TRADE-UNION POSTULATES.
By Editor
(From an Editorial, the "Independent," July 9, 1903.) A conviction of class antagonism is undoubtedly the basis of union theories. By this is meant that the individual, either employer or employee, does not count, but is swallowed in the circumstances of his class, and is therefore not responsible for what he does. Competition forces all employers to come down to the level of the most grasping, and forces all workmen to accept the rate of pay accepted by the most necessitous. A mechanical "grind" eliminates the individual, and consequently eliminates sentiment, gratitude, honor, and virtue, as well as vice and hatred, which are the qualities of individuals. This postulate naturally leads to the conclusion that, to secure "fair" treatment, the workmen11must rely, not on persuasion, argument, or appeals for justice, but on power. Conversely, the employer who relies on gratitude or sentiment in dealing with a union is certain of disappointment. Such qualities have their place in dealing with individuals, whether members of the union or not; but whatever concessions are given to the union as such will be received, not in a spirit of gratitude, but as a concession to their power, and will only pave the way for further demands. These postulates lead to certain principles which guide the practises of unions. The leading principle is that of group advantage. Individuals are left out of account or are forced into line for the advantage of the union group. The principle of the minimum wage throws the less efficient out of employment, but it prevents the employer from using the necessities of these less efficient to depress the wages of the group. The principle of maximum exertion prevents the strongest workman from making the greatest immediate gain from his strength, but it also prevents him from setting the pace for the average strength of the group. Limitation of apprentices gives the group a patent advantage in view of the postulate of limited opportunities for employment, and the sympathetic strike increases the power of the working class in the face of class antagonism. Since the postulates of unionism have to do with existing conditions, the union is essentially opportunist. It has no utopian theories of ideal society, like the socialists, anarchists, or "single taxers," where automatic justice shall be meted out, but it strives to get all it can, as soon as possible, with existing weapons, and its own power.