The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-02-03
CURRENT EVENTS
By t. ]. o'FLAHERTY

By T. ]. O'FLAHERTY
II HE toothless International Fed
/ Grafton of Trade Unions sent out
on its press service the story that
strong anti-Communist currents have
been set in motion in the United
States owing to the striking failures
of the cloakmakers and furriers'
strikes under Communist leadership.
This is the bunk. AS a matter of
fact the furriers' strike was one of
the few victorious strikes in recent
years conducted in the United States
and the story of the treachery of the
right wing leaders in the cloakmakers'
strike does MT need REPETITION. AS
for the Communist currents now
flowing in the trade union movement
here, we admit of its presence.
IN HERE is an anti-Communist cur
i rent running through the whole
international labor movement as well
as in America. 1t is not surprising.
Labor leaders who demand and insist
on getting a salary raise from $4,000
to $4,000 a year while the members
of their union are facing a strike and
unemployment have nothing in COM
mon with the revolutionary self-sacri-
ficing spirit of Communism. Those
fat boys are quite comfortable under
capitalism. What social ORDER would
give them more in dollars and cents
WE have ssen the anti-Commun
wv lists in action in England dur
ing the General Strike and after
wards. They called off the general
strike thus making a defeat of the
miners certainty. They pulled the
CUTS out of the growing effort of in
ternationaI labor to come to the aid
of the miners. They joined with the
blacklist section of British reaction in
attacking the militant leaders of the
miners, particularly A. J. Cook. And
they did all this for the sake of the
robber empire. Those fellows have
nothing in common with Communism
which aims at the overthrow of the
pirate empire and the freeing of all
the oppressed peoples now under its
iron heel.
n N the continent of Europe the
~ leaders of the Amsterdam Inter-
national are bootblacks for the capt.
talists. Vandervelde, the socialist
premier of Belgium is on tea-drink-
ing terms with the king and queen
CT Belgium and takes an occasional
trip to London to confer with Sir Aus
ten Chamberlain on imperial matters.
The labor takers of Italy have been
acting in close cooperation with Mus
solini. In Germany they enabled the
capitalists to partially recover from
the effects of the war and the revo-
luton. Of course they are anti-Com-
munist and they are well paid for
their anti-Communist rantings.
TN the l. f. r. U. press service we
4 find lively defense of the fascist
coup in Lithuania. At first the AM
sterdam secretariat was somewhat
vague about what was taking place.
Perhaps the fascists Unfortunately
arrested right as well as left trade
union leaders. "But it may now be
safely asserted that after the first
few days the Lithuanian government
recognized that its policy towards the
free trade unions which stand aloof
from politics, was a mistaken one,
and that it is now permitting them to
resume their normal activities" Sol
there you are. The fascists are sure
Of the loyalty of the right wing labor
leaders and allow them to resume
their normal activities. They are
not so sure Of the Communists so
they execute them.
7 T is quite in the natural order of
i things that the labor takers should
organize to preserve their positions.
They have vested interests in the capt.
talist system. Selling the labor pow
err of the union members and sellingI
the union members for a considerable
commission is lucrative employment.
Continued on page p