The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 14, 1934, Page 3

ot NRA a 1,000 In Union Demands Inquiry Of Voting Lists and | Improved Conditions | "EW YORK.—It was on Nov. 2 | ‘hat the National Labor Board ren- jered its decision in the New York |seneral shoe strike calling off the \strike and ordering a referendum of ‘he shoe workers in the shops where " he bosses refused to settle with the former Shoe and Leather Workers In- Robbery; Fake Vote | hundred members of | Bed plant, A. F. of L. Federal Union | voted almost unanimously |down the pliant and strike for their DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WED to Shut by Strike’ Rank and File Organize to Demand Higher Pay, | Union Recognition KENOSHA, Wis., Feb. 13.—Pifteen the Simmons | Loca] 18456 at a meeting on Feb. 11) to close demands, Around 1.700 are employed at the present time in the factory. A broad strike committee, to con- | sist of the Executive Board of the| Union, and the chairmen of the vari- ous shop committees, about 45 in all, | Workers Organize Union | Demand End of Graft | Magazine at Conference | by C.W.A. Bosses (By a C.W.A. Worker Correspondent) JACKSONVILLE, Fla—I am an employee on a C.W.A. project work- ing at Neptune Beach. The father) of the superintendent of this project | has’ about 12 mule teams, some) wagons and slip shovels working on | thts project. j These teams work on C.W.A. work | DAY, hoe Referendum (1500 Force Kenosha Southern Negroes Robbed ‘Furniture Factory Jn, Kick-Bac FEBRUARY 14, 1934 k Racket By CWA; Pay Now $6 a Wk. Pioneers Will Discuss CHICAGO -~ Attractive mimeo- graph yalentives on colored paper are being given to Chicago work~- ing class school children by the Young Pioneers, organization of workers’ children. ‘The inside reads: “Dear friend: Valentine's Day is the bunk. I does not bring free hot lunches in school. It dees not give us warm clothing and shoes. Ht gives us a party '\strial Union, to get a record of the was elected. All are workers in the | ten hours per day at $1.25 per hour— | Ambridge CWA Men ‘Win Strike; Defeat | Blacklist of 14 | Foree Hearing, Win Ali | Demands; Leaders | Reinstated | By « CWA. Worker Correspe | AMBRIDGE, Pa. Feb. 13.—The jC.W. A. workers defied the terror | that exists in Ambridge by walking | off the job on strike after six hours of work instead of the eight hour jday which was put into effect Jan \81. Fourteen were fired. They | Went to the burgess of Ambridge to jcomplain. He wired H. C. Biddle, | state C.W.A. administrator, fer an | “investigation.” | Biddle wirec the Hart County ad- orkers’ own decision on the union ey wished to join. shop. Arrangements were made for | mass picketing, and on Monday mern- | $12.50 per team per day. two shifts of drivers. They work Start at 7 | fer today and nothing any other | day. Then why so much talk? | Ministrator to conduct the investi- Wen, | gation and the hearing of the four- Prior to the N. R, A. decision, ing the entire body was out on the | @m. to 12 noon, change drivers and picket lines, | Work to 5 pm. He pays his drivers Grover Whalen, then head of the New York N, R, A. had called in the de- ‘unet Boot and Shoe Union (A, F. of \.) and had personally sanctioned an sreement between this union and he shoe bosses, although the A. F. of U. union had at no time had any |Connection with the strike, Wanted Referendum The shoe workers did not.oppose a \eferendum, They knew that if it were @ real referendum conducted | “ithout intimidation or terror, that (‘he Boot and Shoe Union would not jPoll any votes. In fact the Boot and | Shoe was so discredited in the New | York district that the one remaining Ocal of 300 members it had controled iad broken away from it after a ranix and file reyolt had taken place. Flagrant Robbery fhe N. R. A. elections were sched~- iled for Jan. 2. They were held on Feb, 1 after a surprise notice had ‘een sent to the union two days in advance of the date set for the vote. By flagrant robbery of votes and fraudulent methods the bosses were sble to utilize the referendum to bring the seah Boot and Shoe Union into a number ef shops. “N, R. A. elections are traps to im- pose A. F. of L. company unions on the workers under the guise of impartial eeletions,” seid Fred Biedenkapp, in n interview with the Daily Worker on the N. R, A, elections, The United Shoe and Leather Workers’ Union, |formerly the Industrial Union, has |protested the elections and has chal- lenged the vote in the ten shops where the vote for the union was re- How the N, R. A, helped the bosses vut over the fraudulent election was jesplained by Biedenkapp. | “The referendum, which was sched- ed for Jan. 2, was postponed for a month to give the bosses more time to prepare to