Page:Samuel Gompers - Out of Their Own Mouths (1921).djvu/114



Soviet Russia the Bolshevists are using many words with a new meaning. It has been shown how they sometimes employ the word "democracy" to mean the reverse of what all civilized peoples and all the labor movements of the world have hitherto meant by the word. So also, after abolishing all the rights of labor and labor organizations and of cooperatives the Bolshevists, nevertheless, continue to apply the terms "trade unions" and "cooperatives" to the empty shells that remain.

In Soviet Russia (April 2, 1921) we read: "The trade unions have been practically transformed into organs of the Soviet Government. Membership in the trade unions is now compulsory for Russian workers." Never before has the term "trade union" been applied to a compulsory state organization. "We shall show below that even the Bolshevists themselves are divided as to whether they shall now regard all the seven million industrial, governmental and agricultural workers whom they seek to classify as the "proletariat" as being members of the trade unions or not. It is conceded that a large part of these people do not realize that they are members of trade unions and do not even pay dues. In fact, the dues seem to be paid by the Government, as we