During the Breathing Spell
Hillman, Sidney
During the Breathing Spell by Sidney Hillman President. Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America To Safeguard the Gains Won Under NRA, and to Extend Them Is Labor's Great Task,-Death of NRA...
...Concerning t the purpose of the united front, r Earl Browder, Secretary of the a Communist Party of the United i States, said: "The united front is { not a peace pact with the re- j formists...
...But hold oa...
...We turn to Donald's book, "The c Tents of the Mighty," which telle * the Story of hht crusade with a 1 former Roosevelt snd then with 1 Woodrow Wilson...
...1 The first chairman of the League ! Against War and Fascism was J. B. Matthews, who is frank in saying that he is nearer to the Communist Party than to any other political group...
...This km occurred in the cloak and suit hdustiy, the men's clothing industry, sad in coal mining...
...Them on June 22, Henry L. Hopkins, Federal Relief Administrator, declared that 3,000,000 of She jobless would be at work by the following Spring...
...The miners, organized in the United Mine Workers of America, save likewise been able to hold on m their working conditions...
...The last word haw Um yet been said...
...Simply remember what the brainy boys of the New Deal have promised since 1933, add up each forecast of the jobs to be created, and there you are...
...Charles A. Beard, in the July issue of Current History under the heading: Social Change versus the Constitution...
...t In that same July came the strikes against the sabmatence wage on WPA projects in New . York sad other cities ami the unemployed still numbered about ,' 10.000.000...
...In italics the following declaration is made: "This chief aim of the united front is to make it easier/or the Social-Democratic masses to come over to the side of Communism for the conqu^t of Soviet Power...
...Precisely so...
...President Roosevelt then authorized the statement on November 8, 1933, that 2,000,000 would be I put to work on Federal, State and local public projects on November ri 16 and that as "soon thereafter as cpossible," 2,000,000 more would be d employed...
...But if the vital into...
...Mr...
...The four billion dollars appropriated for work-relief will soon be spent...
...Here's Postmaster General Jim Farley, a man of parts, a political broker of no mean ability, and chairman of the Democratic National Committee...
...Relief for what apparently will be a permanent standing army of unemployed, with no prospects of re-employment in the near future, is quite another...
...right now we are confronted with its consequences...
...Prof...
...Vwajkr, we find that in those IniadsMwhere labor has been well arsanfeed, NRA rates have been muBtsmed, at least for the time bang In some instances, this has Men done by incorporating the rates into collective bargaining Sfreeraeats between organized labor and organized employers...
...J7FFECTIVE cooperation jo not possible between resolute pacifists who are seeking social change through non-warlike means and communists who are committed to the strategy of arming the workers, at a propitious moment, and seizing power by military weapons...
...It is labor's duty and labor's responsibility to organize for power, to protect the mass of the American people...
...Jobs for the Jobless—Just Find Them...
...The American Federation of Labor report of unemployment for September, 1933, showed 9,920,000 workers still jobless while Brsin Trust predictions already had 9,000,000 returned to jobs...
...Surely we can't let millions of American people starve...
...Quoth eager Khodja, and, with joyous cries He hastened to the house, returning soon...
...By Allah...
...They are entering an'organization in which Communists and nearCommunists are' playing a dominam role...
...Lost Word Not Said In 1896, the Supremo Court again attempted to frustrate federal income tax legislation by declaring it unconstitutional...
...e Now the Jobless are all em- " ployed and the depression fat over...
...In the meantime the strategy of Communists is crystal clear: create class consciousness, transform this solidarity into class hatred, indoctrinate the workers with the idea that the owning class will not yield unless beaten on the field of battle, create a strong Communist party as a general staff of the revolutionary seizure of power, and remain vigilant for armed action in the decisive hour...
...The End...
...It is estimated that ten million men and women, willing and able to work, are unemployed...
...Yet the very persons who praised the Schechter decision, who applauded the closing of the road that would have brought these people to self-sustaining employment, stubbornly oppose any measures that will provide for the maintenance of the people on relief...
...Ihe terms provide for the 36 hour week, maintenance of all the labor provisions originally written into the code, including the outlawing of child labor and home work...
...As the year 1930 came to a close Charley made a prophetic prediction for 1931...
...Again,, the Court was defeated by Congressional and Presidential action through an increase in the number of members of the Supreme Court and the appointment of members known to favor the government's policy, and even the jurisdiction of the Court was curtailed...
...The decision removed governaetrt support from the minimum wafts and maximum hours.for labor that had existed in the codes...
...The occasion is his an-' , nual message to Congress on Jan- ; uary 4, 1935...
