The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 28, 1934, Page 4

i 2 pins DAILY WORKER, ESDAY, MARCH 28, 1934 Lessons of Economic Struggles, Tasks of Communists in Unions Draft Resolution for the Eight Bowrgeois Offensive and Increasing | Resistance ujnons. The the recent p and deep- the workers, the growth strike movement; t new hundreds of workers into the A. F. o! With the simultaneous some of the u U. I. and the rise of m pendent unions; the be @ mass opposition with formist unions, All this indicates that we stand before great class battles that are maturing and that there is the possibility of rapidly developing a united mass revolu- tionary trade union movement. T bourgeoisie and the reformist trade union and socialist leaders are in- creasing their activity in the at- tempts to disrupt, disorganize this movement, and divert it from the revolutionary path. The role and activity of the Communists in this sttuation is at the present time of decisive importance and will deter- mine who will gain the leadership of the leftward moving masses, the reformists or the Communists, GROWTH AND POLITICAL CHARACTER OF STRIKES 2. This movement was alrea the last year expressed by the str struggles of over a million workers and extending to almost all indus- tries and for the first time in a decade expressed in mass strikes of the auto workers, steel workers, seamen. The bourgeoisie through the NR.A. and the activity of the reformists did not succeed in ar- resting the strike struggles, which in the latter stages took the form of strikes against the N.R.A. codes (second miners’ strike, silk strike, etc.), The strikes were further marked by a growing stubbornness of the masses as seen in the great number of strikes where the work- ers came out again and again as they found themselves tricked by the N.R.A. and the A. F. of L. leadership. The strike struggles which were mainly for wage in- creases and for the right to organ- ize bore a definite offensive char- acter and more and more developed elements of political struggle. This was most clearly expressed in the New Mexico miners’ strike with the raising of the demands on the gov- ernment for the release of all strike prisoners as a condition for the settlement of the strike. In varying degrees such demands and elements of political struggle characterized many of the strikes. A further expression of the poli- tical elements of the strike move- ment was the general strike of the entire working population in Cen- tralia, Ulinois, in connection with the strike of the shoe workers, the beginnings of political strikes in connection with the Austrian events, Scottsboro. Continuation of strikes despite the edicts of the National and Regional boards is becoming a mass phenomenon. In all the strikes one of the outstand- ing features was the solidarity of the employed and unemployed. Large sections of young workers in almost all strikes, increasing sec- tions of women workers (textile, garment, etc.) and Negro workers (miners, steel, garment, food, eic.) participated in the strikes as well as masses of colonial workers (agricultural strikes). nee, Sek STRIKEBREAKING ROLE OF N, R. A. 3. While in the first stages of the strike movement (before the N.R.A.) the strikers were able to gain con- cessions as a result of the struggle, the strikes in the latter part of the year were in a large number of cases disrupted through the N.R.A. leadership (Weirton, auto strik captive mines, etc), as well as through open terror where the strikes were under militant leader- ship (Ambridge). Only where the Strikes were led by the unions of the T. U. U. L., by militant inde- pendent unions, or where the left wing within the A. F. of L. unions exerted sufficient influence were the employers and the govern- ment, and their agents, the A. F. of L. bureaucrats, unable to com- pletely trick the workers with the N.R.A. and compulsory arbitration schemes, and the workers were able to gain some of their demands (garment strikes, Paterson dye strike, etc.) DISILLUSIONMENT WITH N.R.A. GROWS 4. The workers are rapidly learn- ing the lessons of the strikebreak- ing role of the N.R.A. and the be- trayals of the A. F. of L. leadership. the N.R.A., which promised without struggle better wages, shorter hours and the right to organize, is more and more being exposed as the in- strument of the capitalists for the greater, mnore intensive exploitation and oppression of labor. The Workers are more and more coming to this conclusion when they com- HIDING THE FACE OF UNION of Workers pare ment the promises of the govern- A. F. of L. leader- results of N.R.A. R.A. of hundreds talists, the ¢ of the as a the reduction of hours compensa- Bs. ¢ wages b) ize into ce is being met b suppression of the armed forces of e government the cap- italists were able under the N.R.A. to increase their company from about a million to five m lion members. NEW WAVE OF STRIKES 5. As a consequence of the gro ing disillusionment of the masses with the N. R. A, the re- alization that under the N. R. A the living standards of the masses have declined, there is now de- veloping anew a mass strtke move- |ment which has all the charac- teristics of becoming more wide- spread and more militant than last year, directed more openly against the NRA. This growth of the strike movement is already ex- pressed in the first place in the mass strikes in the auto industry (Toledo, Wisconsin, Hudson, etc.), the strike votes in many auto