The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 30, 1934, Page 3

DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1934 Page Three Aim To Slash Pay Maloney Would Betray Hard Coal of Rubber Workers, Through NRA Code! A. F. of L. Opposition | aise. 6 | Covers Up the Scab Role | Wins Victory in the Goodrich Plant AKRON, Ohio, Jan. 29, De- spite the windy ballyhoo in the local Akron press about a “tremendous { % pickup in the rubber trade,” the cold, | stark facts about further wage cuts in the rubber factories, engineered by | the N. R. A. officials, were laid bare ere recently by a committee of Akron trade union workers who worked up 4 first hand report on the operation of the rubber code. The establishment of the code in the rubber industry in Ohio, reports the committee, resulted during the past month in a direct wage cut and mass layoffs. ing week is twenty-four Hours—and many of the workers have been stag- gered to less hours. One woman interviewed at the Sieberling Plant stated that the weeks work was seventy cents. In the Goodrich Plant the hourly rate of pay has been slashed as much as twenty per cent in many depart- ments. despite the fact that January and February are the usual months for seasonal upswing in the trade Opposition Leads Fight Leading the struggle against this onslaught of the rubber capitalists on the wages of the workers is a growing opposition group within the local A. F. of L. rubber unions, Within the last two weeks this op- position issued twenty thousand leaflets calling on the workers to organize for strike action against the wage cutting policy of the bosses. fast week a group of two hundred workers from the Goodrich, Fire- stone, Goodyear, Sieberling and Sun factories met and adopted 2 pro- gram of demands, which include: a twenty-five per cent increase wages, no wage agreement valid un- less approved by referendum vote, guarantee of a twenty-five hoor work week or pay for same, conveca- | tion of industrial union convention. This group issued leaflets inside bid seal A. F, of L. union, ived with enthusiasm. ne last meeting of tie Sieber- ht for 2 wage increase which was Opposed the officialcom of the union . Mzs3 Pr ¢ Gets Results ‘The Goodrich shop comimittee, led tio: ony lest week for a wage Ta) ‘The maximum work-)} im | Of mass pressure. 1 union the opposition led a} presented demands | Strike to NRA; Opposes Picketing Road to Victory of Government H By CARL REEVE H The maneuvers of Thomas Mal- oney, district president of the United Anthracite Miners Union, to lead the present strike of the hard coal miners up the blind alley of compulsory ar- bitration, are continuing. The record of the leadership of Thomas Maloney, a Democratic politician and justice lof the peace, is one where every act and every utterance calls for the ending of the strike by government interference before the objectives of |the strikers, the winning of their economic demands, can be achieved. Maloney. as justice of the peace, has more than one jobless miner from his home. Maloney called the strike unwill~ ingly. Maloney said in a radio ad- dress: “I want to remind you here and now that not a single officer or member of the executive board of | factually wished or wanted | strike.” Maloney Opposes Picketing Thomas Maloney again and again has appealed to the national govern- ment to replace Boylan in the favor of the operators by himself. “I have been very conservative,” he said. The economic demands of the miners | have not concerned Maloney. He wants only recognition. To prove his “conservatism” he has weakened the strike at every step. He advocates increase, following which a ten per cent raise was promised starting | Feb. first. This was the first result Supporting the strike of the Ash- land rubber workers, a group of workers in the Goodrich local carried on 2 vigorous fight for a donation of | $1,000 out of the union treasury to the strikers. This was ruled out of order by the strikebreaking officials ofthe local union, | The opposition groups within the |A. F. of L. rubber locals are at present preparing a tremendous mass | meeting at Perkins Auditorium in | Akron to be held during the first | week in February, where L. Wein- | stock, leader of the A. F. of L. oppo- sition, will speak and outline a rank And Uni signed dispossess notices to evict | the United Anthracite Miners Union | this | ty, the abolition of the check-off—hated by! the miners—because the check-off goes not to himself but to Boylan, of the U.M.W.A. In the face of sweeping injunctions, Maloney said: “The miners do not need to picket.” without any protest. Maloney said, in refusing to vio- ate the injunction, “It is not a union issue.” The miners carried out mass picketing in violation of Maloney’s instructions. Maloney Would “Arbitrate” Maloney’s latest move to end the strike—regardless of the outcome of the rank and file fight for their eco- nomic demands—was again bring- ing in Father Reverend Curran to | the convention of the union last Sun- day with the proposal to appeal to | president Roosevelt to set up a new | to call off the strike while this com- | pulsory “arbitration” is going on. | Under Maloney’s sponsorship, Cur- | can is now circulating