The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-05-02
By WM. 2. FOsTER.

cracy TO the right. IhlS mas been
an almost unbroken process since the
close of the war. Three great land
marks stand out in this rightward
tendency of the trade union official
dom. These are the movements of
the steel workers in 1888, of the
railroad workers in 1902, and the
coal miners in 1925-27. These are
three key struggles and have exert
ed profound effects on the general
course of the labor movement.
The Great Steel Strike.
THE organization of the steel
L workers represented the highest
point ever reached by organized la
Dor in this country in establishing
unionism amongst the masses. The
campaign of organization received
little or no support from the upper
bureaucrats. And when the steel
workers were attacked by the steel
companies those bureaucrats betray-
ed the movement outright. They
abandoned the steel workers com
pletely. The latter demanded Coop
GRAFTON from the miners and the rail-
road workers to tie up the steel mills,
but their proposals went unanswered
by the reactionary leadership of these
organizations.
THE strike was lost. Had it been
L won, as it might easily have been
with support from the related basic
industries, it would have enormously
strengthened the entire labor move
ment and fortified it for the bitter
struggles ahead. But due to the
treachery of the class collaboration
ist leadership it was lost. In conse-
quence the union lineup of the work
ers was weakened and the employers
were encouraged to redouble theT at
tacks against the trade unions. The
loss of the steel strike was followed
by decided drift to the right of the
bureaucracy.
The Railroad Shipments Strike.
A T the close of the war the bloc
L \ of 16 railroad unions were the
strongest and most progressive sec
ton of the labor movement. In 1921
the railroad companies opened their
campaign aggressively to shatter
these organizations. First they split
the four brotherhoods from the rest
of the unions by promises of conces-
sions. Then they cut the wages of
the shopmen and worsened their con-
ditions so that they had to strike, in
spite of the prevailing unemploy-
ment. Their great national strike in
1922, like the steel strike of but two
years before, was shattered by the
attacks Of the employers and the
treachery of the union leaders. The
latter abandoned the railroad work
ers on strike even as they had the
steel workers. The strike presented
the sad picture of nine unions stay
ing at work while seven were on
strike. Real solidarity by the 16
unions would have resulted in a mag
nifieient victory.
THE loss of the shipments strike,
L coming at the end of unsuccess-
full struggles by the unions in the
textile, building, meat packing, and
other industries, drove the timid lea
dership still further to the right.
They concluded that the railroad
corporations, fattened like the rest
of American capitalism by the super
profits of Imperialism, were too
strong for the unions to resist. Hence.
instead of adopting the T. U. E. l..
program of amalgamation, labor
party, the organization of the un-
organized, and the development of a
militant fight against the employ
ers, they surrendered to the employ
ers. This surrender takes the shape
of the whole series of class collabor-
alton movements, such as labor bank
ing, the B. & 0. plan, etc.
THE entire A. F. Of L. bureau
L crazy also plunged into a retreat
to the right in the years following
this struggle. With their "new wage
policy" and worker-employer coop
Grafton schemes they have fallen in
step with the program of the en-
ployers to company unionize the
trade unions and to reduce them to
mere auxiliaries Of the exploiters to
speed up production and to checl,
class consciousness. An inevitable
phase Of this retreat to the right is
the bitter war being carried on
against the left wing, that has cul-
minated in the unheard of persecu-
ton and autocracy being practiced
now in the needle trades.
The Struggle Of the Coal Miners.
WE come next to the vital strike
w Of the bituminous miners, now
taking place. This strike was pre-
coded, as well as accompanied, by
the rankest treachery on the part of
the Lewis machine. For the past
two years the employers have been
literally cutting the Miners Union to
pieces, smashing them in district af-
ter district. Yet Lewis has done
nothing to prevent the destruction of