plants throughout the country, the pressure of the rank and file of the Railroad Brotherhoods for a struggle to win back the 10 per cent wage cut, the beginnings of struggles in the steel plants, the strike of 5,000 workers in the Mel- lon aluminum plants, the general strike for the second time of the New York taxi drivers, the insur- gent strike of the Negro and white miners of Alabama, the decision to strike of the West Coast longshore- |men, ete. Empha ng the class character of the N.R.A. as a weap- on against the workers, the major demands of the developing strikes even more than before center around the issues of wage in- reases, against speed-up, for the right to organize and against com- pany unions. NEW ATTACKS ON MASSES AND ROLE OF A. F. OF L. LEADERSHIP 6. Faced with the developing strike movement, the capitalists, the government, and the A. F. of L. bureaucrats are trying by all means to dissipate the fighting moods of the workers, to disor- | ganize the ranks of the workers, and prepare the machinery for the more brutal suppression of the struggles. The government is at- tempting to bolster up the N.R.A. in which large sections of the workers have already lost con- fidence, with new demagogy em- bodied in the Wagner Bill which, in the name of outlawing company unions, in reality is legislation aim- ing te fasten compusary arbitra- tion upon the workers, (giving a monopoly to the A. F. of L. bureau- crats where the employers can no longer keep the workers in check through the company unions, At the same time while the govern- ment tries to fool the workers that | it is opposed to the company unions and publicly put forward the A. F. of L. leaders as a better guarantee against strikes than the company unions (speech of General John- son to the chief capitalists of the country), the open shop employers (steel, trust, automobile chamber of |commerce, etc.) are intensifying their attempts to fasten the com- | pany unions upon the workers (statement by the auto magnates, | so called “democratization” of the conipany unions of ine U. S. Steel, etc.) through the blacklist, intimi- | dation, etc. The treachery of the | A. F. of L. leadership in breaking | the strikes of the workers through the N. R. A. (Weirton, Budd, etc.) is assisting the employers in put- ting over the company unions, The A. F. of L. bureaucrats, faced with the growing discontent of the rank and file, the actual strike votes, ete, is on the one hand being forced to talk of struggles which | they have no intention to lead and | which they are trying to prevent, while at the same time they are openly with the Socialist Party | (Panken, Thomas endorsement of the Wagner Bill), sponsoring the Wagner anti-strike legislation in order to be able to more effectively break the strike struggles in the event that the workers go into ac- tion in spite of the A. F. of L. bureaucrats. MOVES TOWARDS FASCIZATION | 7. The present proposed legisla- tion (Wag Bill, Connery 30 hour | bill, ete.) ich is supported by the | A. F. of L. leaderships, it not merely |@ defense against the demands of | ‘the workers and the rising struggles. THE PARTY IN TRADE WORK. “There still persists a social-democratic division between Party work and trade union work. “Still less attention is paid by the Party organiza- tions in the development of work in the A. F. of L. unions, the Railroad Brotherhoods, ete. “In recent strike struggles we saw a resistance of some Communists active in the strikes to building the Party, to distributing the Daily Worker and other Party literature, while the Party organizations also gave but little attention to utilizing the strike struggles for bring- ing forward the Party among the workers.” —From the Resolution. With the tremendous rise of strike struggles, especi- ally in the basic, decisive industries, the role of the Com- In to- day’s Daily Worker we print the full text of the draft resolution on economic struggles and the tasks of Com- | munists in these struggles becomes paramount. munists in the trade unions. This draft resolution to be submitted to the 8th Convention of the Party, though by no means to be considered as final, is the most de- tailed and thorough analysis of the recent and present economic struggles and the tasks of Communists yet published in our press. Every Party member, every militant trade union member, should study this document. As the draft resolution points out, our work in the trade unions has many shortcomings, especially in view of the gigantic stirring of the masses, the growth of the unions, struggle unions, on tion. and to use it as a weapon in high political importance of the strikes, the rapid change in the situation with the tremendous sweep of company unions, and particularly because of the grow- ing faseization of the government strike-breaking policy, and the role of the A. F. of L. and Socialist leaders. The increasing need of working within the reformist unions, of strengthening the independent and revolutionary the basis of the United Front from below, are taken up in detail in this resolu- We urge every reader of the Daily Worker to make the closest study of this resolution, to discuss it widely, the present strike struggles for the defeat of the increasingly fascist program of the Roosevelt regime, supported by the A. F. of L. leaders and their social-fascist aides, ; “*,... WE HAVE CHARTED A NEW COURSE IN STATES”—President Roosevelt unions | SOCIAL ENGINEERING IN THE UNITED —By Burck