Page:William Z. Foster - Wrecking the Labor Banks (1927).djvu/9



BOUT 1920 the trade unions began to go into business on a large scale. From then on for five years there was organized by them an imposing array of labor banks, labor investment companies, trade union life insurance companies, etc. At present writing there are 36 labor banks, 11 investment corporations, 3 trade union life insurance companies, and various other concerns, with combined assets, at least on paper, of about $150,000,000.

The basis of this movement is the assembling by the trade union leaders of such meager savings as the workers are able to make out of their slim wages and then to invest them in industry. Although calling itself a cooperative movement, trade union capitalism is in reality nothing of the kind. The control of the various financial institutions rests entirely in the hands of the reactionary officialdom of the unions who, in the name of the unions, vote a majority of the stock. Similarly, the business practices and ideals of the movement have nothing in common with real cooperation. The whole thing is saturated from top to bottom with capitalistic aims and methods. The present writer dubbed the system "trade union capitalism," and that describes it correctly.

The spectacular rise of trade union capitalism was accompanied by a whole series of illusions, which the bureaucrats spread widely among the workers. The essence of these is that struggle against the employers, by strikes and aggressive political action, is unnecessary—all that the workers have to do is to save their pennies, invest them in industry, and thereby become capitalists. The slogan of the movement is "Labor is becoming Capital." Professor Carver of Harvard gave