CAMPAIGNING WITH THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY
Friedman, Esther
Campaigning With The British Labor Party England's Poll Compared With the American Political Circus By Esther Friedman T ONDON,—To an American interested in politics several contrasting...
...Ciasiiisal by Manee Editor, The New Leader...
...It would place the military power of the government at the service of the private corporations and involuntary servitude, prohibited by the Constitution except in cases of conviction for crime, would become a fact...
...Labor Conscription WE ARE glad to note the opposition of the Ex- ecutive Council of the American Federation of Labor to all proposals for the conscription of workers for industrial purposes...
...President Green emphasized the fact that the Legion measure would not draft capital...
...Its shameless treatment of the city "engineers and other city employes is in striking contrast with the affection shown to the chair warmers holding useless but lucrative job...
...r*rrJ^M withal that, terribly eamert cmwa^j A Dramatic Labor Struggle A TTENTION of our readers is directed to the special stories in this issue by The New Leader correspondent regarding the textile strikes in the South...
...The whole...
...that still prevails...
...I do not admit that a momentary decision of a majority on a policy that may be reversed at any moment by circumstances cancels tbe right of the minority to maintain itsetf and advance its principles within tbe organisation...
...and claim the right to operate on that basis...
...Nor do they use insult for ar-a> ment against their opponents...
...At this meeting the women were ptepsederant—about 3 to 1. When the hsckbr started the women tried to be Tadke* with him...
...The old time soap-box is being left more and more to those who take religion for relief instead of politics...
...The men and.women of labor in America will never consent to its enactment...
...Imagine my surprise when Albert Goldman, Commissioner of the Department of Plant and Structures, curtly turned down our request...
...The powerful interests who favor conscription will continue their efforts...
...The mends I noticed were done with skill...
...TBI | last communist in the British Labor Firs) is out—not because 'he was thought aaugerous but because he was s nulttnot' Judging by the sweeping loss of that:' candidates' deposits they are out for goed...
...While on the platform there was time to look the_ audience over...
...Foster Speer which outlines the services ef company preachers in the mill villages also repeats New England history...
...though nBj of the above mentioned "bourjwgr breach of decency, now chose to be am- . ventlonal and extended his hand to Mr ' Sanders...
...Judge Panken and myself, were very well received...
...3.—If those g>gg:ng tactics continue who wffl be to blame if the city is faced with m strike of its engineers...
...The voting equipment had already become Inadequate In the working class districts...
...Their salaries are paid by the mill owners and they turn religion into a mill-owners' creed of contentment with abominable labor conditions...
...It is a capitalist enterprise, jne of the most powerful in this country...
...On the whole such a campaign as England has just gone through, so full of menace for those who own for a living and so full of promise for those who toll In U.S.A...
...The Night ef Nights Election night of all nights, cat tatst streets of London was a milk and water,' affair...
...Tammany win fight for its ewmnoos holdings and profits as the southern textile capitalists do...
...2. Tbe prosecution does not profess to find In the Bscdsewoed By-laws dealing with tbe dismissal of teachers any ground on which I could be removed...
...At the forma] occasion of nomtntttB acceptances it is customary for oaadW dates of all parties to exchange ininiaf illations...
...They are either for or against the issues that have been staged, for or against the workers...
...Sanders, (who had seme.a the foreign office under MacDonald) jg* a thief and murderer...
...That action is especially commendable considering that it also singled out the measure supported by the American Legion for condemnation despite the fact that officials of this organization have spoken at conventions of the A. F. of L. in recent years...
...Nor did the Lloyd George slogan, flashed from large electric signs "We will conquer unemployment!*' startle anyone...
...Every inch of standing room was covered...
...But the fool persisted and tab time the man paid...
...A Republican club in Chattanooga had arranged for the Negro Congressman to lecture, but it transfers the arrangements to another organization...
...Of course I should have been more careful about letting my colleagues put their own words Into my mouth and furnish the atmosphere...
...In White Chapel, Stepney and Bow districts, they looked painfully poor...
