.
The Political Uprising of Organized
Labor |
| [Chapter V, Part Two,
from the book, The Singletax and the Labor Movement, a
Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, No. 878, 1917, pp. 62-72] |
Like the explosion of a shell in the labor circles of New York came
Judge Barrett's sentence of the boycotters on July 2, 1886. On the
evening of the same day delegates of the Socialist Labor Party, of the
Cigarmakers', Bartenders', and Waiters' Unions, and of the Carl Sahm
Club, met to call a mass meeting for the purpose of protesting against
the action of the judiciary.[1] The call for such a mass meeting through
the Central Labor Union was agreed upon unanimously by the gathered
representatives of labor. A few days later the Central Labor Union
endorsed the call and passed a resolution condemning Judge Barrett's
sentence. The mass meeting took place at Cooper Union on July 7. John
Swinton, Edward King, John McMackin, and S. E. Shevich were the
principal speakers. They all insisted on the necessity of organizing
labor politically.
On July 11. 1886, the Central Labor Union of New York and Brooklyn met.
A resolution was introduced by Ludwig Jablinowski, cigarmaker, and
seconded by G. Block, secretary of the Bakers' National Union, proposing
that a committee be appointed to devise the ways and means for forming
an independent political labor organization. At the same time this
committee was to consider how a daily newspaper in the interest of labor
could be brought into life. After a lively discussion, in which the
radical element took the initiative and strongly supported the proposed
resolutions, the committee was appointed. It met often and discussed its
task from different viewpoints. The main conclusions were: (1) To invite
all labor organizations in New York and its vicinity, without
consideration of their creed, beliefs or form of organization, to take
part in the independent political action of labor, namely, in the New
York city election in the coming fall, and (2) to lay the proposition
before all local subordinate labor organizations for its thorough
discussion by the individual members. These conclusions of the committee
were at once accepted by the Central Labor Union. It was decided to
invite all labor and other organizations connected with the labor
movement -- Labor Unions, Knights of Labor, Greenbackers,
Anti-monopolists, Socialist-Laborers, Land-Reformers, and others -- to
discuss the proposition and to send delegates to a labor conference on
August 5, 1886, at Clarendon Hall. The discussion in locals was lively
and enthusiastic. Delegates were elected and instructed.
The conference was held on the appointed date in Clarendon Hall. Four
hundred and two delegates were present, representing one hundred and
sixty-five labor organizations with a membership of fifty thousand
wage-earners. Among others the Socialist Labor party, as a bona fide
labor organization, was represented through its delegates, who,
according to the above resolution and invitation, were accepted by the
conference. John Devitt, of the Painters' Union, called the assemblage
to order, and John Morrison, of the Carpet "Weavers', was elected
as temporary chairman, with James P. Archibald, of the Paper Hangers',
as temporary secretary.
"When the technique of the organization of the conference was
completed, Ludwig Jablinowski of the Cigarnakers' Union, a Socialist,
made the motion that an Independent Labor party be formed. The motion
was seconded by D. Emrich, George Block, and other Socialists, who among
others made the principal speeches. Debate was long and lively. The only
opposition was from Typographical Union No. 6, the representatives of
which -- McKay, Glackin, and William McCabe -- spoke against the motion.
McCabe favored the idea that organized labor should hold the balance of
power and throw its might into the scale of either the Republican or the
Democratic party. Finally the vote was taken. Three hundred and
sixty-two delegates expressed themselves as in favor of independent
political action by labor, and only forty expressed themselves as
against it.
At the next meeting of the conference on August 19, there were present
508 delegates from 115 trade organizations -- a delegate from every 100
members. A committee of seven on permanent organization was chosen. This
committee appointed as permanent chairman John McMackin, of the
Painters', and as permanent secretary James P. Archibald, of the Paper
Hangers'.[2] The committee went to work, and in the meantime the several
leaders addressed the delegates. When the committee on permanent
organization returned it reported in favor of a new political
organization, to be known as the Independent Labor party of New York and
vicinity. The report went on to declare a platform of principles in
which the '' free soil'' idea was advocated; a demand was made that the
laborers should share in the products of labor. Among other things asked
for were a law forbidding the employment of children under fourteen
years of age, the enforcement of the eight-hour law, the abolition of
the convict labor system, equal pay for both sexes for equal work, the
repeal of the conspiracy and tramp laws, a law declaring speculation in
food products a criminal act; the abolition of the property
qualification for jurors, and the abolition of tenement-house
cigarmaking.[3]
HENRY GEORGE STEPS IN
The labor leaders were looking for a suitable standard bearer in the
movement. The opinion prevailed among them that their candidate for
mayor should be a labor man, belonging to no particular faction, honest,
with a high reputation and widely known. Such a man appeared to be Henry
George. Just how he became interested and entered the political field of
labor is not known in detail. The authorship of the first suggestion to
invite Henry George to become the Labor candidate for mayor is claimed
by a newspaper man, Thomas W. Jackson. In an article in the New York
Evening Mail, June 12, 1911, he speaks of attending in the
summer of 1886 a gathering of labor unionists and labor reporters at the
cooperative hat store in New York of a strikers' factory in Connecticut.