...Miss Winnifred Chappell, signed a manifesto urging citizens to support the Communist candidate for President of the United States...
...We must organise ourselves, follow our program and head the country away from disintegration, demoralization and general collapse...
...i This declaration has been published r repeatedly by Communist organs c in the United States...
...The first and outstanding example was the Dred Scott decision when ,the Supreme Court, in 1857, decided that Congress had no constitutional power to abolish slavery in the territories...
...It is a matter of record that even during the NIRA, when the government supported certain labor standards, unorganized labor did not receive the full benefit of what legislation sought to provide for the workers...
...The Supreme Court has reversed itself in the past, and it may do so again...
...Here is the tale: He Sowed Hie Moon...
...The only new possible source from which can be provided funds for relief is taxation of incomes in the higher brackets...
...jerked her back into her pro pi placer PROPERTY Kir by Page Communists May Not Seek Violence, but they Are Convinced It Will Come—Why Their Tactics Must Be Rejected...
...and it Is lard S» believe that they intended to prevent the federal government from meeting such problems as mold necessitate giving aid to labor at emergencies...
...June aad July Promises Then on June 17, 1935, he again mentioned the 3,500,000 but added, "Of coarse, we always will have a certain number of unemployed with us...
...Will some bright corporation lawyer read into the Constitution of the United States that relief for starving people is con-^ trary to the wishes of the forefathers and is unconstitutional...
...Further, the Constitution certainly does .not asm m grant the Supreme Court the power to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional...
...We shall not be found wanting in this day of crisis...
...But to continue the story of overcoming adversity...
...This was and stHl remains our chief objective in the new tactics of the united front" This unequivocal statement is preceded by a quotation from Stalin, also printed in italics: "The tactics of the united front were only put into operation by Lenin in order to make it easier for the millions of workers infected by the prejudices of Social-Democratic conciliation to come over tp the side of Communism...
...In the unorganized industries, there was an almosl bttmediate collapse of hour anc -Jay schedules...
...The more revolutionists threaten to arm the workers and to transform international war into civil war, the more likely are the citizens of this nation to turn in a frenzy of fear to fascism as a barrier to the terrors of proletarian dictatorship...
...Reports now avail able indicate that in retail distribu ***n, and in the service industries employing from eight to ten milBon workers, hours have been in 'Creased by 20 per cent and over **ges have been cut and are go ing still further down...
...Furthermore it is 1 true that some peace agencies are 8 officially represented on its committees...
...General Jamaica Speaks In that same historic month when the pork merchant of the New Deal spoke, General Johnson, speaking for President Roosevelt, said on August 26, with Labor Day still two weeks away, that the administration's Emergency Reemployment program promised to add 5,000,000 workers to private payrolls...
...To civil war, not to the prevention ft of war and fascism...
...The labor movement must assert its leadership...
...This does not mean that American Communists advocate the arming of the workers at the present moment...
...Their ¦greement was extended to September 16 and in the meantime aVy worked to get the Guffey Coal KD passed so that the conditions ssay be further extended under the Hi, which will set up regulation af hoars, wages and trade practices at the coal industry, i These three examples show swarly one thing: that labor can protect itself if it is well organI* | Bnt what is happening to unorganized labor...
...The World War 6 was on and Donald was speaking ' for one of the Liberty Loans in a church...
...To do so we must imagine that the depression is not over, Jim and Charley to the contrary notwithstanding...
...Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America To Safeguard the Gains Won Under NRA, and to Extend Them Is Labor's Great Task,-Death of NRA Brought Drop in Working Conditions Wherever Workers Were Not Well Organized TiREE months have passed since the Supreme Court, ruljag on the Schechter -case, declared the National Industrial Hero very Act unconstitutional...
...This is run incontestable truth...
...Twenty million people on relief means increased taxation, and increased taxation means that high personal incomes, rich corporate dividends, inheritances and gifts will have to be adequately assessed...
...In July, 1935, Harry L. Hopkins, Works Progress Administrator, admitted that only "a few hundred men" had been employed by the ' WPA...
...This decision was not justified, according to a layman's reading af the Constitution...
...I draw attention to a very interesting and instructive excursion into the history of'the issue of the distinguished historian...
...We cannot look to the industrialists to solve our problems...
...Begin with President Roosevelt's statement on June 16...
...The excise taxes, real estate taxes, tariff charges, iniquitous sales tax, all fall heaviest on those least able to pay...
...However, we will try'again...
...We wonder if they ever heard of ls that other great achievement by Nasrr-Eddin-Khodja aa told by Tom Selby, a Socialist poet, some thirty years ago...
