Fleeing the United States, and a sentence at Leavenworth, on March 31, 1921, William D. Haywood arrived in Moscow in time for the Comintern’s Third Congress. This report for the Congress could only be written by Haywood, as he indicts the U.S. ruling class and labor’s misleadership with words echoing his enormous revolutionary experience.

‘Revolutionary Problems in America’ William D. Haywood from Communist International. Vol. 1 No. 16-17. April-May, 1921.

THIS article will be merely an outline of a picture of the United States of America. A great country of over a million square miles the outline must be filled in with rugged mountain ranges, wide expanses of plain and prairie, vast forests of gigantic trees, great lakes, wonderful waterfalls and many rivers. The other resources of this great territory are immense deposits of iron; vast stratas of coal; oil fields covering a large area; rich veins of copper and lead, with precious metals including gold, making the riches comparable to an Ophir or a Golconda.

In this great nation have gathered over one hundred million human souls, not a race, but a conglomeration of the adventurous spirits of the world, making a wonderful homogeneous mass of peoples. Nearly all of these people, whatever their former religion may have been, have now become worshipers of the golden calf; their shrine and the fetish at which they kneel is the almighty Dollar. This immoral instinct has developed a monstrous system of gambling and speculation in food-stuffs and other material things essential to the life and happiness of the people. A living, breathing Octopus has been formed with headquarters in Wall Street, New York City. There the blackened, decaying head of capitalism is located, from there it throws out its mighty tentacles, reaching over industry, not only in the United States but across the seas. It reaches into every city and town where are created branches in forms of Chambers of Commerce, Merchants and Manufacturers’ Associations, composed of the same gambling, thieving exploiters as their heads in Wall Street, which are personified by human monsters, who have more vital power than that of all combined living kings. Through their scheming and conniving the System has enabled one decrepit, bald-headed, old man, named John D. Rockefeller, to become the absolute owner of a billion dollars of the wealth of the nation, controlling as he does, the Standard Oil Company with its subsidiaries, the Amalgamated Copper Company and kindred industries.

Another prototype of Wall Street effluvia is J. Pierrepoint Morgan, head of the great banking interests, who inherited his holdings from his gambling father, who made his start by robbing the government in the sale of old guns, during the time of the Civil War. These with Kuhn, Loeb and Co. and others of their character, make up the head and heart of the vicious ogre located in Wall Street. The liver, which does the dirty work finds its place in Washington, District of Columbia, where the political machine of the capitalist class functions, sometimes under the name of the Republican Party, at other times under the name of the now apparently discredited Democratic Party, which during the world war sent its President, Woodrow Wilson and his wife a large retinue and sixteer battleships–in gorgeous magnificence on his conquering trip to Paris…

These political parties, of which the Senate and House of representatives are sometimes made up in part of the members of the Boards of Directors of great industries–always do the bidding of their Economic Masters.

In the 48 states of the Union are lesser political machines of the same stripes and spots.

These political organisations have lawfully and legally conveyed to the capitalists of the nation great concessions of the country’s natural resources, for example, the Union Pacific Railroad Company, was given vast tracts of land that extended twenty miles on each side of the railway marked by every other section, i.e., one section still belongs to the Government, the next section twenty miles in width, belongs to the railroad company, which in the aggregate comprises millions of acres of land.

Vast tracts of Coal Lands have been acquired by capitalists in a similar unscrupulous manner. One instance which recurs to memory where David H. Moffat, of the First National Bank of Denver, Colorado became the owner of nearly all the coal lands of Routt County Colorado. This robbery was achieved in the following manner: Persons were selected to file claims on this land which were afterwards purchased by the said Moffat at a nominal sum. Moffat is now dead but the mines are now being worked for profits which go to his heirs. Still another glaring example of how the people have been robbed of their heritage, is that of Henry Miller, of the firm of Miller & Lux, who has acquired title to the vast area of four million two hundred thousand acres of land upon which grain is raised and countless heads of cattle are grazed. Miller one time told the writer that he started out as a peddler of meat with a basket on his arm, that he had made three fortunes–one for his partner, Lux, one for the damned thieves and lawyers and one for himself, that if he had started earlier in life he would have owned the entire state of California, which is the Baku District of America.

