The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-08
By J. LOUIS ENeDAAL

udy e4pOSSO IIlo mpaL 5SA0Ob BoNASA
ing of strikebreakers ever assembled
in this country,
Note their names-snd don't forget
them-John L. Lewis, president OF the
United Mine Workers of America;
Morris Sigman, president of the In
ternational Ladies' Garment Workers
Union; Matthew Vol, vice-president
Of the American Federation Of Labor,
and Thomas Mcmahon. president Of
the United Textile Workers Union,
These are all prominent officials Of
the trade union movement. They are
supposed to build rather than destroy
the power OF labor.
IT is no light matter to charge the
L officials Of the organised trade
union movement with being Strike
breakers" But they have themselves
put the brand upon their own brows,
for all the workers who will to see.
Now these labor leaders compound
this individual felony against organ
lied labor by joining in wholesale
conspiracy to thwart the heroic ef-
forts Of the workers to fight courage
ously against their class enemies and
win substantial victories for their
own class-the working class.
TAKE up each case singly, John L.
l. Lewis first. He is most important,
because he heads the largest trade
union in the American labor move
ment, struggling to organize the work
ers in a great, basic industry. Lewis
brings the strength of the powerful
bureaucracy he dominates in this
union into the conspiracy.
In spite Of his strikebreaking &C
tivities, in the Connellsville, Pa, coke
strike; in Kansas, where he aided in
sending Alex Howat to jail; in Nova
Scotia, where he joined in the lingo
cry of King and Country; against
the militants facing prison, to mention
few instances, nevertheless. Lewis
confesses by his actions to the grow
| ing strength Of the tidal wave Of OPP
position, crystsllized in the Brophy-
Stevenson-BrennAn national ticket,
that is rolling up against his regime.
Lewis put over the strikebreaking an
| thracite agreement and thought that
was a victory for his administration
and its reactionary policies. 1t may
yet prove his Waterloo. Lewis open
" admits that the rank and file is
turning against him when he hurries
to join the secret conspiracy in New
York City to consolidate his activities
with those of other labor lieutenants"
of the capitalist employers, who would
rather see labor crushed than militant.
Lewis does not want the coal miners
to face the bosses with an aggressive
program when the present Jackson
vile agreement, for the soft coal
fields, expires April 1. He paves the
way for another surrender, for a
Watson-Parker, gag and ball and chain,
to render the coal miners helpless in
their struggles. Lewis thus helps care
fully to prepare for the breaking Of the
strike even before it is called. This
is Lewis, The Strikebreaker."
NEXT comes Morris Sigman, presi-
~ dent Of the International Ladies'
Garment Workers Union. This is Sig
man, the Socialist; Sigman, the
handyman Of Abraham Cahan, editor
Of the Jewish Daily (Socialist) For
ward, who denounces even the bank
ers' organ, The New York Times, for
not being reactionary enough; this is
Sigman, the successor Of Benjamin
schlesinger, who tries to duplicate the
crimes of the latter in serving the
backward-looking oflcialdom of the
American Federation of Labor, rather
than the forward-looking workers in
the needle trades
Sigman is an important addition to
the conspiracy. He gives it Social
list" face in the needle trades, where
the left wing In the American labor
movement has a strong foothold, and
where the Communist leadership in
the New York Joint Board of the Fur
riers Union has just come thru a sue
cessful strike scoring an effective vic.
tory.
II was under pressure Of the social
ist-Forward machine. and with its
aid, that Sigman launched his drive,
in the summer Of 1925, to smash three
powerful units OF the l. L. G. w. U,
Locals No. 2, and %. in New YORK
City. The courageous fight and the
100 per cent unity OF the rank and
file against Sigman's attack saved the
union in the cloakmaking industry.
1t was with the well-wishes and sup
port of the Sigmansocialist
forces that President William Green,