Workers and Politics, 1894–1920
Workers and Politics, 1894–1920
This chapter describes how organized workers used their political power to defend their interests when they confronted challenges to their authority at work and in the community. The Birmingham Trades Union Council, through the Labor Advocate, repeatedly warned members against political passivity in an era of rapid change in the relationship between capital and labor. In 1898, the Advocate defined politics as “a craft by which one class oppresses another class. The burdens of laws enacted in the interest of certain classes, cliques, or corporations is the fruit of the present political machine.” It concluded its comments by reminding readers that politicians made possible “the placing of capital over labor; the control of labor by the control of wages constituted the subtle craft which took the place of powder and ball.”
Keywords: organized workers, political power, Birmingham Trades Union Council, political passivity, capital, labor
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