accomplish their work of cheating the strikers out of the election,” said Biecenkepp. “On Jan, \°5 we were told by the Regional Board jthat the yoting would probably be postponed again and that only in ~| Washington was the exact date of the referendum known, No one knew by hat methods the election was to be arried out.” On Jan. 38 Biedenkapp was in- »emed that the elections would take ace on Feb. 1. A special committee from the Union which came to pro- est to the Regional Board were told that the demands of the union for time could not be considered. De- mands of the union to investigate the bosses’ payrolls to assure that only those eligible to vote would be in- volved and to submit its own list of those who had the right to vote were ienied, N. R, A. Picks Shops Explaining how the N. R. A. maneu- ered the elections, Biedenkapp told ie details, The National Labor Board picked all shops where elections were to be held. Slipper shons slated for elections were eliminated because the bosses claimed they were not ready. An important Board of Trade shop, \Myer Brothers, was taken off the list jat the request of the attorney for the | | majority voted for the Unien.” | ported in the minority, In nine shops | Under Eye of Boss the shop this concession proved to be farcical, The boss selected an empty joft_in the building where the shop was located, and even used stair land- ings where such lofts were not ayail- able. Here the boss or the foreman \ kept a strict eye on the voting. In some cases the workers were marched from their departments to the voting reom and then back again. The 1 Miller elections were held in the shop’s garage. Many workers lost out in the voting when the place was changed a half hour before voting time and the workers did not know where to go.” 1,000 Had No Right to Vote | “Of the 3,500 votes cast, at least 1,000 had no right to participate in the elections,” said Biedenkapp. “They .were .hired .by ..the .bosses through the Shoe Board of Trade or the Boot and Shoe Union (A. F, of L,). The bosses prepared for the elections by intimidating the workers in the shops, threatening them with loss of jobs, and by padding payrolls to make recently hired workers eligit’e to yote, “Where there was no severe intimi- dation the shoe workers declared their choice for the United Shoe and Leather Workers’ Union. No honest worker can accept this election as the free expression o’ the workers, and the fight must go on.” Biedenkapp devlared that the following steps would be taken by the union to defeat the attempt of the scab Boot and of the shoe workers. The union is demanding from the National Labor Board an investigation of the lists of voters and the payrolls of shops re- ported as having a minority for the United Shoe Union. In the firms | where a majority of the workers voted forthe United, the union demands that negotiations be started immedi- ately for the improvement of the workers’ conditions. “Our union will leave nothing undone to fuliy expose she rotten at- tempts of the A, F, of L, and the National Labor Board to deliver the workers into the clutehes of the bosses and their union, the A. F. of L. Boot and Shoe, in order to cut wages, in- crease hours of work and establish more speed up in the shops,” declared Biedenkapp. GOOD WORK IN GEORGIA . Atlanta, Ga, Dear Comrades:— “You may appreciate the fact that the: Daily is distrbuted to the strikers in Rome, Ga., a small town where the Ku Klux Klan police shooj at a red necktie. The spirit of these strikers is fine. Every Phase of Shoe Board of Trade over union pro-| tests, Although the Board conceded the} union’s demand for elections outside| Shoe Union to destroy the conditions | At first the company kept the gates | closed and tried to call it a lockout, | but at 9 o’clock they opened the | gates and called for all those who | wished to work to come in. No one| | entered. | Led by Rank and File. | This strike is the culmination of a | long, hard struggle on the part of | overcome the resistance of the lead- | ing officials of the Kenosha Trades | and Labor Council and some local | officials, Every effort was made by | these officials to divert the men from their desire to get betier wages. | Reliance on the “codes” was urged, as well as on the Regional Labor | Board, but the men quickly saw thru these governmental agencies, which | are completely controlled by the) manufacturers. | Strike Demands. The chief strike demands, accord- ing to the most accurate information that could be secured were: A 25 per cent increase, and recognition of the union, Here’s why the workers struck. A | worker in the steel press department, chosen at random, reported the fol- lowing: He made last, week $20 for 48 hours work, slightly