition of working people generally. ”

“ The skilled trade union group is least revolutionary among the workers. The best paid unions are not the most militant in acts calculated to improve the conditions of even their own group, and are least aggressive in conduct for improving the conditions of the whole working class. ”

“ The Industrial Union
Shall be the human race.
We want no condescending saviors,
To rule us from a judgment hall;
We workers ask not for their favors;
Let us consult for all.
To make the thief disgorge his booty
To free the spirit from its cell,
We must ourselves decide our duty,
We must decide and do it well.
The law oppresses us and tricks us,
Wage systems drain our blood;
The rich are free from obligations,
The laws the poor delude. ”

“ For thirty years I have been connected with the labor movement. All of the years of my young manhood were devoted to the work of organizing my fellow-workingmen, that by the power of united effort they might do something to improve their condition as workers, promote their interests as citizens and advance their general welfare as men. There was a time when I believed that the trade union was in itself sufficient for this work. ”

“ The I. W. W. arranges for their contact, co-ordination, and co-operation in its general organization—the working class organization. By thus organizing the workers by industries and uniting them in one solid organization, you can see how the I. W. W. is forming the structure of the new society. 207. But are not the coal miners so organized now? No. "All is not gold that glitters," and every organization that appears to be is not an industrial union. Being an inclusive union in the industry is not by any means all there is to being an industrial union. ”

“ The labor union movement, unlike the political socialist revolutionary movement, undertakes in its operation to supply labor with a certain working content, which the administrative scheme of industry has excluded from the experience of its workers. ”

“ Collective Bargaining.—The prime purpose of the regular labor organizations, as has been said, is to enable the workers to bargain with the employers upon equal terms. Where the unions have acquired strength, therefore, they insist that all agreements as to wages, hours, and conditions of labor shall be made by the employer on the one hand and the officers of the unions on the other. ”

“ What they are after is to alter, not only the status of the manual worker, but also the status of the employer who is the director of industry ; they wish them both to become the agents of the community; they desire that manual workers and brain workers alike should be inspired, not by the greed of gain made by profit on price, but by the desire to produce the commodities and services needed by the community in return for a sufficient livelihood, and the personal freedom and personal responsibility which they believe would spring from vocational self-government. ”

“ Within these spheres, and in the manner legally established, shall be formed the associations of management, technicians and workers, organized for the defence of their particular interests, and as a free and representative medium of participation in trade union activities and, through the trade unions, in the community tasks of political, economic and social life. ”

“ Any wage worker wishing to become a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, may proceed in the following manner:
1. If you live in a locality where there is a union of your industry already in existence, apply to the secretary of that local union. ”

“ IT says, "Labor is entitled to all it produces," and to get it or any partial increase, Industrial Unionism is needed. "All workers in an industry, or in all industries, if necessary, cease work whenever a strike or lockout is on in any department thereof; thus making an injury to one an injury to all." Every worker in any section of an industry is organized in a Branch of an Industrial Union of all the workers in that industry. ”

“ The Industrial Workers is essentially an educational organization—and one of the vitally important things it will teach the workers is the complete operation and control of the industry in which they are employed. Have you ever thought about that? Has it ever been brought to your attention in craft unions?
I have already reminded you that you workingmen have made all the machinery there is in operation everywhere; that only you can use it. Now, why should not you own it? Why shouldn’t you be your own employers? Why shouldn’t you be the masters of your own jobs? ”

“ In the second place, and more important, it is from the rank and file of labor that progressive union policy most often comes. One or two active members of the rank and file of a local union, expressing their opinions at meetings or as delegates debating on the floor of district or national conventions, can do an immense amount of good, unappreciated it is true, but still worth while. And who can be more influential in arousing interest in workers' education, cooperative stores, labor papers, than active men working at their trades? ”

“ That is to say, the workers of any one plant or industry must be members of one and the same organization—no craft division lines. The capitalist institutions are today organized on exactly the same lines. The industries as they are grouped today, dovetailing into each other, furnish to the workers the basis for the construction of their organization for the struggles of today for better living conditions, and for the supervision and the management of industries in an industrial commonwealth of workers and producers. ”

“ If his work is to assist railroading, no matter what the nature of his task, he is put in the Railroad Workers' Industrial Union No. 520. So with any worker in the textile mill; whether he be an engineer, loom fixer, or janitor, he takes his place in the Textile Workers' Industrial Union No. 410; and so on until the whole field of working class activity is covered. All the time the I. W. W. is organizing, it is educating the workers, giving them a new viewpoint, filling them with a new consciousness. ”

“ Labor unions have secured for labor in general many advantages in hours, wages, and standards of working conditions. A large proportion of the workers of the world, however, are outside of these organizations, and unless somehow represented are not in a position to bargain collectively. ”

“ Workers and employees are called on to co-operate with the employers on a basis of equality, in regulating wage and work conditions and in furthering the general economic development of the forces of production. The organisations of either side and their agreements shall be recognised.
Workers and employees shall, for the prosecution of their social and economic interests, receive legal representation in Works Councils, and also in District Workers' Councils organised by economic spheres, and in a Central Workers' Council. ”

“ According to the most thoroughgoing advocates of this creed, the management of each industry should be placed, not separately in the hands of those engaged in each establishment, any more than in the hands of private capitalist employers, but in the hands of the whole body of persons throughout the community who are actually co-operating in the work of the industry, whether by hand or by brain; this management being shared, by Workshop or Pit Committees, District Councils and National Boards, among all these “workers.” ”