6515.C5B8 } Ve cl 0) — THE LIBRARY OF THE NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS | AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY THE NEW UNIONISM IN THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY BY J. M. BUDISH AND GEORGE SOULE a = EC ho ONE NT pee ary Rees ep , De tein ae the Ris intoy fea) Al ; meld NEW YORK HARCOURT, BRACE AND HOWE 1920 Zaye vied k COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY , HARCOURT, BRACE AND HOWE, INC THE QUINN & BODEN COMPANY RAHWAY WN J. NOTE Some readers of this book may miss emphasis on the names of important union officials such as Sidney Hillmann and Joseph Schlossberg of the Amal- gamated Clothing Workers of America, and Ben- jamin Schlesinger and Abraham Baroff of the Inter- national Ladies’ Garment Workers Union. If we once began to assign credit to individuals, however, the list could not stop with the Presidents and General Secretaries, but would go on through Managers, Business Agents, Delegates, Shop Chair- men, until it had included well-nigh every member of the unions. To write a book about the needle- trades organizations without giving due praise to all the able and devoted officials is not to write a Hamlet with the Hamlet left out, for the greatest possible tribute to them is an exhibition of the movement with which they have been associated. Our thanks is due to the Survey for permission to reprint the quotations from Katherine Coman in Chapter IV. For information and criticism we are especially indebted to Joseph Schlossberg and Peter Monat of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, Miss Fannia Cohn and Morris Zigman of the Interna- tional Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, A. J. Muste of the Amalgamated Textile Workers, Morris Kauf- iii. iv NOTE man of the International Fur Workers Union, M. Kolchin, of the Impartial Chairman’s Office of the New York Men’s Clothing Industry, M. Zuckerman of the United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers, and D. Berger of the United Neckwear Makers. CONTENTS CuapTer I THE NEW UNIONISM Success of the Clothing Unions British New Unionism : Industrial Workers of the World Hoxie’s Classification of Unions Tendencies Toward New Unionism in U. 8. Characteristics of the Clothing Unions . CHapter II THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY Magnitude of the Industry Divisions of the Industry . History of Men’s Clothing Trades . wHistory of Women’s sii ee Trades Seasonal Character Fluidity of Labor Fashions . : Power Installation Size and Number of Establishments Contractors and Sub-Manufacturers Difficulty of Controlling Industry . Variations in Efficiency. 7 Difficulty of Mobilizing Labor . ' Number of Women Employed . The Function of the Unions CHAPTER III THE HUMAN ELEMENT Assumed Radicalism of the Immigrant . Personnel of the Clothing Industry Situation of East-European Jews Culture of the Jews 3 ; Persecution of Jews in Russia . Anti-Jewish Movement in Rumania and Austria-Hungary What the Jews Sought in America : Proportion of Socialists Among Jewish Immigrants ‘ v 46 49 52 53 55 57, vi CONTENTS PAGH Development of Socialism Among Jews in the U. 8. . 59 Italian Immigration . . : 63 Influence of Race and Leadership: 66 CHapTeR IV THE UNIONS—THEIR BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH che Unions . : x - ew ee 6B Their History to 1900 . : “ . 4 ‘ ; . 70 ‘The United Garment Workers. . . 74 The United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers ‘of North America . 76 wee The International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union ‘ 80 Backwardness of the U. G. W. P . 85 The Nashville Conventions . : . 87 “The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America... 89 A Needle Trades Federation . ‘ - 3 93 ~ The International Fur Workers’ Union ae Se » 95 The Journeyman Tailors’ Union ee fee . 96 The United Neckwear Makers F i 97 The Suspender Makers Union . : t 4 . 98 Present Strength of the Unions : 98 CHAPTER V DECISIVE VICTORIES The Workers’ State of Mind .. 101 A Typical Tenement ‘ ‘ 3 ‘ . e 102 A Contractor’s Shop : f : é 104 Specific Grievances. ues he» ee. & 106 “we New York Cloak Strike of 1910. . 2.) ], 111 “%> Signing of the Protocol eS 116 Chicago Men’s Clothing Strike of 1910. |, ; 118 More Recent Achievements a 4 ‘ 124 CHapTer VI COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS ,Community of Interest Between Employer and E ‘Conflict of Interest. . mee ioe Collective Agreement . i ee ‘ 128 Operation of Protocol Machinery ee Bo oe % 129 Friction Under the Protocol ek . ae of 132 Causes of Complaint .. ED CEP ge ky Ly . 134 The Fundamental Conflict . dm ci os, Gt Cee on . 136 Abrogation of Protocol . ee ee ee a 139 Cloakma¢kers’ Agreement of 1916 oe & oy = MD Agreements of 1919 in Women’s Industry : : : : 142 Joint Board of Sanitary Control . se ek 145 CONTENTS Hart, Schaffner and Marx Agreements . Impartial Machinery in New York Men’s Industry Industrial Council in Men’s Industry : Other Agreements . So ue as Cuapter VII PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, AND STRATEGY Power of the Needle-Trades Unions . Function of Ideas. wt Origins of Old Unionism Origins of Clothing Unions. First Expressions of their Philosophy Leadership. . Structure of the Clothing Unions Strategy of the Clothing Unions Cxapter VIII EDUCATION Interest in the Unions’ Educational Work Educational Function of Unions Themselves . Early Labor Education Be tte Na New Conception of Education. . Fea Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Activities nited Labor Education Committee . ‘ New Unionist’s Attitude Towards Education CHAPTER IX LABOR PRESS AND COOPERATIVES Growing Power of the Press Bias of the Capitalist Press Union Journals in English . Early Jewish Workers’ Press The Forward . Other Journals Clothing Union Publications Cooperative Enterprises A Cooperative Bank CHAPTER X TEXTILES Inter-Relation of Textiles and ii The Textile Industry . vil PAGH 148 152 153 154 156 158 159 163 167 171 173 191 205 206 208 212 215 219 225 229 231 235 239 241 243 245 248 250 252 252 vill CONTENTS The Labor Force in Textiles The Older Unions : The Lawrence Strike of 1919 The Amalgamated Textile Workers . Competition Between New and Old Unions Amalgamation with Clothing Workers CHaPTEerR XI THE FUTURE Speculation About the Future . What Remains to be Achieved . Wages and Productivity Seasonal Unemployment. Workers’ Control of the Industry « Cooperative Production Revolutionary General Strike Socialization by Political and Economic Action Future Policy of the Workers ; Interests of the Public Comparative Dangers from Conservative and Radical Unions . Necessity of Experiment and Change BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX INDEX PAGH 254 256 257 262 266 269 270 272 274 279 283 285 288 291 295 297 299 301 303 307 341 THE NEW UNIONISM IN THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY CHAPTER I THE NEW UNIONISM Tue rapid rise of the unions in the clothing industry is dramatic in itself. The workers who compose them, largely of foreign birth, were for many years notoriously exploited. Their sufferings from over- crowding in the tenements, from occupational dis- eases, from underpayment, overwork, and seasonal unemployment, formed a favorite theme for the in- vestigator, the proponent of welfare legislation, the social worker. Charity and the law were invoked again and again, without noticeable effect. The periodic revolts of the toilers themselves, spontan- eous and well-nigh unorganized, arose with the re- turning seasons, and spent themselves without per- manent gain like furious waves which fall and withdraw again into the sea. For these unfortunate city children there seemed to be no hope. Then came a sudden and unexpected victory. The unions began to flourish. Almost within ten years the clothing workers have come out of the sweatshops and ad- vanced to a leading position in American organized labor. It is not for their material victories, however, that these unions are worthy of extended study. Other 3 4 THE NEW UNIONISM unions also have won good wages and reasonable hours. The needle-trades organizations are typical, not so much of the general labor movement in the United States at the moment, as of aspirations and tendencies which are rapidly gaining ground. It is their philosophy, their methods, their aims beyond wages and hours, their remarkable educational pro- gram, which give them a somewhat peculiar signifi- cance. They embody what seems to be a new sort of unionism. As Sidney and Beatrice Webb have pointed out in their ‘‘History of Trade Unionism”’ there have been many revivals in the labor movement to which the term ‘‘new unionism’’ has been applied. As long ago as 1830 the London Times was much’ agitated by a project to form ‘‘one big union’? of all crafts throughout the nation, and held up the Trades Union as a bogy with which to frighten its readers. At that time the innovators favored associations using purely economic action on an ever-widening scale, as opposed to the old-fashioned friendly and benefit societies. In 1842, after chartism had spent its force and the unions had been weakened by frequent in- dustrial depressions, a new unionism arose whose aim was to build cautiously and moderately an en- during structure, with a sounder financial stability. The classic example of new unionism in England, however, was the movement resulting from the dock strike of 1889. For many years organization had been almost the exclusive prerogative of the skilled -eraftsmen, the ‘‘aristocracy of ldbor.’’ Now came a THE NEW UNIONISM 5 great and successful strike of the unskilled. Socialist | influence showed strongly in the agitation. It was class-conscious, and vaguely revolutionary in aim. The unions were characterized by the absence of benefit funds or any of the vested interests which tend to make labor conservative. They were not exclusive, and were thought of chiefly as instruments of economic warfare. At the same time they wel- comed state interference in the form of laws regulat- ing everything except the hours of labor, and looked forward to the time when the workers, as voters, should be the predominant power in the state. Since 1889 the new unionism has been a term in constant use in England; although its precise meaning has varied with almost every change in the aspiration of the more aggressive and radical wing of the labor movement. The new unionism was revivified in 1911, when another great strike broke out in the port of London. It began with the National Union of Sailors and Firemen, and soon spread to the dockers, the steve- dores, the gasworkers, the carmen, the coal porters, the tug enginemen, the grain porters and others. It is estimated that over 100,000 men took part in a ' parade which aroused the whole city. In spite of the port authorities, this strike was in large measure successful; but the chief of its results was the for- mation of the National Transport Workers’ Federa- tion, an organization of the numerous unions con- cerned, for the purpose of future industrial action. It is this powerful and radical union which has since 6 THE NEW UNIONISM joined with the National Union of Railwaymen and the Miners’ Federation in the celebrated ‘‘Triple Alliance,’’ an inter-industrial body which is probably at once the strongest and most intelligently aggres- sive organization of labor in the world. With one hand it supports the far-reaching program of the British Labor Party, while with the other it threatens direct economic action for the consummation of national ownership and democratic management of the mines and railways. In maturity, therefore, British new unionism has assumed a well defined philosophy and method. It believes in the fullest kind of industrial and inter-industrial organization for economic pressure. It believes in independent political organization for the use of the franchise. Its goal is a socialized society, operating very much in the manner advocated by G. D. H. Cole and the other proponents of national guilds, if we can judge by the programs of the miners. In America, too, we have heard the term before. Not many years ago it was applied to the Industrial Workers of the World. The characteristics of this organization have been obscured in the public mind by the propaganda of its enemies, who have succeeded in identifying it with bloody revolt and wanton destruction of property. It arose, how- ever, in much the same spirit as the new unions in England. It was a revolt against the narrow and conservative craft spirit of many of the older unions, it appealed mainly to the unskilled and hitherto unorganized, and it called for a recon- THE NEW UNIONISM 7% structed society in which the workers, organized by industries, would control production. The I. W. W. developed along a different line, how- ever, from that taken by the British movement stimulated by Tom Mann and other syndicalists. In Britain, the syndicalists soon gave up the plan of trying to form new industrial unions to compete with the organizations of labor already existing, but rather carried on an agitation for the federation and amalgamation of the old craft and trade bodies. In America the attempt to set up a separate labor move- ment continued. In England pure syndicalism was abandoned for the use of political action, and for the working out of an adaptation to collectivist theory which is now represented by the guild movement. In America, no compromise with the socialists was attempted by the I. W. W., except in the smaller and less influential Detroit wing. In England, the con- scious development of ca’ canny, or slacking on the job, did not long continue. In America, the I. W. W. tried to perfect the weapon of the short strike and the strike on the job or the ‘‘conscientious with- drawal of efficiency.’? With the exception of the ‘Detroit group, the American I. W. W. stood for decentralization, and preferred spontaneous guer- rilla warfare to the building of a strong organization which, because it had something to lose, might be- come conservative. Perhaps on account of these policies, the I. W. W. has never secured the adherence of many workers for long, save the casual agricul- tural and forest labor of the West. Its power has 8 THE NEW UNIONISM always been overestimated by those who have been afraid of it, and it does not now, if it ever did, offer any such promise as the new unionism in Eng- land. Robert F. Hoxie, in his ‘‘Trade Unionism in the United States,’’ contends that unions are not of one or two kinds simply, but assume many forms, ac- cording to the function for which they exist. Among these forms he has identified four basic types, to which in some degree all unions in the United States have approximated. Business unionism, in this classification, is the kind formed to serve the material interests of its members within the existing indus- trial structure; its main object is to practice collec- tive bargaining. Uplift unionism is characterized by broad humanitarian purposes; its main methods are friendly benefits and mutual insurance; it was prominent during the early stages of union history and was roughly typified during the latter half of the nineteenth century by the Knights of Labor. Revolutionary unionism aims to prepare for a new social and industrial order; it is divided into two subsidiary types—socialistic, which lays more em- phasis on political action, and quasi-anarchistic, which eschews political action and looks forward to abolishing entirely the state as we know it. The I. W. W. may be taken as an example of the latter. Predatory unionism has no large aspirations, but preys on the employer through secret and illegal methods such as blackmail and bribery, sometimes for the benefit of the members, sometimes for the THE NEW UNIONISM 9 benefit of the dishonest union official. This type flourished twenty years ago in the United States, but has now almost disappeared. To the present writers it seems that this classifica- tion is not wholly illuminating, because it is not based on a sufficiently dynamic conception of the labor movement. The types are not, after all, quite co- ordinate. In the light of the intensification of the industrial conflict which takes place with the growth of the capitalist order, neither uplift unionism nor predatory unionism seem fundamental enough types to set beside business unionism and revolutionary unionism. At bottom the labor movement is one, because it represents a protest, unconscious or con- scious, against the status of the wage-worker. What- ever the avowed purpose and policies of the union under consideration, its activities are bound to affect the structure of society to a greater or less degree. Its particular creed and method are dependent on a variety of circumstances. Unions holding to creeds and methods which become unsuited to the advance- ment of labor tend to disappear as the environment alters. As we have seen, the most revolutionary unions employ collective bargaining; the character- istics of uplift unionism are displayed sometimes by business unions and sometimes by socialist unions; predatory unionism is practiced, if at all, by business unions corrupted by boss polities, or by little cliques in revolutionary unions driven underground through suppression. The most significant distinction, in our opinion, is LO THE NEW UNIONISM that between unions which are unconscious that their efforts tend toward a new social order and so adapt their strategy solely to the immediate situation, and unions which are conscious of their desire for a new order, and so base their strategy on more funda- mental considerations. These two types in turn have many variants, but the nature of every variation bears the impress of the primary type. It is the former type, roughly corresponding with Professor Hoxie’s ‘‘business unionism’’ which we have chosen to call the ‘‘old unionism,’’ and the latter which we iave called ‘‘the new unionism.’’ G. D. H. Cole has ziven this distinction a phrasing which brings out its meaning in an objective way. In ‘‘The World of Labor’’ he writes, ‘‘Regarded merely as instruments xf collective wage-bargaining, the unions are the nost powerful weapon in the hands of labor; if they are in addition the germs of the future organization of industry as a whole, their importance becomes at ynce immeasurably greater.’’ In spite of the decline of the I. W. W., the new inionism in other forms is by no means waning in ‘he United States. Various kinds of old unions in the course of their natural development are being ‘orced to approach it by one route or another. The conservative Railway Brotherhoods have little by ittle been obliged to codperate with unions of the skilled; the railway ‘‘system federation”? is a unit hrough which craft action has been superseded by ndustrial action; and the enunciation of the Plumb lan is a long step towards the acknowledgment of THE NEW UNIONISM 11 the need for a new economic order which can be at- tained not through collective bargaining but only through combined political and economic action. The United Mine Workers have long been a union indus. trial in form and practicing industrial rather thar craft strikes; socialist influence has been strong with. in the union, though not dominant in its government The time is rapidly approaching, as even its con servative officials admit, when no further gains 0: importance can be made for the members withou pressing actively for the nationalization of the mines a measure already endorsed several times by thi convention. Similar tendencies can be observer everywhere in the conservative American Federatio1 of Labor. Thus does the old unionism merge int the new, by force of sheer economic and socia pressure. No strong and important group of unions in th United States, however, has whole-heartedly ac cepted the new unionism and consciously modele structure and strategy accordingly, except the union in the clothing industry. For this reason they ma be considered the nearest approach to the pure typ now existing in America. They sprang into powe about the time of the port strike of 1911 in Londo1 and the course of their development has been muc closer to that of the new unions in England than t that of the I. W. W. They arose from mass mov« ments of the unskilled and semi-skilled, carrying th skilled along with them. They have built up a stron and highly centralized industrial structure, but or 12 THE NEW UNIONISM sensitive at the same time to the will of the rank file. They skilfully use collective bargaining, primarily as a means of gaining material concessi but as a means of solidifying the workers and taining victories that will make possible fur‘ progress along the main highway. While prepz for the most extended economic action, they at same time take an active part in independent polit action. They do not preach sabotage or ca’ ca but on the contrary assist in every sound project | may improve the industrial machine and incre productivity. Upon the cultural aspects of the la movement—the press, education, and art—they great stress. In short, their whole tendency is in direction of training the workers for assur control of production, and of accepting the so and economic responsibility which such control volves. However different in theory and method, all fo: of ‘‘new unionism’’ have had one trait in comn They have always come into being during a pei in which the labor movement as a whole seeme¢ have exhausted its resources and was felt to be danger of decline if not of destruction. They h all represented a divergence from the establis practice, and, more significant than that, all h brought to the movement a new breadth of sympa and vision, a new ideal, and anew hope. An exp tion of the new unionism as exemplified by clothing workers of America may give further li to those who have been stirred by the expres THE NEW UNIONISM 13 aspirations of British labor and by the present flux and unrest in the American labor movement, and in particular to those who have seen great promise in the ideal of national guilds. CHAPTER II THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY Propte sometimes think of trade-union problems as if unions sprang from economic theories and flour- ished in the pure air of a revolutionary or labor movement. Should there be industrial or craft unions? Should they accept collective agreements? Should their strategy be determined by business policy or by faithfulness to the class struggle? These are fundamental questions, but they are not settled, for any particular union, by a mere appeal to meta- physics. Neither is the best answer to them, and to others of similar nature, dependent mainly on the traditions, character, and education of the workers involved. The character of labor organization takes its form from the nature of industry itself. In the case of any group of unions with a special tendency or philosophy it is safe to assume that their char- acteristics have developed largely from the special industrial environment in which they have arisen. Is it, for instance, pure accident that in both England and America the coal miners, utterly different as they are in races and culture, have industrial unions and demand nationalization of the mines, while in 14 THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 15 both countries metal-trade or engineering unions have been built on craft lines, and are now engaged in a difficult struggle for amalgamation? There seems to be at work among the unions a principle of adaptation which in a real sense determines the nature of the survivors. It would be fruitless to attempt an analysis of the labor movement in the needle trades without first studying in some detail the industries in which it lives. It is necessary to understand the problems the unions have to solve to see how they have, not by inspiration or perversity, but by a process of trial and error, hit upon effective methods of solution. Judged by any standard except capital employed, the group of industries under consideration—that producing clothing—is among the largest in the country. In 1917, according to government estimates made for the military draft, 754,062 persons were engaged in the manufacture of clothing, a larger number than in any other single industry except textiles, and more than in any other general occupa- tion except agriculture, transportation, and the building trades. According to the latest available census figures * there were in round numbers 518,000 wage-earners in the ready-made clothing group (including furs), a number surpassed among in- dustrial workers only by those in iron and steel and their products, lumber and its remanufacturers, and textiles. Clothing ranked 7th in wages paid ($256,400,000), 8th in amount paid for materials 1 Abstract of the Census of Manufactures, 1914. 16 THE NEW UNIONISM ($696,000,000) and 8th in value of the finishe product ($1,340,000,000). The capital invested wa: approximately $600,000,000. The number of estab lishments was about 16,000. If clothing were com bined with textiles, the two together would outranl in most respects any other large group of in dustries. For our purposes the clothing trades must be divided into two main groups: one, of which we shal speak in this chapter, is that in which the union: originated and developed their strength; the other of different industrial and social structure, is that into which they are now rapidly making their way The first group includes * men’s and boys’ clothing (175,000 workers), women’s and children’s clothing (169,000 workers), cloth hats and caps (7,00C workers), and fur goods (10,000 workers). The second embraces men’s shirts (52,000 workers), col- lars and cuffs (10,000 workers), men’s furnishings including neckwear (22,000 workers), corsets (20,00C workers), suspenders and garters (10,000 workers), “and millinery. The main distinction is that most of the second group are not so favorable to sub-con- tracting and small establishments, require a larger proportion of capital and have more highly devel- oped machine processes. Overalls are included under men’s clothing, but they form a special case which must be discussed separately. Ready-made clothing was almost unknown before 2The figures in this paragraph are from the Abstract of the Census of Manufactures, 1914. These figures are inaccurate now but they serve to show the relative importance, THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 17 1825. The first factory of which there is any record was that of George Opdyke in Hudson Street, New York City, established in 1831. Neither this nor its successors before the Civil War were, however, fac- tories as we understand the term. The manufac- turers merely sold, designed, and cut the garments, and they were sewed in the home, the cheaper grades by farmers’ wives, the better ones by skilled city. tailors. In no case did the product compete with custom-tailored suits. Its manufacture arose to fill the demand of second-hand clothing dealers for odd sizes to round out their stock, and it was sold prin- cipally to sailors who had neither the time nor the money to employ a tailor, and to southern negroes and poor whites. The sewing machine, placed on the market in 1850, gave the industry some stimulus. By 1859 it was estimated that there were 4,000 estab- lishments giving employment to 114,800 workers. The centers were chiefly Boston, New Bedford, and New York, because of their proximity to the mills and to the most numerous supply of cheap casual labor. Most of the first manufacturers were custom tailors. The busy seasons for the custom tailor lasted but 20 or 25 weeks in the year, and the making of ready-made clothes filled the gap. As the ready- made clothing business grew, some of the larger firms found it profitable enough so that they gave up the custom trade entirely. Before the Civil War, an advertisement appeared in a St. Louis paper an- nouncing sales of ready-made clothing at wholesale 18 THE NEW UNIONISM and retail, and stating that the goods were made a New York factory permanently employing 2,0 hands. Since the spirit of craftsmanship persisted in t tailor, however, and few mechanical processes h been introduced to split the process and make easi the use of unskilled labor, the factory system did n progress here as in other industries. Goods we given out by the warehouse man or manufacturer the competent but dependent tailors to be done the home. With the invention of the sewing machir the participation of the family became easy. T! tailor himself did the more difficult sewing a1 pressing, while his wife and daughters attended © the easier work. This was the beginning of 1] family system. At the same time the factories, extending the business, and requiring large quantities of chee clothing, had to draw into the process semi-skille workers who could not do good work without supe vision. The factory, known as a ‘‘warehouse,’’ we already employing a number of skilled tailors < foremen to give out jobs to the home workers, 1 examine the product and pay forit. The tailors wit whom they were dealing were responsible an known artisans, who could be trusted with the good There appeared, however, large numbers of persor applying for employment whom the foremen did nc know, or did not believe sufficiently skilled or trus: worthy. In order to utilize the labor of these person the contractor was brought into being. The ware THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 19 houses gave out the goods to the contractor on his own responsibility, and/the latter employed the poorer laborers, finding some kind of shop for them. Thus the sweating system developed. The Civil War laid the basis for large-scale pro- duction in the industry. While it cut off the southern market, it substituted government orders for uni- forms in enormous quantities, one manufacturer, for instance, receiving a single order amounting to $1,250,000. The natural results were larger estab- lishments, factory buildings erected for the trade, a standardization of sizes, styles, and processes, a greater subdivision of labor making possible the employment of less skilled operators, and more efficient methods of production. The uniform trade furnished the manufacturers with knowledge of the sizes required in quantities and so prepared them to manufacture in advance of demand. When, after the war, soldiers returning to civil life began looking for cheap ready-made clothing, the manufacturers could supply it. Still, however, the making up and finishing of the garment was done in the home or by con- tractors. Wages were paid usually not to the in- dividual, but to a man and wife. They had risen, on account of the great demand, and without pressure from the workers, a little more than had the cost of living. Whereas before the war a man and wife were paid from eight to ten dollars a week, they now re- ceived from twenty to twenty-five. Out of this they had to buy thread, irons, and sundries. Hours, of course, were unlimited, and rapidly growing conges- 20 THE NEW UNIONISM tion in the cities was worsening the sanitation ai other conditions of work. By 1869 the men’s clothing industry—the women was of later development—had increased to 78 establishments. It spent nearly twice as much f material as in 1859, and the value of the product w $148,660,000 as against $80,830,000 a decade befoi The number of workers had diminished to 108,12 probably on account of large-scale production, b they were paid almost twice as much in tl aggregate. The decade from 1870-1880 was a flourishing o1 for the industry. It was a great pioneer period, a1 immigration both increased the demand and fu nished labor. The sale was still for cheap ar medium grades, in staple sizes and styles. T] fashion factor was unimportant. Jobbers di tributed the product to small shops. Long ered was customary. Large capital was therefore nece sary and large cutting and merchandizing establis ments the rule. Profits were ample. New machine was invented, notably for cutting. While the numb: of firms decreased to 6166 in 1879, the average nur ber of workers increased to 160,813, and the produ was valued at $209,548,000. Wages, however, r mained stationary, the aggregate advancing only : proportion to the number employed. The hon and contracting systems of work were almost un versal. By 1889, probably owing to further improvemen in process, the number of workers decreased again - THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 21 144,926, and the continued tendency to large-scale production reduced the number of establishments to 4867. The value of the product, however, showed the usual increase, mounting to $251,019,000. Improve- ments in the manufacture of textiles, with other causes, decreased the amount paid for materials by about two and a half million dollars. Wages were advanced slightly. The conditions of work remaine” as before, but the heightened competition amone 1e contractors and among the workers under théa i in- tensified every evil of the sweatshop. Meanwhile, the industry had shown a large development in Chicago and other mid-western centers. Through the latter years of the last century the value of the product in the men’s clothing industry showed the same steady increase, accompanied, ac- cording to the census, by fluctuations in number of establishments and number of workers. These fluc- , tuations are partly due to interaction of the grow-» ing demand for ready-made clothing with the im- provement of process and the advantage of large- scale production. In part, however, they are ficti- tious, since different censuses employed different | methods of enumeration. The Tenement House Act | of 1892 in New York, prohibiting contractors from | carrying on manufacture in the home, while it could y not be enforced rigidly, was another factor in the | - establishment of larger shops. It was not until 1895, however, that the first large ‘‘inside shop’’ was es- tablished—that is, a shop in which practically all the | operations \ were canried- on. The centering of the | 22 THE NEW UNIONISM operations in one building made possible improve ments in sanitation, power, and other working con ditions, but it did not abolish the contractor. Mos of the inside shops continued the sub-contractin; system within their walls, dealing only with the sub contractor and paying him for the finished article o: piece. He in turn acted as the employer of thi ~elatives and hangers-on who worked under hi di 2*tion. During the first decade of the new century the in dustry began to undergo changes which further com plicated the existence of the workers. It reached ou for the trade formerly taken by custom tailors, anc to do so it had to diversify styles and materials Public taste in turn was affected, and many of the staple demands began to cease altogether. It hac been the custom, for instance, for men to wear ready: made striped trousers, with a coat of different ma. terial. Now the separate trousers business wanec rapidly ; advertising was not influencing the men whc had had their suits tailored as wholes, but was chang: ing the taste of those who had not. With the tendency toward diversification of styles, and the intensifiec competition in merchandizing, went the gradual elim. ination of the large jobber and long credit. Good: could not be held over from season to season by re tailer, jobber, or manufacturer. They had to be ordered as late as possible, so that the shelves shoulc not be piled with unpopular styles. Tailor-to-the trade houses arose, which made a point, not of carry: ing stock lines, but of making up suits as ordere¢ THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 23 through the retailer. All this emphasized the sea- sonal tendency of the industry and made it still more difficult to avoid seasonal unemployment. It reduced the amount of capital necessary to engage in manu- facturing, and robbed the large and medium-sized houses of much of their advantage. The system of small contractors, with all their irresponsibility, was encouraged. And the business became more de: pendent on general conditions. The panic of 1907 gravely injured the clothing industry, although pre- vious depressions had helped it. Perhaps this in- dicated that recent panics have affected more people in moderate circumstances, but it is certain that the people in better circumstances. While the total of its | business had been enlarging as usual, the problems . of its workers, and of many of its employers as well, had been much aggravated. It was in this period \ that the unrest of the workers became acute, and the present labor movement in the industry sprang to | power. In 1909 the men’s clothing industry produced nearly one-half the value of the total product of the clothing trades. Its principal center was New York, which turned out 40 per cent of the goods, and con- tained a still larger proportion of the establishments. Chicago accounted for 17 per cent. Other important centers were Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, Balti- more, Milwaukee, Rochester, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Louisville, San Francisco, and Syracuse. The following table summarizes its growth: / i - ready-made clothing industry was now serving more.» 24 THE NEW UNIONISM No. Av. No. of Estab- of Wage- Cost of Value of Year lishments Earners Wages Materials Product 3 In Thousands of Dollars 1859 ..... 4,014 114,800 19,856 44,147 80,830 1869 ..... 7,858 108,128 30,746 86,794 148,60 1879 ..... 6,166 160,813 45,940 131,363 209,548 1889 ..... 4,867 144,926 51,075 128,846 251,019 1899 ..... 5,729 120,927 45,496 145,211 276,717 1904 ..... 4,504 137,190 57,225 185,793 355,796 1909 ..... 5,584 191,183 89,644 252,522 485,677 1914 ..... 4,830 173,747 86,828 230,032 458,211 The women’s clothing industry was naturally of later development than the men’s. The women whose husbands bought their suits from second-hand or ready-made establishments sewed their own dresses, and the women who could afford custom dressmakers were, on account of the stronger hold of fashions, more conservative in abandoning them. Cloaks were, however, manufactured in quantities before the Civil War. Even in 1860 cloak manufacturers were ad- vertising in New York papers for French women operators. The total product of the New York ready- made cloak business was at that time estimated at about $3,000,000. From the very beginning, the ma- jority of employees were women, especially young girls who did not own sewing machines and worked better in the factory than at home. Home work was therefore not so prevalent as in the men’s industry, and ‘‘inside shops’’ were the rule up to the ’eighties. Working conditions in these shops, however, were no better than in the men’s sweatshops. Boston was then a leading center of the industry, and conditions 3 Of course, no deductions can be drawn from changes in money totals without taking into consideration the fluctuations in the value of the dollar. THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 25 there were reported to be better than those in New York. The Boston Labor Bureau in 1871 made a survey which brought out the following facts. The shops were located on the upper floors and were packed so densely that the girls could scarcely move from their chairs; they had no ventilation except from windows at one end of the rooms, and many of the windows could not be opened. Over half the shops had no toilet facilities and no drinking water. In 1872, according to the same bureau, some girls received as little as $1.50 a -week, and the highest wage was $18.00, paid to cutters who also acted as managers of entire departments. The usual price for making a cloak was twenty-five cents, and two cloaks a day was the maximum output. The working day was usually ten hours, but as all received piece rates, many took work home at night and sewed from two to three hours in the evening. Some girls lived with their parents but others dwelt in cheap boarding houses, from three to six in a room, the room usually unheated. A few cases were reported of girls dying actually in the presence of investigators ‘‘from a death for which it is impossible to find another name than starvation.’’