The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 23, 1925, Page 11

of the Working Class) ‘You say everything so plain and clear, that-I vt help believing you”—the girl stammered th, blushing happily. ‘he*mountains gave forth a deep and heavy grance. The three were not conscious that the was permeated with the fragrance; but in their rermost beings there trembled the wonderful gic of this summer night. After the shop and » kitchen they found salvation far off in the est which embraced them. The splendor of ath had thrown its spell over them, and Nickles d Marguerite both could not help clinging to th other. Joe stood there for a moment. ‘Some nice couple you make!” was sincerely happy. He began to tune of the. International. Nickles Marguerite did not know the tune. The forest poured forth its fragrance lavishly. * * * oJ VIII. > was a magnificent triumph. It is true that all weren’t present in the hall the little hotel, but there were twenty-four, any- 1y. Twenty-four barbers from all parts of the ye Joe looked with great satisfaction upon those sembled. All were waiting impatiently for the don organizer from Denver. At last, A fat man. He came with William, who had fetched him om the railway station. William was a young chap with quick gestures. is eyes sparkled, they could arouse people to thusiasm. He greeted the assemblage. He ex- ained the purpose of the meeting: to organize ainst the insatiable greed of the bosses, to regu- te working hours.” ° rede bets the "near to ‘the delegate of the The fat man was a disappointment to Joe. He id expected the man to be wise, and to find the ght words to say about capitalism which he him- If hated so much. He had hoped that the organ- 2r would arouse the people with his speech. That | would fill them all with enthusiasm. Instead : warned them to be cautious. To moderate their mands, to reduce their claims, And about or- tizing he did not speak with enthusiasm, and ®, as Joe had- Tm not going to interfere’—thonght Joe— he main thing is to get them organized.” A few took the floor, They had one thing or another to say. They ’inted to fruitless attempts in the past. Still, eryone recognized that the situation was unbear- ile, And that something had to be done. The decision to form a local of the Barbers’ nion in Colorado Springs was made unanimously. William was chairman of the local, Joe treas- cer, The composition of the executive board did not lease Joe. The delegate from Denver had all 1ose elected to the executive committee who had en responsible for the failure in the past, Tt was decided, in the interest of the organiza- on to start an energetic campaign for reducing in wages. xe working time and for a just increase 'HINGS developed faster than Joe had thought. The local wnion functioned, The ice was & el e rd not allow himself to be cowed by the bosses, nor did he become disheartened when he would meet a worker who would say that “he could settle his affairs with the boss himself without meetings and organization.” The formulation of the demands did not go smoothly, In the first place they could not agree on the tone. The old ones spoke of “humble re- quest,” the young men of “strong demands.” Finally they agreed and chose a more moderate tone which was in the middle between the two extremes. In the course of the conference there were often violent differences, and at times it seemed as if the two sides would come to a clash and the document would not be drawn up. Still, in spite of all that, they all agreed in the end. William and Joe liad conceived of the “fight” differently, but they had to accept the fact that they were dealing with “old” people and they hoped that the fat fellow would not be around at the next election. ® «# * * HE master barbers’ association would not re- cieve the delegation of the workers. * * HE old ones said that after the failure there was no sense to the organization and that the master barbers’ association would perhaps receive them the next year. The young workers attacked the old ones violently and demanded the calling of a membership meeting. The demand had to be granted. « a * THIS time they hired a bigger hall, and this one too was filled to overflowing. A policeman tried to stop the meeting because the American flag was not displayed prominently enough. But when he saw the angry mood of the crowd he decided to retreat. A big American flag was hoisted. One of the old men opened the meeting. He spoke of the unexpected difficultiés. There was nobody with whom to negotiate. The thing would have to be put off. : There was an explosion of feeling. The old man could not continue with his speech. Finally there was a short lull and he threw the floor open to discussion. : William took the floor. He spoke with passion and with masterful ges- tures, The organization was in danger even before its birth. And he did not spare the old men. He de- clared that the weaklings were just as dangerous as the bosses. The time was ripe for action. He demanded the immediate calling of a strike. Thunderous applause and general agreement showed that the workers were of the same view as William. Nobody dared to speak about a delay, They all wanted action. The old men were crowded into the background, and they had to accept their fate. By John Lassen qt was decided to declare a strike immediately. This decision took the master barbers by sur- prise. They had thought that the matter had been settled once the workers’ delegation had been thrown out. Up to now that had always been the case. It had always succeeded. Now they pub- lished in the “Springs Paper” a long article on Bolshevist agitators. And they ordered an editor- fal which attacked the barbers in the name of the public. But the barbers opened some union shops, and the workers came there with a happy heart. The newspaper articles received approval only from those who did not go to those barber shops. And the season was at its height. The best time, the most favorable time for business. The master barbers called a special meeting. And here too soniething unexpected took place. The owners of the small shops attacked the leaders of the association. They charged them with hav- ing acted like autocrats. The unity was broken. There was danger that a part of the master barbers would act independ- ently. In order to prevent this it was decided to negotiate with the union, This was the first victory of the workers. The “Springs Paper’ adopted a new tone. The number of papers sold in the city was constantly dwindling. An open letter addressed to the bar- bers appeared in the paper—but they no longer read it, * * * * ‘THE old men brought down the fat delegate from Denver, for they saw that the leadership was going over into the hands of the “inexperienced” young men. It was summer-time. All efforts of the master barbers to recruit strikebreakers were unsuceess- ful. The pupils of the barber-school of Denver reached only as far as the railroad station of Colorado Springs. As soon as they learned what was the matter they demanded their return fare from the bosses. This caused great confusion. The young fellows raised such a racket at the rail- road station and hurled such choice epithets at the heads fo the elderly bosses that the latter felt that it was for the best to let these fellows get back the quickest way possible. This was the second victory of the workers. The third victory went into the pocket of the fat man from Denver . + He sold out. All the demands were trimmed down, reduced by half. In the end there was hardly anything left of the victory. The worst of it was that the agreement would terminate at a time when working conditions in Colorado Springs would be at their worst. The strike was called off. * ND yet—in spite of what happened—yvictory, betrayal—the strike assumed deep significance. It was a call to battle. A call to battle for the workers. A call to battle for the capitalists. (To be continued) The Walden SRUTVUCELA TUALLY Book Shop 307 Plymouth Court (Between State and Dearborn Just South of Jackson) CHICAGO oken, The hand-bills were grabbed from all} Second-Hand Books Place} Used Communist, Labor and Eco 1 an over-crowded hall, nomic magazines And what is more, the workers themselves now and maps In all languages, yoy “The favorable situation must be utilizea”—| “Daily” Book Exchange hey said. : 805 James 8t, Pittsburgh, Pa. rom morning to night, , To those who work hard for thels It was decided to draw up the demands in writ- money, | will save 60 per cent on and to present them to the bosses’ association. : pee : ; — too was on the committee which formulated _ DR. RASNICK . An Industrial Organization For he demands, He was known to everybody. He DENTIST All Workers in the Food Industry id the best work in distributing leaflets. He did 645 Smithfield Street. Min their dental work, . Amalgamated Food Workers 81 East 10th Street, New York, N. Y. GENERAL HEADQUARTERS THIS IS OUR EMBLEM