The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 20, 1934, Page 4

be petnet Page Four DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1984 Social Insurance Fight, Demand For Security, Is Party Mu: ust Lead the Struggle Against Blue Eagle By L AMTER { entral ered in the light 1 crisis through is passing, damental crisis capitalism to its productive capacity of world capitalist industry has reach- ed a point of development far out-| wivipping the markets. Capitalism in ean secure markets only nse of another country. m as a whole cannot expand, still and decline. Since t introduction of the codes | ‘and the ion of “rules against petition,” the manufactur- doing everything in fh will lower the This means the labor power, and the substi~ e refined, complicated processes. particularly Lenin, ese facts. In “Imperi- Marx, 2 pointed out alism, the Last Stage of Capitalism,” Lenin d out the rapid tendency rationalization pro- ‘the resultant unemploy~ whole working class al question: how to se~ hood. Not only the 17,- employed in the United they have acquired their highest skill; the young workers who have not been able to find jobs—all face the same problem. This cannot be solved by relief, with its uncertainty, trregular- ination, favoritism, etc. It. Surance, covering all workers and pro- Viding for all contingencies. ent of the building} e been unemployed for more than two years. With the coming of the crisis, they: were re- duced to a low level, and have been eager to work far below the ‘union scale. Millions of workers work only part-time—in the steel, auto, mining and needle industries. Owing to the &peed-up in the factories and because of improper protective devices, they suffer every d of industrial and occupational disease, in addition to illnesses contracted because their vi- tality is lowered by the severe speed- up. ‘The older are being fired. Whaé is to be the fate of these ‘workers? Eighty per trades workers A Central Issue | As a central issue, therefore, rises e whole working ent and social mediate measure | ne workers must Struggle to pi e under capitalism. ‘The adoption of the national recov- ery act was not merely to bring about recovery. As an economic measure to help the masses, it has eon | failed. It has not put the millions of unemployed back to work; vein @ fraction of the alleged 4,000,000 wi employed have secured work on the C.W.A. jobs. In face of the prolonged world economic crisis and the rapidly developing basic crisis of capitalism; and in face of the intense struggle of the masses of toiling popula- tion to protect themselves from the ravages of the crisis, the real aim was to introduce measures that would| protect capitalism from collapse. “Capitalism or Communism” is pacts gnittedly the issue. Capitalism in “democratic” f felf so readil; Therefore “demo- | eracy” is being thrown to the winds, and steps toward fascism are taking its place. Militarizing the Unemployed In Europe, fascism has already been established in several countries. In the United States this is one of the veal purposes of the N.R.A. How urgent this is, may be seen ‘from the steps that government is adopting in connection with the mil- Hons of unemployed youth and single men. Three hundred thousand boys jhave been put into the civilian con- servation camps, by the government, ®upposedly to “raise their morale.” “According to Assistant Secretary of “War Woodring, “the organization of ‘oyer 300,000 men in more than 1,500 edvilian conservation camps, was the first real test of the army's plans for “war mobilization under the National Defense Act.” (Emphasis mine—I. A.) Woodring declares that “by next sum- “mer a million young men will be en- ‘rolled | in the camps.” He proposes “the army organize the veter- of the World War, the C.C.C. men ind, through them, the administra- tion of the emergency relief, into a system of economic storm troops that »-eould support the government's ef- ‘forts to smash the depression.” ‘How 4 mich this smacks, even im language, of Hitler!) The C.C.O. camps are the “forerunners of the great civilian Jabor armies,” embracing all single (and possibly married) unempioyed, “ "These “storm troops” are to be used ed only for war. Woodring contin- * “Economic breakdown, unless cee ptly corrected, induc2s social the demand of 1 class, for unempl luce new methods | n cannot protect it-| Issue For All , | I. Amter Councils Thus the struggle against the real | aims of the N.R.A. is the struggle! for the right of the working class to | live to get its rights.. The outcome | | will be either Communism or fascism. | The Tasks of the Communists | What is the task of the Commu: |nists in this situation? The Thesis | of the 13th Plenum of the Executive | Committee of the Comintern makes | it clear. It is to