A report on the founding conference of the “National Brotherhood of Workers of America,” from the I.W.W.’s ‘One Big Union.’ Largely made up of Virginia shipyard workers and with A. Philip Randolph, an ally of the I.W.W. at the time, its central figure. A short-lived but important industrial organization of the Black working class, in many ways, a precursor to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters founded the following decade, the Brotherhood, this was the largest Black union of its time.

‘The Awakening of the Negro’ from One Big Union Monthly. Vol. 1 No. 10. December, 1919.

From Sept. 8 to 14 there was held in Washington, D. C., one of the most remarkable congresses ever held in this country. It was the congress of

the “National Brotherhood of Workers of America.” This is the largest body of organized Negro workers in America; 115 delegates were in attendance from all parts of the country, most of them being from the South. Delegates from the A. F. of L. were refused a seat, but 3 delegates from the I.W.W. were admitted on an equal footing. 15 of the delegates were from “The Society for the Advancement for Trade Unionism Among Negroes.”

From the contents of the following resolutions, which were adopted by the convention, it is apparent that this body of colored workers have discovered their bearings and are aligning themselves with the industrial union movement.

The following are some of the resolutions adopted:

RESOLUTIONS.

It is becoming more and more apparent every day that the present form of society no longer fills the needs of mankind, based as it is on private ownership of the means of production and distribution, and of private control and management of the industries, which entails unbearable hardships for the great mass of the people, making their lives one continuous round of slavery or unemployment, suffering, privation and worry for the future, with no hope for the workers or their offspring to attain a status of freedom and economic security.

The workers are the producers of all wealth and therefore rightly should be the masters of their own destiny and of the whole world. The present controllers of wealth production, the capitalist class, are unquestionably proving themselves incompetent to supply mankind what it needs of the necessaries of life, which are more and more getting beyond our reach.

All the events of the present point to a constant aggravation of the sufferings and the social disorder springing from this private ownership and control and no doubt will result in a complete breakdown and collapse in the near future of the whole system of production and distribution.

Such a collapse will mean complete social dissolution and chaos, as witness the events in Europe, and threatens all mankind with a calamity beyond human comprehension.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the colored workers of America, in convention assembled, declare that the time has come for the working class to come to the rescue of mankind, thereby also saving ourselves and our own, by organizing for the purpose of taking over the means of production and distribution, all of which are either created by ourselves or given to us as the common heritage of man, and that we prepare ourselves, through industrial organization, to take control] of the industries, when capitalism is compelled to give up the attempt to run them, in order that we may continue production and distribution without interruption and thus save society from dissolution and chaos;

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we hereby declare that we find that our aims and hopes and ambitions for the welfare of the human race are correctly expressed in the declaration of principles adopted and promulgated by the organization known as the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF LABOR UNIONISM AMONG NEGROES;

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we now and hereby go on record as adopting the said declaration of principles, or preamble, as our own, to wit, as follows:

First: As workers, black and white, we all have one common interest, vis., the getting of more wages, shorter hours and better working conditions.

Black and white workers should combine for no other reason than that for which individual workers should combine, vis., to increase their bargaining power, which will enable them to get their demands.

Second: The history of the labor movement in America proves that the employing class recognizes no race lines. They will exploit a white man as readily as they will a black man. They will exploit women as readily as men. They will even go to the extent of coining the labor, blood and suffering of children into dollars. The introduction of women and children into the factories prove that capitalists are only concerned with profits and that they will exploit any race or class in order to make profits, whether they be black or white men, black or white women or black or white children.

Third: It is apparent that every Negro worker or non-union man is a potential scab upon white men and black union men.

Fourth: Self-interest is the only principle upon which individuals or groups will act if they are sane, Thus, it is idle and vain to hope or expect Negro workers, out of work and who receive less wages when at work than white workers, to refuse to scab upon white workers when an opportunity presents itself.

Men will always seek to improve their condition. When colored workers, as scabs, accept the wages against which white workers strike, they (the Negro workers) have definitely improved their conditions.

That is the only reason why colored workers scab upon white workers or why non-union white men scab upon white union men.