less than 42 cents an hour. This is about the same waces as he has been making the last six | months. But, the cost of the gloves and overalls, that he must buy fre- quently has gone up tremendously with inflation, He uses 12 pair of gloves every week. 5 months ago he got 12 pair for 60c. Now he must pay $1 for the same gloves. Every month he has to buy new overalls, They used to cost 98c, now they are | $1.45. The cost of living goes up and up, but his wages remain at the same low level. The Communist Party of Kenosha hails this struggle of the Simmons workers, Its members in the plant are active on the picket lines. It Pledges to mobilize all its forces in | support of this strike. It, however, warns the Simmons strikers against the pitfalls of “arbitration.” It was “arbitration,” that’ along with the treachery of the leading officials of the A. F. of L., caused the Nash strike to be lost. Solid picket lines, refusal to arbitrate through the strike-break- ing Regional Labor Board, militant spirit, mobilization of all the workers and people of Kenosha in support of the strikers, no negotiations with the company by individuals, but only | through the mass strike commitiee— these tactics will win for the Sim- mons workers, Norman, Welfare Island | Medical Head, Resigns NEW YORK.—Dr. Abraham Nor- | man, medical director of the Wel-| fare Island Prison, who was in direct | charge of the hospital which had luxuriously housed the prison gangs/ of Edward Cleary and Joie ‘Rao,| turned in his resignation to Correc- | tion Commissioner MacCormick on Saturday. Norman, together with Warden $2 each, leaving him a balance of $8.50 for each team These teams will continue to make | the ten hours while the men are | cul to 15 hours per week at 40 pissed | 1 | au hour, or $6 per week. The men have to grub up all the stumps; then, after all the hard work is done, the} slip shovels come along and move| they receive they could be done fully | as cheap, if not cheaper. | Rob Negroes | it is rumored that the owner of| these teams hired his Negro drivers! for 20 cents per hour and put them on ©.W.A. payroll for 40 cents, got | their pay checks cashed for them and | deducted the difference, $3 per driver, 24 of them each week. Last week the workers on this| project held a meeting and elected @ protest committee to make pro- | tests. to the officials about the graft going on. Before the committee; reached them, however, some stool | pigeon had already notified them | of their coming, and when they| reached the officials, they were no- tified to return at once to their jobs or they would be fired and put in jail. Need Organization | ‘The workers can ‘certainly see that} we need a strong working class or- ganization here like they have in Tampa, for as long as we are un- organized we will always be misled) by the grafters and racketeers. The sooner, therefore, we organize, the better off we will be, for where the workers have a well-organized body, | | am teacher tell you? | Pioneers will tell you.” An_ invitation to a Pioneers’ meeting follows. Workers’ Enemies Exposed John Lengenfield, who works at the rank file of , led by | the sand. This work could be done | Pettibone Mulligan shop in Chicago, +4 te ce ane me oe to| by the men and at the rate of pay| Ill, has been exposed as a company stool pigeon. He was instrumental in smashing up the workers’ erganization in this shop some time ago. Although ‘he was fired with a number of other workers, it was later discovered that he remained on the company payroll just the same. He is back in the shop now and goes around from one worker to an- other, posing as a member of the Trade Union Unity League. Under this sub- terfuge he is try- ing to worm his way into their confidence, in or- | der then to betray them to the bosses. | All workers, especially those work- | ing at the Pettibone Mulligan Shop, are warned of this stool-pigeon. His description: About 30 years of age, height about five feet six inches, complexion—light, baldheaded. His photo is published herewith, Bernard H. Jones, of Minneapolis, there is strength. | Minn, who was in charge of Daily Social Youth Club Defeats Disruption Plans of Hoodlums NEW YORK.