Page:Program of the Trade Union Educational League (1927).djvu/12

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The above program has arrayed against it all the forces of reaction, the employers, the government, and the ruling officialdom of the trade unions. Its program can be realized only through struggle against the combined reactionary powers. Such struggle requires the mobilization of the masses of workers in an organized manner, the organization and training of an alternative, militant leadership to supplant the corrupt officialdom. In order to put into effect the above program, the left wing forces must have an organization, and establish closest contact with the whole membership of their organizations; they must acquaint themselves with all the problems of their industries, large and small; they must demonstrate to the masses that the left wing members are better trade unionists in every sense than are the reactionaries; they must speak to the masses in the most responsible manner, with the greatest accuracy, and with proposals for action that are realistic, well thought out, and supported by the clearest arguments. The left wing does not rely upon abuse and epithets in place of arguments, but neither will it hesitate promptly to brand treachery with its proper name and expose it before the workers. Organizational measures for mobilizing mass support for the left wing program must on no account be neglected or shoved into the background. Not only must the T. U. E. L. be built up organizationally, but also broader movements upon local and industrial issues—must be built up to include in a united front with the left wing, those progressive elements who are ready to fight for some measure of progress.

The question of international labor unity becomes even more important for the workers. American capitalists are the strongest in the world; more and more their foreign investments reach into every land, laying tribute upon the labor of other peoples; more and more American Imperialism establishes political domination over weaker peoples in order more effectively to exploit them (China, Philippines, Latin-America). Finance capital, controlling foreign as well as domestic policy, exploits the cheap labor of other lands directly and indirectly against the interests of the American working class.

Conflicts in world politics, the struggle for reapportionment among the rival imperialist powers of the world markets, etc., bring ever closer a new world war, more deadly, more destructive than the late war of 1914–18, a war