Of late a _rapprochement_ between the intellectual and trade unionist
has begun to take place. However, it is not founded on the relationship
of leader and led, but only on a business relationship, or that of giver
and receiver of paid technical advice. The role of the trained economist
in handling statistics and preparing "cases" for trade unionists before
boards of arbitration is coming to be more and more appreciated. The
railway men's organizations were first to put the intellectual to this
use, the miners and others followed. From this it is still a far cry to
the role of such intellectuals as Sidney and Beatrice Webb, G.D.H. Cole
and the Fabian Research group in England, who have really permeated the
British labor movement with their views on labor policy. However, there
is also a place for the American intellectual as an ally of trade
unionism, not only as its paid servant. The American labor movement has
committed a grave and costly error because it has not made use of the
services of writers, journalists, lecturers, and speakers to popularize
its cause with the general public.
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