The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 11, 1931, Page 8

Page Fees DAILY, WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1931 Build Up Mass T.U.U.L. Unions! 4 / tions, the unions will not be able to increase or maintain their member- ship and will never become real mass organizations, The T.U.U.L. unions must be built on the following basis: (a) Shop branches, which are the basic form of organization; (b) -locai organizations which con- Sist of the membership of a num- ber of factories in a given locality, plus unemployed and individual members from shops where no shop groups exist as yet. Then the dis- trict organization, which is sub- divided into. subsidiaries where necessary, and finaliy the national organizations. A Decisive Turn to the Shops | qt is the duty of the T.U.U.L. to bring all its strength and deter- mination to carry through a de- cisive trun towards building and developing the trade unions on the basis of the shops, Through the organization of shop branches, transferring the Main work and ac- tivities of the union to the shops. ‘These shop branches which are the basic organizations of the unions are composed of all the members of the union working in a given factory, shop or mine, and unem- ployed formerly employed in these places, so far as possible. These branches elect their respective lead- ing committees. The factory branches must divide their mem- bership in small groups, according to shifts, sections and departments of the given place of work. The Jeading committee of the factory group must maintain close connec- tions with the smaller groups (in shifts, departments, sections) on the basis of permanent elected repre- sentatives from these groups to the leading committee of the factory groups. The same procedure must be fol- lowed in the building of the local organizations of the unions which base themselves on the factory branches, unemployed groups and the individual members from shops where there are not yet organized factory branches and who live in the given locality. The factory branches, as well as the local unemployed groups, must meet regularly and strive to give to every member of the group concrete and specified tasks, mak- ing these branches the driving force of all the union activities in the places of work. The tasks of the delegates and members of the union that are drawn in active work are: Carrying out the de- cisions, collecting of dues, selling papers and literature, and above all, every member of the union in the shops and out of the shops must be an active recruiter for our unions. The assignments of functions at the base must be accompanied with @ corresponding division of work in the leading bodies of the union by creating various departments (or- ganization, cultural, relief, Negro, youth, women, etc.). These com- mittees must be elective bodies and draw rank end file workers into the work, The custom of one man do- ing all the work must be abolished. A Guarantee That Unions Will Play Proper Role. The rooting of our unions in the shops and factories in this basic organizational manner will be the only guarantee that in time of strikes the union will be able to Play its proper role in the united front organs of struggle (grievance committees, strike committees), and build themselves in the course of struggle instead of being entirely replaced by the united front organs. By carrying through these measures the present situation in regard to the absence of any real democracy and rule from the top by commands and orders will be abolished. This will also be a real turn towards solving the crisis of lack of functionaries which ham- pers the growth of our unions. To put this line of the R.ILLU. into practice, every union must work out a concrete plan of work and devise means by which all the ‘tasks embodied in the plan of work will be carried through and con- trolled. The unions. must strive in the shortest time possible to overcome the present chaotic situation with regard to finances. This can only be solved through the organization of the dues collections of the mem- bership. To accomplish this, there Should be set up financial and dues collection. committees, who shali maintain direct contact with groups of members through the factory, the home, etc. The unions must elect financial control com- mittees, The unions must serve the needs of the membership on the questions of strike relief, defense, cultural activities, the press, etc. These ac- wl tivities must be organized directly by the unions and in co-operation with the various workers’ organiza- tions operating in these fields (W.LR., LL.D., Workers’ Cultural Federation, etc.). The development of systematic cultural work (lectures, workers’ affairs, questions and answers, trade union courses), in the revolu- tionary trade unions is one of the most important tasks. For this purpose we must utilize the Cul- tural Federation, — The unions must strive to broaden and improve the trade union press and the central organ of the T.U.UL.