Boston Raincoat Makers.. San Francisco Ladies' Garment Workers.. 9. New York Cloak and Suit Tailors..... 10. New York Amalgamated Ladies' Garment 11. Brownsville, N. Y., Cloakmake”~. 12. Boston Cloak Pressers.... 13. Montreal, Canada, Cloakmakers. 14. Toronto, Canada, Cloakmakers.. 15. Philadelphia Waistmakers. 16. St. Louis Cloak Cutters.. 17. New York Reefermakers.... 18. Chicago Cloak and Suit Pressers.. 19. Montreal, Canada, Cloak Cutters.. 20. New York Waterproof Garment Workers.. 21. Newark, N. J., Cloak and Suitmakers. OFFICE ADDRESS .857 Broadway, New York City .244 S. 8th St., Philadelphia, Pa. .9 W. 21st St., New York City 1023 E. Baltimore St., Baltimore, Md. 111 Bergenline Ave., Union Hill, N. J. 133 2nd Ave., New York City .38 Causeway St., Boston, Mass. .352-19th Ave. 228 Second Ave., New York City Cutters.....7 W. 21st St., New York City 1701 Pitkin Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y. 241 Tremont St., Boston, Mass. .37 Prince Arthur, E. Montreal, Canada 194 Spadina Ave., Toronto, Canada 40 N. 9th St., Philadelphia, Pa. Fraternal Building, St. Louis, Mo. .117 Second Ave., New York City 1815 W. Division St., Chicago, Ill. .1178 Cadieux, Montreal, Canada 22. New Haven Conn., Ladies' Garment Workers. 23. New York Shirtmakers..... BOOT &SHOE WORKERS UNION UNION STAMP Factory .20 E. 13th St., New York City 103 Montgomery St., Newark, N. J. .83 Hollock St., New Haven, Conn. .231 E. 14th St., New York City 241 Tremont St., Boston, Mass. 16 W. 21st St., New York City .314 Superior Ave., Cleveland, Ohio .314 Superior Ave., Cleveland, Ohio 153 15th Ave., Seattle, Wash. .314 Superior Ave., Cleveland, Ohio Labor Temple, Winnipeg, Man. .414 Warner Building, Bridgeport, Conn. .414 Warner Building, Bridgeport, Conn. .228 Second Ave., New York City .241 Tremont St., Boston, Mass. .314 Superior Ave., Cleveland, Ohio 12 Parmelee Ave., New Haven, Conn. (CONTINUED ON INSIDE BACK COVER) Named shoes are frequently made in Non-Union factories DO NOT BUY ANY SHOE no matter what its name, unless it bears a plain Do not accept any excuse for absence of the UNION STAMP BOOT AND SHOE WORKERS' UNION 246 Summer Street, Boston, Mass. JOHN F. TOBIN, Pres. CHAS. L. BAINE, Sec'y-Treas. Conservatism holds on to the old because it is old. In its view, the age of a thing or idea constitutes its virtue. The Russian conservative claimed that since the autocratic power of the past Czar came from ancient times, therefore it was sacred and inviolable. The conservative is like an orthodox in religion. He does not question, but rather believes what he is told. His mind seems to adhere to that which he hears. He cannot think otherwise. The radical, on the contrary, takes nothing for granted. He has the courage to doubt and question. When told that a thing is good because it is old he pauses to consider it on its merits. His mind is not sluggish; but moves with speed. He subjects everything to the light of his own reason. He is not afraid to ask whether the existing order deserves respect. When he sees that the existing order causes suffering to millions of people, bringing them to the verge of despair, he has no hesitancy in declaring that the exist- · ing order must be abolished, and he does not mind being called a socialist. Some unions, however energetic and brave their economic struggle with the employers, hold the present capitalist order as sacred. Owing to that position they commit many errors; it makes them unduly restrained. It is this that leads them to entrust the interest of labor in the state and federal legislatures to capitalist politicians-Republicans or Democrats-who dash their hopes to the ground. We, the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, do not restrict the extent of our struggles, and will entrust our fortunes only to such representatives as are pledged to exclusively working class interest. We support the socialists, and do not care or feel shame if, on this account, we are denounced as radicals. Conservatism drags us backwards, but Radicalism impels us forward. All our people will admit that Radicalism is higher, finer and nobler than conservatism, but there is a kind of radicalism which stands on the same plane as conservatism. Just as conservatism holds on to the old because it is old, so so-called radicalism seizes upon the new because it is new. Neither is capable of directing a penetrating glance within. To the one the old is the thing, to the other, the new. To neither is the kernel of importance but rather the label outside of the thing. Both are blind bigots, slaves to the dead letter. To both, reason and calm deliberation is superfluous. True radicalism is active, constantly in motion, impelling its adherents forward. False radicalism is also in motion, but only to leap unreasonably from one thing to another, forward and backward, and it leaps, so as not to linger long at any thing. It rejects good things, not because such things have served their purpose, but because its principle is to leap forward. When an issue results in reform the reform is useless to the radical of this frame of mind. He will even return to the thing which only yesterday he rejected. That is, he will even leap backward. When a boy acts thus in playing with his toys we deem it