To improve the condition of the wage-earners. a number oforganizations have been formed, such as trade unions, laborunions, etc., and their demands have been insisted on in numberlessinstances. Their most effective weapon has proven to by thestrike and to gain concessions from capital it has been used ruth-lessly.The trade and labor unions proper of skilled laborers are fed-erated in this country into a group of over 2,000,000 membersentitled the "American Federation of Labor." They acknowl-edge the rights of property and mainly aim to improve the eco-nomic conditions of the wage-earners.of a very different class is the I. W. W., whose manifesto de-claws that "a struggle must go on until the workers of the worldorganize as a class, take possession of the earth and the machin-ery of production and abolish the wage system." They enrollany workers, skilled or unskilled; believe in a general strike ofevery man in a plant to completely close it; allow no bargain-ing with capital, which to them is "organized corruption," ad-vocate and practice sabotage on a large scale and claim that theworkers should own all lands, mills, mines and factories andmanage all industries, regulate consumption and administer thegeneral social interests. There is to be on other form of govern-ment.This revolutionary movement is known as "Syndicalism,"and although its tenets strike us as absolutely silly, yet we mustremember that a somewhat similar program is apparently beingcarried out in Russia today.It is a fact that in this country nine-tenths of the wealth isowned by only 10 per cent of the population, on which accountthe Bolsheviki claim that this is a hopelessly capitalistic-riddencountry and that, after they arrange things to their satisfactionin Russia, they will then turn their attention to this countryand endeavor to reconstruct us to their liking.There is not one spark of patriotism in the I. W. W.; theiraim is not altruistic and their morals are low. Thus the see-retary of the Chicago or radical wing of the organization writes:"We want the whole earth. The question of right or wrongdoes not concern us," What is desired is a world-wide organ-ization of "white, yellow and black men." To the I. W. W."Christian virtues like reverence, humanity and obedience,"are "slave morals" and "our virile, youth should In' taught to11
