Twenty-Five Years After the Notable Struggle of the Men's Clothing Workers in Chicago
Rabkin, E.
Twenty-Five Years After the Notable Struggle of the Men's Clothing Workers in Chicago Out of the Strike of the Winter of 1&10-1911 Grew the Mighty Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,...
...Information of this action spread like wildfire throughout the rest of the shops of the concern, where the workers became imbued with the spirit of revolt...
...applied to the Women's Trade Union League for speakers and other assistance that the League was in a position to render...
...The shops became sleeping quarters for scabs...
...The two manufacturers' associations refused to appear before that committee and only representatives of Hart, Schaffner ft Marx accepted the invitation...
...Children of 12 years of age were employed in factories in violation of law...
...Judge Charles Solomon: August Claessens, Chairman of Labor Committee of the Socialist Party...
...Miss Ellen Gates Starr, in a public statement, testified that when she protested to a police officer why they did not permit three strikers to walk together while in the presence of the police, a group of twenty strongarm men kept on terrorizing the strikers, the police officer ordered her to clear out, a hint that if she persisted in her protest she would get the same treatment as the strikers...
...Algernon Lee, former member of the Board Of Aldermen and president of the Band 'School of Social Science...
...Matthew M. Levy, George Fields, former Assemblyman Herbert H. Merrill, Julius Gerber, L Minkoff, S. M. Levitas and Alexander Kobn...
...It will not be recognized by...
...Twenty-Five Years After the Notable Struggle of the Men's Clothing Workers in Chicago Out of the Strike of the Winter of 1&10-1911 Grew the Mighty Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, With Its Inspiration to All Labor By E. Rabkin tPHE struggle of the men's clothing workers goes back many years, but the one outstanding strike that actually laid the foundation on which the great and powerful Amalgamated Qothing Workers of America was built took place twenty-five years ago in Chicago...
...Carl Parsons of Westchester County...
...It was an underground movement...
...time to prepare an answer to them.' It hoe acted on charges preferred by a seceding group...
...Harry Kritzer, Chairman ef the Kings County Committee, Socialist Party...
...More important demands were presented, and when these were rejected the workers of all the shops joined the strike and enrolled in the United Garment Workers of America...
...By James Oneal THE decision just made by a majority of this session of the National Executive Committee, pretending to revoke the charter of the New York State organization of the Socialist Party and thereby to expel from the parry at least four-fifths of the members in that State, is without warrant in the party's constitution and without precedent in its history...
...It provided for no discrimination and for an arbitration board whose decisions should be binding...
...What the National Executive Committee has done was not designed to promote unity...
...The first real attempt to settle the strike on more or less favorable conditions was made by the City Council, which appointed an arbitration committee for that purpose...
...Sidney Hillman, the real leader of the strike, together with his coworkers, recommended to the strikers the acceptance of the agreement on the ground that since it distinctly provided for no discrimination for strike or union activity, it actually meant union recognition...
...The agreement was ratified...
...Tan manufacturers maintained a spy system and it was enough for a worker to utter a word of disss tiafaction to a neighbor and the information immediately reached the employer, and be was discharged...
...It took eight years more of organization work and struggles by the Amalgamated Clothing Worker1 until in 1919 the two associations entered into «. collective bargaining agreement with' the union ard since then the market has remained organized...
...We are confident that most of the "Socialist organizations throughout the country will rally to the support of the New York Socialist Party...
...Samuel Orr, Chairman of the Bronx County Committee, and former Assemblyman...
...While the rest of the manufacturers in the Chicago market were united in two associations, Hart, Schaffner ft Marx remained an independent firm...
...The Women's Trade Union League responded to the call, but on October 28 exacted a condition from the District Council that two of its representatives should have the right to participate in the meetings of the strike committee...
...What happened in Philadelphia was not an accident...
...In spite of the fact that the Mayor of Chicago and the Joint Strike Conference Board, which enjoyed the confidence of the strikers, together with tits U.G.W...
