"scab" in this sense, but the latter term is far more common among American trade unionists. As in the case of "scab," "blackleg" is also used as a verb and an adjective. "Blacklegging" or "to blackleg" refers to any action in opposition to trade union policies or methods-more specifically, to taking the places of union strikers or otherwise helping to break down a strike. "Blackleg goods" are those produced or handled by blacklegs; while a "blackleg organization" may be either an employers' association devoted largely to STRIKEBREAKING activities, or (as sometimes happens) a rival union which actively or passively helps to defeat a strike. An earlier term with the same connotations as "blackleg" is "knobstick," which is still occasionally used; and these two terms have evidently been combined to produce "blacknob," another not uncommon variant. Finally, it should be mentioned that blacklegs are often spoken of simply as "blacks." (See FREE LABORERS.)

Blacklist. In its simplest form, a list of names privately circulated among employers for the purpose of jointly refusing employment to union workmen in general or to individual workers who are held in disfavor. Most of the states of the American union have laws prohibiting blacklisting, but all such laws are practically dead letters. The open circulation of blacklists may be effectually restrained, yet numerous other methods of accomplishing the desired object have been devised and successfully used by employers. The blacklist has thus become a powerful weapon in combating organized labor. According to the Report of the FEDERAL INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION, "witnesses representing labor without exception denounce the blacklist as unjust. They hold that, while it may be proper for employers to warn one another against conspicuously dishonest, unfaithful, or incompetent employees, it is in derogation of the rights of individual workingmen and of the working class, that men whose only offense is loyalty to a labor organization or participation in a strike, should have their names blacklisted by associated employers so as to render it practically impossible for them to secure work. The effect of the blacklist is ordinarily immensely more injurious to the men concerned than a BOYCOTT, which is the counter weapon to the blacklist, could be to an employer. At the most, only a fraction of the customers of a boycotted establishment will withdraw their patronage as the result of a boycott, while all the employers in a given industry in a particular section of the country have at times confederated to prevent blacklisted men from getting employment, so that they have been practically forced to leave the

trade altogether. . . . The circulation of lists of employees can not readily be ascertained, and the workingman who is refused a place can not know that a blacklist is the reason for such refusal. It is complained also that when workingmen are discharged they are sometimes given letters stating the fact of their employment, and possibly including a formal recommendation, but with secret marks or other indications to show that the men are to be considered objectionable. The principal complaint of such methods comes from railroad employees and from coal miners. It seems to be generally believed, however, that the more formal and direct methods of blacklisting have largely disappeared." (See CLEARANCE LETTER; LEAVING CERTIFICATE; WHITELIST; UNFAIR LIST; DISCHARGE BOOK SYSTEM; RUSTLING CARD; PERSONAL RECORD System.)

Blacknob. See BLACKLEG.

Blacks. See BLACK; BLACKLEG.

Blank. See TRAVELLING CARD.

Blanket Injunction. This form of INJUNCTION, which is particularly criticized by organized labor, consists in a court writ directed not merely against specified persons, parties to a dispute, but against unnamed persons, and even against all persons in general. In the famous DEBS CASE, for example, the injunction issued was by its terms made binding upon "all other persons whatsoever who are not named herein from and after the time when they shall severally have knowledge of such order." It has been objected by labor leaders and others that all court traditions and rules have required that each person affected by an order of court shall be specifically named and shall have the order served personally upon him. The courts have usually treated this criticism lightly, declaring that it is as proper to issue an injunction against many persons as against one, and that there must be no inadequacy in equity remedies because of technical points. This was the position taken by the United States Supreme Court in the Debs case. The blanket injunction is occasionally referred to under the name of "omnibus injunction."

Blanket Stiff. A common nickname for a migratory worker or tramp in the Northwest, often a member of the I. W. W., who travels about with no other personal belongings than his clothes and a blanket. (See STIFF.)

Blind Alley Occupations. Those forms of employment which offer no possibility of promotion or advancement to the workers

-those which, like a "blind alley," lead nowhere. The French term "cul-de-sac" is also often used in this connection. Most of the industrial occupations of children, and many of those followed by women, are of the "blind alley" or "cul-de-sac" variety.

Block Representation. See EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATION.

Block Vote. Refers to the method, commonly adopted in labor congresses, conventions, etc., by which the voting strength of each delegate is proportioned to the number of members which he represents. Thus, in the annual conventions of the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR, each delegate is ordinarily entitled to cast one vote on any important measure for every one hundred members or major fraction thereof whom he represents. Votes on less important measures are usually taken by a show of hands. (See VOTING BY CARD.)

Board of Business Agents. See BUILDING TRADES COUNCILS. Boards of Reference. See COMMONWEALTH COURT OF ARBITRATION AND CONCILIATION.

Bohunk. See HUNKY.

