I ILLINOIS

Production Note

Digital Rare Book Collections
Rare Book & Manuscript Library
University of Illinois Library at
Urbana—Champaign
2019

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

OF THE‘INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD

The working class and the employing class have nothing
in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and
want are found among millions of the working people and ‘
the few, who make up the employing class, have all the
good things of life. _

Between these two classes a struggle must go on until
the workers of the world organize as a class, take posses-
sion of the earth and the machinery of producti,on and
abolish the wage system.

We find that the centering of the management of indus—
tries into fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions
unable to cope with the ever growing power of the em-

ploying class. The trade unions foster a state of affairs
which allows one set of Workers tolb'e pitted against'an-
other set of workers in the same industry, thereby helping
to defeat one another in wage wars. Moreover, the trade
unions aid the employing class to mislead the workers into
the belief that the working class have interests in common I
with their employers.

These conditions can be changed and the interest of_
the working class upheld only by an organization formed
in such a way that all its members in any one industry, or
in all industries if necessary, cease work whenever a strike
or lockout is on in any department thereof, thusmaking
an injury to one an injury to all. ‘ ,

Instead of the conserVative motto, “A ‘fair day’s wage
for a fair day’s work,” we must inscribe on our banner
the lrevolutionary watchword,‘ “Abolition of the wage sys-
term.”

It is the historic mission of the working class to do away
with capitalism. The army of production must be organ-.
ized, not only for the everyday struggle with capitalists,

but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have _ _ '

been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are form-

ing the strpcture of the new society within the shell of , .

the old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE ADVANCING
PROLETARIAT

A Study of The Movement of The
Working Class From Wage

Slavery to Freedom

By ABNER E. WOODRUFF, C. E.

 

 

 

 

 

Price Ten Cents

Published by the
INDUSTRIAL W'ORKERS OF THE WORLD

JANUARY, 1 919
CHICAGO

 

 

 

 

 

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THE ADVANCINGJ’ROLETARIAT

INTRODUCTORY

The object of any system of Philosophy is to fur-
nish a rational explanation of the facts of the Uni-
verse from a knowledge of general principles that
' apply to the facts and existence Within the Universe;
therefore, it is the purpose of this pamphlet to clear-
ly and simply trace the development of the Prole-
tarian Psychology, and to indicate the Evolutionary
character of Proletarian organization in the terms
of Industry on the basis of the general principles of
the modern Positive Scientific Philosophy.

I have to thank Mr. Austin Lewis and others for
the thoughts here expressed, and can only hope that
1 have been able to accentuate a fact that must be
carefully considered by both Socialists and Indus-
trialists in discussing the Proletariat: namely, THE
LAW OF ECONOMIC DETERMINISM.

ABNER E. WOODRUFF, C. E.

The Advancing Proletariat

The Law of Evolution

An examination of the facts of the orderly Uni-
verse with precision to an understanding of the laws
of that Universe, and it may be said that these laws
find their supreme expression in the Law of Evolution
—-the great immutable “law of change.” This law
may be stated as follows: ALL THINGS IN THE
UNIVERSE TODAY ARE THE RESULTS OF THE
ACTIONS OF THE FORCES OF THE UNIVERSE
UPON THE MATTER OF THE UNIVERSE AP-
PLIED THROUGHOUT THE EONS OF TIME, PRO-

 

  

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT 3

DUCING INNUMERABLE CHANGES, WHICH
HAVE FINALLY DEVELOPED HIGHER AND
MORE PERMANENT FORMS OF LIFE OUT OF
THOSE WHICH WERE LOWER AND LESS
STABLE. The physical conditions which compelled
changes in ANIMATED NATURE, and under which
they occurred, are usually denominated “the environ-
ment”—the surrounding influences.

Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace are
regarded as the co-discoverers of this great Law of
Life., They not only observed the changes in the
material Universe, but also the efforts of animated
nature to place itself in harmony with the physical
world by adjusting itself to these changes. These
efforts at adjustment and readjustment are now
termed “the struggle for existence” ; for ANIMATED
NATURE MUST CONFORM TO THE CONDITIONS
OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD IN ORDER TO SUR-
VIVE. Those forms of life which conform the most
successfully are regarded as the most adaptable and,
therefore, the best; from which we have the expres-
sion “the survival of the fittest” or, “natural selec-
tion.” In other words, Nature selected these forms
as being the fittest to survive.

Man a Product of Evolution

From a study of plants and the lower forms of
animals, it is but a step to the study of the highest
form—Man; and, in a state of nature, we find man
responding unconsciously t0 the law of Evolution;
changing to correspond to his environment, and per-
sisting in those forms which are in closest harmony
with the requirements of nature. Of all creatures,
man is probably the most complex, and this com-
plexity was his most bafiiing problem until the state-
ment of the law of evolution with its corollaries, “the
» struggle for existence” and “the survival of the fit-
est.” Here was a basis on which to conduct the
most rigid examination and, from the gathered facts,

 

 

  

4 THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT

construct a definite, a positive philosophy. Anthro-
pology became at once an intimate and particular
branch of Biology. Man commenced to be studied
from the Viewpoint of his place in nature, and his
differentiation from the other animals began to be
ferreted out. Man picked himself to pieces, studied
his own parts and decided on the laws of his being.
From the facts, and by reasonable analogies, his his-
tory, from the day his arboreal ancestor swung down
from the trees and walked upright on the ground,
was constructed, and forms a record, so simple, so
rational, so decisive, that few are now left to ques-
tion it.

Man’s physical structure is a result, traceable to
definite and known causes, and the laws of his being
are codified. His brain, with its powers of observa-
tion, association, co-ordination and determination, is
no longer a mysterious thing—the gift of an equally
mysterious and baffling “first cause”—but a devel-
opment of the spinal marrow, the culmination of
an infinite series of changes and adjustments to en-
vironment taking place through the ages during
which the Earth has been the seat of life. Man, in
both body and brain, is therefore a creature of en-
vironment, evolved out of the Cosmos} The flower
of the Cosmos, yet subject to the Cosmos, his par-
ticular differentiation from the other animals lies
in the complexity and refinement of his nervous or-
ganization, and the consequent close-co—ordination
of his muscular and mental reactions. Yet,basically,
he is no different for, even in his mental processes,
he is moulded and formed by the influences of the
things around him.

The Mind—A Result

Joseph Dietzgen, in his Philosophical works, has
demonstrated the fact that all of man’s ideas come
from the OUTSIDE—that no thought ever sprang
spontaneous in the human brain. In other words—
HUMAN THOUGHTS, HUMAN IDEAS, SPRING

 

  

EU @0295?