Another example of these wealth-owning personages is that of Widow King, in Texas, who owns an area of land so large in extent that it is fifty miles from the front gate to the front door of her house. These examples suffice to show the grasping greed of individuals in the United States, which is inculcated in the minds of the capitalist class generally, and even permeate the brain of the worker at his toil. They have been taught that any boy born in the United States might become President and that all have the opportunity to become rich. Lincoln, the woodchopper and rail-splitter and Rockefeller, the Croesus of America–are held up as examples to the youth of the nation.

The capitalists, large and small, have conceived the idea that anything they can get hold of belongs to them personally, during their lives and can be assigned to their heirs after their death. To protect themselves in this fallacious notion of private ownership, they have created around the industries they control private armies of strikebreakers, thugs and gunmen, ably assisted by the Department of Justice, so-called, which has enlisted an army of agents to act as spies in labour organisations and as fighting henchmen of the capitalist class on any and all occasions.

The capitalists of America are, as a rule, a brave and adventuresome lot. They have, for the purpose of exploiting the resources of the nation, built up a wonderful system of industries in which labour is regarded only as a commodity, to be worked the longest possible hours for which they are paid the smallest possible wages.

Oft times the housing and living conditions are reduced to a congestive condition equal only by the slums of Dublin, Glasgow and Whitechapel, London.

In juxtaposition, the capitalists live as do the Imperialists, in magnificent opulence, in palaces on great estates with summer homes in Bar Harbour, Maine, Newport, Rhode Island: at the watering places in Florida or other points along the Atlantic Coast. In luxurious steam launches they float about in indolence, enjoying the wealth created by the working class. A brief era of prosperity prevailed for the workers during the war period, when some of them were able to accumulate a little more than their actual needs.

Now, a gigantic conspiracy has been entered into by the capitalists of the nation, its purpose is to reduce the standard of living of the working class to a pre-war basis. This conspiracy, though it was not announced as such, was first mentioned in the press by man named Allen, a representative of the Merchants’ and Manufacturers Association. The papers of the nation were, through their editorial and news columns, calling for more production. Then came Allen’s declaration that there was to be a liquidation of labour. He plainly stated that wages were to be reduced; the forces of workers minimized, the open shop established wherever necessary, and production not to be decreased. Already the great industries had began to put this terrible conspiracy into effect. The American Woolen Company closed down its mills. The clothing manufacturers locked out thousands of men and women. The railroad companies curtailed their forces. The rubber companies at Akron, Ohio, closed down. Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan, the centres of automobile manufacture, laid off thousands of men–the great Ford plant was closed entirely.

A similar action on the part of the profiteers extended across the country, even to the lumber industry owned by Weyerhouser and other lumber companies of the North-West. This action has continued until a crisis of unemployment has developed in the United States, that was never equaled in any previous time, even during the great industrial and financial panics that have periodically occurred. Deplorable, indeed, are the present social conditions–as there are between six and seven million workers who have been thrown out of employment; denied access to the means of production, thus, deprived of earning a livelihood; are rapidly being forced into the bread-lines–objects of charity. This miserable condition obtains in a country boundless in its resources, which are sufficient, under Communism, to maintain all the people in happiness and contentment.

The facts portrayed are enough to convey to the mind of the reader the bitterness of the class-struggle, as it exists in the United States, where capitalism is young, daring, and more brutal than in, perhaps, any other part of the globe, this not, excluding the ferocious tyranny of Great Britain.

To overcome capitalism entrenched, as it is in the United States, will require Herculean efforts on the part of a United Working-class.

Strange as it may seem, there is little revolutionary thought among the workers at the present time, outside of the comparatively small numbers which have united in the Industrial Workers of the World and the Communist Party.

