Page:Resolutions and Decisions of the Third Congress of the Red International of Labor Unions (1924).pdf/58

 the proletariat of North America, and overlook the inevitability of a bitter and protracted struggle before the mass of the workers are finally brought under revolutionary leadership. This lack of clear understanding leads to the short sighted policy of jumping into dual unions at every setback and partial defeat, thereby playing into the hands of the reactionary bureaucracy.

Examples of this have been seen recently in District No. 18 of the United Mine Workers where the rank and file, disguested with the reactionary tactics of the Lewis bureaucracy in the international convention, join the I. W. W. in hundreds, at the same time retaining their membership in the United Mine Workers of America, in the futile effort to build a powerful organization, parallel to and in conflict with the United Mine Workers.

The most cursory examination exposes this as a fruitless task, the general experience being that after carrying the dual cards for a short period, the workers withdraw from the I. W. W., become passive, and are lost for a considerable time to the revolutionary movement.

As one means of combatting this, the Canadian section of the league must conduct an intensive propaganda campaign throughout the labor movement, paying particular attention to the broader aspects and implications of the struggle, politically and economically on a national and international scale.

Recognizing the strength and value of the independent unions, such as the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees, the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, the Lumber Workers' Industrial Union, the Metal Miners' Union and the Dominion Express Employees' Union, etc., members of the league who are members in these organizations, shall at all times participate actively in their work and in their up-building, while at the same time holding up to the membership, the ideal of unified industrial organization.

In addition, the general amalgamation movement applies to independent unions equally with those unions organized in the A. F. of L. To further the process of amalgamation, movements must be initiated in all independent unions, for affiliation to the Trade Congress of Canada.

The Canadian Federation of Labor originated in the exclusion of the Knights of Labor assemblies, etc., from the Trade Congress. Its principal slogan is independence for Canadian unionism. The winning of autonomy would render it possible for those unions at present organized in the Canadian Federation of Labor to participate in the general trade union movement of the country, thereby eliminating a great deal of bitter internecine warfare at present carried on. Our efforts within the Canadian Federation of Labor, therefore, must be directed towards the unification of this body of workers with the general labor movement.

The catholic unions which unite 50,000 workers are—equally with the catholic unions of Europe,—anti-revolutionary and anti-working class in ideology and practice. The workers embraced in them, however, are bona fide workers, and their enlightenment constitutes part of our task.

Through our French-Canadian groups, simple explanatory leaflets