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT 5

FROM HUMAN CONTACTS AND EXPERIENCES
WITH THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE ABOUT US.
Man’s ability to think—his consciousnessflthe thing
we call the “Ego”——the mind—is a natural develop—
ment through the orderly operation of the laws of
the Universe, and, as such, it may be studied, anal-
ized and classified. The science of Psychology takes
its place naturally as part of the larger and more eX-
tended sciences of Biology and Anthropology.

Here then is a basis for the study of the actions
of men. Whim and caprice disappear, and the laws
of cause and effect are seen operating in an orderly
and rational sequence; The individual takes his
place as a resultant of the experiences of his for-
bears and his own contacts With the world around
him. His environment and the history of his race
have made him What he is. Knowing the intimate
history of any man, and With a given human situa-
tion, we may confidently predict What his actions
Will be.

The Common Mind

But man is a gregarious creature. He herds With
his kind in social organizations, and his history is
not complete without an examination of the relations
Which men sustain toward each other. Immediate-
ly our studies are shifted from the individual to the
race. The sciences 0f Ethnography, Ethnology, An-
thropography, Glossology, Technology, History,
Archeology, Sociology and Economics are opened up
"to us. Through them all runs that wonderful
laW of human development—the Law of Evolution.
Through them all we are continually brought round
to the dictum 0f Dietzgen, that “human thoughts
and ideas spring from human experiences.”

SIMILAR EXPERIENCES BEGET SIMILAR
IDEAS. The average of the experiences of a com-
munity, or a class, a nation, or a race, begets the cen-
tral idea of that community, or class, or nation, or
race; therefore, in attempting to explain the tend-

 

   

   

  

6 THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT
ency of any such community, class, nation, or race
to gyrate~about some central idea, or concertedly
move towards some definite goal, we must discover
those similarities of experience Which furnish the
common ground for similarity of thought and unity
of action.

Economic Determinism

History furnishes us with many instances of great
popular and class movements, but it was not until
Marx enunciated the Law of Economic Determinism,
that a rational basis for the interpretation of these
events was secured. In his researches into history,
he observed certain classes of men always standing
together—always appearing upon the same side of
the great historical arguments—and, upon a careful
analysis. he. promulgated this law, that THE
THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS OF MEN ARE DETER-
MINED BY THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY OB-
TAIN THEIR LIVING. The same being only another
way' of stating the evolutionary truths, that man is
a product of his environment; and that his thoughts
and ideas are generated by his contacts and experi-
ences With the world around him.

Materialist Conceptian of History

Carried over into the field of Historical Economics
and applied to the Science of Sociology this law is
translated into the Theory of the Materialist Con-
ception of History Which declares that ALL THE
SOCIAL PHENOMENA IN ANY HISTORICAL
EPOCH MAY BE EXPLAINED UPON THE BASIS
OF THE METHOD OF WEALTH PRODUCTION
AND EXCHANGE EXISTING AT THAT TIME. Im-
mediately History ceases to be a mere record of the
achievements of individuals. Instead, it becomes a
moving panorama of the progress of the race as de-
picted in the struggles for supremacy of the various
classes that have successively dominated society.
Fundamental causes are seen at work, continuously
’53

x”!

  

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT 7

and methodically shaping the trend of events. All
the apparently disjointed and unrelated facts mar-
shal themselves into orderly array, and take their
places as guide boards along the high road of his-
tory. The fall of Babylon, the Roman invasion Qf
Gaul, even the Medieval Crusades, are reasonably
and fully explained.

The pre-eminent fact of History, from the View-
point of Economics and Sociology, is the institution
of Private Property. Upon it Marx redicated the
dis-establishment of the Communal ribes and the
rise of the Nations, with the division of the people
into classes in the terms of wealth and power—the
separation of society into opposing camps—which
carry on a continuous warfare among themselves.
A warfare which he was pleased to call “the class
struggle.” And in each civilization we find a domin-
ant class imposing its will upon the balance of so-
ciety and maintaining the basic method of wealth
production and distribution of that time. All the
laws, the religion, the educational system or lack
of educational system were designed to retain that
class in its position of power and privilege. Internal
peace depended upon the relative degrees of acquies-
cence in the general scheme manifested by the sec-
ondary and subject classes, and their ability to wrest
concessions from the dominant class by a display of
their organized strength.

Successive Ruling Classes

It is characteristic of all civilization based on Pri-
vate Property and Class Privilege, that a secondary
or subject class developed within each society and
eventually displaced the dominant class. The new
dominant class warped the old institutions to its
own purposes, introduced a new method of produc-
tion and exchange, imposed its will upon the balance
of society and thereby established a new civilization.
The Chattel Slave System of Roman Patriciate gave
way to Serf System of the Feudal Lords. Feudalism

 

 

  

8- THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT

disappeared before Capitalism with its Wage Slave
System of factory and machine production. The
lesser Capitalism now moves aside for Plutocracy
with its highly centralized form of Corporate Owner-
ship and Industrial Control, and we seem about to
enter upon a new era—the age of Industrial
Feudalism.

The Chattel Slave, working with the simplest of
hand tOOIS, produced practically all the wealth of the
Roman world. Upon his labor was built the power,
luxury and culture of the privileged classes; and so'
essential was this kind of labor to the development
of the civilization that we find the Romans waging
wars of conquest for the special purposes of pro-
curing it. Caesar’s invasion of Gaul apparently had
no other object than the capture of slaves for the
Roman shops and fields.

The drying up of Western Asia forced the great
migration of the Communal Tribes, and the tribes-
men, descending in hordes upon the Roman lands,
brought with them institutions and customs that were
totally repugnant to the Roman system. For sev-
eral hundred years the struggle between them pro-
ceeded with varying degrees of fierceness, and finally
ended in a condition bordering on social and indus- '
trial chaos. Out of this catastrophe arose the Feudal
System, which was a compromise—a partial malga-
mation of Roman and Tribal customs and institu-
tions. Its distinguishing feature was the translation
of obligations owed to the nation or tribe into the
obligations owed to persons, and rendered as a pay-
ment of rent for the use of land. The Roman slaves
and coloni, and the Tribal freemen were held as
serfs and were bound to the soil. Enforced labor
upon the land or the shops attached to the castle of
the Feudal Lord was the chief method of wealth
productionmthe serf producing a certain portion for
his master that he might produce another portion
for himself.

