davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12
BY W z. FOSTER.

Before~ehtering into the merits of
my article appearing in the latest
number of 1.-THE Communist" which
lis now the center of such extended
discussion, it is first necessary to
determine whether or not the line
presented in the article is new,
whether or not it is simply my
own ideas that l am now bringing
forward suddenly to the Party.
Such an accusation is made by
the Minority statement of Comrade
Bittelman and others. Almost with
indignation they declare, eve dis
agree fundamentally with the analy-
sis and point of view expressed by
Comrade Foster in the article,
which sharply departs from the line
developed by the Minority"
The Majority polemic, on the other
hand, does not make me person
ally responsible but blames it on
the Minority generally, saying, "The
whole conception of Comrade Fos-
ter and his associates in the Party,
which looks so radical at first
glance, is in reality an opportunist
conception, a Right deviation from
the correct line of the Coz. munist
international"
Thus both Majority and Minority
solemnly swear themselves loose
from the line of the article, the
former blaming it upon the whole
Minority and the latter ascribing it
to me personally. But l dispute both
these contentious most emphatical-
~. 1 assert, and will prove, that
the general line of the article was
until recent weeks the accepted
theory of both Majority and Minor
ity. These comrades are now try
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12
Gold, Olgin, Arrested
Pickets, Will Address
w. |. r. Ball Friday

Ben Gold, strike leader of the
militant Needle Trades Workers In
dustrial Union and Moissaye Olgin,
editor of The Hammer, who were
both arrested on the picket line this
morning, will address the needle
workers strike benefit ball Friday
evening at the Pythian Temple, 10th
ST.. east of Broadway, given by To-
cal New York, Workers Interna-
tional Relief.
Workers organizations that are
selling tickets or that have pur-
chased blocks of tickets, are re-
quested to turn in proceeds by to-
morrow. Organizations that have
not yet bought tickets are asked to
communicate Immediately with To-
cal New York, Workers Interna-
tional Relief, 1893 Broadway, Room
226.
Language organizations are asked
to communicate with the w. |. R.
local office about participating in
the program of workers and peas
ants costumes and dances.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12

both ends of the picket line at once,
and attempt to turn it back on its
course. But new lines sprang up as
if by magic, the picket lines kept
growing larger.
Sing international"
Huge crowds gathered as the pic
kets were herded into emergency
fire engine patrols, with ladders
strapped to their sides, and speeded
to the West 30th st. police station.
The pickets sang Solidarity; "Hold
the Fort; "On the Picket Line" and
the International as truckload after
truckload of pickets whizzed through
the streets to the 30th st. station.
There the strikers were registered,
card indexed, questioned, and afte1,
being kept waiting from eight in
the morning until one o'clock, were
again loaded trucks and trans
ferred to the jefferson Market
Police Court, where large number
of them, more than one hundred,
were kept waiting until 4 p. m.
AS | walked with friends in the
picket line number of police sud-
denly darted out, said, Here, YOU"
and showed me into garage pas
sageway. After number had been
collected in this manner, some of
them not having any connection
with the strike, but being innocent
passersby, we were marched across
the street where we waited for the
fire patrol, meanwhile answering
the songs and cheers of the passing
pickets and booing Schlesinger and
the scab socialist party members as
ISOLATED with his strikebreaking
In the jefferson Market Court Q
truck load of us were kept crammed
into a truck so tight there was nc
room to move around, waiting fol
one hour. Then we were moved into
the detention cells, fifty and more
in a cell meant for a quarter Of that
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12
g. Off With the Old Line, On With the New (Sub Rosa)

of the old unions. He ignores and
leaves out the theory of company
unionizing the trade unions, which
is now being discarded by the Min
GRITTY. And as for the so-called
merger of social reformism and
bourgeois reformism, he gets rid of
that by torturing and wrenching the
Minority thesis in its key paragraph
from the old line to the new one
through butchering its text. In the
Minority statement criticizing my
article he quotes from our thesis.
The following is the quotation, to-
gether with those vitality important
parts of the original text, which he
left out. have inserted and capital
lied them:
Through the petty bourgeois
and labor agents of big capital the
poisonous bourgeois resormism
finds its way into the working
class. There it appears i'll the
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12
ONLY ONE HOUR
NEEDED TO WIN
ANOTHER STRIKE
Union Sends Out Call
for Aid

