The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 23, 1934, Page 4

Page DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 1934 Company Union Has Editor's Note—Another on conditions in the Youngstown- Pittshurgh steel area by Carl Reeve, who has just spent a week in the steel districts, will appar in Monday's Daily Worker. The next article will deal with the terror of the steel companies and the gov- ernment against the steel workers, By CARL REEVE | 5 Tighe-Committee of Ten ma- chine of the Amalgamated As- sociation of Iron, Steel and Tin} Workers, having dropped all the| economic demands of the steel work- | ers, is now talking about “govern- ment controlled elections.” These | AA officials called off the strike for | which the steel workers were wait- ing, and propose that a Roosevelt appointed board of three be given power to call and hold elections to decide om the workers representa- tives as well as “arbitrate” all dis- putes. This proposal of Green and the AA officials gives up the right MICHAEL TIGHE | union never takes up such questions | as the speed-up. Even the com-/tion” that “I told them, (meaning) poss of the city, who dictates the| pany union representative who wanted to represent the men knows he would be fired if he presented any grievances. The company union has never even held a meet- to strike. ing, to my knowledge. I was never “Elections” have just been held | catied to any company union meet- in all the steel companies. “elec-|ing The men feel they have no tions” by the company unions, fol-| inion. ‘They do not consider the | lowing a “strike vote” by these company union as a union at .all. company unions. I asked many They know it represents only the steel workers from mills in the eompany.” Youngstown-Canton district what | The Sharon Steel Hoop Co. (near they thought of these “elections” and of the company union. “Telegrams have just been printed im the newspapers,” a steel worker from the sheet mill in Neweastle, Ohio, said, “Which aight company union men, along with those from other cities, signed. These tele- grams said the men wanted the company union and were satisfied with conditions. There was hell to pay next day. The workers never saw the telegram which claimed to speak for them. The company union never even called a meeting to discuss it. The men are not satisfied with conditions either at the radiator works or at the sheet mill. In both mills the work- ers have not even been allowed to Youngstown) has four mills with several thousand workers. A worker told what happened when the | worker presented a _ petition) through the company union. “I am | getting paid 48 cents an hour. I} |work forty-eight hours a week,” | this worker said. “In my depart- |ment almost every one of us signed | a petition against the speed-up. We gave it to the company union of- ficial. When we didn’t hear any- | thing we asked him what happened. | He answered, ‘the superintendent | \said if you don’t like the condi- | |tions here you can get out. He said | anyone not satisfied can go and} get his pay.’ We got no results out | of the company union.” Badge No. On Ballot bunch up. If a few of us get to-| In the Republic mill in Youngs- gether, a guard or a company union | town, the workers voted in the Official comes along and says ‘come | “elections.” On each voter’s ballot | on now, move on, you know its against the rules to bunch up.’ The men want a six-hour day.” In the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co., the largest mill in Youngstown, hiring several thou- sand workers, an “election” was held a week ago. One worker in this mill said to me: “I had to vote. I didn't want to vote, and stayed away from the booth. But a company union official came and got me and said ‘you didn’t vote yet.’ If I didn’t vote I would lose my jog. We don’t know who the nominees are. I didn’t know who I was voting for. They are just unknown names and badge num- bers to most of us.” Another worker from this mill told about the speedup. “They have a double speed-up system in the Youngstown Sheet and Tube,” he said. “The pusher is supposed to keep up production and speed fhe workers up. He is fired if the production is not kept up. At the same time, the inspector has to keep up quality, and he is fired if the quality is not kept up. This puts a terrible pressure on the men. They have to produce a lot, and keep up the quality at the same time or they're fired.” “The speed-up is our worst griev- ance,” another worker in the Sheet and Tube said. “The company his badge number was printed. This |meant that the “secret” ballot gave the employers the information as | to how every worker voted. If he voted for someone not a company | tool he would be in danger of firing and blacklist. |. The company union was in the | forefront in the recent preparations | | to break the strike. In the Youngs- town Sheet and Tube Co. the men | were called into the office and told | | by the superintendent and the com- | |pany union officials, “If you can’t | get to work because of a strong picket line, telephone us at the| office. If you don’t telephone, we | will know that you are on strike |and you will be discharged imme- diately.” One worker in a Youngstown mill |told how he had been forced to act as a company guard. He was| called in on Thursday and told he | had been selected for guard duty. “T | was given a gun,” he said, “and | told that I must report for guard | |duty at the gate on Friday night, | the date of the strike call. I am |a former miner. If I went home and |told them I had acted as a mill |guard I would have been killed. I ;made up my mind that I would] refuse. I went down to the mill) | Friday and was told that they had (Continued on Page 8) By BILL GEBERT ILLIAM GREEN, President of the American Federation of Labor, at the convention of the Amal- gamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers in Pittsburgh, de- clared: “I recommend an_ impartial board of three members he ap- pointed by the President of the United States, clothed with au- thority to act.” To act to put heavy chains upon the steel workers in the service of the coal barons and the Roosevelt | government. This “recommendation” | inqustrial feudalism, where the Re- jof Green was not only a recom-| publican Mayor Johnson is an office mendation. It was an ultimatum! He openly declared to a cor- respondent of the capitalist press, after he made that “recommenda- the delegates at the convention) that I not only urge them to accept the proposal, but insisted they ac- cepted.” Mike Tighe and his whole inter- national officialdom, together with the much noisy so-called Rank and File Committee of Ten, headed by Forbeck agreed. The responsibility for this rests mostly with the Com- mittee of Ten which as the early votes at the convention showed, had the majority of the delegates’ sup- port, but who miserably betrayed and fully supported the betrayal cooked and prepared by the agents of the bosses in the ranks of the working class. What the steel workers can ex- pect from the proposed “impartial board of three members” which is to be appointed by the President of the United States has already been told by Gen. Hugh S. Johnson in his speech at the convention of the In- ternational Ladies Garment Workers Union in the Morrison Hotel, Chi- cago, on the evening of June 8th, fully a week before Green proposed the appointment of an “impartial board.” In that speech Hugh 8. Johnson declared: “When men talk about a mini- mum wage of $1 an hour for a 30-hour week in the steel industry, they are advocating indirectly a great price of steel—but with more than 8,000,000 workers out of employ- ment, and agriculture prostrate, a sizeable vertical mark-up in the price of steel would curtail pro- duction in that and nearly every other great industry in the coun- try. It would give us a new wave of unemployment and perhaps ruin the whole recovery move- ment.” This brazen statement of General Johnson shows very clearly the role of the Roosevelt-N.R.A. New Deal Administration. General Johnson sees in the demand for increase of wages up to $30 a week for a steel worker as a calamity and utmost col- lapse of the capitalist system. He is so excited that such a demand would cut the big dividends of the bosses that he goes practicaly into a panic and he sees in this demand for $30 a week for steel workers “motives of Communist. politics.” If the demand for the 30-hour week | and a dollar an hour is Commu- | nist politics then half a million steel workers are Communists, be- cause this is their demand. For this demand they were preparing and ready for strike. The betrayal of the steel workers by the “coal miner” Green and “steel worker” Mike Tighe tempo- increase in the cost and | |rarily beheaded the struggle, but only temporarily. The steel work-| ers are already beginning to see! clearly the meaning of it and it also| | must be pointed out here that not| |all the armed forces mobilized by | | state and local governments, and| thugs by the steel corporations are| the ones that prevented the struggle) that would lead to victories, but it is | the reactionary leadership of the A.| | F. of L. and the Amalgamated As-| | Sociation of Iron, Steel and Tin} | Workers. In Gary, Indiana, in the town) which has all the resemblance of| | boy of the Illinois Steel Corporation | | (subsidiary of the U. S. Steel Cor- | poration), where W. P. Gleason, su- | perintendent of the mill is the real) | policy of the City Council of Gary, | and who acts as President of the| Park Board to make sure that there| | will be no slip-up anywhere ag to the workers’ right to use the parks |for public gatherings, in the city! | where the Gary State Bank, owned | by the Illinois Steel Corporation is| | the only bank that remains open out | | of the 18 banks before the crisis, it | is in this city that workers are very |much indignant against the be- | trayal and show elements of re- | Gary, Mr. Johnson, on the eve of the. strike, issued a proclamation, declaring: “Several months ago the city council and safety board took pre- liminary steps to purchase new equipment for the police depart- ment. This equipment will be available if any emergency arises.” In Gary there is no money for the unemployed. But there is money “to purchase new equipment for the police department,” in preparation publican Mayor Johnson, also de- | clared in his proclamation: |“. . .if a strike is called, crowds, large or small, will not be permit- ted to gather unless special per- mission of the chief of police is obtained.” Not only the Republican adminis- | tration of Gary rushed in defense of the interests of the Steel Trust, The | Indiana Democratic Governor Paul V. MeNutt, former