a petition to | Roosevelt which states in part: “We |tent, honest and disinterested arbi- trators to investigate, adjudicate and coneilliate the abuses and griey- ances prevailing in the coal mines ‘or many years in the past; and chat said board be authorized to rec- ognize the new Anthracite Miners Union of Pennsylvania, providing its nembership should exceed in num- ders that of the U.M.W.A. Upon as- j surance of a favorable reply to this request, we promise fullest co-opera- tion in the settlement of the pres- ent tsirek, which threatens the down- fall of the anthracite coal jndustry |of the state...” Maloney brought in Curran to help him trick the miners into calling off the strike and putting it at the mercy of the strikebreaking Labor Board. Maloney was even more slavish in his appeal to the National Labor Board to deal with him. Basing his whole strategy, not on a fighting policy, but on that of “petition” to the operators and their government, Maloney praises the N.R.A., Presi- dent Roosevelt, and the whole strike- breaking apparatus which has been the decisive factor in forcing wage cuts upon the workers. The National Labor Board, which has broken every strike which it got and file program of struggle. Maloney’s attorneys | agreed to accept the permanent in-/| junction granted to the Hudson Co.,| board to “arbitrate” and, of course, | earnestly and respectfully request | that you appoint a board of compe- | Lewis,” he says; in other words Ma- | jloney would hide from the workers the strike-breaking role of the fed-} eral government, its fascist attacks {on all strikers, and that it functions lin the interests of the coal operators. | } Maloney said, “The National La- | ber Board, supposed to represent the high ideals and official policy of our great President, was swerved from its noble purpose by two per- sons, John L. Lewis and William Green.” | Maloney characterized Judge Mc- | Lean, of the N.R.A. as an “eminent | jurist, outstanding patriotic citizen and civic leader.” He said of the | priest, who is Maloney's right-hand Man in throwing cold water on all [militant strike action, “The miners owe a debt of gratitude to Monsig-! nor Curran.” } Maleney continued, “Not even the agencies named by a great ex- | ecutive (Roosevelt) .are beyond | selfish and sinister influences, not | fully imbued with the spirit of the | N.B.A., a spirit which he has in- voked to meet one of the greatest | calamities ever to befall a nation or its people.” Maloney heaps praise on the gov- ernment, which has declared the strike outlawed. joney went to great lengths to jmake it clear to the operators that jhe wanted compulsory arbitration. jHe said: “The executive Board of the new union was not opposed to the creation of another board to make a thorough investigation of | the affairs in District One and com- {plete the incompleted work of the first fact finding commission even though it would require three months to finish the job. . . . Friends the U.A.M. grasped at every opportu-! nity, every straw, that gave any promise of averting open warfare.” THE STRIKEBREAKING NATIONAL GOVERNMENT Maloney is now devoting his | major energies to the selling out of the strike by means of setting up a government board which it is a foregone conclusion will represent the coal operators, It was the na- ‘ional government which, one day before the strike was called, declared the strike outlawed throuth the Na- tional Labor Board, and gave the signal for all of the strike breaking activity by ordering the miners to | remain at work, characterizing the | { | | Pinchot’s Cossacks Spread Terror in Anthracite " are carrying out a bestial reign of The state police called into the anthracite strike by Governor Pinchot terror. They are upholding the in- junctions against picketing secured by the anthracite operafors, and are beating up, jailing and shooting at women and children as well as striking pickets. The state police are shown strike. above helping break a previous coal Pinchot, who has personal direction of the state police, is planning to run as candidate for the U. 8. Senate im the coming elections and has the support of powerful banking interests afi employers. ernments recovery program.” The national government showed itself the chief strike breaking agency, siving inspiration to all the other strike moves. Maloney Silent On Pinchot ‘Troopers’ Murder While Governor Pinchot’s wife is in New York, marching on the laun- dry picket line “against the sweat shop,” he husband's state toropers fatally shoot down a sixteen year old boy, beat up and jail scores of min- ers and women and children, and spread a reign of terror against pick- eting. But Maloney says not one word against the strikebreaking activities of the Pinchot state government, not a word against the stringent martial law imposed by the legions under the personal orders of Pinchot. The rank and file miners have staged mass marches and mass picketing in direct, violation of Maloney’s instructions, in the face of the guns and clubs of the murderous state troopers. Rank and File Gain Ground The Rank and File Opposition in both unions, still organizationally weak, has not yet succeeded in tak- ing organized