CHAPTER XIX

LABOR IN POLITICS

Socialist Party efforts to commit labor unions-Original policy of A. F. of L. aloof from all political action-Reversed policy-Entered practical politics, not partizan-Election of union card men-Radical political declaration of Washington State Federation-Opposition of I. W. W. to all political affiliations.

THE American Federation of Labor, as a national organization, refrained from all political activity until recently and still refuses allegiance to any one party.

Socialist Party representatives have worked industriously to secure the indorsement of the Socialist position, as well as of the Socialist Party, on the ground that it was the only political party which stood unequivocally for labor. The Federation has not only resisted the "Socialist element," as it is derisively called; it has attacked it with bitterness, and in much the same spirit as it attacks the sworn enemies of the capitalist class. The National Executive of the Federation, at its convention of 1912, commented on an event of the past year as follows: "What could be expected from the National Manufacturers' Association, their agents and their hirelings? What from the Socialists, except to employ the occasion for vote catching? What from such

reactionary organs as the New York Sun but diatribes? So long as these declared enemies of the trade unions are what they are, and unionism is what it is, no help can come from them to the labor movement.'

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The Federation has borne many undeserved accusations, but it has officially kept itself free from the Socialist element." While this While this "element " has increased within the membership of the Federation, and while it polls a one-third vote at the conventions, the Federation has successfully resisted all attempts to commit it to the Socialist Party.

Various organizations affiliated with the American Federation, especially the city organizations, in different parts of the country, have indorsed and worked for the election of candidates to municipal office on the ground that they would favor the interests of organized labor if elected. Local politicians throughout the country have sought and placed high value on the support of the local trade union men and their organizations.

The American Federation of Labor as a national organization withheld its indorsement of candidates for national office, and refrained from active participation in elections. It feared that political activities might divert its energies and divide its ranks; it feared that a political campaign might impair its united front; it feared also political entanglements and attacks on its reputation for single

ness of purpose, which many of its local organizations had experienced on account of their political alli

ances.

It was in 1906 that the American Federation of Labor reversed its policy and entered the field of what it calls practical politics in contradistinction to partizan politics. The policy first adopted was to induce one of the regular parties to nominate on a regular party ticket a member of the Federation as a representative to Congress. Efforts were made in every state to secure these nominations. From 1906 to 1910 ten "union card men" were elected, owing political allegiance to either the Democratic or Republican Party as its candidate.

The Federation took the position that the allegiance of these representatives to their political parties would not interfere with their support of measures of interest to the Federation and organized labor generally. This policy was carried against a storm of Socialist opposition. In 1910 the Federation adopted the slogan, stand faithfully by our friends, oppose and defeat our enemies, whether they be candidates for President, for Congress or for other offices, whether executive, legislative or judicial."

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The opponents of such political action, others as well as the Socialists, within the Federation, claimed that the Federation's indorsement of the Presidential candidate for 1908 and its failure to carry the election, weakened the position of the trade unions in

their legitimate field of bargaining for terms of employment.

The President of the Federation, in his message to the convention of 1912, said:

The American Federation of Labor is not partizan to any political party, but it is partizan to a principle-to achieve results in the interests of the great mass of the wage earners of our continent. It resents the attitude of those who seek to force the workers back into the condition and character of serfdom, and with equal insistence it refuses to postpone to the far future the advantages and benefits of a better life which we propose to secure them here and now.

Taking into consideration that which organized labor has already accomplished upon the economic, political, and legislative fields to bring light and life into the homes and workshops of the toiling masses, we are fully confident of greater success in the future. The spirit and humanitarianism cultivated and developed by the organized labor movement will find its full fruition in the material, social, and moral standards of our people, and will be crystallized in the written laws of our land and the unwritten laws of our daily lives.

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It was in this tone that the President strained every effort to carry the delegates and to secure an enthusiastic support of the political policy and the political action of the officers of the Federation. The policy and the action were indorsed, but not unanimously.

This policy advocated by the Federation was opposed by the Socialist members of the Federation, who

took the position that labor as a class must control its political representatives through a political organization of its own as they controlled their representatives in their trade organizations. The Washington State Federation, chartered by the American Federation, at its convention of 1913, openly refuted the policy of its national organization of supporting candidates pledged to one of the regular parties. It resolved:

Whereas, the political parties now in control of our government are owned and controlled by our industrial masters.

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Whereas, the masters recognize the value of control of the state, and secure and maintain their control by electing members of their class to office, legislative, executive, and judicial.

Whereas, the statement that the interests of capital and labor are identical is absurdly false, and is intended to blind the workers to their own interests and to mislead them into giving support to interests diametrically opposed to their own;

Therefore be it Resolved, that we recommend to the workers that they vote for members of their own class to fill all legislative, executive, or judicial positions. . .

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The Washington State Federation stands alone among the state organizations of the Federation in its revolutionary position and opposition to the more conservative and opportunistic policy.

The Industrial Workers of the World opposes all allegiance to political parties or indorsement of polit