national com- | mander of the American Legion, on Thompson of the National Guard, | who came to Gary, according to the | Gary Post Tribune: “. . .to view all angles of the possible strike, including the pur- ported association of Communists with the walk-out threat as well as defensive tactics undertaken by the steel industry.” The same paper further reports that Major General Robert H. Tyn- dall, local National Guard Comman- der had prepared “his forces for immediate action.” And around the steel mills and especially the I- linois Steel Mill, hundreds of private guards, armed to the teeth, and as the Gary Post Tribune testified, on motorcycles with “machine guns mounted on each has been put into operation.” Why all this preparation for civil war against the workers when they were sure weeks in advance that “Steel Worker Mike Tighe of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, and “Coal Miner” Bill Green, as well as the local betrayers, such as Cur- | sistance. The Republican Mayor of | for massacres of the workers. Re-| the eve of June 16th, sent Major} | | Kelsey, Wm. Green, $25,000 a Year Strike-Breaker, Struts “Elections” at Point Before the A.A. Steel Workers As A “Coal Miner” of Gun In Steel Mills article | - AFL HEAD, TOGETHER WITH TIGHE, ‘COM MITTEE OF TEN,’ PROTECTS STEEL TRUST WILLIAM GREEN tiss, Kelsey and McAllister will be- tray the steel workers, will do just exactly what they have been told to do by the steel bosses and Roose- velt. The Gary Post-Tribune, mouthpiece of the Illinois steel, very frankly admits that it does not be- lieve that they will be sufficient in suppressing the workers because the workers began to lose confidence in these fakers. by declaring: “Numerous strangers, presumably steel union sympathizers or agents of the alleged Communistic Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union, haye been in Gary and elsewhere in the Calumet Steel region for the last several days.” Yes, the Steel and Metal Work- ers Industrial Union was active and is active in the steel mills in the Calumet steel region. It is the only force, together with the growing op- position inside of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, that the bosses fear. ‘They have no fear of Mr. Green, Mr. Tighe, Curtiss, McAllister and They know that they are not the ones whom the bosses have to fear. Even if they wouki lead the strike they would lead it for the purpose of beheading the strike struggles. The bosses, through their papers, openly admit that they are | afraid of the real union of the workers, the Steel and Metal Work- ers Industrial Union, because of the growing sympathy and organiza- tional consblidation of the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union, and because of the establishing of united front committees in some departments which resulted in bringing about victories for the workers, as is the case in the In- land Steel in Indiana Harbor where the chippers, under the leadership of the Steel and Metal Workers In- dustrial Union, as a result of a one- hour strike, won 20 per cent in- crease in wages, or the workers in the American Steel Foundries in Indiana Harbor, in presenting their demands for vacations with pay. These demands have been granted, although in a limited number, and the union now carries on a fight to get vacations for all workers. Because of this, the bosses and the leaders of the Amalgamated As- sociation of Tron, Steel and Tin Workers brought into the steel re- gion Caroline Loewe, former Pro- letarian Party member (maybe she still is), into the region who began to make “Communistic” speeches. She began to speak of the looming strike struggles, But with all her “revolutionary” speeches, she has only one objective in view, to stop | Fitzpatrick, who played some role {any ahd all activities of the work- jers. She carries the line that a strike in the steel industry, even a general strike, cannot be successful What we have to have is a general strike of all the workers, and by | raising the slogan of the general strike in this light, this “radical” | agent of the bosses and the Amal- | gamated Association burocrats is at- | tempting to prevent the growing de- veloping struggle among the steel) workers, and therefore attempts to prevent the development of a gen- | eral strike. It is unfortunate, we| can add here, that even some more | or less class-conscious workers have | been misled by this talk. It is also important to note that the services of Miss Loewe have been given to A. A. burocrats by the Chicago Federation of Labor. in betraying the strike of 1919, is not to be seen. He cannot go over big among the workers. But Car- oline Loewe is appropriate for this purpose. The workers must not be fooled by her radical talk, She} must be exposed and driven out. She has nothing in common with the steel workers, She is serving the only interests she knows, and that is the interests of the buro-/| racy of the A. F. of L. which serves | the interests of the bosses, The task confronting the Steel| and Metal Workers Industrial Union is to even more energetically carry on an organizational drive to/| strengthen itself and establish it- | self in every department and ever} mill, To unite with the rank and file members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers and everywhere present de- mands and develop struggles