登陆注册
19902100000161

第161章 CHAPTER XXV(2)

Their function as spheres of fellowship and self-development is equally vital and less understood. To have a we-feeling to live shoulder to shoulder with one's fellows, is the only human life; we all need it to keep us from selfishness, sensuality and despair, and the hand-worker needs it even more than the rest of us. Usually without pecuniary resource and insecure of his job and his home, he is, in isolation, miserably weak and in a way to be cowed and unmanned by misfortune or mere apprehension. Drifting about in a confused society, unimportant, apparently, to the rest of the world, it is no wonder if he feels " I am no link of Thy great chain," [3] and loses faith in himself, in life and in God. The union makes him feel that he is part of a whole, one of a fellowship, that there are those who will stand by him in trouble, that he counts for something in the great life. He gets from it that thrill of broader sentiment, the same in kind that men get in fighting for their country; his self is enlarged and enriched and his imagination fed with objects, comparatively, "immense and eternal."Moreover, the life of labor unions and other class associations, through the training which it gives in democratic organization and discipline, is perhaps the chief guaranty of the healthy political development of the hand-working class梕specially those imported from non-democratic civilizations梐nd the surest barrier against recklessness and disorder. That their members get this training will (288) be evident to anyone who studies their working, and it is not apparent that they would get it in any other way. Men learn most in acting for purposes which they understand and are interested in, and this is more certain to be the case with economic aims than with any other.

Thus, if unions should never raise wages or shorten hours, they would yet be invaluable to the manhood of their members. At worst, they ensure the joy of an open fight and of companionship in defeat. Self-assertion through voluntary organization is of the essence of democracy, and if any part of the people proves incapable of it it is a bad sign for the country.

On this ground alone it would seem that patriots should desire to see organization of this sort extend throughout the industrial population.

The danger of these associations is that which besets human nature everywhere梩he selfish use of power. It is feared with reason that if they have too much their own way they will monopolize opportunity by restricting apprenticeship and limiting the number of their members; that they will seek their ends through intimidation and violence; that they will be made the instruments of corrupt leaders. These and similar wrongs have from time to time been brought home to them, and, unless their members are superior to the common run of men, they are such as must be expected. But it would be a mistake to regard these or any other kinds of injustice as a part of the essential policy of unions. They are feeling their way in a human, fallible manner, and their eventual policy will be determined by what, in the way of class advancement, they find by experience to be practicable. In so (289) far as they attempt things that are unjust we may expect them, in the long run, to fail, through the resistance of others and through the awakening of their own consciences. It is the part of other people to check their excesses and cherish their benefits.

In general no sort of persons mean better than hand-laboring men. They are simple, honest people, as a rule, with that bent toward integrity which is fostered by working in wood and iron and often lost in the subtleties of business. Moreover, their experience is such as to develop a sense of the brotherhood of man and a desire to realize it in institutions. Not having enjoyed the artificial support of accumulated property, they have the more reason to know the dependence of each on his fellows. Nor have they any great hopes of personal aggrandizement to isolate them and pamper their self-consciousness.

To these we may add that offences from this quarter are likely to be more shocking and less dangerous than those of a more sophisticated sort of people. Occasional outbreaks of violence alarm us and call for prompt enforcement of law, but are not a serious menace to society, because general sentiment and all established interests are against them; while the subtle, respectable, systematic corruption by the rich and powerful threatens the very being of democracy.

The most deplorable fact about labor unions is that they embrace so small a proportion of those that need their benefits. How far into the shifting masses of unskilled labor effective organization can extend only time will show.

Endnotes See chapter 21. Professor John R. Commons (Publications of the American Sociological Society, vol. ii, p. 141) estimates 2,000,000 members of unions out of 6,000,000wage-earners "available for class conflict." George Herbert.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 武霸长生

    武霸长生

    低级武者追寻的是那可翻山倒海的可怖力量,但是真正的武者所追求的只有一样,那就是划破虚空,逆天改命,以达到长生。
  • 颂古钩钜

    颂古钩钜

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 尊武往生

    尊武往生

    第一卷是序卷,第二卷正文。为了往生登天,为了修得长生。我走过了人间黄泉路。我没有王霸之气,我只孤身一人,但我将手握大刀,进得诸天万界!这把大刀,必战的过天!斗的过地!我要看看这诸天万界——神佛何在,仙路可存。为了这条路,我放弃了我有的一切。如若不死,终有那一天。这天将遮不住我的眼,轮回也勾不走我的魂。在这里,只可——以我为尊!
  • 十一面观自在菩萨心密言念诵仪轨经

    十一面观自在菩萨心密言念诵仪轨经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 让孩子输在起跑线上

    让孩子输在起跑线上

    剖析儿童成长心理,深入儿童情感世界,诸多教育问题一次解决本书以104多个真实案例融合104多条国际国内最新教育理念,涵盖父母正确理解孩子9大要点;敦促孩子主动进步的15项措施;教出懂礼貌、有教养孩子必备的8个品质;培养拥有良好生活孩子的7点主张。
  • 刘兴诗讲地球曾经的印记:古国印象

    刘兴诗讲地球曾经的印记:古国印象

    在历史的长河中,有许多文明流传到了今天,也有许多文明在前进的道路上突然消失。本书从一个个小故事走进古王国,使我们走进一个个曾经辉煌而又神秘的传奇!使我们更加清晰的了解历史文明。这些故事让青少年在了解历史的同时更关注我们现在的生存环境,从而更让青少年懂得关心我们的地球并去爱护他。
  • 宠妻萌萌哒:总裁GG是腹黑

    宠妻萌萌哒:总裁GG是腹黑

    此处是坑,匆入。有一天,一只被圈养的大白兔喜欢上了身为嗣主的狼先生。白兔小姐磨牙霍霍,誓要扑倒大灰狼。“老公,我要……吃你。”狼先生眯眼。“哦,你想怎么吃我?”白兔小姐贼贼一笑,“当然是吃干抹净……不留渣。”于是某日,涂贝贝将自己洗白白送入狼口,谁料竟不如一颗大白菜有吸引力。“你……喜欢裸睡?”某女彻底泪奔……狼先生眼放精光。“乖,你还小,不好下口,咱等养肥再吃。”
  • 世界儿童必读经典:奇趣故事

    世界儿童必读经典:奇趣故事

    能吃的汉字,一封数学写成的信,“我不取娶”,书生与仆发人,祝枝山访友破诗谜语,秘密联络信,韩复榘演讲,老头子,“顶真”趣闻,屁的笑话,唐伯虎题祝寿诗,“马虎”趣谈等。
  • 腹黑总裁,拐个老婆回家宠

    腹黑总裁,拐个老婆回家宠

    前方走过美女一枚,某男直勾勾的看着走过去那位美女的背影。“美女好看吗?”“好看!”某女自恋的拿出镜子照了照。“有你老婆我好看吗?”“比你好看点!”夏安雅一脚踩在男子脚上。“那你干脆把她带回家宠着算了!”男子只是淡淡的笑了笑,随后一把将夏安雅拉到怀里,深情的一吻。“美女是用来看的,老婆才是用来宠的!”
  • 和你共度的一切

    和你共度的一切

    一个在北方长大的女生,迫于高考政策,必须要回到南方上高中高考,由南北方差异等等引起的一系列故事。缺少父母的关爱和家庭的温暖,又有周围众人的不理解,还有沉重的学习压力和激烈的竞争,各方面的困难接踵而至,她沦陷了,拼命想逃脱现实世界。直到高二的时候遇上年轻的善解人意的男老师,她才慢慢开始改变,并将情感寄托在了他身上。最终她战胜了自己,也离开了他。