The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 3, 1929, Page 2

Page 1 Two DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TU. oh AUG 3, 1929 ~The American Federation of Labor Leadership in the DUNNE By BILL (Concluded) The is as their pre and fror rorrect c In an ec orrect e are organi mutual ad could have Southern al, with only tt ot to conceal its ing, aétually tells the A. F. of I officials what is expected of them. It says: “Putting aside for a moment what McMahon, McGrady and others say about people and af- fairs in the South, what is the policy of responsible mill man- agements as regar organization of their labor? Will th eonitely hostile att all under any cireumstance “If they do, history is against them.” “Assume for the moment a spontaneous movement today or tomorrow toward organization of the mill operatives, guided by Southern men, free from any wild radicalism, unpoisoned by bitter conflict at the outset and frankly aimed at reasonable pro- tection and promotion of their ‘in- terests by collective negotiation aining,’ by would any well-advi (Notice the ¢ be defended ed, which efore the moral sense of the nation.” is mine.) > A. F. of L. leadership and control the Southern nd other agents of | upted and coi f the the 2 putting to y respect for the Communists ing part in the the new South hown themselves good ‘u s, large sec- Southern workers are e realizing the con- betwe: their economic and the function of city, ate and national govern- in th imperialist country. The connection between imperialist ional competition in ment g to be clear. in those areas where ve taken place recently, ginning to be viewed in the oi class relationships by the workers. the South such developments h revolutionary character in that the proletariat sees itself as a {class having interests of its own which are so sharply in contradic- tion with those of the ruling class | that conflict on the light white In rkets of the world is | The race | economie and | field is inevitable. For the e in history, the governor uthern state, Governor Gard- ner of North Carolina, is summoned to appear in court in a class trial and explain his connection, as the symbol of the power of the state, ith the attacks on the Gastonia cers, the armed struggles at the headquarters of the N. T. W. U. and the effort of the bo: nd authori- ties to railroad 15 workers to the It istance the of L n give them. This answers the questions t the beginning of this art A. I’, of L. leadership is pl p in the South as in the th—but not so successfully. cannot furnish the guarantees the bosses desire but it will do all it can. Some of the reasons why it will not suceeed in its program of corrup- tion and betrayal as well as it has in the North have been pointed out already (absence of a labor aristoc- yy ete.). There is another rea- simple language of a worker in mill: 1921 the United Textile Workers Union came to Gastonia rganized us. That was in the Loray mill. We went out on ) e and tied up the mill com- pleteiy for five weeks. We didn’t have the trouble then with the po- lice that we had in this strike. Then the U. T. W. officials sold us out and left with all the money we had paid in as dues, and I suppose taking a sizable sum which the mill owners paid them to get shut of the union. Then we went back to worse conditions than we came out from. In a few days we got a wage cut of 10 cents on the dollar. “The National Textile Workers’ Union is a different kind of a union. It has proven this both in the strikes in the north and here. The leaders have fought with us and gone 1 with us and we will stick by them.” It is significant, as an indication | of the inability of the A. F. of L. leadership to play an active and de- cisive part as agents of big capital in the labot movement of the South as in the North, that not a single state federation of labor or a single central labor body in the South has | passed any hostile resolutions or is- | sued any statements antagonistic to the members and organizers of the It | It is given below in the clear | TNood Ws on trial for their lives in Gastonia. The convention of the | South Carolina state federation_of labor (June 26, after the battle at U. headquarters in chief of police killed while leading an nd which three police one union organizer armed raic officers and | Were wounded) refused to pa | resolution condemning the a the N. T. W. U. members in defend- ing theinselves. T. A. Wilson, preside of the North Carolina state federation of labor, wrote as follows in the Ju issue of the American Federationist: “Southern industrial v ‘s are aroused. Those 100 per cent Ame} workers who have been adv 1 to all sections of the United States as docile and aceus- tomed to long hours and low wage are revolting against the bad con- ditions . . . and especially are they fighting against from three planes durin making | rse through the so- n-out system.’ ITHER KNEW + or looked upon | fi in h to work... trial developn the oppor before. agi ation is from within the ranks of mithern workers, but it is for the international n never ing ed with the A. F. of is situa- 3 ARE DO- {EK OF VORST SPOTS. ”” (Emphasis the Communists ding the strike in the “owned Pawtue- d, group,” the ar- , Rhode tiele continues: “For some unknown reason the Southern manufacturers have | tions. thought the workers of this sec- tion imnmune from radicalism, but very suddenly they woke up one morning and realized that the 100 per cent American workers of Gastonia were being led by the Communistie group. ... Just why they had these thoughts no one knew, other than the fact that they had been reading so much of their own literature and the pro- paganda of promoting organiza- “With the sudden realization that the Southern workers will fol- low radical leaders and the South | has social and industrial problems just as any other section, many of the more liberal minded em- ployers realized that they had to make @ choice between the radi- cals and the unions affiliated with the American Federation of La- bor. “Of course, we realize that man- ufacturers are not going to go out and ask the A. F. of L. to come in, peace” talk. Home Air Pageants as Labor Party Prates of “Peace” Feverish war preparations go on as the imperialist countries prepare for new wars. Side by side with these war plans goes the smokescreen propaganda of the recent pagaent at the British Photo shows six parachutes dropping Airport Depot at Hendon, England. These military maneuvers un‘er the supervision and with the complete blessing of the boss-serving Labor | Government give the lie to the hypocritical ‘ “peace” and “disarmament” talk of the MacDonald outfit. {true in the textile, cotton and r | dustries. | | |division in their ranks on the basis but many realize that unionism is inevitable and they are certainly more susceptible to reason today than ever before. But many are going to fight to the lest.” (My emphasis.) | The absence of any actual hostil- jity to the unions in which Com- munists occupy leading positions, |well as the absence of the usual |A. F. of L. denunciation of Com- |munists and Communism in the above quotations, the almost com-| |pletely objective tone in which the lentire article is written, is undoubt- edly a reflection of the mass pre sure for organization, and with con- siderable: accuracy denotes a fact which not even the bureaucracy dares deny—the fact that the South- ‘ern workers in machinized industry want militant leadership and will |follow and support, at the cost of jtremendous sacrifices, as in Gas- tonia, able, honest and a ds |leaderhsip. This kind of leadership the A. F. Jof L. and its loyal opposition, the |Muste group, cannot and will not| give. “The more liberal minded employ- | ers,” (this is the old Gompers theory of “good” and “bad” emplo without reference to their economic position as a big or small capital- ists) whom Wilson mentions, are few and far between in the South— as in the North. Especially is and chemical and coal mining in- The reason is clear. Even in industries like cotton! spinning where the greatest decen- | tralization in production exists (in Gaston County, N. C., 1,250,000 |spindles are distributed among 114 mills owned by 87 concerns. The figures are approximate but reason- ably accurate.) The control is ac- | tually in the hands of the big banks. There is as a consequence a central- | ization and concentration of capital. This accounts for the bitter stru gle in a section of industry w from a superficial point of v Vs | should be more or less immune from them. While nominally the workers ch, ‘face a large number of small capi- talists and could count on a sub- stantial amount of dissension and of the competitive struggle for mar- kets, aetually the workers face fin- jance capital—Wall Street and its im- perialist government. | To ask: “Will the A. F. of L. leadership take up the task of or- | ganizing the terribly exploited mass- | es in the highly rationalised indus- of darity. Itry of the New South?” is the same as asking if the A. F. of L. leader- ship has ceased to be the outpost of imperialism in the ranks of the working class. The A. F. of L, leadership is not peer ne its Southern and Northern s—the finance capitalists. It rying to betray the new proletar- iat of the South to the finance capitalists. It is plotting to load with blank cartridges the heavy artillery of the class struggle which the Southern proletariat is massing for a conflict to ich the present struggles are preliminary skirmish- es SCOUT MEETING OPENS IN BRITAIN | Pioneers Pass Country En Route for USSR BIRKENHEAD, Eng., Aug. 2.