The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 2, 1934, Page 4

scsi aie New Strike Battles Of Convention Line PopulariningConvention Decisions Will Help Lead Struggles By MARTIN YOUNG E economic and politica! developments in the coun- wy, particularly the rising wave of strikes since the Highth Convention of our Party. have conclusively dem- mstrated the correctness of our convention analysis and deci ‘ions. In ions of our Party it is stated: “ magnitude of the struggles shows hat the masses are accumulating enormous revolutionary energy and hat big class battles are maturing.’ The valiant strike struggles of the workers in Toledo, Minneapolis, in the ports of the Pacific and Gulf roasts, in Alabama and in numer- ous other industrial centers prove that we are in the midst of big class battles with many more and bigger class battles maturing. Accordingly. the Convention has also outlined the tasks before the Party. On the basis of the examina- tion of our past work the Conven- tion pointed out, that the present situation “requires a quickening of the tempo and improvement in the Quality of the work of the Party.” Application of Party Resolutions It stands to reason, that in order for the Party to carry through the convention resolutions and deci- sions, it is necessary first of all to make these resolutions understood by every Party member. Of course, we Communists never study resolu- tions in a vacuum. Resolutions to us are guides to action, We study them | on the basis of our experiences and concrete tasks. But we not only study them, we immediately apply them. The practical political and organization results of our work really demonstrate to what extent our resolutions were understood and carried out. However, from the information on hand we cannot say that in the Party, above all in the Party units and Party fractions, the decisions of the Party Convention are fully known and properly understood. And because in the past our Party has adopted good resolutions, but failed to carry many of them out, it becomes necessary to sound a timely warning concerning the res- olutions of the last convention. In the Open Letter to the Party mem- bership the Central Committee stated: “In many resolutions we al-_ eedy”” Mill Owners Stick Snouts Deep in RFC Dough Trough By Labor Research Association Textile mills have now fol- lowed railro: banks, insur- | anee companies and other corp- | orations getting fed at the | trough of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, govern- ment subsidy institution for sick capitalism. Companies first to | benefit from a recent loan are | H. R. Mallinson, s: ($500,000 loan); U, 8. Finishing ‘Co., ($1,- 400,000 loan); and Botany Worsted Mills ($1,000,000 loan), The loans were extended through the Textile Industry Mortgage Corp., through which f er loans may be made to ‘needy” mills. For a full ssion of the significance of he R. F. C. and its loans to the capitalist class, readers should consult the new Labor Fact Book, Vol. IT, hop nuclei and the fractions of the most important trade union organi- zations. The experience of the best conducted discussions in the nuclei must be made widely known through our press, so that it should serve as an example to other sec- tions of the Party. The success of this discussion depends, of course, on the extent to which the political tasks of the entire Party are placed coneretely before the membership in the light of their work in the shop and trade union. It must be illustrated by the concrete experi- ences of the comrades thems The discussion must be close! | terwoven with the control tasks and | the plan of work of the district and section. This will show to the com- rades the relationship of their own shop and trade union work with the main political line of the Party. This work must be organized under the direction of the leading and most experienced comrades, Secondly, we must establish study groups in each unit, or on a section and city scale, for a number of units to study our convention res- olutions and = decisions. For this | Study we can utilize the already published material of our conven- tion, the 13th Plenum and the 17th Party Congress. It would also be advisable for the next three or four week-ends to organize special func- city seale to do the same, ready set ourselves the task of de- | veloping our Party into a prole-| tarian mass Party... . But all these resolutions have for the most part remained on paper.” We must not repeat this mistake. It is a fact, that the resolutions | as well as the major reports and de- cisions were not sufficiently pop- Warized amongst the membership. The entire popularization of the convention was in the main limited to section or city membership meet- ings, where a report was made on the convention with a few com- rades partaking im the discussion. | In the units the most accepted method was for a comrade from the district or section to make a report, which was followed by a dis- cussion of so many comrades as could be crammed into on eve- ning. On the average, this was the most that was done to popularize the convention. Of, course, it must also be called to the attention of the entire Party that methods have been employed