 

  

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT 9

Two classes among the Romans were continued
almost intact into Feudalism, and apparently were
strong enough or necessary enough to preserve a
great measure of their ancient rights and privileges.
These were the classes of merchants and handicraftS»
men known as the Guilds Merchant and Craft Guilds.
They carried on a certain portion of production for
use of their time, and conducted in a great measure
the system of exchange then existing. As they grew
stronger, they erected cities of their own for the
purposes of defense, manufacture and trade; and
fifty-seven of these cities, or “bourgs,” known as
the Hanseatic League, maintained a government
Which was sufficiently powerful to engage in war
and dictate terms of peace to the loosely organized
Feudal States and Nations round about them.

The introduction of the factory system of produc-
tion into these cities, With the attendant subdivision
of labor in the shop, broke up the craft guilds and
introduced a new element into production—the fac-
tory owners, or manufacturers—and out of these and
the merchant class were developed the Capitalists.
Vigorous, resourceful and militant, these led the at-
tack upon Feudalism and called to their banners all
the oppressed and dissatisfied in the other classes.
Prating of “human rights” and screaming for “free-
dom,” they seized the ancient institutions and either
destroyed them, or warped them to purposes of their
own. Everything-became converted into terms of
cash. Money payments settled every human ob-
ligation. Even the agonies of injured honor might
be assuaged in terms of gold. .

The breaking up of the Feudal relations changed
the method of land tenure. Many of the serfs became
- peasant proprietors, while others were transformed
into mere farm laborers, or drifted into the factory
towns. The handicraftsmen thronged the factories
and under the new “divine” (‘2) right of contract,
sold their labor power at whatever price the Capital-

 

  

 

 

10 THE ADVANCING PROLETARTAT

ists chose to pay for it. Property in the lands and
tools of production still continued. The Wages Sys-
tem was, in essence, another form of. servitude, and
fiercely aggravated by the fact that the payment of
the stipulated wage cancelled all the obligations be-
tween the man and his master. The freedom so
loudly proclaimed was, for the workers, merely a
freedom to change from a bad master to a worse
one, or at the worst to starve. Realization of PROF-
ITS was the sole consideration for continuing pro-
duction. Whehprofits ceased, industry ceased, or
the scale of'Wages went down until there was a suf-
ficient margin of surplus value to induce the pro-
prietor to again open the factory doors.

Slave, Serf and Laborer

The Chattel Slave and Feudal Serf weye, econom-
ically, more secure than the Wage Earner. They
were never denied the privilege of producing for use.
The more they labored, the more powerful and lux-
urious their masters became. But the Wage Slave
may be denied the right to produce. He may be eX-
cluded from the lands, tools and machinery of pro-
duction; and the more productive he is, the more
likely is this fate to overtake him; for now he pro-
duces to sell, and if production passes the purchas-
ing power of society, production must cease until the
relative positions of the supply and demand may be
naturally reversed and purchasing begin again. In
fact, it may even occur that the master class is
forced to feed, clothe and shelter a portion of the
workers in order to help reduce the surplus and tide
over the workers to Such time as production for
sale can be profitably resumed.

Labor-power a Commodity

Free trade—free competition in buying and selling
commodities—is the basic principle of the Capitalist
system of exchange of private property, and it is
but natural that the labor-power 0f the working class

  

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT 11

should also be regarded as a commodity. In fact, it
is inevitable that, under a system of production for
PROFIT, labor-power should take on such a char-
acter and that it‘should be bought and sold in the
open market according to the law of supply and de—
mand of commodities. Nor is it surprising that in a
competitive market, Where the seller With the great-
est necessity for cash fixes the market price, the
price of labor-power should always tend to sink
to the level of a bare subsistance for the workers;
and that those workers With the ability to exist at the
lowest standard of living should dictate the terms
on Which the others may also continue to exist. The
Whole tendency of the wage system has been to drag
all' the workers ddwn to the same dead level of pov-
erty. The fact that a certain portion of them still
manage to maintain a comparatively decent standard
of living is due to certain conditions Which Capitalism
has not as yet beenable to overcome, and not to
any intelligently applied powers of resistance in—
herent in that portion of the working class.

The Skilled Workman

Up to recent times the specialized skill of the
craftsman protected him in a large measure against
material reductions in his standard of living, and as
he regarded his skill as a PROPERTY, he naturally
accepted the capitalist property notions and attempt-
ed to apply them to the crafts. His Craft was his cap-
ital—the means of his life—and any raise in its po-
sition benefited him. Anything that threatened the
existence of his skill, or his exclusive possession of
that skill, threatened him. Therefore he joined his
fellows in the organization of Craft Unions for the
purpose of preserving the crafts and maintaining the
standard of living of the Craftsman. He had a prop—
erty—a commodity—to be bought and sold in the
market, and through his union he felt himself able
to control the supply of that commodity and thereby
affect the market to his own advantage. He resisted

 

 

  

12 THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT -

the encroachment of the machine upon the hand
tool; he sought to limit the numbers of those pos-
sessing skill; and he endeavored to set a slow stand-
ard of production among the craftsmen. Contracts,
closed shops, limited apprenticeships, high initiation
. fees and dues, and onerous conditions of member-
ship were a natural result of his property ideas—the
supply of his commodity must be limited, in order to
boost the price. Working with tools that moved
only as he applied his own skill and strength to
them, and turning out a product that could be identi-
fied as the result of the labor of an individual, he
thought strictly in individual terms. His craft was
supreme, because all-necessary to his individual ex-
istence, and so extreme was this individual View-
point that it was only when jurisdictional quarrels
between the related crafts had become unbearable,
that a federation of the craft unions was possible.

The craftsman had nothing to do with the un-
skilled. He looked upon them as inferior beings,
and though their condition might sink to the lowest,
he was not sufficiently interested in them to feel
either sympathy or regret—they must look out for
themselves as he did for himself. “It is the mis-
fortune of the craftsman, that, having been com-
pelled to operate in terms of property, the great
HUMAN MOVEMENT has been lost upon him.”
His dread has always been that he might become “as
one of these,” for no matter how great his skill, or
how closeknit his brotherhood, capitalism, through
machine production, continually threatened the se-
curity of his position. Any economic system built
upon the RIGHTS OF PROPERTY is a confiscatory
system, and little property disappears before a big
property. The property of the craftsman—his skill
—tends to evaporate. A new mechanical device, a
'newly discovered chemical process, or a new com-
bination of industrial forces may scatter that skill
among the insensate machines, 01' absolutely displace

 

  

_ THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT \ 13

it. “The Whole tendency of skill is away from the
individual and in the direction of the group” where,
through the agency of the machine, it translates
itself into mere quickness of action coupled with a
mild form of manual dexterity.

