CHAPTER L

TRADE UNIONISM AND THE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

King Log and King Stork. The Democracy of the Unions. The Local President. Walking Delegates and Business Agents. Democracy of National Unions. Democracy and Efficiency. The Danger of Bossism. The Duty to Vote.

URING the anthracite coal strike of 1902, a number of newspapers upbraided me for headlong, reckless conduct, and spoke as though I personally had called out one hundred and fifty thousand men. From a perusal of these journals, one would imagine that I, unaided, or, at best, assisted by a few officials, had compelled this army against its will to desist from work.

The same charge is made in a scarcely less ridiculous form against all trade unions and their officials. The critics of labor organizations pose as kind friends seeking to place their protecting cloak about the poor union workman, oppressed by a cruel and merciless organization. It is asserted that the employees are compelled to strike against their will, and to give up their work and the bread of their wives and children at the whim of an irresponsible walking delegate. The tyranny of the employer, it is claimed, is as nothing to the tyranny of the union official over the defenseless worker enmeshed in the trade organization. It is the story of King Log and King Stork, a transition from the frying pan into the fire.

One must have lived and worked in a trade union atmosphere fully to realize how baseless are these statements, which imply a careless or a wilful ignorance of the fundamental principles of trade union life. The labor union. in the United States, as elsewhere, rests upon the firm basis of democracy. It secures its power from the ungrudging consent of the governed, and its spirit is that of our political constitutions-the spirit of a broad democracy. The American ideal of a government of the people, by the people, and for

the people, is assured and secured in the trade union world. In fact the trade union government is even more democratic than the political organization of our cities and towns, of the states, or of the nation. There is probably no organization within the boundaries of the United States which is more essentially and entirely democratic than the American trade union. The foundation stone of the trade union structure is the local union. The government of these local bodies is extremely democratic. The essence of democratic government is equality; and socially, industrially, and politically, the members of local unions are approximately equal. As a general rule, all who attend the weekly, fortnightly, or monthly meetings of the unions are men working at their trade, men who have enjoyed about equal educational opportunities and are obtaining approximately equal wages. The president of such a local union is a man who also works at his trade and who devotes his time gratuitously to the welfare of the organization; and the democratic temper of the union is manifested in the manner in which it restricts the power of even this trusted official. Notwithstanding the fact that the members of the union are usually able to know all the principal facts in connection with the work of each of their local officers, every precaution is taken to prevent any abuse or excess of power. Thus, most of the committees, even those of the slightest importance, are selected by members of the union, rather than by the local president, and the principle of rotation in office is commonly in force, the term of office being often not greater than six months or one year.

The same is true, as a general rule, of the walking delegate, or, as he is more properly called, the business agent. The walking delegate has been', more maligned than any other official in industrial life. He was called the walking delegate, not because he preferred walking to working, but because in the olden days he had not enough money to pay cab or 'bus fare and was obliged to walk instead of ride. The business agent is usually a man whose duties are so manifold that he cannot work at his trade. He it is who meets with the employer and attempts to secure redress of grievances or maintenance of rules; who collects dues from members of the

union; secures new adherents, and obtains work for the unemployed. The great majority of men of this sort are hard-working and perfectly honest and disinterested, although there are exceptions, as there are among bankers or lawyers. Where a business agent has the right to order a strike and where his decision is practically ultimate and final, the door is opened to bribery and corruption; but even here the essentially democratic nature of the union is shown by the fact that the business agent with unusual powers is ordinarily chosen for a short term, and the inefficient or dishonest are gradually weeded out.