to make the deci- sions of the Eighth Convention known and understood, that were not used before. For example, open discussion meetings of Party and| Tasks of Party Press Thirdly, the editorial staffs of all our Party press must be made con- | scious of the role they have to play as interpreters of the Party con- vention decisions and their applica- tion. The various phases of the | sharpening class battles now tak- | ing place in the country, which re- flect themselves in the columns of our Party press, must be used to | illustrate. and explain the Party | convention, its decisions and res- | olutions. | | Fourthly, most of the material }of the Eighth Convention, the | Thirteenth Plenum of the Comin- | tern, and the Seventeenth Congress |of the C.P8.U., is already made javailable in pamphlet form. To date the sale of this printed material [does not indicate that the district | and section organizations are mak- |ing real efforts to place this ma- | terial in the hands of the Party | membership. This must be corrected Jat once. The Party membership must be explained and assisted to buy these publications, Fifthly, the leading Party organ- tionaries’ classes on a section or This is the second of a series of articles by Bill the strike movement in Min- recently defeated by a Dunne on great neapolis, combination of a group of Trots- kyites, Farmer-Lahor politicians | and their agents in the Central Trades and Labor Council of Min- neapolis,—Editor eo ee? H HE more one shuffles the cards dealt in the final showdown to the members of the Minneapolis Drivers and Helpers Union 574 in the mil- itant struggle in which the} whole working class had a} stake, the clearer is the proof that/| the workers were cold decked by| James P, Cannon, his lieutenants in | the leadership of the union, Gover- | nor Olson and his Farmer-Labor | Party henchmen in control of the| Minneapolis Trades and Labor As-| sembly. | The pani ricken retreat from a ieveloping general strike situation to abject surrender of the militant | workers to compulsory arbitration | under the regional Labor Board cannot be explained on the basis of | a sudden shift in the relationship of class forces, It is the result of the inherent | and incurable opportunism in- | separable from the Trotskyite position and which is its main | ideological base, It is all the more menacing to workers who come | under the infiuence of its priests | and altar boys, as the Minneapolis | defeat shows, since these artful | rascals can even be yelling for a | general strike while they prepare the machinery to make it impos- sible. This is the practical result for workers of opportunism covered by revolutionary phrases. Truce Meant Defeat for Workers The signing of the “truce,” after] the building trades council had de-| clared a sympathetic strike and| general strike sentiment was mount- | ing in the other unions, disrupted | the working class ranks and spelt} death for the main demands of the auto truck drivers and helpers. That the general strike was on| the order of the day in Minneapolis is admitted by the Trotskyite sheet | for May 26. It says, under a Min-| neapolis date line: “The rank and| file of the unions are ready for this| | action and it is possible that they} may go out in a day or two. (Since | this was written 35,000 building | trades workers have gone out—Ed.)” To show by a number of facts the general upsurge that was taking | place in the labor movement—and | | to one who knows the Twin Cities they are of the greatest significance | e quote again from this sheet: | | out but failed to do so at the last minute and agreed to arbitrate a point or two... The street car men | (Minneapolis) made a similar deci- sion. The labor movement seethes with indignation against the leaders; responsible for these actions in the face of the situation created by the | drivers strike,” | In regard to the general strike Possibility, Cannon wired from Min- | neapolis on May 22 that “sentiment | for it spreading like wildfire.” He | stated further in the same dispatch | Gf the negotiations fail a general strike of sympathy with the drivers | may result.” | In order to show by their own statements that the shameful set-| tlement and surrender of the| strikers to N. R. A. and compulsory | | arbitration was not the result of a/ defeated strike, to show that it bore no relation to the actual disposition | of class forces at the time, we quote | still further from an editorial state- | non-Party workers, group meetings | izers, agitators and propagandists,| ment in the “Communist” League | of non-Party workers in some con- | must write for the Party press their) sheet for May 26: | centration factories with reports on | experiences in the numerous strug- | the convention, and special meet- ings of Party fractions. These are correct methods that must be widely applied, Popularizing Convention Resolutions The fact, however, remains that for nearly two months since the convention, the decisions and res: plutions of the convention are stil | gles since the convention, showing | to what extent, and with what re- | sults, the convention decisions were | applied and what improvements in | our Party work have occurred since then. | We believe