The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 13, 1927, Page 7

The Effects of Rationalization in the U.S. A. dees the workers in capitalist countries this word “rationalization” has a terrible meaning. It means the most ruthless and scientific policy of eX- ploitation. In plain English one may call it speed- up and efficiency. It means the replacement of the skilled by machinery, by semi-skilled and unskilled. It means women and child labor, It summarizes the labor policy of the ruling class in the modern im- perialist stage of capitalism. The July, 1927, issue of “Labor Review,” pub- ‘lished -by the U. S. Department of Labor, which surely cannot be accused of pfo-proletarian sym- pathies, in the compilation of its figures shows some of the effects of post-war rationalization upon the working class. ~The figures show that out of 100 workers employed in 1923 only 89 were employed in 1927. And this applies to the basic industries, to those industries upon which the econdmy: of this _ country depends, and which indicate whether we have “prosperity,” or whether we are headed for depression. Employment in the basic industries has decreased 11 per cent in a period of 4 years, be- tween 1923 and 1927. Now let us view the present prosperity from the basis of wages. There has been a decrease of 4.58 per Cent in wages paid to skilled labor alone. Mind you, there has been a general decrease in’ employ- ment of 11 per cent. Of those 11 per cent skilled labor dlone received in 1927, 4.58 per cent less than it did in 1923. Little is said in this issue as to the percentage of wage decrease suffered by the unskilled, which has been much greater. While under post-war rationalization the number of unemployed inevitably increases and wages de- crease, retail prices of food have a tendency to go up and increased 56 per cent, 6 per cent between 1913 and 1927! But what is most characteristic, those actually on the fob employed, produced much more than ever be- fore in American history. Between 1919 and 1927 the output per worker per average has increased 34 per cent. That means that 66 workers in 1927 produced as much as 100 work- ers did in 1919. In the language of the “Labor Re- view,” “expansion of output per person has been particularly large during recent years, amounting to 10 per cent in the two years from 1923 to 1925.” (June issue, 1927.) One example is characteristic of the general na- tional situation now prevailing, The Bethlehem Steel Co. employed in 1923, 62,250 men. In 1925 it employed 2,152 less than in 1923. THese 60,098 men produced 10 per cent more in 1925 than the 62,250 did in 1923. (See editorial, N. Y. Evening Post, July 6, 1927.) ; : ; The “Labor Review” (June, 1927) states that the causes for this inoreased output by less workers can be ascribed to “increasing utilization of machinery and power, introduction of various: sorts ‘ef labor saving devices and methods, elimination of waste,” etc. ‘ f Anyone visiting Pittsburgh, Gary or Detroit knows very well that “elimination of waste” and “labor saving devices and methods” mean. He knows that in terms of human endurance they mean the shortening of the ‘labor life of the worker and his ejection for the human scrap heap at a com- paratively early age. That the workers have been objecting to this intensification of exploitation is evident from the number of strikes disturbing the peace of this great land, in spite of the anti-strike~policy (class col- laboration) of the trade union bureaucracy. In 1926 - alone there were 1035 cases of strike disputes thru- t out the country. New York heads the list with 216; Pennsylvania had 162; Massachusetts 113; New Jer- sey 84; Illinois 72 and Ohio 68. The rest are scat- tered among the other states. 872 strikes centered about wages; 106 strikes about recognition of the union; 106 strikes about general unsatisfactory con- ditions; 166 strikes had their origin in the closed and open shop question and 63 strikes were the re- sult of unsatisfactory hours, : Tt is evident that capitalism has entered uporf the phase of ever greater exploitation of tht native la- bor element. The effect is a steady decrease in em- ployment, a steady decrease in the total wages paid ‘for a steady increase in personal output per work- er. The sum total of the present situation is that fewer workers produce more and more and get less and less, while the streets are tramped by. more and ~ more of the American unemployed army. Consumption of manufactured goods is about equal to what it was ‘in 1923. This together with exports which now. substantially exceed the total exports of Great Britain, war savings and artificial buying by the extensive instalment buying schemes is keeping domestic consumption of manufactured goods at the 1923 level and helps to smooth over the devastating effects rationalization would other- wise have upon an unorganized proletariat. The entire fabric of American capitalism however, be= comes more and more dependent on exports of goods and-capital, which accounts for the imperial- ist aggressiveness of the U. S. government at the present time, Rationalization of the modern kind is a -by-pro- duct of imperialism. It is only possible with highly developed industrial methods and machinery, trusts, By JOSEPH ZACK : 3 IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE IM LOSING A LOT OF GOOD RED BLOOD MRGREEN’S "RIGHE HAND Aan” finance capitalism, imperialism. The few figures here indicate some of the effects upon the working class. A really thoro study is necessary to develop - policy. It is essential that such a study