leadership over the rank| bureaucracy’s scabherding and the! and file demands for the continuation | treachery of Maloney and the majority, and spreading of the strike along militant lines. However, in some local} unions the Rank and File Opposition is gaining in strength and influence. , The local unions are picketing and defying the injunction in spite of struggle for decent wages and con- Maloney. Local unions are passing in its grasp, is “misled by Green and! ditions as an “obstacle to the gov- | resolutions demanding that Maloney Communist Pa Lie Daiiy Worker publishes be- ow, the resoluiion of the Commu- aist Party national textile fraction mecting, held recently, which was attended by Communists active ii | the texifle field throughout the countsy. Recovery Ach codes Roosevelt government and-the tex- tile employers, with the aid of the United Textile Workers bureaucrats textile workers by the} rty Resolutio n on Work in Textile Industry Calls for United Front, Figh MUST BUILD N.T.W.U. AND PARTY IN DECISIVE MILLS; EXPOSE STRIKEBREAKING ACTIVITY OF U.T.W. LEADERS AND drop his {N. R.A. secret conferences with the officials and with the priest ; Curran. Mass marches are being ar- |ranged. Steps are being demanded for unity with the rank and file of \the U. M. W. A. who support the | strike. Rank and File Demands The Rank and File Opposition de- mands are gaining ground. These demands include mass picketing, open defiance of the injunction, mass marches; united front strike committees in the collieries where there are members of both unions on strike; a fight for the economic demands of the miners as the basis for the strike, including mainten- ance of the colliery rate sheets as a@ part of any strike settlement be- fore the men return to work; aboll- tion of the cheek off and the in- stitution of the voluntary dues system; no discrimination; no com- pulsory arbitration; unemployment relief and insurance for the unem- ployed miners, The stirke has demonstrated that in spite of open strike breaking ac- tivities of the state and national gov- ernment, in spite of the U. M. W. A. | } of his executive board, that the rank and file miners are going to fight and fight hard for an end to the wage cuts, speed-up and unemployment to which they have been subjected. EDITORS NOTE. — This is the | the anthracite coal miners strike. second of a series of two articles on | ‘Senators Squirm As Levin Attacks Slash In Vet Con pensation Rank and File Vets Meet in Capitol to Present Demands ‘ to (Daily Worker W: WASHINGTON, |for another rank eran's convention gress is in session was urday by Emanuel Levir jof the Workers’ Ex League, before an Committee of the The League's central dem repeal of the Roosevelt Ec shington Bureau) 29.—A call which cut off millions of worth of veteran’s benefits; mediate cashing of world war ad- |justed service (Bonus) certificates; {and immediate relief for the unem- ployed and impoverished farmers — | were presented by Levin at the close of the sub-Committee's hearing on Ja bill carrying slashed appropriations for veterans. With dramatic calm, Levin told the |® Senators: | “For your information, we are carrying on activities to gain mass support for these demands and other points perta’ning to veteran’s legislation. We will lend every effort to unite all veverans, regard- less of their political affiliations, membership in veterans’ organ- izations, race or creed, to again port of the three point program of File Committee.” The Rank and File Committee was | elected at a convention here last | May. | Only Spokesman for Bonus The only veterans’ spokesman ap. pearing before the sub-committes who demanded payments on th j bonus, the W. E. S. L. chairman |took occasion answer a recent de- |claration by President Roosevelt that | “No person, because he wore a uni- special class of beneficiaries.” “The veteran does not consider himself in a class over and above | all other citizens,” Levin said. “Our | whole present day society is made up |of classes and groups. The N, R. A. | with its various codes for industry is |@ recognition of this fact. | “This same charge of ‘classes’ has always been ised. come to Washington in the sup- | the Veterans National Rank and | form, must thereafter be placed in a/s ‘special | gainst labor, the 1]. and poor farmers, women, etc., by those who live off profit and interest and their poli upport the growing ial and unempl at the expense of the ent and the employer. Pen- ms are not benefits which do not receive, but are the forerunner of legislation now organizing to ob- ‘ selves.” “personal” question, another ed, “what political membership?” nown that I Communist,” in answered. W. E. 8. L. is primarily concerned vete Even though one of Ww ts groups may endorse a political candid: each member votes his free, individual choice.” Hits Economy Act Levin protested against the Com- tee’s excluding him and other veterans’ representatives except dur- ing the time each was testifying. The proceeding was open to the press and not to the public. Full investigation, of the effects of the economy aci said Levin, is imperative to determine the real needs of veterans now. Fig- ures not available from official sources show