A Boston letter carrier pleads with his fellow-workers in the N.A.L.C. to reject the A.F. of L. and instead consider joining the just-formed Industrial Workers of the World.

‘The Letter Carriers’ by Granville F. Lombard from The Weekly People. Vol. 15 No. 22. August 26, 1905.

For the past ten years or more the letter carriers have been striving in vain for an increase of wages. They are worse off today than they were ten years ago in consequence of the fact that they have to pay more for the necessaries of life, notwithstanding the fact that wealth is produced today more economically than ever before, in consequence of improved machinery and better facilities of production. The capitalists, as a class, are the only people who have benefitted by the greater economy in wealth production, while the letter carriers and the rest of the wage earning class are worse off than before.

The National Association of Letter Carriers will hold a convention next month at Portland, Ore. We understand that many of the delegates are in favor of affiliating with the American Federation of Labor. In view of the recent organizing of the Industrial Workers of the World at Chicago, an organization that starts in with nearly sixty thousand wage earners, many of whom were formerly affiliated with the A. F. of L., but, have tired of that organization, it would be well for the letter carriers of the country to carefully consider the difference between the two organizations. Heretofore, the letter carriers, through their National Association, have been working in the dark, without much knowledge, apparently, of the enemy that they have to contend against in order to improve their condition. That enemy is the capitalist class. The great use that is made of the post office is principally in the interest of that class. Bills, orders, checks, business letters, all sorts of advertising matter, and, the newspapers, magazines, etc. of large publishing houses constitute most of the mail. This work is done in the interest of the capitalist class more economically through the post office than it could and be done in any other way. The wages of the employes and other expense are, for the most part, paid by the capitalist class in an indirect way by means of postage and other forms of taxation. It matters not if the direct receipts from the Post Office itself are insufficient to meet its running expense. The fact remains that the Post Office is an aid to the capitalist class in the making of profits. The Post Office is, accordingly, no losing investment on the part of the capitalist class. It is that class that controls government. The National and State Convention of the Republican Democratic parties are always composed of capitalists. Wage earners are well conspicuous by their absence. The president and his cabinet, the members of both houses of Congress, the governors of the various States, etc., are groomed members of the capitalist class. As the wages of letter carriers are a part of the Post Office investment on the part of the capitalist class that rules the Nation, it is evident that an increase of wages for letter carriers would mean a corresponding decrease of profits for the capitalist class. For this reason, it is evident that the economic interests of the letter carriers, like those of the whole wage earning class, are opposed to the interests of the capitalist class.

The letter carriers are, indirectly, producers of wealth, and, as such, are entitled to their proportionate share of the wealth produced. But under the present industrial system, the letter carriers, like the rest of the wage earning class, are objects of exchange value in the labor market. When people go to work for wages they make an exchange. They agree, because necessity compels them, to accept a definite amount of money, which represents a certain amount of wealth, in exchange for their labor and all the productive results of that labor over and above their exchange value, or wages. All the wealth over and above the exchange value of the working class is appropriated by the capitalist class. A part of this wealth is used by that class in enlarging and improving their industrial plants. The rest of it enables that class to live a life of leisure and luxury. The wages of the working class are not determined by any standard of justice as to what the workers are rightfully entitled to as producers of wealth, upon the principle that wealth belongs to those who produce it. No. The wages of the working class, on the contrary, are determined by the cost of its living and the supply of labor in the labor market. Improved machinery keeps the market overstocked. For this reason, the wages of the working class are kept down to the bare cost of its living and reproduction.

“The proof of the pudding lies in the eating”. Not the letter carriers only have practically suffered a decline in wages owing to the fact that the purchasing power of the dollar has decreased in consequence of higher prices for necessaries, but, other wage earners have suffered still more. According to the shoe manufacturers’ own report, twelfth census, volume seven, part thirteen, 61,000 workers in 1890 produce $114,000,000 in value and received $32,000,000 in wages. In 1900, ten years later, 62,000 workers produce $121,000,000 in value and received $29,000,000 in wages. Here we have $3,000,000 more in value for the capitalist through the displacement of 2,000 workers, in consequence of improved machinery, in addition to $7,000,000 more in value, in consequence of the actual increase in production. According to the twelfth census reports of the flour industry, volume nine, page 355, there were, in 1890, 46,889 workers in that industry. In 1900, there were but 36,419 workers who produced $60,000,000 more in value than was produced in 1890. According to the statistics of all the principal industries, less workers are producing more wealth. Thus we see the wage earning class getting worse off while the capitalists are enjoying themselves in more magnificent style than ever before. It is in this way that the working class is robbed of the wealth that it alone produces.

