We find the Bummery [the Chicago I. W. W.] denying the ballot-box; we find the American Federation of Labor denying the class struggle and proclaiming the identity of interest between master and slave; we find the Socialist party of America ... seeking the support of the craft union; ... we find the Socialist Labor party which says the workers must own collectively the land and the tools; ... we find the I. W. W. of Detroit which says the workers must come together on the political and industrial fields....[495]
A sober explanation of the DeLeonites' position as compared with the American Federation of Labor and the "Bummery" was made by Rudolph Katz to the Commission on Industrial Relation. He said that the Chicago I. W.W.s look upon the ballot as a gift from the capitalist class. The Detroit I. W. W.s consider the ballot "a conquest of civilization, and," continued Katz,
we are going to use it. Now a body that repudiates the ballot naturally has to take something else, such as sabotage and direct action. Now the American Federation of Labor does not preach sabotage, but it practices it; and the Chicago I. W. W. preaches sabotage but does not practice it.... The position that we take [he concluded] is that if we have the majority, and the capitalists [and] officials who count the ballots ... refuse to count us in, well,--then there will be a scrap. But we are going to test the peaceful method first.[496]
The DeLeonites cite the recent strike of the clothing workers in Baltimore in support of their strictures on the Federation and the Chicago I. W. W. They call it "a desperate attempt" by the "Bummery" I. W. W. and the American Federation of Labor to crush out the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. The strike was directed, they say, by leaders of the United Garment Workers, the American Federation of Labor, and the Chicago I. W. W.[497]
The struggle that is raging in Baltimore between the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, on the one side, and the American Federation of Labor and the Bummery I. W. W. on the other side, is a struggle of clean _versus_ corrupt unionism.... In this Baltimore affair we have revealed the kinship between the Bummery I. W. W. and the American Federation of Labor. These are both nothing more than parasites upon workingmen....[498]