The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 23, 1933, Page 4

A review of the Party activities in @is Detroit District for the last 12 fuonths must give to our Par Siderable rich experience of how to out the task of the Par down and explained to ‘membership in the Open Letter. 34. 38 now exactly one year ago that @utomobile companies began to another extended attack the automobile workers. This Tesulted in wholesale wage cuts @@-15 to % per cent, increased speed-| and mass lay-offs. The automo-| ‘Workers, however, answered this program, by surprising not only the| @memies, but even some revolutionary when they organized under leadership of the Auto Workers’ which became the signal of a Ration-wide strike wave, against the gomipanies and the government N.R.A. | | ‘The Aivo Workers Union with the} Gooperation and leadership of | Party, called a shop confere: Gat of which crystallized leadership | gndorganization, responsible for lead- | these automobile strikes to vic~ i yi shop conference s year ago| heii the midst of mass up-| on, part of the automobile | is mass upsurge has| developed since, as it was dn the strike of the fighting and die makers, and the generai of unions in the automobile . This however, does not ex-| the whole picture. We find on hand, that in spite of this tremendous militant up-surge among} sutomobiie workers the A.W.U. did not g@tow, and did not expand its organi-/| zational activity since the strikes et | i in the Thi mm i Im fect the activity and the union) —— The basic reason for this has been explained and ts/| meoogninzed today, as a fact, that it was| drimarily due to the lack of initative | on the part of the Party and the} union leadership, | On December 17th, the second | United Front Shop Conference was) salled by the A.W.U. Over 225 elected | delegates were present, Some of them | ‘° TEACHERS THREATEN STRIKE | SCRANTON, Pa. Doc. 2i.—Kighty- | five school teachers in Throop threat- | wned today to strike for the third Mime unless the Lackawanna County | officials paid them at least part of| the seven months’ wages due them. UNION OF Soviet Socialist! : Republics 7% GOLD BONDS 0 Interest Payable Quarterly at ‘The Chase National Bank of New York we OFFER -tee Safety: Throughoutthe sixteonyears of tis existence the U.S.S.R. has unfail- ingly met ail its financial obligations. Gold Stability: The bonds are issued in denominations of 100 gold roubles, ct a price of par—i00 gold roubles—and accrued interest. (A gold rouble contains 0.774234 grams of pure gold.) Principal and interest payments are based upon this fixed ¢ x of gold, payable in American c at the prevailing rate of o: Obviously, this provision offers protec- iionagainst lossresulting {rom possible | further depreciation in the dollar, | | Market: The State Bank of the U.S.S. B. will repurchase these bonds on demand of the hi afier one year from dc of par md cecrued interest, Deceetytive Ctroulae D-£ on request SOVIET AMERICAN * SECURITIES CORP. New York Broad Street Russia? needing full outfits of horschide sheeplined Coats, Windbreakers, High Shoes, ete., will receive spo- on all their purchases at the | UARE DEAL! and NAVY STORE ~~ 1421 THIRD AVE. @ doors South of 1ith Street) You Insurance Problems? CONSULT M. D. BAUM CO. . General Insurance Brokers LIBERTY STREET, N. ¥. ©. TEL. JOHN 4-1574 From An Experienced ‘Teacher, Mrs. . Shoban Army and Navy Store 105 THIRD AVE. (Corner 13th Street) Gives Honest Values in Genuine Hors Sheeplined Coats; . Windbreakers, Breeches, % High Shoes, Boots, Work ~\hirta, Gloves, Ete. junited front tactic consists in or- | the workers formulate their demands | policy |of low wages and mass unemploy- Communists Act to Lead Struggles in Auto Field By JOHN SCHMIES JOHN representing the basic shops, including Ford and General Motors. In addi- tion there were delegates from the A, F. of L. automobile locals, from the Mechanies Educational Society of America. locals, Detroit, Flint and Pontiac, a delegation from the Michi- gan Chamber of Labor, ex-Socialist Party members, and a delegation of shop workers representing 600 mem- bers organized in the A.W.U. Hayes Body plant, Grand Rapids. This conference met under similar conditior as the one of a year ago. The automobile companies announced their continuation of the N-R.A. pro- gram. The answer of the delegates at the Conference to this program was a demand for organized action. The Program submitted by the A.W.U. was accepted practically unanimously, The delegates came to this conference for real work. ‘The form of organization, the campaign and the demands were the center of discussion. The Conference showed its broad representation and convinced every- body present what a tremendous ef- t the Conference will have if prop- erly led and guided in the way of day y struggles facing the automobile SCHMIES wot Unity was the key note of the Con- ference. Unity of action between the skilled and production workers was the message of the delegates from the M.ES.A. United action of all workers in the shop was made into a strong plea, by all delegates, especially