Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 85.djvu/62

53 There is a feeling that the working class will use its power with less moderation than the capitalist class. It is doubtful whether this feeling is well founded. There is no force in mere numbers unless they act together, and there is little reason to suppose that the working class is any more nearly united than the capitalists in our politics. The demands of working people sometimes appear more brazen than those of capitalists, but this is an element of weakness rather than strength. So long as the political activities of any faction are not insidious, society has little to fear.

There is a good deal of dissension in the ranks of labor. Dissimilarity rather than similarity of interest between trades is the basis of trade-unionism. The downfall of the Knights of Labor is commonly attributed to disregarding this basis. By admitting workmen of different trades into its local organizations, the seed of dissolution was sown. Many workingmen, such as those in the building trades and the railway trainmen, have more in common with their employers than they have with the great mass of unskilled labor. The railway trainmen are not affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, and the latter is on unfriendly terms with the Industrial Workers of the World. The political or parliamentary socialists in turn differ with the I. W. W. on the important matter of tactics. Moreover, socialism as a political movement is divided into the orthodox followers of Marx and the reformists or possibilists, a line of cleavage destined to become much more marked the moment socialism captures the reins of power.

It is only fair to say, however, that certain aspects of the labor movement can not but excite the apprehension of the disinterested observer. For one thing, there is serious ground for regret that the different classes of labor are advancing at such unequal rates. On the one hand, there is an aristocracy of organized labor that revels in prosperity. On the other hand, there is much unskilled labor that gets less than a living wage. There are labor monopolies which by threatening to strike