But all this structure derives from the shop, and all
its peculiar virtues are ascribed to this source. The representatives
who choose the representatives who choose the representatives who
finally "coordinate" and "regulate" the shops are elected, Mr. Cole
asserts, by a true democracy. Because they come originally from a
self-governing unit, the whole federal organism will be inspired by
the spirit and the reality of self-government. Representatives will
aim to carry out the workers' "actual will as understood by themselves,"
[Footnote: _Op. cit._, p. 42.] that is, as understood by the
individual in the shops.
A government run literally on this principle would, if history is any
guide, be either a perpetual logroll, or a chaos of warring shops. For
while the worker in the shop can have a real opinion about matters
entirely within the shop, his "will" about the relation of that shop
to the plant, the industry, and the nation is subject to all the
limitations of access, stereotype, and self-interest that surround any
other self-centered opinion. His experience in the shop at best brings
only aspects of the whole to his attention. His opinion of what is
right within the shop he can reach by direct knowledge of the
essential facts. His opinion of what is right in the great complicated
environment out of sight is more likely to be wrong than right if it
is a generalization from the experience of the individual shop.
Pages:
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314