Stripped of his PROPERTY the “aristocrat of 1a-
bor” sinks to the level of the common herd. The
machine process of production racks the structure
of Craft Unionism. Built upon the basis of a tran—
sitory property, it cannot withstand the aggressions
of the vastly superior property of the Industrial Plu-
' tocracy. 'However, the craft union notion, like many
others, dies hard,and we see the surviving craftsmen
attempting to fortify themselves by organizing the
machine operatives in the terms of the crafts. Such
organizations cannot be permanent for THE PROP-
ERTY IDEA IS UNTENABLT‘ AMONG MACHINE
WORKERS. The very soul of private property is
its accompanying right of EXCLUSION; and exclu-
sion cannot be practiced at the machine—any one
can function there. A few weeks of experience
makes a machine operator of the common laborer;
and furthermore, SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT
AND THE SPEEDING-UP PROCESSES DESTROY
INDIVIDUALITY. The loss of individuality de-
stroys all notions of property—cuts the last thread
that binds the interests of the worker to the pres:
ent system.

Craft unionism cannot survive. The development
of industry—the perfection of the machine pro-
cesses—has doomed it. To the machine operative, it
is an anachronism—a thing out of date.

The ancient slave and serf classes were not essen-
tially revolutionary, and if they had been their igno-
rance and isolation was sufficient to prevent any con-
certed action. Mere physical revolution against an
irksome environment cannot be called a revolution-
ary spirit, and while the slaves and serfs indulged in
rebellions, they were usually planless and contained

 

 

  

14 THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT

no germ of a constructive nature. At the most,
some measure of participation in the benefits of the
existing system was all they sought. There was no
idea of the establishment of a new order of society,
which should promote a greater diffusion of culture,
and thereby create a better and nobler race. Success
upon their part would have meant only social chaos
and a recession in the scale of civilization.

Let us now examine the modern laborers and ma—
chine operatives in this connection and endeavor to
arrive at an understanding of their characteristic
psychology, as derived from the common experience
of their class.

The Proletariat

Unskilled laborers and non—specialized machine
operatives are now usually denominated “Proletari-
ans,” and by “the proletariat” we mean A CLASS OF
LABORERS, POSSESSIN G NEITHER PROPERTY
NOR SPECIALIZED SKILL, WHO SELL THEIR LA-
BOR-POWER IN THE OPEN MARKET TO THE
HIGHEST BIDDER, AND ARE ABLE TO SELL
THAT POWER ONLY SO LONG AS IT WILL PRO-
DUCE A PROFIT FOR THE PURCHASER. The
Proletariat is the subject class in modern society—
the special human product of the capitalist system—
and, to obtain its View of life, we must know how it
obtains its living, for, as we have seen by the law of
Economic Determinism, “the thoughts and actions of
men are determined by the manner in which they
make their living;” and “the common experience of
a class creates the characteristic mental attitude of
that class towards the world in which it lives.”

Under the Guild system, the J ourneyman worked
in the small shop and, so long as he was unmarried,
usually lived in the house of his master as a member
of the family. All the different parts of the process
of manufacture were usually carried on in the same
place; as, for instance, the shoemaker was a tanner
also. The completed product was the handiwork

 

  

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT 1 5

of one man—an individual production—and as such,
the workman might well take a large measure of
pride in this evidence of his patience, industry and
skill. . But the capitalists introduced the factory sys—
tem of production, and the journeyman, though still
working with hand tools, did only a portion of the
labor on an article and passed it on to another to
do another portion. The completed product was
the handiwork of a number of men—a group pro-
duction—and as such, the workman took pride in it
only to the extent that he could trace his own labor
in the completed article. Otherwise, it was a matter
of indifference to him whether it was well or poorly
made. His interest in the whole thing ceased when
he received his‘stipulated wage.

The development of the steam engine stimulated
invention and, within the last one hundred years,
machinery has so vastly supplanted hand labor, that
the average proletarian attending the machine turns
out a product about twenty times greater than the
product of the old-time journeyman. Yet, with all
these great modern aids to his productivity, the aver-
age proletarian finds himself in a state of chronic
poverty many removes below the journeyman. The
small factory of the early capitalist has become the
great industrial plant of a group of Plutocrats, and
the small group of fairly skilled mechanics has be-
come a veritable army of industry. Where formerly
the individual touch might be seen upon an article,
now the raw material passes in at one end of the
machine and the finished product pours out at the
, other. Everything is thoroughly standardized and
no man can say, “I did this—I did that.” The indi-
vidual effort is completely swallowed up—obliter-
ated in the process of production. . The workers
themselves are grouped according to their peculiar
mental or physical characteristics and guided in their
tasks by “scientific” bosses, who prescribe by a fixed
rule even the motions of their limbs and bodies. Dur-

 

 

   

    

16 THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT
ing the hours of their labor, they are no longer think-
ing men, but mere automatons, performing their
functions mechanically and completely dominated by
the Will of another. BY GROUP EFFORT, OR SCI-
ENTIFIC TEAM WORK ABOUT THE MACHINES,
THE PROLETARIAT EARNS ITS BREAD.

The Proletarians necessarily touch the world at
the point .of production—their very lives depend
upon gaining access to the machinery and processes
of production—hence they think in terms of industry.
Grouped about the machines they soon come to real-
i’ze that the bulk of their product goes to the owners
of the machines. Any increase in productive ca-
pacity does not redound to their, advantage, but
merely means the displacement of a portion of their
number from industry and a consequent effort on
the part of those so displaced to return to the ma-
chines on any terms that will prevent starvation.
The workers yet employed View this event With
alarm because they find themselves threatened from
two directions; one the one hand, by a possible fur-
ther improvement of the machines With the subse—
quent displacement of yet another portion of their
numbers; and, on the other hand, by the displace-
ment of themselves through the return to industry
Of those previously displaced, Whose stomachs have
compelled them to agree to yield up a greater por-
tion of the product of toil for the PRIVILEGE OF
WORKING. They see a vicious spiral of displace-
ments, on Which the wage scale constantly descends
and down which they are plunged to ever greater
physical exertions, to ever increasing privations, to
ever more revolting degradations.