that the immediate !and serious application of these | ership to understand the conven- “In pitched battles last Saturday | and again on Monday the strikers| | fought back and held their Owihe | And on Tuesday they took the | | offensive, with devastating results.” | | “Businessmen” volunteering to put | the workers in their place and| | college boys out for a lark—as| | special deputies—to say nothing of | roposals will help our Party mem-|the uniformed cops—handed over || of New York, show that | their badges and fled in terror he- | not made the property of the entire | tion resolutions and decisions and | fore the mass fury of aroused work- | Party membership. It is also an undeniable fact that our Party press writes very little about our Con- vention Resolutions and decisions. Only occasionally do single mem- bers of the Daily Worker editorial staff refer to the Convention Res- olutions and as for our language press, the situation is still worse. i And it is precisely the Party press,| Qhio A, A. Conference | Ohio District (District six), especially the Daily Worker, that must play the leading role in the explanation and interpretation of the convention resolutions and deci- sions. oon It is essential to remember tha our convention was guided by the resolutions and proceedings of the Thirteenth Plenum of the Comin- tern Executive Committee, by the political report of Comrade Stalin to the Seventeenth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This means that our Party membership must be made familiar, not only with the resolutions and decisions of our own Party conven- tion, but also of the Thirteenth Plenum of the E.C.C.J. and the re- port of Comrade Stalin. It would, therefore, be wrong to believe that our comparatively new Party mem- bership, studies and digests the basic documents of these three gatherings. This work must be or- ganized, directed and led by our leading Party functionaries and Party press. Steps to Be Taken Though our convention was heid two months ago, we must continue with greater energy to popularize its resolutions in the lower units. We must immediately undertake the following five simple but very| Unity spells victory for the steel | important steps: to undertake a broader study of thi In the first place, it is ay of the e oy Aseeaee then hitherto, in the the Amalgamated Association in the! recess, 8. M. W. I. U. delegates dis- speed up their execution. The Fight for the United Front of the Steel Workers howed Desire for United Front STRIKE in the steel in- dustry is the next decisive |battle in the class struggle in [the United States. Upon the development of this battle }much hinges — perhaps the |immediate development of the | American labor movement. | It is therefore necessary to an- |alyze very carefully every force in | the impending fight. | As anyone at all familiar with the | Steel industry knows, there are two unions with mass following there, }one the militant Steel and Metal | Workers Industrial Union, affiliated | with the Trade Union Unity League, | the other the Amalgamated Associa- tion of Iron, Steel and Tin Work- ers, affiliated with the American | Federation of Labor. A solid fight- ing united front between the work- jers in these two unions—a unity the 8. M. W. I. U.—will be the de- lative factor in the whole situation workers; disunity defeat. It is in this light that we must examine the recent conference of | Which is being steadily urged by | ‘ers... A second feature of the fight The St. Paul drivers voted to go| | = === By BELL DUNNE at the City Market. , . is the fact that the whole union went into action on the picket line in mass formation; thousands of other union men went with them.... It is not a Minneapolis Example of Technique of Turning Proves Correctness | Offensive Into Retreat, Victory to Defeat | Speaking of the National Guard, | the Minneapolis Journal on May 26 said: “Almost simultaneously with | the mobilization order was a truce | agreement between the employers A Minneapolis worker fas under the blows of a police ctub in th recent drivers’ strike. The drivers later fought back so militantly that the above scene wasn’t repeated, strike of the men alone but of the women also.” Does the foregoing—and the general facts are corroborated from all other sources—sound like the 5,000 Auto Truck Drivers were in a position which made it necessary for them to surrender? On the contrary it shows that the striking Drivers Union and huge sections of the working class were on the offensive. Leaders who sur- render while their forces are on the offensive are either foots or crooks or both. There were plenty of all three types in the Minneapolis struggle as we shall see, The “truce” was signed under these conditions, the strike of the drivers—the militant core of the whole movement—was over, nego- tiations began, the working class forces were demobilized and the strikers’ demands went splashing into the slimy pool of class col- laboration, The “truce” was signed only to be violated by Governor Olson, What is allowed to bring up powerful reinforcements while the working class and its organizations are dis- armed? sind of truce is it when the enemy | and strikers under which no trucks were