...RatUei ant...
...CALHOUN EXPLAINS Editor...
...That victory is helpful...
...Thereupon ttte Board of' Directors uaanimousry adopted tbe recemmendstion of tbe faculty that be should not be engaged to serve dn tbe Brocs-wosd staff in tab future...
...Let me assure you that I am making no copy of this letter...
...This menmrandum was presented to the meeting af tbe Brcoerwood Beard of Du-eetsta aad Dr...
...BrtwBst'mK ripping returns we sang- all of tt» gjj The Internationale and The Bsd^BH and my good red scarf never asSSJH" well...
...Indeed, it b chiefly Brookwood'i past tolerance of contact...
...Then we sang 'John Bnrmljag and The Old Folks at Home.' The m» and the Scotch were heard from ***"*jt As tbe returns poured in Labor*iJjW§ was rising and the Tory's was ahwnj| deeper...
...Always •here was a tremendous turnout to hear candidates explain issues and programs...
...i Katonah...
...From The New Leader Mail Bag THE ENGINEERS Editor, the New Leader: Apart from then* profession engineers have a reputation for being singularly simple-minded and naive...
...J Queens Hall was different—psttesafl to our hearts desire...
...They s>, «ponded with tremendous applause sag] cheering and on election day express* their sentiment at tbe ballot-box...
...We hope that the labor organizations and sympathetic groups and individuals will make extra efforts to relieve these striking workers...
...During the entire period of Negro slavery many white owners had their black concubines on the plantations...
...Second, It calls for no intellect and less responsibility...
...but lest some onetime comrade should wonder about me, I am asking you to print this letter, together with the enclosed copy of my memo to the Brookwood Board of Directors...
...Indeed, in tbe early days I was given to understand that It was my duty to stay whether I liked to or not...
...The whole row is based upon the opinion expressed by the Florida Legislature in defense of "the purity qf our Anglo-Saxon blood...
...A few street meetings were held in out-lying sections...
...These were crowded, beyond capacity...
...So has bis wife—at his business and at his "home...
...Campaigning With The British Labor Party England's Poll Compared With the American Political Circus By Esther Friedman T ONDON,—To an American interested in politics several contrasting features present themselves...
...That does not mean there was no interest or excitement felt...
...Workers live where rents are cheap...
...We.must not forget that Tammany, like Republican and- Democratic city rings throughout the ¦xuiatryv i* a political holding company for the corjorate enterprises that fatten on the city...
...was decorated in red...
...Of coons there are exceptions...
...If a candidate receives Jess than oseeighth of the votes cast for his office, hr> forfeits the tl50 he was requires to 4tpoalt when be accepted the nominaum...
...Here in London the workers know their life is a mean one...
...Our union wanted to call public attention to the fact that Grade "C" engineers in tbe various departments of the Board of Transportation were not being paid according to a decision of the Municipal Civil Service Commission...
...The large number of delegates that attended the convention despite the excessive heat and the intense interest given to their work show an earnestness that promises-excellent work...
...When they asked whether I would cooperate with people that wanted to "destroy" Brookwood they meant to ask whether I would support Communist candidates for public office, teach in the Workers' School, act on the anti-Imperialist League and that sort of thing...
...There were no brass bands except the beggar's bands of which there are a-plenty...
...for many years ass-, editor of the Daily Herald, is one of tm most loved men in the labor mo-, unset...
...Careful research for several months by competent men and women is embodied in this platform and it will repay thorough reading and study...
...This is particularly true in regard to the engineers' approach to politics*: Hoover, I admit, is a rare exception, but be is more of a politician than an engineer as last November's election results attest...
...We shall be glad to forward any other sums that may be...
...S. Whatever may be the prosecution's Interpretation of the presumable effects of my very occasional outside activities, I vn confident that they have not hurt be school save in the esteem of the very groups that the "progressives** have tc fight or avoid...
...Confetti wasst fall like snow in a storm...
...The ebnB...
