Page:William Ernst Trautmann - Industrial Unionism (1908).djvu/17

of the so-called "Reverse," in which the worker would agree not to join any industrial union (revolutionary union) or encourage the propaganda for the principles of industrial unionism. All workers were advised by their committees to sign anything the employers wanted, but do anyway whatever was best for the protection of their interests as workers.

The result was not only in those mills, but in hundreds of others, that the employers, although having the pledge of every: employe not to belong to any industrial union, see themselves confronted by powerful economic organizations of workers, and although they do not recognize the unions in any collective bargain agreement, yet they cannot help but reckon with the power and might of that collective agency of the workers—they know now that such militant bodies are indestructible.

It is for similar reasons that the industrial unionists care little whether the employers of labor recognize a union or not, as long as the workers show that they have the might organized, and intelligently directed in the conflicts with the enemy. A period of comparative rest is only utilized to strengthen the weak points; and to prepare for more effective methods it is sufficient if other workers recognize the power and the efficacy of an organization so to seek