A.B.C. OF ANARCHISM .affairs of the organisation. The local leaders, the district and central bodies, the national and international officers, and the chiefs oi the American Federation of ·Labour, in the United States, " run the whole show," they will tell you; "you have nothing to do but vote, and if you object you'll fly out." Unfortunately they are right. You know how the Union is managed. The rank and file have little to say. They have dele,. gated the whole power to the leaders, and these have become the boss, just as in the larger life of society the people are made to submit to the orders of those who were onginally meant to serve them-,,. the government and its agents. Once you do that, the power you have delegated will be used against you and your own interests eveny time. And then you complain that your leaders "misuse thei:r power." No, my friend, they don't misuse it; they only.use it, for it is the use. of power which is itself!the worst misuse. All this has to be changed if you really want to achieve results. In. society it has to be changed by taking political power away from your governors, abolishing it altogeJ:her. I have shown that political power means authority, oppression, and tyranny, ·and that it is not political government that we need but rational management of our collective affairs. Just so in your union you need sensible administration- of your business. We know what tremendous power labour has as the creator of all wealth and the supporter of the world. If properly organised and united, the workers could control the situation, be the masters of it. But the strength of the worker is not in the union meeting-hall; it is in the shop and factory, in the mill and mine. It is there that he must organise; there, on the job. There he knows what he wants, what his needs are, and it is there that he must concentrate his efforts and his will. Every shop and factory should have its special committee to attend to the wants and requirements of the men ; not leaders, but members of the rank and file, from the bench and ·furnace, to look after the demands and complaints of • their fellow employees. Such a committee, being on the spot and constantly under the direction and supervision of the workers, wields no power : it merely carries out instructions. Its members are recalled at will and others selected in their place, according to the need of the moment and the ability required for the task in hand. It is the workers who decide the matters at issue and carry their decisions out through the shop committees. · That is the character and form of organisation that labour needs. Only this form can -express its real purpose and will, be its adequate spokesman, and serve its true interests. These shop and factory 72. 81bhoteca Gino Bianco
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