The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 21, 1925, Page 9

. ENT a ee THE I. W. W. REFERENDUM HE Red International Affiliation Committee, appointed by the Ex- ecutive Bureau of the Red Interna- tional of Labor Unions for promotion of mutual understanding, solidarity and affiliation between the I. W. W. and the revolutionary unions affiliated with the R. I. L. U., considers it neces- sary to comment upon the results of the general referendum ballot just countedsby a ballot committee elected from the I. W. W. members in Chica- go. ‘ In so doing, the R. I. A. C. is not moved by any desire to gloat over the confusion and inefficiency within the I. W. W., made evident by the way, in which this ballot was issued and handled, but is attempting sincerely to aid in clarifying issues which it is the duty of the present leadership of the Industrial Workers of the. World to explain to the membership at large, and which duty the regular officials are at present shirking, HE ballot was a very large one, 4% containing 78 provisions* to be voted on separately, and carrying also the names of two nominees for the most important office in the I. W. W., that of general secretary treasurer. It will be remembered that on Dec. 24, 1924, while the ballot was still in the field, the R. I. A. C. issued a state- ment calling upon both John I. Turn- er and Arthur Coleman, the contest- ants for this office, to declare them- selves on several most important mat- ters, namely, questions of democratic centralization vs. anarchistic decen- tralization, for proletarian revolution or for “pure and simpleism,” for or against the injunctionites, for or against free and open discussion of policy and principles by the member- ship in the official press, for organ- ization of the unorganized or for rival unions seeking to destroy other un- ions, for unity with the Red Interna- tional of Labor Unions, or for sectar- ian isolation and impotence, and sev- eral other matters, : EITHER of the candidates made any statement of his attitude on, these or any other question confront- ing the I. W. W. This fact may ac- count for what seems at first sight the absolute indifference and reckless- ness of the membership at large as to what happened or who was elected— at any rate the figures published in ‘Industrial Solidarity show that Cole- man, the “winner,” had 587 votes “counted” for him, and that Turner had 579, which added to 94 scattering votes written in on the ballot, gives a total of 1,260 votes out of a mem- bership supposed to be in the neigh- borhood of 30,000. No more than four per cent of the members took the trouble to vote. RTHERMORE, it well known in radical circles in Chicago that some votes, not enough to invalidate our surmise that the stupid silence of the nominees produced indifference in the membership, but still enough to swing the election from Coleman to Turnef, were not coumed but were thrown out on a fechnicality. There were sixteen ballots from Ashtabula which were burned by the branch secretary there for some rea- son of his own, but which were known of in detail, because the secretary sent in the stubs of the ballots, and the stubs showed how every ballot was voted on every proposition, who voted and who vouchet for him. Enough of these votes were in favor of Turner, to have elected him, but they were not counted because the Coleman supporters insisted this was a ballot committee, and could not count stubs! And this opinion pre- vailed! i b> R. I. A. C. holds no brief for either of these candidates, as in the absence of any declaration of pol- icy from either of them it is impos- sible intelligently to choose between them. But we do protest most vigor- ously against the thwarting of the wishes of the members who cast those votes in good faith, and furthermore, in the narrow legalism and formalism shown by the action of the ballot committee we see a strengthening of one of the gravely dangerous men- tal disorders among the I. W. W. members, an aberration to which we have had to refer several times be- fore: the inclination to ~childishly trust to the letter of the law, allow- ing the spirit to die, to repose a-prim- itive confidence in dogmas, magica) formulas, and precedent, allowing common sense no scope and frequent- ly coming into conflict with the broad principles of class war, class solidar- ity, and democracy within the union. HE vote on the other propositions on the ballot was for the most part in the affirmative. Only four questions were defeated. Many of the changes thus made in the I. W. W. constitution are sweeping, but as far as our careful inspection can deter- mine, rather unnecessary and use- less. For example: years ago the I. W. W. had a general executive board elected by unions; this was changed a couple of years ago to one elected at large; this was abandoned in 1923 for one to consist of the chairman of the general organization committees of the vari- ous unions, and now in this referen- dum, the last form of the G. E. B. is discarded, and we return to the older type of G. B. B. elected one member from and by each large industrial union. LL of this “monkeying” with forms is ridiculous; every sort of G. E. B. so far tried will function fairly well if it represents an enlight- ened membership, and any sort of G. E. B. which is chosen by technical- ities and quibbles, by votes of mem- bers who have ‘shad no chance to free- ly discuss persons and issues in their organization press, will be unrepre- sentative, and at the mercy of the mediocrities, nonentities who will compose it. In this latter case there will certainly be continual confusion, internal dissension, and the ever threatening split. As far as the 78 propositions:them- selves are concerned,.we shall .here call attention to but very few of them. In our analysis of the ballot dated December 24 (and mentioned above), we stated that there were but nine of the questions that were worth bother- ing about. We shall confine our pres- ent statement also to these nine. UESTION No. 78, calling for the expulsion of Bowerman, Rowan, Ryan, Trotter and Anderson (the in- junctionites), carried by an almost unanimous vote. This is proper. Moreover, we hope that the I. W. W. has learned by bitter experience that mere anti-political fanaticism and glib phrases. such as “throw out the Communists,” cannot serve in place of a sincere belief in all inclusive revo- lutionary class unionism. But is should be noted as a warning that 80 per cent of the votes in Row- an’s favor came from the west, And there are others still in the I; W. W. who have the same attitude as the injunctionites, who use the same tac- tics, avoiding only their grand mis- take, and who pose as great “rank and filers.” If they get leadership in the