The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 18, 1931, Page 6

Published by the Compr s Page Six Adéress and Publishia 956 except Sunday, at 50 East Cable: Dail forker Barty USA SUBSCRIPTION RATER: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; eix months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs ot Manhattan amd Bronx, New York Ctiy. Foreign: one year, $8 six months. $4.50.~ Immediate Tasks of the T.U.U.L. and the Revolutionary Unions FTER hearing and-discussing Comrade Ha away’s report on the pi Union nity League, and with the most important documents on this question (resolution of the T.U.UL. Plenum report, etc.) the “ Red Inte Comrade Foster's Bureau of the Unions notes ‘he T.U.U.L incre: ing the last twelve month siderable groups of workers 6, May Day dem onstrations on several strikes, etc.) tionary unions and the T.U.U.L. have clining in numbers, and have lost ¢ positions in the r: ss of the wo! ing recent months, as~a direct o a number of defects and mistakes (Philadelphia marine wor treme weakening of the the South, indifference to A militancy in Reading, the I the’ situation in metal and ete.) Although the November Plenum brought about some improvements, particule in sphere of organization of the growing revolt tionary unemployed movement and in the sit- uation of various unions, these improve still are only a very small beginning. The uation is extremely serious. It is essen cali the attention of the entire League 4 affiliated unions and supporters, sharply to this state of things, in order that drastic improve ments in the content and methods of work be carried out, and concrete results achieved in the shortest possible time. has September Neve rey been de- derable in th rike, textile organiz F...1 nois shoe ind Tt. | The position of the League all the more ur- gently calls for attention because the objective situation is favorable for revolutionary work to | an unprecedented degree. The capitalist eco- | romy of the United States is stricken with an unparalleled. and ll sharpening cri dustry and agriculture, leading to the c plants, sharp reduction of output and con: able numbers of bank failures, while tens of thousands of farmers have been ruined. More than ten million workers and employees are jobless, and millions of the agricultural work. ers are in a state of complete impoverishment end starvation. The American bourgeoisie seeks @ way out of the crisis by lowering the costs of production and reducing the standard of liv- ing of the American working class. The wide- Spread offensive against the so-called “A’ icen standards” is under way. By means of short working time with wage reductions, the stagger system. the direct lowering of wages by dismissals and re-employment on’ worse condi- tions, the entire American working class , is being forced down to a new ceonomic and so- | cial level, | In tens_of strikes, militant conflicts with the police, and revolutionary demonstrations of the unemployed and farmers (Arkansas) the work- ing class has proved that it is willing and able to fight against this capitalist offensive. The fascist and social-fascist trade union bureau- cracy of the American Federation of Labor, of | the so-called “independent” unions, and like- wise of the Socialist Party and the Musteites, are systematically seeking to prevent and sup- press these struggles by open strikebreaking. or by skillful “left” maneuvers, taking hold of the strike movement at its outset in order to crush it at the first. convenient opportunity, “as in Danville.. Virginia. “Hol Resolution of Executive Buro, Red International o are in the United t ¢ of R.LL.U. support- | € of the revolutionary v if I we find fre- TUUL ner without i 1 due ¢ f unions, and fre- r iowled work of reports of t a a@ number of ons, there ars! of locals, and there are Union other~ offi committees UUL, which financial out ef Labor Unions but around a positive program of action based | on the immediate tasks cf the League. The aim | of this discussion must be to mobilize all the membe' | olutio: provements in the work of ‘y unions in a struggle for concrete im- the TUUL imme- diately. The Executive Committee considers it essential that special attention be given to the following tas 1—The Fight Against Unemployment. Mobilization and organization of the work- in the fight against unemployment is the n immediate central task of the League at the present time. | respect in recent weeks must be regarded ag an additional incentive for further concentration on this question. The revolutionary unions and the T. U. U. L. must play the leading part in or- ganizing the movement of the unemployed. m: Their members should be the driving force in | y” Water Won’t Quell the 1H. The fundamental. weakness of the TUUL is the fact that at a time so favorable for revo- lutionary work, it is still failing to organize the | workers in struggle for their daily demands and needs. As a result, it has found itself to a con- siderable extent detached from the wide masses because it has been unable to establish itself as the leader of the daily struggle. The expression of this detachment is (1) the substitution of general slogans (“Don't Starve, Fight,” “Don’t | Freeze, Vote Communist,” as the slogans in the fight for the draft social insurance bill) for the practical leadership of the daily struggle of the workers, with concrete slogans. (2) Looseness of organizations (the unemployed and unions), bureaucracy and formalism (inner-union life), and confusion (the question of shop commit- tees). Of exceptional importance is the failure | to put forward partial demands, applicable to local situations, and to concrete disputes in fac- tories and industries. Such demands are the essence of the building of mass trade unions, and are particularly necessary today in the per- iod of acute crisis, because the workers have on many occasions, shown their readiness to fight | stubbornly for such demands. The result of these weaknesses and mistakes is the considerable decline in membership of the TUUL, just at the time when it ought to be growing. : Tv. ‘This basic weakness is of a particularly dan- gerous character in the strike strategy and tac- tics of the League. Again and again such mis- takes in strike activity can be obseryed as (1) the selection of inappropriate or general poli- tical slogans of struggle, instead of those con- nected with the demands agitating the particu- lar body of workers concerned. (2) The pub- lication of slogans and demands without suf- ficient preliminary Work among the masses, col- lection of the workers’ own proposals, etc. (shoe workers of New York, Reading). (3) Declara~ tion of strikes, even without the slightest pre- liminary drawing of the masses into strike preparations (Philadelphia marine workers’ strie), (4) Failure to concentrate on the im- portant sections of the industry (food and shoe workers), (5) Unskillful conduct of the strike itself (Flint strike, New Orleans marine strike). (6) Failure to organize united front commit- tees of struggle from below and to conduct sys- tematic reerniting. As a result of these mis- takes, the revolutionary unions can rarely re- cord an increase Of membership and influence after ctrikes, and numerous strikes take place without ‘tHe participation and over the head of the revolutionary unions. Because of the failure to respond to the daily needs of the masses and to the main issues which agitate them, there are in the TUUL strong tendencies towards formalism and failure to establish a wholesome inner-life based on mass activity. The development of the revo- lutionary unions depends upon the active par- || Hietpation of the masses in their daily life, so Spec y which no real mass unions can be built up, in- attention. until quite recently to the organization of the unemployed). VIL The daily work of the League in the factories is extremely weak. In addition to the general defects above mentioned, this is a direct conse- quence of the confusion existing in the ranks of the League on the question of organization, par- ticularly-as regards shop committees and the united front from below. The opinion is wido- spread that shop committees are shock groups or committees of the revolutionary unions (e. | g., needle trades, textile workers, metal workers. and publications of the National Bureau) and that if a group of the revolutionary union is formed in an undertaking and recruits work- ers for the union, carries out League cam- paigns, etc. the y ganization. Similar correct attempts to set up groups of members of the revolutionary unions and yellow unions in the factories are. incor- rectly regarded as shop committees (needle trades). ‘The result of this confusion is that not only do we fail to carry out elections for committees representative of the workers in the shop, but we likewise fail to build branches of the unions in the shops and factories. and se- cure a loose organizations that is neither a shop committee nor a union branch. is VIL. A very weak spot in the work of the TUUL is the organization of oppositions in the re- formist unions—a branch of work which has al- most completely disappeared. There is a wide- spread ferment among the members of these unions, forcing their leaders to have recourse ta all kinds of “left” maneuvers (conferences of bureaucrats in the Railway Brotherhoods and Metal Unions about the reduction of working hours. leadership of some strikes in the South by “left” elements of the A. F, L.). The A, F, L. is spreading broadcast the watehword of re- duction of working hours and the stagger sys- tem. behind the demagogic screen of “dividing work with the unemployed”—a maneuver in- tended in reality to carry out a severe reduction in wages. However, all these maneuvers are very feébly exposed by the League, and in many cases are not even. mentioned in its press. For this reason, the social-fascist policy of deceiving the workers and creating confusion does not meet with effective resistance. vu. Arising out of the existing situation in the TUUL, and with a view to the necessity of bringing about a radical turn of the work of the TUUL, and achieving concrete results as rapidly as possible, the Executive Bureau of the RLL.U, endorses in general the resolution on the situation and tasks of the League, adopted at the last Plenum of its National Executive. At, the same time, it deems essential that a broad discussion be carried through in the League and revolutionary unions, on the weaknesses which have been pointed out. This discussion must rkers require no other or- | and supporters of the League and rev- | The improvements in this | and meth- Selves into a discussion of the slogal ods of this campaign. Particularly acute at the present time is the question of unemployment insurance. In the course of the mass campaign for this, it is advisable to build special commit- tees for social insurance, with the widest pos- oing beyond the unemployed coun- the movement as wide a basis as possible, Secondly, it is necessary at the same time to develop the sharpest possible struggle against and exposure of the counter-proposals of the bourgeois parties, the social fascists, etc., exposing their inadequacy, their mercenary char- acter and the purpose which they pursue, name- ly, of establishing capitalism, 3.—Immediate Tasks, the Fight for the Shorter Working Day, Against Wage Cuts, Speed-up, etc. | The T. U. U. L. must now more resolutely | and skillfully take up the fight against wage cuts, speed-up, combined wage cuts and speed- Growing Flame | the campaign for the election of committees of | the unemployed, local unemployed councils, etc. | The unemployed councils must concentrate on | the struggle for unemployment insurance as the central demand. They must fight for immediate relief, against evictions, for free oubt:e services to the unemployed workers (electric light, gaz, | water, free street-car transportation, feeding of | school children, exemption from rent payments, | opening up public buildings for housing unem- | ployed, for cash relief as against food doles, | etc.), The unemployed councils must take the lead in’ the formation of Tenants’ Leagues. | The unemployed councils must conduct a con- | stant wide campaign exposing the exploitation of the unemployed by government agencies, po- lice, etc., and by the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and all other bourgeois bodies, and rais- ing the campaign against all forms of compul- sory labour for the unemployed. In all the work of the T.U.U.L. in the struggle for the demands of the unemployed, every effort must be made to establish the unity of the em- Ployed and unemployed, by drawing the em- ployed workers into the actions of the unem- ployed and by support of strikes by the unem- ployed, mass picketing, etc. Every effort must be made through the branches and councils to win the unemployed, particularly those recently thrown out of work, for membership in the revo- lutionary unions and leagues. 2.—-The Fight for Social Insurance. In the present economic crisis, and in face of the general lowering of the standard of living of the masses, and the maneuvers of the bour- geoisie, the fight for social insurance will play a decisive part in the building up of the revolu- tionary trade union movement. It is essential that the T.U.U.L. shall come forward before the masses as the only resolute fighter for and champion of social insurance for the workers. ‘This fight should include the demand for social insurance of all workers, including agricultural workers, both native and foreign born, Negro and white, during the entire period of unem- ployment; for insurance entirely at the expense of the State and the employers; for the com- plete administration of the unemployed funds by the workers through bodies especially elected for the purpose; for rates of insurance equiva- lent to full wages; for insurance to cover unem- ployment, sickness, invalidity, maternity, old age, compensation for accidents and industrial diseases, In addition, every opportunity should be taken to’ press for enactment or extension of protective legislation of all kinds of workers (particularly in the South), and demands in all these respects should be worked out clearly and popularized, In the popularization, it is neces- sary to give vivid exposure of the conditions ex- isting in the United States, to explain the so- clal-insurance systems which