The Trade Union and Political Struggle

We are told:

If you raise political issues related to economic questions in a trade union meeting today, you will be shouted down as a splinter where the union bureaucracy is in charge. There are of course good reasons for this, as the union bureaucrats are the sworn advocates, indeed the fathers, of August 4th.

Recently, the general assembly of the German metalworkers' federation took place. The “Leipziger Volkszeitung”, the organ of the independents, wrote of a “significant conference” and the paper of the left-wing radicals, “Arbeiterpolitik”, of a “Pyrrhic victory” for Schlicke and Co. The conference was also significant for us left-wing radicals in that it showed us on the one hand that the unionized working class is no longer willing to go along with the policies of their “leaders” and on the other hand that the left-wing radicals have to be on the plan in order to give the entire working class a common line of march in the sense that corresponds to the course of development of economic and political conditions. And a “Pyrrhic victory” for sure, we are convinced that the day must and will come when the Legien, Bauer and their troops will be swept away by the storm wind.

The following is intended to show how we intend to give the working class a new form of organization, as we are of the opinion that the present one no longer corresponds to the circumstances, with the trade unions forming the recruiting ground.

When we read the inadequate reports of the Metalworkers' General Assembly, we find that the new and necessary form of the workers' struggle was not discussed there; it merely seems to us that the Schlicke and Co. on the one hand and the “independents” on the other were demonstrating to each other on whose side the organized membership stood. It should not be denied that the opposition expressed its dissatisfaction with the attitude of the trade union executive committees in fierce disputes. Although the opposition reproached the all-powerful trade union authorities for how far they had strayed from the policy once pursued in “May”, beyond this we miss any initiative for the struggle as it would correspond to today's conditions. Although reference was made to congress resolutions before the war, although the word class struggle was bandied about, even Zimmerwald and Kienthal were invoked, not a word was heard about how the struggle was to be organized.

The working class, which placed its fate in the hands of so-called leaders, is at the mercy of the class enemy. On the one hand, because these leaders have lost sight of the ultimate goal and not in the least because, thanks to their position, the leaders have been raised to the level of a bourgeois existence and have thus alienated themselves from the proletariat, coming ever closer to bourgeois society.

The war undoubtedly intensified the class antagonisms immensely. On the one hand, the enormous concentration of capital and, on the other, the growing army of the exploited - the middle classes, in general, what is called the middle class, are being pushed down into the proletariat with few exceptions. The development is now heading towards a general confrontation between exploiters and exploited, between capital and labor. However, this struggle cannot be waged in its previous form, as the balance of power has shifted. There are no longer battles to be fought between individual capitalists and occupational groups; instead, in today's system of trust, the whole of capital, with all its means of power, stands united against the workforce. And can the workers continue to fight in the form of the previous separate trade union and political struggle? No, if it really has had and would have had small successes, these are only crumbs that the ruling classes grant it out of interest in exploitation, and in these struggles the proletariat, which has so far relied too much on its leaders, loses sight of the ultimate goal. It is precisely this final goal that must be fought for if the proletariat does not want to endure the pressure of capitalism at its height for decades to come. In order to achieve this ultimate goal, the entire working class must stand together and take its history into its own hands. The time is over when the proletariat can leave everything to so-called leaders or even parliament.

Only a broad-based struggle is possible, and it is also necessary to establish a united front, and this lies in the unitary organization, where trade union struggle is also political struggle. The trade unions in their present form no longer correspond at all to the circumstances; indeed, it can be said that they have become a stumbling block in the workers' struggle. Therefore, in order to fulfill our historical task, let us unite the entire working class in a common struggle against the opponent who is at the peak of his power.

For us left-wing radicals, who have recognized the historical necessities, it is important to carry out this work. The trade unions, which represent the bulk of organized workers, are our ground on which we must prepare and accelerate the struggle. Here we must educate and show the workers the necessity of a new organization of struggle. Just as the struggle will become a different one, so too must the organization of the fighting mass become a different one.

We must act today, otherwise tomorrow others may cast lots over our clothes.