"
An overwhelming influence in this convention was wielded by the
Western Federation of Miners and the Socialistic American Labor
Union, two radical labor bodies which looked upon the trade
unions as "union snobbery" and the "aristocracy of labor," and
upon the American Federation as "the consummate flower of craft
unionism" and "a combination of job trusts." They believed trade
unionism wrong in principle. They discarded the principle of
trade autonomy for the principle of laboring class solidarity,
for, as one of their spokesmen said, "The industrial union, in
contradistinction to the craft union, is that organization
through which all its members in one industry, or in all
industries if necessary, can act as a unit." While this
convention was united in denouncing the trade unions, it was not
so unanimous in other matters, for the leaders were all veterans
in those factional quarrels which characterize Socialists the
world over. Eugene V. Debs, for example, was the hero of the
Knights of Labor and had achieved wide notoriety during the
Pullman strike by being imprisoned for contempt of court. William
D. Haywood, popularly known as "Big Bill," received a rigorous
training in the Western Federation of Miners. Daniel DeLeon,
whose right name, the American Federationist alleged, was Daniel
Loeb, was a university graduate and a vehement revolutionary, the
leader of the Socialistic Labor party, and the editor of the
Daily People. A. M.
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