The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-09-12
FRENCH LABOR PROTEST STOPS LEGION PARADE
Current Evemts
By T. J. O'FIaherty

THE capitalist papers of this little
town were unanimously of the
opinion that the striking truck drivers
did bad job for themselves and in
flicted black eye on trades unionism
in general when they decided to pull
off a strike without spending month
or two trying to arrive at settle
ment with their employers before
taking such drastic action. The dear
public's sympathy would be missing,
we were informed, and how forsooth,
could a strike be won without the
good will of the innocent bystanders?
THE truck drivers in good old mill
tant fashion simply walked out
when the employers refused their de-
mands, yanked drivers who still con-
tinued to work, off their trucks pro-
ceeded to make the air dark with fly
ing bricks and indulged in other
pleasantries not usually associated
with the respectable conduct of a
modern strike. The funny thing
about the whole business is that the
strikers won their wage demands,
rendering it necessary for the capi-
talist editors to write another set of
editorials explaining why the truck
drivers gained their wage demands
despite the ungentlemanly manner in
which they conducted themselves.
THERE are signs that the French
government is moving towards a
break with the Soviet Union. When
the French foreign minister and the
president of the republic visited Lon
don prior to the raid on ARGOS, the
subject under discussion between
Chamberlain and BRAND was the mu-
tual relations of England and France
to Russia. France was not in a po- /
sition to follow the British lead then, /
but the threatened demand on Mos /
COW that ambassador Rakovsky be /
recalled for having signed his name
to manifesto of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union calling for
International. solidaritu of lahar.
against world Imperialism indicates
that France is moving step by step
towards an open rupture with the U.
S.S.R.
ITALY is also expected to make
hostile gesture towards Russia ac-
cording to Paris dispatch. The ex-
cuse will be, alleged encouragement |
given to Italian Communists by the |
Soviet ambassador at Rome Where |
there is will there is way. If |
Mussolini had been able to detect the |
Soviet ambassador engaging in ac-
tivities foreign to his ambassadorial
role, he would not be slow to make
big noise about it. England is
bringing steady pressure on both |
countries to break with Russia and is
persistently working on Germany
with view to drawing the Reich in
to the anti-Soviet entente However,
there are many factors that initiate
against the immediate success of this
conspiracy, not the least being the
Red Army.
THE capitalist press is chuckling
over the anti-revolutionary char
acter of the Edinburgh conference of
the British Trade, Union Congress.
The right~wing leaders had things
pretty much their own way, a COM
plete swing in the opposite direction
from the Scarborough conference of
a few years ago. But even at Scar
borough it should not be forgotten
that even tho the so-called Left Wing,
passed militant resolutions, they left
the right wing leaders strongly en-
trenched in the apparatus, something
that sincere politicians do not do
when they are convinced that they
have an opposition on their hands
that is a menace to the labor move
ment. The Left leadership of the
British Trade Union Congress was a
false alarm as the General Strike
fiasco proved.
1T would be ridiculous to contend
ahat the Edinburgh congress does
rot indicate a right trend on the part
Of British trade unionism. Glass
collaboration, sired, damned an d
baptized in the United States is now
being introduced to the British work
ing class by labor takers and en-
ployers as substitute for the class
struggle to which British labor lead
ers, with comparatively few 'excep-
tions, have given up lip service in the
past. The government, representing
the employers has worked assiduously
for several years and particularly
since the General Strike with the OBJ
ject of "Americanizing" the labor
movement, that is, company union
izing it wherever possible and where
this method would meet with the hos
tility of even the labor leaders, Sc
ducing the unions with proposals for
employer-worker cooperation and the
sharing (?) of the additional profits
that might be gained thru increased
efficiency.
THE logical result of the resolutions
passed at the Edinburgh congress