QUEER LABOR JOURNALISM
Queer Labor Journalism d""hN June 13. the New York Times carried a letter by -John Spargo, which fuled nearly two columns. It was a criticism of the Conference for Progressive Labor Action...
...Most any parasite, from the old world and any reactionary re«*ugee is wekomed by Uncle Sam but the fighters for freedom are no longer welcome here...
...Thomas is not news— not unless Karl Marx is news...
...distributed, mostly from individual sources, something like $100,000 in cash and clothing...
...One naturally wonders why ths long letter of Spargo is news while the short letter by Thomas is not...
...They will sweat '• in the endeavor to market the auto, argument without provoking roars of laughter...
...A'MQm os&aie n^kSane^MMr...
...income levels Jbecause" they are...
...But a new order has come to the South'," Its masters cannot have modern capitalism without labor organization...
...In a number of instances the resentment of the southern masters and their allies has taken the form, of extra-legal action by kidnapping or deporting labor organizers...
...Therefore, we must remain voting serfs of two parties that lack unifying programs, that do not differ in essentials from each other, and that are maintained-by the.bjg, magnates of capital and...
...I Tht progressive and Socialistic attitudes of manual workers, clerical worker* and professional men with whom I have talked recently smated rat...
...Assistant Attorney General Donovan, of the .Department of Justice, stated it was the "aim of the department to meet at their inception bustoea projects involving possible violation...
...As spargo had singled out a number of men by name for attack, Norman Thomas and James Oneal replied to Spargo in The Times...
...Spargo has resided in the hills of Vermont, where labor issues and struggles are not very conspicuous...
...Secretary of Agriculture Hyde made a speech to the National Education Association at Atlanta...
...Thomas was also one of the founders and has been steadily a member of the American CivU Liberties Union whose services to labor have not been negligible, t,>"T"m has also known what it is to work as a youngster ten hours s day ta an unorganised fao» tory...
...These are some of the reasons why men and women who desire the vigorous life and growth of the A. P. of L. urge upon tt not a precise imitation of British methods but a program of vigorous action on the political as well as the industrial field...
...The Southern Rising "|*ARELY in the history of any country has there ¦** been such a spontaneous revolt of workers in industry as in the South today...
...Since the tragic defeat of the coal miners the A. P. of L. unions are dominant in little save the bunding and...
...The same can be done in organizing the voting power of the working class...
...His eagerness to bring in the scalps of some of his old comrades, myself among them, and reverently lay them at the feet of the Chambers of Commerce, is new and touching proof of his desire to atone tor the crime of ever having been a Socialist...
...In England they fear it and here—what's the answer...
...That program was adopted, except for a few minor changes ta its wording, by a unanimous vote of the delegates.' "This is the record of one 'parasite' and I know that the few others whom Mr...
...Spargo mentions by name can also cite similar and even better service for the labor movement in this country...
...Only the section of Oneal's letter which recites part of his services to the labor movement was included...
...We are getting fine result...
...My optimism has been bothsrlng me a lot lately, snd I have to sk it out of my system...
...Thomas has no labor record, it is alleged...
...The progress ef merging industry tt t point where the Socialists can take t over continues with increasing rapktUTMergert and consolidations are tht order of the day...
...One follows the other as its shadow...
...If you can cash Republican speeches into farm relief you will all be millionaires...
...win out in Russia he -would suppress Stalin and his associates, sending them to prison or into exile...
...I don't wish tht strha~' breakers any hard luck, but (accent tithe "but...
...Both letters were printed—without change...
...In 1937 there came from the press in New York City a history of one of the local unions in the ladies' wear section of the garment industry, a large volume of 442 pages, and the writer was the author...
...As a result df appeals for clothing and relief funds from the United Mine Workers of America in West Virginia some four years ago, Thomas organised the Emergency Committee for Strikers' Relief which has raised and...
...It may be true that the name Of the Socialist Party has been smirched by its enemies but it is -also true that a political organisation of the workers that does not earn these attacks is of no use to the workers...
...have "any connection with the trade union movement other than parasites...
...The Philadelphia Record iDemcer*i> ttatet this morning that "Within Ss next few weeks it is understood Attorney General Mitchell win annouoet t revised plan for helping new eoaiHashans...
...It match them for efficiency, loyalty, bratta and stamina against any other grata, large or small, under ths sun...
...Por reasons unrelated to this dapate the United States is immensely more prosperous than England and thk fact Is reflected in the wages of workers...
...I have been receiving letters free comrades from many places, sad sttst an expect an answer...
...Spargo or his new heroes...
