The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-02-14
CONTINUED from page II

drawn only lately into the class strug-
gle, with the more experienced work
ers swinging ever more to the Com
munistled left wing, so in the, Ameri-
can trade unions the support of the
Official tools of capital comes from
that section Of the organized workers
whose viewpoint is purely middle
class and who have never before
been reached by any major question
of trade union policy.
+ TO those who are inclined to mini
1 mize the influence Of the Com
munists in the trade unions it is hard
to understand the combined ferocity
and hysteria that characterizes the
offensive against the reds" There
fore it is well to say here that altho
the American trade union official is
the most timid creature in the world
politically, with vision Of a dozen
different kinds Of bogeymen constant
ly obsessing him, the present panic in
official labor circles has a very tangi-
Bile reason behind it. 4s@
NNE OF these reasons is undoubt-
~ eddy the $4,000 votes cast for
three members of the Workers (Com-
munist) Party who headed the left
wing slate in the United Mine Work
ers Of America and the militant pro-
gram on which the campaign was
made-a campaign that consisted
only Of the distribution of the pro-
gram itself, that was fought without
money and that had as its spokesman
rank and file miners known well only
in their own districts.
In these respects the campaign and
the huge vote polled was the most re-
markable in the history of the Ameri-
can trade union movement for two
things:
IT was achieved after the best or
l ganized attack on the Communists
made by any union oficialdom in Am
erica and it showed that in the big
gest union in the American Fedora
tion of Labor $1,000 members have
reached degree of miIitancy where
they will vote for programs and not
for individuals. On so large a scale
this is an unheard of thing in the Am
ericanV labor movement.
1T must not be forgotten in estimat-
ing the full meaning of the vote
and its effect on the bureaucrats that
the election machinery is entirely in
the hands Of the union officials. Let
us not forget either that trade union
bureaucrats have been counting Com
munist left wing votes for three years
now and undoubtedly have a better
idea than we ourselves of the extent
Of the prevailing dissatisfaction with
their policies.
1T is not the purpose of this article
to argue that the suppresive meas
ures used against the Communists are
a good thing for US and that we should
encourage them. It is our purpose,
however, to point out that with the
limited press and trade union mater
ial that we have at our disposal it is
undoubtedly true that the conflicts
AH'Ct otCSACn Jul MCABOApHlp III lue
struggle, spurred them, on to greater
endeavors and brot into the conflicts
large masses of workers who, tho now
skeptical and suspicious of us, must
become our supporters by the march
of capitalist development coupled with
growing familiarity with the Commun-
ist program.
With this prospect confronting
them what are the labor takers to do?
THEY will continue the policy of ex-
pulsions, sluggings and denuncia-
ton. They are creatures of the CAPT
talist class, they have learned their
methods from the capitalist class and
they know no other They might, if
they were as well-informed and cum
ming as the labor bureaucrats of other
capitalist nations, begin a campaign
Of education" of their followers but