It is like the N.R.A, as a whole at | the revolutionary trade union move- the same time a further attack on | fent a acne era. among | the workers. e sevelt govern- fhe, magees, (vite Demplovers. ‘BH4 | tent ier Newever (wearing an oe the government, faced with stagna-| direction of the incorporation of tion of industry even though the the company unions within the A. crisis has entered the stage of a/F, of L., the conversion of the depression with a higher level of | existing A. F. of L, unions into production than at the lowest point | compan: unions regulated by the (March, 1933), faced with aad . a the | government, the outlawing of all | rowing acuteness of the struggle | | for markets, the necessity for more | feverish preparation for imperialist | | war, are attempting to further drive | | the living standards of the masses, | | reduce the “cost of production,” de- | | crease the cost of all social benefits, | balance the budget at the expense of the masses. The government has | already taken the step of throwing | the four million C.W.A. workers back into the vast army of millions | of unemployed both for the pur- | pose of reducing the relief to the | unemployed and to make it all the more easy for the employers in pri- | vate industry to reduce wages and | break strikes. The attack on the postal workers, a prelude to a fur- | |ther attack on all the low paid| government employes, the threat to | | veto the veterans bonus bill, etc.,) all this shows how clearly the Roosevelt government acting in the interest of finance capital is setting | the pace for a renewed attack on| | the living standards of the masses. | |The efforts of the government to! | strengthen the hand of the A. F. of | | L. bureaucracy is an attempt to} convert the unions more openly | into organizations dominated and | controlled by the government in| the interest of capital, to create | stronger guarantees against strikes, | the plans for a capitalist way out of the crisis through beating down the living standards of the masses, the greater exploitation of the masses in the colonies (Cuba, etc.), and through a new world imperial- ist war. The open shop capitalists | whe profess to oppose the new | legislation, the extension of the role of the A. F. of L. bureaucracy, do not, of course, fear any of the goy- ernment measures, as they have al- ready increased their »rofits with the aid of the N. R. A. and direct | government subsidies. It was also their “opposition” to the N.R.A. that helped the capitalists and the government to create illusions in the minds of the workers that the N.R.A. was in their interests. To the extent that there seems to be a| difference of opinion on the role of the A. F. of L. leadership in the | whole scheme, it is on the one hand a sham battle to create illusions among the masses and at the same time a fear on the part of the open shoppers that the A. F. of L. bu- reaucrats will be unable to control | the rapidly leftward moving masses | who become organized within the | ;American Federation of Labor.| While the Roosevelt government appears to be more outspoken in the necessity for putting forward more widely the A. F. of L., it by no means has any intentions of at this time doing away with the com- pany unions br organizing the mass of the workers into the A. F. of L. unions. It is only carrying through such manouvers where the mass discontent is rising, where the dan- ger exists that the company unions will not prove themselves able to cope with the situation and where class unions, as part of the drive for the fascization of the govern- ment and the trade unions, II. The Growth of the Trade Unions) and theLeadership of the Struggles 1. About three quarters of a million workers entered the trade unions in the last year. This num- ber is especially significant in the face of the fact that in the most important industries the number of workers employed is half and even jess than m the period immedi- ately following the World War. Close to half a million of these workers were recruited into the A. F. of L. unions the largest majority of them among the miners, garment and textile workers, At the same time large sections of the steel workers, auto workers, rubber workers, etc., entered the A. F. of L. to assure the carrying through of | Unions. In many cases the workers | themselves formed these unions and then applied to the A. F. of L. for a charter. In other cases the em- Pployers have directly aided the or- ganization of the workers into the A. F. of L. unions for fear of the T. U. U. L. or other militant unions (mining, silk, needle, etc.) Sut in the main the workers joined these unions because they do not yet understand the role of the reform- ist leadership and its policies, and because of the weaknesses in the activity of the T. U, U. L. unions. GROWTH OF T.U.U.L. AND INDEPENDENT UNIONS 2. The T. U. U. L, unions have organized during this period over a hundred thousand workers. While some progress was made among the steel and metal workers, the marine workers, the packing-house work- ers, among the miners in the West (New Mexico, Utah, etc.) the gains were still largely in the lighter in-; dustries (garment, shoe, furniture, food, etc.) An important achieve- | ment limited to the West Coast was the growth of the T.U.U.L. unions among the agricultural workers, the fishermen, and lumber workers. At the same time a new development was the strengthening and the building of the independent unions