The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 6, 1924, Page 6

Engineering Workers Under Capitalism By ee A OBSKY. MONG the skilled workers the En- gineering workers (draftsmen, de- signers, inspectors, supervisors, engi- neers, architects, chemists, ete.) oc- cupy the most important strategic po- sitions in the class-divisions in all capitalist countries, and most espec- ially in America. They supply the paid brain workers, the producers of intellectual commodities, who are in no small part responsible for the great and rapid expansion of the bour- geois technique and with it—bour- geois influence. It must be remem- bered that it is not the fancy of a few brainy super-engineers, but the great mass of pen and pencil pushers who are collectively responsible for the rapid growth of engineering achieve- ments under capitalism (it is well known in the profession that bour- geois favorites for “Great Engineers” seldom if ever have real greatness in them.) The engineering work, exactly the same as that of any other sphere, is subdivided into a great number of specialized branches. The only dif- ference between engineering and other branches of work is that the elementary tasks of an operator in the tailor shop, a ledger clerk in a large office, for instance, are so simple that they require little preliminary preparation, while the most of engi- neering tasks, no matter how simple, require theoretical preparation of one sort or another. The great mass of engineering work- ers bent over tens of thousands of drawing boards In engineering offices, or concentrating their energies on various problems have long ago been brot down to the level of wage-earn- ers in every respect. The average wage, called salary—to add weight to it, is mo greater than that of a skilled laborer and indeed less than that of the most well organized labor- ers who never gave a whoop about technical training. The technical worker is, on par with the unorganized unskilled laborer, en- tirely at the mercy of the will of the bosses. He is in every way fully de- pendent on the boss and in the case of the corporation on the long chain of cunning, treacherous and for most part stupid bosses. He is surrounded by a veil of hypocricy of such degree that its odor smells in the héavens. He is “free” to chose his job. That means that in case a draftsman is needed the usual procedure is that the firm will have all available appli- cants fill out application blanks (as there always is a “reserve army” of unemployed men in the profession sometimes as many as 50 applications are submitted.) Now, as to the form of the blanks. The applicant must give full information about*his educa- tion, professional experiemce record, state what employers he worker for give reasons for leaving each em- ployer, name and address of each em- ployer; must give good references; also nationality, religion, height, weight, place of birth, citizenship, or | intention in regard to same; he must state what salaries he has been get- ting in every other place and also what salary. he expects to get. The “freedom” in the choice is obvious, un- fortunately not for the one seeking employment. . . The individual bargaining reduces itself to the simple formula: the single little experience of an individual is matched against the organized force of engineering bosses. (Of course, in the eyes of the capital- ist, that is justice, fairness and what not, while Unionism is “hideous, low, vulgar, and common,”) There are two kinds of agencies that “help” men find engineering em- ployment. The first is the creature of the most reactionary and fossilized bosses in the country. It is a. direct appendix of the United Engineering Society (Society of Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical Engineers.) The second consists of a string of private agencies; the biggest of them have agreements with the great corpo- rations, utility companies, etc., and in reality are also the bosses’ mediym for more efficient and cheaper engi- neering labor-power, There is not a single org: ation in the entire field which would take it upon itself to really take the side of the technical worker in helping ‘him secure work. The American Federa- tion of Labor organized a Technical Men’s Union. However, that organt- zation at present plays no part what- ever in the life of American technical ymen. Such is the present situation in the engineering field. The American technique is expanding, growing enormously, huge million dollar corpo- rations have sprung up overnight and the men who have been producing and continue to produce -this. colossal wealth are getting a miserable wage are at the full mercy of the bosses and in the most humiliating position. No wonder the profession is despised by 90 per cent of those who enter it and the usual talk of the technical man who is frank is that he’d rather be a carpenter, or printer. The capitalist mode of production » based on anarchy in production and on innumerable contradictions inher- ent. in it makes for greed, graft, im- potency and criminal wastefulness; bright intellect and ability are ne- glected and annihilated, creative en- ergy is destroyed. The small busi- ness by virtue of its position works its men to death, in hunt for the dol- lar, and the big business is a scene for the play of politicians, ignorant but willing tools, without ingenuity, creat- ive, or in most part even executive ability, even without adequate knowl- edge of their duties. Z - There are enuf spies in every big or- ganization, so that anyone who may feel the sting of the present situation is forced to either lose employment, or keep his mouth shut. Boss con- trolled associations af employees are to. be found in practically every big establishment; however, altho it is unoflicially made-clear to the new em- ployee that it is the desire of the heads of the corporation that every employee belong to the organization and be active in it, the workers take very little interst in such organiza- tions. The men themselves’ are very keen in.each particular case to one or an- other injustice done to them, compar- ing their well-being with that of their neighbors; they are aware of the fact that they are underpaid as compared with organized skilled trade workers, but go no further. Not only do they lack a shred of class-consciousnéss, but they no not even feel the neces- sity of struggling for improvement in their condition in some way other than the accepted one (the way of their mas- ters). They don’t seem to grasp that the so-called “individual” bargainging is not individual bargaining at all, but rather a method whereby the or- ganized capitalists in the engineering industry are marshalling their united forces against the divided insignificant strength of the individual members of their technically trained slaves. They do not see that in order to get out of the present morass, in order to amount to something they have to build up an organization of their own, and give up the idle hope that the present boss- controlled organizations will protect their interests. A straight road