moved and mass picketing dis- continued. This truce continued until a settlement was reached,” (My emphasis—B, D.), We have seen what the settle- ment was—wages to remain as at present for one year and compul- sory arbitration. As soon as Governor Olson en- tered the situation, backed by two infantry regiments and one of ar- tillery, the shameful retreat of the leaders began. Having signed the “truce” jointly with the officials of the Central Labor Council and thus made a united front with Olson’s henchmen, the Trotskyite leaders committed themselves to the nego- | tiations while some of their own | striking followers were being called to the armories as members of the | National Guard. The calling of the troops put Governor Olson at the | mercy of the organized labor moye- | ment. Under no circumstances could he have defended this action by himself, Trotskyite White-wash It remained for the Trotskyites and the Central Labor Council offi- cials to furnish the formula with | Textile ‘Ml Barons Reap a | Golden Harvest--And Cut Pay Dividends totalling $250,000 were paid by seven mills in the Greenville, 8. C., area on or about April 1. Orr Mills of Anderson is paying $112,000 for the year. Others in the district who paid out dividends for the first quarter were Calhoun Mills of Calhoun Processing Co. In nearly every case financial Falls ($15,000), Victor-Monaghan, Dunean and Southern Franklin 1 reports show that the year 1933 was more profitable for the employers than was pre-Roosevelt 1932. Company American Bemberg Corp., Elizabethton, Tenn, American Glanzstoff Corp., Elizabethton, Tenn. Amoskeag Mfg, Co., Manchester, N. H. Brighton Mills, Boston, Mass. _ Graniteville Mig. Co., ‘Graniteville, & ©, Kendall Co., Boston, Mas: Merrimack Mfg. Co., Lowell, Mass. Mt. Vernon-Woodberry Mills, Baltimi New England Industries, Ine. Maini Newmarket Mfg. Oo., Lowell, Mass. Russell Mfg. Co., Middletown, Conn Tubize Chatillon Corp., Hopewell, Va After deductions for depreciation, taxes, interest and other (**) During period of receivership, June, 1938, to February 9, 1934, Net Profit for 1938* ore, Md. Ne a is 97,000 309,566 charges. Reports of first quarter profits, issued by the National City Bank seven textile and apparel companies—names not given—reported a net profit of $1,274,000 as against a deficit of $49,000 for the first three months of Jast year, which the whitewash for Olson was} mixed. This is what it was: “Governor Olson has got to make | a@ showing or Roosevelt will send in | federal troops from Fort Snelling.” | This stool-pigeon formula was | circulated widely among the strik- | ers, The next little job was to liqui- | date the general strike sentiment. | Once more Cannon and the local | Dunne dynasty furnished the re- | quired explanation. (We wish read- ers would scrutinize this counter- revolutionary contribution carefully | | because we will encounter it again | | and again in the United States as | the present mass struggles develop). | Here it is—mouthed over and over again by these leaders to get all its delicious flavor and then expector- ated into the clean arena of the| Class struggle where so far the main | slogan had been “general strike.” | “We can’t have a general strike| because there is no revolutionary situation.” That general strikes produce rev- olutionary situations was not hinted. 4n_ extension of this latter slogan wag formulated as: “You can’t fight bayonets with | empty bellies.” The defeatist character of this combination of slogans and rumors circulated by the Trotskyite leaders | and the Central Labor Council offi- | cials is obvious. They were designed | to halt the growing mass movement | and they accomplished their pur- pose, A Call to Surrender yen the propaganda for a gen- eral strike circulated by the rene- gade-dominated Drivers Union was definitely limited. We quote from! | their leaflet entitled “Conciliation, | But NO Surrender, Offered by Strik-| |ers to End Strike and Disorder:” | “We call on every employed | worker in Minneapolis not under | contract to lay down his tools, To declare a holiday.” (My em~- phasis—B. D.), |Pany’s policy of discrimination and| ; this same worker is one of the com- | Ststice Was. Swee ps City Of Cleveland) te | Metal, Taxi Struggles | Show Fighting Mood | of Workers | CLEVELAND, Ohio. — The Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union | conducted a strike at the Chandler | and Price plant against the com- for the enforcement of the agree- ment made between the company and the union some time ago. The strike started as a result of the firing of two members of the union. The reason given by the company was that one of the workers was too old and the other had to be laid) off because of lack of work, although | pany’s oldest employees. The plant is organized practically 100 per cent in the Union. The men in the shop called all the members of the Union and the other work- ers together a week ago Monday and decided by a unanimous vote to go on strike, A picket line was organized and proper committees were placed in charge of the different activities during the strike. Through its proper mass picketing the strike be- came so effective that practically all the office force and all