Industrial Unionism : What is it?

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 23, 11 August 1911, Page 15

Industrial Unionism : What is it?

IT HAS FOUR CARDINAL POINTS. FIRST—It accepts the principle that the interests of the. Avorking class,and of. the employing class - are irrecoihCil-* ably opposed. . In accepting this prin-' ciple, the Industrial Unionist gives, the; lie to the notion which dominates/ tin/ ordinary trade or craft union, namely, that the interests of the tAA'o classes' are harmonious. That the, poverty of the Avcrking-clas-s is due to the fact of--labor-power-being a commodity is becoming :, iniCrcasingly evident. ; The Avorking lean's• Ayage is simply the price of rue com-' modify he must sell to the employers in order to lla'c, and this price represents only a very sreall portion of the wealth-produced by him in the service of the capitalist class. .-Modern society is made-up of AA'age, workers ,'■'•• ho perform all the necessary labor, aud capitalist .owners of the means of life, who appropriate the bulk of Labor's pro-

duett The interests of the two sections are/?NOT the -same. -The-one toils and produces, the other idles and appropriates. The one' receives wages e-n-Ortigh only to enable it to Avork, the other-pays Avages t . out„„of previous sucplus produce.and gets them back again a hundredfold. The one has no means of production;-, the other has all the mrans of production. The AA'orking (lass alone is "necessary,, and should rule society an-cl; industry ;• the capitalist class is-un-neces.sary, and should, therefore,- be aljolished. BetAveeii .the two- there exists a class struggle, continuous and bitter. Capital is organised to maintain and extend its sway, while Labor's ranks present; the appearance of a disorganised rabble, trade unionism helping the confusion by keeping the workers divided along craft lines. ~lndustrial Unionism .seeks to organise and unite all wage-earners in order to pursue" the class struggle to an. end intelligently and relentlessly. (Second cardinal point later on.)