The American Federation of Labor which is referred to by its leaders as the Labor movement of America, but which, in fact, is the buffer organisation of capitalism, is a loosely affiliated body of 122 International Unions, paying a small per capita tax to maintain an executive board, which Is housed in the Southern Buildings at Washington, D.C. This executive board comprising a president, nine vice-presidents, a secretary and a treasurer. Never during the nearly forty years existence of the A.F.L. has it done a single thing in the interests of the Working Class.

Sam Gompers, the troglodyte, a besotted person of dwarf stature and smaller mentality, acts in the capacity of president for a salary of twelve thousand dollars a year. His chief function is signing articles of a derogatory nature, at the present time directed, in main, against the Workers Republic of Russia and any other movement with the slightest tendency of radicalism, said articles chiefly prepared by renegade socialists.

It can truthfully be said that the executive board of the A.F. of L. is little more than a permanent lobby, who with fat salaries, sit around the hotels and halls of congress, occasionally beseeching the national legislators to pass some measure in the interest of the organized workers. Gompers and his satellites still imagine that the master-class will legislate in the interest of their subject slaves.

Previous to elections there, invariably, emanates from Gompers a slogan: defeat our enemies, reward our friends. How successful is the Gompers campaign, was shown in the last election, when the democratic party, headed by Governor Cox, of Ohio, who was endorsed by Woodrow Wilson, a friend and compatriot of Sammy the Toad, was defeated by the most overwhelming vote since the days of Tilden.

The International Unions, of which the A.F. of L. is comprised, are autonomous bodies, acting independently of each other, with perhaps a single exception of the Steel Strike, where 24 international organisations in the steel industry were combined.

It may here be recorded, that in spite of this apparent unity, a corps of two hundred organizers, a fund of 500,000 dollars–the strike was a dismal failure. The opportunity for revolutionary propaganda at the tremendous meetings was even lost. In fact, a plea for national patriotism was made, the membership card was printed on the national colours: red, white and blue.

The convention of the A.F. of L., held annually now, in the month of June, in different cities throughout the nation, the last time held in Montreal, Canada, is composed of the officials of the International Unions-yearly the same old faces are to be seen at this congress. Their chief purpose is to pass meaningless resolutions, to reelect their official devoting most of the time to animated discussion over jurisdictional disputes. These disputes usually arising in the building industry where craft-distinction are minutely defined. Numerically, the United Mine Workers, is the strongest organization in the A.F. of L. It is composed of men employed in and around the coal (mines with a membership close to a half-million. An industrial organization in form; craft-union poison, injected into its veins, has divided the organization into 29 different districts, each district, where possible, enters into time agreements or contracts with their employers expiring at different dates, thus, absolutely preventing solidarity of ranks. It should be explained that the coal miners of America are compelled by the mine owners to purchase the tools with which they work–not only have they to defray the cost of their tools, but must buy oil for their safety lamps as well as powder and fuse for blasting purposes.

To cite an instance, which will explain the detrimental effect of the time contract, it will only be necessary to describe the coal strike which occurred in the state of Colorado, district 15. The U.M.W.A. was supplying funds from headquarters and the same was being done from some districts for the relief of the strikers, while the members of the same organization in the adjoining state of Wyoming under contract were mining coal to fill the markets formerly supplied by the strikers. In fact the same nefarious work was done by the miners of the Northern fields of Colorado against their striking brothers of the Southern fields in the same state.

Seldom or never, have the members of the United Mine Workers ceased to furnish coal when other members of organized labour were on strike, even though such action on their part may have been the deciding factor in a struggle. In fact, the co-operative, sympathetic spirit among the craft unions of the A.F. of L. is an almost unknown quantity.

Even now, the coal miners of West Virginia are on strike. Many of them have been murdered; others are suffering untold horrors at the hands of detectives and thugs employed by the capitalists who own the mines, while members of the same labour union, the United Mine Workers of America, are placidly working in the adjacent, coal-fields of adjoining states–Pennsylvania and Kentucky, permit- ting themselves to be used as instruments for the defeat of their brothers. Realising, if they can think at all, that when the coal miners of West Virginia are defeated, they, when called upon or forced to strike will have to fight their battles alone–as defeat in West Virginia will mean the loss of the union.

