The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-02-05
BY A RED UNIoNIsT.

~ = hE6 OiNiOiNAS
The A. G. w. of A. is living upon
its past reputation, the only thing re-
evolutionary about it at present being
the phraseology of its leaders.
A union, to be militant and revolu-
tionary, must have a class conscious
membership and a revolutionary lead
ership. In the A. G.. w. of A. only
minority of the membership can be
designated as revolutionary or class
conscious. If the balance of the mem
bership lacks these qualities, it is
not their fault. They are not as
dumb as the fake leaders try to pic
ture them, to serve as an excuse for
their conservative attitude. The blame
rests upon the shoulders of the Off
cials who do not attempt to lead and
teach the members the class strug-
gle.
Patience and Sincerity.
When first came into my shop
and started to agitate. asking the
workers to fight for the betterment Of
their conditions, they looked upon
me as a professional kicker. They
used to tell me that l found fault with
everything.
1t took weeks Of hard work to prove
to them that / was their comrade,
and my aim their aim. l did this by
actually fighting and helping them
gain improved working conditions.
When | had gained the confidence Of
my fellow workers, 1t was easier to
explain that in lighting for them
fought for myself as well, as was a
part of the working class, while the
boss belongs to the class Of exploit
ers, our enemies.
Talks With the Workers.
During working hours in my sec
tons, we discussed many questions
pertaining to shop conditions. / found
one conception prevailing in my shop
which was the hardest to combat, and
which even exists to this day, and
that is this:
To the workers the union seems
but dues collecting agency. They
claim they were better Off before un-
ion took control. For example, the
boss would give them cheap lunch
rates, visiting nurses, and once in a
while, wedding present.
My hardest task was to show up
this fallacy. To show them that all
the so-called good things" of life
with which the boss used to favor
them, are nothing in comparison with
what can be gained thru their solidari-
ty. Their standard Of living and their
working conditions being much bet
ter than when they were accepting
charity" from the boss, and only
by their organization can they hope
10 still get more.
Unions and Officials Different Things.
Another difficult job is to show the
workers that the leaders and the I'M
ions are not always swynonimous. We
fight and expose fake leaders because
they neglect the union and its mem
bership, and instead OF fighting the
boss, they collaborate with him; for
example, the recent REIMBURSEMENT"
which benefited only the boss.
One day, while we were sitting and
waiting for work land as We work
piece work this means a waste Of
time) l called the foreman over and
asked him why il was not arranged so
that the boss should suffer this loss
of time as well as we. As usual, he
told me that II the boss would suffer,
would too; the. less profit for the
boss would mean that would get
less. told him not TO talk such
nonsense to me. that had nothing in
common with the boss.
Teaching the Workers Of Russia.
After the foreman left. some OF
the workers asked. do you mean 70