The war amongst the capitalists themselves thrusts
large numbers of the defeated into the ranks of the
proletariat; the invention of new processes and ma-
chines deprives Whole sections of the craftsmen of
their skill; standardization and improved methods
of accountancy and management dump numerous in-

  

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT 17

tellectual workers into the limbo of the unskilled.
All of Which means a corresponding increase in the
numbers of the absolutely dislocated—'—the “army of
the unemployed.” Machine production, the great
leveling influence of the age, looms fierce and gaunt.
It is master and decides all things for all men.
Property—either material, or in the form of. a spe-
cialized skill—has ceased to exist for the Proletarian;
access to the machine is the sole basis of his life;
and following the loss of the property idea comes

a complete revolution in the mental attitude of the .

worker. MAN becomes the dominant factor and all
his problems are again translated in terms of Human
Rights. He denies the right of the machine or the
owner of the machine to longer hold him in subjec-
tion. He seeks a way to seize the means whereby
he lives and turn it to his own use and purposes.
He thinks in the terms of a class. for he now realizes
his class position and knows that only as such can he
hope to survive. He finds that he must attack the
structure of. a society based on private property and
his point of attack is at the point of production, the
point Where he daily meets his enemy. ' His Whole
attitude is one of opposition—opposition to the prop-
erty 0f the master class—-—an attitude utterly sub-
versive of all modern ethics, morals, religions and
laws, an utterly Revolutionary attitude.

“THE PROLETARIAN IS A REVOLUTIONIST
BECAUSE HE IS A PROLETARIAN” and, in order
to secure unity and efficiency, he organizes at the ma-
chine, the only place Where he appreciably functions
in the scheme of modern life.

The Proletariat and Politics

Any force in society that lacks a consctructive pro-
gram is useless—a futile force. If it merely defends
, a set position and does not keep pace with the prog-
ress of the age by means of a positive policy of its
own, it cannot function for the proletariat; for the
proletariat is fundamentally revolutionary; therefore

 

 

   

   

1 8 THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT

aggressively progressive. An alien class in modern
society, it finds itself unable to function agreeably,
even tolerably, in conjunction With any other class.
Its Whole attitude is one of uncompromising antag-
onism. With the loss of the property idea it also
lost the idea of “contract,” Which is an inseparable
feature of the craft unionist property foundation.
Clearly then, the craft union, With its circumscribed
property and contractual notions, its acceptance of
capitalist proprietorship, its lack of a constructive
policy, cannot function for the proletariat.

Political parties, With their methods of nose count-
ing, are not acceptable to the proletariat; not only
because the economically powerful are prone to dis-
regard the noses of slaves, but because the methods
of the ballot box are too much the methods of the
mob; and THE PROLETARIAT REALIZES THAT
ITS FORCES MUST BE MARSHALED, DRILLED
AND DISCIPLINED FOR THE DUTIES OF PRO-
DUCTION AND INDUSTRIAL ADMINISTRATION.
It realizes that the modern “government” is but a
shadow and not a substance—that it is merely a com—
mittee acting for the economically powerful—and
that it Will dissolve of its own motion Whenever its
economic support is Withdrawn. Representation in
such a government has no value to the proletariat,
since it does not care to trade or traffic With the other
classes, for whom it possesses only hatred and
contempt.

Furthermore, THE POLITICAL PARTY IS MERE-
LY AN ARTIFICIAL GROUPING OF PEOPLE OF
ALL CLASSES, UNITED BY A TEMPORARY »
AGREEMENT OF OPINION—fickle, uncertain, un-
disciplined, irresponsible, catering to votes and evap-
orating its sympathy Whenever its popularity is
threatened; While THE CLASS IS AN ORGANIC DI-
VISION OF THE PEOPLE, COMPOSED OF THOSE
SUBJECTED TO THE SAME ECONOMIC INFLU-
ENCES, THOSE WHO LIVE AND WORK ON THE
SAME PLANE OF MATERIAL INTEREST—there-

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT 19

fore, constant, stable, harmonious, and capable of
discipline and responsibility. These facts appeal
with irresistible force to the proletariat, Which finds
itself in the midst of a continuous and cumulative
economic warfare, requiring the constant and har—
monious efforts of all its units. Back of the political
skirmishers lies a vast economic army and it can only
be opposed With organized economic power. Organ-
ization on the field of production is therefore the
proletariat’s means of expression—there is Where it
functions—there is Where it daily meets its enemy.

That Apocalyptic Vision of a future condition
known as the Socialist State, or Co-operative Com-
monwealth, is rather too vague a notion to convey
much to the minds of the proletarians, Who, living
at the base of modern society and functioning at the
machinery of production, deal constantly With the
CONCRETE. They have neither time nor inclina-
tion for speculation, and the usual cry of the Social-
ist Politician, “Vote the Co-operative Commonwealth
into existence at the polls” lacks practicality, so far
as they can see, because they, Who need that com-
monwealth, are in a sad minority at the polls through
lack of the electoral qualifications; and it is quite un-
believable that the privileged classes would abate
one jot or tittle the power and privilege they now
enjoy. The retention of the territorial “State” in
the Socialist scheme of social regeneration marks
it as a middle class conception, quite in keeping with
middle class experience and psychology, and, there—
fore, largely out of harmony with any conception the
proletariat may evolve from its own experience. The
representative character of the territorial State does
very well for a class engaged in trade and Which has
heretofore used the state as a medium for adjusting
trade frictions, but to a class functioning directly
in production and at the mechanical end of distrib-
ution, such a State is utterly out of date and useless.
The proletariat proposes the Industrial Democracy
—a society based primarily upon production—equal-

 

 

   

      

20 THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT
ity in production coupled with equality in distrib—
ution—each necessary industry the equal of every
other necessary industry—and it is quite evident
that territorial representatives cannot legislate intel-
ligently for the industries. Bureaucratic administra~
tion would necessarily result in the Socialist “State”
—democratic participation and control by the peo-
ple would be set aside—a new slavery would ensue,
for bureaucrats are inherently despotic. Further—
the state, (the primary function of which has always
been to protect private property) as an entity set
over and above the people, has so long represented
the proletarian idea of despotism that any scheme
retaining it must surely meet with proletarian op-
position.

The machine dominates the lives of the proletariat,
therefore the proletarian conception is that, in a
society based on universal participation in industry
and the benefits of industry, the machine must bene-
ficially influence the lives of all men. Indeed, the
major portion of the questions arising in such a so—
ciety would be automatically settled by the machines,
and among a people living on the same plane of ma-
terial interest and subjected to the same economic
influences, there must arise such a similarity of psy-
chology, such a singleness of Viewpoint and unity
of purpose, that the moraland religious lives of the
people would all rise to the same high and noble
standard. In fact, administration in such a society
would most probably resolve itself into the collection,
classification and dissemination of industrial sta-
tistics, and the enforcement of the moral code would
be a function of the Industry of Public Health and
Sanitation.

