Page:George Soule - The Intellectual and the Labor Movement.djvu/17

 I am doubtful, however, whether any but the most exceptional individual should aspire to officialdom and leadership in the labor movement itself by this route. After all is said and done, a man with a totally different background and training cannot easily make himself over into a true representative of the rank and file by a few years in a shop or mine. He is more likely to be the college man posing as the labor leader than the authentic spokesman.

In a large sense and in the long run all professions and sciences benefit the community as a whole, and whatever benefits the community benefits labor, which forms such a large part of the community. In this sense there is an almost unlimited scope for service in the professions by those who are sympathetic with the labor movement. Certainly nobody is fitted to undertake important work in any social service unless he does understand the labor movement, and unless he participates to a high degree in its aspirations.

Nevertheless, the opportunity for direct professional connection with labor organizations themselves is not at present wide. Trade unions are still, and necessarily, organizations which must use collective economic power or the threat of it frequently in order to protect their elementary rights and interests, since they are not yet recognized as essential parts of the body politic either by public officials in general or by certain large groups of bankers and employers. The funds of-some labor organizations are ample, but the number of strong unions is small indeed compared with the number of successful business firms. Technicians and professional men have not yet gone far in adapting their knowledge to the use of unions under these conditions. Promising beginnings have been made, and both sides are rapidly learning how to make such contacts fruitful, but the total number of labor technicians is still small, and a comparatively few persons can do not the work which should be done, but the work which it is now practicable to undertake. These persons must be peculiarly suited to their calling in order to be happy and successful in it. While there are intensely interesting and useful positions open for such exceptional individuals, the great majority of those interested in the labor movement will have to be content with some secondary connection. Among the present professional opportunities to cooperate with the