exist, even in a very stunted form, in other capitalist countries and to draw a sharp contrast between the con- ditions in the U.S.A, and the complete system of social insurance in the U.S.S.R. Every ef- Defense . hat they should Jook upon the union as thelx be.certied ‘oul-nob. merely. around. weeknodsen, fort must be made to draw the workers them- nan By BURCK up (stagger system), part time employment, etc. | It is essential to put forward the clearest and | simplest slogans, capable of mobilizing the widest masses. The main slogans are : (a) Against | wage cuts in any form; (b) Full wages for short time work; (c) The/7-hour day without wage reductions (6 hours for the miners, for youth and in injurious trades), (d) Against speed-up and for the abolition of overtime; ‘e) Equal wages for equal work for Negroes, women, for- eign born, etc.; (f) Abolition of injunctions, right to strike, etc. In the struggle for the reduction of hours, the T. U. U. L, must vigorously put forward the i-hour day (6 hours for injurious trades and youth) as a central slogan for uniting the strug- gles of the employed and unemployed. In the South where industries are working the 10- or 11-hour day, the slogan of the 8-hour day must be put forward, taking care not to do so in such a way as in effect to demand the 7-hour day for white workers and 8 hours for Negroes. In industries where the 8-hour day, 5-day week is being worked, the slogan of the 7-hour, 5-day week should be put forward. The demagogy of the A. F. of L. Railway Brotherhood leadership and the Muste wing cen- tering around the shortening of the work day must be exposed as a method of furthering wage reductions. The question of the length of the working day must not be confined to the gen- eral program of the T. U. U. L., but must be embodied in the local slogans for factory strug- sles against the sharpening of the rationaliza- tion drive, Considering the present forces at the dis- posal of the T. U. U. L., and the need for achiev- ing substantial results in the most important in- dustrics and districts in the shortest possible time, it is essential to concentrate fon the imme- diate future upon five main industrial centers —Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia, Six months’ plans of work should be drawn up for each of these areas, to ensure concentration on main industries, such as ‘min- ing, metal, automobile, textile, marine and chem- ‘ical. A special plan should be drawn up for work in the South for the immediate months. There must be a suitable division of forces to strength- en the district and local leadership of the un- ions and T. U. U .L, in carrying out these plans. ‘The planned program of work must be used to establish locals of the revolutionary unions and groups or leagues in the industries. The locals of the Red tions, and T. U. U. L. supporters where no local unions exist, must strive to set up grievance committees (as transition forms to shop committees) elected by the workers on the basis of day-to-day issues. The large body of supporters of the R. I. L. U. who do not be- long to the revolutionary unions or leagues, must be brought into League organizations. All con- nections in the factories —- readers of our pa- 5 members of workers’ clubs and fraternal societiss, signers of social insurance petitions, etc. — must be utilized to establish locals of the tunions and leagues. The T. U. U. L, and its unions, Leagues and adherents, must now carry out systematically wide agitational campaigns in the principal in- dustries, on the issues arising out of the capi- talist. offensive, and seriously undertake the or- | ganization of strike struggles around the issues raised in our agitational campaigns. ‘The capitalist offensive has already called forth strikes which show the growing determina- tion of the workers to resist the attacks on their living standards. involve increasing numbers of workers. The T. U.U.L. must strive to stimulate, organize and lead these developing strike movements. The T. U. U. L. can organize and lead these strug- gles only if it applies in practice the resolutions and decisions of the Fifth R. I. L. U. Congress. It is necessary that all leading cadres acquaint themselves with these decisions, and that they be given wide circulation among the masses. Ex- pecially must the T. U. U. L. adherents learn and apply the lessons of the important strike struggles of the international revolutionary and trade union movement of the past y®ar, and the lessons of the strike struggles in the United States (Flint, Philadelphia, New York garment workers, etc.), First of all, strikes must be prepared by drawing in the largest numbers of workers af- fected, to the leading organs of the strike move- ment. The harmful practice of a few R. I. L. U. adherents calling strikes and appointing the strike leadership from above, must be stopped. This method must be replaced by the election of strike committees by the workers themselves. The selection of slogans and the putting forward of specific demands, and the election of the strike leadership, must at all times be préceded by the widest possible preliminary discussion. The most active recruiting must be carried on during strikes. 