The intellectual might go from
success to success in conquering the minds of the middle classes; the
labor movement largely remains closed to him.
To make matters worse the intellectual has brought with him a psychology
which is particularly out of fit with the American labor situation. We
noted that the American labor movement became shunted from the political
arena into the economic one by virtue of fundamental conditions of
American political institutions and political life. However, it is
precisely in political activity where the intellectual is most at home.
The clear-cut logic and symmetry of political platforms based on general
theories, the broad vistas which it may be made to encompass, and lastly
the opportunity for eloquent self-expression offered by parliamentary
debates, all taken together exert a powerful attraction for the
intellectualized mind. Contrast with this the prosaic humdrum work of a
trade union leader, the incessant wrangling over "small" details and
"petty" grievances, and the case becomes exceedingly clear. The mind of
the typical intellectual is too generalized to be lured by any such
alternative.
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