Two facts stand out prominently in an examina-
tion of modern society: First, THE PROLETARIAT
IS THE SUBJECT CLASS, and, second, THE SPE-
CIAL FUNCTION OF THE STATE IS TO KEEP
THE PROLETARIAT IN SUBJECTION. Therefore,
any organization of the proletariat as a class must

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT v 21

at once be considered a menace to the privileged
classes and be declared illegal. All the activities
of the proletariat furthexing its program for a new
society must necessarily be revolutionaly and be be-
yond the‘ ‘.LaW ” Therefore, the Socialist politician’ s
“legal revolution” idea is regarded as absurd by the
proletariat; and since the proletariat realizes that
all its forces must be closely co-ordinated and drilled
in production and co-operation in order to function
in the neW society, the idea that the Whole economic
structure of this'present society can be Changed by
going to the polls once every two or four years is
especially absurd.

The proletariat makes no appeal to any but the

wage working class, though it realizes that the
growth of the Social Consciousness among all the
classes must bring thousands to its standard, Whose
immediate personal interests would be conserved
by an opposite course. It realizes how great a task
it is to persuade men against their material interests,
and how small the chance is to secure a majority at
the polls—a majority, helpless in its strength be-
cause undisciplined in co-operation and composed
of potentially discordant elements. But more it
realizes that the proletariat, operating the machinery
of production and really in possession of the wealth
of the world, is in a position to dictate the terms of
life to all society, if it merely secures the consent
and co-operation of the members of its own class.
It proposes that the ballot box shall repose first in
the Union hall, and then in the shop; and one needs
only to function in industry to be a voter there. The
recently landed immigrant, Who has a “job,” is
equal to the descendant of the Pilgrim Fathers, Who
also works for bread.

The future society comes only at the desire and
.With the consent of the proletariat, for it is evidently
the only class able to safeguard humanity by means
of a neW society; and the revolution can properly
occur only after the proletariat hashad sufficient

 

a
i
I
l
i
l

 

 

  

22 THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT

training in voluntary co—operation and self-governe
ment to'be able to demonstrate its ability to success-
‘ fully continue production and handle distribution
so that all may be fed. Voting EN MASSE at the
polls is no evidence whatsoever of such ability, and
to teach this class that its way to freedom lies pri-
marily through the ballot box is a. most miserable
miseducation and paves the way to the most des-
perate catastrophe that humanity could ever suffer.

The Socialist Philosophy bases itself upon the pro-
letariat. The needs and aspirations of the prole-
tariat are the justification of the Social revolution.
So, Why attempt to lead this class in a way it cannot
go? Why forget the fundamental fact of prole-
tarian life—the laW of Economic Determinism? The
method of getting the proletariat’s living determines
its thoughts and actions. Machine production—
group effort—scientific team work—class experi-
ence—these are the determining factors, and all the
fine-spun theories go glimmering When confronted
With these. Middle class meddling and interference
With the proletariat—giving it a program tainted
With middle class traditions—is an impertinence that
is excusable only on the grounds of misguided but
philanthropic zeal.

‘In a class society, the powers of the government
are derived from the economic power of the domi-
nant class, and, for that reason, the prime necessity
of the ,proletariat in its struggle, is to develop its
economic power, for it is really opposed only by eco-
nomic power. Organization on the economic field,
at the point of production, and contending for the
product of the machines is the only method of de-
veloping economic power for the proletariat; and
participation in purely political propaganda and
campaigns is a criminal waste of time and energy.
In the fields of politics, the program of the prole-
tariat should be “PRESSURE RATHER THAN PAR-
TICIPATION”; a program heretofore ably pursued
by the Plutocrats.

 

  

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT 23

The proletariat cannot conceive of an acceptable

society Without machine production. It cannot con-
ceive of men producing efficiently except in groups
around machines. Consequently its form of organ-
ization to carry on the class struggle and build the
society of the future must preserve the unity of the
groups now workng about the machines. 'Any other
method would be foreign to it and doomed to failure
because inconsistent With proletarian experience.
‘.No class ever yet successfully dominated society
unless it demonstrated its ability to direct industry.
Only on this basis could a following be secured and
power be established. The proletariat is in no dif-
ferent case. It MUST demonstrate its efficiency. To
merely destroy modern society Without substituting
something better would be the most monstrous of
crimes. To achieve emancipation only to plunge the
world into economic chaos would be the bitterest 0f
, travesties upon human intelligence. The proletariat
must recognize and be prepared toassume the re-
sponsibilities of production and distribution, and of
social and industrial administration; otherwise it
had better submit and accept such ameliorations as
a Benevolent Feudalism may be Willing to accord it.
It must have a positive scientific philosophy, a defi-
nite conception of the future society, and a practica-
ble program. Lacking these, it fails.

Modern science, based upon the law of evolution,
now furnishes a Philosophy of Life, positive and defi—
nite in its character and acceptable to the prole-
tariat, because it offers a connected and rational ex-
planation of the phenomena of the universe. The
proletarian conception of the Industrial Democracy,
harmonizing man With the method of wealth pro-
duction and distribution, finally harmonizes him With
his environment and therefore, through universal
well being, guarantees the generation of a highly cul-
tured race, Which from its Viewpoint, is the pur-
pose of human life upon this planet. The program

 

   

   

  

24

 

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT

- of the proletariat is necessarily dependent upon the
industrial system and upon the degree of its own in-
telligence. Its watchwords are “Agitate—Educate
—Organi‘ze,” and, as organization is fundamentally
necessary to unity of action and the working out of
a program, we will now consider that phase of the
question.

Proletarian Organization

Marx declares that the Historic Mission of the
working class is to overthrow capitalism and estab—
lish a new order of society; therefore, the method
of its organization is of the first importance. We
have seen that vTO FUNCTION AT THE MA-
CHINES IS THE BASIS OF THE PROLETARIAN
RELATIONS TO MODERN SOCIETY, and it must
now be borne in upon our minds that, THE BASIS
OF PROLETARIAN RELATIONS TO THE FUTURE
SOCIETY WILL BE FUNCTIONING AT THE MA-
CHINES. The future society will produce and dis-
tribute its living by machinery just as we do now,
except that the machinery will be greatly improved;
therefore it is a perfectly natural and a highly neces-
sary step for the Proletariat to organize at the ma-
chines and in the terms of modern industry. The
handicraftsmen—users of hand tools—organized in
the terms of those tools as craftsmen; the proletari-
ans—groups of non-specialized workers around the
machines—now organize in the terms of the ma-
chines as Industrialists.

