International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1947)

AMERICAN TRADE UNIONS (Continued from page 14) close of the 1830s that the wage-earners' unity for their economic welfare in the at the polls were as disconnected as the workmen's religious affiliations were separate and apart from their trade union affiliations and their loyalty to collective action with their fellow workmen industrial field and their political unity when endeavoring to protect their eco ITS BETTER BECAUSE IT WAS DESIGNED AND BUILT BY PROJECTOR SPECIALISTS Tfc^fcatAfew muTJOsaflPu PROJECTORS Yet it costs less to own and operate because it gives you businessbuilding projection quality and long, dependable, trouble-free service. AND FOR LIFELIKE SOUND IT'S ALSO M0TI0GRAPH MOTIOGRAPH, INC. CHICAGO, ILL. PRODUCING THE BETTER PROJECTORS FOR OVER 50 YEARS K-jreetinaS and (l~>e&l Wishes for a HAPPY HOLIDAY ALBERT F. RYDE Business Representative Moving Picture Projectionists Local No. 233, I. A. T. S. E. Buffalo, N. Y. nomic interests. The leaders of the National Labor Union favored the program of partisan political action. It seemed to them that the economic effort through trade union action in industry was too slow. Also some of the most energetic of the leaders had become impressed with the new and revolutionary teachings of Karl Marx. In fact, one outstanding officer had carried on an extensive correspondence with Socialist leaders in England and Germany. These leaders did not advocate the overthrow of the American form of government with its free institutions, and the substitution of socialism with its state control of industry and those who worked in it. They were sturdy Americans, convinced that liberty could only be secured and maintained when the state existed for the -people, instead of the people existing for the state. What the leaders of the National Labor Union believed essential to a speedier improvement of labor's standard of existence was the election to public office of men from labor's ranks, or those who were friendly to labor's welfare. They worked prodigiously to arouse a partisan political sentiment in workmen's minds, but they mistook the interest and applause of a few as an evidence of the sentiment of labor as a whole. In the national elections of 1872 the National Labor Union, without placing a national ticket in the field, did endorse the candidate for vice president named by one of the political parties. In many states the organization nominated its own candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives. National Labor Union Dies The results of the election were disastrous for the National Labor Union. Practically all of its candidates were overwhelmingly defeated. Workmen in that election made it clear that no matter how united they might be in the shop,, or how loyal thev were to their union, politically they were independent, and would not permit their trade union officers to lead them into any partisan political camp. The results of the election were a stunning blow to those who believed that labor, united in trade unions, could be united at the polls. The failure to secure the relief they had expected through successful political action not only placed a definite damper upon their political ambitions, but what could not be avoided, it also shook the confidence of many wage-earners in the ability of labor to protect itself through trade union organization. This collapse of their political program was followed shortly by the panic of 1873. Shops closed their doors, com 28 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST • December 1947