It was the United Mine Workers, of which the late John Mitchel was at one time president. Mitchel is the man of whom it was said, by the capitalist press of America, was “the greatest labor leader that the world had ever known.” John Mitchel became a member and chairman of the Trades Agreement Committee of the Civic Federation, at the munificent salary of six thousand dollars a year. He, however, was compelled to resign or he would have suffered expulsion from the U.M.W. of A., of which he had at one time been the president. Such action would have nullified his prestige in the labor movement, so he resigned his fat job. When he died, he left an estate of over three hundred thousand dollars, evidence enough to show, that this prime factor of the A.F. of L. had served his capitalist masters in other capacities than the position he had held in the Civic Federation.

Another example of the Gompers ilk, is Robert Brindell. This individual manipulated his selfish game from a different angle and ran afoul the law and is now serving a term in prison. Brindell was the head of a union known as the Building Wreckers Union. He was also a member of a building wreckers firm, thus, playing the game both ways from the middle. The crime for which he was convicted was that of compelling a concern who desired to erect a building to pay him the sum of twenty thousand dollars before the work could proceed.

Disputes between officials of craft-unions on buildings in course of construction are not of unusual occurrence, the purpose of these disputes being to demand of the contractor who is erecting the building a bribe for the speedy settlement of the difficulty. So general has this shake-down system become, that building firms, when making bids for the construction of a building add a certain percentage for the bribes that they know will be exacted by the A.F. of L. labour leaders, personified by one Steve O’Donnell, who, during his Incumbency of the office of president of the Building Trades’ Council, of Chicago, Illinois is said to have accumulated money enough to erect apartment houses on the elite boulevard, known as Sheridan Road, approximating in value over 300,000 dollars.

P.M. Arthur, another of this line gentry, at the time he died, was Grand Chief of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, which organisation he styled as the aristocracy of labor. Arthur, the leader, left an estate which gets his heirs a big rent roll.

The fault lies not so much against these men, who have transgressed by violating their duty to the working-class. But rather, the fault is with the labour unions, which are so formed and managed as to permit, indeed, invite these delinquencies on the part of their officials.

The trade or craft unions, component parts of the American Federation of Labour, are a peculiar entity which must be carefully described to be understood by members of organized labour in other

countries, who regard labour unions as a real necessity of the life and progress of the working class. In the United States, trade unions are not for the purpose of organizing the working class, but Art to throw up walls around the favored few, limiting the membership by devious methods, making little job monopolies of themselves.

First, by exacting that every new member shall have served an apprenticeship varying in the number of years in the different crafts.

Second, there are some unions that demand that a boy who is accepted as an apprentice his father must have been a journeyman at the trade. These unions, however, will accept an employers’ son.

Third, some unions demand an exorbitant initiation-fee. For example, the Green Glass Bottle Blowers charge a regular initiation-fee of five hundred dollars. A special initiation-fee is demanded of Bohemian glass blowers of one thousand dollars. The moving picture operators charge three hundred dollars, which every man must pay who becomes a member of that union. The Electrical Workers No. 184 charge two hundred and fifty dollars. Carpenters & Joiners’ Union charge in some places seventy-five dollars initiation-fee. A member going from one place to another, where the initiation-fee is higher than in the local union where he was admitted, is compelled to pay the difference.

Fourth, sometimes an examination is required and applicants for membership are compelled to undergo a rigid mechanical course before being admitted. This is true of the Painters Union, the Electrical Workers’ Union and likely many others.

