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

"Shy' HSdN VI Aie AlduS OHADuo VI |
5 testimony to the desperate situation
in which it finds itself and to it's fear
of the power of the masses mani
tested in the general strike of last
May.
To further weaken both the unions
and the authority of public officials
which they elect, the bill has a special
section making it illegal for munich
pal authorities to stipulate member
ship in union as a qualification for
employment on public works.
Workers on public enterprises are
forbidden to quit their employment
without the legal notification, either
as individuals or as members of a
union under penalty of a $50 fine or
three months Imprisonment.
In the United States we would call
this legalization of the "open shop"
and the abolition of the right to
strike on any city, county, state or
government enterprise.
THE final section of the bill holds
out great inducements to stool
pigeons and all agents of the capital
lists and the government who for one
reason or another have joined
union. Any member of a union is
allowed to apply for an injunction to
prevent the spending Of union funds
in any manner to which he takes OBJ
lection.
The attorney-general is also au-
thorized to proceed against any union
on this ground at any time even tho
no member has made a complaint.
ALL in all the British Trade Union
4Abill is a masterpiece Of class legis-
lation designed to make of the trade
unions the "bread and butter" or
CARNATIONS they were in the period
Of British capitalist stability, to de-
prive them of all militancy and to
make any effective political activity
impossible.
One reason for this vicious attack
on the labor movement is quite OBJ
vious-the loss by Britain of her
/ monopolist position in the world mar
kets, the centrifugal tendencies WISH
bic in the empire, the rise of the ma
tionalist and worker and peasant
movements in the colonial and semi
colonial countries, the penetration of
American capital into British DOM
inions like Canada and Australia
tend to make it impossible for the
British rulingclass to maintain its
former level of income without lower
ing the living standard Of the masses.
IT seeks therefore to recoup its
losses at the expense of the work
ers, while at the same time attempt
ing to weaken their powers of re-
sistance. Its attack on the political
activities of the unions is to be ex-
planned by the fact that, due to its
falling income, in turn due to the
increasingly precarious nature of its
colonial holdings, the rulingclass can
no longer, at least to the extent that
prevailed in the past, placate the
British workers at the expense of
colonial slaves.
Struggles for increased wages
even struggles or maintenance of
existing standards-better working
conditions, etc. tend more and more
to develop into sharp political strug-
/ giles. (The effort Of the miners to
preserve their conditions brought on
the general strike)
THESE facts alone, however, do not
explain the sharpness of the pres
ent attack-an attack which cannot
be separated from the offensive
against the Soviet Union, an offensive
which the rulingclass planned to de-
velop into political justification for
the Trade Union bill.
Further reason for the present at
tack can be sought for and found in
the miserable owardice and
treachery of the official leadership
of the Labor Party and the Trade
Union Council.
VIHEN the leadership of the Labor
+" Party and the Trade Union Con-
gress with minor exceptions) called
off the general strike, surrendered to
the government, announced their OPP
position to any but constitutional"
methods and deserted the miners, the
Trade Union bill was conceived.
It has not been born at this wri-
ting, but all during the period of its
pregnancy it has been nourished on
the acts and utterances Of The re-
formist leadership of the British ia
Dor movement
ITO be continued)