The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-05-23
TOLERANCE GROUP
JOINS STRUGGLE
TO REBUILD union
Affiliates to National
Organizing Committee

Completely severing whatever con-
nections they had with the Sigman-
Schlesinger clique in control of the
International Ladies' Garment Work
ers' Union, the Tolerance Group, an
organization of former right wingers,
issued an official statement yester-
day publicly affiliating themselves
with the National Organizing Com
mittee, formed by the left wing and
progressive delegates who were lock-
ed out of the Boston convention.
After participating in the destruc-
tive campaign carried on by Sigman
as his allies, which resulted in the
complete annihilation of union condi-
tions in the cloak and dressmaking
industry, the Tolerance Group al
though taking part in the fake con-
vention, came to the conclusion that
the only way in which bettered con-
ditions in the shops can be regained
lis by joining the N. o. c. in a cam
paign to drive from the union Sig
man, Schlesinger and their henchmen.
In the statement, which follows in
full, mention is made of Sigman's
manifesto. This refers to his fake
amnesty in which all but Commu-
nists are entitled to full membership
in the International. It was passed
at the so-called convention.
Former Sigman Allies.
Nineteen months ago, when the
General Executive Board carried thru
the reorganization and as a result
the largest locals of the New York
Joint Board were expelled, the Toll
erance Group entered into the strug-
gle with the sincere conviction that
the officials of the international were
fighting against the control of our
organization by a political party. In
the course of the struggle, however,
it became evident to us that far from
being fight to free the union from
party control, the entire expulsion
policy was laid down by the "For-
ward" and the socialist party-(t (this
was openly admitted by Abe Calm on
the open floor of the convention
where he stated that the expulsion
order was dictated to his own steno-
grapher in the office of the "For-
ward" )-and that personal interests
and ambitions of individual leaders
at the head of the union played the
dominant role in the whole struggle.
After we had been in the thick of
the fight for several months, we be-
gan to realize that to further con-
tinue the war would mean the COM
plete destruction of our union and
the return of the sweat-shop system
in our industry.
GAS workers whose chief aim is
strong and powerful union, the Toll
erance Group came forth with the de-
mand for an end to the war on a
basis where all elements in our union
would get together for the purpose of
rebuilding the organization and re-
storing union conditions. Our de-
mand to end the struggle is the wide
spread demand of the mass of the
membership of our union, as demon
strated by the fact that thousands of
registered workers signed the petit
tions issued by the Tolerance Group
demanding that the convention take
steps to make an end to the internal
struggle. 1t was our fervent hope
that the leaders of the International
would heed this widespread demand
of the workers and would lay the
basis for a peace at the Boston con-
vention that would make possible the
active cooperation of all elements in
our union.
Rejected Demands.
However, the officials of the In
ternational, both the Sigman and
Continued on Page Taoo)