that the economy act has accomplished the following: 1—A decrease of 707,206 cases in physical examinations given to dis- abled veterans; a decrease of 65,183 | in treatments furnished; the drop- ping of 10,946 hospital cases; the | dropping of 11,187 from domiciliary care, and a monthly drop of 10,000 in admissions of veterans to hos- pitals, 2—A loss of $221,118,482 in pen- | sion reductions. Levin called attention to the faci |that while the economy act was |passed “to maintain the credit of the United States Government by the nple method of cutting veter: benefits,” the Government today ha: an 11-billion-dollar budget and the |first offering of Government bonds was oversubscribed 314 times. Therefore the W. E. S. L. proposed that funds for its recommendations | should be obtained from budget items now set up for “war purposes and for sai eae of big business and the ! banks,” ? further worsened the conditions of the textile workers. For a short period | last summer there was a partial pick- up in textile employment caused by | inflation production, but this collapsed }in the fall. Since June 1933, when | the codes went into effect, the textile workers have suffered a decrease in real wages, due to the Roosevelt in- flation policy, The textile workers have had imposed on them a decrease in their average weekly earnings as | (from McMahon down to the Love-{ result of increased stretch-out, lay | stone renegade Eli Keller) has still offs anti staggering of work. hy CURTAILMENT MI EANS WAGE CUTS — | The low minimum wage of $13 and $14 established by the codes now tend to become the maximum wage. The manufacturers have taken steps to increase their profits; by securing greater production under the shorter working week, by making each worker operate more machines, by increasing the speed of the machines and by in- stalling new “labor saving” methods. This attack of the manufacturers is tearing down the health of the employed workers more than ever before, while simultaneously it expels large masses of workers from the fhills into the ranks of the un- mployed. The army of permanently nemployed is steadily increasing in the industry. The N.R. A, established cartels in the various branches of the textile industry dominated by the biggest manufacturers and finance capitalists to “plan ‘production.” Their “plan- ning” consisted of nation-wide attacks against the living standards of the textile workers as seen in the decree for production curtailment which simultaneously cut the weekly earn- ings of over a million textile workers in December. These measures further intensify the planless, competitive character of the industry (struggle between rayon and silk cartcis, strug- gle for survival by small manufac- turers, etc.). U.T.W. HEADS SUPPORT WAGE CUT CODES | The textile workers, although re- maining mainly unorganized, and be- rayed by the United Textile Workers’ eaders, carried on a bitter struggle in defense of their interests through- out the period of the economic crisis culminating in a national strike wave in 1933 effecting over 250,000 workers. The cotton textile code was the first adopted under the N.R.A. and set the ‘ow living standard for all other codes. The U.T. W. bureaucrats cooperated vith the manufacturers in drafting and executing the codes. After the codes were enacted the U,.T.W. bureaucrats, including the So- cialist Party, officialdom of the Amer- ican Federation of Full Fashioned Hosiery Workers Union, came out more openly with their policy of preventing strikes and settling all grievances through the decisions of the manufacturers’ instruments—the National Labor Board, the code auth- orities, etc. ‘They modestly demanded a “non- voting member on the code authority” in order to do “constructive work in the promotion of understanding and ‘cooperative action.” Under the cover of left phrases this policy was fully Supported by the Musteites and Love- stonite renegades in the United Tex- ed Textile Workers bureau~ Gor sent could be secured through the “R.A, which would give a $27 weekly, weve to silk weavers and then pro- ceeded to break this splendid national class bureau- | HOW U.T.W. HELPED BREAK STRIKE SSS eee tile Workers, the hoisiery workers a 5 cent raise in their Rigen 4 The United Textile Workers’ bureaucrat Kelly is at present trying to defeat the struggle of the Viscose Rayon workers for a 40 per cent increase in Wages by the compulsory arbitration of the National Labor Board. In the woolen section of the in- dustry the workers have experienced repeated betrayals by the Union Tex- tile Workers bureaucrats (Lawrence, een Hd same bureaucracy has broken workers strikes Manchester, New Bedford, and in the ley Salem cotion strikers of the ‘Textile Workers, sided the Organizers of the National Teethe | Workers Union and the Communists, -took the strike into their own hands Pee sepia won & complete victory en broke away fi th Textile Workers. ye ee The Communist Party throughout crats strikcbreaking policies, struggle. The Communist fractions in the unions, and especially in the Na- tional Textile Workers Union, was, however, slow in carrying through the turn demanded in the Resolution of the 14th Plenum of the C. C. and