the foremen were kept out of the shop. During the strike those few remaining out- side of the union signed up. On Friday, May 25, the company For sheer: anti-working class or- | iginality in devising ways and| ; means of forming a united front | | with the treacherous bureaucrats | of the labor movement this slogan | is in a class by itself. Worship of | the “sanctity of the labor contract” | ——the traditional shibboleth of the | most treacherous official labor lead- | ers in their efforts to keep workers’ | ranks divided—has never been car- ried out with such reverence even by Tobin himself—the head of the A. F. of L. union to which Drivers Union 574 is affiliated. There was a fourth slogan. With- | out the real defeatist character of the settlement being explained to the strikers—and, of course, not to; the rest of the organized workers | by the leaders—the lying statement | was widely circulated that: “We have won 90 per cent of our de- mands.” By these propaganda methods | the general strike situation was! liquidated, Governor Olson’s face was saved—the drivers strike de- feated and compulsory arbitration fastened upon them. Arrested work- ers remained in jail and were fined | and given workhouse sentences. | The capitalist press was jubilant. ' It had a right to be. What it and employers had believed to be a new revolutionary leadership in process | | of formation had proved to be of | | the same gutless and unprincipled character as that they had been dealing with for years. Pit vaes. (The next article will deal with covert maneuvers in the nego- | tiations and settlement and some of the background of the Min- neapolis strugele,) Milwaukee Steel, Metal Workers Endorse H. R, 7598 MILWAUKEE, Wis. (By Mail). — Shop gate meetings were held last week before the A. O. Smith, Pressed Steel Tank, International Harvester and Harnischfeger Corp, plants by the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union on the subject of the Workers Unemploy- ment and Social Insurance Bill (H. R. 7598). In each case leaflets and copies of the bill were distributed at the factory the day before the meeting. After the discussions the workers voted on resolutions to send to Con- gressmen O’Malley and Cannon de- manding that they vote for H. R. 7598. At every meeting these reso- lutions were unanimously approved. | pany, called for a representative commit- | tee and settled the strike 100 per| cent in favor of the men, That is, the laid-off workers and members of the union were reinstated in their jobs, and an agreement reached that from now on all grievances and pro- posals by either side will be taken up with the committee authorized by the union to deal with the com- | The members of the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union at Chandler and Price displayed cour- age and carried out a real militant policy of strike strategy. These workers have shown the difference between the strikes led by the 5. M. W. I. U. and strikes led by the high-salaried officials of the A. F.| of L. | Wave Of Strike Sweeps City Of | Cleveland At the present time a number of Strikes are going on in the city of Cleveland: the gas station oper- ators’ strike, the taxicab strike and now the developing mass struggles and oncoming mass strike in the steel industry. In the taxi strike as well as in the gas operators’ strike, | a tremendous discontent is develop- | ing among the rank and file against the A. F. of L. leadership. In fact among the taxi strikers a split is taking place. The overwhelming majority of the strikers are fight- ing bitterly and have rejected the policy of the officials of the union | of betraying the strikers, The Joint Council of Industrial Unions together with the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union is! initiating an intensive drive in preparation for the coming steel strike. Mass recruitment into the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union | among the unorganized masses in the steel mills, building up of the opposition within the A. F. of L. Local Unions, mass _ meetings, parades and demonstrations; joint committees of action in preparation for the strike in the mills and de- partments, raising of finances for the preparations of the steel strike are the immediate tasks of the hour. No time must be lost. All forces must be united to prevent the A. F, of L, leaders from misleading. the steel workers as they have misled the workers in the auto industry, We must make the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union into the Union of the workers, capable of uniting all the workers, organized and unorganized, in the steel and metal industry. At the last conference of the A. | A. in Canton a decision was made | to invite all local unions in the steel |and metal industry, including the | locals of the S. M. W.I. U. The re- sponse to the invitation was satis- | factory. Practically all of the locals | attended. es ene 'HE work of the conference—which | reflected the forces working for jand against unity very clearly— | started off well enough with reports | |on the work. of the A. A. lodges. | However, during the reports some discussion arose about united action, | Immediately the question was | raised