for en- forcement of these demands. This is the only guarantee and it isthe only way to reject the sell-out that has been already concluded. The development of the opposition movement inside of the A. A., to- gether with the building of the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union in each department and mill represents the most burning issue confronting the steel workers. Aux- iliary forms in support of the strug- gle of the steel workers must be de- veloped. Mass women’s auxiliaries to the Steel and Metal Workers In- dustrial Union must be built around every local of the S. M. W. I. U. A special approach to developing work among the Negro and young workers, winning them over to the union and to united front activities. The small victories obtained al- ready must stimulate this work and above all must point out to the fact that machine guns, thugs and gunmen cannot operate the mills, that there is a resentment against thugs around the mills and workers are openly proclaiming that they will not work in the mills guarded by armed thugs, that they are not in jails. Everywhere the mass de- mand is to be raised to oust the guards, to withdraw them from the gates of the steel mills. To achieve these aims it is neces- sary in a most patient manner to explain all the events that are tak- ing place in the steel industry, ex- posing the role of the A. A. offi- cialdom to every worker through leaflets, the Daily Worker and per- sonal discussions with workers. These are the tasks confronting the 8. M. W. I. U. in the Calumet Steel Region. The union began to prove that it can fulfill these tasks. All power to the Steel and Metal Work- ers Industrial Union! “Letting the R It is the duty of a revolutionary party to expose leadership which ig really compromising and re- formist and to win the masses away from such leadership. But how is this to he done? CHIEFLY AND MOST EFFECTIVELY BY LETTING THE REFORMIST LEADERS EXPOSE THEM- SELVES, WHICH THEY ARE CERTAIN TO DO SOONER OR LATER, AND USUALLY SOONER, e | these examples of “freedom of So ee ceertag in ent i | speech,” “toleration,” etc. coe casts y 1 | ‘Similarly, it is possible for| 4 Fe i es | “revolutionists” of this type to| |“work” in unions dominated by By BILL DUNNE | Openly reactionary officials, or by REVOLUTIONARY workers’| more skillful bureaucrats who party has the responsibility of pointing out the path to victory for its class in its daily battles to main- tain and improve its economic and Social position, as well as in the coming struggle for power, to lead the daily struggles in this direction. Policies and tactics cannot be separated from the tmdividuals, groups and parties who advocate and use them, and who neces- sarily represent, more or less clearly, the social forces involved in the struggle. Tt is, therefore, necessary to furnish names and addresses when questions of policy, strategy and tacties for the working class and its organizations are being dis- cussed and fought out. Otherwise such discussions are meaningless so far as the effect on the labor move- ment is concerned. It has been demonstrated in the United States time and again that academic advocacy of the theory of the class struggle and support of the social revolution in the abstract, js not only tolerated by the Ameri- can ruling class and its government, but at times, especially in periods of intense class struggles, is actually welcomed. Zealous and ignorant! conditions, are incompatible with policemen and fanatical fascist| the needs of declining capitalism types cannot be expected to under-|for an unorganized and beaten stand this policy of the ruling class and occasionally arrest or even maltreat these verbal revolutionists. But these incidents are not the result ef a policy—they are devia- | Party. eformists Expose — emselves” ] | tions from a general policy. | As long as these gentry sink them- selves in abstractions, as long aS | | they make no connection between | the social revolution and struggles | for practical demands, that is, as| | long as they do not make a clear | connection between the struggles and the immediate interests of sec- tions of the working class and the general interests of the whole class —the necessity for preparation for the conquest of government power— | the ruling class can prove its devo- | tion to democratic procedure (by | parade as militants, and be welcome. They have full freedom to denounce capitalism in the abstract—espe- cially if, as is the case with the | American Workers Party, Trotzky- | ites and Lovestonites, this is com-| bined with unrestricted slander of Communists and the Communist The Socialist Labor Party- ites have been doing this for years— | without getting into any ‘serious | conflict with officialdom, | | But if the desirability of the over- | \ throw of capitalism and the only | method of doing it, the constant | effort to prepare the working class, |in all its struggles, for the final | battle, is connected with the strat- egy and tactics of the daily conflicts with employers, this involves the naming and classification of leaders of the labor movement, their iden- tification either with the revolu- tionary forces or with the forces against the working class. Since the rapid growth of the militant labor movements; the or- ganization of the unorganized mil- lions of workers in basic industry (like steel and metal) in unions con- trolled by workers and not by the corporations and their open and secret agents; substantial increases in real wages, abolition of the speed- up, and improvement in working working class; for low wages, star- vation relief for the unemployed (in order to keep them as a threat to the employed), the union leaders who reject the class struggle in- evitably become employer instru- ments for discouraging, narrowing, confusing and betraying mass struggle for partial demands—union recognition, wages, hours, better jobless relief, etc. The question of the class struggle itself, against the will of these lead- ers, of the forms and methods of conducting it, therefore becomes a practical question for the working class and their unions. The social revolution is the only way out of the crisis created by capitalism. The choice is between ever larger, more militant and conscious struggles, and surrender and still worse slavery. It is obvious, therefore, that workers have to know what leaders are honest and devoted and capable, what leaders are dishonest, cow- ardly, ignorant, and are serving not the interests of workers, but of their enemies. It is necessary to name the leaders who are hampering the struggles or are actually betraying them—and to tell why they are doing it. If the fault of some leaders is only that they are weak, efforts must be made to strengthen them. If they are honest and their fault lies only in | being ignorant of the class struggle and of effective strategy and tactics, efforts must be made to teach them. But if they are demagogues, if they understand class relationships, |if they know revolutionary theory and tactics but carry out a narrow craft union and separatist line, if they are corrupt, if they proceed on the false theory of the identity of interests of capital and labor, of employer and employee, they must. be exposed, discredited, their in- fluence must be destroyed and their organizational control broken. They must be identified for what they are—agents of the capitalist class in the ranks of the labor move- ment. This must be done, of course, on the basis of their utterances and acts. Good judgment must be used in selecting time and place as well as method. Must Expose and Fight Reforming Leaders But to lay down as a guide to action the dictum that “reformist leaders expose themselves” is to become a fatalist and consequently to adopt a do-nothing policy. Tt is not even sufficient merely to expose the misleaders—it is necessary to organize workers to fight off their deadening and disastrous influence. The Muste formula fits in per- fectly with the activitiesif such they can be called—of the self- styled “Communist” or “revolution- ary” groups outside of the Com- munist Party in the unions and in the struggles of union members— the recent struggles especially. The class struggle has furnished two recent examples of how the Musteites tactics of “letting the re- formist leaders expose themselves” works in practice. One example is Toledo, the other is the struggle of the steel workers, The splendid struggle of the Toledo workers is known thruout the country. The Auto-Lite work- ers struck for union recognition, a 20 per cent increase in wages, They got a 5 per cent increase, a compul- sory arbitration agreement, and recognition of the union through negotiations to be conducted by Thomas Ramsey, the business agent Who sabotaged the Auto-Lite strike and the proposed general strike, and who after trying to get the strikers to abandon their militant picket line, hid behind the National Guardsmen. The company union remains. The Auto-Lite workers were forced back under these con- ditions because the local A. F. of L. leaders would not call a general strike for which a majority of local union had voted. The local A, F. of L, leaders, and national A. F. of L. representatives, made a separate settlement for the electrical workers to prevent their taking strike action which in all probability would have precipitated the general strike and brought vic- tory to the Toledo movement—to say nothing of the stimulating effect it would have had on the labor Movement of the whole country. The Committee of 23 of the Central Labor Council, set up for the ostensible purpose of organizing the general strike, discouraged and dis- organized the general strike. The wider the mass sentiment for a general strike become the more frantically the committee of 23 maneuvered to head it off. “The American Workers Party,” says the heroic Budenz, “acted positively all the time.” We shall soon see what the A. W. P. leaders mean by “positively,” With the official leaders Itke ,right in Toledo, A. Ramsey discouraging mass picket- ing, sabotaging the general strike and maneuvering with the N. R. A. representatives, it is clear that the general strike would take place only if the influence of these misleaders was counteracted and their organ- izational grip on the unions broken. This was a prerequisite for the in- clusion of larger masses of workers in the strike. What did the A. W. P. leaders do to supply this pre- requisite? The answer is nothing! No Critiesm of A. F. of L. Chiefs Even in the June 16 issue of Labor Action, official organ of the A. W. P., there is no real criticism of the A. F. of L, leaders and their policy of keeping the workers’ ranks split. On the contrary, as