educate, organize, | | mobilize, and lead tae workers in a/ struggle against the N.R.A. This task | the Party is performing, in exposing | the N.R.A. and its agents in the work- | ing class, the leadership of the A. F. |of.., the S. P., the Musteites, and| | renegades; in organizing and leading | jthe employed and unemployed inj struggle against it; in educating the! workers as to the reai significance of the N.R.A., and in mobilizing them | to struggle against the NRA, | | Our task consists of most rapidly | getting the closest personal contact with the masses (14th C.C. Plenum Resolution), in the shops and neigh- | unions and mass organizations, the C.C.C. and Civilian Labor Camps; explaining to them the truth about the N.RA., organizing ani leading them in siruggle. and the opposition m the reformist unions, :r@ the refo-ist and inde- pendent unemployed organizations, | mobilizing the rank and file to strug- | gle against the N.R.A. and against their leaders, who obstruct the strug- sie. It consists. in. bringing about & common program of demands aris- ing out of each particular situation. Our main task however, ‘consists in | revolutionizing the workers, by in- | terpreting the struggles in the light \of the class conflict, by politicizing | the struggles, raising political de-j mands, such as the Workers’ Unem- ployment and Social Insurance Bill, | organizing demonstrations and strikes | of a political nature, raising the class- | consciousness of the workers and re- | cruiting them into the Party. Hence the struggle for unemploy- ment and social insurance as a cen- tral and immediate demand of the whole working class and all working | class organizations is a struggle also to build up the forces in action that | will prevent the establishment of 4 |fascist dictatorship in the United | a. | given to the many local unions who Secretary, Unemployed [eae in about it, was, as reported in| borhoods, on the C.W.A. jobs, in the| in| Our task cousists | in building fighting \ndustrial unions | united action against the N.R.A. on| |\Lewis Machine,| Holds Up UMW ‘Locals’ Funds Dirty Scheme to Keep Opposition from i Convention By TOM MYERSCOUGH dirtiest “holdup” games ever prac- tised by the fakers of any A. F. of L. union, is now seen in the attempt of the U. M. W. A. officials to keep opposition delegates away from the International Conyention, which is to convent in Indianapolis, Ind., on Jan. 23rd. Previously, I have mentioned my suspicions of this, but now it is ob- vious. Trick To Keep Out Delegates In going about the Central Penna mine fields where I am at presen located, I have learned that the per capita share for the local unions of | A. (20- per cent) has| the U. M. W. been held up for the past two months by the Di office of the U. M. W./} in Clearfield, Pa. The excuse a previous article, “that the money was secure in the possession of the| District office, BUT—that it was sent! in by the coal companies in such a} |jumbled-up manner, that the Dis- | trict office wag unable to determine ‘which money was from which com- pany. and for which local)” and| declared it was impossible. to send each local its share until the afore- mentioned difficulties could be straightened out. visited in the Pittsburgh district and learned that the same identical trick is being played there. It is clear therefore that it is a deliberate act and not an accident. | And it is clearly for the purpose of keeping out of the convention, all delegates who do not guarantee be- forehand that they are going to sup- port the crooked “Lewis machine.” Lewis Collects Credentials While this was going on in Somer- set Co., I made it my business to in- | quire whether delegates were being elected or not. In many places the locals accepted the advice of the “machine” to apply for exoneration and elect delegates, while they still had time, in accordance with the con- stitution. However, in some such places all the company “tools” were ordered out to the election meeting and some of our opposition candidates were defeated by close votes. While asking the locals to “get ex- onerated from the duty of sending delegates,” the officials were also ask- ing the locals, as also previously described, to turn over to the District the local’s credentials so that the “district? (the fakers) “could select soemone to represent the local union | at the convention.” At one local (Jerome) I have the word of the local president that they permitted “Organizer” Martin to in- duce them to add the name of Presi- dent Jim Marks to the credentials of their own Tegurarly elected dele~ | gates, with the “assurance” that “It | won't cost you anything extra.” (This was done a week after election and | in violation of the Constitution.) No, “Nothing Extra;” Not Much! Not Now! But it will cost all the miners plenty later on. In one Pittsburgh district local, one that has failed to get its per capita Share of the dues, the known opposi- tion delegate has no money to go to the Convention, while the second delegate from the same local, who is regarded as a possible supporter of Lewis, has been given @ check for a substantial amount of money for him- self to go to the Convention, where he might be given the chance to call | States and strengthen the ranks for turning imperialist war into civil war. the local union's votes. The constitution provides for the | PITTSBURGH, Pa.