Chapter 5 The hope of the labor union[1]

(November 21, 1921) The Labor Union is now celebrating its anniversary, and I sympathize with the Labor Union's one-year anniversary.Why do you only sympathize with the labor union? Labor is sacred, everything is made by labor, and the labor union is a solidarity of labor, and everyone should sympathize.The difficult creation of labor unions in the past year has finished the first chapter in the history of the labor movement in Hunan, and now it is time to write the second chapter.I hope that what is written on the second leaf is quite different from the first leaf: the material is richer, the meaning is fresher, and the structure and organization are more beautiful.Therefore, I will contribute a few hopeful conditions as far as I can think:

(1) The purpose of labor associations is not only to unite workers to obtain favorable wages and shorten working hours by means of strikes, but also to cultivate class consciousness, unite with the whole class, and seek the fundamental interests of the whole class.This is the purpose, and I hope that the labor unions will pay special attention to it. (2) In terms of organization, it is advisable to follow the Western trade union organization, and a considerable number of members elected by the representative meeting shall be assigned to the Plenipotentiary Organization Committee to carry out the affairs of the meeting.The old guild-style organization is of course undesirable, as are too many staff, too many branches, and too much power.

(3) The trade union is organized by the workers, so the workers should support the trade union themselves, and more importantly, prepare strike funds and election funds. This cannot be said in a hurry now.I thought that no matter what, the first step is to make sure that every worker who joins the union must pay a minimum monthly contribution, as little as one copper dollar; the second step is to support the trade union by himself.This is very important, and I hope that the labor unions will pay attention to it. All I want are these three.Finally, I would like to say a few simple words to the workers, as a glass of wine, to warm up your belly:

He who does not work shall not eat! Workers have the right to strike! Labor is sacred! Do what you can, get what you deserve! The whole world belongs to workers! Workers of the world unite!! According to the special issue of Hunan Labor Union Anniversary Issue issued by "Labor Weekly" on November 21, 1921. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] This is an article published by Mao Zedong in the Hunan Labor Union publication "Labour Weekly".The Hunan Labor Union was established in Changsha on November 21, 1920 by Huang Ai, Pang Renquan and others. It was influenced by the anarcho-syndicalist ideology when it was founded. It was reorganized in late November 1921 and accepted the Mao Zedong's proposals in this article.