a natural thing, but when grown up men, leaders of a union, do this with plans, issues, policies, each time causing a revolution, each time exciting and stirring up tens of thousands of members, and upon succeeding in causing a row, immediately seek new issues for new trouble-then it is boyish recklessness, irresponsible radicalism-disorder. We have in the Cloakmakers' Union of New York a group of young men, whose ailment is the wrong sort of radicalism, the radicalism of the irresponsible, disorderly sort. In the seven years that have elapsed since the first general strike not a year has passed without their stirring up a new issue. Each time it was a wild cry. "Beware, the union is in danger, save the union!" That was enough to cause an uproar among the members and bring the union to the verge of a catastrophe. A cry of "fire" in a thick throng of people will alarm the calmest and stoutest heart and there follows a stampede, a wild scramble and a jumping over heads to the exits. The issues referred to have always been raised in the loudest, most radical tone, with revolutionary fury against the conservative leaders. This has impressed those of our union men who had sworn to be radical, not knowing that being radical means being free and untranımeled in thought, employing reason and concentrating upon the essential in every question. One high-sounding radical phrase is enough to intoxicate and lead these people astray. It was not radicalism but irresponsibility that has driven the said group of "radicals" to invent issues; not radicalism but boyish antics. They have proven it by the fact that after spending their force in noisy clamor for a particular issue, they would immediately forget it, as if it had never existed, and start preparing for a new performance. We had secured an agreement at the hands of the Council of Conciliation in 1915, as to which Dr. Hourwich, who undoubtedly understands what a union agreement should be, said, by word and pen, that it meant a very great improvement on the protocol. Then it should have been satisfactory. But seven months later these "radicals" started making stoppages, with the result that in seven months time the employers abrogated the agreement and made the lockout of 1916 in which 40,000 cloakmakers and their wives. and children suffered starvation for fourteen weeks. Since it was a good agreement, it behooved them to make good use of it. But no. They are "revolutionists" and must show that they are “radicals"; so they made stoppages and gave the employers a pretext for abrogating the agreement. These "radical" young men for a long time had favored a plan for establishing a general price commission going from shop to shop and settling piece prices in accordance with a uniform standard, and the workers of the shops themselves should not participate in price settlement. In the agreement of last year we succeeded in embodying this provision in an improved form that the shops should not be deprived of their right to settle prices. Only when the price committee of the shop cannot agree with the employer should the price commission be called in. Was not this a satisfactory solution? Yet the same "radical" people, who had waged a hot fight for this reform when it was still only a demand, do not insist on this reform in practice. It is already a year since we won the reform, but the price commission has not yet been established, because of the stirring up of new issues. What does this show? It shows that among the spokesmen of the union there are those who merely play the role of revolutionists, and where they cannot play this role they are passive. The reform was good so long as it was an issue, when it was possible to let out a lot of hot air, stir up trouble, utter threats and abuse. As soon as the manufacturers conceded the point (and they made the concession not from kindness or benevolence but because the workers bitterly fought for it) it has been slighted and forgotten. Does not this mean toying with the very existence of the union, risking the most vital interest of tens of thousands of workers and their families? But this does not worry them. That is not radicalism but irresponsibility. True radicalism assumes responsibility. The true radical does not bear the slavish yoke of old superstitions. He does not toy with words. What he undertakes, he carries through to a finish. False radicalism is, in reality, not concerned with anything. To-day it regards as good that which was bad yesterday and vice versa, so long as it has shouted forth a "radical" phrase, a beautiful soap bubble. This is child's play at the expense of the union; and as these radicals are not children but men, leaders of a local union, it is sheer irresponsibility-disorder. The result is that the membership feels the spirit of irresponsibility, grows disappointed and full of bitterness, and what is worse-becomes indifferent. That immediately affects the conditions in the shop. Work prices go down, and a change for the worse takes place in the employer's attitude to the workers. This spirit of irresponsibility is in a large measure accountable for the inability of our members to take due advantage of the golden prosperity prevailing in the country so as to improve their position. |