repeated more sharply in the Open Letter. As a result of this our Party did not play the decisive role it could have played in organizing and lead- ing the struggles of workers, new attacks on their living standard. and Passaic woolen mills can be con in the industry, The growing sentiment for unity among the broad silk workers of Pat- erson expressed in the united sup- port of the various crafts for the shop committees, the elections of National | Textile Workers Union members as shop chairman in United Textile Workers shops, ete., already fore- iinide the new struggles ahead in The disgust of the hosiery workers with the National Labor Board ruling, | the disillusionment which is bound to the textile There are growing signs that the textile workers will not tolerate the The wide-spread discontent against the six-loom system in the Lawrence verted into militant struggle and or- ganization if given proper guidance by the N.T.W.U. and the Communists of the N.R.A. and A. F. of L. bureau- | set in following the board’s ruling on and showed to the masses the road of the Viscose rayon workers’ demands opens the perspective of sharp strug- gle in these branches of the indus- try as well, At the same time the increasing numbers of unemployed in the industry are more than ever ready is take up the fight for the means to live, The task of the Communists is to immediately prepare for these strug- gles, on the basis of taking up the fight for the every day grievances of the textile workers. A central issue confronting the workers of all branches of the tex- tile industry is the drive of the man- ufacturers and the Roosevelt. govern- ment to cut the weekly earnings of | the employed textile workers by cur- ; tailing production from 2 per cent in cotton to 40 per cent in hosiery. The United Textile Workers’ bu- reaucracy, under the cover of dema- gogic phrases for a 30-hour week, is supporting this new attack of the workers. The code authorities have the power to extend this curtailment beyond the four and five week periods | originally provided. ‘The shorter working week, result- ing in many cases from this curtail- ment, will not increase employment in the industry. On the contrary, unemployment will grow, because the curtailment is being accompanied by ‘and speed-up, WORKERS CODE PR OPOSED BY N.T.W.U. At the code hearings in Washing- ton the National Textile Workers’ Union alone, with the full support of the Communist Party, proposed a real workers’ code for cotton, wool and silk which already contained an answer to these new attacks of the employers. The salient features of these workers’ codes were: A mini- mum of 30 hours per week and a maximum of 40 hours per week, guar- antee of 40 weeks work a year with a minimum wage of $720 per year for the unskilled workers; unemploy- ment insurance at the expense of the government and the employers for the unemployed and the bringing of part-time wages up to the $720 mini- mum; no stretch-out and no speed-up; right to organize, picket, strike and no compulsory arbitration; equal pay for equal work for all work- ers; no discrimination against Ne- groes, ‘The Communists among the textile workers must take the most active part in initiating the struggle against the curtailment and for the imme- diate demands of the unemployed workers. While we carry on a wide- spread agitation against any reduc- tion in weekly earnings, $25 and 30 hours for silk weavers, etc., we should Set up the united front committees of the workers in the mills to start im- mediate actions, stoppages, demon- strations before city relief and C. W. A. offices, with the demand that the difference between the actual wages received and the $18 minimum shall be made up by additions from city relief or C, W. A. funds, ORGANIZE THE UNEMPLOYED At the same time we must react to ‘aga speed-up, for clocks on en against bbe and firing, posting of piece price Paria ae and bot ee these is- sues e struggle over wages, Without simultancously SETRHRIDE the unemployed in the fight for jobs, improvements on Civil Works Ad- ministration jobs or immediate cash Telief as the first step towards fed- eral unemployment insurance we cannot succeed in our activities among the employed textile workers, The undertaking of these activities should result in the sending of a mass textile delegation to the Na- ment, be held br Washington on meni e! on Feb. 3, 4 and 5. Of the 1,100,000 workers tn the these struggles carried on an exposure textile industry the overwhelming majority are unorganized, The U. T. W. has succeeded with the help of the employers and the N. R. A. in! increasing its membership, especially side the United Textile Workers and the independent unions. It is immediately urgent to mo- t on jthe AF.F.F.H.W.U, and around the | wage issue and other grievances and | dislodge the Socialist Party leader- Curtailment {ous unions of workers (N. T. Wy U. |U. T. W., independent and craft unions). Our task is to work inside | John J. Ballin bilize the membership of the United og Ee 2 ELI RTS Textile Workers and the other unions! with a reactionary bureaucracy for} independent struggle for their imme- diate demands, breaking through the barriers set up by the bureaucrats