The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-11-13
HILFERS is STILL
TRYING MICHELIN
STRIKE SELLoUT
Attack Young Worker
at Meet to Betray
Struggle
Exclude All Militants
Michelin Bosses. Assist
Takers Treachery
Especial to the Daily Yorker

of Michelin rubber strikers to his
meeting in South River today until
they were herded up in the bosses
cars, Harry Hilfers, American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor organizer for New
Jersey, vented his frustrated fury on
a seventeen-year-old young worker
whom he attempted to beat up. The
young worker was distributing
copies of the Daily Worker at the
gates of the meeting which Hilfers,
with the assistance of the Michelin
bosses, had called to betray the
strikers and smash the week old
struggle of the rubber workers.
Handful At Meeting.
The meeting which Hilfers called
for $3.50 in the morning showed only
handful of workers in the cold
and dirty back yard of a remote
store in South River at ten o'clock
( today.
Prominent in the little knot,
which the labor faker had called to-
gether for the alleged purpose of
deciding whether or not the strik-
ers should return to slavery in the
Michelin mill, were the skulking,
but well dressed, figures of Hiifers'
lieutenants in misleading the strik-
ers.
They were busy scurrying among
the lineup of thugs, notable among
whom was the tall fair haired gor-
lila who helped slug Samuel Brody,
labor organizer, and A. Hoffman,
militant picket, last Friday. A num-
Der of fresh thug recruits were
also present, apparently to herd the
strikers into the yard for this spe-
cial occasion.
The arrival of four militants with
copies of the Daily Worker of Nov.
IL, exposing Hilfers as a faker,
aroused Hilfers, who had been
quietly powowing with the strikers
and having things all his own way.
Take Daily Eagerly.
The strikers eagerly took the
Daily Worker from the hands of the
distributors, Harry Hilfers himself
leaving the shelter of the fenced
yard, guarded by his thugs, to re-
ceive one.
The interest of the strikers en-
ragged the labor faker, who sudden
ly sprang at Ben Intrator, member
of the Young Workers League, and
the youngest worker present and
grabbed hinDby the neck. Hilfers
is six footer, mature and heavy
set man, while Ben Intrator is a
youth, but the young militant
stood his ground until his opponent
was dragged off by another dis
tributor.
Infuriated at the realization that
his action was cowardly and ridicu-
lous, and by the open disgust of
the strikers, Hilfers ordered a
group of young American workers
from the Michelin plant, as well as
his thugs, to rush the militants off
the sidewalk where they protested
they had right to stand. "Drive
them out, you, drive them out of
here, they're no damn good to you,"
Hilfersx shouted, pointing to the
militants, trying to push his thugs
forward while the four militants
stood quietly waiting for what
would happen. But the thugs
showed up better than their faker
master and merely stood still. The
American workers began to smile
at the odds, four to twenty.
Michelin Aids Hilfers.
At the same time, number of
the strikers, Disguised, broke from
the meeting and left to discuss the
situation on nearby street.
Hilfers Immediately telephoned
for aid to prevent his meeting from
melting away under his eyes and
automobiles, belonging to depart
ment heads and foremen of the
Michelin plant, were quickly pressed
into service to rush every available
striker from Midtown to the South
River meeting.
While Hilfers' thugs stood along
the inside of the fence and called
to whatever strikers appeared on
the street, "Come in, boys, come on
in, boys" every worker who en-
tered the fenced yard was compelled
to show a brass disk, issued thru
an understanding between Hilfers
and the Michelin bosses.
These disks were presumably is
sued to every worker in the Mich
elm tire plant, but the thugs at the
gate refused admittance to A.
Hoffman, militant picket, and other
Greek and Spanish strikers who
were suspected Of understanding
the scheme of betrayal with which
Hilfers is preparing to smash the
rubber workers. strike.
Exclude Michelin Workers.
These excluded strikers again
and again made efforts to gain
legitimate admission, as Michelin
strikers, to a meeting called to con-
slider the strike. Hilfers finally
II Continued on Page Three