At this gathering he suggested Henry George as the Labor candidate for
mayor.
On the 20th of August. Mr. George was asked by the secretary of the
Committee on Permanent Organization, Mr. Archibald, if he would accept
the Labor nomination for mayor. Mr. George consulted his friends, and
among others Mr. Louis F. Post, to whom he said that he would not run
unless he could get at least 30,000 votes.
At the meeting of the conference on the 26th of August, McMackin
presided and Archibald acted as secretary. The latter had received from
Henry George a letter in which he said that he would accept the
nomination upon the one condition: "That at least 30,000 citizens
should, over their signatures, express the wish that I should become a
candidate, and pledge themselves in such case to go to the polls and
vote for me."[4] This statement was accompanied by his views on the
singletax, and by some sharp critical remarks on existing conditions.
The letter was received by the conference with enthusiasm. There was
not much discussion. It was decided to circulate copies of the letter
and to start a canvass from shop to shop and from house to house
gathering signatures to a pledge in accordance with the terms of the
letter.
The Committee on Platform made a preliminary report. Some suggestions
along the line of labor demands were made by several delegates, and the
platform was returned to the Committee for further development. The next
meeting of the Conference was held in Clarendon Hall on September 2. Mr.
McMackin made a speech in favor of the candidacy of Henry George which
was met with enthusiasm by the delegates, but on the candidacy nothing
was decided definitely. The proposed assessment of the delegates one
dollar each and of the union members 25 cents each, to help along the
cause of independent political action, was positively decided.
These were the first steps whereby Henry George came into the labor
movement, or, more correctly speaking, into the political phase of this
movement. He was welcomed by organized labor for several reasons: His
popularity as a powerful writer, especially the influence of his Progress
and Poverty; his keen interest in and agitation for the Irish cause
and the Irish land reform; his singletax theory based upon the land
problem-the problem which had played so important a part in the movement
of the masses in America; the fact that he was not affiliated with any
current faction; and his good reputation. To think that the main cause
was his singletax theory, as such, would be erroneous. The singletax as
a general reform scheme was not familiar to and was not even understood
by the working people. Then again, it would be superficial to think that
Henry George was made a standard bearer of labor mainly because he
himself had been a wage-earner and closely connected with the trade
union movement. He had been a wage-earner, but at this time he was an
employer of labor. His relations to the trade union movement were, in
general, indifferent. He saw in the political uprising of labor only an
opportunity to bring his singletax theory into practical politics;
otherwise he was not interested in the labor movement, and its nature,
meaning and extent he did not even fully comprehend. As we have seen, he
became the standard bearer of organized labor not because of any active
desire of his own, and not so much in consequence of an invitation
initiated by the rank and file of organized labor, as in obedience to
the call of some representatives of middle class people, mostly in
liberal professions and converted to the singletax cause. These were
radicals, who sympathized with the labor movement and had always had
some influence upon it. Henry George's candidacy was rather an accident
than an organic outcome of the labor movement itself.
THE SINGLETAX MADE THE ISSUE
The members of the Central Labor Union of New York represented the
majority of the delegates to the Labor Conference. Almost every
important move at the meetings of the Conference, usually held on
Thursdays, was previously discussed and decided upon at the Sunday
meetings of the Central Labor Union. The above-mentioned political
platform of labor, based mainly upon labor demands, was a joint product
of the Central Labor Union and of the Conference. But this platform,
after the discussion on August 26, came up no more at the Conference
meetings. Instead a new platform was substituted. This was written by
Henry George,[5] in consultation with the Committee on Platform of the
Conference and other leaders in the movement. The singletax was made its
main issue.
The next meeting of the Conference, at which this platform was accepted
and Henry George nominated, was held September 23, at Clarendon Hall;
175 labor organizations were represented, by 409 delegates. When the
meeting was called to order, Frank Farrell, chairman of the Committee on
Platform, read the new platform to the conference. It was as follows:
"The delegates of the trade and labor organizations of
New York, In conference assembled, make this declaration:
"1. Holding that the corruptions of government and the
impoverishment of labor result from neglect of the self-evident truths
proclaimed by the founders of this Republic that all men are created
equal and are endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights, we aim
at the abolition of the system which compels men to pay their
fellow-creatures for the use of God's gifts to all, and permits
monopolizers to deprive labor of natural opportunities for employment,
thus filling the land with tramps and paupers, and bringing about an
unnatural competition which tends to reduce wages to starvation rates
and to make the wealth producer the industrial slave of those who grow
rich by his toll.
