The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-06-12
By JOHN HARVEY.

When Mr.. Kelley of the United
Textile Workers Union directed
deputy sheriffs of Washington and
Carter counties (Tennessee) to ar
rest organizers of the National Tex
tile Workers Union and raid their
room in Johnson City, this Music
progressive had good reasons for
feeling nervous. For with Brother"
Hoffman and other members Of this
group he had just put over one of
the worst betrayals in the history
of the American labor movement.
And though he had banked on the
inexperience of the workers of
Happy Valley who have only re-
Gently entered the rayon mills from
the farms, he knew that nothing
would be more disastrous than for
these workers to be told the truth
about the U. T. W. sell-out.
Especially at a time when all of
Happy Valley is seething with dis
satisfaction over the terms of the
settlement.
Wanted Names.
This was made clear in the more
than four hours during which we
were held under arrest in the room
of our boarding house in johnson
City (Bill Dunno, special organizer
of the N. T. W. u, Walter Trum-
bull, representing the International
Labor Defense, five Gastonia strik-
ers including Fred Beal, Southern
Organizer of the N. T. w. u, and
myself), when the deputies seized
only the leaflets addressed to the
workers of the Bemberg and CLAM
stoff mills telling of the sell-out
and ransacked our room mainly in
search of names of Elizabethton
workers with whom we had connec-
tions. This was made clear again
when Kelly of the U. T. w. entered
the room in which we were being
held under arrest, and after trying
to pass himself off as government
officer, waved his arms and shouted
eff you make any attacks on me I'll
take the law into my own hands,,
i.e., if we told the truth about his
role in betraying the strike.
Background of Betrayal.
What were the truths contained
in this leaflet of the N. T. w. U.
which Kelly so feared the workers
of Happy Valley would read?
On Friday, May oath, the strike
of the rayon workers in Elizabeth
ton, Tennessee, was in it's sixth
week. Despite all pacifying efforts
on the part of Kelly, Hoffman, Nc
Grady & Co. the local workers were
showing great militancy. This mill
fancy was winning the sympathy of
workers turnout the country and as
a result relief for the strikers was
pouring into Elizabethton in large
sums. The strike was at its height.
The strike was winning. No one
thought of calling it off until some
thing had been won for the workers.
That is no one but Kelly Hoffman,
McGrady, and the government con-
ciliator, Weinstock.
At Fridays meeting the speakers
all called for the continuation of the
strike until the union was fully
recognized, and said that none would
go back until all were taken back.
But on Saturday, May 25th, the
strike was suddenly surrendered by
the U. T. W. leaders without the
winning of a single demand, after
consultations with the companies
behind the backs of the workers,
through the government conciliator,
Weinstock. But it was not enough
for these Headers" to send workers
back to the mills to face the same
intolerable conditions against which
they had gone on strike, but these
so-called progressives, Kelly and
Hoffman, conspired with the com
pany officials and Weinstock to in