? Others confessed to having eked out their existence by prostitution. After 1880 the women’s garment industry became > more diversified and gradually assumed more nearly | the character of the men’s industry. Suits began to — be made in larger quantities, more men were em- | ployed in the manufacture of cloaks, and home work | and contracting were introduced. Dresses and waists 26 THE NEW UNIONISM were added to the product in the middle ’nineties. After 1900 a particularly rapid growth was notice- able. House dresses, wrappers, kimonos, skirts, children’s and infant’s wear, and undergarments of all kinds were produced for the ready-to-wear market. The following table will indicate the strides of the business. In drawing inferences from this table it should be remembered that here, as with the men’s industry, the method of enumeration adopted by the census was not always the same. No. Av. No. of Estab- of Wage- Cost of Value of Year lishments Earners Wages Materials Product In Thousands of Dollars 1859... 188 5,739 1,193 3,323 7,181 1869 ..... 1,847 11,696 2,514 6,838 12,901 1879 ..... 562 25,192 6,661 19,559 32,005 1889 ..... 1,224 39,149 15,428 34,277 68,164 1899 ..... 2,701 83,739 32,586 84,705 159,340 1909 ..... 4,558 153,743 78,568 208,788 384,752 1914 ..88s 5,564 168,907 92,574 252,345 473,888 Although in 1914 there were not so many wage- earners in the women’s clothing as in the men’s clothing industry, there were more separate estab- lishments. This is partly accounted for by the greater variety of styles and articles of apparel made, which leads to more specialization. It is an eloquent sign, however, that the contractor is as prevalent here as in any branch of clothing manu- facture, and that the small establishment flourishes. It is worthy of note that the period after 1900, which produced the great diversification of styles, THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 27 the intensification of seasonal unemployment, the increase of the small establishment, and consequent labor unrest in the men’s industry, was paralleled by an almost identical development in the women’s industry. In almost every respect, the character- istics of the women’s industry are now similar to those of the men’s. It also flourishes in the same centers. The main differences are that the men’s industry is steadier and less seasonal than the women’s; it contains more large establishments; it employs more men and fewer women workers; and it has more invested capital and mechanical power in proportion to the value of the product. The most obvious problems of the workers in the clothing industry are caused by its seasonal char- ' acter. The manufacturers of men’s garments begin. ‘their busy season in January, and the total number : employed is greatest in February and March. After/ that there is a slow falling-off until November. The| 1914 Census figures show that the total of seasonal | unemployment reached about 19,000, or over one- tenth of the maximum. In the making of women’s ; clothing, the situation is still worse. There are two busy seasons, one reaching its climax in March, the other in October. Between seasons the number em- ployed shows a disastrous decrease. The maximum in 1914 was 188,526 in March, and the minimum 145,362 in July. Thus if all the operatives thrown out of work could find nothing else to do, there would be in the worst period 43,000 unemployed, or 23 per eent of the total number. Most industries have 28 THE NEW UNIONISM serious fluctuations, but in no other are there so many jobless concentrated in a few localities.. When cloth- ing workers in New York or Chicago are turned on the streets in such numbers, they cannot easily find other employment. More serious than the case of the actually un- employed, moreover, is that of the majority of workers who, while they do not lose their jobs, are put on part-time during the slack seasons. The full wages received during the busy times do not set the standard of living, but the wages received during the period of lowest remuneration limit it. Savings can- not be great out of even the highest wage paid. It is the current expenses like rent and weekly food bill which determine the standard of life. These must be regulated according to the amount in the pay envelope when it is thinnest. In the dress and waist industry, for instance, during 1912 the average weekly wage earned by all the workers amounted to only 73 per cent of that paid during the busiest week, Census statistics of the cap-makers show little actual seasonal unemployment, but almost all the workers are on part time for some months in the year. On account of differences in the busy seasons among the various clothing industries, it is possible in some instances for operatives thrown out of work in one industry to find it in another, but this does not appreciably affect the total. Taking all the cloth- ing industries together, the difference between the highest month and the lowest was, in 1914, 76,670 workers. And it must be remembered that this total THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 29 includes the more highly developed manufactures such as shirts, collars, and corsets, which both on account of their processes and their location do not offer much opportunity of employment to workers on men’s and women’s garments. A study of selected individuals in the cloak, suit, and skirt industry of New York was made in 1914 by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,‘ illustrating the usual condition. Out of 29 cutters and 30 pressers, 25 each were out of work at their trade for more than twelve weeks. A conservative approximation of the average period of unemployment for these persons shows that for the cutters it was 18.8 weeks and for the pressers 20.9 weeks. Only five of the cutters and three of the pressers were able to find other work during this period. The frequency of discharge for seasonal slack work naturally leads to a shifting personnel of the labor force in any one shop. Out of about 15,000 workers _ questioned in the cloak, suit and skirt industry, the proportion who worked in only one shop during the year from August 1, 1912 to August 1, 1913, ranged from 79 to 57 per cent, according to operation. Some . worked in as many as nine shops in that year. This . high labor turnover not only adds to the expense of © the manufacturer and acts as an economic drag on |, » the entire industry, but it complicates the task of the unions. It is more difficult to keep track of such a fluid labor force, and the frequency of discharge , 4 Wages and Regularity of Employment in the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Industry, U. S. Department of Labor, Bulletin No. 147. 30 THE NEW UNIONISM gives the manufacturer many an opportunity to ge rid of a worker whom he finds troublesome on a count of union activities. After collective agree ments were adopted, many of the most vexatiou adjustments arose over such questions of imprope discharge. It would be a comparatively easy matter to avoir the worst seasonal fluctuations by distributing worl evenly throughout the year were it not for fashions The total amount of clothing to be sold can be es timated roughly, and if each year the manufacturer: could decide on a few staple styles, as they used t do in the last century, they could begin work as earl; as they liked. But competition has forced them tc vie with each other in showing a great variety o! samples, some of which are destined to be popula and others not. The public, in turn, has beer educated to demand the ‘‘latest thing.’’ So the dealers order as little as they can until the seasor is upon them and they know what is selling. Prob- ably few individual members of the public really want so many styles and so many changes in them, but a spirit of social emulation leads them to accept the process. They blame the manufacturers for the multiplicity of fashions, which they believe are created to increase the volume of clothing sold. The manufacturers, in turn, blame the public for being So capricious and causing them so much extra ex- pense; no individual manufacturer would dare to reduce his styles for fear of losing trade to com- petitors. He gains no benefit from any possible in- THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 31 creased total of clothing sold. The workers suffer in the vicious circle by enduring year after year long hours and rush work in the busy seasons, and semi- starvation in the slack ones. There is no one to make effective the communal will against the individual weakness. A recent change in the origination of fashions for the ladies’ tailoring establishments, or ‘‘tailors to the trade”’ as distinguished from the manufacturers of ready-to-wear garments, has in fact considerably reduced seasonal unemployment in that branch. Whereas fashions used to originate solely in Paris, and American tailors had to wait before beginning large operations until the prevailing fashion for the season established itself, now American capital has invaded the field to such an extent that many of the latest ‘‘Paris fashions’’ are actually produced in New York and are known simultaneously on this side of the Atlantic by most of the important firms. The origination of such fashions is the specialized function of a comparatively few bouses, whose in- come is derived as much from the sale of designs as from the sale of garments themselves. In this way an approach to systematized standardization has been made. It affects, however, only a comparatively small proportion of the clothing workers. The re- cent lengthening of the seasons has been due in the main rather to the coincidence of a period of pros- perity with the absence of immigration; if in the future we should experience a period of depression and an increase in the labor supply, the problem of 32 THE NEW UNIONISM seasonal unemployment would undoubtedly be as acute as ever. Tf it cost the manufacturer more than it does to keep his plant idle or going at low speed, he might make more heroic efforts to break loose from the round of fashions, or to find something with which to fill the slack seasons. In other industries the capital tied up in plant, machinery and power be- comes a heavy weight on finances if it is not being used. The average for all American industries was in 1914° an installation of 3.2 mechanical horse power for each worker. In the men’s clothing trade there is but one mechanical horse power for every 3.2 workers. In the women’s industry there is one horse power for every six workers. The men’s in- dustry therefore uses ten times less, and the women’s twenty times less power per worker than the average. Over half this power, also, is rented, and represents no investment when not turned on. A manufacturer is concerned to keep engines working steadily be- cause they represent an investment which must be earning dividends, but he can turn man-power off at any time without concern—for that the worker has to pay. The clothing industry and the employees in it also suffer from changes in the prosperity of the con- sumer. Clothing in the bulk may be a necessity, but the garments that are actually sold include a large proportion of semi-luxuries, which are cut off in time of crisis. 1914 and 1917 saw greatly slackened pro- 5 Abstract of the Census of Manufactures, 1914, THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 33 duction in women’s and men’s civilian clothing, although the uniform trade partly filled the breach in 1917. In most industries the large establishments do the bulk of the business and set the working standards. Once they are controlled by labor, a decisive battle of the workers is won. Not so in the clothing in- dustries. Taking the men’s and women’s industries together, there were, according to the Census of 1914, 1663 establishments with an annual product of less than $5,000, 3098 between $5,000 and 20,000, 3496 between $20,000 and $100,000, 2129 between $100,000 and $1,000,000, and 101 over $1,000,000. The estab- lishments with a product worth under $100,000 each employed 126,525 persons, more than half as many as those doing a larger business. Their total product was valued at $207,046,000, while the larger houses produced only a little over three times as much— $725,055,000. There were 2,219 establishments em- ploying from one to five persons each, and the num- ber of workers in these shops was 7,553; while there were only 12 establishments employing over 1,000, and the total of their wage-earners was but 22,078. The largest group of establishments (3,901) was that employing from six to twenty workers; 48,415 wage-earners worked in them. The largest total of wage-earners worked in shops employing from 21 to 50; in these 2,443 establishments there were 78,907 employed. The 934 shops employing from 51 to 100 each, accounted for 65,566 wage-earners, the 423 from 100 to 250, 63,509 workers, the 97 from 251 to 34 THE NEW UNIONISM 500, 32,591 workers, and the 36 from 501 to 1000, 25,235 workers. This condition of small enterprise and free competition may satisfy devotees of laissez- faire economics, but it makes untold trouble for the workers and their unions. The larger establishments have no great advantage over the smaller, and do not tend to drive them out of business, except in some few lines where a well advertised name can be made to count. The per- centage of manufacturing profit to net sales reported from those men’s clothing establishments which did an annual business of under $500,000 a year was 4.75, a larger percentage than in any group of establish- ments except those whose product was valued at $2,000,000 and over apiece.* It is the medium-sized firms which make the least. The same tendency makes contracting prevalent. A few ‘‘inside shops’’ have all the operations per- formed under one roof, but many give out the work to contractors—either part or all of it. The 1914 Census figures show in the men’s industry 124,000 workers in independent factories and 50,000 in con- tractors’ shops; in the women’s industry 152,000 in independent concerns and 17,000 in contractors’ es- tablishments. Union officials state that these figures grossly underestimate the numbers working for contractors. It is probable that they do, for they are made up from the manufacturers’ reports, and many a contractor who aspires to independence and 6 The Men’s Factory-Made Clothing Industry, U. S. Department of Commerce. THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 35 perhaps does sell part of his product direct to the retailer will call himself independent. There are also numerous sub-manufacturers—employers de- pendent for their capital and sales on the larger manufacturers, but each turning out complete gar- ments in shops for whose labor management the larger firms are not responsible. Reports from a representative number of manufacturers show the relation of profits to contracting as follows:’ Manufacturing Profits on Firms having Capital Employed Net Sales No operating contracted 12.56 5.66 Part ‘“ s 9.79 5.22 All ce ae 13.04 5.89 There seems to be little advantage to the manu- facturer in having all his work performed under his own roof unless he is making high grade advertised goods where direct supervision counts. This separation of the commercial organization from the strictly producing one is a factor which makes it easy for small firms to arise in great num- bers. In most industries the necessity of large-scale merchandizing and the economy of large-scale pro- duction go hand in hand, and it is perhaps due to this fact that many writers have failed to distinguish the producing from the merchandizing process, al- though they are different in many respects. In the clothing industry, however, the distinction is obvious and complete. To compete successfully in the modern 7The Men’s Factory-Made Clothing Industry, U. S. Department of Commerce. 36 THE NEW UNIONISM market, it is necessary to have skilled designers, travelling salesmen, large show-rooms, and expen- sive advertising. This makes at least moderate size necessary to real success as a merchandizing firm. To produce, however, size is not at all essential. An ambitious cutter or designer has all the knowledge necessary to set up a contracting or sub-manufac- turing business of his own, and he needs but little capital. He can rent a loft big enough for a few workers, buy his materials on credit, rent his ma- chines from the sewing-machine manufacturer and his power from the electric company. All he needs is the favor of an independent manufacturer and a few orders. He can pay his expenses out of the first year’s turnover. He may be, to be sure, a bad manager ; poor accounting and reckless ventures may overwhelm him the moment he tries to expand and secure direct business from the retailer. Every year sees hundreds of little firms drifting into and out of business. The total capital invested in the clothing industries was in 1914, as we have seen (page 16), about 15 per cent less than the amount spent for materials (including power). This shows vividly how little fixed capital is necessary and why no con- centration of capital can control the industry. The total of all industries for the country shows, on the contrary, over $22,790,000,000 capital and only $14,368,000,000 spent for materials (including power). The capital for all was, instead of 15 per cent smaller, 27 per cent larger than the sum spent for materials. A further indication of the dom- THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 37 inance of the small establishment in the production of clothing is the fact that in 1914, in men’s clothing —including shirts—only 47.1 per cent of the product was made by incorporated firms, and in the women’s trade only 29.1 per cent. The average for all indus- tries was 83.2 per cent.’ With such a large number of establishments, many of them new each year, there is of course a wide variation in managerial and commercial efficiency. Inefficient firms may lose out in the end, but their constant presence exerts a depressing effect on standards. Few manufacturers have accurate ac- counting systems, and many cannot tell whether cer- tain styles are being made at a profit oraloss. The multiplicity of styles, with inaccurate accounting, leads to great confusion and divergence in the deter- mination of piece rates. The union, endeavoring as it must to establish uniform minima of wages, is limited by the least efficient employer. The styles sold at a loss create a ruinous competition for the established firms, while on the other hand the ma- jority of firms in an association cannot afford the level of wages that the best managed could pay. A special study of the men’s clothing industry ® fur- nishes evidence that the level of wages has little to do with the prosperity of the establishment. Of ten establishments showing the highest percentage of manufacturing profit, three had a higher percentage for direct labor than the average for the industry, 8 Abstract of the Census of Manufactures, 1914. ®The Men’s Factory-Made Clothing Industry. U. 8. Department of Commerce. 38 THE NEW UNIONISM and seven had a lower percentage. Of six establish- ments showing a manufacturing loss, four had a higher percentage for direct labor than the aver- age, and two a lower percentage. A lower percent- age for direct labor does not mean necessarily lower wages, but may mean fewer employees and better management. If all establishments were as well managed as the most prosperous, the general level of wages could therefore be far higher than it is, Moreover, the workers suffer in the end from the general economic loss due to the excess of com- petition. One indication of this is that even some of the best firms carry many styles at a loss in order to present an attractive line and prevent competitors from undermining their custom. Managerial inefficiency is also reflected in un- necessary unemployment or part-time employment due to a lack of balance between various depart- ments. The failure to provide a sufficient proportion of operatives at one stage of the manufacturing process may cause a congestion there and idleness at other stages. In 1913 in the dress and waist in- dustry, even during the busiest week of the season, a large number of the workers were not fully em- ployed. Although the full working week was 50 hours, 20.9 per cent of the workers were employed for between 40 and 50 hours, 3.7 per cent between 30 and 40 hours, 2.5 per cent between 20 and 30 hours, and 2.2 per cent under 20 hours.?° Illness, 10 Wages and Regularity of Employment and the Standardization of Piece Rates in the Dress and Waist Industry: New York City. U. S. Department of Labor, Bulletin No. 146, THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 39 tardiness, and other causes leading workers to report for only part of the week must be allowed for in these percentages, but probably the largest factor in them is due to managerial inefficiency. If this is the case during the busiest week of the year, imagine the conditions when there is no particular urgency in finishing the product. Attempts of the workers to improve their con- ditions were always hindered by the extraordinary difficulty of mobilizing and controlling the labor in this industry. It has flourished in large cities, and has ; depended chiefly on the work of immigrants re- cently arrived, the majority of whom did not know English, but all of whom needed immediate em- ployment. Keen competition among the workers themselves was for long the rule. The fact that much of the work could be done in the home, and was done there for years, prevented the growth of solidarity among the toilers, or any effective regula- tion of hours, conditions, or wages. Hach head of a household might have a separate establishment. His wife and children, and even the boarders, would work for him. Newly come relatives or acquaintances who had no other point of contact with the new world ' would find at his house temporary employment. Thus they would all work seven days a week and far into the night, in small overcrowded rooms which they rarely had time to clean, often sleeping and pre- paring their rude meals in the workroom. Much has been written of the sweatshops and the insanitary tenements in the slum. Few, however, have under- 40 THE NEW UNIONISM stood that these conditions were not only frightful in themselves, butsthat they hindered the growth of labor organizations which alone could affect lasting and fruitful improvements. It was not the fault of the homeworker, the contractor or his employees that long hours were the rule. Their competition with each other continually depressed prices and made it necessary to work longer and longer in order to keep soul and body together. Even after the worst sweatshops were abolished, it was still difficult for the unions to mobilize so fluid a supply of labor. Little skill for much of the work is required, and that is of a type which is usually learned in the home. Every woman knows something about sewing; only the designers and cutters need any special tailoring skill. The un- organized are always in the background, in the masses of the population, ready to drift into the industry. No man can learn to be a toolmaker or a locomotive engineer without undergoing a long ap- prenticeship in the shop, coming in contact with his fellow-workers, and being educated to union solidar- ity and discipline. But some woman fresh from a little town in Russia or Poland, unable to read and write, might within a week after her arrival in this country be working in the shop of a garment contractor. It is a commonplace of the labor movement that women are harder to organize than men. Many of them go to work while they are young and live at home; they accept seasonal employment easily, and THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 41 they do not intend to stay permanently in the shop anyway. To them marriage is the real career, and wage-work is a mere temporary expedient, to be en- dured without much thought until the way of escape opens. Motives based on social status and on race or religion are likely to be stronger with women than with men. Many a young woman, forced into indus- try by the pressure of circumstances, hesitates to admit that she is a member of the working class, and believes that it would cast a stigma upon her to join a union. She prefers rather to maintain her as- sociations with the women who do not have to work for wages, to read and sympathize with the news- papers which support the employers. If she is native-born, she dislikes to link herself with ‘‘foreigners,’’ and if she is a Christian, she shares a popular prejudice against Jews. She thinks it unseemly to go to meetings where there are many men who will treat her as an equal, but whom she has not met in a social way, and whom she does not wish to entertain in her home. As a result of these preconceptions, she would rather allow the employer to exploit her than to do anything so unladylike as to affiliate with the labor movement and perhaps be called on strike. Fortunately these remnants of a passing social stratification are now weakening among working women. When organized, their spirit and endurance are often greater than that of men, but it is more difficult to enlist them in the labor army. This has been an additional obstacle of the needle- 42 THE NEW UNIONISM trades unions. In 1914 there were more women than men in both the men’s clothing and women’s clothing establishments, the totals being 147,572 men wage- earners over 16 years of age, and 203,009 women over 16. A special study of representative establishments making men’s garments showed only 19.3 per cent of the women workers married, and of these about one- third were in the shop temporarily. The percentage of permanent married workers in the women’s indus- try would probably be even smaller, since it is chiefly the Italians who remain in the shop after marriage, and there are many more Italians in the men’s cloth- ing than in the women’s clothing establishments. Unions facing a few strongly entrenched employ- ers such as the manufacturers of iron and steel have their own difficulties, but there at least the problem is clear. It is a test of strength; the workers know that they must organize, and then enforce the con- ditions they wish. But the character of the clothing industry presents the unions with a confusing en- tanglement of obstacles. The fluctuations of busy and slack seasons tend to destroy solidarity. For years strikes would occur at the beginning of the busy season, concessions would be won, and then as more and more workers were deprived of employ- ment, competition among them would again arise, standards would be lowered and the concessions lost. The struggle would have to begin anew every year. The union itself would lose members who when out of work could not afford to pay their dues. The large number of small establishments made necessary, not THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 43 afew great victories, but a thousand small ones. An argus-eyed vigilance was necessary to make sure that agreements were everywhere observed. The manv- , facturer who himself assented to the union terms | might employ a new or irresponsible contractor who | obscurely violated them. After associations of em-, ployers were formed, the divergence of the members) in prosperity, attitude, and ability made negotiations: difficult. It was impossible to raise the general level of wages to the point which the best employers would | be able to maintain. And it was difficult for the | unions themselves to reach and include a controlling majority of the available labor supply. Here were evident all the worst evils of com- petition under private enterprise. Words like un- employment, sub-manufacturer, contractor, and sweatshop are symbols which carry to the reader little but a formalized intellectual concept of indus- trial problems. What they mean in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, year after weary year, escapes. They really mean the tenements of New York at their squalid and ugly worst, they mean tuberculosis, curved spines, hollow eyes, premature death after an unfulfilled life, sickly children and a stunted race.1 The important thing to remember is that the problems of the clothing industry have not been simply industrial problems or abstract problems of labor organization, but problems of human life, involving the entire existence of enough people to inhabit a small nation. 11 See Chapter VI, under Joint Board of Sanitary Control. ‘dey THE NEW UNIONISM The evolution of industry predicted by early social- ists took place here only in part. It was believed that industrial establishments would grow larger and larger, that the concentration of capital would be- come more and more intense, and that eventually the workers, forming the democratic state, could take over industries which were, so to speak, completed products. In the clothing business, capital has been able to approach consolidation of merchandizing, and the bankers control credit, but, in the process of pro- duction, competition has persisted as strongly as ever. It has remained for the workers to assume the constructive réle, and to perform in another way the task which Marx assigned to capital. In order that their lives might be tolerable, some kind of control had to be established. Capital was unable to furnish anything like a monopoly; enterprise and management could not furnish it. There was no single point at which effectual pressure could be applied. The only possibility left was for labor to organize so thoroughly as to provide the necessary cohesive force. Once organized, the workers could not rest on past victories. Since they were the only element of cohesion, the slightest relaxation on their part would allow the industry to relapse into its old anarchic chaos. Furthermore, their task was not only to extract certain concessions from the manage- ments, but in many respects to reshape the entire structure of the industry. No perfunctory type of unionism could help them. The sort of union mem- bership which carries cards and pays dues, but leaves THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY 45 the rest to the devices of business agents and officials, would not have survived—did not survive—their struggle. The union had to go into the daily lives, into the dreams and wills of its members. Its fights had to be fought in thousands of shops, and fought over again in thousands of new shops. Every mem- ber had to proselyte without ceasing. And the unions themselves had to be democratically success- ful, they had to retain the interest and enlist the cooperation of all their members. At the top there had to be vision and leadership, coupled with ability of the most practical sort. It is for these reasons that a particularly strong and self-reliant type of unionism has been developed in the clothing indus- try. But before relating the history of the unions, it is necessary to say something about the origin and culture of the workers. CHAPTER III THE HUMAN ELEMENT Ir is a common practice, because it is an easy one, to attribute social phenomena to racial or national causes. Loose generalities of this sort were never more prevalent than now. Observers, seeking to ac- count for the radicalism of the immigrant workers, and particularly of the unions in the clothing indus- try, point out that the largest single element of these workers is composed of Russian or other eastern Jews and that the next largest racial element has come from Italy.’ In consequence it is assumed that these people have transplanted to this country a revolutionary socialism which may have been the natural result of the oppression to which they were subjected in Europe, but is out of place in the dem- ocratic culture of America. Other observers used to rely on similar generalities to account for other social conditions in this country. Were the slums overcrowded and dirty, and did the workers suffer 1No complete figures have ever been compiled. In 1910 the United States Immigration Commission investigated 19,502 wage- earners employed in typical shops in both the men’s and women’s clothing industry, throughout the country, and discovered the fol- lowing proportions: Russian Jews, 186%, Jews other than Russian, 7.1%, South Italians, 14.4%, Germans, 3.4%, Irish, 0.4%, Swedes, 0.3%. In 1913 the Joint Board of Sanitary Control found that of the 28,484 women in the New York City dress and waist industry, 56% were Jewish, 34% were Italian, and less than 7% were native. 46 THE HUMAN ELEMENT 47 from long hours, poor pay, and insanitary conditions in the sweatshops? That was because they were ig- norant foreigners, unaccustomed to the American standard of living. Leaders of the American labor movement not so long ago used to accuse the Jewish immigrants of being incapable of organization, and of undermining the standard of living because their over-eagerness for money led them to work for un- limited hours. And in the middle and latter part of the last century, the squalor of the slums used to be explained by accusing the Irish or the German immigrants of uncleanly or improvident habits. The mutual inconsistency of these arguments is enough to show the need for a closer examination of the matter. When the ready-made clothing industry first grew up, it came naturally into the hands of the custom tailors of the period, who were for the most part native American, English, or Irish. The American, English, and Irish tailors were the owners and managers of the establishments, the manufacturers, cutters, and foremen. From the German immigrants who arrived in numbers during the middle years of the century were recruited the most of the workers. The Jews who were here at that time, most of them of Spanish or German origin, were dominant in the second-hand clothing trade, for which the first ready- made clothing was manufactured. On account of their knowledge of the market, they also took part in the management and ownership of the industry. The period of its first rapid growth was the period 48 THE NEW UNIONISM of large immigration of Germans and German Jews, many of them tailors in the land of their origin. A few Russian Jews arrived after the Civil War, but they were not numerous until after 1880. Since the bulk of the immigrant tailors between 1860 and 1880 were German Jews, most of the employers were by 1880 of German origin. They did not displace the English and Irish, but filled the gaps caused by the growth of the business. From 1880 on, a rapidly increasing number of Jews came from a region in eastern Europe having its center of Jewish population in the old Kingdom of Poland. Most of them were from west Russia, but others were from Rumania and Austria-Hungary, originating mainly in the provinces of Galicia and Moldavia. Between 1881 and 1910, there were 1,562,800 Jewish immigrants; of these, 1,119,059 or 71.6 per cent came from Russia, 281,150 or 17.9 per cent came from Austria-Hungary, and 67,057, or 4.3 per cent came from Rumania. During these same years but 20,454 Jews came from Germany. About the same proportions continued until 1914, when the war interrupted mass immigration. In the decade from 1881 to 1890, the Jews formed 3.7 per cent of the total number of immigrants, from 1891 to 1900 they formed 10.7 per cent, and from 1901 to 1910, 11.1 per cent. Of these Jews a large number were tailors. No figures are available before 1899, but between that 2 Statistics about Jewish immigration in this chapter, except as otherwise stated, are from Jewish Immigration to the United States, by Samuel Joseph, N. Y. Columbia University. THE HUMAN ELEMENT 49 year and 1910, of the 394,000 Jewish immigrants who had learned trades before arriving, 145,272 or 36.6 per cent were tailors, 39,482 or 10.0 per cent were dressmakers and seamstresses, 4,070 were hat and cap makers, 3,144 were furriers and fur workers, and 2,291 were milliners. Thus nearly 50 per cent were ready to step into the e needle. trades, and most ost_ of them did so. Aside from these artisans, the cloth- ing g industry - recruited from the large proportion of women who had not been gainfully e employed before arriving (those without occupation, n, including wot women and children, numbered in these years 484,175, or 45.1 per cent of all the Jewish immigrants) and from the ee ae men Ae traders w who on account of Te er a ‘The period of of ae aac eens clothing | business therefore coincided with the period of mass immigration of Jews from eastern Europe. It was not long before the majority 6 of the wage earners. ; were Russian J Jews, although the Irish, the native-born, “and the German Jews for some years — provided most of the employers. It is probable that . the proportions between the two main groups of Jews are now about the same among employers as among employees. The region from which this great migration poured is in a primitive state of industrial development. In Russia, before the war, over three-quarters of the population were engaged in agricultural labor, and 85 per cent of the exports were agricultural products. oop T: PROPERTY OF LIME -RY 6235 Pee ” ee 50 THE NEW UNIONISM In such factories as existed, much of the labor was drawn from surrounding peasant communities, Similar conditions persisted in Rumania. Indus- trial establishments as we know them did not begin to arise until 1887, when the government adopted a policy of fostering them with subsidies. In parts of Austria-Hungary industry was further developed, but not in Galicia, from which most of the Austrian Jews came. Throughout this great territory the bulk of the non-Jewish population consisted either of peasants cultivating the land, or of the nobility, military,. clergy, and bureaucracy—the ruling classes. The Jews, however, were excluded from both these levels. They had never been serfs, and they had been pro- hibited to acquire land. On the other hand, being regarded as aliens by the law, they could not rise to the higher positions in the state, and of course were unable to penetrate the aristocracy. The result was that they took the place of the middle class. They became money-lenders, traders, shop-keepers, artisans in the home industries, supplying local needs. They handled the sales of most of farm products, dealing in grain, cattle, timber, furs, and hides. Some few were professional men, rich bankers, or stewards of great estates for noblemen. They were in Russia the class which Americans are accustomed to think of as the foundation of a liberal and democratic, but not a revolutionary culture. In business they were independent, self-reliant, am- bitious, and inured to competition. \ \ \ THE HUMAN ELEMENT 51 A few figures will give a picture of their situation. \Ithough they comprised but 4 per cent of the Rus- ian population, they formed 16 per cent of those iving in the towns.