A Socialist View of the Week

Ward, William Allen

A Socialist View of the Week MUSIC By William Allen Ward flit! hammers beating on Steel girder* sing paeons to Progrett at the mighty tkytcraptr Comet into being. The whir of (ht motor...

...The separate agreement with the Prick Coke Company, a subsidiary of U. 8. Steel, made no reference to the United Mine Workers...
...Private and corporation capitalism remains...
...LABOR'S FREEDOM OF ACTION MUST BE MAINTAINED...
...LABOR'S HANDS MUST NEVER BE TIED BY ITS OWN ACTION OR BY GOVERNMENT DECREE...
...The strike is still on ant...
...BUT THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE N TH • <I !•' I iinniit declared that (he corporationownrd and operated company union would not be abandoned hut every effort will be made to impose ft on the workers without the sanction of the rode...
...The cost of living—prices—is rising and there is danger that he minimum wages fixed in the codes will tend to become the STANDARD rather than the minimum...
...Reformers Will Not Reform Their Barren Methods /"^NE of the most curious things in ^ American politics is the belief held by many voters that everything would be lovely in New York City if Tammany is defeated...
...The profit motive remains the basis of industry...
...Edward F. McGrady, labor adviser of NRA, hastened by plane to the strike field and won the strikers to support the truce...
...It relates that some powerful heads of industries insist that as they are discarding individual contracts with workers under NRA that they expect "labor to cooperate by throwing overboard its strict form of craft organization...
...It is evident that the Milk Hoard set up four months ago to stabilize the industry has not satisfied the dairy farmers...
...Workers have responded to the opportunity NKA provide* for organisation which is all to the good but what of the expectations of a general economic revival...
...The hearing on the coal code began Wednesday and if .company unionism is not ironed out of it McGrady's prestige with the workers will be shattered and the miners will be j justified in resuming their strike...
...When these goods, now being bought by other manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, finally have to be sold to wage earners, must there not be another glut in markets and another collapse of production...
...We shall enlarge on this subject in an article next week as we have received some inquiries from Socialists regarding it...
...The Socialist interpretation of the capitalist order is sound and we must be prepared for any emergency and be ready for a test in the struggle ahead...
...cialist ticket headed by Charles Solomon for Mayor rests on the solid bed rock of experience, history and philosophy, to say nothing of representing the claim and the welfare of the working masses...
...Two Trends Toward Industrial Unionism /"VNE outcome of this depressed period ^'may be a general federation of American industries...
...We do not trust our ruling Babbitts...
...It is reported that this view is especially «held by textile and electric magnates...
...the American Ambassador is seeking some way out for Machado to give way to a successor...
...Frankly, we believe that the Socialists and laboring masses are approaching a still greater crisis that may emerge by the end of the year...
...In recent years labor unionists have "disappeared," thousands hav# been imprisoned, the press has been muzzled, and a merciless dictatorship has had its way...
...The whir of (ht motor in The airplane soaring above chants A song of victory to the intellect Of man...
...THAT WOULD BE FATAL TO ITS FREEDOM AND A MENACE TO THE FUTURE OF TENS OF MILLIONS OF WORKERS...
...The "employe representation" monstrosity is out of the steel code but it is still in the iron and steel plants and it remains to be seen what will be the standing of this hateful thing...
...Really, Socialism would mean the destruction of civilization, wouldn't, it...
...It should be remembered that the government is not controlled by labor...
...We would like to have authentic reports from the NRA front...
...The So...
...i Up-State Dairy Fanners Again on the March 117ITH the upward trend of farm prices " in recent weeks the farmer upheaval has declined in the West but in up-state New York the dairy farmers are again on the march...
...Police fired from automobiles into defenseless crowds, killing men, women and children...
...Write Us if You Know Of Any Code Sabotage \Ur' are passing through an important 'phase of capitalistic history and important light can be thrown upon it by many workers who still have jobs or who have friends still employed...
...The manner of settling the Pennsylvania miners' strike without ruling out company unionism, the President's plea against strikes and any other "aggressive action during the recovery program," and the fart that the President's industrial mediation board employer members are all officers of corporations operating company unions while only two of the seven members are representatives of labor, have Induced Miss Van Kleeck to protest by declining the appointment...
...Brisk war production, an upward trend of prices, and an enormous demand for war materials gave workers s sense of security...
...Wendell Phillips once said that they would risk a jump across hell if a dollar was on the other side...
...If successful they generally carry out in a clean way what Tammany tarries out in a rather dirty way...
...The government simply takes capitalitm a* it is and tries to make it function as it is through various codes that do not change any of its basic principle...
...We have earnestly studied the codes as they have been published...
...The wage system continues...
...Your identity will not be disclosed if you prefer that your name should not be used...
...Nothing is certain for the workers under NRA, not even collective bargaining...
...This analysis correlates with much that The New Leader has said about the hopes placed in NRA since it became known...
...NRA is simply a "shot in the arm" for a system that has run down...
...Labor's "partner," the masters of industry, turned to a vicious attack ngainat labor standards...
...However, they are not united and there have been clashes between strikers and farmers who refuse to strike...
...Will workers' incomes go up, will industrial paralysis be relieved, and will we avoid another winter of stark misery...
...Coupled with this cnnour.tement is a special to the New York Timet from Washington that is of extraordinary interest...
...Even the purposes of the codes in many cases are being nullified by ingenious camouflage and this has become so obvious that espionage is suggested to arrest this sabotage by the agents of corporation kings...
...For a time it appeared that the workers had made a good bargain...
...WHEN THEY THREATENED TO STRIKE THEY WERE TOLD THAT THEY MIGHT BE SENT TO THE TRENCHES...
...When the war was over the slogan was "business as usual...
...Cuban Revolutionaries Meet Machado's Gunmen A FEW hundred miles off our South Atlantic coast a despotic regime has made life a hell for great masses of Cubans...
