There is only one UNION philosophy.
A fellow by the name of Ralph Chaplin expressed a union philosophy many years ago that i believe we all ought to consider. In fact, as unionists we frequently sing a song that Chaplin wrote. However, when Si Kahn performed the song in Boulder last month, he observed that we tend not to pay attention to the words.
So i'd like to explore the words by themselves, without the repetition. Please try to read the following and ignore the natural poetry; try to think only of the words. They're full of meaning that many of us might otherwise miss:
When the Union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run,
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun.
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one?
But the union makes us strong.
Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite
Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might?
Is there anything left to us but to organize and fight?
It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade;
Dug the mines and built the workshops; endless miles of railroad laid. Now we stand outcast and starving, 'midst the wonders we have made.
All the world that's owned by idle drones is ours and ours alone.
We have laid the wide foundations; built it skyward stone by stone.
It is ours, not to slave in, but to master and to own.
They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn,
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power; gain our freedom when we learn That the Union makes us strong.
In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold;
Greater than the might of armies, magnified a thousand-fold.
We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old.
What is it about the lyrics of *Solidarity Forever* that suggests a different sort of union philosophy? It is a Wobbly song, written by a Wobbly, expressing a vision for labor that most unions do not share: working folk fighting together to gain not just better wages, hours, and conditions, but real control of their own work lives. That idea has gotten away from working people, but i believe it is time to bring it back.
best wishes,
richard myers
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There is only one UNION philosophy. Chaplin did a wonderful job of laying it out for us.
We make a mistake in calling the new UAW's philosophy "union". It is not union. It is dog eat dog - the opposite of union - the enemy of Solidarity.
The UAW is not "allowing" whipsawing. It is promoting whipsawing and scabbing, spending $100's of millions to divide us and turn us against each other for the capitalists. Nothing union about that. It's very, very important to see that.
The answer is not in their phony democracy or structure or at their phony votes, voting until we get it "right". Forty years of recent hack history proves that as we've battled in their ballpark and lost more than a million UAW jobs.
The answer is in Chaplin's Solidarity philosophy and Shotwell's latest LB&A, a wonderful, wonderful battle piece that belongs in every workplace in the world. (LB&A #85)
Tom