those organized in reformist unions. A de- mand for a relentless struggle against the misleaders in the reformist unions was m one of the central task to carry on ss activity. Show Correctness In the in the Conference was called and has shown the correctness of how we can and must work, if we ke the Open Letter as our guide, h says: ‘The organizing of the struggles of the working class for these demands must be carried out on the basis of the united front, in which the Party must always have the initative. The ganizing and mobilizing the workers, regardless of Party or trade union af- filiations, religion or color, for com- nron struggles in behalf of their most immediate and urgent demands. In the factories and trade unions and among the unemployed we must help concretely and effectively, really adapting them to the immediate de- mands of the workers. These de- mands must serve to develop their Solidarity and class-consciousness, and bring the broadest masses of workers j into action.” During the afternoon session of the 4 Conference, a mass membership meet- ing of the M.E.S.A, was going on at the same time. M.ES.A. membership meeting. This was especially demonstrated first, in the nomination of new officials for the organization, by a large section of the rank and file insisting that the militant leadership active in the strike accept the nomination of national of- ficials. Second, by a unanimous vote for a resolution demanding the free- dom of Comrade Torgler and all working class leaders in Germany from the bloody hands of Fascism. ‘The Conference and the general ac- tivities in the shops and in the re- formist unions under the leadership of the Party has checked the decline in the A.W.U., and as was shown in the Conference and in the reformist unions increased the confidence for militant activity and the necessity for the building of a united front which must have as its task to lead and guide this mass upsurge into daily struggles against the attacks: of the‘ automobile companies and for a united industrial union of all auto- mobile workers, The Open Leiter explains to the Party membership how to carry on this activity, how to prepare the Party and the movement around the Party for this task. The Next Steps In addition to leading and gen- erally guiding the workers we must build the Party. Hundreds of these workers are ready to become members of the Party. Thousands of these workers can become subscribers and readers of the Daily Worker. It re- mains as our immediate task to get these workers that have shown their readiness in the shops and on the picket lines to become members of the Party. It becomes necessary that a change in our recruiting policy take Place without delay. We must ac- tually recruit members into the Party and especially must we recruit in and around the shops. It is the task of every member to bring into the Party an automobile worker, and to place before these workers the collective leader and organizer of our Party, the DAILY WORKER. The Daily Work- er will then become a daily instru- ment for building the Party and to guide the pending mass battles of the automobile workers. Cleveland to Sell Minimum of 11,500 ' Of Jan. 6th “Daily” NEW YORK—The Pocketbook Workers rank and file is the first trade union group in this city to send a greeting to the Daily Worker on ite tenth anniversiary. The first Party Unit in New York to do so is No, 20 of Section 15. Greetings also arrived from the Latvian Branch, L.L.D., Lithuanian Workers Literature Society. To be published in the 24 page tenth anniversary issue of the Daily Worker, coming off the press on Jan. 6th, all greetings must ar- rive not later than Dec. 30th. ‘Which union group, Party Unit, mass organization will be next to send revolutionary greeting to our Daily Worker on its tenth victori- ous year? The united front © policy had its similar effect in the * “Auto Workers News” Faces New Strike Wave By HARRY GANNES AUTO WORKERS NEWS, official organ of the Auto Workers Union — affiliated with the Trade Union Unity League, Published in Detroit, Nov., 1933, issue and Dee. 16, 1933, issue, * * * All signs point to major struggles soon in the auto industry. During the past strike struggles the auto workers lagged behind. There were strikes mainly in two divisions—the 17,000 tool and die makers in the auto shops, and the four or five thou- sand Ford workers in Chester, Pa., and Edgewater, N. J. But thanks to the A. F. of L. bureaucrats (open shop auto code), splitting the ranks of the workers, and the N. R. A. of- ficiais, the great bulk of the auto workers were kept from struggling. In the two issues of the Auto Work- ers News we can see that the Auto Workers Union is actively preparing for these struggles, overcoming some of its past weaknesses, and making @ serious effort to forge a united | is front of all auto workers against their Powerful bosses. Since the publication of these two numbers, this united front effort has reached the stage of flesh and blood through the united front conference which closed on Dec, 18, in Detroit. A committee was