be greatly improved; therefore it is a perfectly natural and a highly necessary step for the Proletariat to organize at the machines and in the terms of modern industry. The handicraftsmen—users of hand tools—organized in the terms of those tools as craftsmen; the proletarians—groups of non-specialized workers around the machines—now organize in the terms of the machines as Industrialists.
Syndicalism in Europe and Industrialism in America were evolved out of the struggles and defeats of the rebellious working class and have many things in common. Both hold the needs and aspirations of the proletariat as the basis of their organizations. Both declare "Labor alone is fruitful" and "to the worker belongs the full social value of his toil." Both propose the abolition of the wages system and the conversion of PRIVATE property into universal SOCIAL possession. Both demand that all normal adult persons shall function in industry, so that the same may be Democratically managed and controlled, and all men have that reasonable leisure and education which makes for a truly cultured race. Both have a vision of the future civilization, and the organization of their Syndicate and Unions have three cardinal purposes which are identical; namely,
- To resist the master class;
- To build the new society; and
- To function as units of production, distribution and administration in the new society.
The Preamble of the Industrial Workers of the World (the American organization) says: "It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with Capitalism. The arm of production must be organized, not only for the every day struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when Capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the new society within the shell of the old."
