The A. F. of L Must Be Leader In Battle for National Labor Laws
Cohen, Joseph E.
By Joseph E. Cohen The A. F. of L Must Be Leader In Battle for National Labor Laws Unless Such Legislation Is National Progressive Pert of the Country Will Be at the Mercy of the...
...Should the railroad men insist upon their main proposal, the thirty-hour work-week, a nationwide shutdown of the roads may flash the issue across the continent...
...The Com^, first time, «*J s legal party* in the primartS votes for k"**j for Governor^ ing a party...
...71,076 81,884 102,969 120,444 101,859 U. S. Senator...
...11, to make plans...
...When capital found himself with the fellow factories ni chinery...
...tio dear little n » Is to have unnstmas spint, wmcn can ne bought cash-and-carry or C.O.D...
...It will have to grapple for survival, even though it has no weapons but its bare hand...
...They seem to be uniting in the Socialist Party so far as the vote ia concerned...
...That would bring into play labor's "economic force" in a most telling manner...
...Delegates from the locals of the eastern section will convene Sunday, Dec...
...What has been cracked in these two parties...
...This is the time for giving...
...That goes back quite a way to the root of the trouble, but we might go back a little closer...
...They Part as Perfect Friends "I sm, while you arp thinking of a disunited party," Bill replied...
...And when it comes to having adoption of old-age pensions, a shorter work-week for women and minors and unemployment insurance effort will be put forth in each progressive commonwealth, instead of waiting through the long night for the backward sections to perk up and become industrially and socially modern...
...To make effective organizations of the 27 new locals which have been organized since last June, the state committee is working to have every local organize study classes in Socialism...
...The Supreme Court Similarly may .tha Supreme Court, if they enter tha scene, be depended upon to see tha light of hard-pressed and determined millions using "economic force...
...The SocUW position as tnto by polling »«* than Vichtrt,' party Candida* nominee, the for the two P and 83,452 rw!» Preservation" I in 1930 to gH licans sn oa against 'W dates and wj bosses not to...
...There's your wrench again," said Joe...
...Tinkering with the Constitution is out of tune in the present emergency...
...I suppose you want another debate," said Bill as he turned the pages of a volume of the Fabian Essays...
...the others wo will not get and we should not try to get them because their class composition makes them an element of confusion...
...Based upon our zig-zag political returns of forty years Roosevelt and his party will soon be on the toboggan and the Republicans will be marching back...
...Where they start other labor bodies will follow...
...Wooing women's and professional organizations in general U accomplished by putting the class struggle out of the window and bringing bourgeois classes in the back door...
...The only remedy is national legislation...
...S.,»i The&yj wsalO^I* I to Us...
...Every such gain is bound to be felt all along the line...
...In the case of nearly every office the official vote was 2,000 higher than the vote unofficially reported immediately after election...
...A united party that wilt serve us as workers is one that recognizes the class antagonisms and that makes its primary appeal to the workers to overthrow capitalism...
...I'm not taking the joy out of life...
...On the Economic Field But somewhere the issue will be joined on the economic field...
...There is the spot the contest for Labor must center...
...Already classes have been formed in Lowell, Lynn, Cambridge, Boston, Worcester, Northampton and New Bedford...
...The locals of western Massachusetts held a conference in Northampton on Sunday, Nov...
...It announces a national congress next year where all groups favoring a united party will be represented...
...We want organizations of working class women...
...Then it declined and the other has advanced to its maximum and in turn de?111160*.* This zig-zag course sometimes at the crest'of "wide...
...Don't take the joy out of life, Bill...
...111,026 32,267 143,282 111,208 Lleut.-Governor_____ 107,226 84,176 141,401 121,018 105,806 Controller_______119,287 84,012 168,229 188,407 117,346 Attorney-General •„ 121,861 28,823 165,174 182,712 118,727 Chief Justice...
...But here the struggle must go on...
...By Joseph E. Cohen The A. F. of L Must Be Leader In Battle for National Labor Laws Unless Such Legislation Is National Progressive Pert of the Country Will Be at the Mercy of the Backward Sections...
...the Republican ramparts are cracked now the Democratic ramparte were cracked in 1920 and yet the sagging ramparts of 1920 ore the towering wall* of 1932...
...a Mr...
...Yes, if the drift of workers, organized and unorganized, continues and it is likely that it will," said Bill...
...He doesn't live at the North Pole any more, but his tenement flat is just as cold...
...If sljtill lend him jjuitt would be p M-faehioned « fot the order s, i<i Kti in oum / sUssm himself...
...That having been set going, the question arises as to just what part the American Federation of Labor itself will take in the charge of the workers for needed reform...
...Now twelve years after the Harding sweep we have another Democratic sweep...
...Joe think* Old Party Rampart* Are Cracked But Bill Disagrees and They Part Without Any Rancor i By Autolycus B "I SEE by the papers that we may have a new united party ¦ next year," said Joe, as he met Bill in the Rand School Book Store...