is always the case with these elements, the Com- munist Party is accused of splitting tactics. Why? Because only the Communists made any effort to ex- Pose and correct the basic weakness of the Toledo struggle—the sabotage by the official leaders. Speaking of the compulsory arbi- tration agreement, Budenz says: “Had the Central Labor Union stood by its guns more effectively, these weaknesses would not have appeared.” He hails it nevertheless, as “an outstanding victory for the workers.” If this is so than John L. Lewis won an outstanding victory for the miners with his compulsory arbitra- tion agreement settlement. The official leaders stood by their guns —but turned them against the general strike! “The Central Labor group” (he means the official leaders—B, D.) “was showing hesitancy,” says Budenz, “They did not show hesitancy. They were firm in their opposition to the general strike, Search high and low and this will be all the “criticism” you will find in Jabor Action for May ist, of the official leadership, except one more sentence we will mention later. This is “acting positively” with a vengeance. Everything would have been all to the W. P. leaders, if it hadn’t been for the Communists. For them Labor Action has ridicule, denun- ciation or slander, “Kennth Ostheimer, young sec- retary of the Lucas County Unem- Council, had up on ecto and saa, a few ’ words about the N. R. A. That was the chief Communist contribution.” Even if this were all, it was a necessary and fundamental con- tribution—and one that the A. F. of L. leaders did not make. They were “acting positively.” “They (the Communists) seemed to be busier showing that Thomas Ramsey, business agent of the union, was a ‘sellerout’ than in directing the fight against Auto- Lite.” Ramsey’s Charecter Well, what was Ramsey? Was he trying to direct the fight against Auto-Lite? Of course not. He was busy seeing, with the rest of the local A. F. of L. leaders and N. R. A. officials, that the Toledo labor unions did not strike in sympathy with the Auto-Lite workers, Work- ers cannot fight with the greatest, effectiveness unless they know who is who, who is for and who is against the necessary measures for victory. . On June 1, the Committee of 23 had arranged for a parade and demonstration. Toledo workers ex- pected that the general strike would be called at this meeting and 20,000, turned out. The local A. F. of L. leaders, including Aubrey, the chair- man of the meeting, failed to call the strike. This was open be- trayal. It was put over when the strike movement was at its height. But Budenz continues to attack the Communists who, according to his own statements, were the only ones who called this betrayal by its right name and’ fixed Tespon- sibility for it. He says: “Kenneth Eggert, representative of the Trade Union Unity ven in a speech at Memorial Hall, attacked the labor union speakers as ‘‘fakers’ and misleaders.” What were they? To ignore the betrayal was to countenance it and be a party to it! This is exactly where the A. W. P. interpretation of “acting positively” leads. Bu- denz Marries? that “The C. P. devoted major energy in off a litany of misleaders. It prrnd to arouse the suspiciffions of the workers in their own leaders,” These leaders were not working in the interests of the strikers and the labor movement generally, The chief trouble in Toledo was that the workers were not sufficiently suspicious of these leaders. (Ze be continued, | dustry. | area. ‘Outlook for Great Mass Struggles In The Steel Industry Must Apply Directives Of Party Open Letter To Work in Youngstown | By JOHN STEUBEN 'HE fact that the government and | the American Federation of | Labor leadership succeeded in pre- | venting the steel workers from | striking a blow at the steel trust | in no way stopped the struggle. The strike is only temporarily post-| poned and the outlook must be a| real mass struggle in the steel in- It is in the light of this situation that the work and tasks | of the Party must be examined. In order to have a deep political appreciation of how basic a docu-| ment the Open Letter is and will} remain for some time to come, one | must know the situation in the| Party in such an important steel | center as Youngstown. After ex-/| amining the life and work of our} Party in the Youngstown Scetion one can't help asking: Is it 1924 or | 1934? This is how backward and} far behind our Party is in this Because of a period of years of negligence and political /indiffer- | ence on the part of our leading organs, the Party in Youngstown was allowed to remain inactive and stagnant which naturally brought passivity and demoralization throughout the ranks, with the re- sult that at the present time the Party is not prepared to lead the steel workers. This must be fear- lessly and openly stated even if it hurts. Why do we have such a serious situation? Mainly because for all these years the Party didn’t develop its main activities in the steel mills and among the unem- ployed steel workers. Just as it is impossible to have a successful strike without the support of the workers involved, it is equally im- possible to have a strong Commu- nist Party in Youngstown without it being rooted among the steel workers. The quality of leadership the Party bgw in this section was en- tirely ta weak politically, and or- ganizationally incompetent with