Fifth, many craft unions of the A.F. of L. limit the number of apprentices accepted to learn the trade. Usually, the provisions are, that there shall be one apprentice for every seven or, in some crafts, one for every ten journeymen. Thus, it will be seen, that journeymen of a union have clauses in their constitution, which prohibit them from allowing their own sons learning the trade of their father. For example, if eight out of ten journeymen were married and rearing families it is safe to presume, that among the eight there will be eight or more male children. These boys, when they reach a working-age most of them will naturally follow the bent of their father and will come knocking at the door of the union to which father belongs asking the privilege of learning his trade. To all but one of the many boys, their fathers in the craft-unions will deny them this inherent-right–turning their own sons adrift to become laborers; forced into the capitalist army or navy, into jails or penitentiaries. However, the I.W.W. accepts these disinherited sons of the craft and trade-unionist with open arms.

Sixth, there are unions among which can be named the Painters & Decorators and the Bakers’ & Confectioners’ Unions, which have definitely refused to accept any more members, their books have been closed, as far as new membership is concerned–temporarily, at least.

Seventh, some International Unions of the A.F. of L. decline to allow females to become members–the Barbers’ International can be cited as an instance.

Eighth, other craft unions require an applicant to be an American Citizen.

Ninth, many trade or craft unions draw the colour line, discriminating against black men, Chinamen and Japanese are also barred.

These rules and regulations of affiliated bodies of the American Federation of Labour demonstrate the utter impossibility of that combination ever becoming a class organisation, in fact, it is not class consciousness, but distinctly, a selfish craft: consciousness that is being generated.

Gompers, himself, becomes the bed-fellow of the rankest capitalist politicians in Washington: His close relationship to the Democratic Administration during the war period is evidence of this. His friendliness with Wilson, a creature so vile that there are none now so low as to do him honour, proves the depths to which Gompers will stoop. Though his sycophancy cost the lives and the manhood of the workers of America.

The A.F. of L. makes the claim that the membership of the organization was more than doubled during the great war. Attention must be called to the fact that this increase was not brought about by the usual efforts of propaganda or work of the organization itself, but was forced by the government of the United States and Canada, the political machines of the two countries compelling miners, ship-builders and other workers to become members of the American Federation of Labour. This was the reward to the Gompers outfit for the hellish work that they had in support of the terrible capitalist murder feast.

This same political lick-spittle, Gompers, was responsible, the writer has been told, in conniving first, with the Department of Justice in carrying on the terrible persecutions against members of the Industrial Workers of the World, many of whom lost their lives and hundreds of whom are still in the prisons and penitentiaries of the United States of America.

The ferocity of Gompers, the politicians and capitalists in general against the I.W.W. is because it is the organisation that they fear. Though comparatively small in numbers the membership has become imbued with an indomitable spirit that cannot be crushed. In this organisation a keener, dec per, fraternal feeling exists than is to be found in any other organization, which the writer has ever known.

The I.W.W. is scientifically organized along industrial lines. It has been engaged in more serious struggles than all political and so-called labour organizations of the U.S. combined. Thousands of its members have been imprisoned for the part they have played in the class-struggle. The I.W.W. has fought many great strikes and was never compelled to furl its banner in defeat. The I.W.W. has carried the message of Industrial Freedom to the remotest corners of the earth. Hundreds of its members returned to Russia and took a valiant part in the World’s Greatest Revolution. The Industrial Workers of the World has never bowed its head in obeisance to the capitalist class. It stands humble before the Heroes of the Revolution, that have marked the way for Industrial Peace and the Happiness of a Great People. May the Revolution continue and grow until every worker in the world enjoys Industrial Freedom.

The ECCI published the magazine ‘Communist International’ edited by Zinoviev and Karl Radek from 1919 until 1926 irregularly in German, French, Russian, and English. Restarting in 1927 until 1934. Unlike, Inprecorr, CI contained long-form articles by the leading figures of the International as well as proceedings, statements, and notices of the Comintern. No complete run of Communist International is available in English. Both were largely published outside of Soviet territory, with Communist International printed in London, to facilitate distribution and both were major contributors to the Communist press in the U.S. Communist International and Inprecorr are an invaluable English-language source on the history of the Communist International and its sections.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/ci/old_series/v01-n16-n17-apr-may%201921-grn-goog-r3.pdf