...Send us any reliable information you have of code sabotage...
...Commodities are produced for exchange...
...They irs gtkWWA coarse breed...
...We have heard of a few cases where in reorganization under a code conditions for the workers remain about the same or they are even worse than before...
...The ABC student revolutionry movement broad* east over a secret radio station, charging that Machado's agents had lured masses into the streets by the rumor of his resignation...
...Mary Van Kleeck cancelled her acceptance of membership in the Federal Advisory Council of the U. S. Employment Service as a protest against the labor policy of the Administration...
...Neither do we want to hug illusions...
...I 'iuanlia denies that it is an issue and yet it is the main issue that he and all reformers stress...
...F H. LaUuardia the fusion i urtdidata for Mayor, recently declared that then "can be no question of doctrine or partisanship involved between honesty aad dishonesty in public office...
...They have never had to contest with an aristooratic nobility f6f power...
...One thing is typical of the whole program of NRA...
...In the fracas hundreds of cans of milk have been dumped by pickets, the cities of Amsterdam and Schenectady face a milk shortage, one milk house was dynamited, troops have used tear gas against pickets in one strike ares, and the New York State Conference Board of Farm Organizations has asked Governor Lehman to declare martial law...
...The Socialist vote alone is worth casting here and in other cities...
...This statement becomes of great importance to the working masses...
...The appointment by President Roosevelt of a national mediation board to serve in industrial disputes is regarded as a step in this direction...
...Will the codes being worked out for industry employ the millions of the jobless...
...LET US NOT REPEAT THIS SAD EXPERIENCE...
...The dispute over compnay unionism also shows that many of our ruling Babbitts still belong to the stoneage of economic thinking...
...The strikers were dissatisfied with the truce agreed to between President Lewis of the miners and the administration...
...Decrease in average per capita earnings 1 percent...
...Come to think of it, a capitalist federation would find it very difficult to deal with numerous unions organized on old craft and trade lines, but it is interesting that this suggestion for more modern organization of workers comes from this source...
...IF THE STEEL KINGS KEEP THE COMPANY UNIONS THEY WILL TRY TO USE THEM IN NECOTIATIONS...
...This company union code was not accepted by the National Recovery Administ ration...
...Perhaps not, but if honesty involves no program or philosophy why make it a partisan issue...
...B.ut, assume that all industries come under codes by the end of August is anything basic in the whole rotting industrial system changed...
...Long life to the Cuban revolution...
...It does not alter a single basic cause of depression diseases...
...The class antagonism that had been concealed behind the "social peace" burst through this pretense and the workers, orgnnized and unorganized, had thrlr backs to the wall...
...Strikes of workers had assumed the character of a general strike with tha object of overthrowing the dictatorship when on Monday the government turned to an indiscriminate killing...
...The Labor Bureau, Inc., in its monthly review report* the following figures covering the year June, 1932, to June, 1033: Increase in manufacturing production 55 percent...
...Increase in manufacturing employment 9.percent...
...NRA Program Alter* No Basic Economic Ills WE have no desire to appear dogmatic...
...It would be stupid to make a fetish of the right to strike by urging strikes for any and all purposes, but freedom of action in this matter is absolutely essential to the working masses...
...The miners balked and Lewis wired them to return to work and keep the pledge he had given to Roosevelt...
...McGrady is one of the best fighting, men of the A. F. of L. and he has risked much by urging the miners to return to work...
...We urge our readers who have any knowledge of such cases to carefully check their information and write to The New Leader of what they believe to be the facts...
...The Administration recognized the dangers ahead and announced the blanket code because individual industries were coming under NRA too slow...
...Again and again we have seen this view emerge and obtain support a I though its history shows that it has no mora vitality than cigarette smoke...
...Such defeats have occurred a number of times since the Civil War but Tammany always comes back...
...Nothing...
...BUT EVEN DURING THE WAR WORKERS FACED UNJUST DECISIONS BY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES...
...Republicans and Democrats in legislative session at Albany are sparring over tlx strike for political advantage...
...It was withdrawn by Robert P. Lamont, president of the Institute...
...The industrial codes tend to federate the industries into national groupings and the logic of this trend is a federation ! of industries...
...On the other hand, the A. F. of L. has decided to issue federal charters to workers organized in rubber, steel and automobile plants and this is a trend towards industrial unionism...
...Because there is nothing permanent or substantial in the reform movements...
...President Machado has been sitting on the lid for several years but the elemental hatred he has earned has spread throughout this sugar barony of American investors and it burst early this week...
...What Is called "social peace" enforced by government action is always dangerous to those who work for a living...
...It was an inexcusable massacre accompanied by a declaration of martial law...
...A treaty of "social peace" was signed by the organized workers with the government during the World War...
...Labor's FreedomUiiderNR A 'THE enslavement of workers under a corporate dirtartorship and outlawing labor organizations from the iron and steel industry were the purposes •f the code submitted by the American Iron and Steel Institute, which includes most of the iron and steel corporation...
...The miners still balked...
...Company unionism advanced with sevenleague boots...
...Even Martin Ryan, militant leader of the strikers, approved this course and if press reports are reliable the miners in general have accepted the truce...
...Pennsylvania Coaldiggers Agree to Return to Work fHERE were some anxious hours for * the Roosevelt Administration this week because of the strike in the Pennsylvania soft coal fields...
...How can nine percent more wage earners, receiving one percent less each than a year ago, buy 55 percent more goods...
...As we have said above, there is reason for believing that much camouflage and sabotage are being practiced under the various NRA codes...
...We are Socialists, we are realist*, and we want the measureless suffering of the masses relieved...

Vol. 16 • August 1933 • No. 6


 
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