...He wasn't sure...
...But who is this speaking...
...Therefore it appears to me that non-warlike revolutionists fall into a tragic blunder when they enter into a united front with Communists or near-Communists...
...Whene'er I hear the politician claim How that his party saved the ship of State, I think of Khodja (he of Eastern fame) Who saved the Moon...
...The only way in which Communists can successfully cope with fascism is through victorious armed battle...
...In that month the problem was to "put to work 3,500,000 employable persons now on relief rolls" and this would be "in full swing by Autumn...
...The time is November 19, 1934...
...Added to the 9,000.000 on jobs, this n makes 11,000,000 promised employ- f: ment...
...The only escape from this logic might be that they would dare to say that Americans must starve...
...By iM the bearded prophets, 'tis the moon...
...By the end of the month he hoped to employ 1,127,000 of the 3,500,000 which the President . had mentioned in his message the previous January...
...It is true that non-Corn- e munists also were active in the formation of the league and that they are now playing an important role 13 in its activities...
...Temporary emergency relief, coupled with measures designed to increase employment, raise wages and subsidize purchasing power, is one thing...
...labor's fight for economic safety and security is the people's bsttle for a life worthy of America's possibilities...
...The same thing is true of jobs...
...Labor's duty to itself is also its sscred obligation to the people of this nation...
...The main road...
...The next speaker is President Roosevelt...
...What can we expect from tt ¦ear future...
...But it is conspicuously true that the Socialist Party has „ refused to participate and that tV- • Student League for Industrial De- ( mocracy has likewise refused to eft- , ter into a united front with the National Student League, which is dominated by Communists...
...We shall not drift again...
...It's 8 Donald R. Richberg who once wore e a red carnation in the Christian c crusade led by Teddy Roosevelt in :' 1912 B.D., B (efore) D(epression...
...ican people concerned wtft^SlmV sue at hand and whet has- or met we are prepared to let a great eonstructive legislative effort go ft/ the board because of a tedaftd judicial approach to a basic aVSMS problem...
...Ajax defying the lighting, Napoleon at Bull Run, Washington ¦ crossing the Wabash, and Casey al ' the bat never assumed the heroic proportions that the Democratic dealer in pork did on that historic day of August 11, 1933...
...there was no nflroad communication, no one |pj even dreamed of telephone, power age...
...They are convinced, however, 'that the present owning class will not relinquish power until it is wrenched from them by the armed might of the-workers and that therefore the proletarians must be trained and disciplined for armed seizure of power...
...This is our strongest means to forestall die return of sweat-shop condsaons...
...He also had his eye on Labor Day...
...the leading article is entitled, "For Leninism—For a Soviet America...
...In fact, there are more jobs than workers...
...submit a." «*y nrm conviction that there in no peajb^Jb this country that com >)ISS»# #ft people under a demtcritis seiaiN ment from legislation for themselves according to their need* and ideas...
...Instead, the political cyclone of 1932 swept over the nation aad Charley woke up in Kansas...
...Dooley once said that everybody either has an automobile or he knows where he can get one...
...Everybody has work...
...The United States of 1789 was 4B*jrely unlike the United States af 1935...
...n So here is the epic of the learned men who have been bossing the job '* of creating jobs and more is to be t_ added to it...
...murmured he with puzzled brow, 1 As Cynthia shone upon ait upturned face: '¦ "1 didn't get the moon, eat, nngAns...
...The latest effort of the Supreme Court to subjugate the panptsw Into-* islative will in the ease of lap NIRA is by no meaas a elagsjg chapter...
...The chief aim...
...We must insist that Congress reenact legislation regulating hours of work and minimum wages...
...t In 1931 the Communist Inter- u national, of which the Communist / Party in this country is an organic * part, issued an official statement n from which the following words 1 are taken: "The Communist Inter- o national openly announces to the millions of workers of the whole world that there cannot be gen- t uine working class unity without „ a struggle for the violent over- a throw of the whole existing cap- jitalistic order, for the establish- c ment of proletarian dictatorship...
...There's 4,000,000 already...
...One of my friends who is unable to accept fully the pacifist strategy in the class struggle isnevertheless vigorous in his assertion that Communist tactics are far more likely to fasten fascism upon the people of Ihe United States than to create a Communist society...
...Well, we'll forget this little discrepancy and let the Brain Trusters continue their magnificent work...
...The thesis maintained in this article is that there is no other road to power than that of a proletarian dictatorship established through armed action on the part of the workers...
...Leaving the pulpit an old . Swedish minister announced that J the services would end by the f congregation singing, "Revive Us ' Again...
