Syndicalist League of North America
Encyclopedia
The Syndicalist League of North America was an organizations led by William Z. Foster
that aimed to "bore from within" the American Federation of Labor
to win that trade union center over to the ideals of revolutionary syndicalism
.
congress and actively participating in a CGT railroad strike. He also studied the labor and socialist movements in Germany and tried (without success) to represent the Industrial Workers of the World
at the August 1911 Budapest
congress of the International Secretariat of National Trade Union Centres
. He was impressed with how the French syndicalists had organized themselves as militant cadre within the mainstream unions and became involved with the masses everyday struggles, whereas the German syndicalists, the Free Workers Union, maintained an isolated existence outside the unions leaving them in control of reformist officials.
Foster attempted to win the IWW over to this position at its September 1911 convention. There he won only a few delegates, including Earl Ford and J.W. Johnstone to his plan. Seeing that they could not carry the convention, and fearing that if a boring form within resolution was defeated here it would squash their momentum, Fosters sympathizers decided to "campaign" for the idea among the membership, including running for editorship of an important Wobbly newspaper. Foster spent the next months on a 6,000 "hobo" campaign setting up groups of sympathizers within IWW locals through the US and Canada. However the successful Lawrence strike in January 1912 revitalized faith in the IWWs dual unionist policy and support for a radical change of direction within the group declined.
, headed by Jack Johnstone. In January 1912, Foster established the Syndicalist Militant Minority League in Chicago. Other chapters sprang up in Kansas City
, Omaha
, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Denver, Seattle, Tacoma, Vancouver
, San Francisco, Los Angeles
and several other cities in the West and Mid-West. While most of these chapters were composed of ex-IWWS, the SLNA also included a group of ex-Anarchists who had previously been residents of a Utopian commune called Home in Washington state
. This group would include Jay Fox
, editor of the communes newspaper, The Agitator, which he moved to Chicago in October 1912 and renamed The Syndicalist. This became the SLNAs national organ. Ford and Foster would spend three months in the summer of 1912 working on Syndicalism, the groups 50 page manifesto, while working as canvasmen in a traveling "tent theater" in Southern Indiana and Illinois.
With too few resources to hold a national convention, the Chicago group, with the consent of the other locals, acted as a national body, and in September 1912 announced the formation of the Syndicalist League of North America, wrote a constitution and statement of principles, and elected an executive board with Foster as National Secretary. The group had a very decentralist structure, each unit setting its own dues, publishing its own paper and working out its own policies. The national office did not receive any national dues, and depended on the sale of its journal, pamphlets and voluntary contributions.
Foster and Fox set up "headquarters" at a rooming house run by Lucy Parsons
at 1000 South Paulina St., in a heavily Slavic district of Chicago's near west side. The Chicago branch included J. A. Jones, Samuel Hammersmarck and Joseph Manley, as well as Fosters wife Esther Abramowitz. Most of these had been part of the Chicago anarchist scene for years. In Chicago, the group maintained a presence within the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen of America, which Foster belonged to, as well as the painters, barbers and retail clerks union, laying the basis for the progressive element which would lead the packing and steel organizing campaigns
in subsequent years. One of the most important strikes that the Chicago syndicalists would become involved in was the strike on the Illinois Central Railroad
and Harriman
, which had already began in September 1911 and ended in June 1915, after the SLNA broke up. The Syndicalist league took an active part in this strike while it existed and in its leader, Carl E. Person, defense after he shot a company agent in self defense. The rank-and-file led strike demanded the federation of unions working on the same line and joint contracts.
One of the strongest locals of the SLNA was the Kansas City Syndicalist League. It announced that it was in the process of formation in January 1913, and published its own paper The Toiler from October 1913-January 1915. Earl Browder
, eventual general secretary of the CPUSA, became this chapters secretary in February 1914. In fall 1914, with the SLNA disintegrating, the KCSL became the Workers Educational League. During the brief time of its existence, the KCSL exercised influence in the Cooks, Barbers and Office Workers unions and, according to Foster, controlled the local Central Labor Council.