—Labor Unity. The great- est attention and support in the present time must be given to build up the Mine Worker, the Marine Worker, the Metal Worker and others of our journals as real mass organs. The building up of the trade union shop papers has a great importance in the task of preparing strikes. Labor Unity, which now is too much detached from the life of the unions, must become the organ reflecting all the Struggles and inner life of our or- ganizations. We must look upon the trade union press as an im- portant instrument in the develop-, ment of the struggle, the leading of The Wage-Cut Drive in Full Swing in N. Y. By JOSEPH ZACK, Secretray It is quite obvious that the capi- talists are quickly following the lead of the U. S. Steél Corporation in all industries. Within six weeks of the announcement of the wage cut in steel, we have the wage-cut move on the railroads, a wage-cut of 30 per cent announced by the Building Trades Employers’ Association,” to take effect om Dec. 1, wage-cuts in textile trades of 10 to 30 per cent, @ move by the printing bosses to eliminate all restrictions on speed- up in this industry in order to re- duce costs. In fact, everywhere we have the wage-cuts in one form or another either announced or in ef- fect. ‘These drives will be affecting the overwhelming majority of the work- ers in New York before the year is up. The workers are not sccepting the Statement of the Trade Union Unity Council of Greater New York wage-cuts without resistance. Thus far the resistance has been particu- larly strong among the unorganized workers. We had wage-cut strikes in the food, metal and paper box trades, affecting a total of 4,000 un- organized workers, all of which, led by the T.U.U.L., resulted in the withdrawal of the wage-cuts. The outstanding defeat in the anti- wage-cut strikes in the New York District has been the full-fashioned hosiery workers, who, betrayed by their own officials, had to submit to ® wage-cut of 40 per cent; The betrayal in this case was particu- larly effective, due to the total ab- sence of @ T.U.U.L. group in that union. On the whole, the new wage-cut- ting offensive which followed the U. S. Steel Corporation, has not yet hit the organized trades with strong T.U.U.L. organizations. The only attempt thus far has been on the waterfront, where the bosses, fear- ing our influence, signed up with the A. F. of L. union, withdrawing the wage-cut, but getting other things equivalent to it from the International Longshoremen’s As- sociation officials, with Ryan at the head. The A. F. of L. unions in the building, needle and food trades are rapidly declining in membership and morale, while the T.U.U.L unions have been increasing greatly in influence. The last few months registered an increase of 2,000 mem- bers per month, a distinctly favor- able sign for our movement, re- flecting the new fighting mood of the workers. the whole movement, the p Pelalns, of our unions. Co-operation with workers’ mass organiations (a) the Workers’ In- ternational Relief: With the in- creasing strike activities of the reve olutionary unions, the question of a, broad and permanent rélief or= ganiation becomes of -paramount importance. While each union ite self must raise strike funds and un- dertake to the best of its ability to finance the strikes in its industry, there is necessity for a broad relief organization to mobilize masses. of workers and sympathizers generally, in support of major strikes. The building of the W.I.R. therefore be- comes an urgent question and must be given all possible support by the T.U ULL, organizations. (b) The International Labor De- fense: With the-increasing terror of the government, the bosses and fascist labor leaders against the workers, the question of an organ- ized defense becomes increasingly important. The T.U.U.L. endorses and supports the International La- bor Defense, which is leading the struggle for the release of Tom Mooney, the Scottsboro boys, the Harlan miners, the Centralia and Imperial Valley and hundreds of other class-war prisoners. But at the same time, the unions shall not make the mistake of simply turn- ing over their labor cases to the ILD. and letting the matter rest there. ‘They shall form joint de- fense committees with the LL.D. and assume joint responsibility and mobilize all possible support for the release of the arrested workers. (q) International Workers’ Or- der. The T.U U.L. endorses the In- ternational Workers’ Order and calls upon its members and the workers generally to affiliate to it. Many workers’ fraternal orders, the members of which suffer from all the exploitation and persecution felt by the working class generally, are friendly to the revolutionary unions and will lend co-operation to their building if properly ape proached. They are especially ime portant approaches to the masses of foreign-born workers. In past struggles, these fraternal organiza- tions have given their finances and their halls to the use of the strike ers. and have carried on active cam- paigns to enlist their members into the unions. The T.U.U.L. must everywhere establish fraternal cone nections with these organizations, which support the fight of the workers against wage-cuts, unem- ployment, etc. Forward with the Preparations for the National H unger March! \ tours coLoRnode-" ; * Sn ri ow ‘a MORE DETAILED MAP WILL BE PRINTED IN THE DAILY. 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