...But it wont be long now.' - •55J The third differing feature In the BrJU I ish campaign Unit Impresses an Americas is the manner and style of the candldatar speeches...
...Now one glaring fact is worth tons of paper resolutions and we shall call attention to it...
...As a capitalist enterprise it,exploits millions as a textile manufacturer exploits thousands...
...If you will think back over tiro decades you will know that I am today what you might have expected me to be...
...At the appointed time ass* rallied their stereotyped questions:—"*Sst*b many peers will you make...
...The hundreds that stood around the walls crowded ever closer to the platform, listened to the speaker with such striking seriousness as I have larcly seen . That same tense, interest was manifest in the leas* poor districts...
...The Catholics too were left unmoved by a last-hour warning that the "Socialists" aimed to destroy Christianity itself...
...Enough information has come from the War Department in recent years to indicate that its "plans include conscription of labor in industry...
...N. Y...
...and if you do not choose to print you will never see It elsewhere...
...It became clear now...
...Business goes on as usual...
...It seems to me, that the city fathers are particularly stupid in employing such high-banded methods...
...The New Leader: I do not suppose that the state of my health is of great concern to the readers of The New Leader...
...The Legislature and the Governor of Texas protest...
...Senator Blease of South Carolina introduced a resolution in the Senate with some doggerel aimed at the White House and Negroes...
...Election dsy in the »U.6.A Is stfll Jsstft lark...
...if they know it, are sanctimonious hypocrites...
...received...
...Illiterates crawl up through the slime and nest like bats in niches of the city government...
...Only nation-wide action by labor organizations when the issue is before Congress promises to avert this calamity...
...HOOVER entertains wives of Congressmen among whom was the wife of a Negro...
...Tbe polls open at 7 ajflf...
...Conse-* quently it has the effrontery to allege that when these provisions for tbe protection of teachers were adopted they were not intended to cover the ground...
...Tbe election of the Labor wsaP was baaed with great rejoicing flj* election of Baldwin's son got a wbeaW ovation...
...A business man has two votes...
...Capitalism has created a rough aad ill-working mechanism bf industry and a low standard of value based upon nothing but industrial considerations, sad it baa dons its best to hand over both public aad private values to be measured by this standard sad to be produced by this mechanism.—J...
...A particularly attractive white girl was often regarded as legitimate prey of planter aristocrats...
...Its agents spend a lew hundred or thotustVl dVjQart now and then on "charrtjr- The ragged, the Wrajp Sad *e diseased - festering in the nretrap' hritwrit caaapd •_'^hppif I** aye tossed the eexavsOea* «t »<doUar each white the agent pockets a lniadred *m graft Or a poor .dope diagged before a Tartanjoy nwaistrate gets the benefit sf the ','inflooence" of the Tammany agent in his district...
...Calhoun was gsesb a full opportunity to comment upon it...
...But how they listened...
...At a George •Lansbury meeting a siSr* uar disturbance was nipped In the sat* Lansbury, MP...
...Protests and action come from both Republican and Democratic politicians in the South and they indicate the widespread color prejudice...
...Each district headquarters is a branch of the lag capitalist ttrw...
...Shrieking abf | cursing, laughing and singing...
...For one thing it Is safer...
...Nearly one thousand engineers in the employ of the Board of Transportation feel that they have a grievance aad still the only avenue for a public expression of our complaint la closed to us...
...We want decent and human conditions for att the city workers...
...We cite these facts and permit our readers to draw their own conclusions...
...Unemployment is widespread...
...We want to take the clammy hand of Tammany from our schools...
...There is scarcely a department of the city government that does not ooze graft...
...It is reported that the Chicago wheat pit gripped mid-Europe during tbe past week...
...Most of the agents are pious, very pious f It pays, aad that is the only fonsicleratioH...
...I am a city engineer employed by the Board of Transportation...
...The splendid triumph of the British Labor Party presents a. significant contrast with the disfranchisement of labor at the City Hall, in nearly all the state legislatures and in Congress...