...To this must be added that nearly 20,000 members who are returning to work through their shop chairmen have voted one day's pay to support the 11,000 workers who are still out in the fight to destroy the vicious sweatshop which had returned to the industry in recent years...
...tnsUtutkm It » *a survival from the militant ages of the past...
...have Simon-pure labor records unmatched by Mr...
...Unemployed workers could beg, borrow or buy old buzz wagons fsr the trip, the price of each not soaring above wis*an«4d, nag of the nineties would cost i laborer...
...His letter to the Times was printed In the L L. N. 8. only at part, the first and the last two paragraphs being omitted: The omission was explained on the ground that Oneal's "arguments are of no concern...
...Power A"*NE argument offered against independent party action by some labor men is the diversity of conditions in the United States and, that forty-eight state gOTernments add to the difficulty^ Of-course, uniform conditions - would make organization and growth more favorable and yet every nation that has a powerful party of the workers Is by no means uniform in language, religion and economic conditions...
...Here is a partial record of these services: He was and is a member of the Press Writers' Union which made a sincere ef| fort to get a federal charter from the A. P. of L. and to push an aggressive campaign...
...Henry Ford, in an 'srkkk published in today's Philadelphia SkcoS, stated that tfae electric power coarsv nies should combine into ont orgeratv tion that should be run like tat uhsg States postafflee—under one conkoilmp also recently came cat for hugs teat co-operative farms equipped wtttranV class machinery as the soratica -tor JK farm problem The Republicaat s*w' long held that municipal, state sat federal ownership and operation k k> practicable in that there is no hMBSs tor the employees, but General Bjtnjat M. Lord, retired recently ss Director ei the Budget, states ta today's PhfadSphia Evening Bulletin that "tht TJntti j States Government is the best Tntntsd big business in the world...
...Tee Rest- to Write Ad Editor The New Leader: Since leaving the National Offlee of SS party...
...He wrote me four pages on November 23 of that year regarding the book...
...More than that, your fine sense of historical perspective has made it possible for you to present that information in a most illuminating manner.' t "As for my experience ta bade unions, Mr...
...With a long record of splendid sen-ice against czarism he also shared ia.the suppression and exile of many of his former comrades who could not accept Bolshevism...
...influence to bring the workers over to the United Textile Workers...
...Spargo has been out of the labor movement for more than ten years and in recent years has been a contributor's* the pages of the "The Nation's Business," the national monthly of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States which - in turn officially supports the "open shop" against the trade unions...
...Some years ago he wrote a leaflet against the open shop at the request of a needle trade union In Philadelphia of which thousands were distributed in that city...
...Then there is the fact that the parties of the possessing classes have for many years succeeded in maintaining two parties without either of them having any unifying programs or principles...
...Be ready to respond...
...Por ten years or more Mr...
...Trotsky is of another type...
...This work has been done for the benefit of striking coal miners, paper box workers, textile workers in Passaic and, most recently, textile workers in the South where the organisation continues its activities with a representative ta the field...
...Sixty-three pnv...
...In fact, whatever propaganda he would indulge in would be against the British Communists whom he now hates...
...To say that the workers of the nation cannot have their own political party because of forty-eight legislatures is to say that the possessing classes may easily have two but that we have not the intelligence to maintain one to fight our battles in the law-making bodies...
...Neman Thomas' Letter Thorns*' letter said...
...He did so...
...Yet notwithstanding these facts it would have been better for the Labor Government to admit Trotsky to England solely on the ground of maintaining the British record and principle of that nation as a refuge for political exiles...
...A one-day wsge or income is asked from every Socialist in the United States from August 1 to September 1. A one-day wage to Wage the good fight for the whole year...
...There has not been an important or bitterly contested strike in New York City since the World War ta which he has not served the workers by speaking, writing or trying to rake funds...
...The Sherman anti-trust law is as dead as the dodo, aad may it rest peaceahk ta that state...
...They are powerfully organised in every trade and by common consent their victory on the political field is an immense contribution to world peace...
...Their reaction to labor organization is prompted by fears that workers through organization will wrest labor standards from them which can no longer be advertised in terms of "docile" and "cheap...
...Its seasmoth expenditures of from $3.S0r/,«te,sJl to $4,000,000,000 a year art wisely tdBB»: lstered...
...Some five or six months later the Grand Jury threw out the case, but ta the meanwhile on the basis of affidavits in this case an order was obtained from the Vice ChanceUor utterly destroying the Sheriff's interpretation of the law and opening halls to meet tags...
...We are content to run both letters with the above explanation and permit our readers to draw their own conclusions...
...I hope that he UThappy...