whether nop-A. A. members had the right to be in the confer- ence. In order not to create any unnecessary friction and to demon- strate again our sincere desire for | unity, the delegates of the Steel and | Metal Workers Union present de- cided to submit a short statement, | explaining our position, and leave} the conference. During the discus- | | sion of the question, all kinds of | | motions were made in favor of us| | to sti ome were made against us| | staying. The decision finally wes | that, due to the custom of the A. A. id in accordance with the} titution, A. A, lodges must. f meeting when they con- | duct their busines i Hear 8, M. W. 1. U, Organizer | During the following denial | lodg JA. A. ci | have sec cussed the whole matter in a friendly and informal manner with the A. A. delegates. So good an impression did the S. M. W, I. U. | members make on the delegates that when they reconvened they voted almost unanimously to hear Joe Dallet, an organizer of the S. M, W. I, U.—with the understanding, how- ever, that he was not to attack the Officials of the A. F, of L. Dallet spoke and gave our posi- tion on the burning question of the united front. After he spoke, an extended discussion developed around the motion that followed Dallet’s speech, the motion that the A. A. District’ Conference elect a committee to meet with a commit~ tee of our union on the question of the strike struggle in the industry in our district. The proposal was defeated after a long debate. An amendment to refer the mat- ter to the International offi- fials was adopted. The amend- ment was carried on the argument that one district, was not in a posi- tion to establish such a procedure. Red Seare Raised During the discussion a very in- teresting point arose, when some- one—evidently desiring to sidetrack the discussion on the united front— sent a note to the chairman, “ac- cusing” him of being a Communist, Tt later developed that this charge was leveled against the chairman, Erwin, by reactionary officials of the Otis Lodge of the A. A, In reply to the “charge” Erwin stated that while he was not a Com- |Munist he had recently discovered what Communism was and had a great deal more respect for the Communists than for some of the ; Tugged individualists” in the or- | Sanization. At the same time, he stated, the “charge” should be pre- sented through the proper channels in the A. A. (Following the speech of Dallet, we were informed, Erwin took a stand for united action in the coming steel strike in order to be victorious.) After the withdrawal, the S. M. W. I. U, delegates had their own conference where they explained, to the comrades present the urgent necessity for unity. This conference was partigularly necessary since some of the 8, M. W. I. U, dele- gates were antagonized by their ex- clusion from the A. A. conference. ee aoe | We: are the lessons of the Ohio | conference of the A, A.? Firstly—and above all—it demon- | strated the absolute necessity for _ Working among the members of the | A, A. This conference showed us | very clearly the possibilities of mak- | ing great headway there. Secondly, it showed us the char- j acter of some of the opposition ‘leaders within the A. A,, people like Erwin of Youngstown, and Long of Weirton. Erwin has been trying to sit on two chairs at the same time. ‘We must ask Brother Erwin frankly to put his cards on the table. Hither Brother Erwin, you come out openly and decisively for the united front, for a united strike of the steel work- ers, or you come out against it. But you must make your position clear. | Long Supports Strikebreaking NRA As to Brother Long. His speeech at the opening of the conference was a typical A. F. of L. chauyinist | Speech, His line was that Roosevelt ' (yes, the same Roosevelt who put over the automobile sell-out agree- ment) is O.K., but, somehow, the company had put it over on Roose- velt. This, of course, is an attempt to instil illusions about Roosevelt. |and the N. R. A. in the minds of the steel workers, illusions which will be absolutely fatal to the de- velopment of a successful strike in the steel industry. His present pol- iey is a continuation of his policy in the Weirton strike where he de- | Moralized the fighting spirit of the ‘strikers by protracted negotiations | With Washington, with the N. R. A. | officialdom—and finally helped de- | feat the strike. Immediate Program | What must be the immediate pro- ‘gram of action? While never losing sight, for one moment, of the urgent necessity of building and strengthening the united front between the S. M. W. I. U. and the members of the A. A., | we should: 1, More than ever intensify our A.A. Opposition Leaders Must Take Decisive Position I. U. The union recruiting cam- paign must be dramatized by meetings, automobile parades, etc, In short—mass recruitment into the union, 2. Immediately set te work to train a crew of organizers among our members in the steel mills, 3, In each district initiate a special financial drive for the steel campaign, The financial campaign must be explained politically as something that must be carried out in order to develop success- ful struggles in steel, 4. That we strengthen and in- crease our acitvity among the