We see glaring forms of neutrality in America, England and Germany, etc. And always it happened as follows: The stronger a trade union would worship neutralism—that is, one and the same attitude toward all political groups—the closer it was found to be to the bourgeois parties. This, of course, is not an accident. The theory of neutralism brings those unions closer to bourgeois groups, because this theory is itself being advocated by the ideologists of the bourgeoisie, who always aim to "save the unions from political contagion" and to concentrate their attention on "purely economic" problems such as wages, hours, etc.[1]
Here, naturally, arises another question. Is it possible for the labor organizations to be neutral in reality? That is, to hold one and the same attitude toward all political groups? Is it possible? Such neutrality actually does not exist. The history of the labor movements of England, United States, Germany and those countries where neutralism had its greatest development shows that the labor organizations can never be neutral and every time when they attempt to be so, they played into the hands of the enemy class.
In reality, neutralism or its essence is supposed to keep the trade tunions aside in times of political struggles. But what is political struggle? It is not merely parliamentary speech-fighting. In the political struggle the working class places itself in opposition to other classes. The working class cannot stand aside from the class struggle. If the working class will not conduct a class struggle it will lose those positions already gained. The tactics of political sterility play into the hands of the bourgeoisie and by no means are to the interests of the proletariat.
In order to show the nonsense of neutralism we will take an example from the Russian revolution. After the October revolution the Social Revolutionists, or "S. R.", took an active position against us, part of the Mensheviks took a "neutral" position. Were the Mensheviks neutral in the struggle? Of course not! In the various moments they were on one side or the other of the barricades. In the social struggle there is no neutralism. So much the less can a labor organization be neutral.
Closely related to neutrality is the theory of the independence of the trade union movement. This theory in itself has very many variations. But in its clearer way it is expressed by the anarcho-syndicalists of France.
What is the essence of the "independence" of the trade union movement? Not alone that they exist parallel to the political parties of the
- ↑ Readers in the United States know perfectly well how this theory of the neutrality of trade unions as advocated by Gompers in his opposition to independent political action by the working class has always aided the capitalist political parties.