—One of the During the week-end just passed I} Kaganovitch is shown with Bi City Soviet, together with workers Workers), visiting construction work. Kaganovich, secretary of the Moscow Party Committee, has issued directives for the completion of | at least twn sections of the subway in time for the seventeenth anni- ulganin, Chairman of the Moscow of the Metrostroy (Moscow Subway versary of the Soviet Union, Nov. 7, 1934. Young Miners io Demand Equal Pay for Equal Work At UMW Intl Convention By DAVE DORAN PITTSBURGH, Pa—Many young miners through the coal fields are \responding to the call of struggle | against the Lewis clique at the In- |ternational Convention of the United Mine Workers of America to be held at Indianapolis, Indiana, Jan. 23. Through many tricks, the U.M.W.A. Officialdom tried to make the young miners feel that what they say is | unimportant and therefore they should have no voice at all. They were refused participation in the leadership fo the locals. They were discriminated against in the mines. This discrimination against the young} miners also resulted in the Lewis and coal operator agreement under the | NRA. which, while calling for a daiy wage of $4.76 for coal diggers, gives, however, $3 a day to outside workers, greasers, trappers, flaggers and switch throwers, which are main- ly youth jobs. It was this discrimination and at- tack upon the conditions of the min- ing youth that hurled them into the recent strike battles in such large and aggressive numbers. While first locals to collect the dues, not the j district offices, and all delegates | should climb on their “hind feet” at the convention to see to it that this be the future method. There is too much collaboration now between the U. M. W. A. officials and the coal companies and the convention must be the place to stop it. This deliberate “Holdup” by the U. M. W. A. crooks must be fought vigorously now, at home while there jis still time, though limited as it is. In the meantime and in the event of failure to force payment of what is due the local unions, immediate collections should be taken up amongst the miners to send the elected delegates to the convention | in spite of the attempt to prevent their attendance. And when in In- dianapolis, the delegates should cause “Hell to break loose” and discard the corrupt machine of Lewis to the end | that real unionism can become a e their lack of experience with Lewis, Fagan and Feeney led them to sup- port these fakers, however, this same lack of tradition in the U,M.W.A. leadership reacted against the U. M. W. A. fakers when they attempted to break the strike. These young miners, now members of the United Mine Workers, were among the first to raise aloft the banner of struggle against Lewis and Co. The herofc participation of the youth in the mine strikes, displays a new force for the U.M.W.A. bureaucracy to reckon with. Denounce N.R.A, Discrimination A youth resolution is being circular- ized throughout the locals of the U.M.W.A, This resolution denounces the N.R.A. discrimination against the wages of the young miners and calls for the establishment of youth sections in all locals, where the young miners can take up their spe- cial grievances and organize their so- cial and sports activities, This reso- lution has so far been already passed in over 30 locals of Western Pennsyl- vania. The delegates from these lo- cals were instructed to fight for the passing of this resolution on the floor of the convention at Indianapolis, It is necessary that rank and file delegates fight for the special youth resolution that will be. presented. This resolution will herald the beginning of a campaign to elect youth com- mittees and form youth sections in every U.M.W.A. local. This will raise the special youth demand against discrimination and for equal pay for the first time throughout the length and breadth of the coal fields. In many U.M.W.A. locals the rank and file members have elected young miners into the leadership. From these locals young miners being elect- ed for this convention will fight for youth in the leadership of the U. M. W. A. The delegates must support this fight and must extend it fur- ther to include lower initiation rates and dues for young miners. The spirit of fight in the youth in the coal fields must be transferred into the U.M.W.A. convention. The Same spirit that brought young Henry {Sims into the leadership of the Ken- tucky miners, a spirit that enraged L. M. Kaganovitch, Soviet Leader ] Fes § lig r opose| May 1 Strike for MooneyRelease |Demand ‘Unconditional | Freedom for Nine | Scottsboro Boys CHICAGO, Ill.