The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-06-07

well as he could, he had no scruples
which prevented him from trying tC
destroy the morale of the strikers by
parroting ruling class phrases rela-
tive to fright, Justice, "constitu-
etc.
Thomas's Hammersmith speech is a
fine sample of the kind of strike
breaking INDUCED in by the official
leadership and upon which the pres
ent tory government bases its belief
that it will encounter no serious op-
position from them.
Thomas said:
IF the people who talk about
fight to the finish carried it out in
that sense the country would not
be worth having at the end of it.
HAVE NEVER DISGUISED
AND l DO NOT DISGUISE NOW
THAT l HAVE NEVER BEEN IN
FAVOR OF THE PRINCIPAL OF
THE GENERAL STRIKE.
THE WORKERS HAVE NO
RIGHT TO SAY TO THE EN-
PLOYERS: "YOU MUST NEGO-
TIATE UNDER THREAT OF A
STRIKE" but it is equally RIGHT
AND JUST that the workers should
not be asked to carry on negotia-
tons under threat of lockout.
"FROM THE START I DE-
LIBERATELY WENT IN TO GET
PEACE. repeat that it is
the duty of both sides to keep the
door open"
RUT Thomas had declared himself
= still more clearly during the period
of negotiation and had given the rul-
ing class the cue that it is following
today:
81 am frequently asked why the
organized working class must not
make mass attack on the capt.
talist class. My answer to this is
that such an attack would not only
be directed against the capitalist
class, BUT AGAINST THE
WHOLE OF SOCIETY. In the
event of such an attack being sue
cessful it must logically lead TO
THE ASSUMPTION OF THE
GOVERNMENT BY THE MASSES.
BUT l DO NOT THINK THE
MASS OF WORKERS WANT TO
GET POWER BY SUCH BACK
STAIR METHODS. If the masses
are not intelligent enough to get
power thru the ballot box, they are
still less capable to achieve this aim
by violent means"
NOTHING could be palmer. Thomas,
~ like Macdonald, has no confidence
in the masses, fears their success if
and conscious that they
must fight the government-the con-
centrated force of the ruling class
if they are to win even purely indus
trial. demands in a period of declin-
ing capitalism.
A book could be filled with similar
"a quotations from all of the more
influential leaders with some few
like A. J. Cook, the fight
ing secretary of the miners union)
which show conclusively that not only
fear of the mass power of the labor
but a belief in the willing
ness of the official leadership to make
terms with the government which
would leave their parliamentary
untouched while strangling
centralized, disciplined and conscious
mass action in both industrial" and
political struggles, prompted the Bri-
tish ruling class to initiate the new
offensive against the labor movement.
IT is impossible of course to make
silk purse out of a sow's ear but
the fact stands out as clearly as Mac
Donald's mustache that the betrayal
Of the general strike and of the strug-
gle Of the miners, opened the way
for the present drive.
1t is equally clear that the refusal
Of the financial relief sent by the Rus
sian unions to the British working
class during the general strike Cater
accepted by the miners) and the fail
lre to carry out the campaign for
world trade union unity agreed TO
with the Russian labor movement. the
sabotage of the work of Anglo Rus
sian Trade Union Unity Committee
by The official leadership of the Cen
sral Council, opened the way to the
raid on the Soviet Union Trade Mis-
sion and the repetition of the "red
menace" maneuver.
WHILE it may be said that the
" tories do not show much original
ty in the present two-sided cam
oaign against the Soviet Union and
he British working class, it can be
said as we'll that they know the hearts
and minds of the official leader
he tories know that they are, like
themselves, stripped Of their Labor
'amouflage, imperialists to the cor
To those well-meaning persons VII
are always with us in times like thes>
nd who complain that this is no time