elected, represent- ing organized and unorganized auto workers, to prepare for actions; and unlike past united front conferences, a definite time was set for the achievement of this action, providing for the calling of another emergency conference. The November, 1933, concerns it- self chiefly with the die and tool makers strike led by the Mechanics Educational Society. An excellent leading article is printed analyzing the strike from beginning to end, covering the main actions, exposing the role of the misleaders, and cor- rectly uncovering all the reasons for the failure of the sivike. The cor- rect policy of the Auto Workers Union working among the rank and file for the victory of the strike is ex- plained in the article. But that tt has borne fruit in fact is shown by the rank and file delegates from the M. E. 8. to the united front con- ference, and by the unanimous vote of these workers in the M. E. &., despite their yellow leaders, to de- mand the release of the four framed- up defendants in Leipsig. The weakness in the article is the Jack of a future program, which is relegated to the last paragraph that talks generally about the formation of ONE auto workers union, but does not give the means to show how this can be accomplished in the M. E. S. This, also, is remedied im action through the united front conference. There are other good articles, for example Phil Raymond's on the United Action against the auto code. The article on the Ford strike in bore er and Chester shows the on of both the paper and the union from these workers. The ar- tiele is mainly one giving news, but even this is not as concrete, for ex- ample, as that given in the article on the strike we publish today written by one of the strikers. ‘The only directives or leadership given to these Ford strikers, unfor- tunately, is that they should write to the Auto Workers Union, 4210 Woodward Ave, and that they “will be protected.” Ta the heat of the strike it is to be expected that few, if any, workers wrote in. If this is- sue reached any of the Ford strik- ers, it would have been much more valuable if they found therein a brief program of action that the strikers could discuss and that may have had an effect on the strilre. In both issues there ts 4 lack of suffictently exposing the N.R.A. code + see alan eB REA Without organization, a group of workers in the body shop and chassis Hine of the Ford plant at Chester, Pa., laid down their tools September 26, 10 A. M. Discontent due to un- bearable conditions and $16 maximum weekly wage was the cause of the walkout. Nearly half the workers walked out in sympathy. The rest were locked out. The following day the men were or- ganized into the United Auto Work- ers, A. F. of L, The Auto Workers Union was not given any opportunity to approach the rank and file. The A. F. of L. Organizer Rein- hardt, in conjunction with Dewey of the Labor Board, made beautiful pro- mises that full pressure would be brought to bear at Washington through the A. F. of L, N.R.A. and N. L. B. to bring M. Ford to terms. Reinhardt was the only organizer in the fied and spent only one hour each dey with Ford strike—claiming he had 16 other strikes to look after, all more important than Ford strike (because they paid dues—we didn’t). Reinhardt stressed that A. F. of L. would not tolerate violence and that mass picketing would be unnecessary —“Washington would take care of us" During the following three weeks in which plant was ee the sirikers organized a motore: 1,200 men and got the Edgewater plant out. Meanwhile the office force at Chester were not picketed out. Reinhardt sold that was not necessary, the “of- fice force were not production men.” article is the only one dealing with this subject. open sop code through the so-called “merit clause.” Comrade Raymond's 4t contains, evidently due to increased action in the field in preparation for the united front conference. The news, articles and worker correspon- dence is and slip-shod. The main position is given quite cor- rectly to the call for the united front conference on Dec. 17. But then the whole paper is not bound up with this ceil, There is no article nor editorial telling the workers in the various auto organizations why or how they can make the united con- ference a success. Tt is our opinion that the Auto Workers News must become primarily an organiser of the united front and of the future struggles of the auto workers. As the discontent and urge for struggle among the workers grows, the A. F. of L., I.W.W., and the Mus- teite fakers will begin to show re- newed energy. ‘We can already see this, especially the Musteites who are send- ing advance agents into the auto field, looking for ways to heip betray the workers. In the latest issue of “Labor Ac- tion,” official organ of the Musteites, dated Dec. 20, 1938, Louis Francis Budenz, writes an article on “Unrest in Auto City Increases.” In this article he has nothing but praise for the strikebreaking leaders of the Mechanics Edueational Society. The Musteites have no definite pro- gram in the auto industry, but are looking for a safe berth