—The Social Youth Culture Club at 275 Broadway, Brooklyn, which has in the past been | | molested by hoodlums and rowdies | who disrupted meetings and intimi- dated members regularly, has elim~ inated this trouble by drawing the workers guilty-of. disruption into the | club and getting them active. break up an unemployed meeting by | fighting, they were beaten up by the workers of the club, kicked out and the leaders arrested. The workers of the club then called a mass meeting at which the real trouble was ex- plained—that the fault was with the social system which breeds gangsters, not with the individuals, The work- ers called upon the “hoodlums” to join in the fight against the social | system, for C. W. A. jobs and relief | for single unemployed youth. They | promised to drop charges against | them. The “hoodlums” accepted and now are very active members of bg club. Joseph A. McCann, is to face a de- partmental trial on Thursday for his part in the gang-official control of ‘Welfare Island prison, When on Jan. 24, they tried to! | Worker bundle sales, has been ex- for misappropriation of Daily Worker funds and for being unreliable. He is unemployed, a Canadian, of about 45 years of age, short of sta- ture and lightly built. (In approving the expulsion of Jones, the District Buro of the Communist Party criticized the Daily | Worker Committee of Minneapolis |for allowing Jones to handle Daily Worker funds, when it was known that he had misused funds pre- viously, in 1931.) RCE ee Harry Williams (Gentry Gilmore), who was found to be a stoo!-pigeon some time ago, in Philadelphia (where pelled from the Communist Party | jteen men who were fired. Hart was |the former County Commissioner, |for the Jones and Laughlin steel | mill, of course. | Force Resignation. | The hearing was all in favor of | the steel company until Pete M | selin, so-called Red of Ambri took the floor. Then the workers began demonstrating, which resulted in a big victory. | Former Borough Manager A. W | Johns, now head of the C. W. A. | project in Ambridge, called one of | the councilmen a liar for saying | Something in defense of the work- jers. The mass pressure forced him | to apologize. The people of Ambridge have been trying to get rid of A. W. Johns for jthe past 12 years. One speech | from @ so-called Red made him re- |sign. Also the head engineer Na~- | deau resigned. | Win Demands. Burgess Caul, who sold out the Ambridge steel strike to J. and L., | openly defended borough manager | Johns at this hearing. He said we jmeed bosses and “must have disci- pline.” | Pete Muselin said the workers jhave the right to elect their own | Committees to take up their griev- ances with the bosses. We won the six hour demand, fires, the C. W. A. workers’ com- mittees, the resignation of Johns |vud Nadeau and re instatement of jall men fired for striaing. pis hearing took place on Feb, 5 in the City Builaing. | | Forced to Eat Lunch in Toilet coer Rogers Peet By a Needle Worker Correspondent NEW YORK.—Just across from the | New York Public Library at 42nd St. and Fifth Ave (the fountain of know- ledge) is a Rogers Peet Co. store. On the 11th floor of the building is ; the Rogers Peet workers shop, where they slave their lives out for a mis- lerable few pennies a day. On the same floor we have a lunch room run by a cousin of Mr. Niffen, the red- head slave driver. The prices in the Page Three 700 Gary Steel Men Meet, Fight Speed-Up and ( ompany Union NewMachines Introduced, Fire Many; Workers Set for Struggle GARY, Ind., Feb dred workers of the / and Tin subsidiary) last Thursday to tak the mass lay-offs due t duction of new wide discon’ T “four High Tin driving thousands of the tin mills The American Company has machines in t Each one with a t crew ¢ placing nine manual mills total crew of 486 men. In Ga w four high mills are oper five, six and seven days per wee while the manual mills are only and Tin talled three of mont S operates x Miners’ kids digging for coal in ng | slag pile, running two and three Per! of relief and unemployment tnsur- week. ance for the part-time workers, and These mills do away of enlarging the delegation by draw- heaters and other « in delegates from the Youn hearmen, picklers, town Sheet and Tube Co, Mill and gories of workers ¢ Inland together. As a re: 2,000 workers here ig time or else are laid off completely The men have been seething with discontent for the past two months, The Steel and Metal Workers In- dustrial Union called met openers and others to dis against these conditi | lets raising demands for: the! 1. A minimum weekly wage of $20 for laborers, with corresponding in- ; creases for higher paid labor. A | Suarantee of four days work at this | minimum rate or additional relief to ‘be furnished by the company and government. 