system."

This thesis is a declaration of war as well as a declaration of
principles. The I.W.W. aims at nothing less than the complete overthrow
of modern capitalism and the political structure which accompanies it.
Emma Goldman, who prides herself on having received her knowledge
of syndicalism "from actual contact" and not from books, says that
"syndicalism repudiates and condemns the present industrial arrangement
as unjust and criminal." Edward Hamond calls the labor contract "the
sacred cow" of industrial idolatry and says that the aim of the I.W.W.
is "the abolition of the wage system." And W. E. Trautmann affirms that
"the industrial unionist holds that there can be no agreement with
the employers of labor which the workers have to consider sacred and
inviolable." In place of what they consider an unjust and universal
capitalistic order they would establish a new society in which "the
unions of the workers will own and manage all industries, regulate
consumption, and administer the general social interests."

How is this contemplated revolution to be achieved? By the working
classes themselves and not through political activity, for "one of the
first principles of the I.W.W. is that political power rests on economic
power.... It must gain control of the shops, ships, railways, mines,
mills." And how is it to gain this all-embracing control? By persuading
every worker to join the union, the "one great organization" which,
according to Haywood, is to be "big enough to take in the black man, the
white man; big enough to take in all nationalities-an organization that
will be strong enough to obliterate state boundaries; to obliterate
national boundaries.... We, the I.W.W., stand on our two feet, the
class struggle and industrial unionism, and coolly say we want the whole
earth." When the great union has become universal, it will simply take
possession of its own, will "lock the employers out for good as owners
and parasites, and give them a chance to become useful toilers." The
resistance that will assuredly be made to this process of absorption is
to be met by direct action, the general strike, and sabotage--a trinity
of phrases imported from Europe, each one of special significance.

"The general strike means a stoppage of work," says Emma Goldman with
naive brevity. It was thought of long before the I.W.W. existed, but it
has become the most valuable weapon in their arsenal. Their pamphlets
contain many allusio