The local in St. Louis was headed by J. A. LaBille and published The Unionist from July 9, 1913 - Dec 15, 1913. It led AFL strikes of taxi drivers and waiters.
In Omaha
the local published another Unionist, and the group was headed by B. McCafferey and David Coutts. In San Diego the SLNA published at least two issues of a periodical called The International in August 1914.
Tom Mooney
was a member of the SLNA in 1912, and met Foster at the organizations "headquarters" that year en route to a International Molders and Foundry Workers Union of North America
convention in Milwaukee. At the convention Mooney organized a "militant minority" of seventy left-wing delegates into a propaganda organization for conducting syndicalist propaganda within the union, under SLNA auspices. Mooney chartered four chapters of this International Foundry Workers Educational League in San Francisco.
In Los Angeles the SLNA "stoutly defended" the McNamara brothers, who had confessed to dynamiting the Los Angeles Times building
. William J. Burns
, a labor spy, set up a network in Home, Washington to try to implicate Jay Fox in the matter, and was able to recruit a young anarchist, Donald Voss, into his spy ring. With Voss' help he was able to apprehend Matt Schmidt and Dave Kaplan, who were the McNamaras alleged accomplices.
The SLNA also maintained links with the British Industrial Syndicalist Education League
. They sponsored a US speaking tour by Tom Mann
, and sent a delegate to that groups First International Syndicalist Congress
.
in January 1915.
William Z. Foster
William Foster was a radical American labor organizer and Marxist politician, whose career included a lengthy stint as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA...
that aimed to "bore from within" the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
to win that trade union center over to the ideals of revolutionary syndicalism
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...
.
Background
The origins of the group go back to Fosters observations of European syndicalism in 1910-1911. Intrigued initially by the French CGT, he arrived in Paris in 1910. He spent the next year and a half studying the French syndicalist union, attending its 1910 ToulouseToulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
congress and actively participating in a CGT railroad strike. He also studied the labor and socialist movements in Germany and tried (without success) to represent the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
at the August 1911 Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
congress of the International Secretariat of National Trade Union Centres
International Secretariat of National Trade Union Centres
International Secretariat of National Trade Union Centres , later renamed the International Federation of Trade Unions, was an international consultative body of trade unions...
. He was impressed with how the French syndicalists had organized themselves as militant cadre within the mainstream unions and became involved with the masses everyday struggles, whereas the German syndicalists, the Free Workers Union, maintained an isolated existence outside the unions leaving them in control of reformist officials.
Foster attempted to win the IWW over to this position at its September 1911 convention. There he won only a few delegates, including Earl Ford and J.W. Johnstone to his plan. Seeing that they could not carry the convention, and fearing that if a boring form within resolution was defeated here it would squash their momentum, Fosters sympathizers decided to "campaign" for the idea among the membership, including running for editorship of an important Wobbly newspaper. Foster spent the next months on a 6,000 "hobo" campaign setting up groups of sympathizers within IWW locals through the US and Canada. However the successful Lawrence strike in January 1912 revitalized faith in the IWWs dual unionist policy and support for a radical change of direction within the group declined.
Organizational History
The circles set up by Foster began to secede from the IWW and enter the mainstream unions on their own; the first group to do so being the local in Nelson, British ColumbiaNelson, British Columbia
Nelson is a city located in the Selkirk Mountains on the extreme West Arm of Kootenay Lake in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Known as "The Queen City", and acknowledged for its impressive collection of restored heritage buildings from its glory days in a regional silver rush,...
, headed by Jack Johnstone. In January 1912, Foster established the Syndicalist Militant Minority League in Chicago. Other chapters sprang up in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Omaha
Omaha
Omaha may refer to:*Omaha , a Native American tribe that currently resides in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Nebraska-Places:United States* Omaha, Nebraska* Omaha, Arkansas* Omaha, Georgia* Omaha, Illinois* Omaha, Texas...
, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Denver, Seattle, Tacoma, Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, San Francisco, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and several other cities in the West and Mid-West. While most of these chapters were composed of ex-IWWS, the SLNA also included a group of ex-Anarchists who had previously been residents of a Utopian commune called Home in Washington state
Washington State
Washington State may refer to:* Washington , often referred to as "Washington state" to differentiate it from Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States* Washington State University, a land-grant college in that state- See also :...
. This group would include Jay Fox
Jay Fox
Jay Fox was a trade unionist, communist, and anarchist who lived in the town of Home, Washington which he inhabited for more than half a century. Fox was involved in the anarchist movement in Home, Washington, and Chicago, Illinois...
, editor of the communes newspaper, The Agitator, which he moved to Chicago in October 1912 and renamed The Syndicalist. This became the SLNAs national organ. Ford and Foster would spend three months in the summer of 1912 working on Syndicalism, the groups 50 page manifesto, while working as canvasmen in a traveling "tent theater" in Southern Indiana and Illinois.
With too few resources to hold a national convention, the Chicago group, with the consent of the other locals, acted as a national body, and in September 1912 announced the formation of the Syndicalist League of North America, wrote a constitution and statement of principles, and elected an executive board with Foster as National Secretary. The group had a very decentralist structure, each unit setting its own dues, publishing its own paper and working out its own policies. The national office did not receive any national dues, and depended on the sale of its journal, pamphlets and voluntary contributions.
Foster and Fox set up "headquarters" at a rooming house run by Lucy Parsons
Lucy Parsons
Lucy Eldine Gonzalez Parsons was an American labor organizer and radical socialist. She is remembered as a powerful orator.-Life:...
at 1000 South Paulina St., in a heavily Slavic district of Chicago's near west side. The Chicago branch included J. A. Jones, Samuel Hammersmarck and Joseph Manley, as well as Fosters wife Esther Abramowitz. Most of these had been part of the Chicago anarchist scene for years. In Chicago, the group maintained a presence within the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen of America, which Foster belonged to, as well as the painters, barbers and retail clerks union, laying the basis for the progressive element which would lead the packing and steel organizing campaigns
Steel strike of 1919
The Steel Strike of 1919 was an attempt by the weakened Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers to organize the United States steel industry in the wake of World War I. The strike began on September 22, 1919, and collapsed on January 8, 1920.The AA had formed in 1876. It was a...
in subsequent years. One of the most important strikes that the Chicago syndicalists would become involved in was the strike on the Illinois Central Railroad
Illinois Central Railroad
The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa...
and Harriman
E. Roland Harriman
E. Roland Harriman was a financier and philanthropist...
, which had already began in September 1911 and ended in June 1915, after the SLNA broke up. The Syndicalist league took an active part in this strike while it existed and in its leader, Carl E. Person, defense after he shot a company agent in self defense. The rank-and-file led strike demanded the federation of unions working on the same line and joint contracts.
One of the strongest locals of the SLNA was the Kansas City Syndicalist League. It announced that it was in the process of formation in January 1913, and published its own paper The Toiler from October 1913-January 1915. Earl Browder
Earl Browder
Earl Russell Browder was an American communist and General Secretary of the Communist Party USA from 1934 to 1945. He was expelled from the party in 1946.- Early years :...
, eventual general secretary of the CPUSA, became this chapters secretary in February 1914. In fall 1914, with the SLNA disintegrating, the KCSL became the Workers Educational League. During the brief time of its existence, the KCSL exercised influence in the Cooks, Barbers and Office Workers unions and, according to Foster, controlled the local Central Labor Council.
The local in St. Louis was headed by J. A. LaBille and published The Unionist from July 9, 1913 - Dec 15, 1913. It led AFL strikes of taxi drivers and waiters.