The local unions are thus as democratic as it is possible to make any body of men. There is no restriction put upon the voting power of any union man or woman, and in some unions the principle goes so far as to permit boys to have a vote or, at least, half a vote. Even in these local meetings the man of ability naturally rises to the top and exerts a dominating influence, and no one is hindered from making his mark. The American principle of majority rule is applied rigorously, and upon the whole the action of the local is usually a clear and obvious expression of the will of the majority. The national unions are almost equally democratic, although the arrangements are not so simple. It is not possible for all of the members of an organization like the Railway Conductors or the United Mine Workers to get together and to vote viva voce for any measure; but the attempt is made to attain the nearest possible approach to this. The unions have adopted the principle of representation which has been worked out by the political parties. The national conventions of the unions, consisting of delegates from the locals, correspond to the legislatures of New York, Massachusetts, or any other American state, or to the House of Representatives of the United States. The various local bodies send their delegates or representatives to the conventions, either with or without instructions, and the vote of the conventions is thus the vote of the various locals. The representation of the locals is sometimes in direct proportion to the membership, the smaller locals have a larger representation than their members would secure to them. In the conventions, the majority rules, and the

vote of the convention represents more nearly the opinion of all the members of the union than does the vote of a primary, or a ballot for the election of governor or president. The union, moreover, has gone even further in an approach to pure democracy than have the states of the American nation. The conventions, which are held in most unions annually, and in others every second, third, fourth, or fifth year, are relatively losing importance, and much of the work there is now done by direct vote of all the members of the union, or, in other words, by the referendum. In many unions, no constitutional amendment can be adopted without a referendum vote, and many of the organizations elect their officers by referendum. This election or legislation by popular vote does away with much of the danger of machine control and insures a clear expression of the popular will. Legislation may be proposed and nominations made by a local or a number of locals without the intermediation of representatives in convention. In some unions much of the discussion and voting is done by postal card or letter, and numerous devices have been hit upon to combine the greatest amount of freedom of action on the part of officers with the highest development of the democratic principle.

No one who has not been an officer of a union can appreciate the extent to which the vast body of men, nominally under his control and direction, makes its wants felt. In every crisis men forge to the front and interpret the wishes and feelings of their fellow-men, but in the trade union, as in few organizations in society, the real movement is that of the great mass, and the decision upon important subjects is that of the members themselves. It is well that this is so. In this rude democracy, in this deep and abiding jealousy of officials and of insignia of rank or of office, is found the most hopeful sign for the future of trade unions.

It is quite probable that at the time of the miners' convention preceding the anthracite strike of 1902 a considerable majority of the delegates elected to declare in favor of or against a strike, were of the opinion--which I myself held that in view of the hardships which the strike would inflict. upon the miners and upon the country at large, it would be better for us to

endure our evils for a time, and, if they still remained unredressed, to strike at a later period. It is a sign, however, of the democracy of trade unionism that the president of the organization, the national and district officials, and even the representatives in the convention, were powerless to refuse to obey the clear mandate of the majority of workmen as expressed by a series of votes in the various locals. The mineworkers of the whole region, English, Irish, German, Welsh, Scotch, Poles, Russians, Hungarians, Lithuanians, and members of a dozen nationalities, had voted upon this question, each man registering his will, each man having a vote irrespective of race or language; and when this vote was finally counted and crystallized into instructions to the delegates, there was no power within the union to prevent its taking effect.

In some cases the effect of these extremely democratic principles is to detract from the strength of the action of the union and to bestow power upon weak and irresponsible men; but on the whole the power of the union over its officials is exerted for good, and acts as a check against the grosser forms of dishonesty and incapacity. A trade union leader notoriously corrupt cannot maintain his position as easily as in the political world. Even the majority of the inhabitants of a city may be held in subjection by a well-organized but corrupt minority; but in a union the disaffection of even a minority will cause a split which will immeasurably weaken the organization and loosen the hold of the officers. The democratic spirit of the organization is strengthened by the substantial equality of all its members and by the ability of a minority to secede from the union if conditions become unbearable. The controlling powers in a state can generally exercise through taxation and the law compulsion over all persons in the state, but even a majority in a union would find it difficult to exert compulsion upon a strong, determined, and disaffected minority. The government of a trade union, therefore, must constantly receive the sanction of practically all of its members. The resulting democracy is occasionally a hindrance to rapid and effective action on the part of the officers, but it precludes likewise the possibility of a minority of men or of a small group of officials