...U nited Front Tactics The purpose of the united front was discussed with utter frankness in a long article in The Communist International, official organ of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, of which the Communist Party of the United States is a section, on December ; 20, 1934...
...What will remain of profits if the market for the products of industry are undermined...
...The hook caught on a stone, the rope gave way...
...We thoulbt that bette times were ahead...
...gig of labor and of the consume] ¦•-not adequately protected t! show of rising profits will be but a prelude to the decline of mass purchasing power...
...What are we to do about it...
...WE HOPE...
...Roosevelt, Hopkins, Johnson, r Fasfcy and Richberg have been i. employing the unemployed since e 1933 and here are the A. F. of L. n .figures of unemployment in this t- entire period: e September, 1933, 9.920,000...
...tne remainder is the helpless prey P the forces that have been unhashed by the breakdown of the peso very Act...
...Labor's Responsibility We know that, in the last analysis, we can look for help to no one but ourselves...
...And Khodja landed prone upon his , back...
...bat nothing like the present scale...
...Ws feel that way too...
...The Supreme Court, though it tried several times, at no time finally succeeded in thwarting the will of the American people, as expressed in legislation ,if the issue at stake was crucial and the people's mind and will were clear in the matter...
...oi The fact that the League Against War and Fascism has recently es- R tablished a religious section and is m now seeking to enroll ministers ui and other religious leaders makes 0< it imperative that the true nature d< of this organization be understood, si That Communists and near-Corn- h munists were prominent now exer- n cise considerable influence over its ^ activities, that Communists and q, near-Communists have constituted D a heavy proportion of the personnel of its annual and regional con- & ferences—these are unquestioned n facts...
...On the contrary, they are convinced that the time is not ripe and that a long delay may be necessary before armed action can be successful...
...Richberg declared that we must reemploy at least 4,000,000 of the f jobless...
...Whether , he consulted Jim Farley before , making this statement no man . knoweth, but somehow the 11,000,- j 000 provided with jobs seem to , have faded out of the picture...
...With a constructive re-employment program blocked there is little hope of the ten million finding jobs in industry...
...Bat my present purpose is not to discuss the legal aspects of that decision...
...He asks for $2,000,- ; 000,000 for direct relief for the ( destitute because "great numbers , still remain unemployed...
...Communists do not desire violence nor do they seek it...
...The re-constructive tasks of the government have been made most difficult by the disastrous after-effects of the Supreme Court decision...
...Some twenty million are on* the relief rolls...
...But the nin *»*tiees of the Supreme Court hav nttesnpted to turn the spiral down **rd, and if nothing positive an decisive is done to check the jus reactionary course, we ar ¦oee likely than not to revert t the conditions that existed froi 1930 to 1933...
...In order to discuss this question intelligibly certain facts must be emphasized...
...Obviously we seem to be i back in the depression...
...He is not a member of the Communist Party, but one is fully warranted in saying that he is communistically inclined...
...Prophets like Jim and Charley make, us itch, like Hotspur, to brain each with his lady's fan...
...It is their duty and responsibility to extend assistance to labor in every industry...
...Labor has a denfinite responsibility in this emergency...
...The founders could not possibly life had any conception of the problems in an age of machinery and mass production...
...Money for relief must come from some source...
...A method 1 of struggle against the reformists*¦ •< Not a method of preventing war | and fascism...
...The figures and promises of the New Deal politicians quoted below are authentic" and can be used effectively by Socialist speakers.: JT'S all a mistake to think that the jobless are still jobless...
...The united front is a , method of struggle against the re- , formists, against the social-fas- j cists, for the possession of the j masses...
...J . Of course, such legislation will igain come before the Supreme 3ourt, but a decision of the Court aeed not be the last word in a matter which so deeply affects the wel - 'are of the people...
...In the less thar 20 per cent of the industry which is still unorganized, the employers are fearful of the power ef the union, and consequently .have maintained the code provisions with few exceptions...
...The sales tax even falls' on those it is designed to provide for—the unemployed on relief rolls...
...The tale I now relate: • • • As Khodja sallied forth one night to draw A pipkin of cool water, it befell That, stooping o'er the parapet, he saw Fair Luna shiniig in the placid well...
...The noble statesman, declared that the new year would be known in history as "1931 A. D. A (fter) Depression...
...Will they have the courage to come out openly and subscribe to the old Hoover doctrine that the federal government must not give relief to starving men, women and children...
...In The Communist, official organ of the Communist Party of the United States for January 1935...