* Over half of them lived in neorporated cities, although three-quarters of the tussian people were rural. Of those Jews gainfully mployed, 39 per cent were engaged in manufac- uring—as artisans rather than as employees in fac- ories—32 per cent in commerce, and only 3 per cent nagriculture. In Austria-Hungary, the figures were 4 per cent in commerce and trade, 29 per cent in ndustry, and 11 per cent in agriculture and allied yecupations. In Rumania there was a larger pro- ortion in industry than in the other countries, but t is worth noting that although a quarter of the naster workmen and employers in Rumania were Jews, only one-sixth of the laborers were Jews. In nany cases Jews were actually excluded from em- sloyment in factories. The main industry of the Jews in all these coun-— Ties was the manufacture of clothing; in Russia the sroduction of wearing apparel supported one- seventh of the Jewish population, and in Rumania yver one-third of the garment-makers were Jews. | But in this industry the ready-made factory prod- ict was unknown. The tailors were independent irtisans. Of the Jews admitted to this country between 1899 ind 1909, 29.1 per cent were artisans, 21 per cent were traders, merchants and of miscellaneous call- 8 After 1887 Jews were not permitted to settle in rural districts. 52 THE NEW UNIONISM ings, 20 per cent had no occupation, 8.5 per cent were engaged in the professions, 6.9 per cent were ser- vants, and but 2.9 per cent were common laborers. Of the artisans, besides the 50 per cent in the needle trades, the only other considerable groups were 40,901 carpenters, joiners etc., or 10.0 per cent, and 23,519 shoemakers, or 5.9 per cent. Probably not one per cent of the immigrant Russian Jews were ever wage-earners in factories before coming to the United States, Their literacy was far above the average. Accord- ing to ) the Russian Census 0: of 2 1897, tl there 1 were one- and-one-half times as many literate Jews above ten years of age as there were. literate | persons in { in the general population. This is again the sign ign of an urban, middle-class, and ambitious population. With Jews it is a religious duty to educate the boys, anda large proportion of girls also learned to read. They maintained their own educational institutions, some of which were free to those who could not pay. The culture of the eastern Jews was based on their religious and racial traditions, and was of a con- servative nature. They lived apart, wore for the most part a distinctive dress, did not intermarry with the surrounding peoples, observed strictly their re- ligious fast-days and rituals, and held tenaciously to the customs of life which had developed from the Mosaic laws and the Talmud. They spoke, besides the languages of the countries in which they lived, their own language—Yiddish. They believed it a sign of social inferiority to be engaged in common THE HUMAN ELEMENT 53 manual labor. They thought it a disgrace for their women folk to work outside the home. This culture was by far the strongest influence upon their mode of thought, and opposed a heavy barrier to the growth of socialism or other radical ideas. The hostility which led to the persecution of the Jews in Russia was compounded of various motives. The tradition of the ruling classes rested upon the orthodox church and the absolutist state, and the nobility felt a strong affinity for the old feudal cul- ture, which they hoped would resist the penetration of western industrialism and the democratic liberal- jsm which went with it. On all these counts the Jews seemed an undesirable element. To the clericals they ( represented the lowest type of heretics. This re- ligious prejudice was not under ordinary circum- stances shared by the people, who were remarkably \ tolerant. To the nationalists they were an alien and ( unassimilable people. For years. before active per- \ secution began, the Jews had no more rights under the law than aliens, although the duties 0 of. citizens J were exacted. of them. By the autocracy y they were ruling classes also found them convenient sonpenonts: | \ on whom to place the responsibility for the troubles ‘ of the people. As a result of this almost universal attitude on the ; part of the ruling classes, a conscious policy towards | the Jews, first of restriction, and later of expulsion, was carried out. When the partitions of Poland took \ | place, the Jews within the district later known as the | en 54 THE NEW UNIONISM Pale, which contained the majority of them, were for- bidden to move out of it. There were later expul- sions from town to town within the Pale and from without the Pale to within it. There came to be over 1,000 special laws regulating their religious and com- munal life, their occupations, their military service. Special taxes were imposed upon them. Their educa- tion was restricted. The change from restriction to ‘suppression came with the “May Laws’? of 1882. In spite of all all the ‘burdens placed upon them, the Jews had J measurably prospered, as indeed any trading class would have done through the slow but inevitable spread of com- merce and industry. Their competitors among Rus- sian traders were jealous of their success. The whole middle-class was growing, and the occupations in which Jews held supremacy began to seem more de- sirable to the non-Jewish peoples. Since they were the principal traders in crops and the money-lenders, it was easy to arouse the peasants against t ;them. The May Laws were chiefly economic in nature, and were designed to hinder the Je ews in business enterprise. In order to justify this attack upon them, the ery was raised that they were extortionists and robbers_of the poor. The religious prejudice a and the aversion to western European culture were also played upon. The orthodox Russian then looked upon the con- stitutional democracies of America, England, and France, and their thriving industrial towns, with about as much horror as that with which the orthodox American, Englishman, or Frenchman - recently THE HUMAN ELEMENT 55 looked upon Bolshevist Russia.—It was the laws of 1882 which began the mass movements of Russian Jews ews to the United States. “Th Rumania, until the middle of the last century, the Jews suffered under the same disabilities as in Russia. Then, at the instance of the great Powers, “Tiberal laws were passed; but they remained dead letters. Int the eighties Rumania commenced a policy even than that of Russia. ~ They were debarred from the artisans’ guilds, v which exercised a strong control over industry. _They were denied the rights of free- dom of movement, freedom of work, , education, par- ticipation in important business enterprises, and employment i in the state services. The anti-Jewish movement in Austria-Hungary is most significant for the present inquiry. There the industrial revolution was felt with greater force than in Russia or Rumania, and the Jews developed not only financial but political power, especially soon after the adoption of the liberal constitution in 1866. The Church, however, in alliance with the nobility, _attempted to resist the intrusion of western business “methods and culture, deli berately strengthening the survivals of mediaevalism in industry. The most striking of these was _the guild, an association of artisans from master workmen down to apprentice, which made its own regulations for the government of industry. Upon the guild basis the Catholics built a party known as § the Christian Socialist, which had an n anti-Semitic tendency, and denounced | the Jews a 56 THE NEW UNIONISM Christian Socialists and F ihte Catholic middle-class carried on a campaign against the Jews “from 1873 on, which reached its height in the ’nineties. Boy- cotts were organized against the Jewish { traders, money-lenders, and artisans, and restrictive laws were passed. A month after the accession of Alexander III in Russia began the pogroms, which soon extended to 160 places in South Russia. These were semi-organ- ized killing, looting, and burning expeditions against the Jewish quarters, and they did not spare women and children. Pogroms broke out at intervals there- after, the ruling classes not scrupling to use the Jews as scapegoats for whatever ills the people might be suffering. The Kishineff massacre in 1903, closely followed by that at Gomel, caused thousands of Jews to emigrate through fear of their lives. The Russo-Japanese War, becoming unpopular, was at- tributed to the Jews’ desire for profit. The govern- ment, struggling against revolutionary agitation, attempted to divert attention from its own misdeeds by fomenting anti-Jewish attacks. It was not, how- ever, until after the revolution of 1905 that the ery was raised that the Jews were revolutionary socialists. | The oppression, therefore, from which the Jews _ fled was not the oppression of the capitalist system which forms such a fruitful theme for the Socialist agitator. What they lacked was just the sort of liberal régime out of which modern industrialism has THE HUMAN ELEMENT 57 rown. They wanted the freedom of movement es- ential to the trader and business man, they wanted volitical liberty, and an opportunity for the develop- aent of individual business enterprise. They wanted’ ducational opportunities for their children, and an bsence of governmental interference with their re- igious and social customs. They wanted personal afety. In short, they sought the very institutions or which the American anti-Socialist values the Jnited States. They came to the United States be- ‘ause authentic report told them that here such llessings would be found. Some of them were indeed evolutionists again Tsarism, but their spirit was me ready to be transmuted into fervent allegiance to he government of their adopted country. At no period of J. ewish immigration was any large yroportion of the newcomers socialist before arriv- ng at our ports, except perhaps after the Russian ‘evolution of 1905. From the beginning, of course, here were socialists among the intellectuals. There vere also anarchists among them, and persons hold- ng other forms of dissentient political faith. In the nineties a secret socialist organization known as the ‘Bund”’ had grown up in Russia, and it claimed the illegiance of some of the most brilliant Jews. These iocialists were, most of them, enthusiastic and ac- ive propagandists. On the other hand, there were eaders of conservative thought; any innovation was listasteful to most of the religious dignitaries. The ‘eligious community of the Jews played a lai large part iot_only in their spiritual but in their practical ee 58 THE NEW UNIONISM affairs, isolated as they were from the rest_of th the population and discriminated | against | in the laws. Jews would rarely invoke the national law in dis- putes with each other, but would instead submit to the judgment of the leading member of the congrega- tion. This man as a consequence had great influence, and since he was usually a man of property, his op- position to radical economic doctrine was, as a rule, pronounced. Imagine the difficulty which socialism would have in penetrating a community of devout churchgoers whose leading elder or deacon was not only president of the local bank but magistrate as well. There was little, therefore, in the culture which the Jews brought with them from Russia to indicate that any large proportion of them would embrace radical principles. The first traces of class feeling in America on the part of the employees as against the employers were of social rather than of economic origin. “At the time of the first mass immigration of Russian J ews, most of the clothing manufacturers were German Jews. They had risen appreciably in the social scale, and they had a pride of origin which made them feel that the new arrivals were outsiders. The German Jews in their turn had been a little despised on their arrival by the Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal who were the first immigrants of Semitic blood. Thus the Jews were no exception to the other seekers of opportunity in America. We are a nation of immigrants and the children of immigrants, and yet each migratory group, as soon as it becomes THE HUMAN ELEMENT 59 acclimatized, looks down upon the newcomers be- cause they are ‘‘foreigners.”’ The Jewish charities, upon which fell the first responsibility of alleviating the misery of the slums, were in the hands of the Germans, and most of the relief was given to the eastern Jews. This fact again formed a barrier, for in spite of all the merit there may be in charitable institutions, they seldom in- crease goodwill between the givers and the bene- ficiaries. In this case the United Hebrew Charities seemed to emphasize the social and economic dis- tinctions between the German and the Russian Jews. Now and again, when the workers were on strike in some shop, the employer would notify the charitable institutions that he was in a position to offer jobs to the needy, and newcomers would be sent him without any inquiry as to the purpose for which they were to be used. To the unions this practice, innocent as it was on the part of the charities, seemed like deliberate strikebreaking. Later the Jewish workmen, following a rapidly growing practice in this country, attempted to elim- inate the need for charity by forming mutual benefit associations. This was the origin of the ‘‘ Workmen’s Circle,’’ which has had a large share in increasing the feeling of solidarity on the part of the workers, and has helped them out of many a difficulty. Separated as they were from employers of their own race, the Russian Jews had no other point of contact with the community. Their ignorance of English kept them apart, while the fact that they had 60 THE NEW UNIONISM their own religious institutions prevented them from mixing much with the immigrants of other national- ities, such as the Irish, Italians, and Poles, who at least had the Catholic Church in common. Owing to their concentration in separate trades they did not come in close touch with the American workmen even in the workshop. The socialist intellectuals had little opportunity to pursue their chosen professions in a strange country, and many of them consequently entered the clothing shops. They were the only thinkers whose philos- ophy led them to cultivate the workers as such; and the great majority of the immigrants were and re- mained employees. Socialist editors started news- papers in Yiddish, and they attained large circula- tions. Socialists organized: trade unions; they brought the workers together, furnished halls for them, and introduced the only community spirit that seemed to fit the new environment. Yet it took years for the radical view of affairs to take hold and develop. The unions remained small and ineffectual. Some of the newspaper readers accepted socialism, but they accepted it only as an affair of ideas, be- cause they still did not understand the modern in- dustrial system and the concentration of capital. Many of them cherished the hope of starting inde- pendent businesses and laying up fortunes; some of them, in fact, did so. Others even expected to ac- cumulate money and go back to the land of their origin when a more auspicious time should come. How far the people were from unity in thought THE HUMAN ELEMENT 61 may be inferred from an early article by Henrietta Jzold on ‘‘Klements of the Jewish Population in the United States.’’* ‘‘At present,’’ wrote this author, ‘“by reason of their tendency to break up into groups, the Russian Jews are looked upon by their patrons and by their own leaders as the most unorganizable material among the Jews, who at best are not dis- tinguished for the quality of being organizable.’’ A person interested in organization is likely to think that any kind of human material is unorganizable, and yet such testimony is not without its significance... The Jewish immigrants did not for a long time cast ‘off their tradition of competitive individualism. Industrial friction was prevalent, and strikes oc- curred; but the strikes were rather spontaneous re- bellions against the awful conditions of life and work than planned battles of a class war. At one time, during the early ’nineties, the anarchists had a con- siderable influence among the workers, although they opposed trade unions, as palliatives and substitutes for spontaneous action. Almost from the very beginning of the mass im- migration, more Jews brought their wives and children than did immigrants of other races. The sense of permanent American residence grew ap- preciably among the Jewish settlers as the years went by. There has been much fluctuation in the comparative numbers of men and women immigrants, but the highest proportion of men among the Jewish 4Included in “The Russian Jew in the United States,” by Charles S. Bernheimer. 62 THE NEW UNIONISM newcomers was reached in 1886, when male arrivals made up 67.5 per cent of the totals, and the highest proportion of women came in 1909, when the per- centage of females rose to 46. Among immigrants of all nationalities from 1899 to 1910, the percentage of females was but 30.5. From 1908 to 1912 only 8 Jews departed for every 100 admitted, while of all immigrants 32 departed for every 100 admitted. The only immigrants during these years who showed a greater permanency of residence were the Irish. It was only after a sense of permanency as em- ployees became general among the clothing workers that unionism received their consistent support. They had become, as it were, acclimatized, they understood better the peculiar difficulties with which they had to contend, and the futility of attempting to avoid them or to contend with them as individuals. At first, for one reason or another, they had accepted the hardship of the slum and the sweatshop as tem- porary evils, from which an escape might shortly be found. For some the hope of escape took the form of the ambition to become employers, independent store-keepers, or agents, for others it was a vague intention to return to Russia, for still others it was merely a pious faith that some day a beneficent power outside themselves would provide the remedy. But most of the workers never saw any of these doors open, and the promise of the Socialist trade-unionist was the only one which retained any measure of redlity. They gave up hope of leaving the country, and they gave up hope of being anything but wage THE HUMAN ELEMENT 63 earners. As soon as the Jewish workers accepted the facts and conditions of America as they were, they became unionists. For them, the process of Americanization was itself the process of accepting the Socialist union. The wave of Italian immigration began somewhat later than that of the eastern Jews. According to the census of 1890, there were not then 200,000 residents in the United States of Italian birth, and many of these were transients. Between 1890 and 1900, 655,888 Italians arrived, and in 1900 the resident Italian population had increased to 484,703. After 1900 the numbers of Italian immigrants rose rapidly. During the years immediately preceding the Great War, a little over one-sixth as many Italian tailors and dressmakers arrived as Jewish, the former averaging about 2,500 a year, and the latter 12,500.° Besides these artisans, however, many un- skilled Italians, particularly women, have entered the clothing shops. Most of the immigrants from Italy, like those from eastern Europe, knew nothing of factory labor before arriving in this country. The modern industries have developed in the northern part of the nation, whereas by far the greater part of the immigrants have come from the South. Most of them are class- ified as common laborers, farm laborers, or servants. Of the skilled artisans, the largest group were, for instance during the fiscal year of 1903, tailors, seam- stresses, and dressmakers, and over nine-tenths of 5 Annual Reports, U. S. Commissioner of Immigration. 64 THE NEW UNIONISM these came from the South of Italy. A recent inves- tigation of Italian women workers in New York® showed that of the cases examined, most had never done factory work in their home country, although 93.9 per cent were working in factories here. Of these over half were engaged in making men’s and women’s clothing. The motive behind this immigration was in almost every case the desire to make money. Inequitable and annoying taxes, combined with oppressive land- lordism and the lack of prosperity at home, have caused the great Italian migration. It was far less stable than the Jewish, even during the last decade. In 1912, for instance, 26,443 persons arrived from the North of Italy and 13,000 returned to it, while 135,830 came from the South, and 96,881 returned.’ At the beginning of the period there were at least four times as many male immigrants from Italy as female. Many of the immigrants from the South of Italy were illiterate—in 1913-14 the proportion was, of those 14 years of age and over, 47.4 per cent. All these facts go to show that not many of the Italian immigrants were Socialists before their ar- rival in this country. The stronghold of Italian Socialism is in the northern industrial regions, where there is a large population of literate factory and mine workers. But the artisan or home-worker who comes from the South with the intention of laying up out of American wages a competency with which he @ Italian Women in Industry. By Louise ©. Odencrantz. N. Y. R. ssell Sage Foundation, » Annual Reports, U. S. Commissioner of Immigration. THE HUMAN ELEMENT 65 can later set up his little shop at home, is not likely to take seriously the prospect of a social revolution in the United States. Because of their greater im- permanency and lower literacy, the Italians have not been quite as strong a factor as the Jews in the needle-trade unions, proportionately to their num- bers in the industry. The radicalism of the unions certainly cannot be traced to the land of their origin. Yet the increasing numbers who have come to re- gard themselves as permanent residents of America and workers in the clothing trades are as ardent and faithful unionists as any. So it is with the smaller groups—the Bohemians, who concentrated mostly about Chicago, and the Poles, Slovenians, Russians, Finns, Lithuanians, and others who have found work in the garment shops. No matter what the culture and the traditions vari- ous groups of immigrants brought with them, all na- tionalities and races who have been subjected to the same industrial and social conditions here have em- braced the same hope and method of altering those conditions. Once the trend of their development in America was established, the national characteristics of the | Jews had something to do with the strength and | effectiveness of their organizations. Whatever lack of unity they have at times exhibited, the tradition of unity is deep within them. After the unions be- came powerful, they were recognized as among the accepted institutions of the people. A scab became, not only an unfair competitor, but a social outcast. | 1 66 THE NEW UNIONISM The alliance of unions known as the United Hebrew Trades has provided not only much practical help, but a strong morale to the workers’ organizations at many a critical time. And the establishment of col- lective agreements with the employers was certainly furthered by the fact that the Jewish community is educated to arbitrate its own disputes rather than to seek outside intervention, and to accept the im- _ partial arbitrament of its prominent men. But these ' influences merely cluster about the central fact that the industrial and social experience of the Jews in the United States have led them to accept a radical economic philosophy. The same racial traits would have been no less active in promoting social cohesion if the energies of the workers had turned toward any other form of organization. It would be unfair to underestimate the influence of personal leadership such as that of Morris Hill- quit, who himself began as a worker in a shirt fac- tory, or Abraham Cahan, the editor of the Jewish Forward, or of other politicians, journalists, and the numerous outstanding figures among the union offi- cials. Without the brilliance and devotion of such leaders, the radical unions would not be what they are. Yet these men would be the first to point out that to separate a leader from the mass tendency of his time is to create an artificial distinction. They were leaders on account of the very fact that they were able to perceive which way the current was flowing, and because they were able consistently to express that which the masses recognized as truth. THE HUMAN ELEMENT 67 In the radical unions, furthermore, leadership plays a less important réle than in the conservative ones. The economic attitude of the workers in the cloth- ing industry, in short, cannot be accounted for by any - accident unrelated with their social and economic experience. The oppression which they endured in the countries of their birth made them not less, but more ready to accept the prevalent régime in the United States. Their racial heritage was as conservative in its influence as it was helpful to rad- ical institutions after such institutions had become the objects of conservation. Their isolation in this country gave an opportunity to the Socialist ‘“‘agitators,’? but what could be made of that oppor- tunity depended not so much on the agitators as upon the pragmatic truth of what they had to say. The former social and national separation between employer and employee gave at least as much promise of blind group hostility as it gave of economic analysis. It is necessary to examine the labor movement itself in order to discover why the socialist theory assumed reality in the mind of the clothing workers; suffice it here to say that without successful unions the worker had no hope, and that only unions built upon and adhering to the principles of the new unionism—the socialist unionism—could overcome the extraordinary difficulties to organiza- tion inherent to the needle trades. CHAPTER IV THE UNIONS—THEIR BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH Tux history of a labor union, if fully told, would be as complex as the history of a nation. There is, in the first place, the outward formal history of dates, names, numbers, and crises. There is also the history of political philosophy, structure, and laws. There is the cultural history, and the economic and social one. The present chapter, in order to make comprehensible any further discussion, must confine itself chiefly to the formal history of the clothing trades unions. The unions now existing are the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, having jurisdic- tion over all branches of ready-made women’s and children’s garments, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, which embraces the majority of workers in the manufacture of men’s and boys’ clothing, the United Garment Workers of America, which officially has the same jurisdiction as the Amalgamated, but exercises actual control only in the overall industry, the United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers of North America, which in addition to those specified in its title includes a large number of 68 UNIONS—BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH _ 69 illinery workers, the International Fur Workers’ nion of the United States and Canada, whose title self-explanatory, and a number of locals of men’s 2ckwear makers. All these unions are affiliated ith the American Federation of Labor, with the cception of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, hich was organized after a conflict within the nited Garment Workers, and is regarded as an out- w body by the officials of the federation. To these ight be added the Journeymen Tailors Union of merica, because, although it consists mainly of nployees of custom tailors, the line between the istom tailoring house and the clothing manufac- irer is often dim. The Fancy Leather Goods Torkers Union should perhaps also be included, nee they are mainly needle workers in a trade milar in structure to the others, and they are cially and psychologically similar to the rest of e group. A few minor trades, such as suspender akers and garter makers, will complete the list of e unions. These unions grew up and are strongest in the ‘anches of the clothing industry where immigrant bor was chiefly employed, and large-scale produc- on has shown the least development. They have oroughly organized the makers of cloaks, suits, irts, dresses of all kinds, waists, overcoats and the ce, They are waging a heroic battle for the makers shirts and collars. They are just beginning to successful with the corset-makers. There are actically no unorganized makers of cloth hats and 70 THE NEW UNIONISM caps, but still a good many non-union workers in the millinery trade. Not one of these unions existed before 1890, and only one—the United Garment Workers—has been in continuous existence since before 1900. Strikes occurred long before the Civil War, and after 1880 small unions were repeatedly organized and dis- appeared again. For a union to have a dues-paying membership above a thousand or so was unknown. The leaders and the intellectuals never gave up the attempt, and perennial conditions offered them fre- quent opportunities to renew the agitation. But to make permanent gains for the workers seemed like trying to fill a bottomless pit. A strike at the beginning of a busy season would win concessions, for then every worker was needed. Gradually as the work decreased, the concessions would be with- drawn, and any toiler foolhardy enough to protest would be replaced by another, already out of a job and fearful of starvation. There was no machinery to apply the concessions universally, and the highly fluid competition acted to break down standards. Union members would drop off during the slack months, because they could not afford to pay their dues. And eventually the union itself would vanish, only to be replaced by another when a new rebellion against the employers broke out. As Abraham Cahan, editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, put it in an address to a recent convention, ‘‘In those days when our movement gave birth to a child, somehow or other the child did not live. No UNIONS—BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH 771 sooner was it born than it died and then a new child would have to be born and the same thing would occur. But now the situation has entirely changed. The children are beginning to thrive.’’ The history of the individual unions before 1900 is therefore the history of scattered and mostly un- successful, though persistent efforts at organization. Like all small and ephemeral bodies, they never developed a consistent policy and were often at odds with each other. First one faction would obtain con- trol, then another. But no faction exerted a con- siderable influence on the main body of workers. During the ’eighties the Socialists and the Anarch- ists waged a petty warfare over them. Then the American Federation of Labor, with its conservative influence, began to grow stronger, and the radicals. fought to keep the unions out of its hands. The anarchists soon disappeared in the unions, but the Socialists carried on a campaign to affiliate the workers with the old Knights of Labor. This was not so much through a love for the Knights of Labor as through a desire for some unifying influ- ence. After that organization became plainly ob- solescent, a separate central body was formed, known as the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance. During the second half of the ’nineties, after the split in the Socialist Labor Party, that parent body would not recognize unions affiliated with the Amer- ican Federation of Labor, while the seceding Social Democrats made no distinctions. All this time the United Hebrew Trades was striving for unity of the 72 THE NEW UNIONISM Jewish unions on a consciously socialist philosophy, and was fighting corruption wherever it appeared. For corruption did appear. The great mass of the workers, never having been educated to union discipline or to consciousness of their democratic property in the union, did not feel that it was theirs, that they could make what they liked out of it. They regarded unions rather as outside agencies which could be paid to conduct strikes and negotiate settle- ments. Trading on this feeling, and on the recurring unrest, strike promoters arose, irresponsible per- sons whose names and achievements were obscure. Calling themselves union officials, they would cir- culate notices in the shops that a strike was on. Dues would be collected, the workers would walk out, and then a settlement would be announced. During the rest of the year the promoter would live on the proceeds. Asa result of the unions’ lack of victor- ious prestige, of their transient character and quar- rels with each other, and finally because of the pre- valent corruption, there came a time in the ’nineties when many self-respecting socialist workers, fully in sympathy with the labor movement, would not belong toa union. And yet all this time spontaneous strikes periodically arose in a futile attempt to better conditions. In 1890 the cloakmakers won a lockout-strike for higher wages and the right to belong to a union, but by 1893 the union had only a formal existence. In 1894 another successful strike was followed by the disappearance of the union. In 1896 a victorious UNIONS—BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH 73 strike so exhausted the union that it perished. In 1898 the Brotherhood of Tailors, which was affiliated with the United Garment Workers, suffered the same fate. Thus the conservative unions ag well as the radical were ineffectual. Although at the beginning of the decade thirty-three organizations were afiil- iated with the Jewish labor movement, the number later dropped much lower. Extravagant hopes alter- nated with despair. The spirit of organized effort would lift its head for a moment out of the con- fusion in which the industry existed, only to sink back again into the morass. Life was battling for its birth in chaos. Little experiments, tiny nuclei, formed themselves out of the constantly renewed instinct for order, and were swept away again in the whirl of nebulous forces. Many of the very leaders who today are at the head of the strong and success- ful unions were then attempting the seemingly im- possible, and they never gave up hope. Patiently the Yiddish press and the socialist intellectuals strove to educate the masses to their true interest, and built little by little the basis for the only kind of morale which could endure such disruptive forces. Many of the early locals were composed of cutters, they being at the time the more highly skilled craft. At the beginning of the ’nineties, however, organiza- tion spread among operators, basters, and pressers. The decreasing differences in the amount of skill required in the various operations made the indus- trial form of organization, favored by the radicals, the natural one. This led in 1891 to the formation 74 THE NEW UNIONISM: of the first national union—The United Garment Workers—which held its initial convention on April 18th in New York. Thirty-six tailor delegates were present from New York, Boston, Chicago, and Phila- delphia. These delegates elected a group of American-born non-socialist officers, since it was thought on account of their superior knowledge of the language and customs they could better handle the affairs of the union. At the same time socialist resolutions were passed, the new officers acquiescing in them to gain the support of the radical tailor delegates. The union immediately affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It was not long before the officers, relying on the support of the con- servative element in the union—for the most part native skilled craftsmen—began a warfare on all socialist activities, and ever since then the United Garment Workers has been anti-socialist. In the big clothing markets this union was no more successful during the ‘nineties than any of the others. Its membership never grew large, and it remained in existence simply because there was always a group which clung to the A. F. of L. charter. Its policy was and has remained that. of the old unionism. Basing its strength on the. craft spirit of the skilled, it has striven to improve the con- dition of its members by limiting the supply of labor and by cultivating cooperation, wherever possible, with the employers. Peculiar conditions made this policy effective in one respect. Some of the cheaper ready-made suits, and a large proportion of the UNIONS—BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH = 75 overalls, are bought by union labor. By developing among these union men a demand for the union label, the United Garment Workers were enabled to bar- gain successfully with certain manufacturers. The union label gradually became not only an inducement for recognition by manufacturers, but a means of discipline within the union. No label is authentic except that endorsed by the American Federation of Labor, the label is protected by United States regis- try, and as long as the Federation supports the officials of the garment workers’ union, these officials can, by granting or withholding the label to manu- facturers as they please, maintain almost a personal monopoly of the labor supply. Wherever, as in the case of overalls, such a monopoly is effective, it may be used either to benefit or to restrict the workers, but in any case it obviates the necessity for more democratic methods of building up union strength, and tends to minimize the need for conscious solidarity on the part of the workers. So complete has become the reliance of the United Garment Workers upon the union