...That means disunity and lack of confidence in the working class itself...
...Well, tha ralkfarta of capitalism are cracking, anyway," •aid Joe...
...e • Santa Claus is in an awful fix...
...Perhaps it will be a return from Elba for Calvin Coolidge...
...Claut ttt business man I made up hi* f factory and 44...
...Under the auspices of the state committee a series of popular lectures is being arranged to be available to the locals by January first...
...vote for President in 1928 was 10,876 and 4,211 respectively...
...Santa is by no means sure of his $14 pre Christmas job...
...I thought you were talking of a united party...
...spread dissatisfaction has the appearance of a political revolution...
...20, and formed a Confederation of the western locals in order to carry on more effective organization and educational work...
...And the ice is no more than cracked in breaking through to navigate for unemployment insurance...
...Wherever labor can, through thei power of its trade union might, bring about shorter hours and bigger pay, there is the first line of attack...
...That is the capital of the nation...
...Much more than that ia expected of it in generalship...
...In Holyoke, Adolf Schopfer is running for the City Council...
...On the whole they are bourgeois in outlook, For the same reasons the professionals are doubtful allies, but as individuals some would make good material for a working class party...
...Now the scene has shifted to Washington where the struggle for labor's interests really takes place...
...possible in order to drive dovvn terms of hiring help then labor will have to fight, no matter how strong the odds are against it...
...The Executive Council has its headquarters in Washington, and very properly so...
...Victor L. Berger used to say that when old party leaders come to us it is best to put them on ice for a few years I think so, too...
...But what of the professional groups, women's organizations and old party insurgents mentioned by the L.I.P.A...
...You said It, but let us see to it that our own ramparta art not cracked aa wa build them," Bill replied as they walked oat of tha store...
...That vote and this turn are more important than Hoover's defeat by Roosevelt...
...Santa Is still generous, but he's broke...
...To clear the ground one superstitution to be gotten rid of without delay is the fnlse notion that the Federal Constitution will have to be amended to put over national labor laws...
...Turn to the working class and the capitalist system...
...MUSTN'T ORGANIZE WARM SPRINGS, Ga.—Five miles from the summer home of the President-elect who talks of "a new deal for the forgotten man," workers are forbidden to organise under penalty of losing their Jobs...
...Maybe Hearst ought to fire a few editors...
...Joe inquired...
...There'll be a lot of imitating...
...In New Bedford there are four candidates for the City Council—Jane Alletag, James Waring, Sarah Burgess and Alan S. Wrigley...
...Oldage pensions should not be so difficult to obtain in several more commonwealths and should be tied up with systems already adopted by some unions, such as the International Typographical Union, and aid in conserving their funds, The Struggle Goes On Reaching to and going under the forty-hour week for women and minors is a trifle harder to get...
...Where employers are determinedly reactionary and persist in keeping as' many workers oat of -jobs as...
...Don't let the depression mar your Christmas spirit...
...I'm sorry that you think that remembering some history is the same as sabotage," Bill observed, "but the wrench lies in that history and not in any stubborness of mine...
...Premier Herriot told the French Chamber that the trouble started when Hoover asked for a moratorium on the German debt...
...t ili awe, Mr...
...The parent body cannot call strikes...
...J Preservation* votes to 120,44* winning third...
...Just as soon as I can work up a bit of insomnia I'll stay up all night wondering how those Frenchmen dared to disregard the wishes of William Randolph Hearst...
...and it does not function in the State legislatures except by invitation and association...
...The Communist and S.L.P...
...Some bright lads have suggested that America trade the war debt for colonial possessions of the debtor nations...
...That's one important reason why the Socialist Party received neaely 900,000 votes this year...
...As for the women's organizations, their composition includes women of various classes, including those living on parasitic incomes, except organizations that are restricted to working class women...
...Bill Isn't Enthusiastic "Perhaps I'm stupid but I have been unable to find any ramparts of capitalist parties that have been cracked," Bill replied...
...State Secretary Lewis Is investigating the possibility of undertaking a weekly radio broadcast...
...Claus *¦ to compete »i * had gigantic weaving ma? - • M fellow is m get u job at i pttment store...
...dry" vote...
...England could get credit for a couple of million pounds for giving Uncle Sam the right to have an argument with Ghandi...
...It was so acute in 1912 that it split the G. 0. P. and gave Wilson an enormous electoral vote...
...There's talk of the department store using a dummy with a speaker arrangement...
...asked Joe...
...To be sure the lal>or general staff talked strongly of using its "economic force" and of going to the State legislatures for social measures...
...Now, whenj he just chewil some kind m some hair tori grateful...
...Why should we think that the shift of a large section of voters from one capitalist party to another means the cracking of one of those parties...
...He couldn't make the payments, and the finance company took back his reindeer...
