Resolutions on Labour Unions (1922)
These resolutions were adopted by the WPC founding convention,
February 18, 1922. They were originally printed in The Worker and
reprinted in Labor Organization in Canada 1922.
Workers' Party Resolutions
on Labour Unions
1. The trade union movement of Canada in common with the trade union
movement of the world is experiencing the gravest crisis in its history.
Already before the world war the policies and structure of the trade
unions were being proved inadequate to cope with the growing concentration
and solidarity of capital. But the changes wrought in the very basis of
capitalism as a result of the world war have made it impossible to
postpone any longer a re-examination and solution of the problems that
confront the trade union movement, particularly the problems of policy and
organization.
In order to re-establish the equilibrium of capitalism, the capitalist
class has launched a general offensive for the reduction of the workers'
living standards, making at the same time a determined onslaught for the
destruction of the trade union movement itself. Utterly unprepared for
this attack, the trade unions are almost everywhere in disorderly retreat.
All along the line wage reductions are being enforced with only the
slightest resistance on the part of the unions. With equal helplessness
the trade unions face the problem of unemployment. Unless the unions begin
to understand that the era of conciliation and arbitration in the class
struggle is passed, and recognize the changed conditions of the struggle
between capital and labour, there is danger that the efforts of the
capitalist class will succeed.
Under these circumstances the most vital task which confronts the
working class is the establishment of a united front to resist the
aggressions of the capitalist class. It follows that the role of the
labour unions in the building up of this united front is to bring about
the co-ordination and consolidation of the entire labour union movement of
the country on the basis of militant struggles. Not only, however, is this
consolidation necessary, but equally essential is the international
organization of all the militant unions of the world. The only force that
has proven itself capable of recognizing the needs of the trade union
movement imposed by the changed conditions, and capable of rallying all
the militant forces of the world labour movement, is the Red International
of Labour Unions.
2. To accomplish the tasks indicated above, not only must the policy
pursued by some groups in the past of seeking to revolutionize the labour
movement by splitting away to form new ideal unions be completely
abandoned, not only must dual unionism be vigorously combated, but all
tendencies to consolidate the trade union movement by amalgamating the
related crafts on the basis of one union for each industry must be
positively fostered within the existing trade unions. Towards this end the
membership of the Workers' Party will work in co-operation with all
militant elements in the unions for the formation and development of a
left wing. Along with this effort, towards the formation of industrial
unions, goes the policy of strengthening the local and district councils
for the purpose of coordinating the activities of the various labour
unions in matters confined to the local situation. In all localities and
industries, where the old trade unions are definitely the predominant
bodies, the Workers' Party will oppose all dual unions or secessionist
efforts. In localities or industries where the independent unions have
achieved some measure of constructive organization, and where the old
trade unions are weak, the membership of the Workers' Party will work
within their respective organizations for the purpose of bringing about
united action in all struggles, while seeking at the same time to bring
about their unification with the general labour union movement. In these
instances, where for various reasons the dominant union is outside the
general labour union movement, the Workers' Party will support such unions
in all regular organization matters while endeavouring at the same time to
align them with the general organized movement.
The Workers' Party calls attention to the difference in function
between the Workers' Party and the labour unions. The unions necessarily
include even the most backward and politically unconscious elements of the
working class. The Workers' Party, on the other hand, confines its
membership to the more politically conscious. Nevertheless the attitude of
seeming political neutrality adopted by the trade unions really plays into
the hands of the capitalist class, and must be abandoned and the trade
unions brought into alignment with the militant international labour
movement finding its expression in the Red International of Labour Unions.
The membership of the Workers' Party will assist in the consolidation of
the labour unions on militant lines by permeating these organizations with
a revolutionary spirit, exposing the reactionary and treacherous policies
of the labour unions' bureaucracy, stimulating the sense of aggressive
rank and file control, and resisting to the utmost the expulsion of
militants and the splitting up of the unions in general.
