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336 VIOLENCE AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT
crave its protection, seek its guidance, and possess a
sense of security only when supported by its solidarity.
Only something as intuitively impelling as the desire for
life could have called forth the labor and love and sacrifice
that have been lavishly expended in the disheartening
and incredibly tedious work of labor organization.
The upbuilding of the labor movement has seemed at
times like constructing a house of cards : often it was
hardly begun before some ill wind cast it down. It has
cost many of its creators exile, imprisonment, starvation,
and death. With one mighty assault its opponents have
often razed to the ground the work of years. Yet, as
soon as the eyes of its destroyers were turned, a multitude
of loving hands and broken hearts set to work to
patch up its scattered fragments and build it anew. The
labor movement is
unconquerable.
Unlike many other aggregations, associations, and
benevolent orders, unlike the Church, to which it is frequently
compared, the labor movement is not a purely
voluntary union. No doubt there is a camaraderie in
that movement, and unquestionably the warmest spirit of
fellowship often prevails, but the really effective cause
for working-class unity is economic necessity. The workers
have been driven together. The unions subsist not
because of leaders and agitators, but because of the compelling
economic interests of their members. They are
efforts to allay the deadly strife among workers, as organizations
of capital are efforts to allay the deadly strife
among capitalists. The cooperative movement has grown
into a vast commerce wholly because it served the selfinterest
of the workers. The trade unions have grown
big in all countries because of the protection they offer
and the insurance they provide against low wages, long
hours, and poverty. The socialist parties have grown