and the N. R. A. (no strike agree- ments, arbitration boards, etc.). The Communists and militant workers in these unions must mobilize the mem- & new vicious wave of stretch-oui! | Silk and dye strike, etc.), bership against the dictatorship of the bureaucratic officials and for full democratic rights (right to strike by majority vote of workers, no secret ployers, open negotiations by united | front mill committee, all settlements | to be decided on by membership, etc.). The Communists and militant workers must put forward candidates in all union elections on the basis of our minimum program, especially in , elections to conventions of these unions. In this connection we musi imme- diately prepare for the silk confer- ence being called by the United Tex- tile Workers. These issues should be carried into the mills through the united front mill committees and in the union locals through a definitely organized opposition group. negotiations by bureaucrats and em- | | | | | | | | National organizer in the silk in- lustry for the National Textile Workers Union, BUILD N.T.W. A primary task in cemeniing building and strengthening of the National Textile Workers Union, in the first place among the unorgan- ized workers. Only on the basis of the class struggle program of the National Textile Workers’ Union, which strives to unite the workers of all unions and the unorganized, can the textile workers successfully struggle to improve their conditions. In the recent strikes, ever larger masses of textile workers were in- fluenced by the program of the N. T. W. U. The slight gains which were achieved by the workers in spite of the U. T. W. betrayals were made possible by the activity of the N. T. W. U, and the Communists (Salem, The Com- munists and militant workers inside the N, T. W. U. must intensify their U. INTO MASS H the; ¢ |unity of the textile workers is the atic recruiting of new mem- | bers and build the N. T. W. U. mill locals. They must stop the fluctua- | tion in union membership by perfect- ing the inner life of the locals, quickly reacting to partial grievances in the mill, and organizing the struggle against them/ The extension of the mass ,agita- tion and propaganda of the National Textile Workers’ Union is an im- portant prerequisite for carrying on ing the N. T. W. U. A union press | should be built in the textile indus- try. The immediate need exists for ® national paper of the National Textile Workers’ Union, local bullet- ins for work inside the United Tex- tile Workers and other unions and the regular issuance of leaflets and pamphlets, | i CONCENTRATION O N DECISIVE MILLS The Party must make every effort to carry out the concentration tasks. Such important concentration cen- ters as Lawrence and New Bedford are given insufficient in silk, hoisery and the South. Besides ! the U.T.W. there has been a growth of independent unions (Salem, cotton; | Woonsocket, wool; Allentown, silk and ribbon; Parkersburg, rayon). In, the past year the N.T.W.U. has also. ana in increasing its member- ID. The question now before the textile workers and in the first place before’ the Communists is to prepare the} coming struggles in textile, to unite’ the workers of the various unions| with the unorganized, to free the textile workers from the Roosevelt demagogy and the domination of the labor bureaucrats. It will be impos- sible to carry out this task without systematically organized work by the | Communists and militant workers in- Where we have seriously undertaken our concentration task, as in the Weidemann dye plant in Paterson, we succeeded in building the National Textile Workers’ Union and in spreading the silk strike to the big dye plants of Paterson and Lodi. In Lawrence and New Bedford we have not yet succeeded in carrying out the most elementary tasks for breaking through our isolation. Insufficient attention has been paid to these cen- ters by the Communist Party leader- ship. The Lawrence and New Bed- ford mills are in no exceptional posi- tion. Here, too, we must use the forces that we now have to strengthen the Communist Party, build grievance committees inside the mills and com- mittees the unemployed to Jaunch struggles for pertial demands attention. ! and systematically recruit new work- ers into the N. T. W. U, and the Communist Party. For the various fronted with the following prob- Jems: 1. COTTON. The recent strike wave in the South opens the per- spective of intensive organization re- quiring special attention and forces. In New Bedford, our Northern con- centration center, we must carry out | the tasks already indicated and sim- ultaneously build up an opposition inside the U. T. W. against the Batty- Binns dictatorship. 2. WOOL. Our concentration point remains Lawrence. Both here and in Passaic we must crystallize the discontent against the 6-loom system into definite struggle and organiza- tion. 3. HOSIERY. This section of the industry is mainly organized (U.T.W.) and hence our main task is to build ® strong opposition movement inside | Ship. oe unions and unite their mem- | 4 SILK, RAYON AND DYE. In " silk our concentration center remains | Perships and. the wnorgenised into Paterson. While the silk industry is|0mne mass industrial union based un | mainly unorganized, there are numer-| the class struggle. 