...The Socialist Campaign rT,HE Socialist Party in Greater New York nom- inated a splendid ticket and adopted one of the very best programs ever presented to the masses in any city...
...and so on...
...A college man has three votes, at his University, his office and his home...
...The medieval and shocking practice of the third degree has -continued with one innocent man snatched from the electric chair almost at the last moment to make this brutality vivid...
...I What would such a crowd on sasba'j night do on Broadway...
...To the American worker, candidates are like race-horses—something to bet on...
...j ' a/*V art ST...
...1.—Is station WNYC a public station or is it the, private propaganda machine for the entrenched politicians...
...This bill," said Mr...
...A Sanctimonious Row MRS...
...Instead of sending an army to Nicaragua, to insure them an honest election, a commission should be sent here to learn what an honest election looks like...
...Naturally I refused to sign away my civil rights and my political Independence...
...The widespread illicit relations between the races was a brooding sorrow for housewives in thousands of planter homes...
...One, tbe absence of a bought or bribed vote—or any kind of tampering with the voter or the baUot...
...BaasBjjjj hung and red flags waved...
...They weren't thrillers judging by their thin audiences...
...A number of factors will affect the campaign and election that have not been present in recent years...
...The large bsB, safe ing 4.000...
...yuJhtnc and shoving, fighting and drlnkte-*, would be a pagan's night for merry a*** ers...
...The Inadequacy was made worse because no provision was made, or very little, to meet the maiden voters...
...Up to a few weeks ago I believed implicitly in all of the hokum which tbe politicians bandied about...
...They mean it...
...where Labor < Sanders') wis let the first time challenging the Comnraeist seat (Saklatvala'si a few but nosy followers got possession of the frost rs» balcony...
...This is not the only loss to the Labor Party...
...For rximple—at Saklatvala, true to communist form, b public speeches attacked his Labor op., ponent Mr...
...It is the New England of the twenties of the last century over again...
...Take the city-owned radio broadcasting station WNYC...
...The gamblers, bowever, have not released their grip on tbe farmers in tbe American wheat belt...
...IN A NUTSHELL The farmers who appear to be vary bested about tbe way things are going in Washington should remember that they still have the right to keep cool with CooUdge...
...We had appealed again and again to various city officials and at last decided tc appeal to the people of the City ol New York...
...J bare no further comment to make ob Dr...
...Many of them had been on line for an hour or more...
...horns would rend the air...
...It has been many years since a dramatic struggle like this has divided whole communities with the workers of the mills fighting for democracy and a more human status in industry...
...Election Day No Holiday Election day is no holiday in Merry England...
...Their clothes were the meanest of shoddy...
...John H. Delaney, chairman of tbe Board of Transportation...
...It means they dont demonstrate in public...
...American Speakers Welcomed The American speakers...
...aflat ' created quite a stir...
...I will not, however, sign a yellow dog contract not to co-operate according to my judgment with any active labor-group that suy want my help, nor will I Join the new Brookwood company union—tbe "progressive" local Of such it may be called), which at Brookwood has replaced ths Teachers' Union as an instrument of collective bargaining...
...Tgie second striking feature is the public's apparent unconcern that their government was about to slip from the 'safe'' party and Into the clutches of the Socialist Party...
...That is a spirit that should permeate every labor organization in the country for there is no more dangerous proposal before Congress today...
...It apparently acts on the assumption that this legislation-will be passed and that fact of itself should place the trade unions on their guard...
...In a few years they become wealthy, some millionaires...
...Recently the city engineers' protective organisation, the Union of Technical Men, tried to secure time on the air from station WNYC...
...The vote now indicates that the "red letter" episode has immunised the public against scares...
...man was the cutest snd funniest BMslWg man...
...This is practical service not only to these brave men and women but to the whole labor movement of the L'nited States...
...No safety laws seemed to exist...
...And they know their own party ana their party representatives...
...With these feudal privileges removed—which the Labor Party will attend as soon as it can...
...and close at 9 pa...
...la view of the fact that the municipal election Is but a short time off...
