The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-04-06
By vIcToR A. zoKAITIs.

can Federation of Labor Of "rewarding
our friends and Furnishing our enc
mies' could not be better illustrated
than in the present alliance of Chi
cago labor officials with, the union
smashing Robert E. Crowe-C Charles V.
Barrett faction in the republican party
for the primaries which take place on
Tuesday, April 10.
In this alliance we see the Chicago
labor oficialdom openly supporting
avowed enemies of the trades unions.
We see labor officials forming a polit-
ical grouping with a machine that has
ruthlessly raided and prosecuted the
organized labor movement of Chicago.
Slug Strikers.
States Attorney Robert E. Grove
has led raids ON the headquarters of
Chicago trade unions, smashing the
offices and viciously smuggling those
found in the headquarters. During the
strikes of the various trades unions
the most brutal acts have been com
mitted by squads of police detailed to
the Office of Robert e. Grove.
During the strike of the Interna-
tional Ladies' Garment Workers
Union in the Market street district in
1928, police assigned to the states at
torney's office assaulted many Of the
girl pickets.
Laugh at Strikers Protests.
A list of the police brutalities was
compiled and presented to officials Of
the Chicago Federation of Labor and
Meyer Perlstein, president of the In
ternational Ladies' Garment Workers.
Protests were made to the city police
authorities, who disclaimed RESPONSE
bility for the action Of these police
thugs, stating they were part of the
states attorneys squads. When pro-
tests were made by strikers to the
states attorneys Office the strikers
were laughed at and the police bru-
tality increased.
In this strike not only were mem
bers of the unions arrested, but re-
porters for The DAILY WORKER and
investigating bodies, such as the Hull
House, were arrested on flimsy
charges.
Kidnaps Metal PoIishers.
During the strike of the metal pol
ishers against the Cribben-Sexton
stove manufacturing plant two strike
pickets were kidnapped by States
Attorney Groves men and after being
beaten into insensibility they were
thrown out onto a paved road under a
railroad viaduct and left to recover by
themselves.
The headquarters of the Metal Pol
ishers' Union were raided and the in
ternational vice-president Of the Metal
Polishers' Union and the business
agent of Metal Rolishers No. 6 were
taken by the states attorneys aides
and severely grilled for hours.
Attempts were made on the part of
Robert E. Groves aides to implicate
these union heads in bomb pilot"
Attempts were made to make it ap-
pear that the strikers were throwing
bombs and were part of a Chicago
bomb-trust by Robert z. Grove.
halo StT4ke headquarters.
Besides railing the union headquar-
tiers, the strike headquarters were also
raided and all of the men arrested
forced into patrol wagons, held incom-
municado in foul-smelling Jail cells
for hours, then sent to the police bu-
reau of Identification, where t hey
were finger-printed, photographed.
Bertillion measurements taken and
card-indexed as tho, they were plain
criminals. The men were then Sc
verely grilled by Groves assistants,
and when Robert e. Grove found that
he could not implicate them in any
bomb throwings nor frame them in
such manner as to break the strike
and assure a victory for the open
shop interests of this city, these men
were released. Not single charge
was placed against them.
Terrorize Amalgamated Members.
During the strike of the Interna-
tional Tailoring company and the ]. L.
Taylor company. which was conducted
by the Amalgamated Clothing Work.
ers of America, the forces Of thes
states attorneys Office were used in
a despicable and unsuccessful attempt
to break the strike. Strike pickets
were slugged. Strike committee mem
bers were shot at by unknown persons
connected with either the states attor-
ney's office or some fink agency hired
by the International and j. L. Taylor
companies.
Union headquarters were raided
union heads arrested and released
after severe grillings without any
charges being preferred against them.
These are some OF the acts Of Robert
f. Grove, the man with whom the
Chicago Wage Farmers League, com