Red International of Labor Unions
All of the preparatory period must be utilized for explaining to the workers involved the necessity of organized preparation for the struggle. This means that we must popularize the committees of struggle against lockouts, strike committees, special commissions which must take the leadership of the struggle upon themselves. In the case of an approaching lockout it is necessary to begin elections for committees of struggle against lockouts. And a few days before the calling of a strike, it is necessary to begin elections of strike committees. It is always necessary to commence elections of anti-lockout committees or strike committees a few days before the declaration of the lockout or the strike. In case a lockout is declared unexpectedly, or if a strike arises suddenly, or also if it is impossible to have the committees elected in due time, it is necessary at the moment of the declaration of the strike or lockout, while the workers have not yet dispersed, to arrange a general meeting of the workers at which, after due agitation, a proposal for the election of a committee should be made, naming for this purpose a prepared list of revolutionary, reformist, anarcho-syndicalist, catholic and non-Party workers.
With regard to the composition of the strike committee, it is especially important that the elections for strike committees be carried on in all shops and even in craft groups, and that they be widely representative of all the categories and groups of workers, as for instance, the shop delegations in Lodz. The election system should be determined according to the extent of the conflict and the shops involved. The more strike committees there are, the easier it will be for them to guide the mass of workers. In small shops the strike committee may be elected on the basis of one for every 25 to 50 workers; in larger shops, one out of every 100 to 200. In the very large factories where tens of thousands of workers are employed, the strike committee should consist of from 200 to 300 people. Such large representative strike committees must elect their own executive committees, whose duty it would be to arrange regular meetings of all the members of the committee, be responsible to them, keep them informed, keep contact thru them with the strikers by assigning to each member of the strike committee definite responsibilities. With regard to the functions of the strike committees, and their tasks, it is necessary for them to attain the following:
1. The strike committee has the task, employing all means, to carry on the struggle for the realization of the workers’ demands. The successful termination of the struggle will depend upon the extent to which the strike committee is successful in eliminating the influence of the reformist union from the factory and in taking the leadership of the strike out of its hands.
2. The strike committee must lead the struggle, enter into negotiations and sign agreements if necessary, declaring at the outbreak of the strike that any agreements entered into by the reformist bureaucrats are not binding upon the workers.
3. The strike committee must be constantly alert to every move of the trade union bureaucrats. When they enter into machinations with the bosses, demonstrations should be organized in front of the buildings where they are located and a systematic campaign should be carried on to undermine the faith especially of social-democratic and catholic workers in the reformist and catholic trade union bureaucracy.
4. Strike committees must become the powerful tools in the hands of the trade union opposition with which to drive all agents of the bosses and allies of the bosses out of the trade union. 5. The strike committees must draw the shop committees into full participation in the struggle, but if the latter should trail after the trade union bureaucrats, then the strike committee must carry on as severe a fight against them as against the trade union bureaucracy.
6. The basic task of the strike committee is, not only to concentrate the attention of the masses on the slogans put forth in our struggle, but what is especially important, to supplement the original slogans in the course of struggle, with new slogans, including political demands, depending upon the new situations and the changing conditions, never permitting the initiative to slip from its hands.
7. The strike committee cannot and must not adopt the attitude of “All or Nothing”. It must be capable of manouvering (of course, not in the sense of making top combinations) and quickly and correctly determining which side will tend to benefit by a change in the relationship of forces which occurs during the process of the struggle. Unnecessary rigidity and insufficient flexibility is contrary to all practices of revolutionary class warfare.
8. For the normal leadership of a strike or lockout, the strike committees or the anti-lockout committees must unite all the workers involved in the conflict. In the case of big lockouts or strikes, embracing a number of factories in a large district, or a whole branch of industry, it is necessary to create a central strike committee on the basis of representation from local strike committees.
9. Democratically elected strike or anti-lockout committees must establish the strictest discipline within the committees in order to secure a successful termination to the struggle.
10. During the election of militant anti-lockout committees, or strike committees, it is necessary to secure a decision providing for the right to recall those members of the committee who may afterwards refuse to execute the tasks imposed upon them for the energetic carrying on of the struggle, thus violating the will of their electors.
11. The militant anti-lockout committees, strike committees and other instruments of struggle must not only see to it that all workers involved in the conflict are regularly registered, but also to establish regular control centers for the purpose of strengthening connections with and utilizing the greatest possible number of workers for active participation in the struggle.
12. The strike committees must establish and maintain the closest contacts between the strikers and the mass of unemployed workers in order to frustrate any attempts to utilize the unemployed in disrupting the economic struggle.
Next: Our Tactics in Democratically Elected Strike Committees