4.—Building the Revolutionary Unions In the concer.tration on particular indus- tries and areas, we must keep the building of the revolutionary unions and strengthening the organization in the very terefront of our activ- ity. It is essential to carry on an ideological campaign to convince all members and support- ets of the T. U. U. L. of the need for attention to the daily issucs of the capitalist offensive. anc for the activization of the members on the basis | of trade union democracy. The internal life of the unions must be raa- ically transformed, paying particular attention to work at the bottom — regular meetings of union locals, printing and discussion of reports of ple- nums and conferences, discussion’of the most im- portant resolutions of the leadership of the un- ions, the T. U. U. L. and R. I. L. U. There must be a fight for regular colle¢tion of dues pay- ments and the complete consolidation of the fi- nancial system. It is necessary to secure the functioning of the principag departments of the T. U. U. L. Bureau and of at least five or six of the most important district comniittees. It is necessary to speed up the development of new cadres. For this purpose, it is necessary to lay the greatest stress on the fearless promo- tion of new forces to:leading committees of the unions, into the leadership of struggles, etc., par- ticularly in the heavy industries, The youth and Negro workers must be resolutely drawn into the leadership. Special measures must be adopted, such as the setting up of a national T. U. U. L. school, the organization of week-end courses for workers in the districts, etc. The development on a much wider scale than before of the cultural activities of the unions is essential (the establishing of educational fea- tures in the work of the individual unions, the utilization in this connection of workers’ educa- tional conferences, the setting up of study cir- cles, the organization of conferences of worker correspondents, etc.). While some improvements are noticeable in Labor Unity, it is essential that it give more di- rection to the struggles while at the same time becoming still more popular, consolidating its corps of worker correspondents and organizing systematic distribution in the factories. At the same time, it is essential for the unions in the industries selected for immediate concentration, to make the utmost efforts to revive, stabilize, and extend their own press. The neglect of work among women, particu- larly in textile, metal, and other basic industries, must be overcome. An active committee for work among women must be set up at the national headquarters of the T. U. U. L. and in those districts selected for concentration. In the unem- ployment movement, special emphasis must be Placed upon organizing the women and particu- lar demands b2 worked out in cooperation with the unemployed women themselves. 5.—Work in reformist unions, the building of revolutionary oppositions, in the A. F. of L. unions, the Railway Brotherhoods, etc., is an immediate task of the T.U.U.L. This task is all the more urgent because of the developing at- tack on the wage scales and working conditions of the members of these unions which the offi-, cial leadership is helping to prepare. By united front tactics the T.U.U.L. must fight to wrest this leadership of the struggle of these workers from the bureaucracy. The Bureau of the T.U U.L. must take up as a special order of business the situation in the A.F. of L. railway unions, work out a plan of immediate action and issue a statement directed to the workers who are members of tnese unions. The plan of action must include concrete and immediate organi- zational measures for building revolutionary oppositions in these unions and the application ef the united front tactics. The T.U.U.L. bureau is charged to report to the R.LL.U. Executive the plan of action and the steps taken to carry it out, within two months 6. Work Among Negroes. Negro work still continues to be the weakest phase of.our movement. We have little or no organizational contact with the Negro masses, eyen in those industries where they have ac- tively participated in the strikes led by the re- volutionary unions. In the South, especially in the main industries and in the agricultural dis- tricts among the farm laborers, organizational measures must be adopted and conerete plans The following measures must be taken: (1,) the