CHAPTER XXXIII
Acting on Willy Cameron's suggestion, Dan Boyd retained his membershipin the union and frequented the meetings. He learned various things,that the strike vote had been padded, for instance, and that theRadicals had taken advantage of the absence of some of the conservativeleaders to secure such support as they had received. He found the betterclass of workmen dissatisfied and unhappy. Some of them, men who lovedtheir tools, had resented the order to put them down where they were andwalk out, and this resentment, childish as it seemed, was an expressionof their general dissatisfaction with the autocracy they had themselvesbuilt up.
Finally Dan's persistent attendance and meek acquiescence, added to hiswar record, brought him reward. He was elected member of a conference totake to the Central Labor Council the suggestion for a general strike.It was arranged that the delegates take the floor one after the other,and hold it for as long as possible. Then they were to ask the Presidentof the Council to put the question.
The arguments were carefully prepared. The general strike was to beurged as the one salvation of the labor movement. It would prove thesolidarity of labor. And, at the Council meeting a few days later, therank and file were impressed by the arguments. Dan, gnawing his nailsand listening, watched anxiously. The idea was favorably received,and the delegates went back to their local unions, to urge, coerce andthreaten.
Not once, during the meeting, had there been any suggestion of violence,but violence was in the air, nevertheless. The quantity of revolutionaryliterature increased greatly during the following ten days, and now itwas no longer furtively distributed. It was sold or given away at allmeetings; it flooded the various headquarters with its skillful compoundof lies and truth. The leaders notified of the situation, pretendedthat it was harmless raving, a natural and safe outlet for suppresseddiscontents.
Dan gathered up an armful of it and took it home. On a Sunday following,there was a mass meeting at the Colosseum, and a business agent ofone of the unions made an impassioned speech. He recited old and newgrievances, said that the government had failed to live up to itspromises, that the government boards were always unjust to the workers,and ended with a statement of the steel makers' profits. Dan turnedimpatiently to a man beside him.
"Why doesn't he say how much of that profit the government gets?" hedemanded.
But the man only eyed him suspiciously.
Dan fell silent. He knew it was wrong, but he had no gift of tongue.It was at that meeting that for the first time he heard used the word"revolution."