...All their sufferings could not break the spirit of the strikers...
...Such reductions had occurred on a few previous occasions, but this time it appeared as though the patience of the workers was exhausted...
...Louis Waldman, State Chairman of the Socialist Party and Socialist candidate lor Governor...
...They worked unlimited hours for the lowest wages...
...repelled all such proposals...
...Committee stamps the action as a partisan, factional maneuver...
...Other states may well ask which of them is to be the next victim of a similar raid on its state in the interest of a group of factionists...
...When a committee requested the firm to restore the wage reduction, the reply was that it was no use because other workers were quitting their jobs...
...Eleven out of fifteen names were members of the secessionists' 'State Committee,' which met in Utiea, representing a negligible minority of the party membership in New York State...
...With the desperate struggle, the tailors awakened the conscience the great masses of the Chicago population...
...I declare the majority voting at this session as betrayers ef their trust...
...Nor was it the result of the two days of deliberations...
...The League immediately organized a strike committee, which from that day on had a very important part to play in the historic battle, together with the Chicago Federation of Labor and many public-spirited individuals...
...James Oneal, editor of The New Leader and member of the National Executive Committee...
...Shortly afterwards, the strikers rejected a slightly more favorable agreement...
...Majority TTHE State Committee of the Socialist Party and the undersigned who joined a conference of leading members of the Socialist Party and affiliated organizations in New York, which includes a member of the New York Housing Authority, two judges, two former leaders of the Socialists in the Board of Aldermen, three former candidates for Governor of the Socialist Party in this state, the President of the Workmen's Circle and heads of other important institutions and fraternal organizations of the Socialist Party,,at a meeting held at 7 E. 15th St...
...B. C. Vladeck, member of the New York Housing Authority, manager of the Jewish Daily Forward and former leader of the Socialists in the Board of Aldermen...
...In spite of the fact that the struggle was on, the United Garment Workers of America failed to proclaim the strike officially though such demands were voiced by the workers...
...Every effort was made to enlist the cooperation of the National Executive Committee to develop a plan for unity in New York* Those dominating the N.E.C...
...6- of Hart, Schaffner A Marx the panto seamers were presented on September 22, 1910, with a reduction from four cents to three and three-quarters cents...
...of the Socialist Party, after the N.E.C...
...Reaching Agreement It was on January 14th that the Joint Conference Board approved an agreement reached with the Hart, Schaffner ft Marx Company, which provided that within ten days the firm would re-employ the strikers, and the question of these guilty of violence was not mentioned...
...The struggle brought forward new and young leaders who were inspired by the ideals of the Socialist and labor movement, and who had already an organization to lean on—almost ten thousand workers of the Hart, Schaffner ft Marx...
...14 and No...
...It will be resisted to the utmost...
...U. Solomon, Chairman of the N. Y. City Socialist Central Committee...
...Aligned with, us is every important Socialist institution not only in the city andstate but in the nation at large...
...The seamers, the majority of them girls, refused to accept the reduction and quit their jobs...
...At the same time Oneal declared that he loould not attend further sessions of tke Philadelphia meeting and he immediately left the session...
...It provided for no discrimination against workers, members of and active in tke union, and an arbitration committee with equal representation by the union and the firm and an impartial chairman to consider tint grievances of the workers and to adjust those grievances in the future...
...Joseph Weinberg, former President of the Workmen's Circle...
...The Chicago Daily Socialist, a fighting daily of thai period, threw itself into the struggle...
...Neither did the employers observe the ten-hour day, established by state law...
...The movement spread to the association shops as well, and in the fourth week more than forty thousand tailors were on strike...
...6 of the U.G.W...
...That historical event in which 40,000 unorganized clothing workers participated is now being celebrated by 150,000 men gad women organized in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, which came into being four years after the settlement of that strike...
