Page:William Zebulon Foster - Strike Strategy (1926).pdf/6

 aspects of the subject were practically ignored. There has been no systematization of strike experiences into a definite strike strategy.

The question is highly complex. There is very little literature upon it in this or any other country. This pamphlet, which is a companion volume to my booklet entitled, "Organize the Unorganized," is a modest beginning of such a literature in this country. It should be followed by more elaborate and detailed studies.

At the R. I. L. U. 1924 congress, Losovsky defined the three elements of policy, strategy and tactics as follows:

In the present work this distinction is not made. The three elements of the subject are covered under the general head of strike strategy. The pamphlet is somewhat comprehensive, dealing with various aspects of the left wing trade union program, but all linked up with the central question of how to wage strikes successfully.

Strike strategy varies widely from country to country and period to period. Its specific character depends upon the degree of economic development and of the sharpness of the class struggle in a given situation. The strike strategy necessary in a country in a revolutionary crisis differs very materially from that required in one with a flourishing and expanding capitalism. The strike strategy herein sketched is that best calculated to defend and advance the interests