The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-07-12

wv on July 4? Nothing more nor
less than urrender-complete and to-
tai surrender to LaFollette and La
Folletteism on the part of the repre-
sentatives of labor that were present
at the convention of the G. P. P. A. at
Cleveland on July 4.
A Great Disaster.
There is no minimizing the impor-
lance or far reaching consequences of
the betrayal. 1t is nothing short of
disaster to the American labor move
ment. For the moment it destroys al
most completely any chance whatever
for working class united front in the
coming presidential elections. It ties
the exploited masses of the country
hand and foot. 1t delivers them into
the hands of the middle class politi-
clans to be exploited in the interests
of social groups that are opposed and
antagonistic to the working class. In
short, the betrayal at Cleveland makes
the workers subservient to the petty
bourgeoisie, which, in the last anal
ysis, means subsection to Big Capital
What did they do in Cleveland?
The delegates to the Conference for
Progressive Political Action &C. P. p.
Al came to Cleveland ostensibly in
the interests of labor. They were rep
resnting labor organizations. They
spoke in the name of labor. The con-
ference was made up overwhelmingly
of delegates from railroad unions, gar
ment workers unions, state fedora
tons of labor and six or seven other
international unions. The socialist
party was there. Even the socialist
labor party, the arch-sectarians and
isolationists in the American labor
movement, they, too, were represented
at the conference. So that, judged by
it's makeup, it was labor gathering
pure and simple.
1t was political conference. Which
means that its duty was to devise and
perfect the best possible political
means under the circumstances to pro-
tect and defend the interests of the
American laboring masses. 1t was
their duty to create political party
of labor and, in conjunction with other
labor groups willing to join in the COM
mon cause, to launch a presidential
campaign in the nterests-exclusive
interests-of the class whom the dele
gates in Cleveland were there to rep
resent.
That was clearly the duty of the
Cleveland Conference, in fact of every
labor organization that undertakes to
discuss political problems in the name
of labor. And this, the only thing to
be done, the Cleveland Conference did
not do. Instead, it sold out 1--WE have
no objection to this being understood
literally, it sold out to the propertied
middle classes, to the manufacturers,
to the merchant, to the small banker,
to the rich farmer and to the well-to-
do professionals. The men who DOM
mated the Conference for Progressive
Political Action in Cleveland on July
4th, consciously and with premeditated
design, entered into an alliance with
the leaders of the propertied. middle
classes in order to exploit jointly the
political power of the oppressed
masses in the interests Of:
al Manufacturers, merchants, small
bankers, rich farmers and wellto-do
professionals.
b. Labor bureaucrats and small
section of the labor aristocracy, and
g. Bankrupt and unemployed poll
ticians of the socialist, republican and
democratic parties.
This is what happened at Cleveland
on July 4th. 1t was black day, in
deed, one of the blacklist in the annals
of the American labor movement. And
let it be understood that those guilty
of the crime have done pretty good
piece of business" Everyone in
volved in the alliance will profit by it.
AS a result of the LaFollette cam.
naien the propertied middle classes