label that the principal as- sociation of employers with which it now negotiates collective agreements is entitled the Union Made Garment Manufacturers’ Association. This associa- tion consists chiefly of overall manufacturers em- ploying largely native-born operatives in the smaller cities throughout the country, and includes almost none of the manufacturers of regular ready-made clothing in the great clothing markets. The membership of the United Garment Workers 76 THE NEW UNIONISM remained small in the large centers until the New York strike of 1913. Up to this time the union had not retained a membership of over 4,000 in New York, although the International Ladies’ Garment Workers had become powerful and negotiated the famous ‘‘Protocol’’ as early as 1910. It was soon after the strike of 1913 that the split in the men’s tailoring union gave birth to the independent Amal- gamated Clothing Workers. Next to the United Garment Workers, the oldest international union in the needle trades is the United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers. One of its locals, Cap Cutters, Local 2, has been in continuous existence since 1880. An attempt to form an international was made in 1886 by representatives of New York and Boston unions, and at that time the name was adopted. The present organization, however, was not effected until 1901, when delegates from nine locals, three in New York and one each in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Baltimore, and San Francisco, met and established it. The first con- vention enunciated a radical policy, and voted to remain independent, taking no part in the conflict which was still being waged between the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance and the American Federation of Labor. Yet the young international soon was forced into a controversy with the Amer- ican Federation of Labor, which had taken under its protection a few outside locals of cap makers. As a result the General Executive Board, in conjunction with delegates from some of these outside locals, UNIONS—BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH = 77 decided in 1902 to amalgamate and affiliate with the American Federation of Labor. The charter was granted on June 17th, and for a long time the Cap Makers held it without difficulty, although they have always remained faithful to the socialist movement. They have consistently represented the radical at- titude within the Federation, and have frequently been in opposition to its larger policies. The international immediately opened a fight against long hours, home work, and sweatshop con- ditions. In 1902 and 1903 general lockouts took place in New York and Philadelphia. In December, 1903, the largest manufacturer in New York attempted to safeguard the open shop by a lockout which pre- cipitated a ten-weeks’ struggle, ending in victory for the union. This was the signal for general organiza- tion on the part of the manufacturers, which led to a national onslaught on the union during the winter of 1904-5. The New York strike lasted thirteen weeks, and there were general strikes or lockouts in Chicago, San Francisco, New Haven, Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati, and almost every other town which the union had penetrated. The battle was decisive, resulting in the establishment of the union ‘shop and a greatly enlarged membership. This was the first lasting success won in the needle trades. In the meantime the union had begun to turn its attention to the millinery trade, which employed many young women and was so closely associated with the manufacture of caps that it was impossible fully to control the one without organizing the other. "8 THE NEW UNIONISM Application was made for jurisdiction over the millinery workers, and in 1903 this was granted, first by a unanimous vote of the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor, and later by the Boston Convention. The victory of 1905 cleared the way for aggressive organization of the millinery workers as well as for constructive improvements in the condition of the cap makers. Just at this time, however, the Industrial Workers of the World came into active being and began a campaign for the allegiance of A. F. of L. unions. The Cap Makers, because of their radicalism, were naturally one of the first points of attack. The I. W. W. had not at that time adopted the weapon of sabotage, and stood for constructive revolutionary industrial unionism, therefore it enlisted some sup- port among the membership. The union, however, decided not to abandon their regular affiliation, and an ugly quarrel resulted, which was not terminated until 1907. The dual unions which arose during this internal struggle naturally made the conflict with the manufacturers more difficult, but in the end the Cap Makers reestablished their complete jurisdiction. With this difficulty out of the way, the union began its progressive effort for the betterment of conditions. Near the end of 1909 separate locals were estab- lished for millinery workers and in 1910 an intensive organization campaign was begun among them. In 1915 this campaign had become so strong that the manufacturers did not force the issue, and after one- UNIONS—BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH ‘79 tenth of the millinery employees had been out a short time a collective agreement was negotiated with the Ladies’ Hat Manufacturers’ Protective Association. Up to this time the United Hatters, having juris- diction over makers of felt hats, derbys, ete. had maintained friendly relation with the Cap Makers, and had never made any attempt to organize the girl millinery workers, who were excluded by their con- stitution. In 1915, however, after the successful milliners’ strike, the United Hatters altered their constitution to admit the women’s straw hat makers and applied to the American Federation of Labor for jurisdiction over them. The Executive Council of the Federation, reversing their decision of 1903, granted the application. The 1917 and 1918 con- ventions of the Cap Makers both decided that it would be against the best interests of their members to comply with this decision, and the conventions were supported by a referendum vote of the member- ship, 7011 against 19. As a result the union re- mained for a number of years suspended by the Federation. Nevertheless, wishing to avoid another division in the labor movement, the Cap Makers proposed a compromise in the form of an industrial amalgamation between themselves and the Hatters. This suggestion was rejected by the Hatters, and not considered by the A. F. of L. officials or convention in 1918. In 1919, however, the Executive Council of the Federation took it under advisement. The United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers now con- 80 THE NEW UNIONISM sists of 46 locals in 25 towns, with a membership of about 15,000. They have attained a 100 per cent organization in the cloth hat and cap trade, being the only union in the clothing industry which has sue- ceeded in establishing a universal closed union shop, In the millinery trade their organization is strong except in the custom retail shops. The strike of the Cap Makers in 1919 won every demand made upon the employers, including the forty-four hour week, and the substitution of week work for piece work. A millinery strike, however, was not so successful, in part on account of the jurisdictional dispute with the Hatters. Local unions of women’s cloakmakers were among the transitory organizations which were born and died so frequently in the early years of the labor movement in the needle trades. A lockout-strike for recognition in 1890 is on record. In 1894 some of the cloakmakers joined the United Garment Workers, but withdrew in 1895 and continued an agitation which they had been conducting for a national union of workers on women’s garments. The other unions concerned did not respond enthusiastically, however, until the end of the nineties, when the cloak manu- facturers began to use the injunction to prevent strikes. On June 3rd, 1900, the International Ladies’ Gar- ment Workers Union was organized at a convention at which there were present delegates from New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Newark, and Browns- ville. Soon afterwards the Chicago and San Fran- UNIONS—BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH 81 cisco workers joined. The International, adopting a socialist constitution, immediately affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and has retained this affiliation ever since, although, like the Cap Makers, it has often disapproved of the policies of the Federation officials. The original plan of the union was to duplicate the success of the United Garment Workers with the union label—this, if nothing else, made affiliation with the A. F. of L. necessary. Between 1900 and 1907 it struggled along in a vain attempt to estab- lish its label, relying for direct gains only on the old method of sporadic strikes against individual . manufacturers at the beginning of the busy season. No organizers besides regular officials were kept in\ the field and financially the union lived from hand to mouth. In 1907 an event occurred which changed the whole outlook of the membership. The reefermakers, led by refugees from the Russian Revolution of 1905, went out in mass and stayed on strike for nine weeks, showing such common determination and spirit that they won most of their demands and put courage into the rest of the workers in the needle trades. For the first time in years it seemed possible to win direct results through strong organization and fight-. ing tactics. Although the financial panic of 1907 | severely affected industry and threatened the union with extinction, the stimulation of this success en- dowed it with new resolution; the members held together and soon undertook a great organizing 82 THE NEW UNIONISM campaign. With the recovery of business in 1908 and the rapid expansion of the women’s ready-made clothing industry, the union grew quickly. It was also during this period that a definite negative de- cision was reached regarding a proposal to amal- gamate with the United Garment Workers. The latter organization not only rejected the proposal, but advised the International to surrender its charter. The current of events was bearing the two organizations farther apart rather than closer together. In 1909 another surprising mass movement gave proof of the workers’ heightened morale. The small local of waist and dressmakers in New York called a strike, expecting about 3,000 to respond. Instead 30,000 went out, including workers of all races, ex- cept a few native-born women. No such strike of women had before been known or thought possible. It aroused the public as never before to the suffer- ings of the needle workers. The more liberal churches and newspapers gave it much attention, and many of the purchasers of fine garments that were made under such frightful conditions felt a twinge of conscience. Substantial gains were made, and the local succeeded in retaining for some time afterwards a membership of 12,000. This strike stimulated the cloakmakers to renewed activity ; they rushed to join the union and repeat the success of the waistmakers. Enthusiasm ran high, and on July 8th, 1910, the great strike? was called 1 For a description of this strike, see Chapter V. UNIONS—BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH _ 83 which aroused the whole city, lasted for ten weeks, and resulted in the establishment of the first collec- tive agreement in the ready-made clothing industry —the so-called ‘‘Protocol’’ which is discussed in detail in Chapter VI. After this the union main- tained nearly a one-hundred per cent organization of the cloakmakers. In 1913 another general strike of the waistmakers brought about a collective agree- ment in that trade as well, and the permanent mem- bership grew correspondingly. The Protocol remained in force for five yeurs, the workers achieving under it progressive concession in material conditions. Nevertheless friction was constant and increasing, there being an element among the manufacturers who desired complete in- dependence and hoped to destroy the union, and an element in the union which was too radical to be anything but restive under a compromise with the employers. There were many points of conflict also which the divergent interests of both parties made inevitable. On May 20, 1915, the manufacturers abrogated the Protocol, charging that the union had not lived up to its provisions. Soon thereafter eight leaders of the cloakmakers were indicted on various charges including murder, all these charges dating back to the strike of 1910. The accusers were, for the most part, characters of the underworld. The eight men were brilliantly defended by Morris Hill- quit; the charges against some of them were dis- missed by the court, and the rest were acquitted. These events aroused intense feeling among the 84 THE NEW UNIONISM workers, and convinced them that the manufacturers had embarked upon an attempt to destroy the union by fair means or foul. A strike was temporarily averted by a Council of Conciliation appointed by Mayor Mitchel under the stress of public opinion, but the award was abrogated by the manufacturers in the spring of 1916. On April 30th the 400 mem- bers of the employers’ association ordered a lockout. The result was a bitter general strike lasting fifteen weeks, during the entire slack season. It ended by a victory for the union, and the establish- ment of a new agreement modified in their favor. This agreement was for the period of three years, and its conclusion was marked by another successful strike. These repeated victories stimulated the organiza- tion not only in New York but throughout the coun- try, and resulted in the acquisition, since 1907, of more than 75,000 members outside the New York cloak trade. The union is one of the few in the country until very recently which has been able to organize women in large numbers. The Waist and Dressmakers Union of New York, Local 25, is the largest single local of women in the country, and is strong and progressive in every respect. Dozens of conflicts with the employers have added to the ranks of the International not only cloakmakers and waistmakers throughout the country, but workers on house dresses and kimonos, white goods, rain- coats, embroidery, corsets, ete. In the spring of 1920 the International officially reported a paid-up UNIONS—BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH 69 membership of 102,000. In 1919 it was the sixth largest union in the American Federation of Labor, being surpassed only by the United Mine Workers, the Carpenters and Joiners, the Machinists, the Elec- trical Workers and the Railway Carmen; all these organizations were greatly aided by the war, al- though the war created a depression in the women’s garment industry. If the Ladies’ Garment Workers had included those not in good standing because in arrears through unemployment at the time of com- putation, the total would probably have reached 150,000. Seeing the success of the makers of women’s gar- ments, the workers in the men’s clothing industry became more and more restless during the years between 1907 and 1913. They had not made parallel gains, and the United Garment Workers, which held official jurisdiction over them, seemed to them in- active and impervious to the spirit of the times. A general strike in Chicago in the fall of 1910 resulted in a satisfactory agreement with the large and pro- gressive house of Hart, Schaffner, and Marx, which already had about 6,500 employees, but in New York no appreciable gains were made. Agitation was continuous, however, and in December, 1912, a strike referendum was finally submitted to the union mem- bers in New York and overwhelmingly carried. The referendum showed the membership to be not over 5,000. Yet about 50,000 walked out within a few days of the strike call. Repeated efforts at a settle- ment were rejected by votes of the determined 86 THE NEW UNIONISM strikers, who were resolved to achieve their full demands. A final proposal to submit the controversy to arbitration was accepted without a referendum, by the President of the United Garment Workers, who on his own responsibility declared the strike at an end. Some of the workers refused to go back to the shops until the decision of the arbitrators should be announced, but the action of the President effect- ually broke the strike. On this account ill feeling against his administration was intensified. The award, when finally published, contained substantial concessions, but made no provision for peaceable settlement of future difficulties. Dissatisfaction with the existing régime in the union was prevalent also in the other great clothing markets, and a movement was launched in the Yid- dish press and among the clothing workers in the large cities to capture the offices at the coming con- vention. In the ensuing controversy many heated charges were made on both sides which, if related at length, would demand far more space than a book like this could possibly devote to the matter. No full and impartial investigation of these charges has ever been made, but it is important to note that the specific charges were but the occasion of a split which was really the result of a fundamental differ- ence of philosophy and spirit between the radical workers and the conservative officers. The radicals charged that the officers misused the union label and employed their power to make money for themselves, that they had private understandings UNIONS—BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH _ 87 with the manufacturers and deceived the member- ship, that, in order to maintain themselves in power, they designated far-away Nashville as the conven- tion city and fabricated unwarranted bills against the opposition locals in order to disfranchise them. The officers charged that the radical movement was promoted by outsiders and intellectuals for their own benefit, that it was founded merely on race prejudice and aimed to secure an exclusive control by the Jews, that it was from the beginning a con- spiracy to found a competing union, and that with this end in view the opposition locals withheld per- capita taxes which were rightfully due. The ill-fated convention met on October 12th, 1914, at Nashville, Tennessee. As had been expected, most of the delegates from the large cities were not seated by the credentials committee. A hearing by that committee after the first day of the convention failed to smooth over the difficulty. On the second day the convention attempted to go ahead with business, but those few radicals who had been granted seats in- sisted that a complete report of the credentials com- mittee was first on the order of business. When they were overruled, they left the hall amid a tur- moil, and with the unseated delegates proceeded to hold a convention of their own in another hall, which they claimed was the only rightful convention of the union, and to which they invited all the dele- gates. A comparison of the official reports of both con- ventions, and of the subsequent first convention of 88 THE NEW UNIONISM the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, reveals the following figures: : Delegates representing Locals Seated by United Garment Workers.... 184 147 Of these, left for insurgent convention.. 19 ll Remaining with United Garment Work- OTS apete wre apbytisaca Witte sige avenge Maecerane ae 165 136 Present at insurgent convention....... 110 54 Absent from both conventions......... 91 Of these, represented at first convention of Amalgamated ...............005 16 Present at first convention of Amal- pamated sicosias ees venas sae vie v4 130 68 It thus appears that the radical element did not have a majority of the delegates, even if all had been seated. There was a decided inequality, however, due to the fact that the larger locals in the big cities did not have anything like a proportional number of delegates. The claim of the insurgents to repre- sent a majority of the membership was probably just, since they included almost all the delegates from these large locals in New York and Brooklyn, Chicago, Boston, Rochester, Baltimore, and Phila- delphia, besides a few from Syracuse and Cincinnati, whereas the loyal delegates were from small locals in scattered towns, and in great part represented the workers in overall factories controlled by the union label. The insurgent convention elected its own officers and adjourned after transacting whatever business it could. A series of legal skirmishes followed, which resulted in the establishment of the right on the part of the original organization to retention of its title and the union label, and the right on the part of the insurgent locals to retention of the funds in UNIONS—BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH 89 their treasuries. Toward the end of December, 1914, the insurgents held a second convention in New York, adopted a democratic constitution and the title of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, and united with the Tailors’ Industrial Union, formerly known as the Journeyman Tailors’ Union. Later, however, this organization withdrew and re- newed its original title and its affiliation with the American Federation of Labor. The insurgent convention in Nashville had elected delegates to the coming convention of the American Federation of Labor. The Credentials Committee of the Federation, after hearing in private the claims of the rival groups, forthwith decided not to recog- nize the insurgents. Their decision was sustained by the convention. Repeated attempts to bring about a reconciliation have been rebuffed by Mr. Gompers and the other officials of the Federation, solely on the ground that secession cannot be tolerated in the labor movement. The attitude of Mr. Gompers in this matter, as fully expressed be- fore the United Hebrew Trades, is an interesting one. There is no room in one country, he said, for competing labor movements; unity is the first re- quirement of strength. Yet the labor movement has no police power, no army and navy, to prevent the setting up of secessidnist bodies. The only way it can do this is by using discipline. It must insist, first of all, that all differences of opinion and policy be settled within the existing organizations. The general administration cannot look back of the 90 THE NEW UNIONISM official and regularly registered decisions of these organizations. Therefore, no matter how many just grievances may underlie the disaffection of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, these grievances can not be investigated or relieved unless the insur- gents shall first submit themselves again to the juris- diction of the parent organization. It is easy to see the force of this principle of legitimacy, and yet it has not sufficed to make the men’s tailors surrender or to prevent the growth and success of the Amalgamated. To Mr. Gompers they reply that they see perhaps even more strongly than he the need of unity, and that they will eagerly be accepted by the Federation as soon as their basic principle, the principle of democracy, is recognized and practiced. They inquire how a majority faction, wishing to change the policy of a union and the per- sonnel of its officers, can do so if by the rules of that organization and the tactics of the officers the majority is not allowed to express its will. They assert that, if while frowning upon secession the Federation does not exert its disciplinary powers to make sure that honesty and democracy exist in its component unions, secession is made necessary rather than discouraged. They point to their own existence as the pragmatic proof of their position. Mr. Gompers might reply that the insurgents who founded the Amalgamated Clothing Workers did not represent a majority of the United Garment Workers, and that their charges of dishonest admin- istration are untrue. But to do so would be to raise UNIONS—-BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH 91 at once a question of fact, and to admit that an impartial investigation of facts is necessary before a fair decision in the matter can be reached. That is just what he refuses to do. In any case it is too late now to heal the breach -by an appeal to ancient history. The officials of the Federation, in conjunction with those of the United Garment Workers, were evidently animated by the belief that if the new union were effectually out- lawed and fought with every available weapon it would be weakened and discredited, and its members would individually return to the fold. Such a policy, at least, they have attempted to execute. In Balti- more, for instance, the local representative of the Federation, even made an alliance with the I.W.W. against the Amalgamated. He engineered a small strike of sub-contractors against a manufacturer who had just abolished sub-contracting in compli- ance with the demand of an overwhelming majority of the workers. During this conflict actual violence arose, a pitched battle occurring in the shop and in the street outside. Again and again, when members of the Amalgamated have been on strike, officers of the old union have negotiated an agreement with the employers, declared the strike at an end, called the workers back into the shop under their own jurisdiction, and if the strikers refused to return, attempted to fill their places with strikebreakers from the ‘‘official’’ union. The American Federation engaged in a long controversy with the United Hebrew Trades, endeavoring to force the Jewish 92 THE NEW UNIONISM central body to expel delegates from the Amalga- mated, on pain of being itself outlawed by the general labor movement. For a time the United Hebrew Trades resisted this pressure, but eventually the Amalgamated withdrew of its own accord in order to save its fellow unions embarrassment. Still, how- ever, the United Hebrew Trades refused to accept delegates from the United Garment Workers as long as the rival union was not represented. James P. Holland, President of the New York State Federa- tion of Labor, attempted to direct again the Amal- gamated the popular hostility to ‘‘Bolsheviki,’’ and gave testimony before the State Legislative Com- mittee investigating Bolshevism which might easily have caused trouble for the union. Apparently some officials of the Federation and their close followers, relying on the anti-secessionist principle, have be- lieved that all means of battle were fair against the outlaw. At any rate they have fought it with a persistence and bitterness seldom shown against employers. The other needle-trade unions, however, have taken no part in this campaign. The fact that in philosophy and method they are sympathetic with the Amalgamated, and that this union in a closely related industry, in spite of all persecution, has grown powerful, make it necessary for them not to oppose it, but to strive sincerely for an end to the quarrel. The fight in the United Hebrew Trades against exclusion of the Amalgamated was led by the delegate of the International Ladies’ Garment UNIONS—BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH = 93 Workers. When, during the war, a depression in the women’s clothing industry was accompanied by a great demand for military uniforms, the two unions negotiated an agreement to share equitably between their respective memberships the jobs available. The International introduced into the 1918 conven- tion of the American Federation of Labor a resolu- tion calling for the establishment of a clothing trades department, similar to the metal trades and mining departments, to coordinate the various unions concerned, with the idea that such a depart- ment might facilitate the return of the Amalgamated. This resolution was supported by all the needle- trades unions except the United Garment Workers, but was defeated on account of the hostile attitude of the Federation officials. The culmination of this movement towards unity, fostered as it was by the philosophy of the unions concerned, was the pro- posal in the spring of 1920 for a Needle Trades Fed- eration, to be consummated if need be without regard to the American Federation of Labor. This pro- posal seems about to bring together all the radical clothing unions for joint action. The prevailing sentiment among the clothing unions seems to be that it is not worth while to persecute thousands of fellow- workers and widen a breach in the labor movement solely for the sake of the anti-secessionist principle. This feeling is strengthened by the consciousness that the historical basis of the division has never been candidly examined, and by a strong suspicion that the supporters of regularity are animated not 94 THE NEW UNIONISM so much by a desire to preserve labor discipline in general as by a desire not to weaken the prestige and power of the existing conservative administra- tion of the American Federation of Labor. The jurisdictional warfare with the United Gar- ment Workers has, however, been little more than a distressing incident in the life of the Amalgamated. The large associations of manufacturers were forced to deal with it. A collective agreement in New York was signed in July, 1915, providing machinery for the adjustment of disputes. The formal agreement was later destroyed, but informal arrangements were substituted for it. A spirited general strike in December, 1916, gained the 48 hour week for all members of the union in New York; this struggle, involving nearly 60,000 workers, was the first in the history of the clothing trades to be financed entirely with funds raised from the locals concerned. Suc- cessful strikes in Baltimore, Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Boston and other centers kept the morale high and increased the membership. The union took a prominent part in the agitation against sweatshop conditions which began to crop out in the manu- facture of army clothing, and assisted the govern- ment to put an end to them. Without any mission- ary work on its part, shirtmakers’ locals of New York and Boston came over to it from the United Garment Workers, the occasion being orders from the higher officials of the United Garment Workers to assist in breaking strikes called by the Amalga- mated. Karly in 1919 the Amalgamated established UNIONS—BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH 95 a precedent in the American labor movement by gaining the 44 hour week, being one of the first unions in the country to win this concession. The Amalgamated now has a membership in good standing of over 150,000, and if it should include those members who are in arrears through unem- ployment the total would probably be close to 200,000. The United Garment Workers pay to the American Federation of Labor a per-capita tax on 46,000 mem- bers. Their total membership can hardly be larger than this, since there are, on a generous estimate, not 46,000 overall workers in the country, and the remainder of their locals, scattered among shirt makers, raincoat manufacturers, and custom tailors, cannot include a numerous membership. The ‘International Fur Workers Union of the United States and Canada, though the youngest of the group, has been highly successful. COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS 149 be decided by people who did not have an intimate technical knowledge of the trade, and so could not pass on questions of efficiency. On April 1, 1912, a Trade Board was therefore established to inves- tigate and attempt to settle disputes before they were referred to the Board of Arbitration. The Trade Board corresponded to the Board of Griev- ances in the New York Protocol, and like it was com- posed of an equal number of members from each side. The union members had to be employees of the firm. Unlike the Board of Grievances, however, the Trade Board had an impartial chairman. It was empowered to appoint chief deputies and depu- ties, corresponding to the chief clerks and deputy clerks in the Protocol machinery. As in New York, the deputies succeeded in adjust- ing most of the grievances, and the Trade Board most of the others. Only a few ever came before the arbitrators. As in New York, by far the greater number and the hardest fought of the employees’ grievances concerned discharge, and the employer seemed to be most bothered by shop strikes. When, in the spring of 1913, the agreement was about to terminate, prolonged negotiations failed to result in its renewal, and a strike seemed imminent. The union asked for shorter hours and higher wages, but its chief demand was for the closed shop, which it be- lieved was necessary to protect its members against discrimination. There was a feeling among the workers that the small proportion of non-union em- ployees not only profited by the gains of the union 150 THE NEW UNIONISM without sharing in its burdens, but were favored by the company in distributing work or cutting down the force in the slack seasons. At the last moment peace was preserved by the adoption of the prefer- ential union shop. The right of review of discharges by the Trade Board was granted. The powers of the Board of Arbitration were enlarged so that it might adjust wages. With these and some minor additions, the agreement was renewed for three years. The rules for the application of union preference were carefully formulated in detail, to minimize dis- putes. Later the company, wishing to eliminate the discharge grievance if possible, worked out an ad- mirable technique in the matter. Foremen were not allowed to discharge, but after several warnings they might suspend. Discharge could come only from the labor complaint department. The result was that this means of discipline was exercised spar- ingly. Only 21 per cent of the employees suspended were discharged, and of these over half were rein- stated by the Trade Board on review. The comparative success of the Hart, Schaffner, and Marx agreements in avoiding general strikes is due to a number of factors. Here the union was dealing with one firm engaged in quantity produc- tion, making a good quality of clothing, and having a high standing in the trade. Its product was as- sured a relatively steady sale through advertising. The employer was therefore able to maintain con- ditions constantly a little in advance of those ruling COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS 151 throughout the industry, and to eliminate many of the inequalities which cause trouble when the indus- try as a whole is considered. The full force of seasonal fluctuations was not felt in his shops. Fur- thermore, he was wise enough to yield point after point as the union gained strength and conscious- ness of its desires, so that the equilibrium of power between the organized workers and the employer was constantly expressed in their formal relations. In a small degree and to a limited extent, the condi- tions in these shops indicate what might be the con- ditions throughout the entire industry, if some force could control and regulate it efficiently. To say this is far from saying, however, that there is no funda- mental opposition of interest in the shops concerned, and that a point may not sometime be reached when this opposition will assume precedence over the effective community of interest which has been or- ganized and in force since 1910. The agreements in the clothing industry were among the first to recognize in theory that the public has a legitimate interest in adjusting disputes. To their boards such distinguished ‘‘representatives of the public’? as Justice Louis D. Brandeis of the Supreme Court, United States District Judge Julian W. Mack, and Rabbi Judah L. Magnes have been called. Such men have given conscientious and valu- able service. Yet after all it is little more than a matter of form to call them representatives of the public in anything like the sense in which the other participants are representatives of employer and 152 THE NEW UNIONISM employee. ‘‘The public’’ is still a vague and unana- lyzed term. It may mean the people in their capac- ity of consumer, or the community in its exercise of police power for the general good, or the middle classes as distinguished from organized labor and organized capital. No representative of the public in any specific sense can be added to arbitration boards until organized consumers, the state, or some other functional body elects them to safeguard spe- cific interests. The ‘‘representatives of the public’’ who have previously been appointed are rather men selected as impartial chairmen, chosen on account of their reputation, authority, probity, and wisdom. In New York the Amalgamated and the manu- facturers of men’s clothing for several years have had no formal agreement. During the war, the War Department established a Board of Standards, and later an Administrator for army clothing, who ad- justed disputes where government orders were in- volved. A strike broke out late in 1918, and was finally submitted to the arbitration of an ‘‘ Advisory Board’’ consisting of experts in industrial rela- tions. This board granted the 44-hour week and wage increases, recommending that the concessions be applied throughout the country. It later sub- mitted supplementary reports,® based on the Hart, Schaffner, and Marx experience, and advised the appointment of a labor manager for the em- ployers in the New York market, and an impartial chairman for the review of discharges and the settle- 5See Appendix. COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS 153 ment of other disputes. The aim was not to write a formal agreement, but to build a basis on which the law of the industry could grow by decisions of the impartial chairman, just as public law grows by successive decisions of the courts. It should be noted that the absence of a formal agreement allows the question of wages and hours, as well as other issues, to be brought up at any time, rather than at some date previously set for the expiration of an agreement. This arrangement corresponds more flexibly with the realities of the economic situation. Subsequently a National Industrial Federation of Clothing Manufacturers was formed by the employ- ers’ associations in New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and Rochester, the chief centers of the men’s cloth- ing industry. Each association appointed an indus- trial expert as its labor manager, and the four labor managers were united in a board to work out uni- form policies. Finally, in the summer of 1919, a joint industrial council to cover the nation was formed by the National Federation and the Amal- gamated union. This council has remained tempo- rarily dormant, but there is a chance that it may be revived. : Whether this ambitious undertaking will lead to permanent industrial peace, as some of its founders hope, remains to be seen, but at least it is an ad- vance in systematic regulation of the industry com- parable only with the advance made when the unions ceased dealing with the separate manufacturers in one market, and resorted to collective agreements 154 THE NEW UNIONISM with an association. It clears the ground for the consideration of some of the larger possibilities, such as the mitigation of seasonal fluctuations through unemployment insurance. It is the first joint Industrial Council, the parties to which are a national association of manufacturers and a na- tional industrial union, to be consummated in the United States. The new experiment in the men’s clething industry is therefore one of the greatest significance. The latest agreement of the Cap Makers, consum- mated in July, 1919, has three interesting innova- tions. One is the provision that the schedule of wages shall be readjusted every six months to meet the changes in the cost of living. This provision was included in a number of awards by the govern- ment during the abnormal! conditions of the war, in cases where the employer was protected by the fact that he was working on a government contract pro- viding for his reimbursement in the event of his being forced by the award to grant higher wages. Few such provisions, however, have ever before been included in a wage agreement between a union and a manufacturers’ association dependent on the open market. A still more remarkable passage reads: ‘“‘No manufacturer shall give out work to be made 6 The coal miners and coal operators developed a somewhat similar organization several years ago, but on a basis not recognizing, as does this arrangement, the latest achievements of labor’s control in the shop. An Industrial Council in the book and job printing in- dustry includes, on the employees’ side, not one industrial union, but several craft organizations typical of the old unionism, and came near being wrecked by a quarrel between conservative officials and radical locals. COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS 155 for him in non-union shops, or buy goods from such shops. No manufacturer shall sell goods to a con- cern at a time when there exists a controversy be- tween the Union and the concern.’’ This clause furnishes a suggestion of a new means of extending union control. The agreements whose operation we have de- scribed in some detail are merely typical of others set up in other branches of the industry and in other cities. Most of them have undergone much the same process of development, modified of course by the experience gained in labor management, con- ciliation and union tactics, and by the peculiar cir- cumstances in each case. In every trade and city in which the clothing unions are now strong, some such agreement exists with a manufacturers’ asso- ciation including the most firmly established and largest producers. Similar agreements with indi- vidual independent manufacturers cover the remain- der of the industry in question. The tendency is for the manufacturers’ associations to extend over an increasing proportion of the industry. They are also acting with greater unanimity throughout the nation. It is quite possible that the next general strike or lockout in the clothing trades may be a national one, and it is even within the range of vision that a strike may cover various branches of the industry at the same time. CHAPTER VIL . PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, AND STRATEGY Tue rapid rise of the unions in the needle trades, contending, as they have, against enormous disad- vantages, accounts for the keen interest, both friendly and hostile, which they have aroused in the public and the labor movement. On the one hand they are put forward as shining examples for the rest of organized labor, and on the other they are denounced and persecuted as ‘‘Bolsheviki’’ to be shunned by the ‘‘bona-fide’’ unions. Large em- ployers who for some years have dealt with these organizations praise them in the highest terms and are satisfied with existing relations, notwithstand- ing the fact that they know many of the members of the unions concerned are in opposition to the whole wage system.’ Yet there are still leaders of organized labor who believe it their duty to cleanse the movement of the influence of these radical bodies. To the observer both these attitudes, strange as they may seem, must give evidence of the power which the needle-trades unions have developed; to 1 Ray Stannard Baker in the Evening Post, N. Y., of February 18, 1920, gives opinions of employers concerning the labor situation in the clothing industry. 156 PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 157 him the primary question would be, not whether they are ‘‘good’’ or ‘‘bad,’’ but what sort of thing are they, and wherein lies the source of their success? How were the workers employed in industries with such a chaotic economic structure able to build such strong organizations? The strength of these unions lies primarily in the type of unionism they have developed—a type which binds their members in a fraternity of ideals, and is based on a sense of solidarity in a tireless strug- gle towards a new “system of society. ‘Tt is a com- mon consciousness that makes it possible to knit together workers of the most divergent trades and varied standards into a united army, always re- sponsive and ready for concerted action. This spiritual brotherhood, based upon a common aspira- tion—a thing which the old unionism so badly lacks —made it possible for the needle workers to create more powerful and cohesive organizations than could their employers. The supremacy of organization gives the workers their firm hold in the industry and explains in large measure their achievements. History here has repeated one of its frequent par- adoxes. The very weakness and backwardness of the industrial structure in the manufacture of cloth- ing, the very difficulties which the labor organiza- tions had to face, forced them early in their struggle to embrace principles which gave them their ulti- mate power. The fundamental differences between the old and the new unionism lie not so much in the form of | 158 THE NEW UNIONISM organization as in the attitude toward the methods and purposes of the labor struggle. The gulf is to be found in ideology rather than in structure. The fact that the old unionism so obstinately clings to ' the remnants of craft or trade organization, while ' the new unionism strives towards complete indus- - trialism, is merely the sequence of that difference in attitude which makes the former seek its power in a kind of bargaining partnership with capital, while the latter looks for its strength primarily to the solidarity of the working class, with a resulting disbelief in the ultimate necessity of profit-making capital. The old unionism has no quarrel with the fundamentals of capitalist society. It does not ques- tion the right of private property to control pro- duction. In any case, it acquiesces in this right; it recognizes the ‘‘reasonable’’ profit and dividends on honest investment. The very conception of the class struggle is barred from its dictionary. Its hostilities are directed merely against ‘‘those em- ployers who refuse to understand modern indus- trial conditions and constant needs for advancement of the working people.’’? It fully and unreservedly endorses the primitive theory of competition as the only reliable incentive of human endeavor and prog- ress. The old unionism therefore struggles only for the . immediate betterment of the condition of the work- ing people, while the new unionism thinks of imme-, 2 This and succeeding quotations on the old unionism are from the testimony of Samuel Gompers, President of the A. F. of L., before the Industrial Relations Commission, May, 1914. PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 159 diate improvements merely as a means toward a ' larger end. The old unionism concentrates all its — efforts on here and now, on the problems of today, on those proximate difficulties which vary from trade to trade and from industry to industry. ‘‘It works along the line of least resistance,’’ and this line is different according to circumstances. Not merely has it no vision, no announced program, no dream of its own, but it wishes none; more than that, it believes every vision or dream or comprehensive program a serious danger, which may divert the attention of the workers from the struggle for im- mediate betterment. Though zealously protecting its right to strike as a safeguard against ‘‘bad’’ employers who refuse their workers a voice ‘‘in determining the questions affecting the relations he- tween themselves and their employers,’’ the old unionism looks to collective bargaining to bring the sentiments and views of the employers ‘‘in entire accord with the organization of the working people.’’ The old unionism appeals to the business or trading consciousness, while the new unionism makes its chief appeal to the desire for ultimate economic emancipation. The old unionism was not so much the result of plans of leadership as it was the result of adapta- | tion to conditions. Taking the line of least resist- ance may be repugnant as a social philosophy; it is likely to be, however, the course pursued in the early stages of any human institution. Well considered programs, aims, and methods based on a broad social 160 THE NEW UNIONISM view, are always of later origin. They come, for the masses, only when the initial progress along the line of least resistance has led to a point where greater freedom of action and choice are possible, or when all lines of resistance reveal so many ob- stacles that to hew out the highway of a great ideal becomes indispensable for making one’s way at all. It would take us too far if we were here to make a complete historical analysis of the old unionism in this country, but a few suggestions might not be amiss, With inexhaustible resources of free land, with many opportunities to acquire property, with an apparently unlimited political equality, the Ameri- can working people did not for a long time develop much class-consciousness. The whole attitude of the nation was one of individual ‘‘getting on,’’ and this conception of affairs was always sustained by literature, the press, and public education. Early unionism was frequently of a welfare nature. Mu- tual assistance in need, cultural self-perfection, vague ‘‘uplift’’? common to the whole people with- out distinction of class or position, were its main characteristics. Political movements of the workers were usually directed toward increasing the oppor- tunities for individual advancement rather than to- ward improving the status of wage-earners as a whole. The free-soil parties, for instance, were of this nature. When small groups of workers began to combine for strictly economic betterment, their field of activity was naturally confined to the exclu- PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 161 sive possessors of skill in a given handicraft. Ma- chinery had not become a widespread substitute for the skilled craftsman, and, in the industries which machinery had conquered, organization was slow. The line of least resistance led to manipulation of. demand and supply in the labor markets. The op- > portunity of improving the conditions of the skilled worker by limiting the supply of labor and elim- inating competition within the group was con- siderable. The labor market of each trade at this stage was still little influenced by the labor market in other trades. The more skill a trade demands, the less it can depend on a surplus of labor elsewhere. Every effort to minimize competition and so improve bar- gaining conditions could naturally count on far greater success when limited to a trade than when extended to an entire industry. For practical achievement, for immediate betterment, the craft union was the best form of organization. The methods it worked out were those calculated to cre- ate the most favorable conditions in bargaining with employers. Long and strictly regulated ap- prenticeship, limitations on the admission of new members, undisputed jurisdiction over the workers concerned, detailed regulations for accepting or leaving a job, rules limiting the productivity of the worker, the so-called ‘‘permit system,’’ and the union label, were all intended to put craft groups on a better footing when it came to bargaining with their several employers. This was the goal of the 162 THE NEW UNIONISM craft union; if it attained recognition and the closed shop, it could rest at its ease. The results accomplished by these methods were in the early stages obvious. The difference between the high status of the skilled and organized workers and the misery of the unskilled and unorganized was so striking that there was no doubt that the craft union ‘‘delivered the goods’’ to those whom it was formed to serve. This led to the further strengthening of the craft union, and to a large measure of complacency. The result of early neces- sity was, in the minds of leaders and of many work- ing people themselves, converted into a principle. The program of no program, the policy of no policy, and the philosophy of no philosophy, were them- selves transmuted into a set of eternal and ideal ‘doctrines. Even long after industrial conditions had radically changed, after craftsmen had been almost all replaced by machinery, after competition itself ceased to be such an important factor and the lines of demarcation between trades had become most vague, after, in the natural course of development, the trades union had supplanted the craft union, and even the industrial union—such as the United Mine Workers—had come into existence within the fold of the American Federation of Labor, this ideology still retained its firm hold upon the official labor movement. The old unionism is distinguished now not by its structure, but rather by a lingering craft interpretation of life, and by a narrow attitude toward the aims and tasks of the labor movement. PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 163 Entirely different conditions surrounded the growth of the labor movement in the needle trades. The distribution of free land had ceased to be such a strong influence by the ’eighties, when these indus- tries absorbed the immigrant hordes—and the Jews were not accustomed to living on the land in any case. The immigrant was handicapped in ex- perimenting, in pioneering, and in advancing his commercial fortunes, by his lack of knowledge of the language and customs of the country. Even the apparent political equality did not embrace him for several years after his arrival, and then only as the result of exceptional effort on his part. Our system of public education and press had little or no influ- ence on him. While the intolerable conditions of ' work in the clothing shops and the low wages barred ; the great masses from the wider aspects of life, there; was from the beginning a considerable nucleus of cultivated socialist intellectuals who had through’ force of circumstances become manual workers, and ' who naturally took the lead in every effort towards \ organization. | ‘ A far more important factor, however, was the utter impossibility of accomplishing results by fol- lowing the policies established by the American labor movement. Competition in the labor markets of the needle trades, at least in the formative period of the unions, could not be limited. The flood of immigration increased every year, and most of the operations did not demand much skill. With the | single exception of the cutters, the period of ap- (ii 164 THE NEW UNIONISM prenticeship necessary for acquiring average ability in the needle trades is too short to create much of a barrier around the crafts. It is easy to pass from any one of the trades to another. The conditions in any one of the trades affect too directly those of all others to permit separatism. The cutters, who were the first to organize, did _ pass through a development similar in some respects to that of the general labor movement. At an early period, when the passage from the cutting craft to the employing class was somewhat easier, they prac- ticed the welfare type of unionism, with benefits, vague idealism, ceremonials, etc. Later they had craft locals, businesslike, conservative, and aloof. Even after the internationals were formed they retained a certain separatism within the organiza- tion, considering themselves a sort of aristocracy. As the large unions grew, however, they became more and more dependent on the majority of their fellows. Recent innovations in cutting machinery, which eliminate some of the skill of the old handi- craftsman, hastened the process. But perhaps what had more effect than anything else was that in some cases they were actually outdistanced in wages and conditions by other crafts who whole-heartedly ac- cepted the new unionism from the beginning. The cutters now have little particularism. The large number of small and transitory firms, the keen competition among them on the one hand, and among the workers on the other, and the highly seasonal character of the industry, made all con- PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 165 ditions so unstable and fluctuating that it seemed impossible for most of the workers to hope for material improvement without abolishing the capital- ist régime. The evils of competition were so ap- parent and abhorrent that the workers could not think of it as a valuable incentive to human endeavor and progress. The business-like method of the old unionism,—entrenching in the separate crafts, mak- ing a gain here and there, and extending the organ- ization bit by bit,—was evidently inapplicable under \, these conditions. A strike in a single prosperous ‘ | shop or group of shops could bring only ephemeral ; gains. The proprietor of the struck shop would . transfer his work to outside. sub-manufacturers or | contractors, or would entirely reorganize his estab- lishment a few blocks away, with a new staff. Con- cessions granted at the height of the season would be taken away, often with interest, as soon as the slack season set in. While in the general labor move- ment partial gains occurred before large organiza- tion, the process in the needle trades was the re-~ verse. Almost a complete organization had to be accomplished before any lasting improvement could | be brought about. Organizers who held out promises . of immediate betterments through partial action could not arouse the interest of the workers after many years of hopeless struggle. The labor move- ment in these industries had to build its organized strength upon a class consciousness looking towards complete economic emancipation. The creation of this consciousness and hope was, 166 THE NEW UNIONISM however, a Herculean task. It took decades of in- cessant agitation and education to coalesce the human atoms scattered over such an endless number and variety of shops into a solid, living organism. During these decades the union were growing in potentiality, in the common consciousness of the workers, rather than in tangible form and achieve- ment. To the outsider the needle workers seemed unorganizable; even the insiders, the group of de- voted leaders, were ready to despair of their own ability to accomplish results. The leadership of the old unionism seemed to be infinitely more successful. It was this appearance which, at the first convention of the United Garment Workers in 1891, led the radical delegates, imbued though they were with the principles of the new unionism, to elect as officers a group of conservative unionists, and to affiliate immediately with the American Federation of Labor, which was in bitter opposition to socialism. But this attempt to take a leaf out of the book of old unionism has now shown conclusively how ill adapted its methods are to the clothing industry. The failure of the United Garment Workers is not chiefly a failure of persons, it is a failure of method. As soon as this method changed, as soon as the majority of the members came over to the new Amal- gamated Clothing Workers, it became possible to create an almost one-hundred per cent organization in the same men’s clothing industry in which the United Garment Workers never succeeded in gain- ing a firm foothold. PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 167 When the preliminary process of agitation and propaganda was at last completed, when a common consciousness had become rooted in the minds of the working people, a single stroke was enough to give the potential organizations tangible shape, and to endow them with a deeper solidarity and a firmer control over their members and industries than the old unionism could ever attain. This explains their dramatic appearance on our social surface and their sudden success. The appeal to organize for imme- diate betterment failed not merely to bring any or- ganization but also to achieve any betterment. The appeal to organize for the ultimate emancipation of the working class, disregarding immediate advan- tages, brought about not merely an almost complete organization, but also very substantial betterments. The philosophy of the new unionism, like every vital philosophy, was not born complete, and is being enriched continually. It does not exist in a formal way even in the minds of the working people adher- ing to the organizations that exemplify it. It will be found rather as a mental attitude, an imperfectly expressed interpretation of events. Yet a movement based primarily on the conscious views of its adher- ents, as the new unionism is, was bound to attempt at an early period to formulate its philosophy as concisely as possible. As previously stated, the first convention of the United Garment Workers adopted a radical constitution, declaring for the recognition of the socialist newspapers, the Arbeiter Zeitung, the People, and the Volks Zeitung, as the official 168 THE NEW UNIONISM organs of the union, and for agitation among its membership in favor of participating in the political activities of the socialists. Of course the action of the officers quickly made these provisions dead letters. The next oldest international in the needle trades, the United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers, for- mulated its social creed in the following preamble to its constitution : “‘Recognizing the fact that the world is divided into two classes, the class that produces all wealth—the working class—and the class that owns and controls the means of production—the capitalist class; “Recognizing the fact that the concentration of wealth and power in the hand of the capitalist class is the cause of the workingmen’s economic oppression; and “‘Recognizing the fact that only through organization and by united effort can the workers secure their right to enjoy the wealth created by their labor; “Therefore, we, the workers of the Hat and Cap Trade, have formed this organization under the name of the UNITED CLOTH HAT AND CAP MAKERS OF NORTH AMERICA, in order to improve our conditions and secure by united action our due share of the products of our labor; to establish a shorter work day; to elevate. . our moral and intellectual standard and develop our class consciousness by means of propaganda and the press; to cooperate with the national and universal labor movement for the final emancipation of the wage earner and for the establishment of the Cooperative Commonwealth.” The preamble to the constitution of the Inter- national Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, while of the same nature, defines more clearly the method of \ PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 169 attaining the final emancipation of the wage-earner. It announces as its aim, ‘‘to organize industrially into a class-conscious trade union’’ in order ‘‘to bring about a system of society wherein the workers shall receive the full value of their product.’’ In the above preambles all the elements of the new unionism were already contained. Further develop- ment, however, was necessary to expand these ele- ments into a complete system. These preambles are vague with regard to the method in which the ‘“Cooperative Commonwealth’’ or the ‘‘system of society wherein the workers shall receive the full value of their product’’ is to be brought about. The Cap Makers see this method as cooperation with the national and universal labor movement; the Ladies’ Garment Workers refer to ‘‘cooperation with work-' ers in other industries,” but from the context it ap-, pears that they put much more weight upon political | representation of the workers ‘‘on the various legis- : lative bodies by representatives of the political party whose aim is the abolition of the capitalist system.”’’ The constitution of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, as the latest in the series and also as one created in direct opposition to the old unionism, gives a fuller and more definite expression of faith. Says the preamble: “The economic organization of Labor has been called into existence by the capitalist system of production, under which the division between the ruling class and the ruled class is based upon the ownership of the means of pro- duction, The class owning those means is the one that is 170 THE NEW UNIONISM ruling, the class that possesses nothing but its labor power, which is always on the market as a commodity, is the one that is being ruled. ‘¢A constant and unceasing struggle is being waged be- tween these two classes. “In this struggle the economic organization of Labor, the union, is a natural weapon of offense and defense in the hands of the working class. ‘“‘But in order to be efficient, and effectively serve its purpose, the union must in its structure correspond to the prevailing system of the organization of industry. ‘“‘Modern industrial methods are very rapidly wiping out the old craft demarcations, and the resultant condi- tions dictate the organization of Labor along industrial lines. “‘The history of the Class Struggle in this country for the past two decades amply testifies to the ineffectiveness of the form, methods and spirit of craft unionism. It also shows how dearly the working class has paid for its failure to keep apace with industrial development. “‘The working class must accept the principles of In- dustrial Unionism or it is doomed to impotence. “‘The same forces that have been making for Industrial Unionism are likewise making for a closer inter-industrial alliance of the working class. ‘“‘The industrial and inter-industrial organization, built upon the solid rock of clear knowledge and class conscious- ness, will put the organized working class in actual con- trol of the system of production, and the working class will then be ready to take possession of it.’’ The philosophy of the new unionism has molded the structure, and still more, the strategy of these organizations. Deriving their strength from the class consciousness of their membership, they must. PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 171 depend upon intelligent appreciation by the rank and file of their problems and policies. It is necessary that every member shall identify himself with the organization, shall think of it as an embodiment of his own aspirations and will. The leadership in these organizations, regardless of the manner of election, must therefore be of a somewhat different nature from the leadership in the old unionism. This difference cannot be adequately expressed in any constitutional provisions with regard either to the selection or the authority of the officers. The methods of election in the unions of clothing workers are not uniform and do not differ materially from those practiced by the organizations of the business type. The general officers of the Ladies’ Garment Workers and the Hat and Cap Makers are elected by their biennial conventions; the general officers of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers are nominated by their biennial conventions and elected by a referen- . dum vote of the membership. The same methods are employed by the old unionism. The fundamental ' difference lies rather in the attitude of the leader- | ship toward the rank and file and of the rank and | file toward the leadership. The old unionist is inclined to think of the union as a business concern. His attitude toward it is similar to the attitude of a stockholder toward a corporation. As long as the directors of a cor- poration keep it solvent, as long as dividends are paid regularly, the stockholders have no further interest in the affairs of the concern and are ready i 172 THE NEW UNIONISM to leave it entirely in the hands of the management, They do not want to be bothered by detailed con- sideration of methods or policies. Results are all they ask; the rest they are ready and anxious to forget. On the other hand, the directors hold them- selves accountable to the stockholders only for im- mediate results; they are likely to consider it an intrusion if any but the large stockholders attempt to interfere in the policies of the business. The business consideration is to the new unionist only secondary; he is mainly interested in the organ- ization itself as the expression of his aspiration to control the industrial system. The immediate gains are, both to the members and the leaders, a by- product derived in the process of work on the main task, the preparation of the workers for actual con- trol of production. This attitude makes methods and policies far more important than immediate re- sults accomplished. Consciously and unconsciously, the rank and file imbued with the spirit of the new unionism will always look behind immediate ad- vantage to that higher goal to which they have dedicated their efforts. Their revolt against being arbitrarily ruled was their original motive for organ- ization, and they cannot be expected to submit long to boss-rule in their own communities. Neither will they be over-anxious to give undue authority to their representatives. The leadership in these unions therefore has more the character of spiritual guidance in a voluntary fraternity somewhat like the church communities at PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 173 the beginnings of Christianity, than of authoritative control even by democratic rulers. The rank and file look to their leadership for enlightenment, advice, and counsel, but they consider the will of the people as the superior wisdom and expect their leaders to abide by it. The leaders see the mainspring of power \,~ of the organization in the mass volition of the +,’ membership. They are therefore extremely reluc- tant to use arbitrarily their authority or discretion. To undertake any important step, however advis- able, before the rank and file has come to will that step would be to undermine the only power that could make it successful. Jt cannot be said that the legal safeguards against abuse of authority are much stricter than in the more advanced organiza- tions of the old type. But there is the safeguard of an always alert public opinion, of mutual confidence and respect, of a common ideal to serve as a criterion in the shaping of policies. —— The structure of these organizations cannot be fully outlined on the basis of written constitutions or by-laws; it contains numerous extra-legal insti- tutions which play a decisive part in their life. Furthermore, the practices are not rigidly fixed. Regarding the processes of society themselves as constantly in flux, the unions readily change their practices to meet changed conditions. But in all changes the supreme consideration is to make it possible for the organization to have behind its every action the comprehension and resolution of the membership. 174 THE NEW UNIONISM The supreme authority in each of the clothing unions is concentrated in the industrial unit, repre- senting the entire membership in the United States and Canada. The will of the membership as a whole constitutionally finds its expression in the periodic convention, in the General Executive Board and General Officers who administer the affairs of the union between conventions, and in the Referendum, which may be invoked at any time. As a matter of established practice, the general will also finds ex- pression in the General Membership Mass Meeting, and in the Joint Meeting of all Local Union Execu- tive Boards of any given locality. Next in authority to the industrial unit are the trade units of the various localities, which constitu- tionally are governed by the several Joint Boards or Councils—for instance, the Amalgamated New York Joint Board of Men’s Clothing. Extra-legally, the trade unit is much influenced by meetings of the Shop Chairmen of the locality and trade. The Joint Boards are made up of delegates from Local Unions, whereas the Shop Chairmen represent the workers by shops, and are in constant touch with the rank and file at their places of work. The smallest constitutional unit is the Local Union; this subdivision is merely for administrative purposes and as a rule wields virtually no authority in control of industrial action. Strikes, for instance, are usually called by Joint Boards rather than by Locals. Because of its purely administrative func- tions the composition of the local varies widely. PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 175 Extra-legally, the smallest unit is the shop, with its shop committee or price committee and shop chair- man, elected by the members employed in a given manufacturing plant or subdivision of such plant. This is a most important functional division in the industrial activities of the union. In order to give a clear idea of this administra- tive machinery, it is necessary to describe it in more detail, beginning with the smaller units and working up to the main one. The local union consists as a rule of the workers v’ at a single craft or operation, such as cutters, operators, pressers, basters, tailors, blockers, sizers, trimmers, finishers, muff-bed makers, hat frame makers, etc. Sometimes it consists of workers of | different crafts but of the same nationality. Such, for instance, is Local 280 of the Amalgamated, con- sisting of Italian workers of all crafts in the pants trade, or Local 43, consisting of Jewish operators, finishers, and pressesrs living in Brooklyn. There is now a tendency, in distinct sections of a large city or in smaller towns where the membership is not too ,’ large, to make the local union coterminous with the locality irrespective of craft. A similar principle - is applied to minority nationality groups such as Lithuanians, Italians, Slovenians, Russians, and Poles. ‘The nature of administrative functions differs among locals, even within the same organization. The special history of the craft, its position in the trade or industry, the extent of its organization, are 176 THE NEW UNIONISM responsible for these differences. There are, how- ever, some functions that are common to all locals, The local is the unit of representation in the general convention, the number of delegates to which it is entitled depending on its size. Another common function is the election of delegates to the Joint Board. Practically all locals in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers, and some in the other unions, collect the per capita tax from the members, see that they remain in good standing, serve as em- ployment agencies for manufacturers and members, and give consideration to grievances of members which are later submitted to the Joint Board for action. The locals give preliminary consideration to trade problems with the purpose of bringing in recommendations to the Joint Board, and serve as voting units for all decisions of the Joint Board submitted to the membership for ratification. They discuss and decide any disputes among their mem- bers. Finally, perhaps the main function of the local is the cultivation of good will and good fellow- ship among the members. It is the social force of cohesion and propaganda in the union. This ac- counts in large measure for the varied forms which the locals take. The government of the local is in the hands of the meeting, the local executive board, and the local officials. The meeting is the supreme authority, sub- ject only to referendum of the membership. There are no fixed rules as to the use of the referendum, but it is usually ordered only by a vote of the PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 177 meeting. Many locals elect their executive boards and officials by this means; no local will decide a question effecting vitally its whole membership— such as the raising of dues—without a referen- dum. The local executive board, consisting of no less than five members, is the governing body of the local between meetings. It is usually elected for a term of from six to twelve months. The officials are sub- ject to the supervision of the executive board. The number and kind of officials depends upon the size and nature of the local. The chairman of the execu- tive board, sometimes called also the president of the local, is an unpaid officer but an influential one. The recording secretary is usually paid a nominal sum and his duty is to keep the minutes of local and board meetings; but he is also an influential officer. In the larger locals there is a paid secretary, de- voting all his time to the work. The one paid officer in all locals is the financial secretary. He is charged with the collection of dues, initiation fees, and assess- ments, whenever this duty is left to the local, and with the paying of bills and guarding the funds un- less, as in the case of some large locals, responsibility for the account is placed with a special unpaid treasurer. Some of the larger locals, including vir- tually all those in the Ladies’ Garment Workers, also have paid managers. The duties of the manager are not clearly defined. He has a general super- vision over the office staff, and serves as a link be- tween the general office or the Joint Board and the 178 THE NEW UNIONISM membership of his local. He also exercises a sort of moral leadership and guidance. This office is now becoming obsolete. The next larger unit, the local trade or sub-indus- try, is governed by the Joint Board, also known as the Joint Council or District Council. There are, however, cases where the functions of the trade unit are exercised by a local union. Such a case is Local 25 of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers, which represents the whole New York dress and waist making trade, including all the crafts with the single exception of the cutters. Other cases are the industrial locals previously mentioned, such as Local 7 of the United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers, a Boston unit which embraces all the crafts, including the cutters. There are many such cases in the Ladies’ Garment Workers, because this industry is divided into so many distinct trades, each with a compar- atively small number of employees. In New York City, the largest center of the women’s clothing industry, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers has nine trade units. The Cloak- makers Joint Board, which embraces ten locals, is the largest and oldest, having a total membership of over 40,000. The second is Local 25, with a member- ship of well over 25,000. The cause for the growth of such a large local without subdivisions lies in its dramatic history. The local began with a small nucleus, and when it called its first big strike in 1909, it did not expect that nearly the entire trade would join it. Since then its activity and prestige have PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 179 tended to keep it together. Now, however, it has become so large as to be a little unwieldy, and sub- division by race and craft is beginning, though control of industrial action is left as usual in the hands of the trade unit. At the end of 1919 an Italian branch know as Local 89 of Ladies Waist and Dress Makers was created. There is also a movement to make subdivisions for drapers, fin- ishers, tuckers, hemstitchers, and pressers. The in- troduction of new machinery bringing with it in- creased specialization strengthens this tendency. The other trade units are, respectively, Local 62, White Goods Workers, Local 6, Embroidery Workers on machine embroidery, Local 66, Bonnaz Embroid- ery Workers on fancy embroidery, Local 41, House Dress, Kimono and Bath Robe Workers, Local 45, Petticoat Workers, a newly organized trade, Local 50, Children’s Dress Makers, and finally, Local 44, a nucleus for Corset Workers. * The United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers have in New York two trade units, the Joint Council of the Cap Makers, with a membership of over 5,000, and the Joint Board of the Ladies’ Straw Hat and Millinery Workers, with a membership of about 7,000. The International Fur Workers Union has three trade units, the New York Fur Workers Joint Board, with 4 locals aggregating 8,000 members, the Fur Cap and Trimming Workers Board with 4 locals 3The corset workers have only recently been organized. The strongest locals are in Bridgeport, Conn., Local 33, consisting of all crafts except cutters, and 34, the cutters. 