ORGANISATION OF LABOUR that you are determined, they'd give in quickly en_oughor seek a co~promise. They would be losing millions every day. The strikers might even sabotage the works and machinery, and the· employers would be only too anxious to " settle," while in a strike of one factory or district they usually welcome the situation, knowing as they do that the chances are all against you. Reflect, therefore, how important it is. in what manner, on what principles your union is built, and how vital labour solidarity and co-bperation are in your every-day struggle for better .conditions. In unity is your strength, but that unity is non-existent and impossible as long as you are organised on craft lines instead of by industries. There is 'nothing more important and urgent than that you and your fellow workers see to it immediately that you change the form of your organisation. But it is not only the form that must be changed. Your union must become clear about its aims and purposes. The worker should most earnestly consider what he really wants, how he means to achieve it, by what methods. He must learn what his union should be, how it should function, and what it .should try to accomplish. Now, what is the union to accomplish. What should be the aims of a real Jabour union? First of all, the purpose of the union is to serve the interests of its members. That is its ·primary duty. There is no quarrel about that; every workingman understands it. If some refuse to join a labour body it is because they are too ignorant to appreciate its great value, in which case they must be enlightened. But generally they decline to belong to the union because they have no faith or are disappointed in it. Most of those who remain away from the union do so because they hear so much boasting about the strength of organised labour while· they know, often from bitter experience, that it is defeated in almost every important struggle. " Oh, the union," they say scornfully, " it don't amount to anything:" To speak quite truthfully, to a certain extent they are right. They see organised capital proclaim the open shop policy and defeat the unions ; they see labour leaders sell out strikes and betray t)ji.e workers ; they see the membership, the rank and file, helpless.in the political machinations in and out 6f the union. To be sure, they don't understand why it is so ; but they d9 see the facts, and they turn against the union. . Some again refuse to-have anything to do with the union because they had at one time belonged to it, and they know what an insignificant role the individual member, the average worker, plays in the 71 B,blloteca G no Bianco
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