The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 24, 1925, Page 5

I= ea A RT MRE ABA ERE —_, _ workers about 4,000,000 only ate‘organized. The A. F. of L. THE DAILY WORKER The Movement for World: Tra von By TOM BELL. > hereon J "This is the seventh instalment of a series of articles dealing with the question of World Trade Union Unity. This instalment deals with the American Federation of Labor and World Trade Union Unity. * *. * * i The American Federation of Labor and the Movement for World Trade Union Unity. In policy and organizational forms the American Federation of Labor is one of the most backward trade union movements in| thé world. Samuel Gompers during his long reign as president moulded its policies to suit the needs of the American capitalists. This policy is being continued by his successor William Green. Th estimation of Gompers by Green given in the following statement: in his speech at: the Atlantic City convention of the federation throws a flood of:light on the entire outlook of the bur- eaucracy: 3 v. oHe first: attracted my, attention in particular because \ he. set:his face against the efforts that were being made to bring about a general strike of all the trades in sympathy with the American RilWay Union strike in 1894. ‘ The A. F. of L. has 107 International Unions affiliated to it composed of, 31,261 local.unions with a total membership of 2,- $78,297, according to the 1925 report. F a “The bitterest sort of craft prejudices are systematically in- culcated into’ the membership of the various unions. ©The offi-| cials look upon “their” union membership as something’ to be carefully guarded against the poaching of other union officials. | Jurisdictional quarrels break out periodically and the spectacle of officials fighting over as to which shall “possess” a certain ca- tegory of workers is always, present. ’ Not ‘only regarding membership do jurisdictional quarrels, break out; but also regarding the work to be done by certain} unions. The Carpenters’ Union and the Sheetmetal Workers’ Union are. continually at each others’ throats over the question of which shall work on metal trim doors and windows. These quarrels keep the unions in perpetual turmoil and breed in the workers the idea that they must fight each other to preserve their interests. As a matter of fact the A. F. of L, unions have merely organ- ized the fringe of the workers of America. The really successful A. F. of L. unions are those which cater to the highly skilled work- ers, such as the various branches of the printing and building industries, certain trades in the metal industry, and so on. According to the census there are 41,614,284 persons over ten years of age gainfully employed in the United Sttes. of these 32,710,495 are wage workers. Of this huge number of wage unions have nearly 3,000,000 million membrs, and the Railroad Brotherhoods, not affiliated With) the A. F. of L., have about three- quarters of a million members, bt independent unions in the food, leather and metal ludustries have very few members and are not influential. The Indystrial Workers of the World has shrunk to a mere shadow of rmer self and has less than 20, 000 members. Thus one-ei bj of the wage earners in this country are organized today. ~ ” | organized; today about 30,000. Up until 1922"fhere were 1,300,- | 000 organized in the railroad unions; today thére are about 700,- | 000. The Machinists’ Union had over 300,000 members at the end of the war; today it has about 100,000. The packing house work- ers were organized strong enough at the end of the war to force the packers to grant increases in wages and the 8-hour day in the large centers such as Chicago; today open shop conditions prevail in the packing houses. The membership of the A. F. of L. unions in 1920 numbered over 5,000,000; today. it is less than 3,- /000,000. In 1920 the independent unions had 1,000,000 members; today they have much less than that. : The factors responsible for the decrease in union member- ship were: 1. The severe economic crisis of 1920-21 which threw mil- \lions of workers ont of work. if 2. The capitalists and their government, and all its agencies: courts, troops, police, newspapers, etc., taking advantage of the economic crisis launched a great offensive off*the workers. In this offensive the capitalists reduced wages, lérigthened hours of labor and smashed unions. rf 3 3. The unions having a policy of class eogperation instead of class struggle, led by ten, fifteen and twenty-five thousand dolar a year agents of the capitalists, and divided into over a hun- dred craft diyisions, were unable to lead the! workers in the struggle. ae 4. The great mass of workers absolutely, tnorganized were used as a weapon against the organized workers. 