Handbook of Industrial Unionism

36 Pages·4.174 MB·English

by  William E. Trautmann

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By Wm. E. Troutmann
INDUSTRIAL
UNIONISM
PUILIIHED BY THE
Industrial Workers
OF THE WORLD
ANALYSIS
OF THE
P R B
By A. 8. Edwards
Industrial Workers of the World
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Industrial Unionism
B A class of idlers, small in
Class
numbers compared with
struggle the many who are compelled
to over-exert themselves in
their efforts to maintain a meager exist
ence, control today the economic resources
of the earth: land, mines, factories, mills
and means of transportation and distribu~
tion. Millions must work for them; these
millions possess nothing, only muscle and
brain, which they are compelled to sell in
hard toil merely to live and to dwell in con
ditions where joy and happiness are scarce
ly known to them and their offspring.
The few, through that power which pos
session of the' economic resources gives,
control and manage all institutions main
tained for the sole protection of that might
by which they are able to rule, to exploit,
to determine the destinies of nations, of
all inhabitants upon the globe, and remain
truly the masters of the earth.
‘
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An irresistible process of
Concentration
concentration oi the eco
of Industries nomic resources, the basis of
the power wielded by the
few, tends to centralize also the manage
ment of industries; production on a small
scale disappears; the plants, factories and
mills in which goods are made, the lines of
transportation for the distribution of the
products grow gigantic in dimensions; the
army of workers, each performing his du
ties like a wheel in a great machine, is con
trolled and kept in obedience by the silent
admission that somebody must know how
to supervise the operation of every part
of
the machine, otherwise there might be
chaos, confusion and disorder, with subse
quent idleness and more appalling misery
and despair for the millions of wealth pro
ducers.
Such obedience, dictated by ignorance,
though not fostered by any fault of the
workers, is the reason that they do not
know who in reality administers and keeps
the big mechanism of production in opera
tion.
whole structure of the
Basis of 'Iihe
based on the
capitalist social. system,
exploitation of the many by
system
the few, will collapse if the
former get control of the motive power by
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which they are made to run their turns in
the fabric of production and distribution.
As in the mechanism of a clock each
wheel in its rotation turns other wheels
into motion, all combined making the clock
run in regular order if kept wound up, so
is the relation of the real wealth producer
in the present arrangement in industrial
life; unconscious of the forces keeping the
entire clockwork in operation, the workers
continue producing the necessities and good
things for the enjoyment by a class of non
producers, which have the grip on the key
to the gigantic mechanism to wind up, for
exploitation purposes, the clockwork into
which all the working parts assemble, in
order to keep the entire social system in
working order.
The motive power in the
of
operatiof‘ mechanism of industrial and
lndusmal_ social life is labor,—human
Mechanism
labor and human brains.
The forces of nature, harnessed by the
genius of mankind, are utilized by the mil
lions of human beings. One arm in the
mechanism failing to perform its regular
functions, may throw the whole works into
temporary disorder, but motive power being
sufficiently supplied, and reserve pieces in
the shape of the big army of jobless toilers
being available, such temporary irregulari
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ties in the mechanism are soon overcome,
the effects are haidly noticed throughout
the system; the defective piece is removed,
another installed, and lost time quickly
made up.
The parts removed are
thrown out of the mechan
“5 D_‘s'
ism;—blacklisted, disabled
arrangement
workers, thrown upon the
scrap pile as useless articles, because they
either would not gear in regular rotation in
a soulless mechanism, or were worn out
through constant toil, the old-aged, crippled,
mangled bodies of once perfect parts of that
mechanism—all are evidence of the fact
that production can not be stopped through
one part of the mechanism getting out of
gear; the grinding-out ‘of profit from the
labor of the millions would continue un
checked and unabated.
“Let us stop the whole
General
mechanism of production,—
suspens_m"
‘ not a part, but complete, so
wcrk
0‘ that the few will no longer
have the benefit of our combined, interde
pendent labor.” “Cessation of all work will
deprive them of the chance to exploit us
any longer, so that they may live in luxury
and abundance on the results of our labor.”
We may suffer still more want and priva
tion than usual, but we can show that the
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few non-producers cannot enjoy the com
forts of life either if we refuse to keep the
mechanism of production in running order_
Great temporary relief may be achieved
by suspension of the greater important fac
tors in the mechanism of production,
through organized efforts, so that all other
parts of the entire social and industrial sys
tem may be thrown out of gear. Dread of
the consequences alone would serve as
preventative.
Complete suspension of the industrial
mechanism-by a general strike when
emergency may require—would force,
event
ually, the economic masters to throw more
oil, in the shape of concessions, on the
working parts of the system to keep it
agoing more smoothly and without inter
ruption; but that is not the problem!
The ownership of the eco
Real
nomic resources by a non
Problem
producingr class furnishes
Stated
the motive power by which
the mechanism is kept in operation for
profit-making. To wrest from the hands
of that useless class this economic power,
through which alone they conserve their
rulership over all institutions in the indus
trial mechanism, is the ultimate and most
important mission and aim of the wealth
producers.
The gigantic mechanism
Revolutian must continue in operation
in Control to produce the necessities
and good things of life for
all; but the hand that winds the clock for
the grinding out of profit for the masters
must be removed and all, economic re
sources be placed in common with that class
whose labor and brain is required to main
tain order in the industrial system.. No
longer shall the industrial mechanism run
for the creation of wealth for a master
class, and the perpetuation of ownership of
the economic resources by a few; the en
tire industrial mechanism being operated
in common, so shall the products of the
collective work of all parts of the system
be enjoyed in common by all.
It is by the organized,
How systematic arrangement that
Accomplished each wheel in the industrial
mechanism performs its
function today. The thorough knowledge
of all these arrangements in the clockwork
and the respective functions of all parts
thereof must be acquired, so to organize
and prepare the administration correspond
ing with the requirements of the entire in
dustrial organism, and profit by the great
changes that the revolution in the owner
ship of economic resources will develop.
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