Every member, who is a part of the industrial machinery, must be organized, if labor would win its demands. Organized labor cannot afford to ignore any labor factor of production which organized capital does not ignore.

The employers can keep the black and white dogs, on account of race prejudice, fighting over a bone; the yellow capitalist dog will get away with the bone—the bone is profits. No union man’s standard of living is safe.so long as there is one man or woman who may be used as a scab and whose standard of living is lower.

The combination of black and white workers will be a powerful lesson to the capitalists of the solidarity of labor. It will show that labor, black and white, is conscious of its interests and power. This will serve to convert a class of workers, which has been used by the capitalist class to defeat organized labor, into an ardent, class-conscious, intelligent, militant group.”

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we recommend to all the working people of our race, that they immediately make themselves acquainted more in detail with the aims, objects and methods of said organization, THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF LABOR UNIONISM AMONG NEGROES, in order that we may, as speedily as possible, align ourselves with and join the industrial unions that have already organized, and help to organize new industrial unions in such industries where they do not yet exist.

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we shall henceforth devote all of our energies to building up the new order of society along lines above indicated, to the exclusion of efforts hitherto expended in other directions.

PUBLIC HEALTH.

THE NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD WORKERS OF AMERICA recognized the problem of social diseases as serious and demanding treatment and control, and realized the need for social betterment as urgent for the removal of negative, predisposing conditions and the development of positive corrective agencies;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, in this, its annual meeting for the year 1919, WE, THE NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF WORKERS OF AMERICA do endorse and pledge co-operation in the United Public Health Service program and campaign for combating venereal disease and promoting sex education for improvement of the public health and the social conditions upon which the public health largely depends.

Done at Washington, D. C., this 10th day of September, 1919.

CLASS WAR PRISONERS

The following resolution on class war prisoners was adopted by the convention:

WHEREAS, there are in different jails and prisons throughout the country confined a thousand or more of working men and women, who have committed no crime under the sun, having been put there exclusively for the stand they have taken, in accordance with their convictions and their conscience, in the war between the classes;

WHEREAS, it is apparent that the ruling class intends to keep these innocent men and women in their prisons to the end of their respective terms, varying from 1 to 5, 10, 15, 20 or more years, in order to satisfy their fiendish hatred toward those who stand up bravely for the human rights of the worker, and in order to check the progress of our movement for industrial freedom and emancipation from wage slavery;

WHEREAS, we consider this punishment inflicted on the Class War Prisoners as merely a brutal act of repression to further the selfish interests of the rich, an act of social injustice contrary to the best interests of the American people and all mankind; Therefore be it

RESOLVED, that we, the colored workers of America, declare ourselves in friendship and sympathy with these our imprisoned fellow workers, and that we pledge our moral and financial support in the attempts now being made throughout the country for their liberation and promise that we as citizens and as workers shall do everything in our power to help in effecting their speedy release; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we recommend that all the papers at our disposal shall be requested to give this, our resolution, the widest possible publicity, in order that the men and women of our race throughout the country may know of this terrible injustice; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we earnestly appeal to all the organizations of our race that they adopt protest resolutions and send them to the proper authorities, and that they render all the moral and financial assistance in their power to those who are now working for the liberation of the Class War Prisoners, in order that justice may triumph, and these our fellow men and fellow women be spared further suffering.

Besides there were numerous other resolutions, on race discrimination, on peonage, on lynching, on race riots, on Mexican intervention, on the Russian blockade, on withdrawal of troops from Russia, etc., all of them full of the right proletarian spirit.

One Big Union Monthly was a magazine published in Chicago by the General Executive Board of the Industrial Workers of the World from 1919 until 1938, with a break from February, 1921 until September, 1926 when Industrial Pioneer was produced. OBU was a large format, magazine publication with heavy use of images, cartoons and photos. OBU carried news, analysis, poetry, and art as well as I.W.W. local and national reports

PDF of full issue: https://archive.org/download/sim_one-big-union-monthly_1919-12_1_10/sim_one-big-union-monthly_1919-12_1_10.pdf