1} iy pete the united front struggle and build- | branches of the industry we are con- ; The national silk strike and the , united front policies proposed by the |N. T. W. U. has already laid a basis for such a union. The immediate step towards this objective is the building of united front mill com- mittees combined into shop delegates councils in the various silk centers. | Unless this policy is carried out there is danger of the disintegration of the silk organizations because of the dis- gust of the membership with the be- trayals of the U. T. W. and Love- | stonite leadership. | We must rdject the | theory. that |silk workers form one organization. 'The thousands of workers in inde pendent silk unions de not want to jreturn to the domination of the Gor- mans and Kellers, with their split- tig and class collaboration policies. _ Nor can any of the “left” reform pite of their d apport the Mc . W. U., in its pro- gram, policy and actions, represents the interests of the textile workers. But the N, T. W. U. has not yet been | the silk workers. Therefore, it would be a mistake to make as a precon- dition for the formation of one union, that all silk workers join the N. T. W. U. While building and strength- only through the U. T. W. can the, able to become the mass union of | {the N. T. W. U. must develop the united front and take the lead in | the fight for one united silk workers’ | union. In Rayon, which is also an im- portant war industry, there is the beginning of organization in the Viscose plants involving 1,000 work~ ers, with a perspective of strike which we must strive to organize and lead. We must connect this struggle with jthe movement for one union in the silk industry. The silk dying industry is concen- trated in and around Paterson, with over 90 per cent of silk dying done lin this area giving it a strategic im- portance in the silk and rayon in- |dustry. The building of united front |plant committees and the opposition within the U T. W. in dye, leading | to one industrial union of dye work- . is specially important because of jthe present tendency of the dye ; Workers to leave all organization. The ability of the reformists and | “left” reformists to mislead latge |sections of textile workers, the vari- |ous weaknesses of the N. T. W. U. |was made possible to a large extent because of the weakness of the Party base among the textile workers and the failure of the Communists among the textile workers to carry out the Party decisions regarding concentra- ening its base among the unorganized tion, etc, | This must be radicaliy changed. The systematic recruiting of the tex- tile workers into the ranks of the Party and Y. C. L. must be under- taken by all Communists in the in- | dustry, particularly if they are union organizers, ‘The Party must give special atten- jtion to the winning over of the women and youth in the industry by fighting for their special demands. Special struggles, with the support of the adult workers, must be launched ‘against the exclusion of the youth from minimum wage provi- sions, against the firing of the youth and rehiring them as “learners,” etc. The Communists and militant workers in the industry should carry on a wide agitation favoring voca- tional training for the textile youth between 14 and 16 years of age and that they shall be paid while learn- ing. On this basis we must concretely expose their exclusion from the in- tion of youth sections of the N.T.W.U. Together with this we must carry through the sharpest struggle for equal rights for the Negro workers in the industry. Furthermore, the Party must strive not only to organize the economic struggles of the textile workers and dustry without any provision made} for their support. These activities , should be crystallized in the forma-! ILDING OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY to build their unions, but to win the textile workers for the Party program for a revolutionary way out of the | crisis. | In connection with the above we ;must develop a regular agitation jamong the textile workers in the | name of the Party (separate meet- ings, statements, mass distribution of the Daily Worker, particularly in jconnection with concrete struggles, |and the starting of Communist Party | mill papers). These Communist mill | papers can often serve as a means of building Communist Party organiza- tion inside the mills, The building of the mill nucle! of the Party and ¥. C. L. is one of our ‘most urgent tasks for giving leader- ship to the united front struggles in- side the mill and giving stability and endurance to the union organization | that we establish. Communist fractions to give initi- ative and leadership to the worker; must be formed in locals of all union: and their activity must be guided on }a national scale through the regular functioning of the national Commu- j nist fraction. The Party must assign forces for work in the concentration centers and all Party organizations (District Committees, Section Committees, Units) in the first place in the tex- tile areas, must be mobilized for a thorough discussion and carrying out of this resolution, |