The Policies of Labor
June I2, 1929 THE COMMONWEAL 147 crusaderma kind of Carrie Nation, indeedlmis bot. tomlessly false. That means reading into her story a modern individualism and belligerence which would have...
...When we have learned that lesson, the world may be redeemed...
...American Federation of Labor officials attribute this to the national prosperity, forgetting, perhaps, that a great part of their last convention was devoted to complaints against the numerous ills which have accompanied the new industrial revolution...
...It is possibly to be found in the discontent of active-minded men with the slackening of enthusiasm in union labor...
...It should be obvious, however, that the immediate, real and personal force behind the movement is not to be discovered in any of these statements...
...Is it not of signifi...
...The Maid of Orl6ans was not a "leader" but a follower, nursed as P6guy says in that humility which Christianity has accepted as the very rhythm of its life...
...THE POLICIES OF LABOR T HE Labor Age movement for a more militant trade union policy has taken on the respectability of organization with the launching of the Conference for Progressive Labor Action...
...Orl6ans was saved not by shouting but by listening...
...Meanwhile it would be understating the case to say that it has done as much for union labor in this country as the theories of class conscious- ness have for the more radical groups of Europe...
...sec-ond, the failure of the Communists to understand American labor and its psychology...
...As avowed, its reason for being is the failure of other societies to state the cause of labor effectively in America...
...canoe that every attempt to unify labor politically, even in the interest of a candidature, has failed...
...but her obedience to this was of the same character as that of the least of the faithful, who hearkens to good counsel and resolves in his heart to follow it...
...And this ought to indicate that no great share in prosperity has yet reached the worker...
...And it promises, in the name of a newly formulated program, to be coherent...
...One good reason for the solidity of the American Federation of Labor has been its steadfast opposition to the ideas of class consciousness and class war, and its realization that only an ideal of co6peration, of "teamwork"mthat most characteristically American of slogans--could eventually win for labor its just share in the rewards of industry...
...June I2, 1929 THE COMMONWEAL 147 crusaderma kind of Carrie Nation, indeedlmis bot...
...It is true that the British Labor party enjoys considerable success...
...We urge independent labor party action as a substi- tute for the useless and confusing non-partisan policy which results in the selection of public officials com-pletely dominated by employers...
...It will be active, energetic, aggressive...
...But the American worker cannot be persuaded that his legislative necessities are the same as those of the Englishman's...
...That means reading into her story a modern individualism and belligerence which would have astounded no one so much as her...
...The name is some-thing of an indication of its character...
...Another, certainly, has been its non-polltical char- ter, with which the progressives find dissatisfaction...
...She will not be an incentive to all kinds of fantastic "originality" or window-smashing, but a positive reminder that nothing can be accom-plished which is not done in the genuine spirit of the Churchmwhich is not born of the mysteries of humil- ity and obedience and charity...
...Curiously enough, it is just in stimulating interest and activity that the progressives may be of some value to organized labor in this country...
...Indeed the gravest charge made by the progressives is directed against the Communists: they have "undermined the faith of the rank and file in the possibilities of the organized labor movement...
...It is much more likely that interest has been dulled because of the fact that, like everyone else, the American Federation of Labor has been unable to suggest a remedy for these new ills other than the adoption of a five-day week...
...And as that is a solution which it will take a long time to get the manufacturers of this country to accept--a time, considering the suspiciousness of capital, which will only be prolonged by violence--there can be no rousing interest for it...
...Certainly it is difficult to fit in their program with the temper of America...
...In the second place he has had the opportunity in recent years to demonstrate his convictions...
...A motion to delete this criticism was suppressed, and so the new movement offers a definite appeal to those who believe in a more drastic and common action for labor than has been existing in America, but one untainted with regard for the Third International...
...The idea of a mutuality of interest between labor and capital has been strongly developed in this country (by capital, the progressives would add) and it certainly promises the only tolerable relationship for the future...
...And a move- ment which is essentially controversial in character should not fail to do this...
...One wishes, therefore, to enrol Jeanne among the noblest of those who are to guide the new movement of Catholic Action...
...first, the failure of the American Federa- tion of Labor to cultivate a "class" feeling among the workers, and its inability to alleviate the unemploy- ment which has come with industrial prosperity...
...Except as such an instrument, as an opposition party, in other words, loyal in its own way to the cause, it is not easy to see how the progressives will accomplish much...
...First of all he remembers that it was not until the labor movement in this country dropped all the political pretensions with which it began that it enjoyed anything but a precarious existence...
...Of course she had received a very special "command...
...Perhaps if President Green can have something more "realistic" than the Com- munists to point to as an illustration of the wrong way, he may find it easier to enlist champions in the cause of the right way...
...It is not the unskilled worker who can show any enthusiasm for a consummation which it will take a decade of careful and laborious effort to bring about...
...President Green can, and here is one true mark that he has the leader's vision...
Vol. 10 • June 1929 • No. 6
