试析19世纪美国劳工运动中的“例外论”

The ‘Exceptionalism’ in the American Labor Movement in the 19th Century

19世纪后期,欧美主要资本主义国家在经历工业化的同时,阶级矛盾和阶级冲突也日趋激烈。面对资本主义制度下工人阶级的贫困化和贫富差距的不断加大,马克思及其领导的第一国际在欧美各国积极宣传社会主义思想,推动旨在寻求工人阶级彻底解放的劳工运动。但是,第一国际在美国的组织活动却因为明显的水土不服而归于失败,以“劳联”为代表的“纯粹而简单”的工会主义成为美国劳工运动的主流,弥漫于工人阶级队伍中的中产阶级情结构成“美国例外论”的社会基础。不过,如果我们从长时段比较美国与欧洲工人阶级经济状况与政治地位的变化就不难发现,尽管刻意淡化工人阶级阶级意识的龚帕斯路线因其关注短期利益和实用目标,而获得有组织劳工的广泛支持,却无益于工人阶级整体利益的改善和社会地位的提高。

While experiencing the industrialization in the late 19^th century,the social contradictions and conflicts in major European and American capitalist countries were getting increasingly intense.Facing the pauperization of the working class and the increasingly enlarged gap between the wealthy and the poor under the capitalist system,Karl Max and the First International led by him positively propagated the socialist ideas and promoted the labor movement aiming at the complete liberation of the working class.However,the First International failed after expanding its organizations and activities in the United States in an unaccustomed social climate,while the‘pure and simple’unionism represented by the American Federation of Labor(AFL)became the mainstream in the American labor movement.The middle-class psychology pervading inside the working class formed the social basis of the American exceptionalism.Although Samuel Gomper s policy which intended to weaken the class consciousness and emphasize the direct interests and practical purposes gained the wide support among the organized labor,it made little contribution to the improvement of whole benefits and status of the working class in the long term.