180 THE NEW UNIONISM and 800 members, and the Dressed Fur Workers Board, with 6 locals and 2,200 members. “ The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America have in New York four trade units: the New York Joint Board of Men’s Clothing, with 26 locals, the Children’s Clothing Workers’ Joint Board, with 11 locals, the Shirtmakers’ Joint Board, with 3 locals, and the Overall Makers Board. The men’s and chil- dren’s boards are now to be combined. The Cutters’ Local 4 consists of the cutters of all these units, and is a quasi-unit by itself. It is represented on the Joint Board of Men’s Clothing with a voice and vote on all questions except finance. The Joint Board, Joint Council, or District Coun- cil is the real power in the trade for the respective locality. All negotiations with the manufacturers about existing collective agreements, all dealings with boards of adjustment, grievance committees, or offices of the impartial chairmen, are under the authority and supervision of the Joint Boards. They also work out and present demands at the time of expiration of agreements, though in such cases the General Office is usually called in for advice and counsel. All decisions concerning strikes are made by the Joint Board, though in case of a general strike of the trade, the sanction of the General Executive Board is necessary. The Joint Board apportions the amount of dues and assessments that each affiliated local shall pay. In short, the Joint Board acts as the executive of a single industrial group. The local unions are merely administrative branches, with PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 181 somewhat more extended authority than a branch usually has. The Joint Board is composed of delegates from every local union within its territorial and indus- trial jurisdiction. The number of delegates to which the local is entitled varies with the organization. In the International Ladies’ Garment Workers, every local, regardless of its size, sends five delegates; the Hat and Cap Makers also give locals an equal number of delegates; in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, the number of delegates to which a local is entitled depends upon its size. Each local may have at least one delegate and no local more than four; locals of about 300 members have 2 delegates and those above 1,000 have three. The Amalgamated. Joint Board is the only body which has two kinds of : delegates: ‘‘full-fledged’’ with voice and vote, from. locals directly represented on the Board, and dele- gates with voice but no vote from locals indirectly represented. The indirect representation comes from crafts only remotely connected with the men’s clothing industry, such as Lapel Makers, Button- Hole Makers,. Wholesale Clothing Clerks, Bushel- men, and Clothing Drivers and Helpers. Hach has two delegates, and they join in the formulation of larger policies and general enterprises. In all the rest, however, they maintain their autonomy, as semi-independent trade unions. The Joint Boards have a number of paid and un- paid officers to transact their business. The unpaid officers are usually limited to a chairman and record- 182 THE NEW UNIONISM ing secretary. In the Amalgamated Clothing Work- ers, the Joint Board elects from its own number a Board of Directors consisting of fourteen members, as an executive committee with authority to act between meetings and with the duty of giving pre- liminary consideration to every important question and bringing in a report with recommendations to the Joint Board. The number and kind of paid officers vary with the size of the respective Boards and the business they have to attend to. In most cases the Joint Board has a General Manager, a Secretary-Treasurer, District Managers or Trade Managers, Assistant Managers, and as many Busi- ness Agents as may be necessary. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers Joint Board also has a. Recording Secretary. The General Manager is elected either by the Joint Board (Ladies’ Garment Workers, Furriers) or by a referendum vote of the membership. (Amalga- by the local ‘unions, ¢ every local being entitled to nominate one candidate by majority vote. The District Managers of the Ladies’ Garment Workers are appointed by the Joint Board from among the Business Agents. The Trade Managers exist only in the Amalgamated, on account of the special struc- ture of the men’s clothing industry. It is subdivided into three sections: the making of coats, pants, and vests, which are produced as a rule in separate shops. These divisions are highly specialized, and an operator or presser in one cannot easily be replaced PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 183 by a worker of the same craft in another. Each of these three subtrades therefore has an advisory joint board, which has no authority, but gives special con- sideration to the needs of the trade and brings in reports and recommendations to the Joint Board of Men’s Clothing. Each advisory board has it Trade Manager, elected by a referendum vote of the mem- bers concerned. The Trade Managers follow closely the development of their trades, and serve as links between the General Manager of the Joint Board and the respective subdivisions. The Italian locals also have an advisory joint board of their own, which has an Assistant Manager, but no Manager. The Assistant Managers in the other boards are ap- pointed by the Manager with the approval of the Board of Directors. ee oi ss The Business Agents perform many duties, but , are chiefly used as emissaries of the Joint Board in dealing with individual manufacturers, in settling minor disputes, and in seeing that agreements are carried out. If trouble arises in any shop which cannot be settled without reference to the Joint Board, the Business Agent is at once called in. The system of selecting the Business Agents varies. In the Ladies’ Garment Workers they used to be nom- inated by locals and elected by general ballot, each local being entitled to a quota of Business Agents depending on its size. This process depended too much on electioneering and resulted frequently in the choice of unqualified candidates, since the mem- bers as a whole had little knowledge of the long list / 184 THE NEW UNIONISM of names submitted. Now, after the quotas of Busi- ness Agents for the several locals have been ap- portioned, an announcement is issued by the Joint Board that all who feel themselves qualified for the office shall make applications. A sort of civil service examination is then held, the examining board con- sisting of a committee from the Joint Board, with members invited from among prominent persons in the labor movement. Those receiving the highest marks are appointed, provided, however, that the quotas from the several locals are properly filled. The practice in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers is similar, but in this case all candidates who receive a passing mark are submitted to referendum vote of the locals in the respective trades, the trades vot- ing separately. In the other unions, one or the other of these two systems, with slight modifications, is used. The taxation systems of the unions are carefully planned. In the Amalgamated Clothing Workers the Joint Board collects all the dues through the central office. Out of the 35c. weekly per capita, the Board re- tains 17%4c. pays 12%c. to the General Office, and 5c. to the local union. A similar procedure obtains in the Furriers Union. In the United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers, the local unions collect the dues—30c. per week—and pass on to the Joint Board 5c., to the Joint Council 8c., and to the General Office 12c. There is a movement here to substitute the method of the Amalgamated. The International Ladies’ Gar- ment Workers have an entirely different system. At PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 185 the beginning of each six-months’ period, the Joint Board makes up a budget of expenditures. A re- volving fund is then created to cover the expenses of one month. Each local contributes its share to this fund in proportion to its membership. At the end of the month a statement of actual expenditures is made up and the total sum divided proportionally among the locals. Bills are sent to the locals for their respective shares. This revolving fund at present is $25,000; the per capita which the Joint Board thus receives amounts to about 11c. per week; besides this, the locals pay 6c. a week to the General Office, and retain the remainder of the dues them- selvés. The local unions, of course, do not need for current expenses all the money in their treasuries; the greater part of it goes toward building up re- serve and defense funds to be used in case of a strike. In an emergency the locals supply the Joint Board with proportional contributions. The extra-legal shop committees and shop chair- men are highly important factors in the trade units. The shop chairman is an unpaid official elected by all the workers of a shop out of their own number, irrespective of their crafts. In the very big shops, separate crafts may have chairmen of their own, but there is always a general chairman for the entire shop. The shop committee consists of several workers elected to act with the chairman. Where the crafts have chairmen of their own, these act as members of the committee. Whenever a dispute arises in a shop, it must be handled first by the shop 86 THE NEW UNIONISM hairman and committee. The collective agreements sually provide for this preliminary negotiation. If settlement is arrived at with the employer on the pot, it is virtually final, though the members have he right of appeal to the executive board of their eal and through it to the Joint Board, which may eopen the issue in the way prescribed in the agree- aent. In the few shops still under a piece-work ystem, the shop chairman and shop committee also egotiate about prices. But the shop chairmen perform a far more im- ortant function as the direct channel between the rganization and the rank and file. They are the mmediate guardians of the spiritual and material ssets of the organization. According to established ractice, there are a thousand and one duties which hey must perform. The shop chairman must see o it that every union member in the shop remains in ‘ood standing, and that the general provisions of the ollective agreement are observed. He must see that he members pay their assessments. Whenever an ppeal is made to the membership for contributions, ither to assist another division of the same organ- zation or another union during a strike, or to sup- ort some enterprise of the labor movement, such s the battle for civil liberties or the defense of the usted Socialist Assemblymen at Albany, the shop hairman impresses on the workers the importance f the cause and makes the collection. He reports n all important developments in the trade. He ecures the correct names and addresses for the PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 187 mailing list of the official journal, Whenever: an important movement is inaugurated by the union, the shop chairmen explain it, help create a sentiment for it, and smooth over the difficulties that may be in the way. Joint Boards seldom undertake a large project without launching it first at a meeting of shop chairmen, and securing their adherence to it. Whether it be a plan for change from piece to week work, a proposed increase in the per capita tax, preparations for a general strike, or an educational campaign, the shop chairmen will be consulted be- fore a decision is arrived at. The advantages of this extensive use of the shop unit in place of the local union are obvious, especially for a democratic and active organization. The shop chairmen are in contact with the members at their places of work; they see all the members every day. They do not have to rely on the minority who attend meetings. Their point of view is that of the worker at his job, the worker in production. They furnish a continuous means of communication which can be instantly invoked. The fact that their growing func- tion has not entirely eliminated the necessity of the local is due partly to tradition, partly to the social and racial elements involved, and partly, in the strictly clothing trades, to the extreme imperman- ence of the small establishments and the fluidity of labor. The local union must be retained as a per- manent nucleus. It is interesting to note, by the way, that the use of shop chairmen had already be- come established in the American clothing unions -~ 188 THE NEW UNIONISM long before the shop steward movement arose in England during the war. The General Officers of the unions are a General President and a General Secretary or Secretary- Treasurer, both full-time, salaried officials. Some- times there is also a General Treasurer, but he is unpaid, his duties are small, and his position is not far different from that of any General Executive Board Member. The main duties of the General President are assisting in the adjustment of im- portant disputes between workers and employers, ad- justing differences between local unions, presiding over meetings of the General Executive Board, and directing all organizing work. The General Sec- retary conducts the correspondence of the organiza- tion, is the guardian of the seal, documents, papers, labels; he keeps account of all financial transactions and pays bills as authorized either by the constitu- tion or the General Executive Board. Both officers are in practice entrusted with the main responsibility for guidance of the organization. They submit their reports to the Convention, and in the interim to the General Executive Board. Between Conventions, the General Executive Board is the supreme authority. It consists of the General Officers and a number of other members elected by the same process.* It decides all points 4 The General Executive Board members of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers, besides the President and Secretary, are called Vice Presidents: there are thirteen of these, of whom seven must be resident in New York City. The Hat and Cap Makers have fif- teen members on the Board, of whom no less than eleven must be residents of New York. The Amalgamated Executive Board has eleven members, with no restrictions on residence. PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 189 of law or interpretation of the constitution, all claims, grievances and appeals. It has the power to authorize a general strike, to issue charters to newly organized local unions; it publishes the official journals; it elects trustees for any of the special funds, such as sick benefit and defense funds; and it has general supervision over the affairs of the organization. If a vacancy occurs between conven- tions, the board nominates candidates for it, who are then submitted to a referendum vote—in the Amal- gamated, of the entire membership, and in the Cap and Hat Makers, of the membership of the local unions in the city which is entitled to the seat. No referendum is required in the Ladies’ Garment Workers, The Convention is the highest legislative authority. It consists of delegates elected by the local unions in proportion to the size of average membership for which a per capita tax was paid for a period ranging from six months to two years preceding the Con- vention. Each local is entitled to at least one dele- gate, and in the Ladies’ Garment Workers, to two delegates; the number of members entitled to ad- ditional delegates progressively increases with the increase of the membership of the local. The Amal- gamated is an exception to this rule, as it grants the local union an additional delegate for every 300 members above the first hundred. The constitution of the Amalgamated provides that a local of 1,000 members must send to the convention no less than three delegates. In all the other unions each delegate 190 THE NEW UNIONISM has a single vote regardless of the number of mem- bers he represents. In the Amalgamated each dele- gate is entitled to one vote for every 100 members. The regular conventions of these unions meet bien- nially in the month of May. At the request of five locals, no two of which shall be in the same state or province, the General Executive Board is obliged to take a referendum on the subject of calling a special convention. A favorable two-thirds or three- fourths vote is necessary for adoption of the proposi- tion. The General Executive Board also has the right on its own initiative to submit sucha referendum. The referendum is required by all these organiza- tions for the passage of any amendment to the con- stitution which may be adopted by .the convention and, in the previously specified cases, for the election of General Officers. It has become the custom for conventions to submit vital questions to a refer- endum vote. The joint meetings of all local executive boards is an extra-legal institution invoked in cases where a whole industry is involved, just as shop-chairmen meetings are used when a single trade is involved. On important occasions General Membership Mass Meetings are arranged simultaneously in as many halls as are necessary. They include all members of a certain locality independent of craft or trade, and are called usually at the initiative of a joint executive board meeting. A proposal to declare a general strike, or to impose a general assessment on the PHILOSOFHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 191 membership or to launch a campaign for a 44-hour week or for a week-work system, is the typical sub- ject for such a meeting. Sometimes the entire indus- try of a certain city is stopped during the working hours and the union members, headed by their shop chairmen, march en masse to the previously assigned halls. In such cases, virtually the entire member- ship is reached. This method is employed in prefer- ence to a referendum, or parallel to a referendum, because it has the advantage of giving the worker a chance to deliberate on the question, and to ex- change opinions before making up his mind to vote one way or the other. The strategy employed by these organizations must be interpreted in the light of their philosophy and structure. Both old and new unions, to be sure, employ similar weapons, such as the strike and the collective bargain. Behind this superficial uniformity of method, however, there is a vast difference of emphasis and attitude. The question is not so much what weapons a union uses, as how it uses them, what relative importance it attaches to them, and what strategic positions it regards as secondary and what as primary. An analysis of the strategy of the new unionism will discover in it two fundamental objectives to which all other policies are subordinated. The first is to organize all the workers in the industry; the second is to develop them, through their daily struggles, into a class-conscious labor army, able and ready to assume control of industry. These fun- 192 THE NEW UNIONISM damentals may not always be clear even in the minds of the leaders, but a study of policies will reveal them. The supreme importance attached to the organiza- tion of all the workers in the industry is revealed by the attitude of the new unionism to such questions of policy as the admission of new members, appren- ticeship, immigration, the union label, jurisdiction, and formation of employers’ associations. As soon as a union gains control over a trade or any part of it, the selfish instinct of its members under present conditions is naturally to keep the gain to themselves, and to restrict as far as possible, the invasion of their sphere of influence by new workers. Most business unions have high initiation fees, complicated examinations, and other means of making admission difficult. There are cases of suc- cessful unions who close their membership books for ,ten years or more. The clothing unions, however, raise no obstacles against the entry of new members. The constitution of the Hat and Cap Makers def- initely provides that no local union shall charge more than $25 for initiation, which shall include all payments to the various funds. The Ladies’ Gar- ment Workers cannot charge more than $15 for ad- mission of men and $10 for women. The Amal- gamated has had no constitutional limitations, ex- cept that the local must receive the approval of the General Executive Board for its initiation fee. A movement lately arose in the Amalgamated in New York to inaugurate high initiation fees, but it was PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 193 checked at the very start, and the 1920 convention established a legal limit of $10.00. The practice of these unions is even more liberal than their con- stitution limitations. During general organization campaigns, which occur frequently, members are admitted at a nominal fee, in some cases as low as 50c. The same difference in policy applies to appren- ticeship. The restrictions and regulations which the | ew unionists enforce with regard to apprentices aim not to bar apprentices from the trade but to prevent their being used by the employer to weaken| the organization through exploitation and under- payment. The clothing unions merely insist that no more apprentices shall be admitted than are actually needed by the industry, that they shall receive the same treatment as the organized workers of the trade, and that their work shall be paid for at the full amount of its value under established union standards. The period of apprenticeship must be no longer than necessary, and as soon as it is over, the apprentice must join the union. This agreement is not merely a business arrangement, but is a means of enlisting every new recruit as soon as possible into the real labor army. The old unionism always combats immigration. The new unionism, however, thinks of capitalist in- dustry as not limited by the boundaries of a nation, and believes that the prospective immigrant remain- ing in his own country affects the labor market as much in the long run as if he is admitted to our we me 194 THE NEW UNIONISM, | va! as Aes. shores. The new unionism never apnoser qanhee, tion; at several hearings before congressional com- mittees its representatives have demanded that no new restrictions on immigration be imposed. All the clothing unions have an official union label, In none of them except the United Garment Workers, which typifies the old unionism, is much significance attached to it. The label, distinguishing union- made from non-union goods, is meant as a premium for the unionized shop and a deterrent for the others, by regulating the patronage of union sympathisers. This device stresses indirect protection of the union shops rather than organization of the non-union. The benefits which the members receive from the use of the label sometimes lead to a tendency on the part of the business union actually to refrain from organ- izing the whole industry. In disputes about jurisdiction the motives of the two types differ. The old type will look for exten- sion of jurisdiction as a method of increasing the number of jobs for its members, or of adding to the ‘‘ner-capita’’ in the treasury. The new unionism, on the other hand, will seek extended jurisdiction primarily as an opportunity of organizing all the workers in an industry, and so extending the eco- nomic power of the whole group. The controversy between the United Hatters and the Hat and Cap Makers is an example (see Chapter IIT). The Inter- national Ladies’ Garment Workers has made re- peated attempts to induce the American Federation of Labor to organize a department to serve all the PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 195 needle-trades unions, while the United Garment Workers has always stubbornly fought this proposition. The attitude towards the formation of an em- ployers’ association will, with the old unionism, de- pend primarily upon whether the association is for or against collective bargaining. The attitude of the new unionism in this matter will be determined largely by the question whether the existence of the association will create more or less favorable con- ditions for the organization of more workers in the ' industry. In the needle trades, as we have seen, the * progress of the unions was hampered by the extreme : div ivergence of conditions in the many shops. Em- ployers’ associations furnished a means of exerting a standardizing influence on the trade. In the early ~stages of the struggle, the unions concerned not merely looked with favor on the formation of such associations, but in some cases actively encouraged it. The association of hat and cap manufacturers was, for instance, brought into being partly through the influence of the young union. The second of the fundamental strategic policies of the new unionism—the importance it attaches to cultivating the solidarity of the workers and making them ready to assume control of industry—is re- vealed by its attitude toward mutual insurance, strikes, collective bargaining and agreements, sys- \ tem of payment for work, productivity and sabotage, the general labor movement and independent polit- ical action. 196 THE NEW UNIONISM Mutual insurance is relegated to the background. In the old unionism large insurance funds are likely to stand in the way of aggressive action, to prevent the enrollment of many new members, and to be a barrier against amalgamation. Only such benefits as are directly related to militant action have a prominent place in the new unionism. The clothing unions pay liberal strike benefits, more liberal than do many organizations of the old type. But the strike benefit is not rigidly fixed in their constitu- tions, and is not an insurance payment in the or- dinary sense, since the entire resources of the union and often of its individual members as well are mob- ilized in support of strikers once a battle is on. Only one of the unions under consideration has provisions for the payment of sick benefit—the United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers. But here the payment is not made from an isolated fund, though of course a separate book account is maintained. Even with the Cap Makers, participation in this benefit is volun- tary, and side by side with many beneficiary mem- bers there are many non-beneficiary, who prefer to pay a smaller per capita tax. Now that the bulk of the needle trades have been organized, and the vested interest tends to weaken the organizing zeal, there is a more favorable attitude toward mutual insurance. There is more in common between the two types of unionism in their attitude toward the strike as a weapon of last resort than to any other practice of unions. Both consider the right to strike vital to PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 197 their continued existence, and will zealously guard this right. The old unionism, however, regards the strike as a weapon of sections of the workers against unreasonable employers, and believes that strikes may be altogether avoided against those employers whose views ‘‘come in entire accord with the organ- ization of the working people.’’ The new unionism, on the other hand, thinks of the strike not as a weapon of particular employees against particular | employers, but as an irrepressible manifestation of the class struggle, and it denies that durable har- monious relations between the employing class and the workers may be expected. ““* °°" free" In the actual employment of the strike the old unionism is more ready than the new. The business union will use the strike wherever it may have a chance of bringing immediately desired results. It will permit strikes of one craft in an establishment without the others, thus tying up work for the benefit of a few. It will strike against one or more em- ployers rather than against a whole trade. It will single out the unreasonable from the reasonable. The new unionism as far as possible reserves the | strike for a last weapon in clashes over the degree of control of industry. It anxiously avoids guerilla warfare. It seeks decisive issues and movement in masses. It does not permit strikes of single crafts. Not ascribing too much value to immediate better- ment, it will strike against the whole body of em- ployers in a trade or industry rather than against in- dividuals or sections. It almost never strikes for 198 THE NEW UNIONISM wages alone, but places the emphasis on the intro- duction of better systems of work, shorter hours or greater control. The tendency now is to conserve the strike almost entirely for this latter aim, letting other gains follow incidentally. Collective bargaining and the collective agreement is to the old unionism an aim in itself—in many cases the highest aim. The new unionism, on the con- trary, regards the entire necessity of bargaining as a result of economic oppression. Improved bargain- ing conditions therefore have the same significance to it as modified autocracy to the real democrat. It uses collective bargaining as a means of eliminating minor disputes so that its strength may be reserved for the main issues, as a means of defining those issues, and as a means of extending and strengthen- ing the organization. The exercise of collective bar- gaining makes concerted action on the part of em- ployees a habit, and serves to give expression to class solidarity within the frame of the existing order. The collective agreement is merely the record of the balance of power between employers and em- ployees at a given time. In the old unionism the agreement is often thought of as the end of the struggle, with the new it is an incident in it. The agreement is a sort of political constitution enforced upon autocratic rulers by the people; the real sig- nificance of such a constitution depends upon the in- dependent spirit of the people and their readiness to defend their rights. The provisions of a collective PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 199 agreement have an entirely different meaning in practice according to whether the strength of the union as compared with that of the employers in- creases or decreases during the life of the agreement. The collective agreement—strange as it may seem —is more seldom broken by unions adhering to the new philosophy than by those who adopt the old. While the sanctity of contract as such between labor and capital means little to the new unionist, there is no inducement for him to break a contract for trivial reasons. It would be absurd, in his form of strategy, to incur for scattering advantages the danger and expense of the battle which breaking an agreement would involve. Expecting beforehand that changes in the balance of power and in the de- sires of the workers will take place, he either con- cludes peace for so short a term that no great de- velopment can occur before the contract terminates, or gives it a flexible nature, with machinery for mak- ing minor adjustments. The tendency now is to avoid written constitutions altogether. The em- ployers in the clothing industries have themselves become infected with this conception of life as a fluid process which cannot be confined by rigid stipulations. The old unionist thinks of the agreement as a fixed law whose observance becomes a matter of good faith only. The result is that, influenced as he is bound to be, more by the conditions of his existence than by abstract sanctity of contract, he is led to break it whenever conditions have materially 200 THE NEW UNIONISM changed or there is a tempting possibility of im- mediate betterment. The danger of breach of con- tract by the business union is still further increased because the agreement is more the result of bargain- ing shrewdness on the part of officials than the real expression of the existing balance of power. Nego- tiations are frequently carried on and concluded by national officers without the participation of the masses, who therefore do not feel that the contract expresses their own will, and are more inclined to discard it. An inquiry the results of which were published by the New York World October 19, 1919, although it revealed many breaches of contract in nearly all other industries, did not show a single agreement broken by the unions in the clothing in- dustries. In justice to the old unionism, it should be stated that this inquiry shows an abnormal state of affairs. Rigid agreements concluded during the recent era of rising prices had far less chance of survival than usual. The attitude of the business union toward method of payment revolves chiefly about the relation be- tween compensation and effort. That system is fa- vored which gives the greater compensation for the smaller effort. With the new unionism the question is what system will better preserve the vitality of the working class, and will promote common will and action. If payment by the week is preferred to pay- ment by the piece, it is primarily because the former helps to develop solidarity among the workers and makes it necessary for those whose demands on life PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 201 are highest to seek improvement for their entire group or class.® Opposition to the practice of ca’ canny or slack- ing on the job, as well as toward sabotage in all its forms, is in the old unionism due to the principle of ‘‘a fair day’s work for a fair day’s wage,’’ while the new unionism regards it as an enemy of the class consciousness of the workers and of their readiness to assume control of industry. Inefficient work is an instinctive expression of dissatisfaction and lack of interest, and is in some measure unavoidable under the capitalist system; it can be mitigated only in so far as the worker feels a pride in his job. The new unionism, by laying emphasis on increasing con- trol of the process, strikes at the roots of sabotage, whereas the old unionism, by emphasizing the bar- gaining process, creates a favorable atmosphere for it even while formally opposing it. Moreover, the new unionism has much stronger reasons to dis- courage it. Sabotage is a method that must be em- ployed individually rather than by concerted action. It cannot be practised openly and therefore has a harmful influence on the dignity and personality of the worker—a factor of prime concern to the new unionism. It directs the struggle against the indi- vidual rather than against the employers as a whole, while the new unionism professes no enmity against the individual and battles merely with the system. Finally, sabotage may undermine the industry itself, and, what is more important, the psychological read- iness of the workers to control it. 5 See Appendix. 202 THE NEW UNIONISM Similar motives prompt the new unionism to be far more receptive to improved machinery and man- agement than the old. To the exclusive business union, a device for increasing productivity is merely a threat to replace skill with a mechanical process, and so to rob the craftsman of his monopoly. To the socialist, it may be a valuable contribution to industrial technique, which if put to the right uses will lighten the burden on all the workers. The concern of the new unionist is not so much to pre- vent the introduction of machinery or better man- agement as to see that they do not become instru- ments of oppressing the worker, or of diverting to the employer an abnormally increased share in the rewards of his toil. The Amalgamated set a new precedent when at its 1920 convention it voted to establish standards of production. The new unionism naturally takes a wider interest and a more active part in the life of the labor move- ment as a whole ‘than does the old. Every battle of a union anywhere it regards as its own battle. During the street-car strike in New York City a few years ago the workers of the needle trades for long weeks faithfully walked to their jobs or used all kinds of unfamiliar conveyances, but until the last refused to have anything to do with cars run by strike- breakers. Hardly a struggle conducted by a union in the country which has needed financial assistance has failed to receive it in generous measure from the clothing workers. The recent strikes of textile workers and steel workers are noteworthy examples PHILOSOPHY, STRUCTURE, STRATEGY 203 —to the steel strike the needle trades pledged half a million dollars, and before its close had actually contributed as much as any other group of unions in the country, including those who officially called the strike. The same attitude is demonstrated in another way. Thinking of themselves as part of the general labor movement, the clothing unions have remained, as far as they could, within the ex- isting Federation, regardless of their objections to policies of its leaders. This policy is not due chiefly to selfish motives, since the unions of the needle trades have received negligible support from the Federation. The contributions of all the A. F. of L. unions toward the great Cloakmakers’ strike in 1910 was not above a few hundred dollars. The desire to remain affiliated with the Federation is purely a sign of loyalty to the working class, and of a belief in the ultimate justice of the cause of labor, no matter what fallacies its officials may temporarily profess. The old unionism, having no quarrel with the present social order, has no compelling reason to’ undertake independent political action. In politics as in industry it seeks merely to trade for imme- . diate concessions, which may be wrested by prom- | ises and threats from either of the two old parties. - The new unionism, opposed as it is not merely to i the minor evils of the social order but also to its . fundamentals, naturally cannot rely on parties which are themselves expressions of that order and organs | of the powers that support it. The new unionism 204 THE NEW UNIONISM may desire the same minor improvements which the old unionism seeks, but they are not intimately enough related with its cause to determine its poli- tics. The preamble to the constitution of the Inter- national Ladies’ Garment Workers Union provides for the support of a party whose aim is the abo- lition of the capitalist system. While the other con- stitutions do not all have definite provisions to that effect, the practice of the clothing unions is the same. They are always in favor of vigorous inde- pendent political action, and they cooperate with the Socialist Party.