...the Dally Newt lochs...
...Possession is no more evidence of happiness and economic security than ownership of a second hand heating stove is in the West...
...Wages in the two countries eerrespond far more closely to the horsepower peg worker than to any difference in unionism...
...pottp ^ouM find & more respectable car within afaetr reach, by .pooling their resources.- .Tee/ether...
...League to insecure, and other, .hwflgj tent unpatriotic rrgaalsattsat kSj been pushed on the tehoggta...
...AU this is exclusive of hk political activities, which certainly have brought him in touch with the labor movement and labor problems...
...England has a long record as a home of exiles...
...Voting...
...The International Labor News Service at Washington sent the Spargo letter in fuU to trade union publications' that take its service...
...Some have had and still have racial and language difficulties and even a religious situation much more complex than that-which prevails in this country and yet they have succeeded in building influential parties...
...If you want hi be happy dream that you are Ford...
...Thus it appears that Spargo's arguments alone are of any concern...
...If he picks up • large number of unemployed to follow him in automobiles he will also puncture the myth that the rwmber of autos in use indicate that happiness is i widespread, A caravan of ancient machines would be a numerous answer to the auto argument...
...I note in yestsatofS Public Lodged, Philadelphia, that "PsS» adelphia trolley men go to New Oriaast, Employment agency tends fifty and recruit* more for work during strhs.* Rates, t« per day and traveling *speneet...
...Our competitive system of-industry is a vestige...
...In a very serious case ta which the Sheriff of Bergen County tried to stretch riot law into a wholly irregular martial law at the request of the union he made the legal test, was arrested, smuggled to an irregular hearing in HSckensack, put in jail and finally released under $10,000 bail...
...so cheap, especially these that can be obtained at second hand sales...
...other questions are involved than wages...
...The above might be easitalist defeattst propaganda, but I wagerit's part true...
...It was a criticism of the Conference for Progressive Labor Action and declared that its leading members do, not...
...Per the past eight months Start kg been increased activity throoghatS Bs Philadelphia Local, and throoyhttS S country...
...They groan under injunction* They have not freed Mooney and Billings or the Centralis victims...
...Warned to stay away from ths unite...
...It soon became a crusade and the mass began to move...
...I desire to consider some of the questions be raises...
...Meanwhile American labor is less well organised than in Spain and Poland...
...Norman Thomas' Labor Beeerd Norman Thomas also has a good record of service to the trade unions which is appreciated by many labor men and many trade unions that have been helped in time of need...
...Nor do the rural areas present the same complexities that they did in these two nations...
...Fortunately his allegations of the adequacy of American labor tactics or . the tactics of British labor, may be tested by objective facts quite independent of his estimate of individuals active la the, progressive movement, some of whom, like Jim Maurer...
...The recent Sodshst.tkS|B abroad have created a more 'amaafp attitude by the public towtrdr aaSp Socialistic...
...In bufidkf the party In Wisconsin...
...In the issue of this service dated July 6 attention is given these two letters...
...Hs appears to be a tour eld gtnttoman whose chief interest lies ta browsing among old Vermont pottery, dedicating battle monuments, dreaming of ending bis days in the upper chamber of the Federal Diet at Washington, and writing an occasional article for the national organ of the United States Chamber of Commerce...
...I am a Jimmie Biggins who works (f I may pat myself some on the back), bat seldom writes: so you are at liberty ted are invited to correct and scratch: ake to out this letter at wul before ptJdPf cation...
...a-' deed, nothing succeeds like success...
...He has spoken many times before labor organizations and in labor struggles...
...With shortened hours, the number of spindles tended by each worker hat been largely increased, so that daOy production will ayaoraruLviws* s8g SoelshstsTteought The' 1M PttsklS hate had, their turn and htvt WM ekSvion or disgrace rwitasst' Lsf Palmer, - Dougherty, Pan, etevstfl-^j^H American Lagtoa baa calmed ,eowa.-fa Klan ia retreating from WaahiagheJR C. (per today's paper), tits" Stakes...
...I will do my fcst to answer aU letters that can for a itr pry, but others wfll please kaow that I appreciate their fins comradeship sat would like to answer all, if time sostt permit...
...They have established old age and unemployment insurance...
...IN A NUTSHELL Cheer up, farmers...
...Bishop Huntington...
...Later they tent copies of their replies to the I. L. N. S. with requests that the serrice be fair enough to run them...
...For these reasons we do not share the pessimistic note sounded by our old friend, S. E. DeWitt in "The Chatterbox" of this issue...
...They have no Mooney and Billings or Centralis case...
...As the caravan rattles across the country the ballyhoo...
