Fight for Work and Relief!
Fight for Work and Relief! A Call to the Workers for Emergency Action DURING the World War the working masses were told to "Work or Fight." Our answer today is "Fight for Work." It is either...
...They will be fought to the last ditch by the reactionary interests...
...we tnust reach school teachers and other selected groups...
...Direct relief to the jobless is absolutely essential at the present time, but it does not remove the causes of unemployment...
...They now favor legislative action...
...It is a challenge to us and we answer it with the cry of "Fight for Work and Relief...
...We get idleness and short rations, neglect and evictions...
...Post this page up everywhere that it can be seen...
...Petitions in support of these bills will be circulated at all meetings and signatures obtained, and this must be supplemented by house-to-house, canvassing for signatures...
...Read this call at the next meeting of your union, your branch, your circle, your league...
...It is time for them to act...
...We must think and work in terms w hundreds of thousands of leaflets and Petition signatures...
...We fhall demand what is our - due, what has been withheld, what must be yielded to aroused and determined workers conscious of their power...
...If we fight side by side for these working class measures it will also tend to heal the breach between the two movements...
...We now get neither...
...In New York City the Socialist Party has adopted a program...
...It's a big job, an inspiring one, and its aims can be accomplished...
...All this, we hope, will lead to a national demonstration at Washington...
...All party activities must be coordinated to avoid duplication or conflict and each branch or group must be given responsibility in carrying out its special task...
...All this should lead to a tremendous demonstration at Albany and at the capitals* of other states...
...Meetings of the unemployed must be called and the jobless organized into groups...
...The broken families and homes of the masses, the youth adrift all over the nation, and the revolting breadlines call us to the colors...
...They would even pile greater burdens upon us through sales taxes and other measures...
...Hundreds of reaolu. tions and thousands of letters should be sent to the legislators...
...The trade unions disagreed...
...We shall stand erect, not be on our knees...
...They must be inspired to resist degradation, to fight under the banner of "Fight for Work and Relief...
...These measures care for the whole working class, organized and unorganized...
...Get in touch with the Socialist Party, 7 East 15th Street, New York City...
...The bankers have dictated the policies of cities and states...
...Resolutions and petitions will be used, the firaj for adoption by party branches, labor unions, unemployed leagues and other sympatfietic organizations, and sent to the proper legislative committees and the press...
...The masses have endured this long enough...
...The depression came...
...Individuals must send earnest letters to representatives of their districts in the House and Senate...
...It has swallowed up 12,000,000 workers...
...Organize and work to the cry of "Fight for Work and Relief...
...We must overcome this opposition...
...Against us will be found the bankocracy and the reactionary possessing classes...
...Let's act...
...It is either work or maintenance for our families...
...This work must be so big that the daily press cannot ignore it...
...Other cities and states should also act...
...For decades Socialists have fought for unemployment insurance and the shorten* ing of the work-week by legislation...
...We must raise funds for posters and literature...
...The homeless wastrels with the wolf-stare of hunger in their eyes call us to battle...
...Nothing is too big for us to undertake in this measureless calamity that has come to tens of millions of the workers...
...They have ordered wage cuts in industry...
...It is also wasteful, inefficient and degrading to those who receive it...
...A big job, you say...
...The masters of great properties oppose our demands...
...Jn many states these measures will be before the legislatures...
...The pale and wan mothers who cannot properly feed their children call to us to "Fight for Work and Relief...
...Cooperation between the Socialist Party and the unions should be effected in behalf of the principle back of these bills...
...Every city pos»ble should be represented there by its Pwty branches, unions, unemployed organizations, Workmen's Circles and other •ynipathetic groups...
...Nor, shall we approach the legislators as humble supplicants, cap in hand, begging favors of overlords...
...The trade unions changed...
...Reliefl...
...In New York we shall issue leeaflets and publicity, hold outdoor and indoor meetings, leading to a tremendous meeting for the whole city or three in the three principal boroughs...
...We •hall summarize its report...
...The laboring millions are on the march, a disciplined, informed and determined band whose sweat and toil have made this civilization possible...
...We are literally in a battle against starvation...
...The general calamity that has come to all of us should hammer us into a union of effort for relief...
...Forward in the Fight for Work and...
...The work must be done on a large •sale...
...We hope that this cry will be heard in all the states, that hundreds of thousands—nay, millions—will respond to it with earnestness and determination...
...They must be linked up with the mass meetings, the distribution of literature, circulation of petitions, and be represented with the other pressure groups at the state capital...
Vol. 15 • February 1933 • No. 6