...Green, "plausible enough on the surface, as a matter of fact would only operate against wage earners...
...My one regret a I arrived so late in the campaign...
...Our readers will note that the struggle involves the religious groups...
...The latter chose to retain ta . self-respect, he explained, and ignore...
...The British public let it come and go hardly batting an eyelash...
...Labor losses in this election must have been considerable...
...When some degree of order was stored, Mr...
...why the streets are free from the flare and bluster: fireworks and firewater we know during political campaigns...
...It is even more than that...
...Tammany with its Republican ally as a sub-bureau drags a htter of decayed cats into the campaign...
...They know they want more than toil and want and a bone...
...To'Joe sure Trafalgar Square SJsM crowded...
...A COT ENGINEER...
...Sanders answered those qjo> hens, no doubt for the millionth UBS with such grace and tolerance and pjes, that I marveled—and the enemy wa' floored flat by the audience...
...In the light of this experience I feel inclined to pose a few -questions to tbe political powers that be...
...To do so would only be to eaaata in fruitless cdbardversy...
...We want to drive the company union vampire from the transportation lines...
...What we bad to say was purely a public matter...
...ARTHUE W. CALHOU...
...Had a giant scoop lifted the New England mill villages of a hundred years ago and planted them in the modern South they would have fitted into the regime now defended by chambers of commerce and mill-owned pastors...
...It is the old story of industrial masters using churchmen as spokesmen for the measureless greed of mill owners...
...Many thousands had comt AT*| to see tbe returns—but nothing more...
...Katonah, N. T. Memorandum by A. W. Calhoun for tbe Brookwood Beard ef Directors 1. I am In accord with the By-laws of Brookwbod, Inc...
...and the rtayuus* *Ss J.ooo throats came "You bet we It was a great night I Worth Use pond at anytime to se° 1* of The Internationale and The R«Wf —we marched out a happy...
...The letter of Rev...
...If any member of the faculty really believes that, it must be because be hhnsetf had sinister mental reservations at tbe time the By-law was adopted, 3. My duamasal a in direct violation of tbe Brookwood By-laws, particularly as these direct that In acting an grounds for dismissal "narrow or partisan interpretations are to beSvoided," ilium I am being dismissed solely because of my expressed lack of sympathy with tbe "progressive'' movement and my eapi eased intention to keep Brookwood from becoming a "seminary of s sect" 4. Whatever may have been my personal feelings In the Brookwood setting, I have always been effectively interested in the work of the school and no one will believe the insinuation that I have wished to destroy it...
...The Socialist Party as the labor patty in this city ' is on strike against this rotten exploiting firm...
...i ""Us iesemblance to a great industfialTplant erven fartgnds to...
...We want to make the city a labor stronghold...
...Working people who permit themselves to be ranged with the professional politicians who talk of "Anglo-Saxon purity" will simply follow men who are ignorant of their father's history or...
...But to this must be also added the „fact that many of the aristocratic white males and their sons assumed the same attitude tawards the daughters of the poor whites...
...The reason lies in the workers' earnestness...
...Even village community workers, also paid by the textile masters, play the same servile role before legislative committees...
...Since tbe working hours are generally ten and sometimes more, many workers cannot reaeh the polls on time...
...The lower house of the Florida Legislature protests by a vote of 71 to 14 and insists that if such "social policies "continue they "will destroy the Anglo-Saxon race and set at naught the social fabric of the country that has for ages guarded and kept sacred the purity of our Anglo-Saxon blood...
...No parades except the handsome red-coated soldiers to inspire enlistment...
...Its anti-labor record i« BOtdrkms...
...They do it in the halls, theatres, and school auditoriums...
...One could understand this measure if it also proposed to nationalize industry but there is no indication of any such purpose...
...Aristocratic young blades and even wealthy married whites in the gulf region kept Negro and Creole mistresses in fine apartments in New Orleans and Mobile...
...How mm" cruisers will you build...
...Tbe two offers I received during tbe current year were, to be .sure, rejected for ether reasons...
