The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-05-01
Bv ALEX BAIL

JnaC OF 1871. - May Lay
finds the workers in the most I'M
portant industry oppressed to the
lowest level, starved out on the Joo
and sped up in the most brutal and
brutalizing manner. The textile IN
dustry. highly centralized and IN
terlocking with textile interests III
other sections of the country. An
industry which is declining and
whose lords and barons ruthlessly
slash wages in order to retain their
swoolen profits. 1t is on this indus
try that 100000 workers and many
more thousands Of women and chill
dren are dependent for their daily
bread.
10000 Fight Wage Cut.
May Day, 1928, finds these masses
of textile workers in motion against
the offensive of the bosses. In
Manchester a third cut of 10 per
cent is expected and the workers
know full well that the company
union in the Amoskeague is an in
strument of the bosses which will
help to put over the cut. In Law
renee. Lowell and Providence active
organization work is proceeding
Waltham is preparing to challenge
a 10 to 18 per cent cut. Fall River,
sold out by the leadership of the
American Federation of Textile OPP
eratives. is biding its time to swing
into open resistance against the
bosses. Sporadic strikes are break
ing out in Paws&Icket and other
centers.
But the very spearhead' of resist
ance against the wage-slash,ng
drive of the bosses is New Bedford
Here the 10000 workers have SAID
clearly and decisively wage cuts
must stop The effectiveness of the
general walkout on April Is is in
dicative of the determination Of the
workers to stand and fight. The fact
that this was the first general strike
in the last sixteen years gives en-
phasis to this determination.
The Textile Manufacturers Assoc
citation gives as the reason for the
wage cuts, the decline in the textile
industry; competition with the
South; the acceptance Of the cut in
many centers of New England, and
the drastic wage reductions in the
textile industry in England
Mill Barons' Profits.
The facts, however, are quite diff
ferent. The textile industry in the
country today ranks eighth in the
amount of capital invested but is
fourth in profits. What does this
mean? The conditions existing if
the mills Of New England give the
'. :Sfissss~saasa2-. Although Jnd " has de-
clined. the break-neci which
has been instituted in : . Is more
than makes up, in profits, for the de-
cline. The eight-hour day has be-
come almost dream of the past
and especially the night shifts in nu-
merous mills are working twelve to
fourteen hours. Wages have de-
clined to about half Of what they
were eight years ago. The result
is enormous profits for compare
lively small investments. The de-
preston, therefore, is not borne by
the textile barons but is shifted to
the working class.
The ptance Of wage cuts in
NUMEROUS textile centers stands
as the most damning indictment
against the leadership of the United
Textile Workers as we'll as the lead
ership of the American Federation
of Textile Operatives. Not only was
there no effort made to develop
sentiment for resisting the often
sive but efforts at resistance were
stamped out and strike movements
were paralyzed- in Fall River.
Under these circumstances the
struggle now being developed in
New Bedford assumes even greater
Importance Also here we find the
leadership of the A. F. 7. 0. tagging
behind the movement, proposing to
postpone the announcement Of the
strike vote, which would have helped
to demorolize the ranks of the work
ers. The failure to provide for
picketing is additional evidence that
the leadership did not intend to en-
ter into struggle with the bosses.
The failure to begin drive to or
ganize $4,000 unorganized workers
proves not only the failure but also
the rufusal to organize the unskiled
workers.
The timely entry of the Textile
Mill Committees into the situation
cannot be overestimated. From
the very first the Mill Committees
took the initiative and have kept it
to this day. 1t was the Textile Mill
Committees which crystallized strike
sentiment among the thousands of
unorganiZed workers and brought
out hundreds Of workers to the mass
meetings. 1t was the Textile Mil
Committees which frustrated the eff
forts at postponement since the
workers RESPONDED To tho Tav+iIa