the result that these comrades could not face, let alone solve, the numer- ous difficulties we buck up in the struggle against the Steel Trust, Only recently some of these party organizers have hindered and even sabotaged party work and it was necessary for the leading party or- gans to intervene and take organ- izational steps. The approaching struggles in the steel industry, the changed at- mosphere and more serious ap- proach of the party to our work in the basic industries, the splendid effect of the’ Open Letter, the re- cent decisions of the 8th National Convention, are all very important factors that make it possible to change the present situation in Youngstown and from one of the weakest sections transform this im- portant steel center into a revolu- tionary stronghold. This, however, will not come “automatically.” The most per- sistent and stubborn struggle for the line of the Open Letter and the 8th National Convention will be the medium through which it will be possible to produce genuine and lasting results. The winning over of the party membership for the carrying out of the line of the party as con- eretized by our 8th National Con- vention cannot be accomplished only through mere organizational meas- sures. Only politically narrow minded people can hold such views. It requires persistent party educa- tion, to arm the membership with at least the most elementary prin- ciples of Leniniism to develop among the party members a broad revolutionary perspective. At the same time we must carry on the sharpest struggles against those opportunist elements, and they are many, in our ranks that are hinder- ing the growth of the Party. Even if we win over the entire Party membership for the line of © }in. > —_________—— - The question of recruiting new workers into the Party from the steel mills, from the ranks of the A. F. of L., from among the Negro workers and the unemployed is of decisive importance for the Youngse town Section. The fact that about fifty new members were recruited since May First without any see rious effort shows that it is possible to draw new workers into our ranks, It is also very important to note that it is these new and American comrades that are beginning to do some real mass work. It would constructive to give a few examples Comrade—, a member of an A, of L. union joined the Party i May has done more in support of the H. R. 7598 Bill than the whole Youngstown Section did since the bill was inaugurated. Another come rade, working in an important steel mill in a Pennsylvania company town, recruited several mill works ~ ers into the Party, collected over thirty subs for the Daily Worker mostly from among the workers in the mill, and recently formed an opposition inside the A A lodge of about twenty-five also from among the workers of the mill he works A third comrade, who joined the Party only three months ago, began to work in some Italian mass organizations and in a short period established his influence among these workers, with the result that at the recent elections in the Seventh Ward Political Club in Youngstown the Republican and Democratic politicians were defeated and revolutionary workers were elected in their place, Unfortunately, the comrades re« ferred to are still the exceptions 'HAT is our outlook and how do we intend to carry out the de- cisions of the National Conven- tion in Youngstown? To get the Party out of its ine ward orientation and _ sectarian isolation. This we will accomplish through re-educating the Party along the lines of mass work. To develop a greater degree of Party consciousness and loyalty. To develop some of the best Party members for the most im- portant task—the building of the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union. A good beginning was made by selecting some of the best Party members for volunteer umion organ izers. This group must be broad- ened out and more systematically instructed. To stop talking about concentra- tion and organize the work in such a manner that the Party and union forces will not flounder around, will not drift but instead plug along from day to day till we really ac- complish concrete results. In Youngstown this means the Repub- lic Steel, to make it a real Party and union stronghold. > To work among the unemployed [ and Negro masses and build ad Y¥. C. L. which is practically non existent. Space does not permit to enumerate the steps already taken to accomplish these and other im- portant tasks such as work inside the A. F. of L., spreading the Daily Worker and Party literature, etc. In the process of carrying out of the decisions of the convention and as part of it not for one moment must we neglect the decisive task of building a Party leadership. The Communists in Youngstown can no longer explain the weak- nesses of the Party by the so-called “backwardness” of the masses. We either build the Party and lead the struggles of the workers or the workers will enter these struggles without our leadership and thus be betrayed as we clearly see it in the present steel situation where the A. F, of L. burocracy together with the so-called “Rank and File Committee” are demoralizing and breaking the strike even. before it is declared. A defeat for the Steel workers is a defeat for the entire working class and, of course for our Party. 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