in some of the important industries (mining, shoe, textile, metal, auto, taxi, postal workers, technical en- gineers, ete.), It can be estimated that at least 150,000 workers joined the independent unions since the beginning of the last year and that their total number now reaches the figure of 250,000 members, This does not include the Railroad Brotherhoods which although not affiliated with the A. F. of L. are in | no way distinguishable from them. EMPLOYERS BUILDING COMPANY UNIONS 3. These figures show that al- most half as many workers joined the unions outside the A. F. of L. as those who joined the A. F. of L. It is also important to note that while the trade unions grew by three-quarters of a million, the company unions now embrace many times that number of new workers, emphasizing that the movement of the workers for organization only resulted in part in the entrance of the workers into the trade unions. This, of course, is to be explained by the reformist and strikebreaking policies of the A. F. of L. leader- ship, and by the insufficient acti- vity by the TU.U.L. unions, in or- ganizing and leading the struggles of the workers. The growth of the independent unions is explained by the fact that although there are large sections amongst the workers who no longer have confidence in the leadership of the A. F. of L. unions, these workers either have not as yet been reached or properly reached by the T.U.U.L. unions, or they still fear to become part of the revolutionary trade union move- ment. These latter unions are of diverse character as far as their program and leadership is con- cerned. Where the Communists recognized in time the situation and helped to organize these un- ions, they have in the main adopted a class struggle policy and selected reliable workers as their leader- ship. In the majority of cases especially when ‘hese independent unions were a result of a split from the A. F. of L, (miners) because of the weakness of the revolutionary opposition in these unions the lead- ership was taken by a new set of reformists who try to mislead the workers with left phrases but keep them chained to the old reformist policies. This is also true of these independent unions where the Com- munists and other revolutionary workers remained on the outside during the process of the for- mation of these unions (Mechanics Association etc.). ROLE OF VARIOUS UNIONS IN STRIKE STRUGGLES 4. The growth of the various trade unions runs in the main parallel with the leadership of the struggles by the various organiza-~ tions, emphasizing more than ever the necessity to do everything pos- sible on our part to pare and Struggles. Thus the A. F. of L. unions which have grown by some half million led 450,000 of the workers on strike during the last year and mainly the strikes of the miners, garment workers and tex- tile workers. The T.U.U.L. unions which recruited some 100,000 new members led strikes of some 200,000 workers but because of the heavier attack on these unions and the inner weaknesses of the T.U.U.L. organi- zations were not able to fully con- solidate under their leadership the masses who followed them in struggle. The independent unions who also led strikes of some 250,000 | workers (shoe, auto miners, taxi, h Convention of the Communist Party of U. S. A. ° workers, but through some of the Lore top allies. The positicn of the Musteites was, however, exposed through two of the members of | their National Committee, Ryan of the Hosiery Workers Union, and the renegade Salutsky of the Amal- gamated Clothing Workers. Muste | Zefused. to take a stand against | Ryan, who openly sabotaged the ; Cleveland United‘ Front Trade- Union Conference, or against Salut- sky, the editor of “Advance,” offi- cial organ of Sidney Hillman, who became one of the outstanding ad- visers of Roosevelt and Perkins. An especially treacherous role in the strike movement was played by | the renegades, the Trotskyites (Can- non) and the Lovestonites. How- ever, only in the food union did the Trotskyites play any considerable role, and here the Trotskyite Field betrayed the strike in alliance with the renegade Gitlow. The Love- stoneites became the mercenary troops carrying through the most treacherous policies for the labor bureaucrats. Chief among them were: Charles Zimmerman in the needle trades, Keller in the textile industry, and I, Zimmerman in the | shoe industry. None of these groups | has as yet been able to hire out its | Services in the basic industries. | Their whole policy cannot be dis- tinguished from the Green-Woll policy, except, perhaps, by the fact that they act as the provocateurs against the Communists for the , preeeas and the top leaders of she American Federation of Labor. AOTIVITY OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY 6 The Party played an im-| sportant role not only in the strikes by the T.U.U.L. unions but| Played an increasingly important ‘ole in most of the strikes led by the A. F. of L. and independent | |unions, This was especially true of | the strikes in the textile industry, | the strikes of the taxi, hotel work- | ers, the garment trades, and to a lesser extent in the strikes of the auto workers and the miners. | Our Party was, however, slow in| taking advantage of the favorable | situation for the organization of the struggles of the workers. One of the reasons for this was the still existent underestimation of the moods of the masses for struggle (mining, needle, textile, auto,— Paterson, Allentown, Detroit, etc.). As a result of this the Party or-| ganizations and the fractions were | not fully orientated for the leader- | ship and the development of the! struggles. In addition to this the | following characterization of the} Twelfth Plenum of the E. C. ©, I. |as to the failure of the Communist | Parties to rouse the masses for struggle fully applied still to our | Party: “The chief cause of the insuffi- cient development of the struggles is the still unsatisfactory appli- | cation of the line of independent | leadership of the economic struggles, on the basis of the | tactics of the united front from below, the underestimation of the | partial struggles in the weak con- | tacts in the factories and among the unemployed, in the weakening of the revolutionary positions in the reformist trade unions, in the etc.) were able to hold proportion- ately a larger number of the work-!| ers who followed them in the struggle than the T.U.U.L., although | they were less successful than the A. F. of L. unions, A very im-| portant consideration in the ability to consolidate the workers into the} trade unions was the ability to secure an agreement with the em- ployers. The mistake must be avoided of judging the importance of work within the A. F. of L. and the necessity for a systematic ex- posure of the A. F. of L. bureau- cracy merely upon the basis of inability to expose the maneuvers ot the reformist trade union bureaucrats, openly or concealed by ‘left’ phrases,” | Added to this must also be the | failure of Communist fractions in these figures. While not capitulating | the T.U.U.L. unions to fight deci- to the propaganda of the reformists| sively for the consolidation of the and the renegades who repeat the| threat of Green, “that there is no room for any labor movement out- side the A. F. of L.,” while resist- | ing all tendencies of liquidation of the T.U.U.L. unions, while npt denying but on the contrary, utiliz- | ing the increasing radicalization of the rank and file in the A. F, of L. unions, it must be our policy to give maximum attention to work within the A. F. of L. unions and espe- cially among the most important strata, (miners, railroad, textile, auto, steel, building, etc.). This especially becomes important with the increasing demagogy the re- formists are compelled to employ in the face of the rising mood for struggle among the workers and the increasing support they receive from the government, STRIKEBREAKING ROLE OF SOCIALISTS AND RENEGADES 5. The Socialist Party leaders in all these struggles were part and parcel of the A. F. of L. bureau- cracy, carrying through all their treacherous policies. They repeated the words of William Green that “this is no time to strike” (Norman Thomas). They preached reliance upon the- N.R.A. and the Roose- velt government. In the unions under their leadership they carried through the worst forms of be- trayal of the workers. The “left” socialists tried to cover up their be- trayal with mild criticism of the N.R.A., and were quick to recognize the mood of the workers against the A. F. of L. bureaucrats, even taking up the slogan of independent unions with the intention of bring- ing them into the A. F. of L. through the back door. The Muste- ites played no independent role in the big strike movement, thus demonstrating their isolation and bankruptcy. In none of the im- portant strikes did they participate through their organization, the c. P. L. A. (mow the American Workers Party), or through their outstanding leaders. While in the beginning claiming to be against the N.R.A. and for the united front, they quickly exposed themselves as unwilling to support the fight for the united front (Paterson strike), or to support any of the struggles of the militant unions (steel). They, however, gave sufficient proof that their position was one of support for the A. F. of L. leadership with but mild criticism and a plea to Green that racketeering by elim- inated from the unions. Only in the New York Amaigamated Food Workers did the Musteites show any influence, and here not among the gains in the struggle and to utilize | them for the further development of | the struggle (auto); the failure to build the union while at the same time leading the struggles on the basis of the united front (April miners’ strike); failure to quickly recognize a changed situation (growth of the U. M. W. A. in the Pittsburgh area); failure to adopt mass methods of work correspond- ing to the degree of activity of the masses (steel, auto), etc. All these weaknesses in the work of the Party and the Party fractions in the T. U. U. L. and the A. F. of L. unions contributed to considerable lagging behind and the loss of in- itiative to the reformists (Paterson, second mass automobile strike of Detroit, miners’ strike, dress strike in New York, etc.). HIDING FACE OF PARTY 7. The leadership of the Party in the trade union work remains extremely weak despite the Open Letter and control tasks adopted by the C. C. and the Districts. The majority of the Party members re- main gutside of the unions in most. of the districts (including such con- centration districts as Chicago, De- troit); in the Party as a whole, the important progress made was with but a small section of the Party membership active in the economic struggles. Communist fractions, without which there can be no real leadership by the Party in the work of the trade unions, remain weak and receive little