take into consideration the effects pf the present period of American capitalism upon agriculture, petty-bour- geoisie, middle class, ete.. This is particularly im- portant in the U.S. A., for the development of the united front policy. Rationalization is of course not confined to the U.S.A, It is a world-wide phenomenon and repre- sents the efforts of the bourgeoisie to unload the war costs upon the proletariat and exploited classes and.to stabilize capitalism at the expense, particu- larly of the proletariat. The exploitation of the European proletariat is therefore so much more ter- rifie particularly amongst the vanquished. We can therefore safely make the following general con- clusion; The present imperialist era represents. an enormous intensification of exploitation of the proletariat, peasantry and lower classes. Taken as a whole it drives the standard of living below the pre-war level in all countries. The bourgeoisie of _ the Central Powers in addition tosits own national war costs is forced to submit to exploitation of the allied bourgeois powers and in attempting to unload its enormous cost upon the workers it is forced to establish the sharpest class rule. The allied bour- geoisie, Great Britain and Italy not being able to collect sufficient from the vanquished Central Pow- ers and being confronted with the necessity of maintaining its imperialist position unloads upon the proletariat, peasantry and colonial peoples, forc- ing the standard of living of the population of the victorious powers was lLelow pre-war, thus ereating the strong tendency to the left. The American bour- geoisie, also unable to collect in total and wanting to unload its own war eosts upon the proletariat and farming classes, as well as creating a power suf- ficient to take advantage of the weakened position & of the other imperialist powers and desirous of es- tablishing financially and otherwise its hegenfony over the world intensifies its exploitation of the pro- letariat. It would appear unreal to some, but the fact is that the real wages of the American workers are now lower than 30 years ago and for millions of workers they are considerably below pre-war. The splendor of modern industry created succeeds to camcuflage this fact to a considerable extent. g Considering the world proletariat as a whole the American workers -hold a more privileged position than before the war, because his standard of living dropped much less than that-of his European brother. But considering his pre-war standard (not to speak of the war period which was much higher) he is worse off. In the main, however, the American bourgeoisie succeeds to unload upon the workers by intensification of exploitation not by reduction of the standard of living. There is a small section of the upper strata of the skilled that even improved its standards of living, the same can be said of the organized building trade workers. In strategic industries like steel there has been an attempt to bribe the worker by concessions. To generally speak of bribery of large sections of the upper stratum, however, cannot be borne out by facts. Therefore much larger Sections of even the organized proletariat whose standards of living in the form of real income in comparison to pre-war has decrensed than the ones increased and we are headed for much more-in that direction. On the whole we must say that the American worker reacted also towards the left, to added pres- sure against his standard of living, the big steel, coal and railroad strike movements, the amalgama- tion movement, the La Follette movement, which registered the discontent politically of the lower classes in general, the big left wing sentiment in ‘the coal and garment industries, the 1035 strike dis- putes in 1926 in face of all the discouragement of the official trade union leadership, Passaic and the response it got, and the left wing influence in gen- eral, which altogether out of proportion to our or- ganized strength, shows that there has been a deep- seated tendency towards the left, particularly since the war, and not to the right. Even historically speaking the whole A. F. of L. has been reared on the basis of continually intensified exploitation and the displacement and decline of the standard of liv- ing of even the skilled workers, who resisted partly successfully, thrn the kind of organization the A. F. of L. in the main still is today. Rationalization has saturated the world market with its-inereased output. It has filled up the gaps the world war created in the world markets, but it has also enormously weakened the buying power of the population in the great capitalist countries, par- ticularly in Europe. The stabilization thus created is coming to a close. Capitalist world economy is confronting a crisis of great magnitude in which the revolutionary proletariat backed up by Soviet Russia is liable to become the decisive factor. Capf- talism has a double front, a scramble for foreign markets and Soviet Russia. An armed struggle umongst the capitalist powers with Soviet Russia flanked by the-revoluticnary proletariat will weaken the system sufficiently to crash it. Hence the orien- tation more and more towards war with the Soviets as the spear head of the revolutionary’ proletariat. Capitalism cannot be stabilized without defeating the Soviets and let there be no illusion that when war comes the U. S. A. will play the first fiddle in it. The next world war will much more likely be a class war than anything else. cd a MEXICO CENTRAL & SQUTH AMERICA v 4 J Vost, 8 eg WALL STREET —— NELLIE —= THE MARINES