The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-18
SCANDINAVIAN
SECTIONS OF C.I,
FORM FEDERATION
Big Unemployment Is
Found in Norway
By DR.. K. M. LANDBERG

I
=. /. have, at the request of the r. c..
formed federation with headauar-
ters in Christiania. The secretariat
consists of Schefo and Stostad for
Norway, FIR. Strom for Sweden and
Ernst Christensen for Denmark.
Arvid Hansen, secretary.
The two factions of the party in
Norway, the Norwegian Workers
Party, which was expelled by the C.
|. and the Norwegian Communist
Party, the seeding faction Of the
former are both working hard to
gather up the pieces Of the old party
and to gain new members, but in
spite Of the split, they are able to
arrange Lenin memorial meetings to-
gether with speakers from both fac
tons.
A Year of Struggle.
The president of the Norwegian F.
Of L. Ole o. Liam, gives a resume of
the years work. The compulsory
arbitration law expired in March,
1928, and was not renewed. The
year has been one of constant fight,
the employers starting with gem
eral attack to force down wages and
reduce conditions. 1t was met by
strong and stubborn defense all along
the line and the final result has
been that wages have been kept up
and in some cases even increased; the
membership has also been kept up
and increased. At the end of 1922,
there were $3.50 members in 80 ma
tional unions with 1449 locals. Nov.
80, 1928, there were 98.697 mem
bers. This however, is still far be-
low the high figure of 143,926 in
1919.
Unemployment.
There is 1880 unemployed, which
is an improvement over 1922, when
the number was $4,000.
10000 are employed in work for
the needy" mostly by the state. The
federation has definitely left the AM
sterdam international and the ques-
tion of joining another is coming up
for referendum of the membership.
Industrial Organization.
The change from craft to industrial
organization is rapidly being carried
out. Four large industrial organiza-
tons have already been perfected, the
building trades, the chemical indus
tries, the food workers and the COM
munal workers, with membership Of
| 21 900. The paper industry, the
textile industry and the hide, leather
and shoe industry is nearing organi-
cation. At the same time local joint
organizations of labor are being
formed by districts, 20 such have
been arranged and a few only re-
main to be formed.
Strikes.
Several strikes, some legal and
some illegal, are taking place. That
of the Ironworkers', has now been
running II weeks. They made an
agreement with their employers last
spring for a certain scale, but with
the reservation, that this might be
reduced in case the expense index on
Oct. 30, should go below 232. 1t
went down to $50 and the employ
ers Immediately declared cut; but
expenses instead of having decreased
actually having risen the workers, re-
fused to accept the cut and struck.
The courts are after them and two
editors of workers papers have been
indicted for ''praising an illegal
strike" But the workers, organized
and unorganized, stand firm and
united on their demands.
The strike Of the rubber workers is
also declared illegal; judgement has
just fallen against them, ordering
them to announce the illegaIity of
their strike in Arbeiderbladet and
Norges Kommunistblad.
The State employees have held a
mass meeting and demand increase in
wages. The purchasing value OF
their wages dGlining daily. But the
most serious strike is the oneqo of the.
transport workers, paralyzing the
shipping, the most important industry
of Norway. Ships cannot be loaded or
unloaded. Teamsters and chaffeurs
are refusing to haul goods to and
from them. A few strikebreakers
are working, but the international
Transport Workers Union has been
appealed to, members in other har-
bors are notified that it might be diff
ficult to get scab cargoes unloaded at
point of destination.
Other industries are suffering from
the strike and may have to stop their
activities. The government has for
hidden the export Of coal and coke,
these articles having become scarce.
Norway's Financial Condition.
The low exchange value of the
Norwegian kroner, 13.45 Irregular
valuation 27.00) is partly due to
these strikes but mainly to the fin
ancial condition of the country, its
indebtedness having increased 101h
million last year, reading the enor-
nous sum of 1903, 100000 lr. To
balance the budget, the government
proposes to make customers payable
in gold and TO remove the prohibition,
estimating hereby a gain Of 35 to 2S
mil. respectively The increase in
custom duties naturally would in
crease the cost Of living and the pro-
posal has caused general protest.