TRADE UNION INTERNATIONAL DISPUTES TARIFF VIEWS OF AMERICAN LABOR
Trade Union International Disputes Tariff Views of American Labor Reprisal by Europe Would Work Havoc with American Labor, Is Contention Oly a Hew Leader Correspondent) AMSTERDAM.—The...
...To mention one of them: the textile industry in New England, which tt protected by the highest duties, tt the very one in which the lowest wages are paid...
...They are, to express it paradoxically, egoistic, but only for themselves...
...I_ "The Social-Democratic Party of Germany condemns war as a political method...
...European labor cannot drag itself up by seeking to drag us down...
...This consisted of Comrades Breitscheid...
...He then again urges the necessity for cooperation between American and European workers to raise the standard of living, adding: European workers cannot save themselves by overwhelming us with their low-wage products...
...a New Leader coriecpaDaraw BERLIN—The Executive of the Social Democratic Party of Germany has E?t up a Commission m preparation for the discussion of armaments at the coming party congress...
...Bond, the national secretary of the "Left Wins...
...After demanding year after year affiliation to the Labor Party, tt must now openly fight the Labor Party fcr all it is worth...
...6) The safeguarding of the civic rights of soldiers...
...As the first obstacle baa been overcome, it tt to be hoped that the second stumbling-block also may be removed, especially as the European centers are no less convinced of the need for autonomy than the American...
...The final aim of the Socialist Party is the establishment of a society m which there shall be neither exploitation nor oppression, that tt...
...4) Legal measures for the insurance of the observance of political neutrality in recruiting...
...In order that the Reicbawehr may be transformed in this sense, the SocialDemocratic Party of Germany makes the fololwlng demands: l. Control by the Reichstag of all measures tor the administration of the army...
...But ss already said, organisational unity comes before everything...
...It Is my vaalttec...
...The call given by President Green tor the doubling of the membership of the A. F. of L. by next year can only bear its fun fruit if it goes hand in hand with a corresponding doubling in the International sphere...
...The necessary statistics were collected during the period of the secret activity of- this league, and we shall probably not be far wrong in assuming that the many articles which have appeared in American trade union papers on this problem are due to the Influence and direct action of the Conference...
...We could well have a world organizing movement under the direction of a world general staff.' Approves of World Staff Tt would take too long to enumerate all the arguments which might be cited against the conclusions of the first part of Woll's remarks...
...mmsaaat a to -the local pabne ffljrary...
...B wag gkssOy 11 have bean Qa^JTwoii^wrajjj Blseott...
...Trade Union International Disputes Tariff Views of American Labor Reprisal by Europe Would Work Havoc with American Labor, Is Contention Oly a Hew Leader Correspondent) AMSTERDAM.—The press service of the International Federation of Trade Unions, the Amsterdam international, takes issue with the views of Matthew Woll, vice-president of the American Federation of Labor, which have led to the organization by a group of American trade unionists of the American Wage Earners Protective Conference...
...The Social-Democratic Party of Germany stands out against the ever more strongly emphasised intention of the military leaders of all countries to set aside completely the international laws governing warfare, which have 7rown up gradually in the course of thousands of years, and In future to make war ruthlessly not only on the military forces of the enemy but on the civil populations...
...Maxton "collapsed and capitulated," The Party, after assiduously nursing for several years the "Left-Wing Movement,suddenly decided to abandon or "liquidate" It...
...That neither protection nor free trade can bring the desired solution, but that both are links in a chain made up of many Interdependent factors has often been said here...
...It can only mini this mission if tt refuses to over-step the one-elded armament limitations imposed on it, and does not by attempts to evade them or infringe them, afford other powers cause or pretext for the rejection of International disarmament conventions and for proceeding to Increase their armaments...
...Illustrative instances are given in re:oect of the cement Industry, the glass industry, the asbestos industry etc...
...Such cases are all complicated and obscure, as will be seen in Europe as well as in America...
...For it would only confirm the old truth...
...The rhetorical energy freely expended by J. R. Campbell in his presidential address, and by W. Oallacher, who followed him, did not have any visible uplifting effect upon the couple of hundred delegates...
...Just aa a cartel can never regulate the market, tt important producers stand outside it, so the workers will never be able to attain an economic policy based on uniform views or ensure the requisite adjustments of the Standard of living so long as whole, continents remain outside "the International...
...They must reinvlgorate their trade union efforts with a determination to raise wages and create for themselves a new consuming market for the output of European products...
...A. T. af L. Affiliation "If this be admitted, then the next question is: what tt the attitude of the U. 8. A. to international cooperation...
