The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-05-31
EXPULSION OF INDIVIDUALS.

EXPULSION OF INDIVIDUALS.
After the division of the local, the
rank and file Of the workers refused
to abandon the progressive idea of
tho Shop Delegate system, and new
leagues advocating its adoption were
established almost at once in the new
Local % as well as in other locals.
The International continued its at
tempt to crush the movement by fur
Their expulsions. Members known to
be in favor of it We're not permitted
to run for office. and candidates who
received the endorsement of the Shop
Delegates League found their names
removed from the ballot on the eve
Of elections. Nineteen officers who
had been elected by the membership
Of Local % with the endorsement Of
the Shop Delegates League were eX-
PEELED from the Union in 1928.
Shortly after these explosions, the
Trade Union Educational League was
organized. which advocated amalga-
nation of all the needle trades as
well as greater characterization of
the Union through the Shop Dele
gate system or some similar plan.
The Trade Union Educational League
was attacked even more fiercely by
the international, of which Morris
Sigman was now the president. The
fact that some Of its leaders were
members of the Workers. Party made
possible the cry Of Communism"
which was immediately raised and
has been used ever since, as a means
Of obscuring the issues in any in
ternal dispute.
With the support of the General
Executive Board, President Sigman
issued orders expelling all members
Of the Union who were members of
the Trade Union Educational League
or any other organization where
trade union problems were discussed.
The order created a tremendous up
heaval throughout the entire Union
Local after local was broken up. The
most active members of Chicago,
Philadelphia, New York, and Other
cities were expelled from the Union
and the International lost thousands
Of members. In the 1924 convention
delegates from the largest New Yorl
locals were unseated on charges Of
being members of League.
Left Wing Gains.
The immediate result of these at
tacks was to unite the rank and file
Of the membership in opposition tc
Sigman and the Administration, foi
it became evident to the workers that
no man would have right to his
opinion in union matters, and par
ticularly that the will of large groups
Of the members could not prevail, un-
der such a policy of wholesale ex-
Iulsion.
At the same time there was {
growing revolt against the corrup
ton in the Union. Any system il
which the leaders are not elected BY
the members, are not directly re
sponsible to them, and cannot be re
moved, is sure to breed corruption
and the international was no excep
ton. The Administration machine
lad become so corrupt and the cor
ruption so fragrant, that in spite o.
the expulsicns, the membership re
volted. "Left Wing" leaders, run
ming for office on an anti-corruptioi
and reform platform, were voted int
control in Cloak Operators Local 2
Cloak Finishers' Local 8, and Dress
makers Local %. The managers O
these locals were Joseph Borucho
WITT, Louis Lyman, and Julius Port
; roy, respectively, all of whom arr
leaders in the present struggle.
The next great struggle Of the so