*® It would be impossible to enter into the minor details of strategy, since the interests and activities of the new unions extend to so many fields of human endeavor. It may be said that nothing humane is foreign to them. 6 The founding of a national Labor Party is striking evidence ot the drift of the old unionism toward the new. The natural tendency of the clothing unions, with their feeling for labor solidarity, would be to work for amalgamation between the two working class parties, but before doing so they must give the new movement time to establish itself and prove whether it can be permanent and sincere. CHAPTER VIII EDUCATION Tue educational work of the labor organizations in the needle trades, though but a few years old, has already reached a stage where its tendencies can be roughly defined. The extent of these educational efforts, and still more the broad vision which they have revealed, have attracted considerable attention, on the part both of the labor movement and the general public. The 1918 convention of the Ameri- ean Federation of Labor found the subject of suf- ficient interest to direct the Executive Council to appoint a special committee to investigate the edu- cational system of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union and other similar schools, with a view of reporting to the 1919 convention whether the methods employed could not be applied generally to the labor movement of the United States and Canada. The numerous articles in the press, and the formation of the Art, Labor and Science Con- ference with the express purpose of cooperating with these trade unions in education, are indications of the growing interest in this work. It is generally recognized that, in a sense, every labor union is an educational institution in itself. The elementary principles of democracy, the concep- 205 206 THE NEW UNIONISM tion of majority rule, the rudiments of representa- tive government, the significance and practice of the ballot, the first inklings of taxation by the will of the people and the realization of the significance of self-discipline in a democracy, are perhaps no- where learned in a more direct and immediate way than in a labor union. No amount of school train- ing could ever cultivate that simple understanding of the basic principles and practices of self-govern- ment which is naturally acquired by every active member. In addition, the regular trade activities of a labor organization are educational in many other ways. The process of determining the de- mands which the organization is to present to the manufacturers, the struggle for these demands, the consideration and settlement of grievances and dis- putes, the practice of mediation, conciliation, and ar- bitration—all these activities touch upon the funda- mentals of economics and sociology, and more directly upon questions concerning management and control of industry. This explains why many a labor man, with only very scant opportunities for a systematic education, has attained such a high de- gree of knowledge and culture. The educational value of the regular trade activities of labor unions varies, however, with the type and character of the unions. The broader the principles upon which a labor or- ganization is built, the wider its horizon, the greater the community with which it identifies itself—the greater is its educational value. The union which EDUCATION 207 limits its philosophy to the immediate betterment of its own craft must necessarily provide fewer op- portunities for education than the one that considers its work for the immediate betterment of the indus- try as a mere link in the social process leading to- wards full industrial and political democracy for the entire people. The member of a craft union can follow the work of his organization without giving much attention to the general economic, social, or political problems of the times. The trade unionist of the old type does not see any close connection between these general conditions and the immediate tasks of his own organization. The situation is en- tirely different in the needle trade unions. As shown in a previous chapter, the success and very exist- ence of the organizations in these trades depended upon their active adherence to the philosophy of the new unionism. Scattered in trades of an inferior industrial structure, they could draw their organ- ized strength only from the ties of conscious work- ing-class solidarity. With the prospect of immedi- ate betterment seemingly so remote, their appeal to the workers for organization had to be based on the greater promise of the full emancipation of the working class. This fundamental philosophy made it necessary for the unions in the needle trades from the very start to devote considerable attention to subjects with which the average union of the old type never concerned itself. It can be said that, in this sense, the educational work in the needle trades began with their first attempts at organization. 208 THE NEW UNIONISM During the early eighties, when the first attempts at organization in the needle trades were made, the unions had an ephemeral character. LEvery year small and transient trade unions sprang up and dis- appeared before sending forth roots. During this time these unions were rather debating societies than real trade organizations. The members of such unions were often more interested in the theoretical battles between the different philosophical schools fighting for supremacy on the East Side than in their trade activities. The evident futility of their efforts to gain immediate improvements in sweatshop con- ditions gave abnormal impulse to their hopes of ac- complishing this purpose, and more, by means of a general reconstruction of society on the basis of one or another of the philosophies propounded to them. Another contributing factor was the fact that all the early efforts at organization were directed by a comparatively small number of immigrant revo- lutionary intellectuals. The state of mind of these immigrant intellectuals is described best by one of them in an article written many years later.’ These men ‘‘suddenly found themselves under the influence of three main schools. The teachers who dominated the three schools were idolized by their followers. One of them was William Frey who taught Positivism and the ‘religion of humanity;’ another was Felix Adler who preached Ethical Cul- ture; and a third was Johann Moste who taught 2 Dr. H. Spivack quoted in The History of the Jewish Labor Move- ment by H. Burgin, 1915. EDUCATION 209 Anarchism. Hager audiences flocked to all three. But, at the beginning, the teachings of the three were confused in the minds of the youth into an Ethical-Anarchistic-Positivistic hash.’’ Debates between the adherents of all these philo- sophical schools, and especially between socialists and anarchists, were a very frequent occurrence at the union meetings. Many a time the debates were transferred from the local union meetings to the central body, the United Hebrew Trades. A char- acteristic example of the interest which the workers in the needle trades took in these chiefly abstract discussions is supplied by a debate held in Cooper Union in 1889 on the interesting subject, Whether the workers ought or ought not participate in the movement for an eight-hour day. During all these years numerous societies and clubs for self-educa- tion were organized and were working hand in hand with the trade unions. They were, however, as ephemeral and transient as the unions themselves. An early attempt to create a labor college for systematic education is recorded in 1899, when the so-called Workers’ School was organized by Drs. Peskin, I. N. Stone, and A. Ingerman. Systematic courses in economics, natural science, socialism, and allied subjects, were given in this school, which ex- isted for several years, and was reorganized into the Workers’ Educational League. Another attempt at systematic education was made by John Deitsch, who in 1901 organized the Jewish Workers League for the purpose of studying industrial problems, eco- 210 THE NEW UNIONISM nomics, and so on. The constitution of this League contained a provision that it must remain entirely non-partisan. When the Rand School of Social Sci- ence was established in 1905 it met, to a great ex- tent, the demand for systematic education which by this time was prevalent among the more alert element of the unions in the needle trades, especially those who had succeeded in gaining a satisfactory knowledge of the English language. The Rand School always drew a very considerable percentage of its students from the needle trades. The first decade of the twentieth century was the time when all the present great organizations of the needle trades were built up; it was the time of rapid constructive trade union progress. But even during this period, when all these industries were raised from the sweatshop to civilized condi- tions, the interest of the membership in the wider social and economic problems rather increased than decreased. During this decade the unions made re- peated attempts to organize educational work of their own. Many local unions appointed educational committees. Lectures at the regular meetings, mu- sicales, ete., were arranged sporadically by many of the large locals. It is also worthy of mention that during this decade the branches of the Work- men’s Circle * increased their educational activities 8 The Workmen’s Circle is a Jewish fraternal order established in 1900, paying to its members sick, death and consumption benefit, and providing for them many other forms of assistance in time of need or distress. At present it has a membership of 80,000, of which about 75% are workers of the needle trades. The Work- men’s Circle does a great deal of educational work through its _ EDUCATION | 211 ee which reached an ever growing number of Yiddish- speaking workers. As soon as the unions in the needle trades were established on a firm foundation, the need for edu- cational work not merely increased, but also changed in character. In the early stages of their history it was upon the necessity of solidarity and organiza- _tion that their educational efforts were concentrated. The lectures in economics or sociology were an in- direct agitation for organization. They were meant primarily to solidify the ranks by a common con. sciousness which would make possible control over industries which, owing to their inferior structure, presented almost insurpassable difficulties to organi- zation. , Even the debates among the different social and philosophic factions struggling for supremacy within these unions were more in the nature of gen- eral agitation, limited to first principles and scratch- ing only the surface of the subjects, than a sys- tematic analysis of social and economic phenomena. The main purpose, consciously or unconsciously, was to develop that state of mind which makes pos- sible concerted action upon the part of tens of thousands of loosely organized workers, scattered in thousands of shops with endless variety of work- ing conditions, with no firmly fixed demarcation line between employer and employee, and subject, in ad- dition, to all the miseries of the sweatshop, tene- branches, and since 1910 also through its General Office. Among others, the Workmen’s Circle published a number of good popular books in Yiddish on different social and economic subjects, including a text-book on Trade Unionism by Dr. Louis Levine. 212 THE NEW UNIONISM ment home-work and all kinds of sub-manufacturing and sub-contracting. By the end of the first decade jes : of the century this task of creating a common con- :.— sciousness had been fairly well accomplished. The unions in the needle trades succeeded in solidifying their ranks and making concerted action on their part the established rule and practice; they succeeded in gaining a substantial control over their industries, More than that, by virtue of the more highly devel- oped common consciousness they were fairly on the way to catching up with the standards achieved by the general labor movement of this country. The need for primitive education, which was primarily agitation, had lost by this time its urgency and im- portance. Something more fundamental grew nec- essary. The first record of this necessity for fundamental education on a large scale we find in the reports of the proceedings of the 1914 convention of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union. That convention recognized the need ‘‘to dwell par- ticularly upon the more solid and preparatory work of education and not to devote much time to the mere superficial forms of agitation and propaganda which have been the main features of our educa- tional work in the past.’? The same motive we find in the report of the General Secretary, Max Zucker- man, to the convention of the United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers held in May, 1917. Speaking of the unsatisfactory results of the many educational ef- forts made by the various local unions at different EDUCATION 213 times, he gives as one of the reasons for this failure ‘‘the mistake of merely advocating it as a general proposition instead of arranging a definite system to carry on the educational work.’’ Perhaps the best analysis of the causes necessitating change in the character of the educational work is supplied by a recent editorial (August 22, 1919) in the Fort- schritt, the official organ of the Amalgamated Cloth- ing Workers of America, of which the General Sec- retary, Joseph Schlossberg, is the editor. Since the Amalgamated Clothing Workers came into existence later than the other unions of the needle trades, the passage from the primitive education to the more fundamental education arose with them at a later date. Says the editorial: ‘Our main power always lay in the fact that we edu- cated the membership on the questions which they had to solve through our organization. . . . This was education on the special tasks as they arose. These tasks have now been accomplished. Today a different education is de- manded. We now need such educational work as will explain to our workers the world events, their social posi- tion, the true purpose of a labor organization and its task under the present world conditions. ‘“We have reached a point when education is no less important than the organization itself. We must have it or we cannot continue our work, unless we are satisfied that the Amalgamated shall sink to the level of a reac- tionary bureaucracy in which the members are mere dues- payers and the officials are the organization. “‘Our duties grow, and our responsibilities grow: the intelligence and the education of the members must grow 214 THE NEW UNIONISM together with them, or the Amalgamated will cease to be what it has been until now... . ‘“‘The burning question before us is: What are we to do in order that our organization may always remain young, fresh, militant and rich in spirit? The answer is, that we must immediately inaugurate efficient educational work among our members.’’ It took some time for the unions to settle on defi- nite methods. The system is not yet completed. But at this writing it is sufficiently advanced to make fairly certain both its permanency and its form. An analysis of the educational work as at present con- ducted reveals the following principles underlying it. It is planned so as to be closely connected and interrelated with the usual trade activities of the organizations. Their aspiration is to make the edu- cational and trade activities become two phases of the same movement, completing and helping one an- other. It aims on the one hand to increase the pro- portion of the membership which has a thorough understanding of the labor movement and its prob- lems and can carry the burden of the work of the organization, and on the other hand to develop a stronger sentiment of fellowship among the member- ship at large, to raise the morale in the ranks of the organizations by imbuing them with a deeper devotion to the ideals of the labor movement and a greater readiness to fight for their achievement. It seeks to supply adequate mental food and facili- ties for a broad cultural life for that element which already craves it, but it still more endeavors to stim- EDUCATION 215 ulate among the great masses of the rank and file the want for knowledge and culture. The direct connection between the educational and the trade ac- tivities is shown by the fact that the former con- tribute greatly to the raising of the general standard of living of the rank and file, thus increasing its material wants. At the same time the higher level of intelligence makes it possible for the organiza- tion to accomplish more easily the task of improv- ing conditions and increasing wages so as to meet the higher standard of living. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union was the first organization in the needle trades to begin this systematic educational work. As far as is known, this union was the pioneer in education in the labor movement of America. In accordance with the decision of the convention of 1914 their Gen- eral Executive Board appointed a special educa- tional committee. This committee naturally first — sought to take advantage of the educational insti- — tutions which were already existing and active in the needle trades. Arrangements were made with the Rand School for a number of regular courses to be conducted under the joint direction of the In- ternational educational committee and the School. History, Theory and Practice of the Labor Move- ment, Method of Organization, and English were included in this program. A number of systematic lectures and tours, both in English and Yiddish, were arranged by the same committee. A further impetus to this work was given by the Waist and 216 THE NEW UNIONISM Dress Makers Union of the city of New York (Local 25), a local of the International, which independently inaugurated, under the direction of Miss Juliet Stu- art Poyntz, a vigorous educational campaign among its membership. The 1916 convention of the Inter- national Ladies’ Garment Workers Union accepted a plan for an extensive educational campaign and voted $5,000 for that purpose, and the last conven- tion of the International, held in 1918, decided fur- ther to extend the work and appropriated a sum of $10,000 yearly for it. At present the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union has in its national office in New York a special educational department consisting of a staff headed by Director Dr. Louis S. Fried- land and Secretary Fannia Cohn, working under the supervision of the educational committee ap- pointed by the president of the International. This department conducts classes directly in the city of New York and also advises and helps the local unions of the International, both in the city of New York and in other cities, in planning and carrying out their own educational work. In New York, the International has secured the cooperation of the municipal Board of Education for the use of the public school buildings and for the assignment of teachers for their English classes. Six public schools in the various residential sections of the city serve as ‘‘Unity Centers’’ where numerous classes in English, economics, literature, physical training, and other subjects are conducted for the ladies’ EDUCATION | 217 garment workers. These schools also serve as cen- ters for various recreational and social activities. This work is of a more elementary nature, calculated to reach a large portion of the membership. More advanced educational work is carried on in Wash- ington Irving High School under the name of the Workers’ University of the International Ladies’ Garment. Workers Union. Among the courses given there the following may be mentioned: Social inter- pretation of Literature, Evolution of the Labor Movement, Problems of Reconstruction, Sociology and Civilization, Labor Legislation, Social Prob- lems, Trade Unionism, Cooperation. In both the Unity Centers and the Workers’ University concerts are arranged from time to time. Lectures arranged by local unions are also frequently accompanied by a concert. Since December, 1918, the Philadelphia organiza- tion of the I. L. G. W. U. has conducted educational projects among its membership similar to those in New York. Efforts are being made to extend this movement to Boston and other centers of the women’s clothing industry. The United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers conven- tion in 1917 adopted a plan for systematic educa- tion on a large scale. As a result, an educational center known as the Headgear Workers Institute was organized in a public school. The activities were similar to those of the ladies’ garment workers— classes in English, physical training, civics, history of the labor movement, public speaking and parlia- 218 THE NEW UNIONISM mentary law, and collective bargaining. A number of general lectures and excursions to the Metropol- itan Museum of Art and several ‘‘family gather- ings’? were added. The program of the ‘family gathering’’ consisted of a concert, lecture and edu- cational moving pictures; it was intended for the membership and their families and friends. The Hat and Cap Makers did not continue their educa- tional work long, before they inaugurated a cam- paign for uniting the interested labor organizations in a general educational enterprise. The Amalgamated Clothing Workers made their beginning at systematic education only at the end of 1917. The trade problems with which this or- ganization was faced were up to that time so numer- ous, pressing, and in most cases, of such an emer- gency nature that they took up all the energies of the organization. At the end of 1917 the beginning was made simultaneously in Baltimore, Chicago, and New York. This initial effort met with considera- ble success in Chicago and Baltimore, but it proved rather abortive in New York. The 1918 convention of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers instructed the General Board to continue and extend their edu- cational work. It was at that time that the United Labor Education Committee was launched and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers decided to join this common enterprise. Since the organization of the United Labor Education Committee, both the Amal- gamated and the Hat and Cap Makers have con- EDUCATION 219 tinued their educational activities through this com- mon committee. Cooperation of these unions in education was ini- tiated first in June, 1918, at an informal conference held between delegates to the A. F. of L. convention at St. Paul. The United Labor Education Commit- tee was finally founded in November, 1918, by the following organizations: Amalgamated Clothing Workers, United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers, Fur- riers’ Union, Fancy Leather Goods Workers Union, and the Workmen’s Circle. An Executive Board, consisting of two representatives from each of these bodies established a joint office and took charge of all their educational work. While originally be- gun by needle trade organizations, the United Labor Education Committee later embraced a number of other unions and consists at present of about twenty labor organizations. From the report submitted by the chairman of this Committee, J. M. Budish, to the Educational Conference of the United Labor Education Commit- tee, held on February 7, 1920, the following sum- mary of its first year’s activities is derived: An educational undertaking of this sort, serving so large a constituency, and with such limited re- sources—$17,450 was appropriated by the affiliated organizations—was faced by the necessity of an important choice of policy. Any classes which it could establish would include only a small propor- tion of the union members. Should the emphasis, 220 THE NEW UNIONISM then, be laid upon reaching the people in as large masses as possible, and inducing a mental attitude receptive to education, an aspiration which might in great part be satisfied by outside agencies? Or should all the effort be concentrated on supplying in detail the wants of a few? The former course was adopted in a memorandum approved by the commit- tee at the start. ‘‘The fundamental necessity,”’ said this memorandum, ‘‘is that the center of gravity of the educational work shall be transferred from sup- plying systematic knowledge to creating a steadily increasing demand for it, based upon the firm con- viction that the Kingdom of Heaven is open to him who seriously looks for it.”’ At the same time, ‘‘no efforts certainly must be spared to supply the elements who are craving regular systematic education with the necessary classes, courses, etc.’’ The pioneer work of the committee of course en- countered difficulties. It was necessary to try ex- periments, to stir the rank and file to their own need for education, and to accustom them to forms of instruction quite different from the agitation to which they had been subjected in the past. Ob- stacles were set up by local public officials, partic- ularly those in charge of the school buildings, many of whom, frightened by the prevailing anti-revolu- tionary hysteria, feared this might be some new form of Bolshevik propaganda. It was impossible, for instance, to hold classes or lectures in the school buildings in the Yiddish language, although this was EDUCATION 221 the one chiefly spoken and understood by a large proportion of the membership. One of the most successful activities of the com- mittee was the holding of forty-seven forums in various parts of New York, which were attended by about 11,200 persons in all. At these forums, in addition to lectures by widely known speakers on various important subjects, there were recitals of good music by soloists and string quartets, educa- tional moving pictures, lecture-recitals in which the musical compositions presented were explained by competent musicians, and dramatic recitals by Miss Edith Wynne Matthison and Charles Rann Kennedy. The music for the forums was provided by a Sec- tion on Music of which Josef Stransky, conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra, was chairman. In order to bring education directly to the rank and file, lecturers were sent to many regular meet- ings of the union locals. To arrange such lectures properly, it was necessary for each local to elect an educational committee, which should choose the most convenient time of meeting and select from the list of lecturers and subjects the ones preferred. Since most of these lectures were given at regular business meetings they had to be short; it was a difficult task for the speaker to gauge properly the temper of his audience, to develop his subject in twenty or thirty minutes without sacrificing the standards of accuracy, and at the same time to in- terest a group of active unionists many of whom had only the most rudimentary understanding of 222 THE NEW UNIONISM English. If college instructors were submitted to discipline of this sort they might gain in color and directness. Naturally the lectures were not uni- formly successful, but on the whole the experiment was judged satisfactory by the union members themselves, who in a democratic undertaking of this sort have the final authority over what shall be done. In all, 97 lectures were given at local meetings which had a total attendance of 13,715. Excellent opportunities to make contact with the rank and file were furnished by the meetings called by the unions conducting strikes. Arrangements were made by the Committee to make use of the leisure of the strikers for educational and recrea- tional purposes. During six strikes by affiliated unions, 59 meetings with a total attendance of over 45,000 were supplied with speakers and concerts of the highest standard. Union officials and other ob- servers often remark on the fact that in a strike, when people are united in a common purpose and their emotions are unusually stimulated, their imag- inations become active and they are in a peculiarly receptive mood for social and cultural values. In- struction of a more practical sort was furnished to girl strikers in the form of talks on sex hygiene, given in cooperation with the American Social Hygiene Association. Perhaps the most ambitious undertaking of the Committee was the provision of three concerts in Carnegie Hall by the Philharmonic Orchestra, solely for the affiliated membership, at a price far below EDUCATION 223 that which the general public has to pay. It was felt by the committee that something must be done to counteract the degrading effect on the personality of the worker which is produced by the amusements easily accessible, such as cheap moving pictures and musical shows. Most workers seldom patronize good concerts and theaters, first because the cost is too high, and second because these forms of recrea- tion having been in effect monopolized by more fortunate members of society, the workers feel little interest in them. Nothing, however, could be more demoralizing, both to labor and to art, than the identification of fine and serious productions with a remote stratum of society with which the worker has nothing in common. On this account it was thought advisable to give concerts under the auspices of the unions, solely for their own membership. Few concessions to popular taste were made in the pro- grams, on the theory that the way to learn to appre- ciate the best music is to hear it. The result, of course, was that the concerts were rather thinly attended and proved a heavy financial burden; but a steady and rapid rise in attendance from the first concert to the last gave hope that if the experiment were continued it might before long become self- supporting. A similar experiment in drama was projected; it was planned to have a Workmen’s Theater in Eng- lish, giving serious productions of masterpieces sel- dom heard on Broadway, under the best possible direction. This plan did not mature, but the Com- 224 THE NEW UNIONISM mittee did cooperate with the Jewish Art Theater, organized by Louis Schnitzer, Ben-Ami and Em. manuel Reicher and others, and performances of a high standard were furnished to union members at less than half price. Here enough support came from the membership to make the experiment self- sustaining. An English-language theater is still on the program and may be founded before long. According to the policy adopted by the Commit-.. . tee in the beginning, classes offering continuous and systematic instruction in special subjects were the last to be developed. Several classes in English, Economics, Industrial History and History and Ap- preciation of Art were successfully carried on, but on the whole this side of the movement is still in the formative stage. In the meantime, a coopera- tive agreement was made with the Rand School, by which members of affiliated unions may join classes at the school without expense to themselves. In order to symbolize the contact with artists and intellectual leaders which the labor movement must make in any broad attempt at education, an Art, Labor, and Science Conference was created by those interested; this conference constituted itself a per- manent body and elected Sections to cooperate with the Committee in the various undertakings which it had in mind. Much valuable assistance was ren- dered by members of this conference—for instance, by Professor Charles A. Beard, by Josef Stransky and others of the Music Section, and by Richard Ordynski and others of the Drama Section. The con- EDUCATION 225 ference has interesting possibilities of future de- velopment. Friendly relations were established with other bodies carrying on labor education in America, and with the Workers’ Educational Association of Great Britain. A national information bureau or central office may be formed to correlate and serve the vari- ous union educational activities in the United States. In the eyes of the educator, perhaps the most in- teresting feature of all is the democratic nature of the enterprise. The report of the Chairman, from which the above account was extracted, was pre- sented to a conference of delegates from the local unions which the Committee had been serving. It was as if the faculty of a university had to submit a report of its year’s activities to the student body, who in turn had the right of unlimited criticism, and could grant or withhold the funds for the support of the institution. Criticism of all sorts was indeed freely voiced, but defenders of the work were also at hand, and after the Committee had had an oppor- tunity to hear every ground of dissatisfaction, the report was unanimously accepted. Contact of this nature insures that as long as the Committee sur- vives, it will be a vital institution. The conference itself was not the least educational of its under- takings. The report of the committee appointed by the American Federation of Labor to investigate work- ers’ educational enterprises is included in the report of the Executive Council to the thirty-ninth annual 226 THE NEW UNIONISM convention of the Federation held in June, 1919, at Atlantic City. It has for this study a special in- terest because it reveals a cleavage between the business type of unionism and the new unionism. “Your committee recommends,’’ says the report in the general summary of conclusions, ‘‘that cen- tral labor bodies through securing representation on boards of education and through the presentation of a popular demand for increased facilities for adult education make every effort to obtain from the public schools liberally conducted classes in Eng- lish, public speaking, parliamentary law, economics, industrial legislation, history of industry and of the trade union movement, and any other subjects that may be requested by a sufficient number, such classes to be offered at times and places which would make them available to workers. If the public school sys- tem does not show willingness to cooperate in offer- ing appropriate courses and type of instruction, the central labor body should organize such classes with as much cooperation from the public schools as may be obtained. Interested local unions should take the initative when necessary.”’ This report was unanimously endorsed by the con- vention with the addition that the Executive Council was instructed to appoint a committee to investigate the matter of selecting or preparing and publishing unbiassed text-books on different subjects concern- ing the labor movement. The difference between this conception of labor education and the one of the new unionism may be EDUCATION 227 compared with the difference between applied sci- ence and science. The function of education for the business unionism is merely to supply the members with a little more knowledge and information, from which they may derive immediate benefit, especially in connection with their direct trade activities. The new unonism thinks of educational work rather in the light of its vision of a coming commonwealth with anew culture. The business unionism would burden itself with this work only in case the public school system is so reactionary and so entirely uninfluenced by the labor movement that it refuses to supply the necessary classes in English, public speaking, eco- nomics, etc. The new unionism regards the crea- tion of a labor culture, towards which educational work is a mere initial step, as its foremost aspira- tion, and as much a part of the task to be under- taken by the workers themselves as the struggle for political and industrial democracy. Says the report of the Executive Council, ‘‘But such classes (under union auspices) should be considered a stop-gap. The sound solution is a progressive board of educa- tion responsive to the public.’’ Ag against this con- ception of labor education as a temporary stop-gap, the new unionism believes that labor must create its own educational agencies because they are a step towards a new and finer culture, towards the mental and spiritual emancipation of the people. For the new unionism the freedom from ready-made concep- tions, the habit of independent thinking, the search- ing attitude of mind towards life, the creative imagi- 228 THE NEW UNIONISM nation, the ready response to the delicate and noble impressions of nature and the treasures of human thought and intuition, the free and many-sided per- sonality—and a society of equals built on this foun- dation—is that higher ideal which underlies, con- sciously or unconsciously, all phases of the labor struggle. Labor education is therefore to the new unionism not a mere passing activity made neces- sary by a temporary wave of reaction, but perhaps the most conscious expression of all its aspirations. CHAPTER Ix LABOR PRESS AND COOPERATIVES Tue larger the community, the greater is the power of the press. It may be said that the power of the press increases as the power of the spoken word decreases. During the period in which the labor organizations of the needle trades developed, the press in America was gaining rapidly in influence. The city population grew enormously, social and industrial relations became steadily more compli- eated. The links connecting producer and consumer have now so multiplied that the appreciation of the connection has almost disappeared from the mind of the man in the street. With the development of large corporations the relation between the job holder and the power controlling the job has become more impersonal. The intricate development of the money and credit system has still further removed from the people any expert knowledge of their eco- nomic environment. With increased transportation facilities, the ties holding together small communi- ties have weakened. The exchange of opinion be- tween neighbors, local gossip and tradition, have de- clined and lost their effect. Ever increasing special- ization narrows the range of personal experience of the wage-worker. 