CHAPTER IX

"Like the Left Wingers of the Socialist Party; like the editors and the writers of the Revolutionary Age and the Class Struggle; like the Eastmans, the Nearings and the Frainas of our American movement, my critic is obsessed with Russia. To him, the Bolshevists and their mass action revolutions are like dazzling, fiery suns which blind and obscure all rivals.... "As proletarians, I. W. W.'s rejoiced at the Lenine triumph. As proletarians, we have unwaveringly supported the Bolshevist regime in all our propaganda. Those of our members who happened to be in Russia when the October Revolution came (and there were thousands of them) were all found in the Bolshevist army. Bill Shatoff, Volodarsky, Martoff, Kornuk and others who have been leaders in the Bolshevist army were all old members of the I. W. W. In brief, then, were we in Russia, all I. W. W.'s would be Bolsheviki. But from this it does not necessarily follow that in America the I. W. W. must turn Bolshevist also.... "Mr. Ferguson's proposition is that after all these years of struggle we should now discard this One Big Union goal and unite with political Socialists to create an American Bolsheviki. And in that proposal he demonstrates the impractical artlessness of the Left Winger. The I. W. W. is a Socialist who is a materialist. The Left Winger is a Socialist who is an ideologist. The I. W. W. seeks for verities and for concrete, ponderable power. The Left Winger follows the intoxicating dreams of his own imagination.... "Of course, the I. W. W. wants unity. But we will have no unity with any who are not willing to accept the proletarian conception of Socialism. We will have no unity with any who do not belong to our class. And we will have no unity with any who flinch at the 'radicalism' of our program.... "The I. W. W. is not anti-political. Its members are free to be members of the Socialist Party and thousands of us, the writer included, do carry Socialist cards.... "The social revolution is not a thing of theories. It is merely the final act of working-class organization. It is the historic mission of the working class to mount to supreme power. They do this, not by debating nor by marching in the street; they do this by the slow process of organization. In their union halls, the workers learn class consciousness. In their union halls, the workers learn self-government. In their union halls, the workers are disciplined and solidified for the 'final conflict.' Every strike is a revolution in miniature. Every gain which organized workers make, by a conscious act of their own, weakens capitalism and is revolutionary. In short, the union movement is the schoolhouse of the new society.... "Mr. Ferguson is not correct in asserting that the I. W. W. does not have 'the sole aim of revolution.' In our Preamble, he will find the boldest revolutionary utterance which has ever been penned.... Even were we silent in revolutionary words, our very form of organization and mode of action stamp us as revolutionists. We are organized against capital. We are an army that is ever battling.... "The real I. W. W. is not to be read in books of the intellectuals. It does not flash in phrases. It is written in the hearts of strong silent men. It can be read in the ineffable tales of anguish which ring from the prisons of the land. It can be read in the tragic sacrifices of the Littles, the Joe Hills, the Barans, the Looneys, the Jonsons, the Rabinowitzes, the Gerlots, the Jack Whytes whom destiny has claimed from among us. Its chapters have been penned, not with words, but with the living dramas of Spokane and San Diego, Lawrence and Paterson, McKee's Rocks, Everett and Mesaba Range."