— The International Boy Scout Jam- S| boree opened here today as the U. S. Pioneer De’ezation arrived in this country enroute to the Soviet Union. The Duke of Connaught, Sir Baden- Powell, the Prince of Wales, and other imperialists also spoke, cover- ing their jingoist speeches with fake pacifist phrases. The American Pioneer Delegation will bring to the workers and work- ers’ children greetings of solidarity and assurances that the workers of the United States will join in the defense of the U. S. S. R. in the event of an imperialist attack upon it. Workers of 5 Nations In Joint Demonstration | Against War at Achen (Wireless By “Inprecorr”) BERLIN, Aug. 2.—The recent Five Country demonstration in Aachen proved 9 great manifestation international proletarian soli- Ten thousand workers from Germany, France, Belgium, Holland and Luvemburg marched through the streets. The powerful French delegation | was cut down by arrests before the demonstration. Speeches were delivered in three languages. What You Must Do to Save the Over a month ago, June 21, the Daily Worker did not appear for lack of funds. This was the first time that this suspension occurred since the founding of The Daily Worker five and one-half years ago. We resumed publication the next day. A few com- rades and friends in New York pooled their resources to save the Daily, and give it a chance to appeal to the readers and loyal supporters. The campaign for funds is now five weeks old, and yet the Daily is in the same precarious condition it has been in at the beginning. The money coming in is too slow to cover the deficit, and give the Daily a breathing spell. Ten thousand dollars has been collected, when at least $1,000 per day is needed to pull the Daily out of its present crisi Will the Daily get this money? The next few weeks S. will decide the fate of the Daily. 4 1.—Read the Daily. shopmate. carries the Daily. 6.—Buy a copy to st 2.—Buy a copy for a friend or 3.—Get a bundle for distribution. 4.Insist that your standkeeper _§.—Insist that he displays it. standkeeper’s sales. art off the ily 25 Wor The readers will have to decide—— Shall the Daily live—or shall it suspend: Shall the Daily suspend—with the danger of war looming in the immediate present? Shall the Daily suspend—in the face of the at- tempt to railroad 15 workers in Gastonia to the elec- tric chair? Shall the Daily suspend—at a time when the workers are facing ever increasing attacks by the bosses, their police and gunmen, and their Right Wing Allies? UPON YOU DEVOLVES THE ANSWER, Publication of the paper means increasing: sacri- fices on the part of all members and sympathizers of the Party and Daily. The minimum of one day’s wage for members of the Party and substantial contribution at least equiva- lent to a day’s wage must be forwarded immediately. READ THE SERIAL “1 SAW IT MYSE The next few days are crucial. The next few days will settle the fate of the Daily. WILL YOU ANSWER? Do not wait for another check or money order immediately. Wire it or rush by air mail to THE DAILY sda 26 Union Square, New York, N. Y. duce the huge deficit. We have a number of ways for increasing the circu- lation, which are enumerated below. The Sustaining Fund must be established imme- suspension. Enclose your { The Daily must increase its circulation to reach ever wider circles of workers. A large circulation will re- i 4 diately. Our readers and friends should not only send By HENRY BARBUSSE.— Author of ‘Under Fire, ‘Chains, and Other Great Novels. It is a story of white terror and workers persecu- tion that is full of harrowing details, The Daily Worker is present this story to its fortunate in being able to readers for the first time. This brilliant novel has been tabooed by the ruling class press the world over. known. In America it is hardly Ff” WILL THE DAILY SURVIVE? their immediate contribution, but pledge themselves to give a definite sum monthly or weekly. This will heip the Daily avoid such crises as now exist. SUSTAINING FUND 1.—Pledge monthly. yourself to send in contributions weekly or 2.—Send it the first of the month regularly, 3.—Get your union or organiza- tion to contribute regularly. 4.—Get a co-worker to do the same,