—Resolutions calling for a one-day strike May 1 for the |Telease of Tom Mooney and Warren | K. Billings, will be introduced to the | United Mine Workers of America na- | tional convention which begins in In- |dianapolis Monday, by represen- learned today. At the same time, resolutions de- |manding the immediate and uncon- ditional release of the nine Scottsboro | boys, condemning the attacks upon | the foreign-born workers by the de- | partment of labor, demanding can- cellation of warrants of deportation issued against militant workers, and pledging support to the struggles of the foreign-born, will be introduc The resolutions have already been adopted by Local No. 5509, U\M.W.A., for presentation to the convention, | and it is learned that other locals are | planning similar action. es 8 LL.D. Proposes Action NEW YORK—A national office of the International Labor Defense, urging the unanimous adoption of resolutions demanding the freedom of Tom Mooney and the Scottsboro boys, and pledging sol~ idarity with the struggle of the for- eign-born workers, will be before the national convention of the U.M.W.A. when it meets Monday in India- napolis, William L, Patterson, na- tional secretary, said today. Negro Given 93 Years in Hold-UpCharge, White 45 PITTSFIELD, Mass. Jan. 16.— James Coles, Negro, charged with Nicholas Waytovich, white, of hold- | up on a buss at Lee, Mass.; Dec. 6) last, was sentenced to 73 to 93 years) by Judge Frank J. Donahue in Su- | perior Court yesterday. ‘Waytovich was given 33 to 45 years. | Coles’ sentence is the longest ever | meted out in a Massachusetts court. fury that gun thugs were detailed to} murder him, and thus break the strike, must be borne in the minds of the U.M.W.A. rank and file dele- gates. The fight for vengeance in the slaying of Harry Sims must go hand in hand with the struggle for broad oppositions in every local of the U.M.W.A. including large num- bers of youth, and the ousting of Lewis and the A. F. of L, burocracy. The resolution to be presented to the U.M.W.A. on the young miners is as follows: “WHEREAS, The young miners working in and around the mines | are performing the same work as | adult miners, but are being paid | lower wages because of special class- ification of labor such as ‘trappers, snappers, slate pickers, helpers,’ ete. which is done purposely in order to discriminate against the youth; and “WHEREAS, The young miner re- quires the same amount of money for his existence as an adult miner, pays the same prices and the same union dues as the adult miners; there- fore be it “RESOLVED, That the Interna- tional Convention of the United Mine Workers of America goes on | record of establishing the equal pay for equal work for all young miners regardless of classifications of la~ bor; and be it further “RESOLVED, That in order to make it possible for the young miners to discuss their grievances and raise their specific problems, to discuss and organize their social ac- tivity, they shall meet as a group of the U.M.W.A. to be known as a realized desire. the coal operators to such insane “Youth Section of the U.M.W.A.” | tatives of locals in Illinois, it was| letter from the) Cuts Wages | Workers foe 30 Hours) But Without Cut in Wages By NAT KAPLAN (National Organizer N, T. W. U,) | About a million textile workers | Were simultaneously earning’ their weekly ~s in December. authorities | turers (the Roosevelt-manufac- consortium) through their ‘The COFtAHOENts a ‘By hae (2) Making each shift work 40 hours one week and 20 hours the |mext with half pay for latter week. | (3) The majority of the hosiery plants | adopted a 3 day week with only 3} days pay, etc. The attack is being continued in January. A curtailment of 25 per cent for fine cotton goods and cer- tain types of rayons is already ordered. The hints of the Daily| News Record (Dec. 28, 1933) that the 80 hour week of two 40 hour shifts is “hopelessly” excessive for the woolen industry foreshadows similiar attack this month against the woolen workers. Furthermore the code authorities have the power to extend these curtailments beyond the 4 and 5 week periods originally | provided. A New Bitter Deal ‘The blue eagle sqawked about a} “living wage” and then proceeded to lay a rotten egg labeled $13 weekly, less curtailments. Roosevelt made it possible for the textile barons to simultaneously order a lower living standard. for the entire textile prole- tariat with one stroke of the pen in Washington. To that extent the tex- tile workers have a new deal. But the new deal is more bitter than the | old. Roosevelt's N. R. A. established car- tels in the various branches of the textile industry dominated by the big- gest manufacturers and finance capi- talists to “plan production.” These bloodsucking gentlemen got together, pooled their grey matter and gave birth to two types of planning: Firstly, they planned nation-wide attacks on the workers such as the present curtailment. They accom- panied this with increased stretch- out, increased speed of the machines and introduction of new labor saving methods and machinery for the big- gest manufacturers, This “planful- ness” is strangling the textile work- |ers by cutting their weekly earnings, by mass layoffs and a sharp increase of unemployment in general and of “structural,” 1. €. permanent unem- ployment in particular, Secondly, they planned selling, trage practices and processing taxes favoring the biggest manufacturers of that particular branch of the in- dustry who were doing the planning. ‘This has intensified the competitive struggle between the rayon and silk cartels. It has sharpened the strug- gle of the small manufacturers to survive as exploiters of labor, ete. In order words it has ably demonstrated that organized and planned produc- tion under capitalism is just as pos- sible as a trip through the strato- sphere in a leaky row boat. It is significant of the whole “new deal” | policy that the rayon industry, which can be converted into a machine pro- ducing direct war materials, has been given greater preference by Roose- Lenin’s Influence on Working Class Trade Union Policy in the United Siates | COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL LAID DOWN CORRECT LINE FOR WORK IN REFORMIST UNIONS AND AGAINST OPPORTUNISM By J. STACHEL r Stalin defines Leninism as “Marx- jism in the epoch of imperialism and *|of the proletarian revolution.” He states further, “Leninism is the the- |ory and tactics of the proletarian | revolution in general and the theory | and tactics of the dictatorship of the | proletariat in particular.” On_ this | Stalin bases his statement that “Len- |inism is the further development of | Marxism.” ‘This is true about every phase of | the theory and tactics of the prole-~ tarian revolution. It is true on the question of the trade unions. Marx, on the basis of the analysis of the laws of the development and decline of capitalism, showed to the prole- tariat that it was not sufficient to fight for “ a fair day's wage for a fair day’s work,” but called upon the proletariat to inscribe on its banner “the fight for the abolition of capital- ism.” Marx and Engels, even in the pre-imperialist epoch, carried on a merciless struggle against all vari- eities of opportunism. They pointed out the bourgeois ideology of the British labor movement, which had resulted from the bribery by the Brit- ish ruling class of large sections of the working class through super- profits. Marx and Engels fully rec-~ omen the necessity of’ the workers organize themselves into trade fades The letter of Marx and Engels deal- ing with the early development of the revolutionary labor movement in this country were a great force’ to- wards pushing the immigrant revolu- tonists of that day toward the masses to work in the rising trade union novement. They condemned the varren sectarianism of the “purists,” but at the same time, fought against pure-and-simple trade unionism, and called upon the revolutionists to work in the trade unions for the purpose jakdown. In such a crisis the army the above—I. A.), is the only or- tion in the country, which is e and ready to maintain the gov- it” meaning the ee eee of mobilizing the masses for the struggle for the abolition of capital- |epoch of imperialism, Lenin made tremendous contributions. Through- out the history of the Second Inter- national, Lenin, and the Bolshevik Party under his leadership, carried on a constant and uncompromising struggle against opportunism. He showed how, with the development of imperialism (the dying stage of cap- italism), the bourgeoisie was able to corrupt even larger sections of the working-class, the skilled workers, and that the whole labor movement, in most of the advanced capitalist coun- tries, dominated by narrow craftism and the labor aristocracy, made it possible for the labor bureaucrats to convert the trade unions from instru- ments of struggle in the interests of the masses, into instruments “for ami- able arrangements with the capitalists at any cost.” In the U. S., with the development of imperialism and the bribery of large sections of the more skilled workers, the labor movement, under the leadership of Gompers and Green, was transformed into an instrument that has betrayed the interests of the large masses of the workers in possible, not alone through super- profits gained by foreign colonial ex- ploitation and the material and tech- nical advantages of the United States bourgeoisie, but also through the special exploitation of the Negro toil- ers and the foreign born unskilled workers who make up, in the most jority of the working class. “Labor” in the development- of imperialism,” although it continued to mouth empty phrases about the fight for socialism. In reality it was dominated by the same reformist in- fluences as was the American Fed- eration of Labor. Hillquit’s stand on the question of exclusion of immi- grants to the U. S., his absolute fail- ure to fight the discrimination aged of Marx and ter tho, rede mica “to ioe the Negro toilers, are sufficient to show the corruption and opportumism important basic industries, the ma-/| ary jof the leadership of the Socialist Party. This does not mean that\there were not, in the trade unions and in the Socialist. Party, groups that carried on a struggle against the opportunism which dominated the official policies of these organizations; but this strug- gle was not carried on on the basis of Leninism, which was hardly known in this country before the war. In the trade union sphere, the fight against Gomperism was conducted by the Industrial Workers of the World, dominated by a syndicalist philosophy and with a sectarian approach to the workers organized in the A. F. of L. unions. On the political front, the Socialist Labor Party, under the lead- ership of De Leon, though carrying on.a fight against the “labor lieu- tenants of capitalism,” was saturated with petty bourgeois concepts of con- stitutionalism, guildism, and sec- tarianism. . Lenin’s Influence on Left Wing Before the war, there existed only small groups within the Socialist Party and in the trade union move- ment that, to some extent, were de- veloping towards Leninism on some questions; while on other questions they were subject to such unclarity as differed little from the official So- cialist Party and the trade union movement. Thus, Debs, on the ques- tion of the fight against the A. F. of L. bureaucracy, on the question of class industrial unions; and Ruth- enberg on the question of revolution- parliamentarism and the fight against Hillquitism, were among those who were developing in the direction of Leninism, ‘The very low theoretical level of the working class movement in the U. 8., and the absence of any knowl- edge of the teachings of Lenin, were, of course, factors that made it im- possible for the groping revolutionary forces to develop fully their struggle against opportunism. It was only af- ter the October revolution that the Left Wing came in contact with the ‘to crystallize in the direction of Bol- shevism. It was no accident that Ruthenberg who, in the Socialist Party, was the outstanding fighter against opportunism, and who took a courageous stand in the war against both patriotism and pacifism, became the leader of the left wing, and fi- nally of the Communist Party. The Communist Party was formed in September, 1919 (after the found- ing of the Communist International). The new parties (the Communist Party and the Communist Labor Party, which were later united), made up, as they were, of various cur- rents of the labor movement. Left elements from the Socialist Party, from the I.W.W., from the S.L-P., etc., and composed largely of immigrant masses, had not as yet adopted a clear line of policy on the trade union question. There was, in general, an_ underestimation of the work in the trade unions. There was a tendency to give up work in the reformist trade unions and to base the work almost exclusively on the LW.W., and the small and narrow independent unions that were existing or then springing up. At the same time, such work as was carried on in the A. F. of L. unions was in most cases, far from being of a really revolutionary char- acter. Comintern Line on Trade Unions It was the Second Congress of the Comintern which laid down the clear Leninist line for work in the trade unions. The resolution on trade unions, which was written under the unions for winning the proletarian masses. The resolution stated: “Bearing in mind the rush of of Lenin, and, after the ex- the role of the various the imperialist war, began of On ql Communists must join such unions in all countries in order to make of them efficient organs of the struggle for the suppression of cap- italism and for Communism. They must initiate the forming of trade unions where these do not exist. All voluntary withdrawal from the industrial movement, every artificial attempt to organize special unions without being compelled thereto by the exceptional acts of violence on the part of the trade union bureau- eracy, such as expulsion of separate revolutionary local branches of the unions by the opportunist officials, or by their narrow-minded aristo- cratic policy which prohibits the unskilled workers from entering in- to the organizations, represents a great danger to the Communist movement, It threatens to hand over the most advanced, the most conscious workers to the opportun- ist leaders, playing into the hands of the bourgeoisie.” The adoption of this resolution did not at once have its effect on our Party..As in a number of other coun- tries, sectarianism continued to dom- inate the trade union policy of the Communists. It was this serious situ- ation that moved Lenin to write in his famous pamphlet “Left Commu- nism—An Infantile Disorder,” the section, “Should Revolutionists Work in the Reactionary Trade Unions?” in which he flayed all the phrase- mongers and sectarians whose course would abandon the organized work- ers to the influence of the reformists instead of winning them for Com- munism, Founding of T.U.E.L. With the organization of the Trade Union Educational League, led by William Z. Foster, as the Left wing within the A. F. of L, the Party, upon its emergence from a prolonged period of illegality, rapidly began to work within the reformist unions and inade some serious headway in in- fluencing the workers. But it cannot be stated that the quality of our work at that time was that demanded which those masses are carrying on in spite of the trade union bureaucracy, the was aggravated by the lack of sys- tematic building of fractions. Many agreements with the progressives of that time, and the failure of the Party to bring forward its independ- ent role, made it impossible to de- velop the workers along the revolu- tionary path. Furthermore, the mass of the unskilled workers remained unorganized. It was the infiuence of the skilled workers that made itself felt, not only within the A. F. of L. in general, but also within the Left wing movement. ‘There was much talk about organ- izing the unorganized, calls upon the bureaucrats to organize the unorgan- ized, many resolutions passed, but the unorganized workers were neither brought into the A, F. of L. nor or- ganized into independent class unions. It became clear that the A. F. of L. bureacrats were hindering every at- tempt to organize the unorganized, as had been seen earlier, in the 1919 steel strike led by Foster, at that time one of the organizers of the American Federation of Labor. Thus, while the Party began to work among the workers organized in the A. F. of L., it neglected the organization of the main body of the unorganized workers, and did not carry through a clear revolutionary policy within the A. F. of L. unions. In the year 1926, the first serious attempt was made to organize the unorganized and lead them into struggle. This was in Passaic where, under the leadership of the Party, some 16,000 textile workers were on strike for many months. But lack of perspective by the Party as to the organization of the unorganized was responsible for turning these workers over, after a defeated strike, to the A. F. of L. Similarly, this lack of perspective created much hesitation as to our course during the big strikes of the needle workers and miners in 1926 and 1927, with the result that only after the movement was on the decline, did we carry through the ad- vices of the Red International of Labor Unions to organize the expelled, betrayed workers into independent given a cut in| This bitter pill was administered to} the workers by the N. R. A. code/ order to curtail production in the in-| dustry by 25 per cent in cotton, 40 per cent in hosiery, etc. cut the weekly id ‘s tes | trom 40 to 30 with 10 hours pay cut velt than the silk industry in the} Textile “Curtailment, ‘Aided By U.T.W. Official: One Quartei Tale of processing taxes, ete. = The United Textile Rita as burocracy, including the Party officialdom of the tere and the Lovestone renegades in lerson, under the demagogic pret of supporting the 30 hour week hi | declared itself in complete support | the curtailment wage cut. McMahoi Gorman 4 Co. openly annound that they are out to prevent strike (the basic weapon which the work ers have to improve their conditions land to “promote understanding an cooperative acti between th | robber textile barons and their robbe wage slaves. McMahon in the Der |issue of the “Textile Worker” ca us “to pray to God” to spe velt both “mentally and phy 0 that he can effectively pu the manufacturers new steal against the workers. But McMahon and Co. did not rei }on prayers alone. They spread illu |sions among the 65,000 silk striker | that a national settlement could br | secured through the N, R. A. whict would give a $27 weekly wage to sill weavers and then proceeded to break this adid ional strike piece- |meal. In both Paterson and Paw- tucket they tied the workers dowr to anti-strike agreements and to ac- | tual weekly wages which under the | curtailment nets a weaver $15 at the |most. For other crafts the wage is a still lower. ‘The U. S. Bureau of Labor | Statistics has just admitted that | workers in silk and rayon received | during a typical week in 1933 wages of $11.85, which compares with $18.47 | for a typical week in 1931. The workers should now laugh in derision when McMahon becomes suddenly “militant” and proposes a nation-wide struggle (in words) for the 30 hour week. This is nothing | but a sugar coating on the bitter | curtailment pill which the manufac- turers are shoving down the throats of the textile workers. Why the Curtailment? The manufacturers organ, the “Textile World” (Dec. 1933), blasts | McMahon’s demagogy by presenting the following reason for the curtail- ment: “If all the active cotton spin- dies ran the full 2 shifts allowed un- der the N.R.A,, the volume of produc- tion would be more than 25 per cent | Steater than the annual average for | the 10 years starting in 1921.” Hence the decision for a 25 per cent cur- | tailment in cotton. Robert Amory, president of the Nashua Manufac- turing Co., gleefully declares: “In the long run the entire industry cannot average more than 62 hours a week,” i. e. two 31 hour shifts per week. Mr, Amory can well afford to be gleeful since the curtailment is com- ing out of the hides of the workers and will not seriously effect the pro- | fits of the “big shots.” His company, in the midst of the severest econo- mic crisis, has just announced a net profit of $268,217 for the year end, ing Oct. 31, 1933. McMahon's “mil tancy” for the 30 hour week is not! ing more nor less than the curtail ment policy of the manufacturers. The Workers’ Position Both the Communists among the textile workers and the National Tex- week, but are opposed to the wage cutting features of the curtailment. The textile wo! Ss wont pyeter hours without a cent off their pay. was helping to write and was support- ing the $13 for 40 eae » textile code: ‘n Washington, the N. WwW. U, presenting real workers grt calli for a minimum 20 hour week. Tal key demands presented in the work’ ers codes of the N. T. W. U. for wool, cotton and silk were as follows: “A minimum of 30 hours per week and a maximum of 40 hours per week. A guarantee of 40 weeks work a year with a minimum wage of $720 per year, i. e. for unskilled workers, Unemployed insurance at the expense of the government and the employers for the unemployed and bringing of part time wages at least up to the $720 minim These still remain among the key demands in fighting the curtailment. Organize the Struggle ‘The Jan. 7th Communist Party tex- tile conference gave first considera- tion to the struggle against the cur- tailment. We agreed that while the broadest agitation should be developed for “not a cent off our weekly pay,” “for the guaranteed yearly minimum wage,” etc., that we should set up united front committees in the mills to prepare for strikes and to start immediate actions, stoppages, dem- onstrations, etc, against the actual weekly wages anywhere going below the $18 minimum. In many places we can demand that the differences between the actual wages received and the $18 minimum shall be made up by additions from local relief and Cc. W. A. funds. ‘The Conference called for connect- ing up the struggle against the cur- tailment with the struggle against the other burning grievances inside the mill (against speed-up and stretch out, against lay-offs and discrimina- tory firing, for posting of piece price lists, against the special grievances of the women, Negro and workers, etc.). ‘The struggle inside the mills must | be reinforced by and in its turn must’ reinforce the struggle of the unem- ployed workers for jobs or’ cash re- lief as the first step towards winning federal unemployment insurance. The employed textile workers must also be involved in the struggle for im- provements on C. W. A. jobs and for sending a mass textile delegation to the Feb. 3, 4 and 5, Washington Con- ference against unemployment. This program of action must be taken into the ranks of all the unions in the industry (N. T. W. U., U. T. and independents) and through it % must cement the fighting unity the organized and unorganized textil workers, ‘The mass strike wave of 1933 in textiles is already a clear indication that the textile workers will not ac- cept the new attacks laying down. We must immediately prepare for an- other year of sharp class battles ir the textile industry, ay a seein Shae tile Workers Union favor the 30 hour | At the very time when McMahon |