In Omaha
Omaha
Omaha may refer to:*Omaha , a Native American tribe that currently resides in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Nebraska-Places:United States* Omaha, Nebraska* Omaha, Arkansas* Omaha, Georgia* Omaha, Illinois* Omaha, Texas...
the local published another Unionist, and the group was headed by B. McCafferey and David Coutts. In San Diego the SLNA published at least two issues of a periodical called The International in August 1914.
Tom Mooney
Tom Mooney
Thomas, Tom or Tommy Mooney may refer to:*Thomas Mooney , American labor leader in San Francisco*Thomas Mooney , Northern Irish footballer...
was a member of the SLNA in 1912, and met Foster at the organizations "headquarters" that year en route to a International Molders and Foundry Workers Union of North America
International Molders and Foundry Workers Union of North America
International Molders and Foundry Workers Union of North America is an affiliated trade union of the AFL-CIO. The union traces its roots back to the formation of the Iron Molders' Union of North America, established in 1859 to represent craftsmen who cast wrought iron metal products.-Formation:In...
convention in Milwaukee. At the convention Mooney organized a "militant minority" of seventy left-wing delegates into a propaganda organization for conducting syndicalist propaganda within the union, under SLNA auspices. Mooney chartered four chapters of this International Foundry Workers Educational League in San Francisco.
In Los Angeles the SLNA "stoutly defended" the McNamara brothers, who had confessed to dynamiting the Los Angeles Times building
Los Angeles Times bombing
The Los Angeles Times bombing was the purposeful dynamiting of the Los Angeles Times building in Los Angeles, California, on October 1, 1910 by a union member belonging to the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers. The explosion started a fire which killed 21 newspaper...
. William J. Burns
William J. Burns
William J. Burns , known as "America's Sherlock Holmes," is famous for having conducted a private investigation clearing Leo Frank of the murder of Mary Phagan, and for serving as the director of the Bureau of Investigation from August 22, 1921 to June 14, 1924...
, a labor spy, set up a network in Home, Washington to try to implicate Jay Fox in the matter, and was able to recruit a young anarchist, Donald Voss, into his spy ring. With Voss' help he was able to apprehend Matt Schmidt and Dave Kaplan, who were the McNamaras alleged accomplices.
The SLNA also maintained links with the British Industrial Syndicalist Education League
Industrial Syndicalist Education League
The Industrial Syndicalist Education League was a British syndicalist organisation which existed from 1910 to 1913.In May 1910 Guy Bowman and Tom Mann, two dissident members of the Social Democratic Federation travelled to France visiting members of the syndicalist General Confederation of...
. They sponsored a US speaking tour by Tom Mann
Tom Mann
Tom Mann was a noted British trade unionist. Largely self-educated, Mann became a successful organiser and a popular public speaker in the labour movement.-Early years:...
, and sent a delegate to that groups First International Syndicalist Congress
First International Syndicalist Congress
The First International Syndicalist Congress was a meeting of European and Latin American syndicalist organizations at Holborn Town Hall in London from September 27 to October 2, 1913...
.
Denouement
The Syndicalist League of North America did not last long. The Syndicalist ceased publication in September 1913, followed by St. Louis Unionist, and, finally, the Toiler in January 1915. In the summer of 1914 Fox and Foster had become a vice-president and an organizer, respectively of the International Union of Timber Workers in Washington state and both relocated there for a few months. Fox would return to Home Colony that November. This would mark the end of the SLNA as an organization. Remnants of it would form the International Trade Union Educational LeagueInternational Trade Union Educational League
The International Trade Union Educational League was a short lived organization led by William Z. Foster from 1915 to around 1917. It carried over some of the ideas of his former Syndicalist League of North America about boring from within existing trade unions, but had less radical rhetoric.A call...
in January 1915.
External links
- Syndicalism (with Earl Ford) Chicago, W. Z. Foster 1913