...On August 11, 1933, sixteen days after General Johnson made his prediction, Farley swept Johnson, Roosevelt and Hopkins out of the picture with the following statement: "Before Labor Day 120,000,000 people who a short time ago were in the slough of despair will have pulled the United States out of this terrible depression...
...The Socialist Party and the Student League for Industrial Democracy have sanctioned a limited united ' front in local communities on spe- , cine issues under drastic restrictions...
...To make it easier to win converts...
...The great masses are already burdened with more taxes than they can carry...
...The present chairman is Harry F. Ward...
...Ks were beini hsrreased...
...September, y 1934, 10.218,000...
...Jane unary, 1934, 10,538,000...
...The month before this statement was made the American Federation of Labor reported that the number of the jobless was 9,711,000...
...At the moment, profits contint tsing up...
...This seems like a big sum and yet it is very little if we take into account the number of people that need to be helped...
...Hoar, Hear, Hoar...
...How come...
...Judicial Recction Thus, the gradual improvemen *e had felt since 1933 has been no saly checked, but reversed...
...As the great man had said the same thing one month before we will be generous with him and not add this 5,000,000 to the 9,000,000 given jobs just before Farley knocked out Old Man Depression with an uppercut...
...In ; a radio address on April 28, 1935, he again returned to this great epic...
...Professor Ward's colleague...
...With rope and hook to lapd the gleaming prize...
...Farley Wipes Oat Depression...
...90 per cent of the people were engaged in agricultural pursuits...
...January, 1935, l. 10,142,000...
...The real ommjttsjh today is how deeply are the^4»nar...
...The agreement signed the other my between the International Ladies' Garment Workers and the employers.in the cloak and suit inssstry makes the labor provisions af the code in that industry a part ef the collective contractual relaaamhip...
...The Administration is doing whatever it can to help the situation with the $4,800,000,000 fnnd placed at its disposal by Congress...
...The Civil War was the court of higher appeal ft which the American people took recourse, snd the people won...
...Concerning the united front, this article says: ". . . the united front is at the present tune (the maturing of the world revolutionary crisis) the main road along which the masses will be prepared for the struggle for Soviet Power under the leadership of the Com- h. munist Party...
...In the past years we drifted and we followed the captains of finance and industry and we came to— 1933, with 15 million unemployed, our financial institutions bankrupt, chaos staring us in the face...
...Fron U33 till the Schechter decision Bullions of peop^Ahad been pu Wk to work...
...Charley Curtis was once VicePresident of the republic...
...In 1789 the whole population numbered less than half of the ^habitants of the New York metropolitan district...
...We in the Amalgamated Ckthing Workers have signed a tmtract with the organized emJjjgsts *n New York City which maws ptrfTrianent for 30.000 emjbyes the important provisions of she code of the men's clothing inamtiji...
...Tax High Income* At present, receipts from taxation come overwhelmingly from people of small means...
...These provisions, in point Si fact, now obtain throughout the jjsjionized centers of the industry, led when the time comes for relewal of agreements in other organized centers the same provisions will be made part of the writIan union contracts...
...1933, that there would be 1,000,000 new jobs by October 1. There's a million to start with...
...Then, bending low, he gave the line full play And tugged upon it stoutly, but alack...
...Let's take the smaller figure and add it to the above figures...
...By September, 1933, we now have a total of 9,000,000 of the jobless returned to work...
...They will also ask for a reward from the workleas in the >- election next year...
...May, 1935, 9,711,000...
...Mark it on your calendar as it ranks with only one other in depression history...
...Then on July 26, still in 1933, General Johnson over the radio estimated that between 5,000,000 and 6,000,000 unemployed would be at work by Labor Day...
...I Unfortunately, only 10 per cent 1st American labor is organized...
...Immediately after the Civil War, the Supreme Court again sought to block federal policy and to place restraints upon the President and Congress...
...It is not sufficient for the workera in one industry to organise and protect themselves...
...They fought NRA, and now NRA is done for...
...If religious leaders desire to cooperate with the League Against War and Fascism they should do so with their eyes open...
...By process of federal amendment so the Constitution the objections of the Suprem« Court were rstaad...
...But, curiously enough, those who are loudest in preaching the doctrine of "sound currency" and a "balanced budget," are the first to change their tone as soon as the balancing threatens to touch their own incomes...
...Labor must redouble its efforts to organize the unorganized, so that the standard of living may be raised...
...Hoping that our readers feel re- r freshed we again take up this epic , of the New Deal...
...Communist Party members have from the beginning been active in the league and are still in the forei front...
...F We're still generous and we will c make the number only 2,000.000...
Vol. 18 • September 1935 • No. 37
