The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-02-17

one joins a union and comes down TO
the first meeting proposing to the
masses that either they accept his
Communist program or they are
bunch Of damned fools and their lead.
ers a gang of crooks, he will find him
self sadly disappointed and in many
instances even badly hurt. Does it
prove the futility of Communist acti-
witty in the trade unions? 1t proves
only one thing that the methods were
wrong.
Participate in Life Of Unions.
The first step after joining a union
is to take part in the routine activities
of the union. Almost every union has
an organization committee and this is
one place where there is little compe-
tition for the honor of being on it, be-
cause there is little honor and whole
lot of work. This committee can be
utilized by every Communist as the
first stepping stone to prove to the
masses that he has no interest of his
own outside of their interest. Once
the workers recognize your loyalty
and activity in their behalf, you have
broader field of operation and you
can take the second step.
Every union, national or local, no
matter how conservative it is has an
opposition element in it. In some in
stances it is a more and in some
less conscious opposition. In most
cases it is composed of elements who
instinctively feel the incorrectness of
the policy and tactics of their national
and local leaders, but do not know
how to combat them and haven't a
definite program and conscious leader
ship to substitute them. These oppo-
sition elements offer fertile field of
operation to every Communist who
has succeeded in gaining the conf
dence of the workers.
Every Communist is potentially a
leader of masses. He is to organize
this chaotic opposition to give them a
program of action and lead them into
the struggle against the bureaucrats.
This cannot be accomplished by pure
abstract propaganda. We must use the
illustrative method. Let us take for
instance the latest cancer that is eat
ing up the vitality of the American
labor movement-class collaboration.
In the abstract this phrase does not
mean a thing to the average worker.
When you translate it into exhaustion
after days work as a result of So
called increased efficiency, coupled
with frequent lay-offs as a result of
intensified productivity per worker,
which eventually brings about a lower
STANDARD of living, an increased army
of unemployed, then the worker will
understand the danger that is con-
tanned in class collaboration and will
support us in our fight against the
bureaucrats.
But this is only the first step. The
labor bureaucracy in its attempt to
Justify class collaboration comes whin-
ing to the membership about the
danger of company unions and futility
Of strikes, pointing out that the time
ior winning strikes is over and that
The workers must find a way of get
ting along harmoniously with the en-
ployers, as a solution to those prob
lens they offer class collaboration
Our answer is: yes, company unions
are rotten, but the way to fight them
is not in making the unions
scab company unions. Yes, strikes are
lost, something is wrong with the
unions, but the remedy is not in ex-
changing the most effective weapon,
the strike, for the bible of peace and
harmony, class collaboration"