...Calhoun's memorandum...
...wtlfare'' work...
...The singing master had . worth goring miles to hear...
...You have known me long enough, Jim Oneal...
...would mean some hot-time in the old town...
...Labor's gains will be fairly and accurately recorded...
...j-'X - 2.—Did Commissioner Goldman refuse the use of the station because be feared to embarrass bis colleague...
...Ramsay Mac Donald...
...the extended hand...
...shrieked si apople-tlc female voice...
...Jest Like Heme magnificent Town Hall meeting in Bettersea...
...8. The attempted suppression of tbe nrdnurtty (which included half of this year's student body) is identical with tbe dictatorial procedure attacked by tbe •progressives" in esse of other groups and from which Brookwood and Brookwoodcta have suffered at tbe hands ef reactionary unions...
...I have tuned in on this station (more from a sense of loyalty than anything else) and have listened patiently to testimonial dinners being tendered to semi-illiterate district leaders, to obscure politicians grinding their axes, to all kinds of propaganda...
...This is often a great distance from his or her place of toil...
...As this is written The New Leader receives a check of $135 for this relief work...
...The machine revolution with its tragic consequences is obvious...
...Platforms were packed, lobbies were packed, aisles were packed...
...Saklatvala s defeat broke HjBJ another storm of applause and oMfM One of the most exciting moments a*M at tbe news that Austin ChamberJabtM tamed has seat by a very narrow SwayPj Some one yelled out "Will get tewjH tirr-—old top...
...We want to drive the bats out of their nests, to tear down the foul tenements and build homes, to make life safe from the vampire's criminal allies, and to make the city healthful, decent and wholesome, besides sating the millions of dollars that are wasted or grafted by the kept agents of the machine...
...A shocking system of plural voting exists here...
...Wet what they did to that r-r-r-revolotioobt seems to justify Kipling's conclusion...
...Saklatvala...
...Its commodities are franchises, contracts, appointments, jobs, soft berths...
...Those for "Safety Pirst" persistently used the term Socialist to designate the Labor Party and its candidates: and Socialism when referring to Labor's program and policy...
...to know what to think of me...
...Its police department cooperated with the notorious I. R. T. in breaking-the strike o{ its workers and keeping a company union, in the service...
...cried another...
...In London torni folks came os* a* see the returns—and nothing asses...
...The result was that at 9 o'clock hundreds of citizens were turned out of the polling places...
...7. The fact is that on behalf of my obligations to Brookwood I have rejected attractive offers elsewhere end turned down desirable leads...
...8. As to my historic lack of enthusiasm for Brookwood, I think it will be generally admitted that my working efficiency has seldom been noticeably impaired thereby, and while it has doubtless been annoying to my colleagues to know that I was not happy in my work, I am sure that the chief sufferer on this point has been myself...
...If Use trade unions of the United States wars organrsed as rapidly aad on ss broad a scale as the means at" great capital we would have the moat pow- • erful labor movement in the world...
...When the Brookwood faculty asked me whether I was willing to "put Brookwood in a hole" they meant whether I would do things offensive to "progressives" and at which the A. P. of L. might point...
...Labor conscription would simply impose forced labor for private corporations at the point of bayonets and subject the workers to military rule...
...with the Left that baa given the institution its distinction in the eyes of genuine progressives...
...The two parties are one and a second party is essential...
...I am no exception to the general rule...
...If the strikers resort to prayer and preachers have the courage to defy the mill barons by ranging themselves with the men and women on strike, the capitalistic interests also fpUpw.the same course...
...They do not use eojotlcnfdssv to bespeak their cause but facts sad data...
...What doss rapthf say about the female of the species...
...In an elemental human struggle like this men must make their choice...
...Bven Hyde Park Is as tame as Mae's old Isabel...
...As a matter of fact, 1 personally, made the suggestion thai we use the city radio station...
...Be it also noted that most of these politicians have helped to build the textile despotism now being fought by striking workers...
Vol. 8 • June 1929 • No. 23
