Labor organizations secure their end, namely, the improvement of the conditions of the workers, mainly in two ways, - first through militant efforts directed toward the employer, and secondly, through fraternal activities such as sickness and death benefits and the payments of out-of-work insurance. The principal weapons of offense employed by labor organizations in the warfare against employers are the strike and the boycott. A strike is a concerted cessation of work on the part of the employees with the purpose of preventing other workers from taking their places and thus compelling their employers to grant their demands. In order that the strike may accomplish its purpose it is necessary that the strike breakers be prevented from taking the places vacated by the strikers. This is accomplished by picketing the establishment where the strike has taken place; that is, by stationing in the neighborhood of such establishment persons who are friendly to the strikers and who undertake either by persuasion or by open violence to prevent others from taking the places of the strikers. When it is carried on in a peaceful and orderly way, picketing is a perfectly lawful procedure. Unfortunately, however, violence is likely to accompany the efforts of the pickets to prevent the strike breakers from taking the empty places and it then becomes unlawful.

To protect the interest of the employer against this lawlessness courts issue injunctions restraining the workers from committing unlawful acts. Where injunctions are violated the courts have set such penalties as they think proper without giving the accused persons a jury trial to which they would be entitled if their offense had been the original unlawful act instead of the violation of the injunction. The use of the injunction in labor disputes has occasioned much bitterness on the part of the working class and recently they have used their influence to pass legislation restricting the use of the injunction by Federal courts.

In recent years as trade unionism has grown in strength and influence strikes have become much less disorderly than formerly was the case. As the unions become better organized and better financed, as they disavow the use of violence and thus tend to array public sentiment on their side of the issue they increase to a marked extent their chances for success in the strike. The successful labor leader of to-day recognizes the strike as an instrument of warfare, which must not be used too often. In fact it is the employer's fear of a strike rather than the strike itself which is the labor leader's most useful weapon.

The boycott is an attempt to coerce an employer by withdrawing patronage from him. In the case of the primary boycott a group of persons agree to cease business dealings with the person whom they wish to coerce. In the case of the secondary boycott the attempt is made to coerce the employer by influencing third parties to abstain from business dealings with him. The secondary boycott, which is the more effective of the two forms, is generally held today to be illegal.

While the workers use the strike and the boycott as their weapons in the industrial warfare the employers on their side make use of the lockout and the blacklist. In the case of the lockout the employer temporarily discontinues production in order to make his employees more amenable to reason from his point of view. It is the counterpart of the strike. The blacklist is a device by means of which employers keep each other informed concerning workingmen who make themselves particularly offensive through engaging in strikes or other activities. The employers' blacklist corresponds to the employees' boycott.