...out its 30 drivers when they joined tht teamsters' and truck drivers' warn...
...X Japanese...
...As a former stmt ear conductor and member of the Amsksmsted Union...
...Greetings to all...
...WILLIAM H BEMRT...
...So we are for the Coxey march...
...When he wss editor of The Can snd Leader he did his best to push the interests of that union which hat been greatly weakened by the refusal of the A. P. of L. to grant even a federal charter...
...The fact that more than 16,000 workers participated in the referendum vote on the peace settlement is itself evidence that the union has recovered from the disaster inflicted-by the Communist-led strike in 1926...
...Dally Locks Ont Unlets PHILADELPHIA (PPl— HardboUtd St they make 'em...
...American jgggggSfc;^ . ^ > ^-jr" : .. uotnuoerrng-inat nar possession or a mat nine ts ca#uuq\rred;well being, what would;this professwnal barkers say to this nationaVuseaapioyM Salens 1 As a im***T of fact, machines.'are possessed by nmuy on low...
...You have brought together, with rare skill, a vast amount of information...
...That, t Republican unknowingly argues for gt> dslism...
...Others were merely indifferent and were doubtful whether anything could be den...
...Spargo made a mistake in not asking me about it before drawing upon his imagination...
...Strikes break out without any previous preparation and this shows that discontent is deeply rooted in southern industry...
...Mitwaskee, WhV ____ . * Phila...
...Bpargo said tn part: T saw at once that it was a book to be read seriously, an Important contribution to the growing volume of literature which we of the working class movement can proudly claim as our own...
...A 7. flf L. unions are cordially tenting Comradt MaeDonald to visit them while in America...
...A third standard was* applied to Oneal...
...Now he is also a victim of the Bolshevik tenor and by hs decree he is in exile in Turkey...
...Thomas was very active in helping the Pullman porters to start their organisation...
...press will have an interesting, problem should the migrants assume large numbers...
...The paradise of low taxes and cheap labor which has been advertised by bankers and capitalists rests upon abominable conditions and the ruling classes know it...
...The government gets I lllsSk 100 cents worth of value for every deOsr that goes out of the Treasury...
...Organising Our...
...He certainly could not injure the libor Party or the trade unions for as .an exile he could not indulge in, political activities against the Labor Government...
...Fourteen were told they had seat discharged for dteloyalty to tht companyStrikers are being arrested on blanket warrants sworn to by the Dairy News garage superintendent and taken to ekf' haS where they are moated like cesatasf criminals The drivers want 44 JaSSW a week hadspd ef SO snd a tt»M smS...
...Given the will the result is certain...
...Ss <nea joined anyway and then as they rent to work, were met by cops who requested their names as they reported far duty...
...Had the,workers taken a position of humility because of the complexity of-American life decades ago there would be no trade unions in this country today...
...A labor statistician has, however, calculated that . British workers receive a slighUy higher per cent of the national income "Be that as it may...
...Even from this point of view the recovery of the ladies' garment workers is evident...
...The writer was tor twelve years an iron and steel worker and a member of his union...
...GEORGE R COOPER PkBadehthte, Pa...
...Evidently one standard of journalistic ethics wss applied to Spargo and another to Thomas...
...The remarkable picket demonstration which brought more than 10,000 workers out on duty shows the fighting spirit that has returned...
...Their influence on the larger national policies, including the policies of peace, is almost negligible, save, perhaps, in blocking the recogniUon of Russia...
...The Return of the Garment Workers 'T'HE most cheering event in labor circles that has happened in years is the recovery of the International Ladies' Garment Workers as a result of the strike in New York City that is closing...
...The Trotsky Decision -/i /CONSIDERATION of...
...It was really one of the notable victories of free speech in recent years...
...Workers Get Reforms TOKIO (TV)—Night work for women and children in Japanese factories is abonsbed by the new factory law which became effective Jury 1. Working boors in some of the biggest cotton milk have been reduced from 10 to SH...
...When the American farmers locate all the big robbers who have skinned them during the past ten years they will run across the interesting fact that not one of them will be found ia the Socialist Party...
...He is dismissed with the statement that "The argument by Mr...
...It is a system of caaaUaaJiam...
...That conference was held to work out a program and plans to combat Communist intrigues tn the trade unions...
...Fortunately, the fighting spirit returned shortly after the call to the colors and it gathered momentum from day to day...
...It Is difficult, if not av possible, to think of an industry m thick there have not been mergers recenRy...
...The old...
...Without the masses nothing «ould have been accomplished...
...perhaps, the printing trades...