present gagged state of the rank and file, the ruin they will do will be no less than Rowan’s. Let the mem- bers be always vigilant of this danger. & ie membership was given the op- portunity to repudiate the clause which prohibits other than wage work- ers from joining, and it did not do so. It was advised by the last convention to abolish job branches, and it did not do that either. : The vote on these two questions is in accord with the R. I. A, C. stand. Likewise ther affirmative vote for question 14, permitting officials to suc- ceed themselves in office, and the vote in favor of question 47, permitting in- dustrial unions to levy their own as- Sessments (in affect allowing a rais- ing of dues in those unions which need it) are approved of by the Reds as measures of efficiency, O* the other hand, the membership in their present state of confus- ion and misinformation, have voted to the G, E. B, the right to arrange the agenda of the general conventions, and thereby to control them, which is a gag rule by officials, that we who advocate democratic centralization, in- sist is neither democratic nor central- ization. This is a fine example of how union officials, by gagging the members’ right to discuss have in- duced them to grant permission for their further gagging. The power of any ruling faction to crush out fair discussion and to abol- ish differences of opinion is also much increased by a vote to give the con- vention the right to expel any member whose principles are not those of the I. W. W. Let it be remembered that the last convention, like all before it, refused to state what are the prin- ciples of the I. W. W. The resuit is a situation that is silly, and danger- ous to unity. : T the same time that this increase in authority over the members is granted, the membership votes to decrease the ability-of the general headquarters: to organize or educate by cutting the per capita in half— from fifteen cents per member to seven and a half cents. Plainly if headquarters is to do anything, if the I. W. W. means anything to its mem- bers, they ought to give it more than 90 cents a year, double and not half rations. There is also, by virtue of the vote |: on this ballot, an amendment to the constitution which prohibits any of- ficer of a political party from belong- ing to the I. W. W. Here the anarch- istic confusion is clearly shown, be- cause it is also carried in this same ballot that a member of the I. W. W. can become a political officer, i. e., a sheriff, a policeman, a judge, what you will. (Question No. 75.) EMBERS of the I, W. W.! Your general constitution now says that if you are prominent in a politi- cal party of your own class, you shall be expelled, but if you play dirty cap- italist politics, run on the republican ticket instead of on the Communist, and become a member of the capital- istic bureaucracy, that is, an “actilal wage earner who is sworn to break strikes and send union men to jail, why, you ‘are all right! Or if, like Covington Hall and many other ter- rible “revolutionists” of the I. W. W., you worked for LaFollette and hoped for a real political appointment, you're a good wobbly if you get it! The Red International Affiliation Committee, and the Communists with- in the ranks of the I. W. W., do not believe that this ballot represents the will of the majority of the members on this matter, nor on some other mat- ters mentioned. The smallness of the vote, the fact that the bulk of the vote comes from the “hall-cat” sec- tion (the branches in the cities) and not from the jobs, where the real, working members are to be found, shows it. HIS, and the long, involved and frequently contradictory nature of the ballot, but principally the iron cen- sorship over access to facts or writ- ten discussion by the members, every- thing together combined to defeat the true function of a referendum, which is to find out what the members choose between two or more well understood policies, and give them a chance to elect capable and experi- enced officials to carry out these pol- icies. We are forced again to remind the members of the I. W. W. that their organization seems to be absolutely paralyzed. There has not been a large strike won by them for over a year. There is at present almost no organ- izing going on—the financial reports show that. There are no speakers in the field. The only bit of worth while theoretical matter issued for six months is a single pamphlet by Mac- Donald; every other piece of literature aside from the periodicals is factional and shamefully poor stuff at that. The circulation of the papers is down to zero. The general office is cramped now more than ever by lack of funds for educational and defen- sive purposes. Yet the I. W. W. boasts of its fine principles and dreams of taking over industry. EANWHILE, capitalism passes to an ever stronger offensive, Just now the bosses are engaged in actual- ly putting the Industrial Worker where they want it, after it was al- most maneuvered there by a couple of blundering editors. Only the prac- tical destruction of I. W, W. job or- ganization in California accounts for the slackening of persecution there; prosecutions increase everywhere else. Nothing is settled, nothing is won. Many times the Red International of Labor Unions has requested the I. W. W. to pool energies and form a united front with the revolutionary workers of other unions and of other countries for common defense against ths. capitalistic onslaught, but the I: W. W. officialdom has answered with insults and turned back to its consti- tutional quibbling. ET all members who sincerely wish to work for the release of all class war prisoners ignore taboos and prejudices and build’ a united front from below! Make common cause with the Trade Union Educational League and the Workers Party on this and other pressing issues! In needed practical work learn the futility of sectarianism and constitutional tink- ing. For Unity and Revolution. RED INTERNATIONAL AFFILIATION COMMITTEE. THE © WHITE TERRORISTS CRY FOR . MERCY By MAX BEDACHT Is a new pamphlet just off the press. Contrasting the treat- ment of political prisoners in Russia with that given to political prisoners. in other countries— It is also an exposure of the counter - revolutionary activities of “socialists.” Filled with facts this little book will give you material for a subject so much in present discus- ons. 5 CENTS EACH THE DAILY WORKER Literature Department 1113 W. Washington Boulevard Chicago, Il. . Enclosed $ of “White Terrorists.” Send to: Name: SPCaeeneeene enn eeeawereereeecernesrerseneseseneses es “Ido for Workers” (Textbook in German or Russian)......cccvsces spa “An Elementary Grammar” The Workers’ Ido Federation Room 5, 805 James St., N. S., PITTSBURGH, PA. nce