either by the side of Smith-Griffen & Co. in the M. E. &., or in the A. F. of L. bureaucracy. As unitéd front struggles increases, the Musteites will become more evi- dent in Detroit, and the Auto Work- ers News should now begin to ex- and the slimy tactics of the A F. of L. in supporting the pose their role among the auto workers, How the NRA and AFL Heads Broke Chester Ford Strike By A STRIKER The second issue, Dec. 13, slides backward somewhat in the material These office workers were busy con- tacting “Loyal Ford Workers” to re- turn to work on Oct. 16, Through this method 400 scabs were recruited. The strikers—due to misleadership— were unaware of this move, until a few days befora reopening of the plant. We were able, nevertheless, to mobilize 1,000 pickets on Monday. Picketing was unorganized as was the entire strike body—no defense committee, etc., only one strike com- mittee—composed of five “patriotic” committeemen, faithful to the A. F. of L. leadership. When the scabs left the plant that day there was some action several blocks from the plant. The scabs’ “motorcade” was stoned, 10 strikers were arrested. The following day the Chester po- lice did not allow picketing. Those arrested were not provided with law- yers or beil. The leaders failed the rank and file, and with the help of police terror the morale of the strik- ers was broken. Ritchie Too Busy An appeal for help to Ritchie, the A. F. of L. head in Philadelphia Dis- strict, met with a refusal to help. “Too busy,” ete. In further arrests, the International Labor Defense fur- nished counsel and was as the Defense Organization. An I. L. D. branch was formed. A motorcade to Detroit was proposed in conjunc- tion with Edgewater. On the hour of departure a telegram was received from Edgewater strikers saying that the march wes postponed on advice from Labor Board because of “future developments.” Meanwhile, due to lack of picket- ing about 1,000 scabs were a half were new men. Daily the num- ber of strikers at Union Headquarters declined. Meetings were held once each week and were poorly attended. The week after the I. L. D. was ac- cepted the committeemen of Edge- water came to our meeting in Chester, to ask our cooperation and to have “faith in Roosevelt,” etc., and to have nothing to do with radicals, e.g. the ILL.D. With the help of burocratic Chester leaders the I. L. D. was ousted. No provision was ever made for those awaiting trial. Evasive Replies Washington was unable io arrange a conference with Ford directly. Two weeks after Edgewater had its Con- ference with the plant officials we were able to arrange one in Chester, Oet. 28. The demands were sent to Dearborn, not Washington. The re- ply a few weeks later was very evasive and loose, and did not take into ac- count the matter of strike or of con- crete demands, such as $6 minimum wage, ete. Reply, “Ford Motor Co., in future as in past will judge all ap- Plicants for employment strictly on the ground of individual merit with- out discrimination for or against them on account of membership or non-membership in labor unions. It has been the custom of this company when increasing its employment fol- lowing a slack perid to rehire its former employees as far as possible without discrimination except on ground of individual meri‘ or fitness for the work to be done. No man now in the company’s employ shall be discharged at anyone's request or for any other reason thin lack of work or failure properly to do his work. In this connection it may be seid that only seven new names have been added to our Chester Branch Payroil in recent weeks. “The company is ready at all rea- sonable times to hear individual em- Communist Program of Action in Mine Fields (The following is a resotation on and tactics im the coal mining fields adopted at a Commu- nist Party conference held in Pitts- burgh last Saturday and Sunday. This conference was attended by the most active comrades of the Communist Party working in the mines and active in the struggles of the miners and in the mine unions). ‘The conditions of the miners are | steadily growing worse. Prior to the beginning & the present crisis the| condition of the miners was one} ment as a result of the capitalist anarchy in the mining’ industry and the betrayals of the Lewis bureau- cracy in the U. M. W. A. With the development of the present economic crisis the operators, with the aid of the U. M. W. A. bureaucrats, made further attacks on the miners that resulted in new mass layoffs and the lowering of the miners’ wages, ‘The miners though divided and be- trayed by the U. M. W. A. leaders ughout this period carried on a bitter struggle in defense of their interests. In this struggle the Na- tional Miners Union which was born as a result of the opposition of the miners to the Lewis betrayals placed itself at the head of tens of thou- sands of miners (Pennsylvania-Ohio- W. Virginia strike of 1931 and Ken- tucky strike of 1932) and led them into struggle, and through these struggles stimulated the fight of the rank and file over the’ heads of the bureaugrats (numerous strikes in