The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-10-14
Tammany and Non-Partisan
Political Action azRoaEE7 " DUNN
By ROBERT w. DUNN

the person of jim Holland. The Tam
many Tiger had only to swish it's tail
and these gentlemen walked away
from their LaFollette pledges and
delivered" in a body to the Tammany
candidate.
One must remember also that the
"Al Smith Socialists" in the needle
trades deserted their candidate, Nor
man Thomas, and lined up with Al.
Just what the considerations were is
not known to this writer. Whatever
they may have been, one cannot over
look the close political relations of
the needle trades leaders and certain
democratic politicians who had per-
formed substantial favors for the
trade union bureaucrats in their
struggles against the left wing and
the Communists.
Support Smiths Game.
Of course the labor leaders have
been systematically "sold' to Smith
for a good many terms. AIS plat
forms have reeked with civic right
eousness and social reform. On the
vital issues, however, and in the
critical moments, he has not de-
Iivered. Take, for example, two of
the hardy perennials among the reso-
Iutlons passed yearly by the New
York State Federation of Labor
child labor and the injunction. Al
was, of course, pledged to smite them
both. But the first he evaded when
he saw that the Catholic Church was
antl-labor. So he forgot his pledge,
knowing that labor, as usual, would
forget his forgetting when it came
time for another election! Then the
injunction evil. Labor had always
come out strongly against it. But
the state democratic platform in 1924
slid over the issue and few months
later labor-supported Justi C e
Churchill was handing out iniunctions
against labor on behalf of the Inter
national Tailoring Company. The
same thing happened in the garment
workers and paper box makers
strikes of 1926. Labor-supported
Tammany judges did their duty for
the bosses. These are but typical ex-
amples of 'labor's reward" in the way
OF protective legislation for dancing
to the tune of the Tammany gang
sters. But the labor leaders should
worry. They get something more
tangible and personal than legisla-
ton. So they go on endorsing capt.
talist party candidates year after
year.
Why Labor Party.
In 1925, with both a Workers
Party and a socialist candidate on the
ballot. the non-partisan political com
mittee of the Central Trades and La
Dor Council, annex of Tammany Hall,
endorsed democratic candidates for
mayor, president of the Borough of
Manhattan, judges, aldermen and so
on down the line Of course, in the
primaries the labor leaders some
times make mistakes. Witness Jim
Holland, who came out for Hvlan
But the Building Trades Council
made him write letter repudiating
his action and telling Tammany his
followers would back Walker. Tam
many's choice. Witness also Hylan
trying to discipline his former labor
friends by taking quarter of
million dollars of the city's money
from deposit at the Federation Bank.
And Jimmie Walker putting it right
back in again the minute he becomes
mayor thru the support of the labor
bankers.
The workers rank and file should
also take note of the mutual conpH-
ments and back slaps exchanged be-
tween the big" labor boys and the
politicians around election time. The
spectacle is interesting and inform
ing. Says Senator Walker, for ex-
ample, addressing a Labor Day au-
dlence on Governors Island, 1925:
my congratulations to you Che
was talking to the masses). for the
great leaders you have picked ont
who come into official bodies with
sober mind and strong hearts. with
great intelligence and with a mani
tested understanding of what they
"eIe uoIHg' ct cetera, ct
cetera, ad nauseum.
and finally Calvin Coolidge HIM
self addressing Peter Brady on the
celebration of the second anniversary
OF the Federation Bank in 1926:
We are now at the dawn of a new
day of labor, and we firmly believe
IS result of our experience and in
t!uonce, also the dawn of a new era
between the wage earners and their
employers, between CAPITAL and Ia
Dor"
Strikebreaker Calls idea of the
dawn, the new era and the millenium
viii have been fully reached whom
every labor skate and every worker
eats out of the bipartisan pot The
purpose of a Labor Party is to keep
TINS dawn from ever breaking.
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