The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-12-19
Misleaders in
the American
Labor Unions
By WILLIAM Z. FOSTER


York building trades for several
years prior to 1903 when his labor
career came to a stop. He was the
skinny" Madden of New York.
Walking delegate of the House
smiths and Bridgemen's Union, he
was also. dictator of the Board of
Building Trades, central body COM
posed of the representative of 80
building unions. He was a tough
bruiser, who boosted of having had
as many as 20 fights in one day.
R. S. Baker thus describes him (Mc-
Cures Magazine, Nov, 1909:
"a striking and impressive figure.
A County Down Irishman, 40 years
old, all his life long he had done the
toughest, hardest work, river driver
and lumberman in the North Woods,
coal HEAVIER on the lake docks, rous-
tabout-sailor, railroad brakeman,
bridge builder; time was when, I'M
erringly balanced on a steel beam,
200 feet in blue space, he could
drive more rivets to the hour than
any man in the trade. A rough,
tough nut of a man who loves to
fight, he says, better than to eat.
Ignorant, bully, swaggerer, a
criminal in his instincts, inarticulate
except in abuse and blasphemy, with
no argument but his proficient and
rocky fists, he yet possesses those
curious faculties of leadership, that
strange force of personality, that
certain loyalty to his immediate
henchmen familiar among ward
politicians-so that he. could hold
his union with a hand of iron. No,
it is not strange. Tweed ruled and
robbed New York for years; only
yesterday Croker was our king;
Quay bosses Pennsylvania. They
are all of stripe, all bosses; Parks
little rougher and ruder, perhaps,
but the same sort"
Parks was brought to New York
in the nineties from Chicago as a
non-union worker by the big G. A.
eddy he remained an agent of this
company and was used by them
against their competitors while he
was the head of his union. 1t was
an era of corruption in the building
trades, and Parks was in the thick
of it. For example: in 1902 the
Amalgamated Associated, controll-
ing the New York painters, demand
ed an increase in wages. Where
upon the employers gave a fund cf
1900 to various labor takers to
bring the rival union, the Brother
hood of Painters and Decorators,
into New York. This body signed
a scale of 1928 to $3.50 per day,
against $500 and $3.50 demanded
by the A. A. Another example is
that of Murphy of the stone cutters,
who stole $4,000 from his unior,
for which he was sent to Sing Sing.
Parks plunged deeply into corrup-
ton, using the familiar methods Of
"strike insurance" "fines," "pilfer-
ing the union," etc. But the jobs Of
his employer, the Fuller Co., went
ahead undisturbed. He was exposed
as a CRATER as prelude to the
great building lockout of 1903. As
usual, the employers bribed him to
do their work during peace in the
industry and then exposed him in
order to discredit and demoralize
the unions when "war" doomed.
Parks was sent to Sing Sing for
blackmail in 1908, but his powerful
political connections had him re-
leased in few days. Crowds greet
ed him at the Grand Central Sta
ton upon his return. The Nation
of September 10, 1908, says: "The
enthusiasm could hardly have been
greater if he had returned from a
successful engagement with for
eign enemy, instead of coming for
temporary respite from the peni-
tertiary" Six days. after his release
Parks led great Labor Day parade
in New York. Finally, however, he
was returned to Sing Sing, where,
after being expelled by his union,
he died.
De Leon, in an editorial in 1908,
thus characterized the activities of
Parks and his cronies:
Murphy and Parks played fast
and loose with the welfare of their
rank and file. According as the
prurient maggot of corrupt desire
bit these gentlemen, their rank and
file were thrown out of work or
ordered back. Strikes thus ordered,
or Settled" or threatened were the
trade of these gentlemen and the
rank and file figures but as cattle
that were led to and from the
shambles to be skinned by their en-
ployers, or to be slaughtered by the
takers. Of course, in the process the
capitalist was blackmailed, but the
Matchmaking was but an incident
. 1t may be said literally that
the money blackmailed from the en-
ployers is the gathered drops of
blood that the rank and file have
been made to shed in bogus strikes"
The 1916 Carpenters Strike.
In the 20 years between the pic
turesque Parks and the notorious
Brindell, the New York building
trades were constantly afflicted with
graft of all sorts. Colorless and I'M
scrupulous takers galore sold out
,,.o b1o 4r-,I Il -.