Page:William Zebulon Foster - The Railroaders' Next Step, Amalgamation (1922).djvu/5



The supreme need of railroad men at the present time is a consolidation of our many labor organizations into one compact body. The power of the companies has become so enormous, their solidarity so intense, and their greed so voracious, that the prevailing type of federated craft unionism is no longer able to cope with the situation. If we are to maintain existing labor conditions, not to speak of making further advances, we must arrive at a more solidified form of organization. The tremendous latent power of the great army of railroad workers will have to be fully developed. This can be done successfully only by the amalgamation of the sixteen principal railroad craft unions into one industrial union covering every branch of the railroad service.

As I write this (March, 1922) events are taking shape that render more pressing than ever the need for the utmost possible power and solidarity on the part of all railroad workers. The companies are now making a big drive, politically as well as industrially, to crush the unions and to force us down to serfdom. They have secured the passage of the Esch-Cummins law limiting the right of railroad men to strike. And not content with that they are forcing through the Poindexter bill, abolishing this right altogether and providing fines, of from $500 to $10,000 and imprisonment not to exceed ten years for those who even "solicit, advise, induce or persuade, or attempt to induce or persuade" railroad workers to quit their jobs. Besides