Tl- linois and Anthracite.) LEFT REFORMISTS DIVERT STRUGGLE But neither the National Miners Union nor the Communist Party through their work among the min- ers were yet able or alert enough to take full advantage of the mood of the miners and organize their dis- content and lead it into the chan- nels of a broad militant organiza- tion, As a result, the left reformists and other cliques succeeded in divert- ing the growing leftward movement of the miners into newly organized reformist organizations (Progressive Miners in Illinois, Maloney and Cap- Pelint in the Anthracite, West Vir- ginia Miners Federation.) Towards the beginning this year, © in organizing the struggles of thou- sands of miners on the basis of the united front from below and to stimulate the struggles of the min- ers in the reformist unions. Most of these struggles resulted in partial victories, ROOSEVELT HANDS MINERS TO | LEWIS The Roosevelt government, which through the N. R. A., attempted to arrest the developing struggles of all workers greatly helped the Lewises through demagogy and false promises to organize large masses of miners into the U. M. W. A. They hoped through this campaign to stop the growing struggles of the miners. But despite their efforts the miners used their increased numbers for the launching of one of the most im- portant struggles ever conducted not only by the miners, but by any sec- tion of the labor movement in this country. But again the miners were driven back to work under a code which not only does not represent an improvement in the conditions of the miners, but fastens new chains upon the miners (anti-strike and fine clause, check-off, etc.). In this heroic struggle in which the miners through their organized strength could have won important concessions, it was thanks to the U. M. W. A. bureaucrats and the bureau- crats of the other reformist miners unions that the miners were driven back without gains through the com- bination of Roosevelt demagogy, Lewis betrayal and open terror, it ‘The present situation confronting the miners is one of growing unem- ployment, a lowering of the real wages alone through increasing prices but through various devices in the codes made for the purpose of en- abling the operators to cut down the miners’ earnings. The miners remain divided into numerous unions (U, M. W. A., P. M. A, N. M. U., Anthracite Union, etc.). Large sections of the miners through the treachery of Lewis have been driven into company unions, while larger numbers remain unorganized, especially in the Southern coal fields. The miners who are organized into the different reformist unions find their organizations, dominated by the burocrats, are being used against them instead of being a weapon in defense of their interests, WORKERS PREPARING TO FIGHT BACK This is true not only of the U. M. W. A. dominated by Lewis and Company, but also of the P. M. A. dominated by the Pearceys and the Anthracite Miners Union dominated by the Capellinis. Only the miners organized into the N, M. U. im Utah and New Mexico have in their hands an organization that they control and which fights in their interests. There are now growing signs that the miners will not for long tolerate the N. M, U, once more succeeded these conditions of low wages and MINERS DIVIDED IN DIFPERENT UNIONS starvation of the unemployed miners. The recent strikes in Central Penn- sylvania, Coverdale and Logan County West Virgina, directed against the operation of the code, the recent strike struggles in Illinois and the Anthracite indicate that the miners are preparing themselves to fight back. As part of this growing mood of the miners for struggle, we already witness the growth of an opposition movement in the U. M. W. A., the P. M. A. and the Anthracite Mine Workers Union. The miners trapped in the network of the N.R.A. boards, Lewis betrayals, are showing increas- ing signs of opposition. Where the Communists have taken the lead, this opposition is growing in conscious- ness and firmness. In many locals of the U. M. W. A. and the P, M. A., Communists and other militant min- ers have been elected by the miners to leading posts in the local organi- zations. It is especially character- istic that in the Pittsburgh and Ohio fields where the N. M. U, was for years leading the struggles of the miners former leading members of the N. M. U. are elected to official posts by the miners in many locals, and that the miners, in increasing numbers, look to the former N. M, U. members and to the Communists for guidance in their struggles they un- dertake against the coal operators and the U, M. W, A, burocrats, ‘With the struggles developing the miners are looking towards April 1st, the date of the expiration of the present agreements in most fields, as the time when the present scattered struggles will culminate in major struggle in the mining fields. The question now before the min- ers and in the first place before the Communists and all militant min- ers, is to. prepare these struggles, to unite the miners in the various unions, to free the miners from the Roosevelt demagogy and the