Greater Militancy of Labor, Upholding of Democracy Urged 'No Man Serves Two MasterS
Greater Militancy of Labor, Upholding of Democracy Urged 'No Man Serves Two MasterS Last week, we noted that former Judge Jacob Panken's speech at the Amalgamated Clothing Workers' convention...
...We have gone through a period of false prosperity and we have come into a period of insoluble economic depression and economic deterioration...
...Fascism is an appeal to the deal past and w'e who are alive, aW whose eyes are focused upon thi future, must fight that venonwui snake, that poison, wherever i' raises its head...
...The union has had the cooperation of the Socialist Tarty...
...It can only be solved I great militancy, by greater at better understanding, by insisth upon more and more improved cm ditions for the working class i America...
...Even under the NRA the threat of a strike brings better and quicker results than official prosecution, which the,employers in most cases con-, sider merely a threat...
...We must begin to think a change in the social structure that capital will be used in its b half...
...President Green of the American Federation of Labor is real sore and speaks right up about it...
...Only in industries where substantial labor organizations exist have wage niinimums stayed actually niinimums and not become maximums...
...A nation with 20 per cent of its population actually being impoverished has within itself ^n enemy that will eat at the veryvitals of a nation...
...The recent resolution of the Ce: tral Trades and Labor Council New York, urging all officers a> members of labor organizations enforce the resolution of the 1* A. F. o'f L. convention calling' I a boycott of Nazi products, hasj ceived the acclaim of the Jeiflj 'Labor Committee...
...Sometimes they came easy and sometimes they came terribly hard...
...The danger which America is confronted with at this time is relief...
...No sooner, however, did the imp.iitnnt basic industries become Involved in the NRA, which implied substantial reduction of hours and the fixing of proper wage scale.-,, than the administration of the NRA began assuming a different attitude...
...Your union has functioned in time of stress and in time of high hope, never forgetting your ideals nor, I hope, abandoning that straight road which will lead labor the world over to the ultimate goal, the goal which will invest mankind with a society in which all men and women will labor and receive the full social value of the labor they perform...
...In 1933, the railroad showed a net profit of 7,000,00...
...In 1933, my friends, the numbei of those placed upon relief increased by 38 per cent—in the period of so-called reconstruction, in the period of so-called recovery...
...We print herewith extracts from Comrade Panken's address: During: the 20 years of your life, the world has seen many changes...
...He was corralling dollars for the Socialist Party...
...It is true of the power companies...
...Since 1929 the aggregate wage of American labor has been reduced just by one-half...
...In 1933, the aggregate wage of American labor increased but immaterially, and side by side with the insignificant increase in the wages of American labor, there has come an inordinate increase in the cost of living...
...Menace of Unemployment During the five years since the depression those who have reached the ages of 17 and 18 since then have had no opportunity to work, have had no opportunity to work...
...Even the mildest of measures sponsored or supported by labor has no chance of passing this session of Congress, it seems, despite the promise of the New Deal...
...The Amalgamated Clothii Workers of America, which repr sents the overwhelming majori of those whd" produce the clothes i the country, should have not mer ly a say in the industrial self-go ernment, but it should have tl controlling say in Industrial go' ernment...
...want to underscore this point: that no man can serve two gods, no man can serve capitalism and at the same time serve progress...
...Let it be i actuality...
...Strike Threat More Potent Than Government Prosecution "The New Deal . . . brought results to our workers, largely because of the militancy of our union and its readiness not only to threaten to strike, but actually to resort to strikes against recalcitrant employers...
...Oi million people in my city have bei reduced to the level of beggardoi This is the problem that eo fronts American labor, for it is I bor that will have to solve thi problem...
...In unionized industries...
...From' report of G. E. B. to l.L.G.W.U...
...Unless action is taken soon, the record will show that Congress failed labor, in that it failed to enact a single measure sponsored by labor into law," he states...
...These millions are a ^constant threat to America because out of these millions the Fascist and the intolerant and bigot might easily be recruited...
...In fact, Hymie Greenberg is sometimes known as a racial synonym for Jimmie Higgins...
...There are 11,000,000 unemployed in America today...
...At n reCeJl* mass meeting, Comrades Leonard Bright and Carl O. Par« sons ike...
...In 1932 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company registered a loss of some $300,000...
...Twenty-ttve million souls in America today are on the threshold of beggardom...
...Congress Won't Pass Labor-Sponsored Bills WASHINGTON...
...It is true of the telephone and telegraph/company...
...it is true of the big aggregation of capital in the United States...
...Democracy is the antithesis < dictatorship, and when we talk i democracy we mean free speed the right to strike, the right I boycott, the right to fight for bett( and improved conditions Without democracy the trad union movement and .the Socialii movement will have to go undei ground...
