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INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY
Excerpts from *One Big Union* pamphlet
The Industrial Workers of the World see no good in leaving
the decisions to corporate managers and politicians. Instead, we
want Industrial Democracy -- industry run by its workers. We ask
these questions:
If a representative government takes control of everyone's
bread and butter, how can it be kept representative?
If the already vast body of laws and regulations over labor
are added to, do we not become the puppets of appointed
administrators?
How can we have a totatitarian economy and yet avoid
totalitarian politics?
The greatest problem facing humanity is not production and
distribution; it is the
problem of power. IT NEVER HAS BEEN safe to let a few control the
affairs of the many. IT NEVER WILL BE SAFE. The depressions,
wars, and other ills of the modern world have been possible only
because of the concentration of power in the hands of a few. What
happened was the result of the will of these few, not the will of
the many.
Every invention that has increased our power to produce or
destroy, has increased the power of the few and decreased the
power of the rest of us. Every improvement in communication has
extended the power of this minority. And every time we give more
power to someone to try and remedy existing evils, we increase the
problem. This is true whether we allow that power to fall into the
hands of the present managers of industry, their friends in
government or their friends in Trade Unions. The only safe choice
is Industrial Democracy -- industry run by those who do the work.
IT'S UP TO US
We can run industry and thereby solve the problem of power,
for all the power that runs this dynamic world comes from our own
efforts and work. The working class has only to stop doing what it
is told to do, and start doing what it collectively decides to do.
This will deprive the ruling class of all the power they ever had.
It will give the working class all the power it will ever need.
Management of industry by the workers organized to do the
job, can only be achieved with planning and organizing towards the
goal. This planning and organizing is the special job of the IWW.
If this job is not done, the opposite will happen -- regimentation
of everything by business and government and its alliance,
fascism.
Industrial Democracy is the answer to many problems. It can
keep alive democracy that cannot survive when practiced only on
election day. It can free us from poverty and fear, waste and
war. With modern production methods it can enable ordinary people
to get all the goods and services they can use, by working about
as much as they want to. It can give us security and freedom -- a
person driven by needs can never be free, and a puppet is never
secure. It can make all humanity a harmonious whole,
intelligently working for the good of all -- only when the general
run of humanity can decide what is to be produced and what is to
become of the product, can society know what it is doing.
Working class organization must serve two purposes:
1. It must provide the most efficient structure for carrying on
our daily struggle for better conditions and better pay;
2. It must provide a complete solution of the industrial problem
by making possible the efficient management of modern industry by
organized labor.
It is no coincidence that the same type of organization serves
both purposes; by organizing the way we work, so that we have the
same relations in our unions as we have in the process of
production, we are lined up for the best advantage in our everyday
struggle, and we have the necessary coordination for assuming the
responsibility of industrial production.
PRACTICAL POLICY OF THE IWW
1. Union Democracy
The purpose of the IWW is to establish democracy in our
everyday life on the job. Its practical policies are directed
towards that end. They are determined by two basic principles:
solidarity and democracy within the union.
It is necessary to avoid any policies that will interfere
with the unity of the working class, and it is necessary to make
sure that the union, instead of running its members, is run by its
members.
As safeguards against any clique running this union to suit
themselves, the following safeguards have been devised:
a) No officer is elected for more than one year.
b) No officer may be elected for more than three successive
terms.
c) All officers are elected by referendum ballot -- all members
on the job vote for Job Branch officer; all members in Job
Branches vote for officers of the Industrial Union that unites
them; and all members in the IWW vote for officers of the general
organization.
d) All officers are subject to recall by majority vote.
e) Election, not appointment, is the uniform policy.
BUSINESS METHODS
The business methods within the union are further assurance
of democracy. The power of the purse must be kept in the hands of
members, both in collection and expenditures. The IWW does not
accept the dues checkoff system, where the bosses act as bankers
for the union by taking union dues out of workers wages. Direct
collection of dues establishes contact between members and
officers.
The IWW has devised a simple system for collection of dues by
delegates on the job. This prevents dishonesty in handling of
funds, and permits shop committees to know the union standing of
every member on the job. All delegates and officers must make a
report to the Job Branch meeting, and have their accounts audited
by a committee elected at each meeting. This makes it necessary to
handle business to the satisfaction of members.
No assessment can be levied except when approved by a
referendum of those who have to pay them.
These additional safeguards prevent clique control:
a) Pay for officers cannot exceed the average pay of the workers
they represent. Monthly and annual financial statements of the
union are audited by elected committees.
b) Strikes cannot be called or called off by officers; this can
only be done by the members themselves. Settlements can only be
negotiated by committees of the workers themselves;
committee members and union officers are not allowed to confer
with employers except in the presence of the negotiating
committee. c) Political or similar cliques seeking to control or
subvert the union to their own ends are thwarted by the
nonpolitical policy adopted to ensure unity.
Politics and religion are not union questions. The union is
formed to reach and enforce
decisions about industrial questions, so that all workers can be
united regardless of religion or politics.
LEGISLATION VS. JOB ACTION
As workers and members of communities, we want chemical
plants and storage kept away from residences and environmentally
sensitive areas. One method is to try to get laws passed, and then
try to get them enforced. Much simpler and more reliable is to
simply refuse to build in unsafe places; and to refuse to work in
plants that endanger any community or the environment.
Laws are usually based on actual practice. It is best for the
union to concern ourselves with controlling the actual practice.
This makes good lawmaking easy and bad lawmaking hard to enforce.
Lawmakers pay attention to the powerful ones in society; One Big
Union makes labor all-powerful. Once labor is organized, the
lawmakers will pay attention to it; and if they don't it will not
matter, for what happens is what the working class decides to make
happen.
To unite the working class it is necessary to avoid high
union dues, closed books, racial, or sexist discrimination. In the
union we are all equal.
UNION EFFICIENCY
An aspect of those two principles, solidarity and democracy,
is effectiveness and
efficiency. Our effectiveness is measured solely by what we can
do. Our efficiency is measured by our gains compared to the cost
of those gains.
We do not win union goals just by paying dues into a
treasury. What makes the union go is the effort and enthusiasm of
its members. Direct participation in the union business makes the
IWW a force with which we can organize our own future. The union
is built like a hand, each joint of which can move separately, but
all parts of which can be clenched into a fist.
WHAT TO DO
A sane world run by producers for the common good is an aim
that should and can be achieved. There is really only one
problem in the world: a working class too disorganized to act for
the good of all. The IWW has the solution. It is up to you to be
part of the solution, not part of the problem.
If your work is unorganized, get in touch with the IWW and we
will help you and your
fellow workers to get organized. While you are organizing for
better hours, wages, conditions, safety, and more control of your
job, you are also helping to build a better world and solve the
problems of society.
Members of other unions are welcome to take their place in
the IWW. The IWW asks you to continue your IWW membership no
matter what job you go to;
to make yourself acquainted with the policies and principles so
you can be more effective as a union member; and to take every
opportunity to help the union grow and to be of service to fellow
workers everywhere.
TAKE YOUR PLACE IN THE INDUSTRIAL UNIONS -- JOIN THE IWW
TODAY
General Head Quarters 1095 Market St. #204, San Francisco CA
94103. 415/863-WOBS E-mail: iww@igc.apc.org