...tt required Henry Ford four seconds to make out a cheek for two tents aad his income in that, period was S6.SX me as average of *13S,ssd a day...
...t the anti-trust taws...
...Fpr one thing the agricultural population in this country is fairly uniform in religious traditions although there is variation in economic areas when one section is compared with a number of others...
...In the year 1910 I brought out a small history of the American working people, and a copy came into the possession of Mr...
...Prospective merre organisers were invited to appear for ts understanding, some have already take) advantage of the friendly attempts of Sargent snd Donovan...
...Instead of rnstSHng the feeling of brotherhood, it compels us tssat tachstbstW...
...The Coxey Auto Caravan . TF COXEY carries out his plan of another "Coxey Army" across the country he will at\Jeast show that the "prosperity" of the ballyhooers has not reached a large section of the masses...
...The agreement itself which is reported in this issue marks a decided improvement in conditions for the workers while it also promises to arrest dismtegratJng tendencies that had afflicted the industry and which had brought the old menace of the sweatshop...
...Most ef his attack is personal, somewhat inaccurate and largely irrelevant to the matter in hand...
...slave-driving ideal of the South is challenged and it is something new to the classes that have been accustomed to have have their own Vvay...
...finance...
...This is no body of workers with quit* SB esprit ds corps—the pride ef sen-let sat ths loyalty of the Federal employee...
...In the United States our reactionaries assure us that the British Labor Party does not have a Socialist program while in Great Britain the reactionaries say it has...
...I being included by him among those whom he chooses to call 'parasites,' who have little knowledge or experience in the labor movement or the trade unions...
...In December, 1936, a trade union conference wss held ta New York City representing over 300,000 members of seventeen trades with about 400 delegates ta attendance...
...To the Editor of The New York Times: "Prom his ivory tower in Vermont's green hills, interrupting hit researches into old pottery and the Battle of Bennington and bis paeans ta praise of the power trust, our oracular old friend, John Spargo, fires - an annihilating verbal broadside against the Conference for Progressive Labor Action...
...The agency head states Sat once ta New Orleans, the railway csBSah might arrange to pay them tor tay-et> tra time or duty...
...They have no organization properly to taste advantage of such heaven-sent opportunities as the revolt of the textile workers of the South against Intolerable conditions, indeed I can show Mr...
...A large increase in membership as a result of this struggle is important but even a union with a large membership could be impotent if it failed in the spirit thatinvolves work and sacrifice...
...Men of vision with the fighting spirit fought on from year to year and accomplished what the humble said was impossible...
...The letter of Thomas does not appear...
...The British workers by their tactics have already won complete protection against injunctions in industrial disputes...
...Besides this he has spoken at mors labor union conventions and labor forums than he can remember and sends out the L. I. D. bi-monthly editorial news service which is welcomed by shout 17S labor papers...
...Conditions had become so bad that many Of the workers had become cynical.* Some had lost hope...
...The United States had "if "for" many years but has abandoned it...
...He was very active in the bitterly contested Passaic textile strike, using an his...
...It was one of similar tests that he had made in the service of free speech and the right to organise for the workers and the second time be had been arrested...
...James Oneal's Letter James Oneal's letter follows: "To the Editor of The New York Times: "As John Spargo mentioned my name in his letter of June 13 regarding the Conference of Progressive Labor Action...
...Both communications considered - the same matters which reqtftred that if one was published the other should be...
...They now have the opportunity to carry the new spirit into all sections of the industry...
...I hope We come out good ta Buffalo However, there are always dumb baa and renegades...
...Were his faction to...
...We do not believe that forty-eight state governments present the difficulties which the workers faced in Germany and even in the old Austro-Hungarian empire in organizing the political power of the working class...
...all the facts inclines us to the belief that the Labor Government of Britain made a mistake in not permitting Trotsky to enter England...
...If the tariff hogs at Washington were to "establish similar walls against commerce tn ideas an educated person would be a rare bird ia this country- ' A society that has all its property at the top and all its discontent at the bottom will tumble into ruin...
...posals for mergers have been votantartty submitted to the Department of Justice during the first few days of Jsly...
...spargo documentary appreciation of the labors of his despised progressives from these Southern unions Including recognition from them of the need of political action...
...Its responsible organizers asked the writer to draft the program and the plans...
...Judge recently published a fuU pact cartoon showing American Labor wiS Its arms outstretched, tn Inspiration, toward its comrades ta Britain...
...In his.letter to me nearly twenty years ago, Mr...
...Even at this late date it would be well if the Labor Government found some formula for reversing the decision against Trotsky...
Vol. 8 • July 1929 • No. 27
