The daily worker., 1928-11-06
By V. @. Chicago.


! This is an appeal to machinists,
primarily to members of the Inter
national Association of Machinists.
Communism is not new to you.
Our Grand Lodge officers have re-
ferred time and time again to the
danger" from Communism and the
Communists.
What have you to fear from the
Communists? Let us analyze for a
moment the program of the Com
munists and the other political par
ties, and see which of these offers
a solution to our problems.
A Program for You.
The Communists urge you to de-
fend your interests. To see that the
machine industry is organized to in
clude all workers, to smash injunc-
tions by mass picketing in order to
win strikes for better conditions, to
build up party of labor on the po-
litical field, to demand federal laws
for social legislation, for old age
pensions, unemployment insurance at
the expense of the government and
the employers, the government to
raise it's share by inheritance taxes
and taxing the swollen incomes OF
the rich. To establish industrial
unions through the amalgamation of
the craft unions in the metal indus
try.
These are some of the immediate
measures the Communists have
urged and urge you to adopt. These
) are not new to you, either. You have
heard them advocated in the lodge
room. Is not this correct pro-
gram? Will it not meet the situa-
ton? Of course, it will.
Reactionaries' Program.
But the Grand Lodge officialdom
has a different program. They re-
fuse to organize the masses of the
unorganized; they maintain the
union for the skilled workers prim-
arily, despite the changing industry
which is undermining skill. Injunc-
tions are permitted to break strikes.
the union appealing in vain to the
courts. This happened in the Amer
ican oven strike in Chicago, when
the bewhiskered democratic poll
tician, J. Ham Lewis, was hired by
the Chicago district lodge of the
|. A. of M. and the Chicago Fed
Grafton of Labor. The result: lost
strike and nothing accomplished.
The last convention of the l. A.
, cf M. in Atlanta, Georgia, defeated
the proposition cf a federal law COW
ering the entire country for unem-
ployment and old age insurance, vot-
! ing instead for state laws. Workers
are to pay one-third of the expense
cut of their meagre pay envelope.
The convention, exceedingly reac-
tionary, voted down amalgamation;
it extended the term of office of the
Grand Lodge officers from two to
four years. The union has become
the private property of the ruling
clique. Elections and referendums
are counted by the Grand Lodge;
how well they can count is demon
strated by 1925, when they stole the
Grand Lodge elections to keep them
selves in office.
Which Program?
Which of these programs will you
/, support? The Communist program
for increasing the power of the
working class to fight for better con-
ditions? Or the Grand Lodge policy
of the B. & 0. Plan, the policy of
surrender to the employers? The
Communist program is the program
, of the progressive elements, Of all
honest workers inside of the /, A
! of M.
Which Party?
The Communists have their owr
ticket in the field The Grand Lodge
officers vote for republicans and fol-
= democrats. You know the Commu-
mist stand on these questions. But
how about the other parties?
The old parties, the republicans
a and the democrats, have done al
: they could to crush labor. Under
their administrations crushing in
functions have been issued. The
Railway Labor Board has been ar
l instrument in the hands Of the labor
barons, as was admitted by the of.
ficers' report to the Atlanta Conven-
tion. Both old parties are supported
by the worst open shop companies.
I. The Atlanta convention adopted
4 the traditional A. F. Of L. policy, OF
: reward your friends and punish
your enemies" 1t did not endorse
any candidate for president, but
, urged the members to study the rec
ords of the candidates. On that
; basis, which candidate is more de-
f. serving of support by machinists
! than the leader of the great steel
! strike of 1919, William z. Foster :?
: But it is the program of the parties
: that is vital; the candidate is a sec