Bolshevik Internationale. See COMMUNIST INTERNATIONALE. Bolshevism. In its only accurate sense, this term denotes the political, social, and economic theories and practice of the Bolsheviki, or Russian Communist Party, comprising the revolutionary socialists of Russia who overthrew Kerensky's provisional government in November, 1917, established the present Soviet government, and have remained in power ever since. In rough translation, the name Bolsheviki means "adherents of the majority"; opposed to them are the Mensheviki, or "adherents of the minority." The two groups resulted from a split in the Russian Social Democratic Party in 1905. After 1917 the Bolsheviki officially changed the name of their organization to the Russian Communist Party. The fundamental distinction of the Bolsheviki from the opportunist socialists, or Mensheviki, is in their unwavering advocacy of the CLASS StrugGLE, and in their consequent belief that during the transition period between a capitalistic and a socialistic regime the opposition between the classes makes it necessary that the power of the State should lie exclusively in the hands of the "producers"-by which term they designate not manual laborers only, but doctors, teachers, scientists, technical experts, soldiers, artists, and all others who make some

definite contribution to the necessary industrial and cultural activities of society and the maintenance of the State. Starting out as uncompromising disciples of Karl Marx, the Bolsheviki have been forced in practice to modify or discard some of the most important tenets of SCIENTIFIC SOCIALISM. Although in full control of the government, they represent but a comparatively small minority of the Russian people. In view of the popular idea that Bolshevism is synonymous with ANARCHISM, it may be noted that next to the expropriated aristocracy the bitterest opponents of the Bolsheviki in Russia are members of the anarchist group. In the realm of propaganda rather than of fact, Bolshevism is a common epithet applied to any unorthodox social or economic views, the purpose being to discredit such views without going to the trouble of refuting them. (See SOVIET SYSTEM; PARLOR BOLSHEVISM.)

Bombacci Plan. A provisional scheme for the establishment of a SOVIET SYSTEM within the present industrial and political organization of Italy; drawn up by Signor N. Bombacci, political secretary of the Italian Socialist Party, and officially accepted at that Party's national Congress early in 1920. Following the broad outlines of the Russian system, it contemplates a national network of soviets -above and beyond the present factory councils-which shall prepare themselves to be the organs of revolutionary defense and administration in the new "proletarian State" when the social revolution comes. But its particular preoccupation is to preserve the authority of the Italian Socialist Party, as advance guard of the revolution, working within the soviet system.

Bonus System. While often used in designation of the PREMIUM BONUS SYSTEM and other specialized forms of wage payment under SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT, strictly speaking this is merely a simple variant or extension of either the TIME WORK or the PIECE WORK system. It consists, in essence, in the payment of the ordinary time or piece rate, and in addition thereto a certain specified sum when the worker reaches or exceeds a specified amount of output. Bonus systems may be either individual or collective: the individual worker may be paid a bonus on his or her individual ouput over a period of time or on a particular job, or a group of workers may be paid a collective bonus on their total output. According to G. D. H. Cole, "the commonest type of individual bonus system is one under which the bonus begins when a specified output has been reached. Under this system the worker is paid a time-rate, and to this time-rate there corresponds a certain nominal TASK, which,

however, is not enforced as a minimum. Until this task has been accomplished no bonus is paid; but on all output over and above the given task a certain bonus per piece is added to the worker's earnings. Or, in other cases, a lump sum is paid as a bonus to all workers who reach the standard output. This is an instance of an individual bonus system superimposed upon time-work conditions. Another system is one in which the bonus is superimposed upon piece-work. The worker is paid a piece-work price on his or her output, but again when the output reaches a certain level per hour or per week, a bonus is added either on the whole of the earnings, or on all additional production over and above the stipulated standard output." In either case, the point at which the bonus begins is generally determined by past working records, by a workshop average, or by the arbitrary judgment of employer or foreman, rather than by any "scientific" analysis on the basis of TIME AND MOTION STUDY. In addition to the above, bonuses may be granted for time-keeping, diligence, good conduct, etc., and also deductions may be made for spoilt work and for misdemeanors. (See COLLECTIVE BONUS SYSTEM; DIFFERENTIAL PIECE RATE SYSTEM; EFFICIENCY PAYMENTS; REWARD SYSTEMS.)

Boomers. See MIGRATORY LABOR.

Boring from Within. Denotes the effort to gain control of an organization by becoming a fully participating member and endeavoring to mould or revolutionize its policies from the inside. With particular reference to the REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENT, it denotes the policy, on the part of individuals in that movement, of becoming members of the more conservative labor bodies and then agitating as members for the adoption of radical aims and principles. In the French syndicalist movement, where it has been generally adopted with much success, this policy is designated la pénétration. The opposite policy is that commonly known as DUAL UNIONISMcalled by the French syndicalists la pression extérieure, and by the I. W. W. "hammering from without."

Boss. In a labor sense, one who employs or superintends workers; a head man, foreman, or manager. The word is derived from baas, used by the early Dutch settlers in New York to designate a foreman or master. The term "sub-boss" is sometimes used in differentiation of a foreman or superintendent from the actual employer. A BUSINESS AGENT or other union official who wields considerable power is often called a "labor boss." (See STRAW Boss; GANG Boss; PIT Boss.)