5. The 6,000,000 unemployed workers:being unorganized were. a reservoir of strike breakers used by the capitalists in the struggle. eee This offensive of the capitalists was well dtganized and plan- ned and carried out with military precision, e railroad shop- men’s strike of 1922 is an example. Seven out ofthe sixteen unions were picked out by the capitalists and defeated» The unions of the running trades remained at work as the bosses knew they would, A sweeping injunction was secured by Atty. Gen. Daugh- erty against the shopmen which practically prohibited them striking. Hundreds of strikers were arrested for violations of the injunction; others were framed up. Seabs were employed to break the strike. The result was a terrific defeat for the shopmen from whith they have not yet recovered. A factor that assured the victory of the capitalists in this struggle was the trade union officialdom. The officialdom of the running trades unions prevented the workers striking along with the other workers. The Lewis officialdom of the United Mine Workers safeguarded the mines of the operators by keeping the maintenance men at work while the miners were striking. The officialdom as a whole -was opposed to fighting back the capitalist offensive and aided in the defeat of the workers*by preaching class cooperation thru negotiation, arbitration and acteptance of wage cuts, etc. pe The disunity in the ranks of the worker ‘coupled with the existence of millions of unorganized workers,;,aided the capital- ists. Craft after craft was defeated by the bosses while the other craft unions in the same industry continued at work and aided the bosses to smash their fellow workers. Wy As a whole the capitalists suceeded in defeating the workers. Skilled workers were treated more gently than ‘others, in keeping with the capifalist policy of bribing certain seéttons of the work- Of the basic industries only the building, coal mining and railroads are organized to any extent. About a half-million coal miners are organized. A quarter-million are outside of the’union) At the end of the world war the ‘sixteen unions in the railroad in dustry had about 1,300,000 members; today they have altogether about’700,000- In 1922 thé rail*odd shop craft unions had 400,- 000: members; today they have 100,000. ¥ In the food packing industry Only a few thousand workers are organized out of the half-i employed. In the steel in- dustry there are a little over thirteén thousand members in the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers. In’ the automobile industry out of the ‘half-million workers employed a few thousand are organized imseveral craft unions and the inde- pendent Auto Workers’ Union... ,,In the lumber industry a few. thousand are organized in the I. W. W., and the same applies to agriculture. Out of the three-quarters of a million workers in the textile industry about 30,000 are organized in all the compet- ing unions. ‘ During the world ‘war hundreds of thousands of workers fiocked to the unions. For instance, 150,000 textile workers were £106 ; IL ~* LADIBS" APRON. 5106. "@ut in 4 sizes: Small, 34 modi Yasap; fharee, 42-44; ex! large, 46-48 inches bust measure, A medium size requires 24% yards of 36 inch material, Price 12c¢, LADIES’ DRESS. Cut in 8 sizes: 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48 and’50 inches bust measure. A 38 inch size requires 4% yards of ons material, 40 inches wide. The width of the dress at the foot is 2 yards. Price 12c, LADInS’ COAT,” 518¢. Cut in 6 sizes: 34, "36,738; 2 and 44 inches bust m re, A 38 six illustrated, rey yards of 54 inch material with % yard contrasting for collar, cuffs and facings. Price 12c. « JUNIORS’ AND MISSES’ DRESS. 5229. Cut in 4 sizes: 14, 16, 18 and 20 years. A 16 year size requires 2% yards of 54 inch material if made as illustrated in the large view. Without the cascade 2% yards are required. With short sleeves 2% yards are re- quired. The width of the dress at the foot 1s 2 yards, Price 1) Orders as ren NOvICH TO PATTERN B bel! sola _chru the By ik New. York des of watiera 01 ol forwarded by A Winter, 1928. {he “customer. na | missoa’, ye gon: i ron. ‘| minous miners while the anthracite miners are On’ strike, or even ergiand usingsthem against the other work#8. For instance, workers in the printing industry received no wiige cuts; the run- ning trades on the railroads were cut only 12 per cent, while the unskilled workers received cuts two and three times that amount, and so on. ; weaken me * «During this period the capitalist tov openly acted a§ the executive of the capitalist class against workers. The ‘Daugherty injunction against the shopmen, ling’s order to the state governors to use troops to secure peperetion of the booed ne in 1922, are examples, the workers tannot afford to lorget. . ou The post-war offensive of the capitalists 6f'‘the U. S. on the standard of living of the workers in this country show in a nut- shell the effects of the policy pursued by the ‘tyade union move- nmient of this country. That policy is summed,.up in a single Phrase: Class co-operation. This policy is based upon the idea that there is an identity of interests between eapital and labor: that the workers and capitalists are partners Yin industry; that they both share in the wealth produced, and th#y must co-oper- ate with each other for their mutual benefit. °’"* The facts of everyday life prove this to be false. The bossds seek to increase their profits by wage cutting, lengthening the hours of labor, or speeding up the workers. The workers, on} the Other hand, seek to better their conditions by raising wages, ahortening the hours of labor, and resisting the introduction of | speed-up systems. On every point the interests of the workers end capitalists are opposed. One can only gain at the expense s — other. Therefore, all talk of co-operation between them is false. Yet this is the official policy of the A. F. of L: This is preach- ed by thousands of union officials in all the trade unions in the country. Out of this policy comes the idea of compulsory ar- bitration, as in the International Typographical Union; because of this policy trade union leaders compromise, with the bosses and refuse to use the maximum strength of the organized work- ers to secure their demands as is shown in the-refusal of the United Mine Workers’ officialdom to call a strike of the bitu- pull out the maintenance men who are protectingthe mine own- ers’ property while the strike is on. e This policy of class co-operation is responsihie for the weak- ness of the trade unions and the defeats of the,workers. The only successful policy for the workers is that of-class struggle. The interests of the workers and capitalists are opposed at every point. They are enemies, and the class war is as’much a war as any war between capitalist nations. In this country the class war has been bloody. From Homestead to West inia the capi- talists have used violence against the workers. Even tho the capitalists use every method to get the workers to believe in class co-operation, and support those labor leaders..who practice it, they do not believe in it but use all methods to subdue the work- ers as the history of the labor movement shows. The A. F. of L. officialdom does not me ly,content itself with preaching class co-operation. They pravticg it. Not only that; they are rapidly turning the unions into adjuncts of the capitalists. The unions are being turned into instruments to keep the workers in subjection to the bosses thru the “Baltimore and Ohio Plan,” labor banks and life insurance schemes, “group production,” ete. While the A. F. of L. officially condemns company unions it favots such thinly veiled company union schemes as the “B. & O, Plan.” Under this plan the capitalist does not need to or- ganize the workers in a union—the A. F. of L. union performs that task.. The union becomes responsible for speeding up the workers, and maintaining discipline in the shops. In return the company “recognizes” the union, and the management meets along with representatives of the different departments to devise ways of “eliminating waste.” Wm, H. Johnston, president of the Int, Assn. of Machinists, brazenly laid the whole scheme bare when he stated that the union will sell labor power to the com- panies just Foy manufacturers of materials used in production do. This whole trend toward making the unions part of the productive, machinery of the capitalists is shown by the follow- SEARLE az: ‘ ‘ Page Five EE = e ing quotation from the report of the A, F. of L. executive coun¢il at the Atlantic City convention. Production Is a group undertaking. It involves finding the best ways for the group to work together. This is the field of personnel relations research. It is of the utmost importance that the trade union should be adequately represented in this field in orter that technicians and research workers may at all stages have their atten- tion called to the functions of the trade union and that this necessary agency may be taken into consideration in the development of policies and not Have to contest for a place after conclusions are formulated. Trade unions which represent the cumulated experience of many years have a most important contribution to make to this developing field. In other words, the bosses should recognize that if they give “recognition” to the trade union officialdom production could be greatly increased. No cleared declaration of a com- plete abdication of any fight against the capitalists was ever made than this. The only request made upon.the capitalists in return for the trade unions aiding in the increase of production is as follows: Efforts to improve production methods and elimin- ate waste must be accompanied by reasonable assurance of regularly of employment, Inion Unity T INDUSTRIALIZE AGRICULTURE IN SOVIET RUSSIA