Page:Jay Fox - Amalgamation (1923).pdf/6

4 factories by the crushing of unionism amongst the workers. The policy of every man for himself and to hell with the hindmost is held to be the ideal condition for the workers. As for themselves, the capitalists prefer, the communistic idea of getting together into a compact organization.

The first stage of the capitalists' getting together came when they discovered the economy and efficiency of the industrial factory. In the manufacture of a machine the products of several trades are necessary: draftsmen, patternmakers, moulders, blacksmiths, machinists, etc. Why not gather all these crafts together under one roof and one management? The idea was ideal from every viewpoint. It was adopted, and the industrial factory was born. Capitalists have always been quick to adopt new and valuable ideas. Therein lies their success. The workers, on the contrary, are suspicious of new ideas and slow to approach them. This accounts for the fact that after nearly a century of capitalist success in the application of the industrial idea the workers still adhere to the primitive craft union form of organization, although it is carrying them to destruction day by day.

The industrial factory was soon followed by the industrial corporation, which is really an industrial union of dollars. It was necessary that the small craft owner, displaced by the industrial factory, be taken into the industrial union, so the joint stock company was created. This was a most important development in the evolution of modern, capitalism. In the early stages when capital was scarce it made it possible for people with small means to become share-holders in big corporations. Thus the industrial managers were given access to large amounts of money necessary to the success of their dreams of industrial conquest.

Under, this system gigantic corporations were formed which gave their managers almost unlimited power over the workers in their employ and all others who came within the sphere of their influence. For it is a truism that a capitalist's power is measured by the amount of capital he controls, and that the men who control capital, control the means by which the people live. All opposition to the will of the new industrial monarchs has been ruthlessly crushed. The craft unions were the first to get the sword. The unions, still in their primitive form, became an easy prey for the big corporations. Not only did these refuse to recognize the unions but they ferreted out the union