...Tony Sender, Stampfer and Strobe 1. The Commission has drawn op the following draft report, which the Chairman of the Commission, Dlttmann, will present to the Congress at Its session beginning March 10th In Magdeburg...
...Communists Of Britain In Gloomy Mood Conference Hears Membership Has Dropped to 3,500—Ninth Plenum Flouted (By a Mew Leader Oorraseondent) T ONDON,—The annual conference of the Communist Party was to a gloomy mood when tt assembled in the Bermondsey Town Han recently...
...In conclusion, be declares: Insofar as possible we are going to keep out of America every European product that tt produced at starvation wages and we are going as far as we can to stop American financiers from investing in factories in Europe that operate at starvation wages and export that starvation product to America...
...Reich Army Criticised By Socialists Program Recommended to Party Congress Stresses Military Re-organization <B...
...They were confronted with a big drop in membership, which was said to have fallen to 3,500, and although the Executve attributed this fall-to -victimisation and suppression," most of the speakers threw blame upon the Executive for failing to carry out whble-hesxtedly the "Ninth Plenum Resolution...
...the protect iVn i s t wisdom of all lands consists In thejr demanding freedom of entry for the goods which they must or desire to export, while they seek to keep out the goods which the others want to export...
...Ireoetved •aViHr'mr a Chrssbnmgftfl and knowing met others weald be as interested in it aa I am...
...Crispien, Ditttnann iChairman), rTantr<,'v (Hamburg), Holtermann 'Magdburg), Hunlich, Leber, Kuhnt, Kunstler...
...It is even thought that, in view of the strict autonomy which at the present time is essential, it would be Impossible to have a world general staff in the very wide sense in which Woll uses the term, and that this impossibility will have to be reckoned with for the present...
...Woll writes ss follows: 'Not only tt tt abslutely necessary to do everything possible to bring about a stoppage of American capital investments in competing industries abroad, but it la equally necessary for the wage-earners Of Europe to act with us for the protection of world labor from this process of crushing between two millstones...
...For that very reason conclusions must be drawn which go beyond Individual cases of either protection or free trade...
...No more American cars...
...Movement," evidently speaking from experience, described the Left Wing aa an "ailing infant" and an "obsolete machine...
...Their interest tt exactly Identical...
...3) The prohibition of penal measures against the publication of Information concerning Illegal armaments...
...10) The prohibition of the use of military forces in disputes between capital and labor...
...8) The democratisation of military discipline and punishment...
...As long as these dangers exist and until they are banished by the setting up of Socialist Governments, at any rate in the most important countries...
...The demands of the Socialist Party can only be realised by the united and energetic efforta of organised workers, by the continued enlightenment of the workers as to the causes and dangen of armaments, by education and Instruction in the spirit of peace as s preparation for moral disarmament, and by a more strenuous struggle, by political and economic wi—p* on the part of the proletariat against the ruling classes for the bringing about of the Socialist regime...
...9) The use of republican instructors and instruction books...
...everything, down to the last safety razor must be made at home...
...It Is necessary for the German Republic to maintain military forces for the protection of the independence of her people...
...It demands the peaceful solution of all international disputes by compulsory arbitration, the democraUsation of the League of Nations and Its transformation Into an effective Instrument of peace...
...II...
...TV...
...There must in the first place Proposal for World Stall of Labor Endorsed-International Cooperation Urged be a circle which shea comprehend an the labor organisations of the world...
...The German Republic has the historical of acting as champion of international disarmament...
...printed in printing works of its own—in China) Appeals are issued, in which the American public la urged to buy only American goods and to build 100% American houses, the material of which has been made in America down to the last nail...
...sbastas Wears Views "A good opportunity of doing this a to be found in a recent article of Matthew Won, which tt the more interesting because Matthew Woll is both vice-president of the American Federation of Labor, and president of the above-named conference...
...2) No subventions to be given to private firms which are engaged directly or indirectly In the preparation of illegal armaments...
...After making various comparisons between the high wages of the States and the low wages of Europe,—figures which, in view of the now recognized sstpossibility of exact comparison can scarcely be held authoritative—Woll declares that the American workers must use every possible measure of self-protection, including tariff protection...
...In the last resort, as tilings are now, and in the present state of international organization, there is only one conclusion to be drawn that Is generally recognized, undoubtedly correct, and the key to all really efficient hun^Hpg of the question—that given by Woll, the necessity of complete International cooperation...
...The aggressive policy .1 imperialist and Fascist States, however, contains the threat of counterr:voiutionary interventions and fresh •vars Germany may be used as a manrifvring-ground and involved against her will in sanguinary complications...