2. A gu: eed minimum daily wage to cover “Bad Iron, downs, changing rolls, etc. (S: roughers in the cold roll are paid). | 8. The right to draw relief while on the pay roll. 4. The right to organize. Recog- nition of workers’ department and shop committees. | Demands Well Recieved | These demands in the leaflets were well received by the workers. In the attempt to stave off action by the workers, the company union repre- sentatives called the Thursday meet- ing. When the workers assembled, they found the company union all oiled up to steam-roller any opposi- tion and to jam through the policies of the company. The company union proposals were ee] Mili at Indiana Harbor who suffer from the same grievances as we in Gary. These workers re- ceived applaue from the crowd were hammered down by the chair- man who was plainly scared by the militancy of the workers, Bill Clark, local organizer of the 5 M. W. 1 U,. wes refused the the chairman who never- Ss introduced a lawyer by the of Glen Harris, who is being groomed for the coming elections by the local capita! politicians. Eagan confessed he had no advice to offer except to send a delegation to find out what could be done “legally.” Before the meeting adjourned, with election of the three “delegates t& vi workers from the fi assing the propo: to reach the other mills in the ter- ritory. This was passed over the | heated objections of the company union representatives. The Steel and Metal Workers In- dustrial Union is calling several open meetings of workers from various de- pa nts of the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company for the pur- pose cf establishing committees of action to lead the fight against the conditions there. A mass meeting is be called on the no:th side of G aiso during the next week Members in the Youngstown Sheet snd Tube Plant and in the Inland Steel Company plant are also being to call meetings of the in their shops to organize that one man be sent to Was! ton, D. C. to “find out” if any ag could be done to stop the introduc- tion of more four high mills, they proposed that this man be a com- pany union “representative.” That | Was all—it was clearly their inten- rkers for joint action, to- tn the Gary workers, for of their demands. Out witht the ‘Buck Boss’, he went under the name of Gentry|!tmch room are absolutely too high Gilmore, and where he brought police | for us girls, and therefore we are to @ unit meeting and caused the arrest of some comrades), has now been discovered as having wormed his way into the ranks of the Young Communist League in Boston, Mass., under the name of Harry Williams. The Boston organization of the Y. C. L. has taken action to expel him from its ranks and to expose him publicly as a stool-pigeon, who goes around in National Guard uniform, and who tried to get into the Marine Workers’ Industrial Union (in Bos- ton), Description: He is a Negro youth, about five feet seven inches tall, thin, walks with a stoop, has a tooth missing in front. Work Should Be Examined in Pre-Con Some Improvements Are | reduction of, real wages through _ | Made in Work Among | against leg pound the ae P.M. A. Miners | fim for = rte of wert (EDITORIAL NOTE—The follow | piiseticn sche the ee et | ing is the first of two articles by Comrade Bill Gebert, district or- sanizer of the Chicago District of Open Letter, ‘The Open Letter also outlined a number of other immediate issues and demands around which mass work of the Party is to be developed and that the whole work is to he organized “on the basis of the united front in which the Party must always have the initiative.” The Open Letter particularly emphasizes: “The systematic 13th ECCI Plenum ‘Resolution lied to Work in the Chicago District alization in the ranks of the Party membership.” Carrying It Out Therefore, the task confronting every unit and, especially shop nuclei, and in the sections of concentration, is to thoroughly examine, in a Bol- shevik self-critical manner, as to how we carried out our plan of work of the Open Letter? ‘This should be connected concretely with the resolu- tion of the 13th Plenum of the E. C. ©. at present represents for ide to action, in the class antagon- isms, growing danger of war and : If we do not examine during the discussion in preparation for the 8th National Convention of our Party this|and particularly in preparation for the District and Section Conventions, Jem and every question concerning the life of the workers, how we ap- ed this question and what were e results, ‘There are numerous experiences ob- Raises Problem of Steel District Building _ New Cadres Letter, mass strikes Involving over 1,000,009 workers took place. The movement of unemployed, Negro masses and impoverished farmers are advancing. We must not measure our work by the yardstick that we had'so many members or we have had so many shon nuclei at. the time of the Open Letter and we have so many today. We must measure it, rather, under what objective conditions we ! work, did we take advantage of every and all occasions? Did we take full advantage of the militancy and struggles developed among the work- ers? Were we a factor in developing such struggles? Did we consciouslv pursue everywhere a correct