"2. Holding, moreover, that the advantages arising from social
growth and improvement belong to society at large, we aim at the
abolition of the system which makes such beneficent inventions as the
railroad and telegraph a means for the oppression of the people, and
the aggrandizement of an aristocracy of wealth and power. We declare
the true purpose of government to be the maintenance of that sacred
right of property which gives to everyone opportunity to employ his
labor and security that he shall enjoy its fruits; to prevent the
strong from oppressing the weak, and the unscrupulous from robbing the
honest; and to do for the equal benefit of all such things as can be
better done by organized society than by individuals; and we aim at
the abolition of all laws which give to any class of citizens
advantages, either judicial, financial, industrial, or political,
that. are not equally shared by all others.
"3. We further declare that the people of New York City should
have full control of their own local affairs; that the practice of
drawing grand jurors from one class should cease, and the
requirements' of a property qualification for trial jurors should be
abolished; that the procedure of our courts should be so simplified
and reformed that the rich shall have no advantage over the poor; that
the officious intermeddlings of the police with peaceful assemblages
should be stopped; that4 the laws for the safety and sanitary
inspection of buildings should be enforced; that in public work the
direct employment of labor should be preferred to the system which
gives contractors opportunity to defraud the city while grinding their
workmen, and that in public employment equal pay should be accorded to
equal work without distinction of sex.
"4. We declare the crowding of so many of our people into narrow
tenements at enormous rents, while half the area of the city is yet
unbuilt upon to be a scandalous evil, and to remedy this state of
things all taxes on buildings and improvements should be abolished, so
that no fine shall be put upon the employment of labor in increasing
living accommodations, and that taxes should be levied on land
irrespective of improvements, so that those who are now holding land
vacant shall be compelled either to build on it themselves, or give up
the land to those who will.
"5. We declare, furthermore, that the enormous value which the
presence of a million and a half of people gives to the land of this
city belongs properly to the whole community; that it should not go to
the enrichment of individuals and corporations, but should be taken in
taxation and applied to the improvement and beautifying of the city,
to the promotion of the health, comfort, education, and recreation of
its people, needs of a great metropolis. We also declare that existing
means of transit should not be left in the hands of corporations
which, while gaining enormous profits from the growth of population,
oppress their employes and provoke strikes that interrupt travel and
imperil the public peace, but should by lawful process be assumed by
the city and operated for public benefit.
"6. To clear the way for such reforms as are impossible without
it, we favor a Constitutional Convention, and since the ballot is the
only method by which in our Republic the redress of political and
social grievances is to be sought, we especially call for such changes
in our elective methods as shall lessen the need of money in
elections, discourage bribery, and prevent intimidation.
"7. And since in the coming most important municipal election
independent political action affords the only hope of exposing and
breaking up the extortion and speculation by which a standing army of
professional politicians corrupt the public whom they plunder, we call
on all citizens who desire honest government to Join us in an effort
to secure It, and to show for once that the will of the people may
prevail even against the money and organization of banded spoilsmen."[6]
After the reading of the platform there was a short discussion and it
was accepted by the Conference. Then the nomination of candidates for
mayor was taken up. James H. Casserly, of the American Order of National
Carpenters and Joiners, proposed Henry George. After prolonged and
enthusiastic cheers, Frank Farrell seconded the nomination, making a
short appeal to workingmen to stand by Henry George and carry him on to
ovictory. Half a dozen delegates spoke in favor of the candidate. The
names of James J. Coogan and W. S. Thorn were placed in nomination and
seconded.
The vote was as follows: For Henry George, 360; for Coogan 31; and for
Thorn, 18.
An Executive Committee was elected to take charge of Henry George's
canvass. Before the adjournment, a short letter written by Henry George
was read to the conference. The letter was addressed to a delegate,
Bogart, and concluded with this statement : "I have not sought any
nomination, and if I accept one it will only be for the sake of
advancing principles I believe in."[7]
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLATFORM
The singletax was made the main issue, and on it rested the whole
reform scheme of the existing economic order. The equal natural
opportunities to all and the maintenance of the sacred rights of
property, except land, were demanded. These points in the platform
belonged to Henry George and his followers, as Singletaxers. But there
were also in the platform certain labor demands, economic as well as
political. These expressed the immediate demands of the labor unions,
Knights of Labor and other labor organizations.
The confiscation of land values for the benefit of the general public,
as a confiscation of a kind of means of production,[8] and the demand
for the public ownership of the means of transportation and
communication, besides labor demands, were to the Socialists, who saw at
first in the singletax theory a '' partial Socialism."[9]
The Greenbackers did not include any direct clause for currency reform,
except the demand for the equal share in "financial advantage"
incorporated in the platform, but as the platform was written in a
radical spirit and contained several demands which the Greenbackers had
always favored, they agreed to it.
