The Anatomy of a 'Quitter' in the Labor Movement
A fiery editorial from the era defines the unionist's ideal of solidarity—and the absolute contempt reserved for those who broke ranks.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
To successfully fight the battles of labor requires courage of a high order. The wage earner without means who goes on strike for more pay or to resist reductions in wages and does it without flinching is brave. It is the strong men with the courage of their convictions who have refused to be scared by the employers or by commercial interests or by their fellow workers who have built up the union movement. The quitter never won a strike nor established a right nor a union. He seeks to avoid trouble even by abject surrender. In controversial matters, he seeks some middle or compromise ground in the vain hope that he can please both sides. He has the brains of a jellyfish and the backbone of an angleworm. He is deeply susceptible to flattery, and a pat on the back by employing interests will cause his chest to expand wonderfully. If it is a strike, he is liable to come in the back door before the last of his associates have gone out by the front. The quitter is of very little use anywhere and least of all in the trades union movement.
“He has the brains of a jellyfish and the backbone of an angleworm.”
This 1909 editorial captures the intense moral pressure of the early labor movement in cities like Everett. While modern labor relations have shifted, the rhetoric of 'scabs' and 'quitters' continues to define the tension in current efforts to organize service and tech workers.
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