that the administration of the I. W. W. was in the hands of men who were not in accord with the revolutionary program of the organization. Of the general officers only two were sincere—the General Secretary, W. E. Trautmann, and one member of the Executive Board, John Riordan. The struggle for control of the organization formed the second convention into two camps. The majority vote of the convention was in the revolutionary camp. The reactionary camp, having the chairman, used obstructive tactics in their effort to gain control of the convention. They hoped thereby to delay the convention until enough delegates would be forced to return home and thus change the control of the convention. The revolutionists cut this knot by abolishing the office of president and electing a chairman from among the revolutionists.[223]
The revolutionists, who were referred to later by their opponents as the "proletarian rabble" of the "beggars," held a pre-convention conference in Chicago on August 14, 1906. This little "curtain-raiser" was called by Local Union No. 23 of the Department of Metal and Machinery which on July 20 sent out a letter to the various I. W. W. locals in Chicago, which declared that "developments during the past year have proven to us that the constitution does not come up to the requirements of the rank and file ...," and urged a preliminary conference to consider the following propositions:
First. Is a president necessary in our form of organization?
Second. Shall this organization be the expression of the membership?
Third. Who shall direct the organization work?
Fourth. Shall the local unions receive a copy of the minutes of the General Executive Board sessions?
Fifth. Shall the local unions be represented at the National Convention, as set forth in Article VI., General Constitution?
Sixth. Any other question that the Conference may deem necessary to discuss.[224]
The conference met with delegates present from about sixteen local unions and unanimously decided that a president was unnecessary, that all organizers, lecturers, etc., should be nominated by the local unions and elected by the "rank and file," that each local should receive reports of all Executive Board sessions, which, moreover, should be open to the rank and file, and that every local union be represented at the approaching convention by at least two delegates.
Whereas, the day is at hand [runs their resolution] when we must abolish anything that pertains to aristocratic power or reactionary policy, the office of president of a class-conscious organization is not necessary. The rank and file must conduct the affairs of the organization directly through an executive board or central committee ... and, whereas a president can only be in one place at one time and can only personally organize the working class in the district in which he is; he, therefore, can only act in the capacity of an organizer.... [Moreover], the expense of a president [$150 per month] would support at least four class-conscious organizers....[225]