There is but one hope for the working class. The wage earners must organize as a class both economically and politically for the avowed purpose of taking the industrial plants and resources of the nation into their own hands for the purpose of operating them in their own interest so as to get the full productivity of their labor. It is high time that the letter carriers and all the wage earners of the country began to realize the great possibilities of the age in which we are now living. Although slavery, in one form or another, has existed in various parts of the world for centuries, yet, the railroads, telegraphs, steamships, telephones, electrical plants, and, the gigantic machinery that is now used in manufacturing, mining and farming are all of the present time and did not exist a century ago. It is because of the existence of all this improved machinery of production, whereby it is possible to produce vast quantities of wealth with comparatively little labor, that we should strive to make it a blessing to all mankind. But, this grand ideal, this true conception of justice is completely ignored by the National Association of Letter Carriers as it is at present organized. There is a “Mutual Benefit” or insurance society connected with the National Association of Letter Carriers. According to an editorial in this month’s Postal Record, the official organ of the N.A.L.C., the thing of “first importance” for the coming National Convention to do is “to establish the rates of the insurance society upon a more stable and equitable basis in the interest of those carriers who must scheme to make both ends meets.” In other words, the highest aspiration of the letter carrier should be centred upon his coffin. The editorial also favors “conservative” leadership. What have the letter carriers “who must scheme to make both ends meet” got to conserve? According to the census reports of 1890 less than nine per cent. of the population of the United States owned over seventy-one per cent-nearly three fourths of the nation’s wealth.” Twenty-five per cent. of the wealth was owned by that subdivision of the capitalist class, the middle class, which records thousands of bankruptcies every year. According to the same census reports, a majority of the people, fifty-two per cent. owned but four per cent. of the nation’s wealth in 1890. Conditions are worse for the wage earning class today than they were in 1890 as has been shown. In the light of the above figures, the letter carriers, nor any of the working class, have, certainly, nothing to be “conservative” about when it is evident that a very radical change is needed to secure for them anything like justice. The National Association of Letter Carriers, as it is at present organized, holds out nothing better for the letter carriers than a life of slavery while living with, perchance, a small crumb of comfort for his family for a short time at the long after he is dead. Such is the high ideal, the noble conception of justice, the highest aspiration of the National Association of Letter Carriers as it is at present organized.

The American Federation of Labor offers nothing better to the working class. Although its various craft divisions are constantly at war with the capitalist class, as is plainly manifest by the numerous strikes, lockouts, boycotts, injunctions, etc., yet, the A. F. of L. leaders claim that the interests of the wage earning class are identical with those of the capitalist class-that “capital and labor are brothers”-that “capital” (Labor’s own production) “is entitled to its share”, etc. They, therefore, strive to do the impossible–“establish harmonious relations between employers and employes.” In pursuance of this policy we see Mr. Samuel Gompers, the president of the A. F. of L., vice-president of the Civic Federation, an organization of which Mr. Belmont, a well known capitalist, is the president. The various craft divisions of the A. F. of I. are allowed to make binding contracts with the employers of labor, and, the principle of craft autonomy, each craft for itself, is pursued. We, accordingly, find various “unions” of the A. F. of L. scabbing it upon one another. In the recent teamsters strike at Chicago, we find “union” freight handlers working in conjunction with scab teamsters, instead of striking in sympathy with the brothers.

The Industrial Workers of the World, the new organization of the working class recently organized at Chicago, stands upon the principle that an injury to one worker is an injury to all workers. It is opposed to the principle of each craft for itself and the devil take the hindmost craft. Does it not stand to reason that there would be more chance of winning a stake if all the workers of an industry, or, more that of one industry, if necessary, struck all together in sympathy? The new union is consequently, opposed to making binding contracts with the employers of Iabor. The Industrial Workers of the World takes the position that the wealth produced by the working class rightfully belongs to that class. It, therefore, takes the stand that the working class should organize both economically and politically for the purpose of taking and holding the industries of the nation.

The letter carriers of the land would be taking a long step forward if they would affiliate with the Industrial Workers of the World.

GRANVILLE F. LOMBARD. Boston, Mass.

New York Labor News Publishing belonged to the Socialist Labor Party and produced books, pamphlets and The People. The People was the official paper of the Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP), established in New York City in 1891 as a weekly. The New York SLP, and The People, were dominated Daniel DeLeon and his supporters, the dominant ideological leader of the SLP from the 1890s until the time of his death. The People became a daily in 1900. It’s first editor was the French socialist Lucien Sanial who was quickly replaced by DeLeon who held the position until his death in 1914. After De Leon’s death the editor of The People became Edmund Seidel, who favored unity with the Socialist Party. He was replaced in 1918 by Olive M. Johnson, who held the post until 1938.

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