attention. The District Committees do not yet even feel the responsibility for con- stantly guiding, controlling and im- proving the work of the fractions. In many cases the fractions do not exist at all. There still persists a social-democratic division between tionary trade union work. work. “Our trade union work masses.” Party work and trade union work Still less attention is paid by the | Party organizations to the develop- ment of work in the A. F. of L, junions, the Railroad Brotherhoods etc. In the recent strike struggles | We saw a resistance of some Com- munists active in the strikes to building the Party, to distributing the Daily Worker and other Party | literature, while the Party organi- |Zations also gave but little atten- tion to utilizing the strike strugg’ for bringing forward the Party among the workers, This can be seen from but one example. Less j than one per cent of the members of the Steel and Metal Workers In- dustrial Union have been recruited into the Party. As a result of this failure to build the Party, many of the trade union organizations fall to pieces. It was also this weak- ness which contributed largely to the inability of the unions to with- stand the open attacks and inner maneuvers carried through by the capitalists during the struggles (Ambridge, Greensburgh, Carnegie. ete.). III. Tasks of the Party in the Trade Union Work 1. Mobilize the entire Party membership for revolutionary trade union work, enroll every Party member eligible into the trade unions, on the basis of a thorough enlightenment of the membership as to reasons for our emphasis on work in the factories and trade unions. This was fully explained in the Open Letter, which stated that unless the Party establishes its roots among the decisive sections of the industrial proletariat it cannot become a mass Communist Party. The discussion must be brought in every Party nucleus, i trade union fraction, r leadership must not only convince the Party as to the correctness and urgency of carrying through the Open Letter, but also help the membership to carry through the tasks. Every district, section, nu- cleus, and especially shop nucleus, must work out its plan of work on the basis of the policy of concen- tration, assign the most exper- ienced and developed comrades for leadership in the trade union work. Steps are to be taken to build the trade union fractions and assure their guidance through the Party Committees. In raising before the Party work in factories and trade unions as the central task, care must be taken to overcome the op- portunist conception of trade unior work. Our trade union work is not an end in itself—the trade unions are for the Communists < bridge to the masses. As part o! - our Communist work in the fac- tories, the Party nuclei in the fac- tories must receive the greatest at- tention from the leading commit- tees. They must receive the great- est guidance and support in building |the union in the shop, the shor committee, the publication of a Party factory paper, building the circulation of the Daily Worker, | recruiting into the Party. Bearing in mind the tendency to hide the face of the Party, the liquidation of many of the factory papers ol the Party into trade union organs, ‘ the Party committees must patiently explain and stubbornly fight against such deviations. LEADING OF STRUGGLES 2. The mobilization of the Party for the work in the factories and trade unions cannot be carried through on the basis of an ab- stract campaign. It can only be successful as part of the prepara- tion of the Party to at once take up the fight in each factory, in each industry in the struggle, in defense of the interests of the workers to give leadership to de- veloping strike struggles (auto, rail- road, etc.). This requires that we root out the underestimaticn of the radicalization of the masses which was responsible for our Party lag- ging behind in many struggles of the past year. But it also requires that we prepare ourselves organi- zationally to lead these struggles. To take up the development of the fight for the workers’ needs in the factories; to raise the confidence and fighting spirit of the workers; to develop their capacity to struggle by extending in the factories the Party and trade union organiza- tions, to develop the united front of all workers; to build strong fighting oppositions in the A. F. of L. unions. The central issues around which the struggle of the employed and unemployed workers can be developed are: (a) For increased wages, especially cially in the face of the rising cost living; (b) For the shorter work day without reduction in weekly earn- ings; against the stagger plan; (c} Against lay-offs; against speed-up; stretch-out. (d) For unemployment insurance, as embodied in the Workers’ Unemployment Insurance, Bill; (e) For relief to the ma ployed; (f) For continuation ©. W. A. jobs at higher wages; (g) (Continued on next page) SOME TASKS OF COMMUNISTS IN TRADE UNIONS “Mobilize the entire Party membership for revolu- Enroll every Party member eligible into the trade unions, on the basis of a thorough enlightenment of the membership as to reasons for our emphasis on work in the factories and trade unions. “In raising before the Party, work in the factories and trade unions as the central task, care must be taken to. overcome the opportunist conception of trade union ‘is not an end in itself—the trade unions are for the Communists a bridge to the —From the Resolution.