The original constitution had provided for thirteen international industrial departments, which could be organized in any industry so soon as it contained ten locals with a membership of not less than 3,000 members.[279] The reaction against the departmental idea at the second convention was sufficiently strong to carry an amendment to the constitution making the prerequisite to departmental organization in any industry "ten locals with a membership of not less than 10,000 members." This change was partly the result of a general feeling that the departmental system was not as practicable as had been at first believed. Moreover, it was believed that, so long as departments could be organized on the basis of a membership of only 3,000, departmental autonomy would be an absolute farce, and simply resolve itself into local union or locality domination. The defenders of the departmental idea rightly insisted that that idea be given a fair chance to work itself out. Another group—industrial unionists who laid great stress on the local industrial union as the division which should first of all be possessed of complete autonomy—felt that this change was a change in their favor in so far as it made the attainment of the departmental status more difficult and the existing number of departments actually less. The departments, thought DeLeon,
must be in the nature of the states of the United States and ... there should be no less and no more autonomy, and for the same reason that this government of the United States is not a government of the states but a government of the people, for the same reason the government of this I. W. W. is not a government of departments, it is a government of the rank and file.[280]
The Universal Label, provided for in Article IV., Section 10, of the original constitution, had not given entire satisfaction. In fact, a number of the delegates wished to abolish the label altogether. This demand grew out of the misuse of the label itself. Many locals suffered it to get into the hands of employers, others coöperated with their employers in its use. Now coöperation with employers in any way whatever is in absolute violation of the spirit and letter of the I. W. W. law. Hence the label was looked upon by many as something of a very compromising nature. It came near being entirely abolished, but finally it was decided that the label be retained, but used only in strict accord with the provisions of "Resolution A," which reveals the rôle of the red (revolutionary) label as opposed to that of the orthodox ("pure and simple") trade-union label. The resolution reads:
Whereas, the universal label of our union has been productive of both good results, such as the general advertising of our name and the graphic presentation of the unity and comprehensive character of the I. W. W. to the minds of the proletariat; and of evil results, such as the advertising of merchandise, the fostering of a tendency towards the coöperation of the classes, the general confusion of the minds of working men in regard to the nature of the class struggle, and in its failure to explain its own significance as to just what or how much of the work on a product was done by I. W. W. men; and,
Whereas, It should be our endeavor to retain every weapon that is efficient for the proletariat and against the capitalists; be it, therefore,
Resolved, That, in an endeavor to eliminate the evils and continue the good effects of our first year's experiment, we retain the universal label; and be it
Resolved, That the use of the universal label shall never be delegated to employers, but shall be vested entirely in our organization; and be it further
Resolved, That except on stickers, circulars and literature presenting the merits of the I. W. W., and emanating from the general offices of the I. W. W., the universal label shall be retained only as evidence of work done by I. W. W. men; and be it further
Resolved, That when the label is so printed, it shall be done by the authority of our union without the intervention of any employer; and be it further
Resolved, That when our universal label is placed upon a commodity as evidence of work done by our men, it shall be accompanied by an inscription underneath the label stating what the work is that our men have done, giving the name of the industrial department to which they belong and the number or numbers of their local unions, and that the universal label shall never be printed as evidence of work performed without this inscription; and be it further