iCaptain Hibben Tells of Training School NEW YORK—(FP)—Action rather |than pariiamentarism and talk is ne |cessary to make the world over for labor, says Capt, Paxton Hibben, re- serve army officer. In Russia's ex- periment lies the hope of workers of the world, Hibben ‘told the League for Mutual Aid upon his latest re- turn from Russia, where he first served in 1905 for the U. S. diplomatic corps. Russia’s salvation is in industrial- jation of agriculture, says Hibben. Large Beale, machine agriculture will knit together individualist farmers and will make their organizations |more like unions of city industrial | workers. Hibben is connected with } Russian Reconstruction. Farms, an : That “regularity of employment” is country today and a further speeding up of the | make it impossible is shown by the figures of employment and/ a. model demonstration farm production for the past few yéars. While production increased | Rostov-on-Don where non-existent in this! American organization which sends between 20 to 30 per cent since»1914 the number of workers employed is below that of 1914. ‘Taking average employment in 1923 as.100 per cent, September, 1925, cent. cent level. has fallen to 90.9 per On the same basis September, 1914, was at a 94.9 per The significance of this is seen in the increase of production and population (15 per cent) during this period. ” Turhing the unions into efficiency departments for the capi- talists, and giving up all struggle for the interests of the work- ers, will further increase the mass of commodities produced and displace still more workers. The whole tendency of capitalist production is toward the displacement of workers as the following shows: In 1916 it took I hour 42 minutes of 1 man’s time to make one pair of shoes} today it takes 54 minutes. employed was 25 tons of pig iron; today it is 1,179 tons. In 1850, production per man In 1891 it took 14 to 16 hours of one man’s time to produce one long ton, of steel; today in Pittsburgh and Chicago it takes 1 hour and 54 minutes. the same: In industries the development has been More production with less workers. Under these conditions it is a direct betrayal of the workers’ interests for the A. F. of L: officialdom to speak of usifig the trade unions to aid in production methods and at the same time expect steady employment for the workers, The policy of class co-operation, combined with craft union- ism and the existence of. millions of unorganized workers leads to defeats for the workers of this country. Those who wish to perpetuate this suicidal state. of affairs in the trade union move- ment are aiding the capitalists against the workers. (To be continued in next issue.) Call Out Maintenance Men, Is Demand “of Miners on Officials (Continued from page 4} « Toohey and Alex Reid because they spoke at a mass meeting. In order to acquaint the workers of Chicago with the situation fn the anthracite strike zone, the Progress- ive Miners’ Committee has arranged a mass meeting at Northwest Hall, North and Western Aves., on Tues., Nov. 24, at 8 p. m. To Speak Tuesday. Pat T. Toohey, youthful leader, in the strike and Alex Reid, national secretary of the Progressive Miners’ Committee will speak, Admission is free and all workers, and especially union men, are invited to attend. Wm. F. Dunne, editor of The DAILY WORKER is returning from the strike fields in time for the meet- ing and will have live interesting in- formation for the workers who come to the meeting. Metropolitan Grand Opera Is Open Shop; I. L. G. W. Picketing NEW YORK—(FP)—Costumers for New York's Metropolitan Grand Op- era Co/ are striking against the man- agement’s' sudden reversion to non- union conditions after five years with the International Ladies Garment Workers union. Pickets from the union march before the opera house made famous by its “diamond horse- shoe” where New York's 400 display themselves in opera season. The Metropolitan locked out the union before the expiration of its agree- ment, came to a temporary settle- ment and again broke faith. Some of the skilled costume makers have been employed by the opera company for 15 yéars. Kharkov Workers Protest. KHARKOV, U. 8. 8. R. (By Mail).— A mass meeting took place in Khar- kov of workers and political immi- grants from the Balkans. After a re- Peasants in Bessarabia, the meeting adopted a resolution greeting the he- roic attitude of the arrested Hunga- rian revolutionaries and demanting that the international proletariat cake steps to prevent the trial of Rakosi and his comrades. The meeting also demanded the formation of an inter- national non-party commission to exa- mine the cir umstances of the pro- cess against the Tatarbunar peasants, Discover Radium in Murman, MOSCOW, Nov. 22.