229 230 THE NEW UNIONISM The isolation of man in the modern city is unique. It may be compared with the isolation of the tree- dweller among the ravaging elements. Our social and industrial environment are to the modern city dweller as fetichized, all-powerful and incomprehen- sible forces as were the powers of nature to the tree-dweller—and they have the same suppressive effect. And the average man must depend upon the press for almost all the information on which his interpretation of life is based. He must depend upon it for his imaginative connection with the world as a whole. The concepts suggested day by day, sup- ported as they are by information supplied, and pro- tected by the withholding of information, influence more and more profoundly the social viewpoint of the reader. Industrial development not only made it possible for a single newspaper to reach hundreds of thou- sands of people, but it also brought about the con- centration of control of the news. As a result, the selection and treatment of news becomes increasingly uniform. With a few exceptions, the people receive the same information in approximately the same form. A virtual uniformity may be observed also in opinions, both in the news and the editorial col- umns. For months the entire press suggested the idea that the Russian Soviet government was wicked and unstable. Then for weeks it prepared us, with equal thoroughness, for a recognition of the Soviet government. With the same information supplied in the same form, and with the same suggestions ’ LABOR PRESS AND COOPERATIVES 231 offered daily to the minds of the people, their views of life must to a great extent become stiff and ready-made. Consideration of the dangers in such artificial uniformity, making life colorless, leveling the people by machine-made ideas, replacing the conflict of thought with the conflict of brute selfish- ness, lies beyond the scope of this book, though it would make an interesting contribution to a study of the degeneracy of modern industrial society. We are directly concerned, however, with the influence of the capitalized press upon the labor movement. For the press is now as much a part of business enterprise as is any other great industry. The metropolitan daily or the chain of newspapers and the popular magazine with a national circulation are, if they are making money, financially in exactly the Same position as any industrial corporation. A newspaper or magazine publisher depends upon the same sources of credit as do other large proprietors. If the journal is one which is not profitable, it is likely to exist for no other purpose than to express the views of someone with enough money to support it. Frequently the holder of newspaper shares or bonds is also the holder of industrial shares and bonds. Often he is a landowner. He applies the same policies wherever his influence counts. The newspaper and magazine publisher, with almost neg- ligible exceptions, by his social and economic posi- tion, by his education, belongs to the class against whose encroachment the labor movement struggles. The character of the owners and managers of the 232 - THE NEW UNIONISM press would of itself, without any deliberate inten- tion on their part, give to their publications a tone out of harmony with the inherent aspirations of the labor movement. In selecting from the enor- mous flow of events what deserves public notice and what does not, what is to be stressed and what mini- mized, the most candid publisher has little other guide than his own view of life and the prevailing opinions of the social group to which he belongs. Only in those few issues where there is involved the most immediate and obvious interest of the peo- ple who read his paper will their opinion be sufii- ciently crystallized to furnish a check to his normal inclination. By force of mere circumstance, the press gives prominence to such news and opinion as may justify the existing social order, as will suggest that its fundamentals are eternal. The press will naturally support the cause of the em- ployers in most clashes with employees. On the other hand, the press usually avoids any news or opinions which might suggest that the present so- cial order is but a passing and imperfect stage in the history of mankind, or which might exalt the cause of the workers as against that of their employers. By virtue of the same disposition the press dis- criminates among different types of labor organi- zation. While the labor movement was establishing itself it was in great measure ignored. Now that the movement as a whole has become an unavoidable evil the press seeks to play one part of it against another, to favor those forms of organization which LABOR PRESS AND COOPERATIVES 233 are least inimical to the interests of private capital. It rarely favors them as against employers, but it frequently holds them up for the emulation of factions of the labor movement which it seems to consider more dangerous. When Mr. Gompers op- poses a political party for labor, he is praised in the highest terms, but when he supports the striking steel workers or miners, the press sadly notes that he is losing his good judgment. The press gives-pref- erence to company-welfare unionism as against up- lift or friendly unionism, to uplift as against busi- ness unionism, to business unionism as against the new or socialist unionism. The natural tendency of - the press is to select such news, to couch it in such terms, to introduce it with such headlines, and to cap it with such editorials as to create in the work- ing people an attitude most favorable to those parts of the labor movement towards which employers have least hostility. These tendencies of the press have lately been much strengthened by a well considered and con- scious policy on the part of many large corpora- tions. The development of the newspaper has made it dependent for solvency upon its advertising col- umns. Selling at a price considerably below the cost of production, the newspaper derives its reve- nue from the advertisers. The prosperity of busi- ness enterprise thus becomes more directly than ever the concern of the publisher. He becomes the de- fender of advertisers as a class. The employers in any one industry might take a liberal position when 234 THE NEW UNIONISM there is a conflict between labor and capital in an- other industry. A similar division sometimes oc- curs between local sections of industry, or between different classes of employers in the same industry. As long as the press was guided merely by the personal inclinations of the publisher, it was able to favor the cause of the workers in any strike which did not touch it too closely. Ina large num- ber of minor industrial conflicts the press has in the past remained unbiased. But with the dependence of the press on adver- tisers, and the rapidly growing mobilization of ad- vertisers through chambers of commerce, mant- facturers’ associations, and their innumerable rami- fications, any objective attitude towards the labor movement has a tendency to disappear. The adver- tising and publicity departments of business firms are now closely linked together, and few journals are strong enough to gain the patronage of adver- tisers if their news and editorials on so vital a sub- ject as labor do not find favor with the ‘‘publicity” experts of big business. It would be a mistake to think that this influence often takes so crude a form as threats or bribes. It does not need to. It is good form for American editors to think what the managers of business think, just as in autocratic courts one does not contradict royalty. Moreover, few large corporations rely any longer upon the initiative of the newspaper in gathering industrial news; they interpose their own press agents between the reporter and the facts. From a mere uncon- LABOR PRESS AND COOPERATIVES 235 scious coloring of news, from a mere natural bias, the press has come to the point of garbling, sup- pressing, and falsifying news as a result of calcu- lated and aggressive propaganda, not only in favor of the existing social order, but of any condition which the employers of any great industry are bent on continuing.. This propaganda misleads not only the general public, but, what is more serious from the labor point of view, the workers themselves. It was not, however, the anti-labor attitude of the general press so much as its total blindness to the labor movement which first impelled English-speak- ing unions to found journals for their immediate needs. As soon as the unions became national in scope, the spoken word became insufficient to supply the members with information concerning the activi- ties of their own organization or with the ideas nec- essary to strengthen their cohesion. Such informa- tion was indispensable in time of industrial conflict. The national labor unions were therefore compelled to establish their own organs, for the most part monthlies and weeklies. Up to the early ’seventies over 100 such papers had come into existence. Since 1This growing hostility of the press to the labor movement is of course a process which in the end leads to the negation of its own purpose. When it goes far enough it becomes so apparent that it loses its effect. Many working people have now ceased to take news at its face value, and have begun to clamor for a press of their own. Thus the Central Labor Union of Seattle established during the war its own daily paper, the Seattle Union Record, which at last accounts had the largest circulation of any daily in the Northwest. Other similar projects are in formation. There is now a special cooperative press service for labor papers. The unreliability of the New York City press on labor matters explains the growing in- fluence of the socialist New York Call among anti-socialist elements of labor. 236 THE NEW UNIONISM then they have multiplied and have remained an institution of the American labor movement. The journals of the several unions originally could not, and later have not contemplated any competition with the general press. Their scope has remained limited to the immediate trade interests of the re- spective organizations. As a result, they have been unable to combat effectively the steadily increasing pressure of the general press upon the mind of the worker: upon his attitude toward economic and so- cial conditions, the remedial measures for the most obvious evils from which he suffers, or his half- conscious dreams for the modification of the pres- ent structure of society. In this way a division of spheres of influence has come about between the gen- eral press and the labor journals, within the mind of the worker. The union member has become ac- customed to taking his economics, his politics, his philosophy, his science and art, from the general publication, and his narrow trade interests, discus- sions concerning his hours and wages, and the poli- tics of his organization, from his union journal. Thus it happens that the American labor union press, though it is many times larger than the labor press of any other country, has remained until re- cently without any noticeable influence upon public opinion or upon the broader policies of the com- munity. The general public in this country hardly knows of the existence of this press, while in Euro- pean countries the comparatively few labor publica- tions are frequently quoted by the general press and LABOR PRESS AND COOPERATIVES 237 exert a noticeable influence upon the currents of public opinion. This narrowness of the American union journal has no doubt had its share in the development of the social viewpoint of the old unionism. Man’s mind is not after all divided as in water-tight compartments ; the sources from which he derives his more funda- mental conceptions will rule many of his minor in- terests. The dependence of the old unionism on the capitalist press can easily be traced in the bitter hostility of the adherents of business unionism towards socialism, in their lack of a conception of solidarity of the labor movement, and especially in * the striking identity of the terms with which leaders of the conservative unions and the capitalist editors attack the more radical sections of the labor move- ment. The method of approach, the arguments used, and the very style are so remarkably similar that some statements of the representatives of business unionism can hardly be distinguished from state- ments by leaders of the financial world. The theory of,a complete mutuality of interest between capital and labor, of round-the-table bargaining as the par- amount cause of improvement, and the emphasis on “immediate betterments’’ as the dominant motive of the labor movement, carry all the earmarks of that interpretation of life which underlies the selec- tion of news and opinion by our business editors. Traces of the same influence are also apparent in the bitter hostility which the old unionism has to all forms of independent political action by labor. Such 238 THE NEW UNIONISM identity, not only in basic principles but also in forms of language, would hardly have been possible without the uniform, steady, and powerful mental pressure exerted by the general press, uncorrected by any effective resistance from the union journals. Many of the labor weeklies are even private enter- prises which, though they are recognized as the official organs of city or state central bodies, are just as dependent on big advertisers as are the capitalist papers themselves. With the theories of business unionism firmly established, there was no good reason why labor publications should not seek the support and patronage of business proprietors. Such support, of course, could not remain without influence on the policy of the papers. A flagrant instance of this sort was a journal published in Pittsburgh, which until the late fall of 1919 still had the indorsement of the city central body. It was, nevertheless, attacking the current steel strike and its leaders in terms as virulent as any employed by the capitalist press, and was accepting advertise- ments from the big business interests of the district. The indorsement was of course withdrawn in this case. The press serving the needle trades from the time when union organization was first attempted fol- lowed an entirely different course of development. The workers in these industries were nearly all immigrants. The general English-language press did not have the slightest influence on them for many years. Even if the workers could have read English, LABOR PRESS AND COOPERATIVES 239 the mental attitudes and traditions of the immi- grants were such that the general press was not adapted to their requirements. They had to depend for their daily stock of information and opinion upon journals of their own. Catering to the immigrant masses who spoke their native languages and were mostly laborers or poor tradesmen, these papers never developed into sub- stantial capitalist institutions. By their birth and environment, by their social position and economic status, the publishers of the foreign-language papers were little removed from the people they served. Advertising was almost negligible, and the little there was consisted largely of notices of labor meet- ings, and classified and personal columns. As a re- sult the daily press, as far as the needle trades are concerned, has been for many years a labor press, and became so long before the unions found it either necessary or possible to develop journals of their own. Since the Jews are the prevailing element in the needle trades and it is with them that the labor organizations originated, it will be sufficient here to trace the development of the Jewish press. : Tn the early ’eighties, when the great flood of Jew- ish immigration began its flow to New York, there were two small general Jewish papers in the city, the weekly Yiddishe Gazetten and the New Yorker‘ Zeitung. Both spoke for the orthodox religious ele- ments, and were extremely hostile to all the currents of radical thought that were so stormily struggling for the adherence of the Jewish masses. Their anti- 240 THE NEW UNIONISM pathy to the workers was so primitive and ernde that it soon deprived them of influence among the garment trades. As early as June, 1886, two worker- intellectuals, Ch. Rayefsky and Abraham Cahan, the present editor of the Jewish daily Forward, made an unsuccessful attempt to issue a paper represent- ing the socialist and labor point of view, Die Naye Zeit. It existed only a few weeks and disappeared in July of the same year. An indication of the status of the Jewish press at this time is that the ‘‘financial’’ partner in this enterprise, Mr. Rayefsky, was employed in a soap factory at $6.00 a week. A more substantial and successful enterprise was the New York Yiddishe Volks Zeitung, a weekly pub- lication which began to appear at the end of June, 1886, and existed for three and a half years, until 1890. The publishers were two socialists who put several hundred dollars into the business. The paper attempted to maintain an impartial attitude with regard to the socialist factions of the East Side. At the same time, however, it definitely supported the socialist movement as a whole, and was loyal to the United Hebrew Trades. The paper devoted much space to popular articles on natural science, thus indicating the diversity of interest among the Jewish workers of that time. Occasionally serious works on economics were serialized, for example, Wages and Capital, by Karl Marx. Thus the pioneer gen- eral Yiddish newspaper included both the socialist and educational features which are characteristic of the labor organizations in the needle trades. LABOR PRESS AND COOPERATIVES 241 In March, 1890, the organized socialists, after a split with the anarchists, founded a weekly, the Arbeiter Zeitung, which presently was recognized as the official organ of the United Hebrew Trades. In 1894 the same group began the publication also of an evening daily, the Abendblatt. Both these papers existed until the middle of 1902. After the division in the Socialist Labor Party in 1897, the Abendblaté remained the official organ of the parent body, while the Jewish members of the new Socialist Party established the Jewish daily Forward, which was destined to play a large part in the labor move- ment in the needle trades. During the first few years of its existence the Forward had a precarious footing, its fortunes vary- ing as the Socialist Labor Party or the Socialist Party temporarily gained the upper hand. Only since 1902 has the Forward become the universally recognized newspaper of the Yiddish-speaking work- ers. Its circulation in that year was 18,000 and has since then steadily increased. It reached 72,000 in 1908, and it is now about 200,000. In a recent issue of the Forward (September 14, 1919) Max Pine, who was one of its founders, writes of the initial struggle of this publication: “The writer remembers an evening when a meeting of the Publishing Society was called and it was explained that there was no money available to start the publica- tion. Almost the entire night was spent on a discussion of funds. It was decided that notwithstanding the fact that there was no money, we proceed at once to issue the 242 THE NEW UNIONISM Forward. However impossible it may sound now, that it was decided to publish a newspaper without money, it is nevertheless a fact. Nothing but boundless enthusiasm, wonderful optimism, the aspiration to accomplish a great and noble task, could have made this possible. When finally the decision was reached—it was almost dawn—it was decided to raise at least $500.00. Considering the impoverished state of the labor movement at that time this was a considerable sum. A motion was passed that every- one should contribute to this $500.00 fund. Those who had no money on hand hurried home, roused their neighbors, borrowed and returned with their share. The $500.00 was raised. Two offices were rented, one for the editorial office and the composing room and another for the business office. The editorial office was on Duane Street and the business office was in Debs’ place where Seward Park is located at present, just opposite the present Forward Building. After the composing room was fitted up with old stands and cases for the type and other typographical materials, there were only a few dollars left with which the publication of a daily paper, the Forward, was begun—a paper which at present has a circulation of over 200,000. The first number of the Forward appeared on May 20, 1897, and it has since appeared regularly without inter- ruption until the present day.”’ No other daily in America has for so long a period been so closely knit with the labor movement as the Forward. Only recently, with the appearance of the Seattle Union Record, has there arisen an English- language daily that can be compared with it in cir- culation and influence among the unions. The Forward is issued by a private corporation, the Forward Association, to which only members of the Socialist Party approved by two-thirds majority of LABOR PRESS AND COOPERATIVES 248 the members of the Association can be elected. While the Association controls the property and business of the Forward, its members make no investment and of course receive no dividends. After expenses are paid, the surplus income is used in the enterprise itself. The Forward Association also makes fre- quent contributions to various branches of the labor movement. Besides being a socialist journal, the Forward is also a labor paper in the narrower sense of the word. It devotes at least as much space to the trade-union movement, especially in the needle trades, as to the socialist movement. The columns dealing with the clothing unions are fully represen- tative of the spirit and policy of these organizations. The workers in the needle trades have thus not suffered from any such division between the general and the labor press as that which has so profoundly influenced the English-speaking labor movement. From the beginning their daily newspaper has also been their labor journal, and only after the unions were firmly established and their character definitely formed did separate union journals appear. These are, moreover, kindred in spirit to the daily press read by the members. From time to time other socialist or radical pub- lications have existed in competition with the Forward. In the early days the anarchist factions started a number of journals. The only one of these to survive is the Freie Arbeiter Stimme—but its ex- press anarchist character has disappeared long since. At present a stronger influence is perhaps exerted 244 THE NEW UNIONISM by Die Naye Welt, a weekly publication of the Jewish Socialist Federation, and by Der Yiddisher Kempfer, the organ of the Poale Zion, a nationalist socialist society of workers favoring the establishment of a Jewish cooperative commonwealth in Palestine. Out- side of their special interests, these publications de- vote their space to articles on questions of the day, as well as on the history, theory, and practice of the labor movement in this country and abroad. ? An English-language socialist press grew up as the English-speaking members of the needle-trades unions increased, through the gradual acclimatiza- tion of the immigrant worker and the entry of American-born men and women into the industry. The first English socialist daily which had much in- fluence in the needle trades was the Daily People of the Socialist Labor Party, of which the late Daniel DeLeon was the editor. It appeared first on June 28, 1900, and went out of existence on February 21, 1914. Its influence, however, had long been waning by the time of its extinction, with the influence of the party it represented. Ever since 1902 members of the Socialist Party, with the cooperation of the cloth- ing unions, had been making efforts to establish a paper of their own, and as a result the New York 2 With the development of a substantial middle class among the Jewish population a general press somewhat similar in nature to the capitalist English-language papers has begun to appear, but the process has not yet gone far. The various bourgeois dailies now existing in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago must still depend for much of their circulation upon the working masses. To exist at all they must remain liberal and at least impartial in industrial disputes. Among their editorial staffs they include numerous socialists, and their policy is indefinite. Their influence among the workers is limited and they may be left out of consideration. LABOR PRESS AND COOPERATIVES 245 Call appeared on May 30, 1908. This paper has had a steady growth, in spite of many difficulties, es- pecially those put in its way by the Postmaster General during the war. To a degree, it has before for the English-speaking members of the clothing unions—as well as for many others—what the Forward is for the Yiddish-speaking member- ship. When the labor organizations in the clothing in- dustry grew strong, the general press could no longer satisfy all their needs. Founded as they were on the democratic participation of their member- ship, it became necessary for them to bring the main problems of their organizations before all their mem- bers. The life of the unions became more rich and complicated as they grew, and no general press, even the most sympathetic, could find sufficient space for all their special problems. The first union in the needle trades to issue its own paper was the United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers. The Cap Makers Journal, a monthly, first appeared in May, 1903, and lived for three years. It was published both in Yiddish and English. The chief reason for its existence was the controversy in which this international was involved with the I. W. W. To combat the influence and expose the -methods of the latter, to make the membership under- stand the dangers which threatened the disruption of the young international, was its task. After the battle was won, the journal ceased to appear (1906). It was revived in September, 1916, primarily because 246 THE NEW UNIONISM of the jurisdictional controversy in which the organ- ization became involved with the United Hatters, which again threatened disruption. The publication was needed, however, on other grounds as well, since the union had become much larger and its problems more numerous. At present the Cap Makers publish two bi-weekly papers, one in English and the other in Yiddish, both called The Headgear Worker. The Cloakmakers made an attempt in August, 1905, to issue a weekly, The Cloakmaker. It lived only a few months. It was revived in September, 1910, under the name of Die Naye Post. After that it appeared continuously until in 1919 it was merged with all the other publications issued by the various subsidiary unions of the International Ladies’ Gar- ment Workers, in the weekly of the International, Justice, which has Yiddish and Italian edtions called Gerechtigkeit and Giustizia, respectively. The other needle-trades organizations have now numerous journals in the principal languages spoken by their members. Even so small an organization as the Neckwear Makers published a monthly journal for a time, as did the Fancy Leather Goods Workers. It is unnecessary to enter into the history of each of these publications. In most cases they are dis- tributed free to the entire membership. Among the more important publications not men- tioned above are those of the Amalgamated Clothing ‘Workers: Advance, English-language weekly, Fort- schritt, weekly, Industrial Democracy in both Polish and Bohemian, bi-weeklies, Darbas, Lithuanian bi- LABOR PRESS AND COOPERATIVES 247 weekly, and Rabochy Golos, Russian monthly. The International Fur Workers Union publishes the Fur Worker, a monthly with English and Yiddish edi- tions, and regular departments in Italian, French and Russian. Two characteristics distinguish most of these journals—the wide range of subjects treated and the effort to deal with these subjects from a broad social viewpoint. Their pages are never devoted to trade matters only. Half or more of their space is given over to events in the labor movement, both in this country and abroad, and to the social, industrial, and political life of America. Virtually every kind of material found in the general magazine, including the short story and literary and dramatic criticism is found at some time or other among their contents. This wide range of subjects results from a habit of thinking of life as an entirety, as a unit of which their particular trade is but a single phase. Of still greater significance is the method of treatment. It is easy to discern a painstaking endeavor to discuss each question on the basis of general principles. The vicissitudes of the several organizations, of the labor movement, and of the entire body politic are scanned, not so much in the light of some immediate interest or policy, as of the enduring interest and ultimate emancipation of the working class. Just as in industrial action the new unionism is inherently hostile to the policy of living only from hand to mouth, of being concerned entirely with immediate betterments as they may be secured, so in the mental 248 THE NEW UNIONISM and spiritual sphere the new unionism is hostile to the method of thinking from hand to mouth and dis- regarding basic principles in each new situation which arises. It rather emphasizes the development of an all-embracing philosophy of life. Cooperative enterprises on the part of labor aré closely akin to its ventures in journalism, since they too are efforts to supply substitutes for the insuf- ficient and often harmful social services offered to the workers by a business civilization. The first cooperative undertakings by the needle-trades unions, however, were for immediate benefit rather than for any far-reaching purpose. The Inter- national Ladies’ Garment Workers, having estab- lished the dental clinic and the sanitarium mentioned in Chapter V, went on to create a place of rest and recuperation for members who did not need medical attention. This project was initiated by Local 25 of New York, the women dress and waistmakers. A vacation resort near the Delaware Water Gap in Pennsylvania, named Forest Park, was provided at a cost of about $100,000. The park consists of 750 acres of woodland, and includes an 80-acre lake. In it there are twelve houses with capacity for 500 workers. Athletic recreational facilities such as swimming pools, tennis courts, and bowling alleys have been constructed. A pleasant walk leads to the beautiful Bushkill waterfall. Thus, when seek- ing relief from the noisy shops, the hot pavements, and the crowded tenements, the girls of this union no longer have to compete with women who can LABOR PRESS AND COOPERATIVES 249 afford expensive resorts, most of which are after all not adapted to those seeking rest and intimacy with nature. The Philadelphia waistmakers, Local 15, have provided for themselves a summer home also, earning the $50,000 necessary by overtime work. This local has in the city a cooperative lunchroom, which serves good food at low prices. In the establishment of consumers’ cooperative stores the clothing unions have naturally been out- distanced by such unions as the miners, who, living in isolated communities as they do, have found co- operation a more obvious remedy for extortionate prices. In large cities private retail shops are so numerous and expenses like rent and taxes are so high that the cooperative is later of development and finds a less secure footing than in the smaller towns. Nevertheless the Italian local 48 of the Ladies’ Gar- ment Workers has established two cooperative gro- ceries in New York, and their example has been followed by a few members of the waistmakers. This movement will develop more rapidly when the union has its own building and can devote space to a wholesale. The most substantial and far-reaching cooperative plans are those formed at the Chicago conference in February, 1920, in which the Amalgamated Clothing Workers participated, together with railway and other large unions, and various organizations of farmers.* This is not the place to discuss all the 3 In the absence of President Benjamin Schlesinger in Europe, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers were not represented, but they will probably participate in the work. 250 THE NEW UNIONISM projects of the conference, which include a wide ex- tension of both consumers’ and producers’ coop- eration and the direct interchange of commodities among the several groups. One of these plans, how- ever, directly and immediately concerns the needle trades. That is the foundation by the clothing unions of a cooperative bank in New York. This bank will be a depository for the funds of the organ- izations, which taken together are no inconsiderable gum, and also for the savings of their members. The money thus made available will not be used, as it now is in ordinary banking institutions, for the en- couragement of private business enterprise, but for building loans to the unions themselves, for loans to cooperatives, and for the financing of other projects, such as newspapers, in which labor has a special interest. Since these great and firmly established unions have at least as good credit as the average business concern, and the aggregate earning power of their members is enormous and can never as a whole be destroyed, the stability of such a bank is beyond question. It is intended, moreover, to be one of a chain scattered throughout the country and serving the unions in many industries. An indus- trial depression would probably affect it less than a bank dependent on the solvency of business con- cerns, since it is almost inconceivable to think of the earning power of so many thousand workers being cut off sufficiently to wipe out its resources. Technical legal obstructions may arise in its path, but if they do, this will merely be an additional LABOR PRESS AND COOPERATIVES 251 argument for labor to mobilize and use more effec- tively its political power. In the end such banks will give labor a positive economic leverage it has never before been able to exercise—a partial control of credit. It would be inaccurate to say that in society as at present con- stituted this power will seriously compete with capi- talist credit, but it will be a considerable influence in the struggle to make the working majority, rather than the privileged few, the center of our culture. In the hands of the old narrow unionism such a power would be not only dangerous to society as a whole, but to the labor movement itself. If successfully ex- ercised, it would hopelessly compromise the unions by making them dependent on profitable business enterprise, and so effectively enslave their members. In the hands of adherents of the new unionism, how- ever, the control of credit will be a decided force for beneficent social reconstruction. The possibilities for service which they will derive from such control will be a strong influence in leading the whole labor movement towards the aspirations of the new unionism, CHAPTER X TEXTILES Tue boundary between the clothing industry and that which produces fabrics is in some places shadowy—as in sweaters and knit goods, hosiery, cloth gloves, and lace. It is not chiefly on account of this kinship, however, that we shall make a brief excursion into the textile industry, but rather to illustrate a characteristic of the new unionism that is rapidly emerging—the fact that it is inter-indus- trial as well as industrial. Just as the concentration of capital and credit brings allied industries under a more nearly unified control, so the advances of ag- gressive labor organizations are forcing them to look for practical harmony, and consequently for a more centralized administration, among closely related in- dustrial groups. Since the textile mills furnish the material out of which clothing is made, it would be an obvious advantage for the clothing unions if the textile workers were also strongly organized and ready to cooperate with them. For the same reason the garment unions have much power to help organ- ization in the textile industry. The value of the annual product of the textile group is exceeded only by the industries which the census places under the heading of ‘‘food and kin- 252 TEXTILES 253 dred products.’’ Its total capitalization was in 1914 about two and a quarter billions,’ representing a larger investment than any other industrial group except iron and steel and food products. In number of wage-earners it leads all others; in 1914 its 5,942 establishments gave employment to 950,880. A high percentage of the mills is owned by corporations— some of them enormous corporations of the sort popularly called ‘‘trusts.’’? Most of the enterprises have been highly profitable; their shares have ad- vanced rapidly, are much sought after and are not easily obtainable, The characteristics of the industry are not the same as those of the ready-made clothing trades. Here large-scale production, in factories represent- ing heavy investment in plant, machinery, and power, is the rule. Of the cotton mills the largest group, 768 in number, had each in 1914 an annual product valued from $100,000 to $1,000,000, and there were 187 establishments with an annual product of over $1,000,000 each. The woolen mills also were large, with 455 producing between $100,000 and $1,000,000, and 84 over $1,000,000. The silk establishments aver- age somewhat smaller. In both woolen and cotton mills, 85 per cent of the wage-earners worked in factories employing over 1,000 persons each; in the silk establishments, nearly 50 per cent of the workers were in mills employing from 100 to 500 each. While the forces of capital are strongly entrenched 1 Abstract of United States Census of Manufactures, 1914. 254 THE NEW UNIONISM in the textile plants, therefore, the unions are not faced with the same obstacles as in the clothing in- dustry. Territory here may be difficult to conquer, but once it is won it can be more easily retained. Home work is rare. Sweatshop competition is not always waiting around the corner for the first re- laxation of vigilance. New establishments cannot spring up easily where they are least expected. Old ones cannot die so suddenly.