The daily worker., 1926-06-24
BY J. LOUIS ENeDAHL.

BY ). LOUIS ENGDAHL.
A FTER two and one-half years of
"A struggle, the period of the exist
ence of The DAILY WORKER, mill
tant labor still stands before the
task of developing its spokesman into
the mouthpiece of masses Of workers.
1t is not an impossible task. 1t is
not task that lets opportunity knock
but once at the door of militant Ia
Dor. 1t is task that every day calls
to labor's vanguard to fulfill its mis-
sion-the building of the left wing Of
labor and the development of The
DAILY WORKER into the mass or
gan of the American working class.
Another Blast at Gary.
On Monday morning, June IA, the
news flashed over the wires, MANY
dead and injured in another explo-
! sion in the steel mills at Gary, In
diana"
There should be only one way for
militant labor to look at that bit Of
news. 1t should have been trumpet
call to immediate action to give de-
finite expression to the great agony
of steel labor as it saw its numbers
murdered and manned in the death
belching inferno known as the by
products plant of the Illinois Steel Co.
But II Was Divided.
But labor's left wing was not unit.
From the office of The DAILY WORK
Err, we saw it develop two attitudes:
First: One of indifference. This
attitude considered the Gary disaster
lust another explosion" 1t didn't
matter much, was the viewpoint. A
steel strike, yes, that is something. A
steel mill blast, not worth worrying
about. Let it pass.
Second: Just the opposite. This
attitude declared the explosion, bring
ing acute grief to many working
class firesides, but at the same time
exposing to the light of day the whole
murderous system of the steel trusts
treatment of its workers, was another
opportunity for new assaults against
the United States Steel corporation.
This attitude demanded action, with
definite program and definite OBJ
jective.
RegrettabIe But True.
It is regretable but true that The
DAILY WORKER editorial staff, as
on so many other occasions, found
! itself to be the staff of the left wing
Regretable because this should not
be so. The DAILY WORKER editor
ial staff cannot lead the struggle. II
can only make The DAILY WORK
Err help lead the struggle.
Yet 1t was The DAILY WORKER
correspondent that was first and
alone at the scene of the disaster
feeling his way along, planning how
best to protect the interests of the
workers, raising the demand that "the
dead must not have died in vain"
Not An Easy Task.
1t was not an easy task. The stee
trust owns the city government o.
Gary and Gary's lone daily newspa
per. It has its own private hospi
tai. The steel trust is well protected
against intruders coming to interfere
with its business, part OF which II
to see that the killing and Gripping
of workers in its plants get as little
attention as possible.
The DAILY WORKER, therefore
came into Gary as an alien enem.
to the native steel trust. But the
workers received 1t as a friend as i
arrived in bundles of each new edi
tion hurled into this capitalist fort
ress.
Steel labor read about its sufferingi
in its own daily. For the moment Th'
DAILY WORKER became the expires
sion of masses of Gary steel workers
The indifference of that part OF thu
left wing that had the wrong attitude