policy of the united front from below? It is in this light that we must examine our work. In short, the problem we should answer and analyze is the tempo of our mass work, Naturally, the growth of the Party is a very important barometer in measuring the develop- ment of our mass work, But there also can be a situation where we have a growth of the Party, but at the same time no development of mass activity, be it in the shops, among the unemployed, the Negro masses, or among members of the A. F. L., or in building unions of the T. U. U. L. or independent unions. What Has Been Done calization and further revolutioniza- tion of the masses. Since the Open In this article I will not attempt to review the work of the Chicago District in the last period of time want to indicate, however, the points what actually has been done fields of activity. In the Illinois coal fields, at the time of the Open Letter, our Party was still isolated, and the Open | Letter very correctly declared that: “,,. the “left” reformists (Muste) some of | j ‘This characterization, at the time of the adoption of the Open Letter, was absolutely correct. But if we | would write the Open Letter today, ‘we would not characterize the situa- | tion in the Mlinois coal fields in the same light. made a bit of progress in the work Open Letter. The number of Party members has been increased. A number of new nuclei have been or- ganized. Two mine papers have been issued. Opposition groups in the P. M. A. have been established in some locals. In some locals the rank and file opposition was able to eject a number of local officials. We also venetrated a little bit into the locals of the U. M. W. A. This bit of progress has been made primarily and precisely in struggle, as Comrade Browder put the ques- tion before the 18th meeting of the C. C. “for the Party line among the broad masses.” That meant in the Illinois coai fields a struggle against the influence of Reverend A. J. Muste, who supports the renegade, Jerry Al- lard. We can definitely say that we checked to some extent, the growth of the Muste movement, that we won some miners who were followers of “| Muste and even brought them into the Party. But to say that we already achieved our aim, that we already isolated the Musteites, the Socialist leaders, that we established a broad united front from the angle I indicated above. I with the rank and file members of We can declare that we, in the Illinois coal fields since the | forced to bring our own lunches and eat them in the ladies toflet, three feet away from the urinals. That's what you call civilization in the most advanced country of capitalism. But Mr. Niffen tells us that a union jis no good. Why? Because in union | places the bosses have to pay bigger |salaries, and the slaves do not eat in the toilet. Sometimes they even have a nerve to tell us we are lucky to work for an American concern, but that don’t do us any gocd, because from day to day, we merely are just keeping alive, just keeping on our feet so we can | 80 to work the next day. tion to keep the men waiting for help! Auto Worker Declares from Washington, D. C., and tire s, them out, at th ne time directing . 5 si the snger of the men away from) ‘BY An Auto Worker Corrspondent) the company whom they protected,|, ~~?" Senge ba cinch blaming the need for meeting “un. | issue of the Auto Workers’ News | fair competition” as the reason for| Detroit) contains many workers letters dealing with the same subject, the Buck Boss. The tool and die business, now be- ing operated as near to mass pro- duction ideas as possible, is the chief stamping ground of the Buck Boss. The M. E. 8. of A. must educate | the rank and file to oust the Buck Boss Another type of boss must be driven out of the tool and die plants. That is the inefficient boss who operates on a bluff, His orders are never written, but given orally. When the business gets into a jam, he re- pudiates his orders and passes the buck to the workers. The worker is usually squeezed out into the. street | part-time work and lay-offs. | Refuse Stall | The workers who attended this | meeting would not accept these pro-| posals and immediately began an at- tack upon the “representative’s” pro- | posals. Motions were made to en- he de ion to three men, | which was carried. The company | union, however, steam-rollered their ; Proposal through to elect only com- pany union representatives by high- | handedly refusing workers the right} | to speak upon the motion to elected | delegates outside the company union | of workers from the various depart: | ments. S. and M. W. U. memb: | took the floor and spoke of the need the 8. P., thet we in the * d be a gross exagg ; Just entered the correct road — we just made