...The League says that 'The ramparts of the old parties cracked in the election' and that 'millions changed the political habits of a lifetime.' Now ain't that the truth...
...Santa has lost everything he ever had, except the hump on his back and the cavities in his teeth...
...The Manchester Mills demanda employes sign a statement that they will not organise nor harbor organisers ia their ranks...
...Warren D. Mullins, who was organizer in New Bedford and surrounding territory during the recent campaign and to whose work and capable leadership the notable gain in the New Bedford vote can be accounted, has been retained by the state committee to continue his work there...
...The "Law I *«s launched jM*y Repubto vote PAflean eandil«i Republican T 4s organized P» the "Law jNai 190,666 f Waldaun, thus jpwty, for the jr*' standing as Tl" Participate ¦ potting 26,407 candidate jPja such atandff^ t&MQ vote* P* Csssnraniat f State was ¦ ** President WH* Governor...
...This system is cracking and the workers are beginning to see its gaping fissures...
...But to the American Federation of Labor belongs the chief obligation to lead in the general movement for nation-wide labor laws Bay State Plans Winter Courses For Socialists DOSTON.—With more than BOO per cent increase in the Socialist vote in Massachusetts, Socialists are not resting on their laurels but are busily engaged in building a strong political organization to be a real factor in the politics of the cities and towns of the state...
...for Govera*' vote f o' **** 27'9M...
...That is, if smart guys like you don't throw a monkey wrench into the machinery...
...Anyhow, France is the place where fashions are set...
...Less spectacular, but only next in importance, will be the drive to be directed by State federations of labor for humane legislation...
...Well, here's the League for Independent Political Action taking the lead," said Jce...
...Which would tie the score and refer the matter to posterity for future wrangling...
...The defaulted French payment amounts to less than $20,000,000, but the American press must have used up that much in pulp paper and ink discussing the question...
...Let organized wage-earners in favorable position in their localities to get concessions from employers or State assemblies do so...
...He gave the last th_lng he had—•Dint, was hla vote—as a gift to Franklin D. Roosevelt...
...France could give us the Sahara desert in payment of her bill, and we could use the place as a convenient dumping ground for our unemployed population...
...Bill's Idea of a United Party "Then the new united party has a chance in the next few years," said Joe...
...The following table gives a picture of the official .vote for all important offices: 1932 Vote New York , Total Total City Upstate Total 1930 1928 President .________ 122,666 64,832 177,397 107,332 Governor...
...Says Herrii "T"1I E French Chamber of Deputies * has decided not to pay the current installment on the war debt to the U. S., but our Congress is prepared to demand payment...
...I'm for a united party but I'd like to know what is going to be united...
...162,020 41,887 193,407 189,862 Congressmen at-Largei G. A. Gerber____ 180,007 86,844 160,781 Fred Sander_____ 129,082 84.6I« 168,648 By H. M. Douty...
...Joe Charges Sabotage "There's that infernal monkey wrench already," said Joe with a trace of disgust...
...That is the well-established line of action...
...For forty years one of the capitalist parties has been In the ascendent in Congress till it reached its maximum...
...Eight years later It was just the other way...
...P. H. In York Official Vote canvass of votes cast in November finally com•ass-Maurer ticket is credited with 177,397 fan the vote unofficially reported shortly after I *? regained its<j ' H in the State ' * fas Governor • Preservation ' etfaeisl "dry" 1 material vote 8 1 Wing 102,969 1 «f...
...I'm taking what I think are your illusions out of the political returns," Bill replied...
...h |tt« hungry & whiskers...
...Well, it certainly means widespread dissatisfaction," Joe replied...
...Now, the t tickled pink if $14 a week in < t His job is to kiddies how i The M WITH the ol " pleted, th votes—1,3521 the election...
...Santa may be abolished, but Christmas will be permitted to hold on as long as it pays dividends...
...Socialists in three cities—Salem, Holyoke and New Bedford—are running for office in the municipal Thomas Carlton, a veteran Socialist, is running for the City Council...
...The only drawback is that the dummy will require storage space during the year when he's not in use, whereas Santa can use the park benches...
...Some memories Still recall 1914...
...Lester Shulman, E. R. O'Brien and C. T. Tripp are running for Alderman...
...So far so good...
...the organized working class continues the turn to the left we will have the united party...
...If you have nothing else to give, you can at least give a kick in the right direction...
...If it's a case of zig>zag forever, what hope is there...
...It probably does, but it does not mean that the Republican Party is mortally injured," said Bill...
...What counts is that progressive States, passing humane acta, place their workers in competiti6n unfair to them by backward sections...
...Even conservatives at the A. F. of L. convention saw the cracking and took a turn to the left...
...Roosevelt succeeds Hoover with about seven million majority and Harding succeeded Wilson by a majority almost the same...
...AT 4he annual convention of the American Federation of Labor the new program of the wage-workers was drawn up...
Vol. 14 • December 1932 • No. 25