national Negro department of the T.U.U.L. must become a working and directive center, (2.) joint committees of Negroes and white work- ers must be set up in each union for work among the Negro masses, (3) a mass campaign should be started by the T.U.U.L. foreach na- tional union to extend work among the Negro masses in the respective industries, (4) the T.U.U.L. must now carry on a more determined These strike movements will | | this question. | as part of the By JORGE Reaction In All Languages The pope yesterday, spoke in three lafiguagesg Italian, French and German. Why didn’t he iny clude Polish, too? It was in this language, understand, that he blessed and encouraged the Czarist white guards and counter-revolutionary army that invaded the territory of Soviet Ukraine in 1920 in an-attempt to overthrow the workers’ Soviet Power. The pope was then the archbishop or “big shot” Of the Catholic ehurch in Poland, He may have changed the language since then, but he is the same old counter-reyolutionary, and white the capitalist papers say he rights,” nevertheless, he is real Supposed “duty” not to destroy capitalism. Well, we guess that the little demonstration of the Spanish?workers is getting under the hide, and his pontifical hypocrisy is put out in @. fense. So, regardless of pretty words, we cam be sure that the fellow who urged on the armed attempt against the First Workers’ Republic i¥ 1920, is just'as much a today, s Cee ee a We Suggest . This problem of King Carol's wife or wives ts bothering us. It seems that nothing will be accomplished in Rumania until it is decided whether Queen Helen or Madame Lupescu will finally recline in the royal bedroom. After worrying about it all week, we finally came-to the conclusion that Aimee Semple Mc Pherson should be sent over with the Kemmerer Commission to establish a Four-Square or recte angular gospel out of this tiresome triangle. We Nominate We nominate for the Pulit prize for the best murder in 1931, the one recounted in the Associated Press dispatch from Blue Mountain, Mississippi, May 6, as follows “A farmer, A. W. Carter, w fected by intense religious fer their two children, a br their home near here today.” se mind was af~ r, killed his wife, and himself in Rose Clark and W. C. Sandhorn leading the Cincinnati hunger marchers to the Co- lumbus, state capitol. May 10, (3) the T.U.U.L. must take more initiative in organizing joint defense committees to defend Negro workers against terrorist cam- paigns 7. Connec‘ion With Latin American Workers. In all the struggles of the unemployed, in the building cf the revolutionary unions, in the leadership of their. struggles, special attention must be paid in penetrating the great masses of Mexican and Latin American workers in the basic industries in drawing them into leader- ship and in establishing and maiutaining the closest connections with the Latin American Bureau. A definite number of Latin American workers in the U. S.A» must be included in the groups of comrades selected for, special training development of jnew {cadres. Strong connections must be maintained with the revolutionary movement in vhe Philippines. 8 The Fight Against the War Danger. All the ymicasures taken in the fight for * above program of action are indispensab face of the fight against the war danger. building up of mass revolutionary unions. upon the factoffes and with attention riveted to the daily. demands of the we is the best guaranteee that the fight again war danger will keep pace with (he growit 2 it is, howeves enticé thal the revolutionary unions, thr their press, thelr mee and their daliy wo shall carry on systematic exposure of the wa: plans of American imperialism. the atrocities af American militarism, both in the U.S.A, and in the American colonies, the role of the A.F.L. and social fascists in preparing war, and above all the capitalist preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union, ete. By IX, Pointing cut to the Tvade Union Unity League the necessity of a resolute turn to fate the mas ses and their daily struggles, the Bxecutive Bureau of the R.LL.U. draws the attention of the League be Me fact that only in this way can a real struggle be conducted, and a real exposure made of the most dangerous enemies of the working class in its own ranks—the “left” social-fascists of the Muste type and the renegade groups of Lovestone and Cannon. The Executive Bureau of the R100. calls upon all members of the League and ali its supporters in the U.S.A., on the baris of widespread and frank discussions of the present resolution, to proceed determinedly slong the path laid down by the Vth Congress of the R.L.U. and by this means, in the developing strugyles of the work- ing class, build mass revolutionary unions, cap~ able of leading the workers into Ragone ison YF tS RS: c