—An expedition sent to the Murman coast by the Academy of Sciences for the inves: tigation of the Khivinisky mountains has discovered rich accumulations of new radium deposits in two places on the White Sea coast ‘ ‘ v aVAeA Amalgamated Local Gives Business Agents Busy Time at Mecting (Continued from page 1) cials and the machine men. His speech was a condemnation of those responsible and a demand for punish- ment of the guilty. He also suggest- ed that the local instruct its joint board delegates to bring this matter before the joint board and demand action at once, °~ Smaller was followed by the secret- ary, who Spoke in thé same way: “These actions and tactics are fascist tactics and we ought to be ashamed of ourselves in permitting fascist methods to be used in our Amalga- mated.” A motion was: made that the joint board! delegates be instructed to take the matter before that body and de- mand condemnation for those respon- sible, and punishment for those who participated—in both the Friday mem- bership meeting and the Sunday morning meeting. This was too much for the business agents. They were determined to defeat the motion. Sing a Different Song. They took a different course, this time. They pleaded with the members not to pass the motion, They admit- ted that the slugging was wrong, that it “should not have happened,” but argued that the local should not have the motion in ‘its minutes, that it would be “a disgrace.” They argued: “We cannot allow the outside world to know about it, Our enemies’ would take advantage of it. Should the union ‘be raided, such re- cords would do the union harm.” Strangely enough, they did not think of all this when they sent the gang- sters to beat up the members! Pretty Poor “Victory.” #& vote was finally taken—and by use of all the parliamentary tricks in. the. book, by all the machine methods they used, they did contrive to defeat the motion. But only by one vote! Local 152 with such a majority of workers who know who is responsi- ble and who demand punishment for chose who bruise and beat their bro thers and sisters. Gangsterism is not safe in| workers will | tractors and agricultural,machinery to near thousands of young Russians are trained. Hibben said United States recognition of Rus- sia would help Russian farmers get tractors and harvestors faster by credits like those given western Am- erican farmers. Wipe Out Color Line in Longshore Union NEW ORLEANS—(FP)—By unani- mous vote the white and colored long- shoremen who have béen on strike for two years hereafter will function as one organization. Harry Keegan. white, is president, and Mose Johnson, late president of the Negro body, has been elected vice president of the amalgamated unions. Your Union Meeting Fourth Monday, Nov. 23, 1925, Name of Local and Place of Meeting. enters, 123 'N. Clark St. 1 Bridge and Structural Iron Work- 'W. Mon ers, $10 St. 94 Boot and Shoe, Milwaukee Av 3420 W. Roose- re’ Butchers, Bohemian, 1870 Biue Is- land Av Cleaners & Dyers, 113 S. Ashiand Workers, 1710 N. Winches’r ters, 1850 Sherman Ave. 180 W. Washington St » 4003 Roosevelt Rd. 2705 W. 38th St. 4039 WwW. enters, 2040 W. North Av penters, &. ©. 9189 Commercial S.C., 1488 W. 18th St. S. C., 1457 Ciybourn 222 N. West St., Wau- kegan. Carpenters, 2040 W. North Ave. oa Cigar Makers Executive 166 W. shi Last and » Madison 7:30 & m. nN and Enginemen, 64th d Ave. riers, 814 W. Harrison St. PF chet 328 W. Van La ‘8, 725 S. Western Ave. Longshoremen, Tug, 365 N. Clark pon inists, 75th St. and Dobson vd. Machinists, 1638 N. Halsted St. Maintenance of Way, 1543 W, 1084 i et 723 A tenance of Way, 202 W. 47th 27 Painters, 175 W. Yisshingten st. 823 Plumbe 535 N. Cicero 101 $316 W. North bt 19 W. A 1 Madison an 265 ) 205 E. 115th St. 273 Painters 2432 S. Kedzie Ave. 2064 y, Clerks, 159 N. State St. 81 Metal Workers, 1638 N. ilora’ Union of Great Lakes, 385 Clark Street 7,180 W. Washington St, rs, 11526 Michigan Ave. 220 §, Ashiand BI 3 m. ‘Teamsters, 220 $. Ashiand Bivd. SICK AND DEATH BENEFIT . SOCIETIES Frauen-Kranken-Unterstuetzungs Verein f Fortschritt Meets every ist & 3rd Thursday, ~~ Wieker Park Hall, 2040 W. North Avenue. « @ecretary. se To those who work hard for their moneyy Jewill save 50 per cent on all their dental work, DR. RASNICK DENTIST « 645 Smithfield Street, PITTSBURGH, PA. You Want to Know About the Anthracite Strike 158,000 WORKERS ARE FIGHTING FOR LIVING CONDITIONS. William F. Dunne, has just returned from the strike zone, He will give first hand information of the strike. . Pat Toohey, youthful leader of the striking miners, and Alex Reid, national secretary of the Progressive Miners’ Committee, will speak on “The Anthracite Strike, the United Mine Workers of America and the Government” at Northwest Hall, corner North and, Western Avenues, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER’ 24, 8 P. M. SHARP. Admission is free. especially invited, Auspices Progressive Miners’ Committee. Everybody welcome. Young workers and union men ~ Madison St. | BI