l conventions of the Federation,
industrialists are practically synonymous with socialists.

The best examples of the "middle stratum" industrialism are the unions
in the garment industries. Enthusiastic admirers have proclaimed them
the harbingers of a "new unionism" in America. One would indeed be
narrow to withhold praise from organizations and leaders who in spite of
a most chaotic situation in their industry have succeeded so brilliantly
where many looked only for failure. Looking at the matter, however, from
the wider standpoint of labor history, the contribution of this
so-called "new unionism" resides chiefly, first, in that it has
rationalized and developed industrial government by collective
bargaining and trade agreements as no other unionism, and second, in
that it has applied a spirit of broadminded all-inclusiveness to all
workers in the industry. To put it in another way, its merit is in that
it has made supreme use of the highest practical acquisition of the
American Federation of Labor--namely, the trade agreement--while
reinterpreting and applying the latter in a spirit of a broader labor
solidarity than the "old unionism" of the Federation. As such the
clothing workers point the way to the rest of the labor movement.

The first successful application of the "new unionism" in the clothing
trades was in 1910 by the workers on cloaks and suits in the
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union of America, a constituent
union of the American Federation of Labor. They established machinery of
conciliation from the shop to the industry, which in spite of many
tempests and serious crises, will probably live on indefinitely. Perhaps
the greatest achievement to their credit is that they have jointly with
the employers, through a Joint Board of Sanitary Control, wrought a
revolution in the hygienic conditions in the shops.

The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America have won great power in the
men's clothing industry, through aggressive but constructive leadership.
The nucleus of the union seceded from the United Garment Workers, an
A.F. of L. organization, in 1914. The socialistic element within the
organization was and still is numerically dominating. But in the
practical process of collective bargaining, this union's revolutionary
principles have served more as a bond to hold the membership together
than as a severe guide in its relations with the employers.[80] As a
result, the Amalgamated Clothing Worke