Syndicalism in Europe and Industrialism in Amer-
ica were evolved out of the struggles and defeats
0f the rebellious working class and have many things
in common. Both hold the needs and aspirations of
the proletariat as the basis of their organizations.
Both declare “Labor alone is fruitful” and “to the
worker belongs the full social value of his toil.”
. Both propose the abolition of the wages system and
the conversion of PRIVATE property into universal
SOCIAL possession. Both demand that all normal

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT 25

adult persons shall function in industry, so that the
same may be Democratically managed and con—
trolled, and all men have that reasonable leisure
and education which makes for a truly cultured race.
Both have a vision of the future civilization, and the
organization of their Syndicate and Unions have
three cardinal purposes Which are identical, namely:

(1) To resist the master class;

(2) To build the new society; and

(3) T0 function as units of production, distrib-
ution and administration in the new society.

The Preamble of the Industrial Workers of the
World (the American organization) says: “It is the
historic mission of the working class to do away with
Capitalism. The army of production must be organ- '
ized, not only for the every day struggle With capi-
talists, but also to carry on production when Capital-
ism shall have been overthrown. By organizing in-
dustrially we are forming the new society within
the shell of the 01d. ”

From my notes on an addiess by Leon Jouhaux,
Secretary of the Confederation General du Tiavail
(France) I quote the following:

“Aims of. C. G. T.

“Section 1. Grouping of wage workers for the
defense of their moral and material interests, both
economic and professional.

“Section 2. Outside every political school it- or-
ganizes every worker, Who is conscious of the strug-
gle, for the abolition of the wages system and the
employing class.

**** “It proposes to become the local adminis-
trator and regulator of production in the new so-
ciety.

**** “Syndicalism must be self— sufficient in the
task it has laid down for itself; theref01e it develops
class consciousness. It deVelops and strengthens the
working class through the everyday struggles. It
promotes class education towards the expropriation
of the empolyers.

 

   

   

26 THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT

**** “Economic transformation only is sought;
therefore the ability of the workers for production
and self—government must be developed.”

**** “The C. G. T. forms the new society Within
the shell of the old.”

You Will observe, that both these official utterances
are practically the same in the expression of PUR—i
POSE, and that they show a complete realization
and acceptance of the duties and responsibilities im-
posed upon the working class by their revolutionary
programs. But at this point the twoorganizations
diverge, fundamental differences of conception and
tactics distinguish them to such an extent that it is
a grave error to say that the two are really identical.
The recent formation of the Syndicalist League of
North America has accentuated this difference in
the United States and there is no longer any reason
Why any inquiring person should fail to distinguish
between them. The anarchistic elements are strong
and active in the C. G. T., and have developed their
DEFENSIVE TACTICS to a remarkable degree;
While the Socialistic element hold the balance of
power in the American Industrial Unions and have
devoted themselves very largely to questions and
problems of STRUCTURE; so that the conception of
the future society seems to be much clearer and more
rational in this country than in Europe. The French
AUTONOMOUS local, unassisted and unrestrained,
does not appeal to the American With his ideas of
CENTRALIZED authority and responsibility. Fur-
thermore the American idea of efficiency necessi-
tates a system that can use and practice the most sci-
entific economy in the administration of affairs, and
such economy is not promoted by the use of an auton-
omous system. '

However, it is not the purpose of this pamphlet
to enter into a discussion of the relative merits and
demerits 0f Syndicalism and Industrial Unionism,
but rather to point out the structure of the One Big

   

  

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT 27
Union, without reference to the other. For that pur-
pose then, let us proceed.

Industrial Unionism

So long as industry was, relatively, in an undevel-
oped state and great areas of land were available
for settlement, the craft unions met the require-
ments of the organized portion of the working class;
but when the development of inventions brought on
the “machine age” and the desirable lands were
occupied, craft unionism ceased to function advan-
tageously. It' had developed at a time when the
man and his master worked together on the job,
as is the case now on the ordinary small farm, and
there was a belief that the employer and employee
had interests in common. The workman had Visions
of a time when he should set up in business for him-
self, and become the employer of a man or two; and
it was quite natural that he should adopt the motto,
“A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work”——the only
question being, “What is fair?” The right to pri-
vately own property was not questioned; in fact,
skill in the crafts was regarded as property and the
workman imagined that he met his employer on the
plane of equality. For this reason he readily en-
tered into contracts for the sale of his services—he
being a free man and competent to make conditions
for himself. The tools of his trade were fitted to
his hands and moved only so far and so fast as he
propelled them and the article, when finished, was
a monument to himself; all of Which tended to exalt
him in his own estimation. He looked down upon
the unskilled as distinctly inferior beings, unfit and
undesirable. Foreigners, negroes and Chinese were
beasts to be especially abhorred; women were de-
sirable only as satellites to men; and children would
grow up and help make him rich when they were
able to go to work.

The Union was a defensive weapon only. It or-
ganized the strength of those who gained their bread

    

   

   

  

28 THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT
by the use of the same kind of tools. It opposed the
introduction and development of machinery, and re-
tarded the spread of technical knowledge by limit-
ing apprentices. It entered into closed shop agree-
ments with employers, and limited the number of
operating craftsmen by excessive initiation fees and
dues, and by refusing to recognize cards issued by
unions in other or distant places. It regarded itself
as a distinct entity in the world of labor, and held
aloof from association with other craft unions. In
case ofa strike or lockout affecting some one craft,
the other craftsmen regarded it with indifference,
for they were bound by a CONTRACT which pre-
vented interference on their part, if for any reason
they had cared to do so. Notice of intention to
strike was always given ahead of time; great war,
or strike benefit funds were provided; and every ef-
fort was made to keep the strike within the bounds
of legality.

Jurisdictional quarrels forced the formation of the
Federation of Labor in order to have a means of
preserving the peace; and through this Federation
the craftsmen have maintained lobbies at the State
and National Capitals to advocate and promote the
. enactment of “more and better laws for labor.”

Despite the organized opposition of the crafts, ma-
chinery began more and more to dominate industry,
destroying Whole crafts, as the Glass Bottle Blowers,
and bringing others into existence, as the Elec-
tricians; but always the tendency has been to sub-
divide labor and scatter the skill of the craftsmen
into the hands of a number of men working around
machines. The despised foreigners, and finally the
women and children, have, in a large measure, taken
the places of the ancient craftsman through the sim-
plification of industry by the use of the machine in-
stead of the hand tool.

