The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-10-24
BY WILLIAM f. DUNE

L of New York state is utilized by
the New York Times of October 81
for four purposes:
First, to take crack at the strike
as a weapon of labor, second, to do
a little lying about the Communists,
third, to pose as a friend of the
unions, and fourth, to give aid and
comfort to the right wing in the
needle trades.
The Times bemoans the fact that,
according to the labor departments
figures, 7,35O,O0O working days were
lost during the last year thru strikes.
The strike of cloakmakers accounts
for rs per cent of this lost working
time. Instead of striking, the cloak
makers should have been engaged,
according to the Times, in turning
out profits for the bosses, happy in
the knowledge that as part of the
industrial machine they were adding
to the wealth of this great and pros
porous family known as the Amer
lean nation.
Slight of Hand.
By some mathematical sleight-of-
hand the Times editorial writer ar
rives at the conclusion that 6,580,000
workdays, or 80 per cent of the total
were lost thru needle trades strikes.
Mortified by the thot of workers
who were absent for so long a period
from the fetid air of clothing lofts
and the whirl of power machines,
the Times hunts for the disturbing
factor and with an unerring instinct
shared by Green, Vol, Lewis, Sig
man and other bankrupt and reac-
tionary official leaders of the Amer
lean labor movement, discovers that
the Communists are to blame.
The Times rejects the idea that
the needle trades strikes were for
wage increases and for recognition
of the unions. "The strikes were not
industrial warfare in the ordinary
sense" says the Times. "The issue"
it continues, "was control of the
unions in the interest of the Com
munist philosophy"
'This," the learned editorial writer
states, "does not attach Importance
to the winning of higher wages or
better working conditions. E"
Three Lies in Six Lines.
In six lines the Times tells three
lies. The high average percentage
of falsehood in the Times editorials
is always exceeded when dealing
with Communists and Communism.
First, the cloakmakers' strike was
for wage demands and organization
of the non-union shops, for the 40
hour week and other working con-
ditions already obtained by the fur
fiers in their strike. The strike pro-
gram of the union was adopted at a
huge melting in Madison Square Gar
den which the Times reported.
Second, the right wing leaders, the
left wing leaders, and the Commun.
lists in the union, all voted for the
strike and for the demands. The
decision on these questions was I'M
animOus.
This is complete refutation OF
the claim that the strike was called
to advance the interests of the Com.
unists and the Communist Party as
against the interests of the unior
and the workers.
Communist Policy.
Third, the policy by which all
Communist Parties are guided il
their trade union activity, was re-
formulated and elaborated at the
meeting of the Enlarged Executive
of the Communist International hello
February March, 1926. The instruc.
tons state
"To enable Communists to take
up a correct attitude in all move
ments which bring the workers in
to conflict with capitalism, Com
munist Parties must make care
full examination of all the factors
of the concrete conditions of all
such struggles: the nature of the
business of the factory or factory
groups, the bulk and genuineness
of the orders placed, the connec-
ton and mutual interrelation of
of the various factories, syndicates
and trusts, the organized strength
and capacity for resistance of the
employers and also the strength
of the trade union organization
and the readiness for struggle of
both organized and unorganized
workers, the possibility of the
strike spreading and its political
consequences"
Why are Communist Parties in.
structed to secure this detailed in.
formation?
Why is it not only false but stupic
to say that Communists do not sat.
tach Importance to the winning OF
higher wages or better working con.
ditions 2"
Dealing with these questions in his
pamphlet "The Threat to the Labor
II