domina- tion of the labor burocrats. It is these tasks that face the Commu- nists in the mining fields and which must receive the immediate atten- tion of the Party, MUST MEET CHANGED SITUATION The changed situation in the min- ing field with regard to the organi- zation of the miners (the growth of the U. M. W. A, the existence of numerous miners unions), requires that we accordingly adopt our tac- ties to the changed situation in the fight for the winning of the miners and leading them in struggle against the ooal operators. ‘The policy of the Party has been throughout the building of the Na- tional Miners Union among the un- organized and the building of mili- tant opposition within the U. M. W. A. and the other miners organizations. This policy undergoes a change only to the extent that the situation has changed. Thus for example while heretofore the mass of the miners of the Western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia flelds were unor- ganized since 1928 and the N. M. U. had its main base there, at present the overwhelming majority of the miners in these fields are organized within the U. M. W. A. The policy of the Communists must therefore in the present conditions be to build the opposition movement within these unions, to assist the miners in carry- ing the struggle against the oper- ators, to expose the U. M. W. A. bureaucrats, and fight for the elec- tion of militant miners to every post in the local unions, sub district and district organizations. ee UNORGANIZED INTO The Communists in the N. M, U. must strive to bring the policy of the N. M. U. on this line for only such a line at the present moment expresses the fight for the unity of the miners in the struggle against coal operators and labor bureaucrats. In those fields where the miners in the main remain unorganized, the Communists. must make every effort to draw the unorganized miners into the National Miners Union because the of the base of the N, M. U. which is the only militant union of miners now in existence will greatly help to unify the miners na- tionally into @ militant union and organize the successful struggle against the operators and their agents the labor bureaucrats. In those centers where the oper- ators with the open and secret sup- port of the U. M. W. A. leaders were able to organize company unions and defeat the U. M. W. A. (captive mines, etc.), the Communists must follow that policy which will best re- sult in uniting the miners in strug- gle. Whether this policy shall be to organize the miners who break away from the company unions into the U. M. W. A., the N. M. U. or an in- dependent class union will depend upon the situation at the given mo- ment, and in the first place upon the desire and readiness of these masses of miners for this or that organiza- tion. In those centers where there exist two reformist unions, the Communists can not call upon the miners to build this or that organization as the or- ganization of the miners, UNITE IN PITS AND DISTRICTS who are still in the U. M. W. A. to leave the U. M. W. A. and join the Maloney Cappelini union. Maloney and Cappelini while taking advantage of the desire of the miners for an organization free from Lewis are pythe and parcel of the employers and their plans no less than Boylan and Bren- nan. They are trying through this newly formed organization not to unite the miners in the interests of the struggle against the operators, but to divide them in order to pre- vent the struggles of the miners. Nor can the Communists tell the miners who joined the Cappelini union that in the interests of unity they must go back to Lewis as do the Love- Our policy must P.M.A. LEADS RADICALIZED WORKERS INTO REACTIONARY CAMP. At the same time, it is necessary to explain to the miners that the basis for the present treacherous policy of the P. M. A. was already laid in the first convention when the Pearceys, in combination with the Musteites (Allard), refused to adopt the class struggle and united front program proposed by the N. M. U. and the Musteites have given, in the South- ern Illinois coal fields, a clear ex- ample of their treacherous policy, namely, with radical phrases to lead radicalized workers to their domina- tion by open Reactionaries. And that only a militant class struggle union freed from the strangle hold of the bureaucrats can champion and de- fend the interests of the miners. ‘The Communists working in the mining fleids must expose the present role of the Musteites and renegades in the coal fields and prove to the miners that they are preventing with «Continued on Page §) ployees or their representatives on matters that properly pertain to the relations between them, but regards a system of stated meetings as un- necessary to the continuance of just relations between the company and the employees.” Strikers Accept Ford living up to the. NRA— weak as is this answer, the strikers accepted it. Lacking counsel, lead- ership, etc., the strikers knew no other course of action to follow. The statement “seven new names added to payroll” has its answer in the fact that anyone who