The New Working Class—the Machine Proletariat
—differs essentially from the Craftsman. The ma-

  

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT 29

o

chine having scattered skill and converted its rem-
nants into mere rapidity of motion and mild manual

' dexterity, the idea of an exclusive property in skill

has disappeared and along With it has gone the con-
tractual notion, the aristocracy of labor idea, pride
in production, contempt for foreigners, and into]-
erance of women and children in industry. The new
unionism, organizing on the basis of the machine,
Welcomes every improvement and development in
industry, excludes no worker from the machines on
any grounds of undesirability (there being no bar-

. riers of race, creed, color, sex, age or skill), makes
no closed shop agreements or binding time contracts

of employment, depresses its initiation fees and dues
to a bare expense basis, and issues universal transfer
cards Which are acceptable in all industries and in all
civilized countries of the world. The Industrial Un-
ions group all the workers in a given industrial plant
in one industrial union Without reference to any other
consideration than this: That they take part in the
production of the plant’s output. Laborers, crafts-
men, office force and salesmen—all are eligible be-
cause all are necessary to eflicient production. No
one is so great or so humble that he should be eX-
cluded. No one is of finer clay than another—all
function in industry, therefore, all are equal. All
work in the same plant; all draw their pay from the
same Window; the labor of all is wrapped up in the
same product; therfore all should be in the same
unlon. ;

The interests of the proletarians are mutual be-
cause they as a class are subject to the same eco-
nomic influences; therefore “an injury to one is the
concern of all.” A strike means that every worker
shall walk out and stay out until an agreement has
been reached whereby all may 'return.

The method of organization is a process of cen-
tralization and is effected in the following manner
(in the Department of Mining, for instance): All ,

 

   

   

30 THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT

workers employed about a mine, Whether under or
above ground, all employes in the stamp mills, roast-
ers, cyaniding plant, or smelter; all woodsmen em- '
ployed by the mine to produce timbers, lumber or
wood for its use; all workers employed on a railroad
owned by the mine and used to transport its output
and supplies, would be members of the Industrial
Union of Metal Miners. The various craftsmen (en-
gine drivers, firemen, carpenters, blacksmiths, cyan-
iders, amalgamators, etc.) would-all be MINERS
along With the drill runners, hammersmen, timber-
men, trammers and muckers.

Metal Miners are grouped in the Industrial Union
of Metal Mine Workers. Coal miners in the Indus-
trial Union of Coal Mine Workers, and oil field work-
ers in the Industrial Union of Oil Workers.

All these Industrial Unions are united in the Indus-
trial Department of Mining.

The Department of Mining is then united With the
Departments of Agriculture and Fisheries, General
_ Production and Distribution, Construction, Trans-
portation and Public Service, in the general organ-
ization of The Industrial “Workers of the World,
Which, in its turn, is affiliated With other similar or-
ganizations in the other civilized countries.

By this means all the workers are brought togeth-
er upon the basis of their group relations to modern
industry. It is a class organization, and, as such,
co-ordinates the forces of the proletariat t0 the end
that it may consciously develop its inherent powers
and proceed, through education, discipline and pres-
sure, to the consummation of -its manifest high
destiny.

A fundamental advantage of the Industrial meth-
od of organization is. the fact that such organization
allows the use of those tactics Which are peculiarly
and characteristically proletarian and permits it to
go directly towards the object of proletarian attack.
A11 shields and subterfuges are thrown aside—the

THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT 31

proletariat resists in its own proper person and
wages the class war openly upon the economic field,
the only place Where exploitation occurs.

The dual slogan of the proletariat, “an injury to
one is an injury to all” and “workingmen of all coun-
tries—Unite,” means something when uttered by an
Industrial organization. United upon the economic
field and Without holy contracts, one portion of the
workers cannot be used to defeat another portion
When the struggle becomes acute. Ease of initiation
and reasonable dues are an inducement to all work-
ers, to join—-no worker should ever be an industrial
outcast. The free and close association of all work-
ers, their discussion and co-operation for mutual
economic and social purposes, tend to break down
the ancient craft, national and race antagonisms.
The universal free transfer card enables the ready
adjustment of labor to industrial conditions, and con—
tributes in the highest degree to perfecting the
fluidity of the working class. Furthermore, among
the students of the class struggle, the opinion is,
coming more and more to be held that the culmina-
tion of the struggle Will be the Social General Strike,
or at least a threat of the same, and the industrial
method seems to be the only one that can properly
marshal, drill and discipline the workers for that
event.

The mutual economic interests, the daily associa-
tion, the common experiences of the social conflict,
must surely develop that SOLIDARITY Without
Which the proletariat may struggle in vain, but With
which it must inevitably assert its supremacy. Or-
ganized at first upon the outside, it must eventually
move the union meeting place into the shop and
function there, producing and distributing the living
of the world.

Like the bird in the egg, the physical portion of
the Industrial Democracy already exists Within the
framework of modern society. The lands, the tools,

 

 

 

     

32" THE ADVANCING PROLETARIAT
and the machinery of production and distribution
are well nigh perfect, and a working population
trained in the processes of industry functions at the
machines. The quickening of this mass into life is
the next necessary step. An awakened Social Con-
science, a realization of power, and a desire for true
economic freedom must bring about the great change.

Earthwide in the scope of its activities, Industrial
Unionism points to a new civilization Where the
forces of production and distribution Will be nicely
adjusted and co-ordinated—-Where those Who labor
Will enjoy—Where childhood will be free—Where
manhood Will‘ be secure—Where age Will rest in '
peace—where man, the flower of the Earth, shall
be in harmony With the world about him.

WWW fim44.~_.__v—_1__V—_Vlfiwr_.rrv—~—W/ , ,
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Testimony of Wm. D. Haywood before the
Industrial Relations Commission
‘ A remarkable word picture of the I. W. W.

Price 15 cents

Evidence and Cross Examination of
Wm. D. Haywood

An interesting chapter in the I. W. W. cases.
. Price 25 cents

1

Evidence and Cross Examination of
J. T. (Red) Doran

Red Doran’s fam5us lecture, delivered in the
Courtroom. Price 15 cents

Order from the

General Defense Committee

1001 W. Madison St. Chicago, Illinois

 

 

   

   

Funds ‘Are Still Needed

Many Members Are Still Awaiting Trial
On Charges of Seditious Conspiracy

 

These men, some .of Whom have been in _
jail for more than a year, appeal to
your sense of justice and fair play to
insure them a fair and impartlal trial.

The great trial in Chicago, whichhe-
sulted in the conviction Of 101, 11g,»
drained the resources of the Organiza-
tion to such an extent that we must
again appeal to you if we are to pro-
vide any kind of a defense for these
men Whose ONIZY CRIME has been
LOYALTY to the WORKING CLASS.

SEND ALL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
GENERAL DEFENSE COMMITTEE

1001 West, Madison Street Chicago, Illinois

I