Page:William Z. Foster, James P. Cannon and Earl Browder - Trade Unions in America.djvu/18

 before, and, after a brief existence, it disappeared.

When the present Trade Union Educational League was first organized in 1920, under the leadership of Comrade Foster, tremendous changes were already at work in the radical movement which were preparing the ground for its success. The Communist Party had entered the field and was enlisting the most advanced and energetic militants under its banner. At first the young Communist movement had committed itself to the policy of leaving the old unions and building new ones on revolutionary principles. By the spring of 1920, a minority was fighting for the new policy at the convention of the United Communist Party, but the official policy remained the same. Consequently, the Trade Union Educational League, deprived of the assistance of the Communists was able to make but little headway during its first year.

But the new idea was taking hold in the revolutionary ranks. The lessons of the past mistakes, the influence of the Russian revolution, and the policy of the Communist International and the Red Trade Union International were all combining to bring about a complete change in the attitude of the revolutionists toward the trade unions. By December, 1920, the minority in the United Communist Party had become the majority, and at the Unity Convention in June, 1921, the new policy of working within the established mass unions was unanimously adopted. The categorical stand of the 1921 Congresses of the Comintern and Profintern threw the deciding weight into the scale, and in short time the great majority of the radical workers were won over.

This remarkable change of sentiment blew the breath of life into the Trade Union Educational League, and it immediately became a factor of great importance in the labor movement. Comrade Foster, the master organizer, harnessed the energy of the militants to a program of remarkable practicality and drove it with full speed into the trade union movement. The effect was electrical. The trade unions reacted to the Trade Union