campaigns. The most significant development during
the past twenty years has been a radical transforma-
tion of labor's basic goal. The leaders of the move-
ment have always proclaimed, and still do, that their
primary objective is the acquisition of sufficient eco-
nomic power to protect the legitimate interests of the
workers. Actually, their primary objective has be-
come the acquisition of political power.

The beginnings of this shift in emphasis go back to
World War I and the years immediately following.
The early years of the twentieth century were for la-
bor organizations largely a period of employer repres-
sion, legal restraint, and economic discouragement,
with political power used more often against labor
than for its benefit. Practically the only federal legis-
lation sought and successfully won by labor was a
provision in the Clayton Anti-trust Act of 1914 spe-
cifically declaring labor unions were not to be held
conspiracies in restraint of trade. It is noteworthy that
labor in this provision did not seek the positive action
of federal law to stimulate union growth, but nega-
tive action designed to protect unions from prosecu-
tion under the anti-trust laws. This exemption of
unions from the anti-monopoly laws did little imme-
diately to encourage monopolistic growth of labor
unions; indeed, the hope that unions would thus be

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