[lbo-talk] An old Aussie Wobbly has his say about what to do with the unemployed...

[Mike Ballard]

"Wanted - 100 Boneheads - to start a craft union," he
began sending up this paucity of the spirit, "All the
said boneheads to contribute 1/- weekly and then to
elect a secretary at a salary of £5 a week, and to
distribute a few quid for several other masters'
class, such as newspapers that never materialise and
select politicians who"..that portion that the
employers prefer to employ. It’s no use to that
portion that get no work, and is only made to
contribute to help to fight the battles of labour when
the employers try to crush the portion it employs. No
wonder the employing class have no trouble to get
scabs," he continues, "It is unionism that makes them
... the I.W.W. stands for industrial unionism, and its
main object is to absorb the unemployed by shortening
the hours, slowing down and attacking the profits of
the employers in every considerable way. We have
nothing to fear from Judges, Parsons, Priests,
Politicians, Lawyers, or any other parasites. They
wont work or scab on the worker. They always match
worker against worker. Now let us see to it that this
is not done in the future; lets be true to one another
as workers, and share the work by shortening the hours
so we all get the dividends."

Billy Johnstone from a rough draft written in Perth,
Western Australia from around 1913.

*********
Regards,
Mike B)

=====
"Objectivity cannot be equated 
with mental blankness; rather, 
objectivity resides in recognizing 
your preferences and then subjecting 
them to especially harsh scrutiny — 
and also in a willingness to revise 
or abandon your theories when

 the tests fail (as they usually do)."  
— Stephen Jay Gould

http://profiles.yahoo.com/swillsqueal

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