I wish to express my hearty appreciation of John A. Fitch’s article in
THE SURVEY of June 7, on the I. W. W. It is illuminative. The I. W.
W. is the one organization that is both hated and feared by our most
eminent leaders in business, politics, and religion. There are good
reasons for this. The I. W. W. pays no homage to heroes and great men
of the past; it has little respect for the laws of the land, because
it believes these laws were made to keep them in bondage; and it
entirely ignores and repudiates the church, as it holds that the church
has always been an instrument to keep the people in ignorance and
subjection.
Small wonder it is that this “outlaw” organization receives the
contempt and anathemas of conventional, respectable people, who have
been taught that everything that makes civilization better than
barbarism, is due to the genius and greatness and goodness of a few
men, who in turn were but the instruments of Providence. The I. W. W.
tells its members to stop bowing the head and the knee to great men
and even to God, and to assert the right and power that is theirs, and
to depend on themselves alone for the establishment of a new system of
industry.
Sound and staid business, political and religious leaders are deeply
concerned with what seems to be the trend of thought and action on
the part of the “lower” classes. This trend appears to be decidedly
in the direction of the very principles and methods of the I. W. W.
The “better” class of people believe chaos and anarchy will result
if the principles and practices of the I. W. W. predominate; the I.
W.W. believe they will always be oppressed, and matters go from bad to
worse, if our method of doing business is not fundamentally changed.
They believe so fully in the justice of their cause that they willingly
accept the scorn, the contempt, the inhuman treatment inflicted on them
in jail and out, that is meted out mercilessly for their uncompromising
speech and attitude.
This bitter feeling of the “best” people toward the I. W. W., and the
dogged persistence of the I. W. W. in their revolutionary tactics,
constitute the most acute phase of what the Socialists call the class
struggle. This class war will continue till one side or the other
is victorious. One reason that the whole matter is so generally
misunderstood is that nearly all the newspapers distort and suppress
most of the news concerning the activity of the I. W. W.
Mr. Fitch’s article radiates light rather than heat.
A. E. HOUSE.
Spokane, Wash.
=RIGHT IDEAS ON INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS=