The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 22, 1934, Page 3

Racketeers in Sheet Metal! Union Cover Y WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 1934 Each Other’s Gratt at Cost of Workers Union Members Driven Out, Especially Jobless Who Couldn’t Pay By WILLIAM L, BELL if one wants to know how Inter- national and local officers are de- tending each other's loot and how a trong local union was. wrecked, the membership expelled and driven out, he should look at Local 137 of Sheet Metal Workers of New York City. Only a few years have elapsed since Local 137 has had 750 good-standing members. However, since then, 500 members were suspended and driven out of this local union. Some were suspended because they were unem- ployed and could not pay the $5 monthly dues. Others were suspended because the financial secretary, Smith, collected dues and kept them in his pocket, while others were forced out “voluntarily” from he local. ‘Two incidents uncovered Smith's thievery. 1) When the members caught Rosen—the candidate for president in the 1932 elections — depositing T™more than one ballot, they decided to ceil new elections. The Interna- tional office was immediately in~ formed by the clique about the local’s decision, and the I. A, Informed the local immediately that it was not in good standing; and that unless the local pays $300 in cash the local would new elections. It was the file who raised the $309. By recciving its loot, the I. A. was “pacified” and did not ask why the deal was not in good standing. Incurance Swindie 2) The second incident that un- i Smith's crookedness was n! Every member of the Inter- y insured in case of appened thet The families of the from the I. A. the surance their departed carried. But the I. A. in- he families of the dead that e not entitled to the imsur- deceased was not The T. A. asked not bother their of the locai, te Ww these two incidents that Stimulated the battle cry—Oust the clique from. the office! its fi day in office, the m started to in- the deeds of the investigation forced of the old de- They quickly whom they ect as business agent, the defeated candidate , organized a “new club” ance bec m good tlemen “raised” a Washington to etition accused the ion of being “Reds” was to destroy the Uy S. ment. But behind their peti+ 2 was good reasoning, namely they ‘were determined to stop the inves- tigation. S mith knew their activities too. Smith would not stand being the scapegoat, Siskivd realized it and led his dammost vo stop the investi- ation. The J. A. heard the voices of: their friends who were in need, “and sent in their henchmen to put the finishing touches in destroying Local 187. Charges against Smith The new administration preferred charges against the financial secre- tary Smith. When the trial commit- tee was rendy to render its decision two I .A. rooresentatives—Vitcom and Mcintir: cee to the meeting, and while Smith was supposed to be “busy” receiving dues, these two gentlemen grabbed the financial books and. ran away with them, where he is. later the two I. A. came to the newly ient—Abramowitz, and ordered him to appoint Rosen, the defeated candidate for President, and who was caught filling the ballot boxes with fake votes—as financial Secretary. Abramowitz refused to do this, They then ordered a special Executive Beard meeting where they msde the same demand. They were refused again. This was already tco much for the I. A. “organizers.” They dissolved the Executive Board in the name of the I. A.’ It was here where the new administration began to play into the hands of the I. A. wreckers. Instead of mobilizing the rank and file and fight back the combined at- member of 137, who while being the Secretary “Socialist” National Labor Commit- tee, is the LA. “brains” in ‘They ran to consult a man tends the I. A. on each issue in local 38. They ran to consult a man who fought—and is still fighting the battle of the old corrupt clique, the clique that was found guilty in Local ANNIVERSARY Daily Worker =: CELEBRATIONS Philadelphia: On Feb, 2 at Girard Manor Hall, 911 W. Girard Ave, Good program | Beautyrest arranged. Pittsburgh, Pa. On Feb, 3 at Russian Hall, 1508 Sera St. S.S. Interesting program. Boston, Mass. On Feb. 10 at Dudley St. Opera House, 113 Dudley St., Roxbury. Clarence Hathaway, Editor Daily. Worker, main speaker. Varied | New, program, including Russian Work- a few) F — | [28 for embezzling $35,000. They ran/ to consult a man, who while being a member of Local 28, and an organizer) jfor the Brooklyn bosses of Roofers) Association, the I. A. permitted him | |to be a delegatae to the 1930 conven-| tion of the International. This} igentleman’s name is Joseph Tuvim. |And he gave them some advise: The | “Socialist” Joseph Tuyim told them to lay low! He told them not to figh He told them to submit to the I, A. iron rule. Tuyim did his share in) smashing Local 137. It was he who} completely demoralized them—as we} will see. | When Abramowitz saw that the) Executive Board was dissolved hej resigned in protest as President of the | local. The whole group around the tne administration together with the new administration resigned from the focal. Not having sufficient experi- ence on how to carry on struggle against the labor sharks, the rank land file were left leaderless. This struggle resulted in a later formation of the Independent Sheet Metal | Workers Union. | Get Free Hand | The I. A. representatives got a free | hand in the local, They immediately; “appointed” Rosen, as the new finan-| cial secretary. They brought back to life a former defeated candidate for) president and a personal friend of) Siskind, a man by the name of Mike| Broud, and “appointed” him as the new President, They “appointed” a/ new Executive Board of three; Two} I. A. men and one a so-called pro-! gressive. But they were in need of a| strong man, a “stabilizer” in the local. So they brought back to life another man by the name of Mannie | Graff, and “appointed” him as a new ‘ousiness agent. It was this gentle- |man, Mannie Graff, who once shot Max Himmelsohn, ®% former business agent, because he dared to bring |charges against him. The I. A, “or- \ganizers” knew all about this, and they therefore “appointed” him es an ‘extra business bent.” Mannie Graff {immediately “produced the \goods” for his bosses. He knocked |a member unconscious because the |member, Lifschitz, accused Siskind of |taking $100 graft. | Extra Expense | The I. A. representatives and the extra business agent meant extra expenses for the local. These people \never work for love—and they wanted their loot in the form of wages. ‘They could not assess the |members, for the working members were already paying one dollar a day |to the unemployed fund. The mem- |bers would protest if their dues were} jraisetl. They already pay $5 a month/ in dues. So the I. A. representatives) |got wise and “found” a way to get money They declared that the $6,000 in the relief fund was “illegally” col- jected and ordered the transfer of |this money to the general fund, | which is used to pay for all local ex- penses. This was not enough. They |also ordered to continue to pay the ‘dollar per day which previously went |to the unemployed fund, to be trans- jferred to the general fund. |. But there were three motives Radio Picket OPERATORS ON STRIKE Mayas! DS7ZWAGE CUT Mail Subsidiz ‘ jee UE T CME V8, iM GMUISES While the Mozgaz-owned inter- | national Merchant Marine imports seabs to break the strike of the radio operztors on the American Merchent Lines, the strikers re- main solid as the strike enters its ixth week. Above, Paul Rothman, | chief radio operator of one of the American merchant ships, on the picket line. LMM. Radio Strike Enters Third Week With Strikers Morgan Firm Imports Uninformed Seabs From Norfolk | NEW YORK.—While the strike of | the radio operators of the American | Merchant Lines enters its sixth week, | scab operators, uninformed of the} strike, are being imported from Nor- folk, Virginia, and rushed aboard the ships 15 minutes before sailing time. | The strike against a 25 per cent wage cut was called on ships of the Morgan-owned American Merchant | Lines, by the American Radio Tele- graphists Association. Kermit Roose- | velt, one of the fifth cousins of Presi- dent Roosevelt, and Vincent Astor, multi-millionaire, are large owners of International Merchant Marine stock, the Morgan controlled trust, which owns the American Merchant Lines. The American Radio Telegraphists Association, which is conducting the strike, calls upon all seamen and jJongshoremen to support the strike Calls on Fellow-W orkers Favoritism an CW. ) OWN: ville Tel long: ed’ Worker Co . LE, Pa.—The Browns- f Je 13 ear a| the question. of the handling of the (By a admits that the cause| dissatisiac- | the alloca- om a} t the ‘money for ’ run out, only to find a later that others who with me on the same project | till were on the job.” elegraph explains charges by stating me reason for the widespread criticism may be found in the state-| ment of the re-employment office in| Uniontown Saturday. The office pointed out that in the county seat (Uniontown) there are 6,000 unem- d and only 500 jobs available, naturally the other 5,500 are gruntied.” It further states that: | he unfortunate feature of the whole situation was the implied as-| surance, when the C.W.A. program was first announced, that every job- less individual would be given work under the program.” The editorial, however, ends with- out offering any concrete suggestion by what methods the check-up on the political string-pulling can be} made; also refuses to suggest what shall be done for these tens of thou- sands of the jobless in Brownsville or Fayette County. Get Fat “Foreman” Jobs The Telegraph also does not divulge publicly something that is to Form Union to Fight d Corruption known to everyone; that borough and township officials have fat “fore- man” jobs, when the actual ruling is that no borough or township official all hold jobs on the C.W.A. projects. It is also known that there are men who do not work but have their shift turned in; while some of the unem- yed have to walk three miles to their projects, only to walk back home without making a penny, be- cause the ground it too wet. The sons of Prick bosses get jobs as foremen at $1.25 a day, while men in sew roads, abutments, etc., are lucky to get the 50 cents an hour, Job. Every job, every project, is per- meated with graft and corruption in one form or another. Townships and boroughs overcharge the projects for the use of their trucks, shovels, | picks, etc. Now there is a ruling that we who} work on the C. W. A. jobs have the} right to spend our money as we see fit! But here in Brownsville we have the ex-dick of the Monongahela Railroad, Red Baer, who demands receipts from the workers on how they spent their money. What Can Workers Do? People ask: “What can you do, what can we do? If you open your mouth, you won't get another day's work?” This is not so. If we or- ganize a union of the C, W. A. work- ers we can put a check to ail this favoritism and graft and corruption. The men on the jobs, and in their homes, should take up the question of organizing themselves, call a meet- ing, elect officers, adopt rules and conditions under which they will work, elect a grievance committee on every job, keep lists of the employed, to check up on the favorites, Firm Simmons, Klansman, Heads ‘New Fascist Attack on Negroes ‘“*Nationalist’s JACKSONVILLE, Fila., Jan. 21—A new Fascist organization, national in scope, has just been launched into the open, with Jacksonville as its headquarters. The name of the or- ganization is the Nationalists, and its Commander-in-Chief is Colonel William Joseph Simmons, founder of the Ku Klux Klan, “Secrecy is Abandoned,” announces | the first issue of the organization’s official paper, The Nationalist, pub- lished in this city. The leading news jitem states: “The headquarters of the Florida division of the Nationalists, a great militant organization of white Amer- ican citizens now numbering more Organization Plans Terrorist Acts Against Militant Workers, Attacks Communism behind dissolving the Unemployed Fund. 1) because the unemployed | °! the operators. Meanwhile, Smith disappeared and|t represent the most dissatisfied with- in all the local unions, They were the first ones to help in kicking out the old clique in Local 28. This is the biggest local in the International, with a membership of over 2,000. In Local 28 of the old gang was in office for nearly 25 years. The same clean- ing took place in Local 137. And because in each case the I. A. sided with the grafters in the locals, the members had to fight against the Jocal and International cliques. It was here that the I. A. began to feel shaky in their throne. For the chal- lenge against the local grafters turned out to be a challenge to the International officiais. It is no won- der that the I. A. “asked” the locals postpone the 1933 convention, Nobody knows that the results were from the fake referendum. Ey suspending and dropping the unem-| ployed the I. A. hopes to weaken the revolts that are taking placg in almost all the locals, Insurance which the members pay—is nothing else but a fake. They have to sus- “| guards have refused to have them | pend five members out of every six, ‘This ui s gee ai The $6,000 Unemployed Fund created by the local members directly against the interest of the I. A. The I, A. took it away from the |, although they knew that only 10 per cent were at that time. What does the I. A. about the unemployed? HOW SURPLUS IS MADE By a Worker KENOSHA, Wis.—Here is some data on the Simmons Co. here in Ken- osha. One of their big sellers is the mattress. Its retail atin: gi7.t0 thn, etmeany, aaa aly ler; e and $450 is left for labor and’ materials, So you can see how much is left for the workers. Scottsboro Gifts a | Racket to Jailers BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Jan. 21.—Re- | quests that money for cigarettes and stamps sent to the Scoitsboro boys in| Birmingham county jail here be sent | in cash by registered mail, and that | all packages for them he registered | or sent to the Southern district office of the LL.D., Box 604, Birmingham, Ala., for transmission to them, was made by the Southern office here to- day following a visit to the boys by| Attorney Benjamin J. Davis, Jr., of | Atlanta, on behalf of the LL.D, Many packages of comforts sent to} the Scottsboro boys, and especially | to Roy Wright and Eugene Williams, | from all over the country, have never been received by them, but have been illegally retained by the prison auth- orities. When they have received money-orders with which to buy cigarettes, stamps, and stationery, the cashed unless a percentage is turned over, Charlie Weems, one of the boys, | only daily newspaper that tells acout |than two hundred thousand Amer- jican men, who have quietly organ- jized brigades in the chfef cities of the United States, announce the first public meeting in the United States. “This organization, formed with the greatest secrecy during the past twelve months, now has a brigade in Florida that will throw off {ts secrecy and make known to the American public its aims, purposes, and plans . .. the organization admits to mem- bership any truly patriotic white American citizens of good character.” ‘The fact that membership én the Nationalists is limited to men and to whites, indicates clearly that its ; chief purpose is terrorist acts against the Negro people and against mili- tant workers of all nationalities. The | platform states plainly the organiza- tion’s opposition to Communism. In an attempt to appeal to the} starving workers and the hard-hit | lower middle class, the Nationalists use unbridled demagogy about “poli- — ea tesa and graft in pub- lic life.” Police in New England Attempt To Stop Two Workers Selling ‘Daily’ BOSTON, Mass. Jan. 21—Two workers, arrested in Malden, Mass., for selling the Daily Worker, were released after attempts to intimidate them failed to have any effect. At the police station the police tried to terrorize the two workers, but they replied that they were resi- dents of Malden for the past 17 and 19 years, respectively, that they sold} the Daily Worker because “it is the} the struggles of the workers and shows the way out.” After their release, the two work- ers went out on the streets and con- tinued selling the “Daily.” was recently sent into solitary con- finement for more than a week be- cause he participated in a strike of 20 prisoners against the rotten food served them in the jail, Philadelphia District C.P. Begins Registration PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 26.— very Party Unit Orgenizer in the Phila- delphia district has been instructed to mobilize all party members, to carry through a thorough registra- tion of the whole party memlership. ‘Together with this, all party books are to be controlled, dues payment checked up, and control stamps to be given to every party member. |{ The District Committee will meet | in a few days to take up a number | of problems in preparation for the section, district and national conven- tions. In order to make it possible | to have s complete of the composition of the party member- ship, as well as to enable the district organization department to carry through certe’n organizational changes, the registration must be | completed at the next unit meetings | i | | ' t which is mobilizing the rank and file of the American Federation of Labor in the fight for the en- actment of the Workers Unem- ployment Inurance Bill and is ex- posing the fake “insurance” posals such as the so-called “ cial Security Bill.” O- No Comfort Station Within 14 Blocks For C. W.A. Workers, By a C.W.A. Correspondent | BROOKLYN, N. Y¥.—I am a C.W.A. | worker in Dyker Park, which reminds | me of the Hitler concentration | camps. | On cold days as well as sunny ones | we have to work out in the open} until the last minute. We have to} carry around our lunches when we} want to have them with us, and we have to eat in the open air. There| is no comfort station near us and to York institution here last ni; A.F.L. Sup} Page Three ‘| Brownsville, Pa.. CW A/[ tus Weinwock || Painters Local Exposes - JobsAre Graft-Ridden sort of Seab “Social Security Bill” In the News NJURED IN 4 pel an L pillar, OF NOTRE DAME, NCES COLUMBIA Jan. BOSTON John F. O'Hara, Notre Dame Ur that Columbia Uni urse in coneubinage d the philosophies of Rey. O'Hara based his attack on the announcement by Columbia, of @ new course, to be required of all sophomores in reer conception of the relation of the sexes, un- hindered by law of religion. ONE KILLED, TWO BURNED IN CELLAR NEW YORK, Jan. 21.—Fritz Her- man, 52, unemployed worker, was burned to death Saturday in a cellar at 408 E. Sth St. Out of a job for more than a year, not eating for two and three days at a time, Herman and two others, Ellen Wilkins, 45, and James Whur- | ® ban, 46, both unemployed, were forced to seek shelter in a miserable hole to escape the freezing weather. Wilkins and Whurban, who were caught in the blaze, were so badly | burned, that it is feared they will not live. CHICAGO, Jan. 20.— Despite the | attend to our needs we have to walk| threat of an apoplectic seizure, Mrs.| CAR CRASH about 14 blocks or sicken ourselves. | Alice Wynekoop, charged with the As for our pay, we never get it as}murder of her daughter-in-law last we should, and many a time we jiave| November, insisted that her trial pro- to go there to see if we can get it on| ceed. a day that we are not to work, which; The apoplectic stroke which medi-| means spending extra carfare, as well|cal men fear Dr. Wynekoop might as losing our time. Then many times| suffer could result in death or par- we are told that we can’t get it till| alysis. next weeek. Our work is from 8 to! 430. We are given less than 10 min- a utes to check over 3,000 men of dif- Jobless Forced The workers are getting disgusted| * To Sing Prayers ferent sections, more and more daily. They are be-| coming more and more militant too.) About ten after 4 o‘clock ane day} somebody gave the signal to check) up, so the workers ran to check out,} but the head checker was drunk and} started chasing the men back to their) work. As he did so a group of | Says, For Xmas Dinner: By an Unemployed Worker Corresp.| drunken fascists like him pushed the workers back and even went so far ELIZABETH, N. J.—The single un- employed workers who are receiving shelter and grub in return for their | hard laborious work, were compelled | by force to thank god for their good as to hit a couple of the workers. A poor colored worker was just about to be hit by two of the Fascists when a few white workers defended lene of being unemployed and| him. Just then one of the Fascists said | S“tved. i see the colored man had 2 knife just to During the Christmas holidays, put the lynching spirit into the white workers. The only way to stop these abuses is for us to unite in a strong mili- tant union and fight. | join hands with the officials of the many of the workers who refused to Salvation Army and other so-called saviors of mankind in giving their thanks through prayer and the sing- jing of songs, were threatened with Relief Workers Union | Helps Fight Eviction) By a Worker Correspondent LOS ANGELES, Calif,—An ex-| serviceman by the name of Proctor received orders from the authorities | EVICTION | to vacate his home at 6023 Romaine | St. or be thrown out on the street. On the day of the eviction, Dec. 26, @ large crowd of workers, ready for action, gathered outside of Proctor's home at 10 a. m. Seeing the mili tant looks in the faces of the wot ers the deputy sheriff who w under orders to do the dirty work, | and sent in to the district. ! got cold feet, There was no evic-/ | stomachs, but on the contrary, were jand prot eviction and beatings. Many of the workers were looking forward to a decent meal on Christ- mas in order to fill their empty forced to pray and listen to a gang of prostitutes sent from New York give their testimony of how they were saved from the devil. It was the devil who caused this unbear- able condition of starvation and un- employment. Despite the threats of Director Smith of the Salvation Army, in charge to sing and comply with his orders, the workers refused to sing and pray, but demanded decent food and increase in wages, which at the present time is five cents an hour. Smith’s reply to the workers was,| their mou are large enough to eat , but too small for sing- ing jingo-bells and prayer. —From a worker who is sick of this civilization. tion and the Welfare Department Local 499, A. F, of L., In- dorses Workers Jobless Insurance Bill rman Painters Local No, 499. red its inten- ‘compan: now being advocated York State Federation of Labor and the so- called Social Security Bill, This f the Local 499 is con- letter to Samuel of Typograph- v 0 is campaigning trikebreaking “Social Security The letter of the Painters’ Union Local 499, poses the Social Security Bill b shed by O’Brien and othi . of L, officials No Benefits for Strikers The letter to O’Brien, indorsed as official position of the painters cal at the meeting of Jan. 10, states though we agree with your argu- | ments against the State Federation of Labor Bill, (based on the infamous Wisconsin Plan) we cannot agree with you on the Social Security Bill. |In our opinion the Social Security | Bill is just as dangerous to the trade junions and to the working people as la whole as the company reserve jplan. , . . No organized labor body | could support such a bill without | fear that it will be detrimental to | the interests of the working people.” ‘The Painters local resolution points to the strikebreaking clause advo~ cated in the Social Security Bill | which states that “No benefits shall | WYNEKOOP TRIAL TO GO ON |be payable to any employe who has lost his employment by reason of a strike or lock-out in the establish- ment in which he was employed, so long as such a strike or lockout con- tinues.” This paragraph in the Social Se- curity Bill, the Painters local union “means the stifling of any strike movement on the part of the workers, in case they are confronted with wage cuts or if they go out on | strike for better conditions. This | Paragraph would punish the workers | even for lockouts caused by the em- | ployers.” Benefits Too Meagre Local Union 499 also condemns the paragraph in the Social Security | Bill which states, “An employe who {has lost his employment through misconduct or who has voluntarily left his employment without just cause, shall not receive benefits.” This clause, the painters local points out, chains the worker to his employer. Other weakness in the bill which are pointed out include the clause that workers occupied in industries where there is not em- ployment for the whole year, are en- titled to benefits only for the sea- sons when work is available, “This means that the building trades worker would be entitled to benefit only for the period of his’ seasonal work,” : | “If the bill is adopted, it would not |go into effect before 1935, and whai should the workers do between now |and 1935,” the painters local asks of |O’Brien. The bill calls for 26 weeks insurance, which divides the bene~ fits into half. This means that dur- ing 52 weeks of unemployment, the benefit will amount to $5 and not $10 a week. The painters local points | out that the maximum insurance al- | lowed in the Social Security Bill is | thus entirely too low. Indorses Workers Bill The Painters Local No. 499 then re-iterates its indorsement of the Workers Unemployment Insurance Bill and its provisions and declares, “Local 499 was among the first to fight for the establishment of a fed- jeral system of unemployment insur- jance, and is going to remain in the front ranks in this fight for a genuine Workers Unemployment Insurance Bil” O’Brien, organizer of Typograph- ical Union No. 6, in writing the was forced to provide the family with another house. Members of the Re- lief Workers Protective Union took & leading part in the case. L. PLR. Renegades Abuse ‘and Distort Teaching of ‘Lenin ‘on Attack on Rank and File renegades cLovestonites and Trotaky- Part of A. F. of L. Leadership EDITOR'S NOTE:—This is the 2nd, concluding article of Comrade Stachel, acting national secretary of the Trade Union Unity League, on the trade union work of the Communist Party in the United States in the light of Lenin’s teach- ings and of the resolutions of the Communist International and the Red International of Labor Unions. The first article, printed in the Saturday Jan. 20 Issue of the Daily Worker, took y% the history and development of the correct line in the trade union work in the United States, a wee By JACK STACHEL ARTICLE II It was only after the Communist International and the R. I. L. U. clari- fied the question of taking up the in- price dependent leadership of the struggle of the workers, instead of the legal- ism that dominated much of the work of the Left Wing in the reformist unions, that we began to break with the legalism of our former opposition work, and more boldy took to organi- zing independent class unions where the course of the struggle and the needs of the masses dictated such a course. In following this policy of organ- izing new unions, we were guided by the teachings of Lenin, which are em- bodied in the Thesis on Trade Unions adopted by the Second Comintern Congress The left reformist (Muste) and the ites) are carrying on a bitter fight against the trade union policies of the Communist Party. In this they are carrying thru their general attack upon Communism and, as part of the socialist and A. F. of L. bureaucracy, attempting to block the more Left- ward masses from coming over to the Side of Communism, ‘These gentlemen quite often accuse us of abandoning work in the A. F, of L. unions, and criticize our efforts to build and strengthen the T. U, U. L. unions. Especially do the renegades preach to the workers the old, out- worn theory that there exists only one labor movement (A. F. of L.) and that all other unions, both T. U. U. L. and independent, should he liquidated. They point to the entrance of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers under ‘the leadership of Hillman, into the A. |F. of L, as the model for all trade | unions, ., By g thru, in the name of | Lenin, these policies that only serve the A. F, of L, bureaucracy, they soiled the name of Lenin, These peo- ple, however, always quote Lenin's sharp criticism against the “Left sick- ness” of some of the revolutionists during the early stages of the develop- ment of the Communist Parties, Distortions of Leninist Line ‘They completely forget the section of the Second Congress resolution which states “The Communists ought not to hesitate before a split... if a refusal to split would mean abandon- ment of revolutionary work in the trade union.” This is an old trick. Have not the Hiliquits always quoted Marx against the dictatorship of the It consists of proletariat? There is a very close . it | organized, especially in the most im- painters asking for endorsement of the scab Security Bill, said, “We be- lieve that adequate ‘protection is found in such a bill as the Sociai | Security Bill.” Trade elections by Lewis, the wholesale ex- pulsion of the militant miners and needle workers, the refusal of the A. P. of L. unions to organize the un- portant and basic industries, such as textile, auto, steel, etc. | It is quite obvious that in all these | cases it has been the bureaucrats who have carried through the split- ting policy dictated by the employ- ers through expulsions, etc. It isthe Communists who, on the other hand, always unfailingly, try to unite the workers on the basis of the struggle against the employers. Class collab- oration splits the workers’ ranks. Only a genuine class strugeie policy is capable of really uniting the work- ers. Lovestonites Party of A. F. of L. Bureaucracy While the Party as a whole made serious mistakes in its trade union policies, and was responsible for its failure to organize the unorganized, | to organize new unions where the necessity of the class struggle dic- tated this policy, it was the Lovestone group, now working only as the allies of the A. F. of L. bureaucrats, and at that time in control of the Party apparatus, which resisted the carry- ing through of the line of indepen- dent leadership of the struggle of the workers and the building of the new unions, But it should be stated that these renegades were already at that time steeped in factionalism that in the iterests of the faction they were. ready to “carry through” these which they now condemn ruinous to the movement. They hi do this merely out of discip- | of line; they told the Party member- ship that they believed in these poli- cies, Thus it was still under the leadership of Lovestone that the first independent class unions, those of the miners, textile and needle work- ers, were built. ‘With the expulsion of these ele- ments from the Party, the Party pro- ceeded to carry through more rap- idly the line of the Comintern. To- day these renegades condemn the building of the independent class unions on principle, while their work in the A. F. of L. unions consists in becoming part and parcel of the trade union bureaucracy in the carry- ing through of the attacks against the workers. ‘This policy of the Love- stoneites is especially exposed in the I. L. G. W. U. (International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union), where they are helpiny to expell the left wing. ‘Work Inside A. F, of 1. Today our Party, though still suf- fering from many weaknesses, is working on the basis of a correct Leninist policy. This policy consists of organizing the work within the A. F. of L. unions building the oppo- sitions within the A. F. of L. unions on the basis %f the independent struggle against the employers’ at- tacks, for the demands of the work- ers, and against the reformist leaders who are the agents of the bosses in the ranks of the workers. To be sure there is still much neglect of the work in the A. F. of L. unions, perhaps an insufficient ap- preciation of the growing of the work in the A. F. of,[s. unions with the entrance of new hundreds thousands of workers into mp EN ce NN an u Union ; Policy | Communists ‘Fight Ge Unity on Line of Class Struggle F. of L., including workers in the most important industries—miners, metal workers, etc. But the Party is beginning to struggle with determination against such neglect. All Party committees should resolutely take up this task and overcome all obstacles which hinder carrying it through. But at the same time the Party policy con- sists of building up the independent class unions that have been estab- lished, of strengthening the mass work and the building up of all of | the 'T. U. U. L. unions. Nor can we afford to neglect the work within the growing number of independent unions that are ing up as a result of the fact that | large sections of the workers who wish to become organized are already sufficiently acquainted with the A. F. of L. bureaucracy so that they do not wish to become affiliated to the A. F. of L., while at the same time they ‘either do not know, or are not yet ready for affiliation with the Trad Union Unity League. 4 Throuth the work in all bs unions, the building up of the i munist factions, the development of the united front in action of the workers of the various unions and the unorganized, we are laying the foundations for a militant , and united trade union Pessoa In through this policy, we are guided by the teachings of Lenin so