to this conception and in the proper di- rection for engineering workers has been paved by the organized workers of other industries, such as the metal trades, printers, building trades, tai- lors, painters, etc., etc. Practically all skilled workers. are organized and are meeting the as- saults and greed of the employers as collective bodies. Regretfully, one of the most important sections of the skilled workers, the engineering pro- fession, presents to us a pitiful sight. All grading and classification of its ability as wéll as regulation is left entirely in the hands of the employ- ers. The engineering profesison has not as yet learned the elements of modern collective organizations, their economic advantages, collossal strength and potential possibilities. The employees in the engineering field are facing the elemental problem of education as to the advantages of collective agreements and urgent ne- cessity of real employees’. organiza- tions. Once built up, such organiza- tions would no doubt become formid- able factors in the class-struggle of the workers in America, greatly im- proving their own condition as well as marking a mile-stone in the develop- ment of the slumbering huge potent forces of strength. It is a most difficult task, but it must be performed; the duty to begin the work of organization of the tech- nical men rests with those of them, who have grasped its importance and significance to the labor movement in general and the immediate advan- tages it offers to the entire profession in particular. Concrete ways and means haye to be devised and a campaign of prepara- tory educaTional and agitational work must be developed. The men in the profession have to be rallied and” organized. The meth- ods of approach must be given a most thoro and elaborate study. To the task, comrades! Maxim Gorky’s Latest Thrill By ROBIN E. DUNBAR. ET it be understood from the start that I have the highest regard for Gorky’s talents and personal charac- ter. I believe he has done much work towards paving the way for the prole- tarian revolution. His novels and Plays take first place in the forward movement before the World War. Never has a more stirring short story | been penned than “Chetkash;” a more vivid picture of the lowest slums , painted than “A Night’s Lodging;” a| truer novel of pre-revolutionary days ing rebels; all aim at the shekels of | in Russia than “Mother;” or a more realistic drawing done of the Czar’s secret police than “The Spy.” Besides all these he has distinguished himself above all contemporaries in his vari- ous autobiographical works and semi- histories. Truly it can be said that no man today occupies @ more envi- able place in letters than that now held by Russia’s greatest novelist, Maxim Gorky. But I am sorry to say literature has no proper place in the proletarian revolution. The exploited workers have no time and no leisure to occupy themselves over dreams and dream- ers. Beyond the exhausting efforts to make a living they have little energy left for the finer things of life. They must leave art, science, music, and lit- erature to the bourgeoisie, and con- tent themselves with the most impor- tant problems of daily life; with eco- nomics and politics, if you please; bacle approaches, - (ALETTER TO with unions, strikes, job control, un- employment, civil wars, revolutions, and dictatorships of the proletariat. The gods of the working class today are the leaders of the Third Interna- tional, and not the leaders of letters. Shaw has past into the proletarian dis- card, and now oceupies the proud po- sition of “Clown to the Bourgeoisie:” Sinclair has joined the Hearst syndi- cate; and Gorky writes for the de- cadent Dial. Not one of them has a word of wisdom to speak to the fight- the master class. “Instead of politics, they deal with pornografy,” to use Lenin’s memorable phrase. This sub- ject is interesting only to the per- verted bourgeoisie, whose politics con- sist in the last pelosi of the mailed fist. So Gorky announces he is thru with politics, withdraws from his fellow- countrymen and from the workers, and peddies hig reminiscences of “better days” to the high-brow maga- zines. He has utterly withdrawn from participation in the Communist movement; and so ceases to be of in- terest to Communists, whether they are educated, or uneducated. The world moves fast; faster than anyone man’s mind. The heaping up of surplus goods proceeds thousand fold, and brings the next war closer every day. No man or group of men can withstay the catastrophe. The de- in spite of the sci- THE EDITOR) | ence of the masters; ‘in fact their science urges on the inevtiable doom of capitalism. That is the great sub- ject. All else shrinks into emptiness besides our own fate; the fate of mod- ern Ccivilazation. The World War is the World Drama; the World Trag- edy; besides it the puny canvases of pseudo-artists are like leaves thrown before the cannon. It matters not if Andreyevy got drunk, seduced girls; despised women; feared death; boasted of his fame; disputed with Gorky and used the material for nov- els and plays. Those matters form- erly might be of some interest to ser- ious students; nowadays they are the veriest trifles. What we want to know is, How the Third International is’ Handling the Problems Confronting Us? What part must we play towards the United Front? How meet the| pressing problems of To-Day? Let the dead past_bury its dead. There is too much on hand for those actually liv- ing now to bother about the petty problems of yesterday, except to learn how to avoid the old mistakes. So while I used to have the greatest esteem for Gorky and Shaw and Sin- clair and Jack London; my esteem has faded away, and past on to the heroes of the Third International, and to the leaders of Communism; to Len- in, whose loss was so irreparable; to Trotsky, Zinoviev; Radek, Rykov and their brave and fearless comrades; to Foster too; and to Ruthenberg; to all \they saw best. the realists of today, who write their novels and plays in acts, not in words. For it is the truth; in a civil war the sword is more powerful than the pen; the war of thé classes is civil war everywhere, save in Russia where the revolution succeeded and has only to be safeguarded against the foes within and without. Any man today who wants to be of service to his fellowmen must become - a Communist first; and gladly do the bidding of the Communist leaders, if he can not become a leader himself. There is no other course for a hero. Gorky and Andreyey and Tolstoi were heroes one day; but that day has disappeared. Two have-died; we'll say nothing about thém; they lived as But for Gorky we must say we feel the keenest sorrow, jfor he laid aside the pen for” the | Sword when he became connected with the soviet government; then dropt his sword for a tame bourgeois pen again. He ranked himself along with the counter-revolutionists, and must be feared and hated, rather than followed and loved. MY COMPLIMENTS TO THE DAILY WORKER DR. M. WISHNER DENTIST 800 W. North Ave., Cor. Halsted St. Lincoln 9010 pPAr ie somata 52 ER iE Fike Y