...Thuinas J. Lyons, seeretary-treasurer of the New York Joint Council of Teamsters Unions, principal speaker at this meeting, expressed appreciation "of Socialist support in the unionization drive...
...Mainly, hewever, was our success due to the fact that we concentrated, our drive during the first 'three months immediately following the enactment of the NRA during the so-called honeymoon period of the New Deal...
...WESTCHESTER MILK DRIVERS ORGANIZING MOUNT VERNON, N. Y.—As a result of a two months' organisation campaign in Westchester County, hundreds of milk 'drivers have joined the Milk Wagon Drivers' and Dai'y Employees' Union, Local "'it', with headquarters here, according to Business Manager Thomas F. Murphy...
...There is some talk about indi trial democracy...
...There are more than 2,000,000 families in the United States upon home relief...
...In the non-union industries, it is an acknowledged fact, the codes are not being rigidly enforced and flagrant violations nre a daily occurence...
...The representatives of big business, manufacturers' associations, employers of labor, are fighting for the maintenance and protection of their own organized, financed and controlled company unions...
...Apparently those in charge of Congress' legislative program have determined that these measures shall not pass...
...enforcement depends largely on the strength of the unions...
...Must Change Social Structui Here is a problem which cann< be solved within the frame-work i the present order...
...In the five years that have just passed, my comrades, America has not escaped the chaos which has settled upon all industrial countries...
...He's a member in good standing of the vest makers' union...
...What is true of the Baltimore and Ohio is true of every principal railroad in the United States...
...Some hoped that by virtue of the Recovery Act we should be able to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps out of the economic thralldom...
...Jimmie-We Mean HymieBrings Homo the Bacon Hyman Greenberg is secretary of the Amalgamated Center, which means that he has charge of all the buildings owned or run by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America...
...In addition, he's a good Socialist, as we've had occasion to note in these columns before...
...A number of NRA leaders who at the outset appeared to be liberal to labor changed in front and began looking with favor upon exemptions and modifications of vital and important labor clauses in codes even in industries where shorter work hours and higher wage scales had already been established...
...Some call dictatorship fascisn It makes no difference what nsm you call it—it 4s a menace—and don't care where it manifests itsel and under what label it is intri duced, if it is dictatorship, it i a menace to mankind under a sorts of conditions...
...Capitol Needn't Worry I want to bear down upon your minds this significant fact—that while American labor has been hoping for some solution of its economic problem, the economic problems of American capital have in a measure been solved...
...Unite for Democracy Let me suggest that the time hi come for the trade union and til Socialist movement of America, am really progressive forces, in ots country to unite in the defense oi what democracy which we still en joy in our country...
...Let me say at this juncture, me and women of labor, if and whe the trade union and Socialist mov< ment of America is driven undei ground, we give warning now thi there will be aothing to do but fo us to resort to those weapons whic are guaranteed to us in the Decll ration of Independence...
...The basic industries had not yet been involved at that tnjie in the NRA and the administration was inclined to take a sympathetic attitude with regard to the so-called consumer industry...
...We sha not surrender and give in...
...Company unions wipe encouraged, and the persistent defiance of the National Labor Board by several outstanding non-union manufacturers in the steel and automobile business was not met with a strong hand by the administration...
...But when he got back to New York he turned in over $400 to the Socialist Party treasury...
...W shall not give up our rights an our liberties...
...We must keel open the channels which make pos sible for us to carry on our propi ganda, our struggle, our fight fori better world...
...One out of every 7 in the city of New York is on home relief...
...in the nonunionized industries the low niinimums provided in the codes arc the maximum earnings...
...Greater Militancy of Labor, Upholding of Democracy Urged 'No Man Serves Two MasterS Last week, we noted that former Judge Jacob Panken's speech at the Amalgamated Clothing Workers' convention brought the delegates to their feet again and again, and sounded a refreshing note in an official atmosphere of praise for the NRA...
...While labor has lost tile battli in Germany, while we have lost I skirmish in Austria, our comradj in Great Brita'in, gur comrades > France, our soldiers undergroBB, in Germany and in Austria a' mustering their forces—the batt may be lost, but the war Ih'Ii<'>'( labor and capitalism will o* 'r(t by labor...
...the cost of living has wiped out any gain from increases in wages...
...Durirys the sessions at the recent Amalgamated convention in Rochester he listened and applauded (or didn't) like everyone else...
...But between sessions, at meal times, in recess periods and going to and from hither and yon, Greenberg was busier than the one-armed paperhanger with the hives...
...We have gone through a world war...
...Interpretations vi Section 7A followed which nearly nullified the original intent of that law...
...Well, if you U of industrial democracy, let it n be an empty phrase...
...You have to make your choice either for progress or capitalism...
...Here is a situ tion which has grown out of tl very system in which we live ai labor...
Vol. 17 • June 1934 • No. 66
