The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-08-10

lean Federation of Labor and its
recent convention at Washington.
Notwithstanding the many polite
assurances of autonomy for all affili-
ated organization which are reiter-
ated at each succeeding convention,
the so-called Pan-American Fedora
ton of Labor constitutes an unmis-
taxable attempt on the part of the
/ A. F. of L. officialdom to penetrate
the Latin-American labor movement
and force it along definite line
American Owned.
There can be no question as to
where the effective control of the
"Pan-American" body lies. It's head
quarters are in the A. F. of L. build
ing at Washington. It's president is.
and has always been, the president of
the A. F. of L. Three of its four Of
flcers are members of the A. F. of
L. Three of its five conventions have
been held in the United States, and
at every one of those conventions the
functioning head of every committee
without exception has been delegate
of the A. F. of L. No resolution has
ever been adopted without the support
of the A. F. of l.. delegates. Seldom
has there been anything like contest
on the floor and nearly every decision
| las been unanimous.
The history of the Pan American
Federation, therefore, is the history
Of the foreign policy" of the A. F.
Of L. machine.
American capital now exploits work
ers in every country of the Americas.
American imperialist CAPITALISM has
established it's protectorates in the
West Indies and in Central America.
has made the Caribbean IAN American.
lake" and threatens the national in
! dependence of a score of Latin-Amer-
lean countries. Out of these facts
there has arisen a natural impulse
toward an-American labor unity
r"ainst the lords of Wall Street and.
Washington. The "Pan-American
Federation of Labor" a paper or
ganization as far as most of Latin
! America is concerned, was created to
profit by and to distort his natural
impulse.
Unless we appreciate that it is a
creature of the A. F. of L. bureau
eratsA we shall not be able to- under
stand the role of the P. A. F. of L.
in the contemporary period of adj
vaneing American Imperialism.
Trade Union Imperialists.
Readers of The DAILY WORKER
do not have to be told that Green,
Vol, Noonan and their henchmen do
not represent the interests of the work
ingclass in the United States Oh any
whore else. Basing themselves upon
the upper strata of privileged work
ers, they represent labor aristocracy
which has been permitted to share in
tiny portion of the profits of Amer
lean capitalist exploitation, and which
IN return has accepted the point of
view of the ruling class. Unable to
realize that its own ultimate fate
must be bound up with that of the
workingclass as a whole, the labor
aritocracy has shown a tendency to
desert the struggle of the underpaid
workers of the textile factories, the
steel mills and the coal mines. The
labor takers Green, Woll, etc.) carry
this tendency still further. They lead
the way to the conversion of the trade
unions from organs of militant strug-
gle into organs of Tabor banking"
labor insurance, 'trade-union capi-
talism," "class collaboration" in all
its forms. Thru the ordinary instru-
mentalities of business under these
circumstances Tabor capital becomes
involved in the whole complex of
American capitalism, is drawn into the
general stream of the banking sys-
tenn, and part of it is exported abroad
as part of the billion and a quarter
dollars which the United States in
vests in Latin-America and other for
eign countries every year. Thus a sec
ton of the workers is partner, altho
on an insignificant scale, in the super
profits of colonial and semi-colonial
investment, wrung from intensely ex-
ported semi-colonial labor whose lower
living standards are brought into COM
petition with the standards of the
mass of American workers.
The labor takers, who lead life
more akin to that of the capitalists
than of the workers, join the National
Civic Federation, in company with
some of the foremost "open-shoppers"
of the country. They invite the Amer
lean Legion to send speakers to A.
F. of L. conventions. They put thru
resolutions endorsing the military
training camps. They act in the la
Dor movement as the conscious or un-
ton against the Soviet Union d
ing with the hated Bolsheviks tn
n