...It stands self-condemned as a factional group which has usurped power never granted to it and is using that power to destroy the party...
...Hundreds of telegrams and other messages have reached our headquarters since this decision expressing resentment at the unfairness of the N.E.C...
...It happened in this way: In Shop No...
...Judge Jacob Panken...
...As a loyal member of the party, and as one who was chosen by the national organization to help administer its affairs & accordance with the party constitution apd with Socialist principles, I deny the validity of this pretended revocation of the New York charter...
...It was because of the .threat of the Chicago Dally Socialist that the United Garment Workers was compelled to declare a general strike...
...Self-respect as well as respect for the party which this faction is destroying compel me to protest against this infamy...
...It comes as the culmination of a long series of acts by the element now in control here, all of which tend to the same result and evince the same purpose—to put an end to orderly and democratic procedure within the party, to disrupt it wherever they cannot control it, to drive out all who hold to the long accepted principles of working-class Socialism, and to commit its national organization to policies which have never been sanctioned by the rank and file...
...At that time, an understanding was reached with H.art, Schaffner ft Marx Co., Whereby the firm would re-employ all strikers with the exception of those who had committed violence...
...The strike was conducted in accordance with all the rules and traditions of the class struggle...
...Adolph Held, president of the Jewish Forward Association and of the Amalgamated Bank and former member of the- Board of Aldermen...
...They could not shoulder the tremendous task and responsibility, and so District Council No...
...had voted to place the New York State organization under the control of secessionists...
...was totally unprepared...
...The strike of 1910 laid the foundation of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers...
...The manufacturers carried on a blacklist system and when a worker lost his job for the least offense the information was immediately conveyed to all other clothing manufacturers in the city, who would refuse employment to him...
...Nathan Chanin, President of the Workmen's Circle...
...By this reply the firm probably expected to stamp but the spirit of revolt In reality it was pouring oil on fire...
...A Minority Dictatorship "In attempting to set up a minority dictatorship in New York the National Executive Committee has forfeited its right to the confidence and respect of the members of the Socialist Party...
...Small groups had to gather in private homes and even then the fear was great that there were spies among them...
...Butchers and grocers contributed food...
...In those days Hart, Schaffner & Marx had seventeen or eighteen shops and employed about ten thousand people...
...Countless arrests were made, but the industrial autocrats needed their victims and so on December 3rd the scabs attacked a group of strikers, killing one of them, Charles Lazinskas...
...decision and pledging support to the duly constituted organization in this state and its fight for the preservation of the party...
...The members of New York State and their sympathizers consist of tried and devoted Socialists with a profound respect for fair play and justice...
...It is a fact that earnings Were so low that after the long hours in the shop the workers were compelled to take work to their homes in order to earn enough for a living...
...The decision of the N.E.C., the effect of which is disunity and divisions-is a blow not only at the party \ it/ New Yorkj but also against the trade union* movement and Labor's cultural arid fraternal organisations...
...It was the tragedy of the situation that the U.G.W...
...On the other hand, on the picket line the police showed great partiality towards the gangsters hired by the employers...
...It is rather a miracle that a strike, which started spontaneously by a small group of pants makers, eventually involved forty thousand clothing workers and resulted in the first collective bargaining agreement with one of the largest firms, Hart Schaffner ft Marx...
...This committee has dene the unprecedented thing 'of acting on charges submitted against the largest state organization in the country and without giving Htmt organization a, copy of the charges and...
...of the dominant group today has been carried to such a point as utterly to discredit the National Executive Committee...
...They were again at the mercy of the employers for a long time to come...
...The s t r i k e movement spread and the issue of one quarter of a cent was lost sight of, larger issues came to the fore...
...It has forfeited the right to be considered as the national governing body of the party...
...Druggists gave medicine free of charge...
...The Big Strike For that reason the first .attempts at organization had to be carried on secretly...