...The SocialDemocratic Party of Germany refuses to recognise any obligation on the part of the German Republic to arm itself up to the limit Imposed upon it, without regard to political and military necessities...
...This resolution has Imposed a new policy upon the party...
...For the more the American trade union movement grows in strength, and the higher the standard of living of its members, the more will the security of the benefits it attains be dependent upon international cooperation and international understanding.'' Mayer Dan Bean of Milwaukee, renews...
...In many cases, questions such aa those discussed by Woll can only be effectively dealt with if the autonomy of the movement* concerned tt fully guaranteed...
...One of them said: Tt tt dying faster than we can seep it alive...
...The Social-Democratic Party of Germany stigmatises this intention as barbarous and demands that international law should be strengthened and reaffirmed in the direction of greater humanity...
...A."In the present state of things all individual arguments can only lead to barren controversy...
...I must have THE new imJ I EH...
...This problem too was dealt with by the recent convention...
...In particular It demands the prohibition of gas warfare and the use of bacteria...
...As a member of the Labor and Socialist International the Social-Democratic Party of Germany stands far complete disarmament by international agreement...
...It is resolved, in accordance with the resolutions of the Brussels Congress of the Labor and Socialist International in August 1928, to exercise the strongest possible pressure, even by revolutionary methods, against any government which refuses to accept or respect arbitration, but has recourse to war...
...The statement follows: "In connection with the annnal congress of the American Federation of Labor it has announced that 17 American trade anions founded six months ago an organization, the 'American Wage Earners' Protective Conference,' for the purpose of making propaganda for protection...
...These military forces, however, can only fulfil their task if they are bound up with the thought and sentiment of the people and Incorporated within the body of the democratic republic, as an instrument in Its service in opposition to all military tendencies which aim at the subjugation of the State to military control...
...In the wholesale condemnation of the Labor Party, Oallacher included the IT.P„ which he denounced as "a fraud, a dangerous enemy of the working class, and a shield for Mar Donald," The Cook-Maxton movement ought to have been repudiated by Communists after Mr...
...m. The most effective protection of 1 he German Republic is to be found in a Ibreign policy which is directed towards the promotion of good undemtand.:ug between the nations and the preaervtiticn of peace...
...Disarmament will only serve the cause of peace when It la not a onesided obligation, as Imposed by the victors in the world war on the vanquished A lasting peace la only possible between nations possessed of equal rights...
...It is stated, with horror, that during the first six months of this year 18 mflltnna of hata and 2 millions of boots and shoes have been imported, and in fact, one large firm even has its advertisement booklets, etc...
...If Important lands and continents remain outside this circle, the treatment of such questions cannot but be fragmentary, or to be nullified or shifted to other foundations whenever the next Shift in the position takes place...
...5) The abolition of the special privileges during training for the officer class, and provision by law for a mHiimiim number of officers to be taken from the ranks...
...If we on our side were to advance this argument, tt would only show that the circle in which we move does not grasp the true facta of the situation...
...7) The protection of the rights of soldiers by a representative body chosen by themselves...
...We may quote the measures recently adopted by the British textile industry in favor of protection...
...If Europe 8track Back "Finally, protest is made against the export of American capital which, it is argued, serves only to bombard the States with goods manufactured on the basis of the starvation wages of European workers Everything is thought of, and only one thing left out of account i.e.—how would tt be with the States if, In all the non-American countries in which, despite the starvution wages the United States is yet able to complete and where, in fact, American goods are tor ever in he public eye—how would tt be if all these countries were to raise the cry...
...Only then will it be possible to deal with such world problems with any likelihood of success, or to do justice to ultimate economic conclusion...
...It has been urged that in these industries, the cheap goods brought in from Europe have led to the t-wing of numerous concerns and the dismissal of thousands of workers...
...while the highest wages are paid in some non-protected industries and last, but not least, in the U. S. A., whose wage policy is defended by the free trade unions of Europe on every possible opportunity and quoted as an instance of what a wage policy should be, there are yet to be found, according to official statements of unimpeachable veracity, wages which are comparatively lower than those of the corresponding industries of Europe...
...In its report the question of the high L F. T. U. affiliation fees, which has hitherto occupied the foreground of attention, takes a comparatively minor place but, on the other hand, it tt declared that there la no possibility that the American Federation of Labor win become affiliated with the International Federation of Trade Unions until the question of complete autonomy is finally settled to the complete satisfaction of the American Federation of Labor...
...neither class division nor class warfare...
...Mayr (Munich), Mierendorff (Secretary), Moses, Quarck, Bchopflln...
...The American worker and the European worker have a common issue here...
Vol. 8 • February 1929 • No. 4