the first beginnings, im- portant beginnings, but not yet de- cisive, toward the winning of the majority of the Illinois miners for the Party. This is our objective and task. We are especially very weak in the work among the miners who are members of the U.M. W. A. We as yet were unable to cement the unity of miners, members of the P. M. A. and U. M. W. A. in militant action. Nor did we succeed to or- ganize and lead broad masses of un- employed miners in struggle against | hunger and starvation. If we take work’ among the rail- |road workers in our district we did not make much progress. It is true that we recruited a number of rail- road workers into the Party, that here and there some additional sup- porters of the Unity Movement were gained. But the work among the railroad workers still represents one of the weakest links in the work of the Chicago Party organization. There is still a sufficient under- standing of the problems and _ tasks among the railroad workers due to the lack of contact with the railroad workers. There is still basically iso- lation from the railroad workers. In the steel industry, our work pro- ceeds at a very slow tempo. cadres are very weak. There we still have the problem of developing cadres among the steel workers in the units, unions, mass organizations, to penetrate the Amalgamated As- sociation union of the A. F. L., etc. ‘We made some steps, however, to- two branches of the Chicago Work- ers School, one in Gary and one in South Chicago with 200 students, practically half of them employed steel workers, an important gain in our work. Some progress has been made in Our} vention Discussion for the 8th Con ponse ‘among the nition of ¢ y members that it The Daily Worker should be flooded with articles and letters from | active Party members active in the basic industries, in the revolutionary | trade unions, in the A. F. of L. rank and file oppositions. | Pre-convention discussion serves the purpose of bringing before the whole Party in the fullest and freest way the major problems facing the | Party in the present situation of maturing major struggles. | Concretely, the discussion should devolve around the 13th Plenum | Resolution of the E.C.C.L, and its application in the United States, in afl of the Party districts, its application by the sections and units, in spectic industries and shops. ' | Our comrades have accumulated a mass of experience in the economic struggles, in the fight against fascism, in the struggle among the Negro masses. This experience must be brought before the whole Party as a means of improving our work,’of actually transforming our mass work to the factories, and to bring the Party before the widest strata of the American toilers. All the articles published should be followed by the whole Party membership and should serve as the basis for discussion in the units, | Comrade Stachel in his article on the pre-convention discusston has | raised many points that should get the attention of the comrades in Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, California and other Places. We urge these comrades to take up the questions raised and submit their articles for the pre-convention discussion, | | | | the work in the A. F. L, The recent) In short, we must thoroughly ex- delegated body meeting of the op-|amine why the decisions made by position groups of 56 local unions of| ourselves were not fully and entirely he A. F, L. in Chicago is proof of| carriea out, not only in one phase, that. but in all phases. In this connec- | tion, it is of tremendous importance _ The inner life in the Party units!to bring to the attention of the wrGle and sections has been a bit improved.) party the question of work of each But we cannot say today that We) and every individual member of our ward that direction by establishing) | carried out the Open Letter. In dis- cussions in the units, fractions, sec- tions and district, this question must be placed as one of the central ques- tions. Why did we not carry it out? ‘We must establish responsibility not only in a general form, but specifi- our Party, and particularly leading comrades, failed to carry out their assignments? What are the reasons? Which unit buro, section committee and the district committee itself failed to carry out the work and why? | cally — which particular member of! Party and proper assignment to work made. We cannot say that the mem- bership of the Chicago District is pas- sive and inactive. All experiences show that the membership of the Chicago District is active and will- jing to work. Unfortunately, not al- | Ways the assignment of comrades is placed in the light of the tasks of | the Party. Comrade Gebert’s concluding ar- ticle will be published tomorrow,