Page:Karl Marx The Man and His Work.pdf/121

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THE CONSTRUCTIVE ELEMENTS OF SOCIALISM
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of production along class-conscious lines and in accord with the dictates of modem economic evolution is, as already stated before, therefore, an urgent requirement of the hour and on par with generating and accumulating proletarian economic vitality. Class-conscious Socialist organization at the point of production, that is in the industries, however, is essential for a twofold reason and must be accomplished in a definite way.

In the first place such an organization or Socialist Industrial Union is an organized expression of proletarian class-consciousness in a certain industry. This organized expression announces to society that the productive facilities of this particular industry are not only socially operated, but also in the control of Socialist workers, who are only waiting for the signal to supplement social production with social ownership. Of course the form of such an organization must also be in accord with the requirements of economic evolution; and being the product of class-conscious workers is bound to be in line with a scientific conception of capitalist production. Such a conception clearly shows the insufficiency and antiquatedness of the craft form of unionism, a form absolutely out of joint with the highly centralized character of capitalist industry. The Historical Materialist, and every scientific Socialist is a Historical Materialist, constructs and adapts his organization to meet the demands of social requirements. He studies economic and social conditions with a view of employing the knowledge gained therefrom to improve the position of the working-class in its fight for emancipation. Therefore, when the Historical Materialist emphasizes the necessity of organizing the workers along the lines of Socialist Industrial Unionism his plea is pivoted upon certain sound perceptions. The reason for the class character of every form of proletarian organization has been sufficiently underscored and need not be dwelled upon any more. What must now be shown is the necessity for this particular form of unionism: the necessity for Industrial Unionism.

Industrial Unionism, like all previous forms of economic or-