FOREWORD
The growth and importance of the American Labor Movement depends on the intelligence and understanding of its members as to its aims, problems and policies. In this, the trade union is essentially a democratic institution. Each member is a full fledged citizen, having a voice and a vote in its councils. No program of a union, no matter how constructive and far-sighted can succeed unless the rank and file understands it and supports it. So the union is effected by its individual members.
To what extent this last is true can only really be seen when we notice how, more and more, the union is becoming the workers' institution—a medium through which he functions socially, economically and politically.
When the extent of this mutual reliance is clear, it becomes fully apparent that the condition of the worker entirely depends on the strength and influence of the union with which his interests are so closely bound. It is inevitable, therefore, that the further development of the labor movement will depend upon the sum of industrial and historical knowledge that the organized workers collectively possess. From the sum of this knowledge, the worker learns what methods, applied by his union, worked to his advantage and what policies resulted in his defeats. Therefore, he can help to shape the future policies of his union on this basis of past experience. If the workers understand the history of the labor movement and if they know the details of the various attempts made by previous generations to change our economic and political systems, they will have a basis for the understanding of present day conditions.
This and other considerations influenced the publication of Mr. Saposs' outline. The importance of the outline, however, rests very largely upon the method by which it came into being. The author prepared it as a syllabus for his class in "Trade Union Policies and Tactics," given in the Workers; University of the Internatonal Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Over a period of several years the outline was continually revised by Mr. Saposs. In this revision, he was following the general policy of the Workers' University—that the contribution made by students in the classroom discussions should be incorporated into the body of the course. The result, in this case, is a pamphlet in which scholarly research is enriched by the daily experience of the workers. Because of the unique way in which this outline came into being, we can recommend it to all workers as well as to others who are eager for a practical as well as a scholarly understanding of the American Labor Movement.
