The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-10-05
By EMIL GARDOS.

The building of a Labor Party in
a small industrial town offers certain
problems which we do not face in the
larger cities. The lack of working
class organizations, a militant spirit
manifesting itself in spite of the polit-
ical backwardness of the workers,
the linking up of the Labor Party
with the organization of the unor
gained, necessitates a study of this
question. For this reason the Labor
Party ticket in Garfield, N. j., holds
special interest for all of US.
During the last Passaic strike,
which was a splendid school for rails
ing the political consciousness of the
workers, Garfield, city with a popu-
lation of $1,000 was in the center of
the struggle. This was due not only
to the picket lines of the Forstmann-
Huffman and other mills in Gar
field, but also to the fact that it is
the residence of the great number
of textile workers. Trying to escape
the slums of the Passaic East Side,
they settled down in this suburb,
many of them living in their own
little family houses secured thru
heavy mortgages. Of the 5000 citi-
zens entitled to vote, 80 percent at
least are factory workers who are
mostly engaged in the textile mills
of Passaic and vicinity.
Interested In Politics.
The interest of these small-town
workers in politics is much keener
than in the larger cities. While the
city worker, living in the tenement
houses does not feel directly the
burden of taxation, to the small-town
worker who owns his own house,
politics expresses itself in taxes,
street paving, city improvements and
other local issues, which become q
part of his bread and butter prob
lens. He is trying to find his polit-
ical expression thru the participation
in the republican and democratic
parties where the different class in
terests manifest themselves in like
issues. Altho these parties are under
the control of the bosses, their make
up presents a different picture from
that of the same parties in the great
cities. The membership of the Sec
ond Ward Hungarian republican club
or the Italian democratic club con-
sists of a great majority of workers
with a few business men and fore
men in the leadership Most of these
politicians are agents of the mill
owners, but there are some who I'M
consciously are trying to represent
the interests of the workers.
Defeat Workers.
This is especially true during the
primaries when there are sometimes
workers fighting for nomination.
Naturally, big business, with the help
of the press and the party machine
always puts up its own man. If a
worker gets in by accident he is soon
corrupted. This is known to many
workers, but instead of their polit-
ical passivity, as is the case in the
larger cities, they remain within the
folds of the capitalist parties in an
effort to sway them in the interests
of the poor people. Such expressions
within the old parties must not be
ignored, but to the contrary, we must
utilize them when laying the basis
for Labor Party.
The present republican mayor of
Garfield and the majority Of the
councilmen are directly or indirectly
on the payroll of the mill-owners
Mayor Burke is the secretary of the
Botany mills and we have a few
| foremen in the council, not speaking
of the business men whose existence
depends on the good will of the
mighty corporations. During the
strike they naturally rushed to the
| help of the mill+owners. In spite of
the fact that the vast majority of
the voters were with the strikers,
| Burke Immediately hired extra police
men, saving even the expense of the
mill owners of hiring their own gun
men. This squandering of the strik-
ers' money to break the strike was
done without practically any dis
senting voice in the council.
Verge of Bankruptcy,
The city at the present time is on
the verge of bankruptcy. Taxes are
! higher than anywhere else. A loan
of $114,000 raised for building pur-
/ poses was grated by these strike
breakers. The payroll Of the city
employees was not paid this week
because of lack of funds. Mass I'M
! employment, pressing mortgages,
high taxation - this is the picture
of Garfield today.
/ This indicsment, however, did not
prevent the republican party, con-
trolling the majority of votes, from
renominating Burke for mayor, and