The Labor World

Labor Movement After All Said And Done, Is Really Worth Fighting For

After all, the labor movement is a wonderful thing. It is something to be proud of. It is something that lives all the time. It has a soul and spirit, and because of that it can never die.

It is a movement that is fired with the grandest social ideals of the race, demanding for millions of men, women and children the right to economic and political independence, a lofty citizenship and a higher civilization.

It is a movement that is as broad as humanity itself, because it makes for a more virtuous and intelligent manhood and womanhood. And what is best about it is the fact that it takes the humblest worker from his toil and stands him before the world the equal of every man.

Powerful enemies, backed by the money power and by social and political influences, have assailed it in the past. But it has stood firm in every assault made against it. And be sure that, although it be attacked over and over again, it will continue to stand erect and four-square against every enemy scheming to bring about its downfall.

It is impossible to kill the labor movement, because it is a religion that is deep rooted in every life of man on this planet. And even were it rent into pieces, and scattered broadcast, it would still continue to gather force, and go on and on down the corridor of time, lighting the trail that the world's masses may follow in its wake.

True it is that the labor movement has had its setbacks. But every movement having for its purpose the advancement of the cause of humanity is halted now and then. And temporary defeats are not always without their compensations, since they enable us to better realize our shortcomings and set about correcting them.

This prompts one to say--paradoxical though it may seem--that labor never loses, but has ever the ultimate victory. For after all, immediate victories or defeats count little in the order of things; and whether they do or not, this one fact stands out unchallenged: the labor movement goes on winning, winning--in sunshine and in rain, in snow and in calm--all along the line.

For we know that, however much our enemies may assail the labor movement, however much its traitors may try to stab it in the back, it will continue to function for the good of humanity, because it is a living movement, possessing both soul and spirit, and as such can never die.