worked for the com- pany in the last seven years was on the payroll. Many men laid off dur- ing these seven years were called back. After the acceptance of this “reply,” strikers trying to get back to work experienced difficulty, al- though scores of new men were being hired dally at the plant. A few union men got as far as the doctor's examination, but were refused work by employment manager Smith. When Smith was questioned by men for the reason—his answer was, “the less you know the better.” Several union men did get to work but did not last long. When they asked reason for firing—the answer was, “Guess you know as well as I do.” “Ie it bo 4 work?” Smith was asked. “I didn’ say anything about your work,” he answered. A comunitiee of strikers were del- egated to inquire at the plant af this discrimination on Nov, 28. An- swer from Harris, superintendent— “There is no discrimination; we have more union men in the plant than you have outside. We are picking our men and making Goddam we get the right kind in here.” were asked to write to the plant for work. The following Monday, Des, 4 we seat a delegation of 3 to N. L. B. in Washington. ow case to Milton Handier, of W. L, B. After ten hours of come suitation the answer was: “Yhe men acted in an ill-advised manner in walking out of the plan’ without bargaining first. Henry Ford has not been guilty of any violation of code at any time. You have ne case for discrimination according to evidence presented. We cannot hetp you. You are the guilty ones.” ‘While in Washington the delega- tion went to the A. L. of F. office, spoke to Morrison, national secretary, ebout our status end for help. More rison said: “We consider you an in- dustrial casualty, jus; too had.” At the meeting, Friday, Dec. 8, with 4 present, these facts were reported to the men. The strikers through the leadership voted to disband the union, sending back the charter of r of L. with our “thanks.” The “lead- ers” refused to carry on any longer and left, “We know when we are licked.” Se now we have about 750 to 1,000 men out on the street, disorganized, disheartened. While in the plant there are 3,000 men, many hew con- ditions in the plant are getting worke, Many men cannot handle the jobs. Turnover of labor there is greater than it has been in a long while. We have a small I. L. D. group of 15, but are handicapped by the distance separating us, Chester to Philadelphia. That was one of the factors that hindered the strike. Half the men in Philadelphia and the other helf in Chester. ane aegs * BDITORIAL NOTE This excellent article by a striker of the Chester, Pa., Ford plant, who was victimized for his activities should be of the greatest interest to all workers, particularly auto workers. Here in # more concrete way than we have heretofore presented in the Daily Worker he exposes just how the A. F. of L. leaders and the N. R. A. broke this militant and historic Ford strike. The Chester and Edge- water strikes were the first major actions of the workers in the history of the Ford Co. The workers acted independently, and then looked to the A. F. of for leadership—mainly because the Philadelphia district of the Com- munist Party and the Trade Union Unity League were isolated from these decisive industries in that dis- trict and did not give leadership or direction to the struggles. When the strike broke out we were still isolaied, and as this striker points out, the only contact was throught the In- ternational Labor Defense, on the question of defending arrested strikers. Sometime after the strike was on, efforts were made by the Auto Work- ers Union to participate in the strike. But the workers did not accept lead- ership on its own recommendation that it is militant. We did not prove to these workers by our program and activity that we were the ones who could lead them to victory. From this article, we can say that thousands of workers have become dissilugioned with the N. R. A. pro- mises and the A. F. of L. strikebreak- ers. But they will not of themselves each a higher lever of struggle or organization. ‘There is now a dual condition that must be dealt with. First, conditions in the Ford plants are worse than ever. Speed up is greater. Turnover ts greater, Disatisfaction now must be greater. Second, there are be- tween 750 to 1,000 men unemployed, and as the writer of this article it “disorganized, disheartened.” to concentrate on the Chester, Pa., and Edgewater, N. J., Ford plants, on the basis of the united front pro- gram worked out in the recent auto conference held in Detroit. At the same time, the national office of the auto union, which recognized strikes as of great importance to all Ford workers, should pa: i strikers who undoubtedly have not forgotten their past bitter and are now certainly loo! to and grappling with new forms of struggle. ‘The unemployed can be fe lems. for struggles for relief, rallying the . employed behind them in this de- mand, At the samo time, they can aap oe ig to help me the strug- gles of the organized, in preparation for new strikes, in the demand for reinstatement y special at-—