It is evident that it was a kind of compromise platform. Property
rights were declared sacred, but property rights in land ownership were
denied entirely; even against private ownership of public utilities a
negative stand was taken. Then again, if the singletax were realized,
from the viewpoint of the singletaxers there would be no need for
special labor demands; every member of society then would be a laborer,
and all natural opportunities would be equally open to all, and, of
course, "natural" competition must not be checked. What end,
then, did the labor demands in the platform serve? Possibly, they served
for the consummation of the compromise between the two conceptions of
labor, the one which meant that everyone was a laborer except landowners
as such, the singletax conception of labor, and the other meaning the
class of wage-earners who own neither land nor capital -- the labor
union and Socialist conception of labor.
At any rate, if the parties allied in the movement were not fully
satisfied with the platform, they were satisfied enough to stand
shoulder to shoulder and to make a rousing and enthusiastic political
campaign; after all, actual, real needs are more powerful in moving the
masses than are principles, philosophical doctrines, and leaders,
although these also are necessary for success. In the present case, the
movement was in its nature purely a labor movement in the proper sense
of this term, and immediate labor demands, economic and political,
constituted the mainspring of the movement.
It is of some interest to note that the original Clarendon Hall
Platform, read at the meeting of the conference on September 23,
contained at the end the following clause: '' We hold farther that the
emancipation of labor will be accomplished by the workingmen themselves."[10]
It is conceivable how the Singletaxers and Socialists (also labor
unionists) could agree on this clause, differing only in regard to the
concept of labor. But this clause was very soon dropped, it is not known
under what circumstances.
CHICKERING HALL MEETING OF THE OUTSIDE SUPPORTERS
On October 1, in Checkering Hall, was held a mass meeting of the
radical representatives of the middle-class people to support Henry
George's candidacy. The gathering was quite an inspiring event, 2300
people being present. At the end of the meeting a resolution was
adopted, indorsing the candidacy of Henry George.
THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE NOMINATION
Henry George formally accepted the nomination by organized labor at the
meeting of the conference on October 5, 1886, at Cooper Union. All the
seats, the stage, and the aisles were occupied; even the streets near
the hall were crowded. In full view of the audience were placed the
rolls containing the 34,000 signatures of voters for Henry George's
candidacy for mayor. The chairman of the Executive Committee, John
McMackin, called the meeting to order. The chairman of the Chickering
Hall meeting, Rev. John W. Kramer, in a short speech assured organized
labor of the support of those whom he represented in its efforts for
good government and industrial emancipation by political methods. Then
McMackin made a short speech, in which he tendered the nomination by
organized labor to Henry George.
Then Mr. George spoke. He said, in part:
"When my nomination for Mayor of New York was first
talked of, I regarded it as a nomination which was not to be thought
about. I did not desire to be mayor of New York. …I saw what
practical politics meant; I saw that under the conditions as they
were, a man who would make a political career must cringe and fawn and
intrigue and flatter, and I resolved that I would not so degrade my
manhood . . . but when the secretary of this nominating convention
came to me and said, "You are the only man upon whom we can unite
. . . I could not refuse. …I asked for some tangible evidence. …That
evidence you have given me. All I asked and more . . ."
Henry George in his address described in picturesque language the
political corruption in New York, adding:
"Look over our vast city, and what do we see? On one
side a very few men richer by far than it is good for them to be, and
on the other side a great mass of men and women struggling and
worrying and wearying to get a most pitiful living."
The cause of such misery Mr. George explained as being found in private
ownership of and speculation in land, stating that the remedy for such
evil was the singletax. He continued:
"Here is the heart of the labor question, and until we
address ourselves to that, the labor question never can be solved. …We
are beginning a movement for the abolition of industrial slavery. …Let
us, therefore stand together . . ."[11]
After the main address Henry George made short speeches to the crowds
on the streets.
To the Executive Committee for the direction of the political campaign
by organized labor was added the committee elected at the Chickering
Hall meeting.
Thus the independent political action by organized labor was launched;
the necessary organization effected, the platform accepted, a suitable
candidate for the mayoralty found, and the campaign began.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. The Leader, August 6, 1887,
p. 2.
2. New York Times, Aug. 20, 1886, p. 3.
3. Ibid.
4. Appendix I.
5. The Public, No. 3, 1911, p. 1128.
6. The George-Hewttt Campaign, pp. 12-15.
7. New York Sun, Sept. 24, 1886, p. 1.
8. In this sense the singletax was accepted by the Socialists, at
first.
9. Lawrence Gronlund. Insufficiency of Henry George's Theory,
New York, 1887, p. 8.
10. New Yorker Volkszeitung, Sept. 24, 1886, p. 1.
11. Ibid., pp. 19-29.
|
