Alexander Berkman - ABC of anarchism

ORGANISATION OF LABOUR it the toilers. learn that " an injury to one is the. concern of all," the practical wisdom that embodies the deepest meaning of the proletarian. struggle. This does not relate only to the daily battle for material betterment, but equally so to everything pertaining to the worker and his existence, and particularly to matters where justice and liberty are involved. It is one of the most inspiring things to see the masses roused on behalf of social justice, whomever the case at issue may concern. For, indeed, it is the concern of all of us, in the truest and deepest sense. The kore labour becomes enlightened and aware of its larger interests, the broader and more universal grow its sympathies, the more world-wide its defence of justice and liberty. It was a manifestation of this understanding when the workers in every country protested against the judicial murder of Sacco and Vanzetti in Massachusetts. Instinctively and consciously the masses throughout the world fe1t, as did all decent men and women, that it is their concern ,when such a crime is being perpetrated. Unfortunately that protest, l!S many similar ones, contented itself "".ithmere resolu• tions. Had organised labour resorted to aotion, such as a general strike, its demands would not have been ignored, and two of the workers' best friends and noblest of men would not have been sacrificed to the forces of reaction. Equally important, it would have served as a valuable demonstra• tion of the tremendous power of the proletariat, the power that always conquers when it is unified and resolute. This has been· proven on numerous occasions in the past when the determined stand of labour prevented planned legal outrages, as in the case of Haywood, Moyer, and Pettibone, officials of the Western Federation of Miners, whom the coal barons of the ·state of Idaho had conspired to send to ,the gallows during the miners' strike of 1905. Again, in 1917, it was the solidarity of the toilers which thwarted the execution of Tom Mooney, in California. The sympathetic attitude of organised· labour in. America towards Mexico has also -till now been an obstacle .to the military occupation' of that coun~ry by the United States Governmi:nt on.behalf of the American oil interests. Similarly in Europe un~ted action by the workers has been successful in repeatedly forcing the authorities to grant amnesty to political prisoners. The Government of England so feared the expressed sympathy of British labour for the Russian Revolution that it was comp·elled to pretend neutrality. It did not dare openly to aid the counter-revolution in Russia. When the dock workers refused to load food and ammunition intended for the White armies, the English Government resorted to deception. It solemnly assured the 69 B1blloteca G:no Bia'lco

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