8. THE INTELLECTUAL IN THE LABOR MOVEMENT
I.
In the Labor Movement the term intellectual is used to designate those persons whose economic interest and livelihood lie, for the time being, in any direction other than that of wages derived from their own annual work.
II.
More recently, the term has been restricted to exclude so-called brain workers, who do not earn their livelihood by manual work, such as teachers, actors, scientific workers, etc. These have organized their unions on the same lines as other workers, and have thereby become a part of the Labor Movement, subject to the discipline of their union.
III.
With this qualification, the word intellectual applies to persons who have an interest in the Labor Movement but are not necessarily subject to the discipline of the organizations composing the Labor Movement. Most of the intellectuals have come from the following groups:
a. Business men and capitalists with a philanthropic or political turn of mind.
b. Professional men, especially lawyers, and editors, and more recently educators, economists, accountants, engineers, medical men, etc.
c. Speculative philosophers and reformers.
d. A number began as union men and workers and later acquired a profession or business, but retained their interest in the Labor Movement.
IV.
Historically, the intellectual has been with the Labor Movement from its very inception. As early as 1827, intellectuals like Robert Owen and Francis Wright allied themselves with the economic, political and cooperative movement of the workers.
V.
The objective of the early intellectuals was to direct the workers away from their interests as a class, and to lead them towards affiliation with other classes.
a. Later the intellectuals became the most important advocates of Socialist and class conscious philosophies and concentrated their energies in spreading revolutionary ideas in the Labor Movement.
b. Few intellectuals ever became actual leaders in trade unions.
c. A good number of them have taken an important part in the educational, political and cooperative movements.
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