INDUSTRIAL UNIONISM

Industrial Unionist, Volume 1, Issue 2, 1 March 1913, Page 1

INDUSTRIAL UNIONISM

1: —Aim.

FELLOW WORKERS So much has been said about the superior conditions supposed to exisf for the working class in New' Zealand that some working men have allowed themselves to be persuaded almost into the belief that this country is a sort of workers’ paradise. Yet the.truth is that the conditions are little better for the worker than in most other countries.

The same system of exploitation, of production for profit; the same unjust division of the fruits of labour, the same class-division, and the same tendencies to centralise capital and oppress the workers, exist here as elsewhere. REVOLUTIONARY INDUSTRIALUNIONISM is therefore needed to uphold the interests of the N.Z. workers.

The present system of production—Capitalism—is international, and is the outcome of a long process of economic evolution. The ownership, by the present dominant class, of the industries of the world—the land, mines, means of transport, workshops, etc., in short, of the means of life, originated in the Old World in the middle ages.

While the preceding system. Feudalism, still lived, certain developments in the industries then existing generated the Burgher class, now 7 known as the Bourgeoisie, or Capitalist class. That class expanded and increased its power with the development of the industries, until an economic revolution, reflected and consummated by social revolution, took place.

The erstwhile dominant Feudal class, defeated and decaying, was pushed to the rear, and the triumphant Capitalist class was free to develop. The implements of production, much smaller then than now, were possessed by small manufacturers, etc., small individual employers, and not, as now 7 , by combinations. Free competition held sway, and everyone, at least everyone among the “fit.” had some chance to become a. possessor; to rise to comparative comfort and social standing.

Even then, however, a large proportion of the workers W'ere doomed to remain mere wage-serfs, and as the centralisation of industry has gone on, as the total amount of wealth in existence has increased, it has become more and more difficult for the worker, the

Aim, Form, and Tactics of a National Industrial Union on I. W. W. Lines.

producer of wealth, to secure provision against destitution. let alone climb to a position of comparative ease and security.

Tlie development of existing industries, opening up of new ones, expanding of the markets, introduction of more and more machinery, and development of ocean and land transit and communication, have placed Capitalism on a thoroughly international basis. Capital i international, the employing class is international, the interests of the working class are international.

In about a century the small, slow printing press has e v olved into a huge, complicated machine, turning out icatter at an incredible speed; the stage coach has changed into a rapid-moving train; the small workshops employing a hundred men, with the owners in personal charge, have been replaced by the mammoth concern, operated by thousands of industrial slaves, and supervised by other, but better-paid, slaves; the slow sailing ship, a stately vessel of 600 tons, has given place to the swift, giant liner ; large masses of workers have been grouped together in single industrial plants arid the globe has been, virtually, reduced to oneeighth its former size.

England, becoming the workshop of the world, played a leading part in this development of the world’s industries; but she could not be a workshop without a world to execute for. The process of developing the world’s markets meant carrying Capitalism to countries previously uncivilised; Capitalism had to be international, and now America is a greater workshop than England, and other rivals are in the field.

The extent to which Capitalism stretches its tentacles round the globe is illustrated by the fact that steel rails have been imported from China to America, the land of steel rails. No one country is independent of the rest under such a commercial system; all are bound together historically and economically; nothing short of complete disappearance into the sea can prevent New Zealand from being drawn into the coming international revolution. Along with this; evolution of the ; nternational

Capitalist Class another great class has developed—the Proletariat , or Working Class. Competition, the basis of the present system, is being eliminated; the small employer class is being crushed out. annihilated; the machine, and a more scientific division of labour, are robbing the artisan of his skill and his notions about “ aristocracy of labour;” the middle class idea of legislating the trust out of existence is being rudely shattered, and the “ unskilled” worker is learning how important he is and the power he can wield. These factors are ranging Society into two great distinctly opposite classes; the class-line is becoming clearer; a class struggle is on.

“ The history of all hitherto existing society is a history of class struggles;” certain changes in the economic foundation of Society, in a given epoch, alter the relation of a subject class to a dominant class; the subject class struggles, gains power and by a revolution becomes dominant. But the ending of the present class struggle means the end of social classes; when the Proletariat rises to power, conquers the ruling class and takes possession of the means of production, which were created by, and rightfully belong to, the Working Class, tyranny and class-rule will cease to be, and the defeated and dispossessed master class will become merged into the rest of Society. This will be accomplished by an organised working class.

“ It is the historic mission of the Working Class to do away with Capitalism; the army of production must be organised . . . by organising industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.” Becoming more and more conscious of this mission, the workers of the world are organising more closely, more on class lines, each year.

Realising that we, the w r orkers, who carry on the industries and are the foundation of Society, are exploited and used by our economic masters; that the luxuries and refinements of life, which our labour makes possible, are almost monopolised by an idle few; that the avenues of escape from a life of perpetual drudgery become fewer and fewer, we naturally turn to our labour organisations as a means towards social betterment. But we find that the unionism handed down by our fathers is now ineffective, obsolete; that it has no ideal beyond 11 a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay.” In the meantime we go on being robbed.

From this we turn to politics, or, rather, we are led to politics by self-seeking leaders and scheming politicians, only to discover that we are following a will-o’-the-wisp, an illusion, a mere reflection; but, as we progress, the truth dawns on us that all social relations, all institutions, all political parties, are but a reflex of the economic system that prevails; that only a militant united working class, organised on sound lines, at the point of production, and carrying the fight on in the industries, can bring about emancipation from wage-slavery.

New countries develop more quickly than old ones; the younger the country the more rapid its industrial evolution; New Zealand, though less than a century old, is quickly coming into line. Colonisation means bringing industrial methods, and legal and social institutions, ready-made, into the new country. An electric tram, a wonderful machine, a wireless telegraph, which have taken a thousand years of thought and experience to evolve, are introduced as soon as they are invented; these and other factors quicken national development. Already the trust is here, and there is no reason to doubt that the iron rule of Capitalism will bring greater oppression. Up-to-date unionism alone can meet these conditions.

The struggle between the workers and their masters is first local and national, but tends always to become international. Industrial Unionism aims at nothing less than the organisation of the workers, nationally and internationally, on class lines, for the complete ending of the Capitalist system of production for profit, and the substitution of a system of production for use.

The I.W.W. aims at this organisation of the workers, first into national industrial unions, later to be linked up and become integral parts of an international union. Its openly-declared purpose is to carry on the fight right in the industries; it advocates the strike and all other direct methods, including sabotage, etc., until all the machinery of production—that is, the earth and everything on it—shall have been wrested from the Employing Class. When this has been accomplished Art, Genius, Intellect and almost all that is noble in human nature will no longer be prostituted to the service of an idle few, and the Human Race, freed from ceaseless classcon flirt, will be free to develop. [To be concluded in two more issues of the Industrial Unionist.]