A. A. members in the following man- ner: (a) Set up united committees in the depariments in the mills, and, if possible, on a local scale, (b) In some mills call meet- ings under the joint auspices of the 8S. M. W. I. U, and A. A. (ec) If at all possible, get out joint leaflets, over the heads of local, district and national A, A. leaders who stand in the way of unity, These are the next steps in the campaign to unite the steel workers of Ohio for the coming struggles | campaign to build the S. M. W. in this basic indmstry, Monopoly Practices In Steel Industry Encouraged by NRA Federal Body Ching Major Firms Contrel Policies By HY KRAVIF Labor Research Association T the NRA code from the irom and steel industry has encoure aged monopoly practices was ree cently charged by the Federas Trade Commission. The Commission’s report stat@l that: (1) the domination of ¢ | policies in the steel industry und the code had been placed in the control of the major companies; (2) sharp price increases and price fixing had followed; (3) and that the industry was seeking to find in the code legality for practices pree viously outlawed by the commission as opposed to “fair competition.” The concentration of control in the hands of the steel trust is ile lustrated in the voting set-up of the industry's Code Authority, W, S. Steel Corp. and its subsidiaries have about 40 per cent of the total voting strength; Bethlehem Steel Corp. has another 13 per cent; and eight other companies have a come bined vote of 30 per cent of the total, The other 17 per cent of the voting power is shared by 50 companies, the largest one having one and one-half per cent of the total vote, ° 4 Realm of Steel Trust This evidence strongly confixma the exposure of the steel trust by Horace B. Davis in his recent book, Labor and Steel, (International Publishers, 381 Fourth Ave. New York City; popular edition, $1). In the chapter devoted to the “Steel Trust,” Davis points out that U, S. Steel Corp. ruled by the J. P, Morgan & Co, interests since its formation in 1901, is dominant in the territory between the Rocky Mountains and the Alleghenies, and in the Birmingham area through Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co, Bethlehem holds a similar position in the East. Between them these companies control the Pacific Coast area. Together with eight other companies— Republic Steel, Jones & Laughlin, Youngstown Sheet & Tube, National Steel, Ine land Steel, American Rolling Mill, Wheeling Steel and Crucible Steel Co. of America—they control 8&4 per cent of the country’s raw steel capacity. And it is estimated that with ten other companies they make 90 per cent of the gross sales in the steel industry. Steel Trust Practices Although led by U. S. Steel, the steel trust is composed of otha: important firms in the industr) which we have listed above. The} do this as a matter of policy, i& order that no one of them shall have an advantage over the other in labor costs. It is common knowl- edge that the big companies also act together on prices and the Federal Trade Commission report shows this practice extended under NRA. Today, the control of each in- dividual company is concentrated in a very few hands and since th- managements lean heavily on bank for credit, advice and the raising j additional capital, the financie; have utilized their strategic posi tion. Bankers have taken over out- right the management of certain companies. The Morgan firm or- ganized- and controls U. 8. Steel Corp. Bethlehem is also, but less openly, a Morgan concern, with representatives also of Rockefeller and Mellon % terests. Several Beth- lehem directors were on one or more of the Kuhn, Loeb & Co. “pre- ferred lists.” In most, if not all important matters of policy, Beth- lehem has acted with U. S. Steel, as for example in cutting wages, in export trade, and to a certain extent in the dividends of the do- mestic market. Morgan, Mellon Links Morgan is indirectly linked to several of the “independent” steel companies. Morgan banks have, since 1927, participated in bond issues for at least two of them: Youngstown Sheet & Tube and Na- tional Steel Corp. Morgan allies in | Cleveland — the Van Sweringen group and the strong Hanna inter- ests—are between them tied up with Republic Steel Corp., National Steel Corp., Otis Steel Co,, and Youngse town Sheet & Tube. The Mellon interests are repre sented on Bethlehem, Repubdlia Steel, American Rolling Mill Co., Crucible Steel Co., and the smaller Pittsburgh Steel, Gulf States Steel, Alan Wood Steel, Mystic Iron Works, and Davison Coke & Iron Co. Jones & Laughlin is repre-_. sented on the (Mellon) Union Trust Co, of Pittsburgh. The strongest steel magnates out- side of the Morgan and Mellc groups, are the Hanna and Math groups of Cleveland. Most of t) — Jarge “independents” are tied t.- gether by a net-work of cross- directorships, and also by a criss- cross of jointly owned iron-mining subsidiaries. Fuil Hiking and Camping Outfits Breeches, Shorts, Slacks, Sweaters, Shirts, High Shoes, Sneakers, Work Shoes, Horsehide Leather Clothes, ete, TENTS, COTS, BLANKETS SPECIAL—Suede & Wool Windbreakers Hudson Army & Navy 105 THIRD AYE. Corner 13th Street Mention Daily Worker for Special Discount