The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1921-02-25

! remarkable story, was written eSpe-
cially for "The Citizen" of Los An
geles by Joseph w. Kelly, General
Organizer for the International AS
ISOLATION of Machinists, who recent
i ly returned to Los Angeles from the
! city of Mexico, where he attended
/ the Convention of the Pan-Ameri-
can Labor Congress, presided over
| by Samuel Gompers, president of
| the American Federation of Labor.
This story will tend to dispel the
cloud of misrepresentation and
falsehood in which knowledge of
Mexican affairs have been shronded
| by the American press. The truth
about Mexico will finally reach our
own people and gain American SYM
pathy for revolution-ridden Mexico.
, Read Mr.. Kelly's article:
With the possible exception of
Soviet Russia, no country has been
subjected to so much misrepresen-
tation and calculated lying as has
| Mexico, under its present leader
ship. Most of this campaign has
been concerned with "Oil and
Raids" and has obviously pointed
toward war Some of it has been
concerned with "Reds and Revou-
tion," and this, though more subtle
perhaps, also has war as it's ulti-
mate object.
The writer is pleased to be able
to present in this article a true
statement as to the present status
in Mexico.
Mexico today has the nearest to a
workers government known in his
tory. A Socialist bloc has been
! formed in the Chamber of Deputies,
numbering more than 100 members,
and state and city officials of the
Socialist persuasion have been in
stalled in many parts of the Re-
public
! Notwithstanding the little expert
! ence the Mexican workers have had
J in organization, owing to the des-
potic rule of the old Diaz regime,
since Diaz was overthrown they
I have learned how to mobilize their
| political and economic power.
The results achieved in Mexico
are similar to the power the Italian
workers have displayed.
Not only the industrial but the
agrarian workers have been organ
lied There have been many strikes
for many months, some of them in
Guiding a whole range of workers
in given district, and of these
hundreds of strikes not one has
been lost. In the Federal District,
which includes the City of Mexico
since last June 1874 strikes were
called and not one has been lost
The workers have been able to
use the political power they have
acquired as a shield for the protec-
ton of their economic struggles.
There has been no use of the courts
or the military to crush these strug-
giles.
Radical Heads Obregon's Cabinet
Any social progress in Mexico
depends for the present absolutely
upon the caliber of the leaders and
the June revolution, bringing fol
the first time since the downfall of
piaz a real welding of the work
ing-class movement, which counts on
its side every man of decency and
vision that has appeared in Mexi-.
can public life during recent years
The latent sympathy of the work
ers and peasants is with the new
| =
mel of it's leaders.
President Obregon is the idol of
| the lower classes. He is an i'm
pulsive, determined, Rooseveltian
type of man with a social con-
seriousness. In the first few days
after entering office Obregon made
numerous statements regarding his
future policy, which, although care
fully worded, indicated that he
would not be ruled by American
big Business" At a banquet in
Cafe Chapultepec, Mexico City, he
declared:
1--WE will respect the rights of
others, but we will also require that
our rights be observed"
At reception to the delegates
of the Pan-American Labor Con-
gress, President Obregon said, in
answer to Samuel Gompers' intima-
ton that the delegation was taking
up too much of his valuable time:
eff the governments of the world
! would devote more of their time to
Labor's problems, there would be
no labor problems"
! On January 20, at a reception
given to the representatives of the
foreign press, the New York Times
correspondent asked President Obre-
I gon what he intended to do about
the open shop" and received the
following reply:
"The liberty to work is con-
stitutional right very clearly de-
! fined, which must be sustained by
the Government. However, there
are distinct cases and very often
underhanded work which require
ample study before resolving them.
In other words, the Government
cannot help small groups who are
proclaiming the freedom to work
/ (open shop, but which are set in
motion by determined interests
which lend themselves to a game
prepared beforehand When a great
majority Of the workers who have
declared themselves on strike wish
to return to work, then, yes, they
! must be sustained. To the con-
trary, when the maneuver pro-
ceeds from the employers, then it
is not possible to sustain them. Let
, us be more definite. The workers
of factory ask for an increase in
pay. 1t is not granted, and they
declare strike. The employer, to
counteract the movement, uses
trick. He contracts group of
workers to whom he pays a higher
salary than the one asked for by
the strikers, for the purpose of
breaking the strike. This is the
case of the minority to which / re-
ferred before, and this procedure
cannot be sustained by the Gov
eminent"
In answer to the question, "Do