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The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, December 25, 1920, Image 9

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Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88078683/1920-12-25/ed-1/seq-9/

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SATUKDA
DEq. 25, 1920.
THE TOILER
PAGE !)
A
ism has
xercised every expediency to correct
these, itf i self-produced evils, without success.
It is still attempting to alleviate its own created
misery, jbiit each' step it takes but sinks it the
deeper into the quicksands. It cannot extricate
itself. To the workers alone, does history appoint
the task of creating a new world upon the ruins
which capitalism is producing. No other section
of human society is capable of fulfilling this
task. To no other section will this most stupen
dous and historic legacy fall. The workers them
selves and alone, must accept the receivership
for the greatest economic, social and cultural
failure of history that of the failure of cap
italistic production and distribution and the
whole social fabric which has been built up
around it.
Let us prepare now thru education and or
ganization to accept this receivership so as to
save the human race from needless misery.
Sparks Are Needed
By Acton Spiritt.
In timss like these, trade unions grow. It is
when st)rm clouds gather over the National
Eocnomj, when Capital is hard pressed, that the
thumb s :rews are turned tighter on the working
class. And it is in just such periods that the work
ers musti cast about for defense. The most natural
and expedient course for the oppressed masses
form trade unions. Not that trade unions
the best weapons at his disposal; but be
they think they are, and because they are
always closest at hand. There is no doubt
the ranks of the A. F. of L. are growing.
iat the A. F. of L. has grown in size does not
men that it has become more potent or powerful
as a working class organization. It is the more
natural that it should be; but, the Bourgeoisie
have rot only declared war on the trade unions
and th; closed shop from the outside: they have
their iuppets within there are still the leaders.
Though it is the rule that the rank and file
have lecome more and more discontented; as an
organization, reaction prevails. While the local
Unions and Central Bodies should be rallying
points of the Class Struggle; forums for discus
sion wf the position of the working class ; schools
in wUch is learned the process of capitalist produc
tion, and the relation of the worker thereto: they
are meagre gatherings at which ignorance and
apathjy obtain rather than enlightenment and in
terestedness. At the same time the rank and file
grows more rebellious. But they have no ex
pression the Leaders there's the rub.
Yes, it is they, the leaders, who are mostly
responsible for these dogmas; who wish to "arbi
trate1"; who sit in conciliation boards, and howl
"National Calamity", parrot like, when a general
strike is proposed.
Still the rank and file is as dry stuff, needing
only the inflammable spark. Sometimes the
spark comes. Usually in the form of a "red" or
two. There is a flare, radicalism and rebellious
ness triumph. A "red" local is bora. Then the
trouble begins. The officialdom bullies and jerri
manders. The "reds" fight, but gradually become
intolerant. If they are not expelled, they flirt with
other progressive locals and withdraw.
Just here is where, in most cases, a mistake is
made. Rebel elements, who now more than ever
before need contact with the masses to lend them
their ideas and their spirit of revolt, become
segregated. There is no denying this. Excepting
the Industrial Unions, the A. F. of L. contains
the advance section of the American working
class. If the leaders are narrow, autocratic and
subsidized they can best be deposed from the
inside. If the membership seem dull and con
servative, they must be awakened and roused to
action, and this cannot be done unless contact
is had.
More over, the A. F. of L, no matter how re
actionary, is still, essentially, a working class
organization. Though it be somewhat slow and
out of date, the fact that it has represented in
it the largest masses of the organized proletariat
adds to the promise of its being a potent and in
fluential factor in the great struggles to come.
And whether it will function as a revolutionary
organization or a counter-revolutionary one de
pends largely upon the influence and the aggres- '
siveness of the rebels within it.
In the meantime the diy stuff waits sparks
are needed.

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