The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-07-24
BY c. MELNlTcHANsKY.

L paper" Vermillion County Star, OF
Danville, Illinois, there appeared an
article devoted to the Bulletin issued
by the foreign relations committee Of
the Central Council Of Trade Unions
of the U. S. S. r. and to the informa-
ton about the Russian trade unions
contained therein.
The article was distributed from
Chicago by the International Labor
News Service, semi-ofiicial news
agency of the American Federation Of
Labor, and sent to all newspapers con-
trolled by the federation. Its heading
reads: RED Trade Unions Seek to
Fool Labor Press"
TO begin with, the article says:
"Milnitchansky evidently believes that
American trade unionists will be i'm
pressed when he says, as he does in
this first issue OF his press service,
that the Russian trade unions now
have a grand total membership of
7,S46,7S9' The unions Of char
acter affiliated with the A. F. OF L.
have a total membership of approx
imately 100000 When it Is
considered that Russia has a popula-
ton of 165,OOO,OOO people, and that
the Communists have absolutely
dominated the situation there for
seversyears, the showing as to present
trade union membership is not i'm
pressive."
This quotation shows the unreli-
ability of the International Labor News
Service and also indicates how these
gentlemen deceive the American work
ers.
The International Labor News Ser
vice ought to know that the popula-
ton of the U. S. S. r. is 142,614,700
Census of 1920, that a great ma
tority- of the population are peasants,
of whom there are 1854 800, and
that the trade union membership of
7,S46.7S9 represents 81 per cent of all
the people who work by hire in the
q. s. S. r. In that same issue Of the
bulletin we gave figures showing the
increase in membership year by year,
but the news agency did not notice
the figures and the paper does not
quote them. We shall adduce them
here, in order to refresh somebody's
memory. The Russian trade unions
had
On April 1, 1924 .......5, 1922, 6S2 members
October /, 1924....6, 1904
April 1, 1925.-.....6, $780, S4
October 1, 1851 ,84e,7S9
Now we can give the latest figures:
On January 1, 1926, the membership
of the trade unions of the U. S. S. r.
had reached 100000.
ME did not intend to impress" with
w this data or with any other infor-
nation which we publish in the Bulle-
tin. We always remember that our
trade union movement has been de-
veloping only during these last nine
years. We simply would like the
workers in other countries to know
about the life and work of our trade
unions.
But as the International Labor
News Service is really trying to fool
its readers by the statement that a
trade union membership of 7,S46.789
with a population of "165,000.0 900"
after "seven years" work of the Com
munists is not impressive, will allow
myself to draw a comparison with the
figures of the American trade union
movement.
The article merely says: The Amer
lean Federation of Labor has a total
membership of approximately 4,00O,-
600.
According to the Labor Year Book
for 1925, issued by the American So
cialists (reformists), it appears that
OF the total population Of 105,710,620
In the United States Census OF 1920
there were S2,710, 495 people workers
and employes) gainfully employed.
The figure is really impressive.
But we all know that the United