...The workers of all other firms remained on strike, which was finally broken when, on February 3rd, 1911, the same Tom Rickert jf the United Garment Workers on his own accord officially declared the general strike terminated...
...One of its active members in this outrage has acted in the capacity of a leader of the secessionists, an observer of the secession, a prosecutor of the accused state* organization, and as a juror sitting in judgment on the split which -be has helped to bring about...
...The firm transferred the work to the seamers in Shops No...
...That is why all appeals for unity were rebuffed by the National Executive Committee...
...established by employers in those days was that no worker should earn more than $13 per 'week...
...officers, recommended the acceptance of the agreement, it was nevertheless rejected by the strikers for the reason that the two associations not only did not subscribe to the settlement but stated they would continue to fight until the clothing workers were completely defeated...
...The conditions under which the clothing workers were employed in those days ore rightfully termed slavery...
...One of the regulation...
...They had no security in their jobs and no protection against the whims of the employers and tjieir hirelings the superintendents and foremen...
...The strike was settled as far as the ten thousand workers of Hart, Schaffner ft Marx were concerned...
...While pickets were constantly being chased, the strong arm squads of the employers received all consideration from the police and had liberty to treat the strikers with severity...
...Less than two weeks later they duplicated their feat, | killing the striker, Frank Nagreck is...
...William M. Feigenbaum, former Assemblyman...
...By this decision it has established itself beyond doubt as a factional organ and in no sense as the governing body of the party in the United States...
...Among the seventy signers of the above statement are: Herman Kobbe, member of the State Committee...
...Fight the Decision "The New York State Party cannot and will not accept a decision So lacking in fairness and devoid of legality...
...Sidney Hillman and W. O. Thompson became members of the Arbitration Board, representing the workers...
...In a couple of days about one thousand tailors' of Hart, Schaffner ft Marx were on strike...
...Here the workers became aware of what had transpired in Shop No...
...Private families gave shelter to homeless strikers and, even hotel keepers refused to rent rooms to scabs, so great was the sympaI thy for the cause of the strikers, who did not then have a strong organization behind them nor funds sufficient even to cover the most necessary strike expense...
...Oneal Quits Session in Protest Against Suspension The statement below was made for tke official record by James Oneal, member of the N.E.C...
...State Committee Spurns Action of N.E.C...
...Nat only was the action lawless and unconstitutional and without precedent in party history, but the composition of the Committee of 15 designated by the committee to supersede the State Executive...
...15 and refused to do the work...
...It is without warrant in the National Constitution' of the Socialist Party...
...At one stage of the strike, when Tom Rickert, President of the United Garment Workers, made a settlement on his own accord without even taking into confidence the most important leaders of the strike, and without the knowledge of the strike committee, the strikers rejected the agreement because it did not guarantee union recognition...
...issued the following statement: "The action of the National Executive Committee in voting to suspend the party of New York State was irresponsible, lawless and Stalinistic...
...Since .this Was the case, the workers in the socalled "label" shops considered it legitimate to engage in making scab work, to the construction of the strikers as well as the labo r movement as a whole...
...Although this was in direct violation of the building sanitary law, the authorities kept their eyes closed...
...This oroke the backbone and demoralized the strikers, who began returning to work defeated...
...Cots were placed there for their use and meals were provided for them...
...The same energetic leaders of the 1910 strike, Sidney Hillman, Frank Rosenblum, Samuel Levin, A. D. Marimpietri, Sidney Rissman, Jacob S. Potofsky, together with Joseph Schlossberg and other leaders of the New York tailors, led the forces who were instrumental in organising in 1914 the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, which is new among the outstanding labor unions in the country...
...the membership of the bona-fide party organization in this State, representing approximately eighty per cent of the membership...
...On the contrary, it was deliberately planned and designed ever a long period of time...
...Doctors treated the sick ones without remuneration...
...Abraham Cahan, editor of the Jewish Daily Forward...
Vol. 19 • January 1936 • No. 2