After two weeks strike, the
workers of the Shirley Shoe Co., 10
E. 18th St., yesterday forced the
bosses to capitulate, granting all
their demands and recognizing the
Independent Shoe Workers Union,
Of which the striking crew of 80 are
members. BY winning the strike,
the union forced the Shirley bosses
to rescind wage cut Of per cent.
From now on all workers in the
shop will have to be members of the
union. No contractors jobs will be
allowed.
At the Leader Shoe Co, 221
Powell ST., Brooklyn, a strike last
!. ing only one hour was sufficient to
force the employer to grant the de-.
mand of the fifteen strikers--recog-
milton Of the Independent Shoe
Workers Union. The solidarity of
I the strikers brought an appeal for
settlement from the bosses before
the workers had even begun picket
ing.
/ Picketing is still being continued
at the Schwartz and Benjamin Shoe
Co., 1872 Noll ST., Brooklyn. Enthu-
siasm runs high among the 65 work
ers out on strike there, especially
ssince the other strikes of the union
lEhave been won. The workers hold
ioaily meetings to decide their tao
ltics and policy during the day at
the Flushing Mansion Hall, 1890
Flushing Ave-, strike headquarters.
4 Capitulation from the bosses is ex-
\ pected soon.
1 All these struggles, part of the
crganizational campaign Of the In
dependent Shoe Workers Union, are
bringing continued response from
1.-THE workers in the shops. New mem
hers are being won for the union
daily and sentiment for the mill
tant union grows steadily.
The union, however, with the
prospect Of many more such strug-
giles ON hand. appeals for contribu-
lions from all workers to aid it in
4 campaign for members and for
ie continuance of the struggle
yainst the bosses. Contributions
hould be sent to the headquarters
IF the union, 81 E. Tenth St., inn
nadiately.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12

This is the first of several articles by Comrade Foster
relating criticisms of his article entitled The Decline
the American Federation of Labor published in the
current number of "The Communist, monthly theoretical
organ of the Workers (Communst Party. The first cr
csmby the editor of 'The Communist"-accompanied the
original article in The Communist The second criticism
was published in Mondays issue of the Daily Worker and
was signed by Comrades Bittelman Browder, Aronberg
Hathaway Wagenknecht, Cosrell Gomez and Grecht.
statement by the Central Executive Committee of the
Workers Communst) Party, dealing with the Biteman
Opposons declaration against Comrade Foster and also
with this reply by Comrade Foster will appear in early
issue of the Daily Worker.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12
debeuu Shoe Workers Union Two Week Struggle Against Shirley Co

were told keep moving, keep moN
ing" and marshalled out. We wen
somewhat puzzled to find cut whs
was taking place, and were told ths
we were dismissed "for lack of ev
dence." Earlier in the day whe
some strikers told the judge the
would not pay fines, he called thel
"impertinent" and levied sentenc
of five days in jail.
The mass picket demonstrate
proves the tremendous support be
ing accorded the strike and the pow
er Of the Needle Trades Worker
Industrial Union. 1t exposes tn
Schlesinger union and the socialis
party as allies of the bosses and tn
police. 1t gives promise of eve
greater demonstrations bigger pick
ct lines, and an early victory fo
the strikers.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12
MANY ARRESTS
AS ENPL OVERS
GROW DESPERATE
Cheering PickctsCroWd
Garment District

Continued from Page One)
hardly enough for their barest
needs.
The Proletcos Cooperative Res
taurant, 26 Union Square, supplied
sandwiches to the arrested pickets
while they were in the cells.
When they appeared in Jefferson
Market Court before Magistrate
Abraham Rosenbluth ten of the
pickets were fined 81 each, while
two, Fay Losoff and Louis Nelson,
were given five days in the work
house for the heinous "crirne" of
protesting the fines.
Abraham Ruben was fined S25 and
Mary Cohen $50 on assault charges.
Three women, who had merely been
watching the picket demonstration,
were fined SIS. All the other workers
were dismissed. Samuel Markewich.
lawyer for the bosses and the In
ternational company union, appear
ed against the arrested pickets.
In order to give the police an ex-
cuse for increasing their activities
against the strikers, Magistrate
Rosenbluth ordered that all pickets
must in the future wear identified
ton signs.
Other Trades Show Solidarity.
Among the thousands of work.
l'ers on the picketlines yesterday
were many workers Of other trades
in an expression of solidarity with
the striking dressmakers. The Work
ers (Communist) Party and the
Young Workers (Communist)
League were strongly represented.
The nnlich in addition to the MAJ
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12
REPLY COdRADE FOSTER
JANUARY-FEBRUARY NUMBER COMMUNIST

ton and decentralization of the
workers. Through the petty bour-
geois and labor agents of big cap
ital the poison of bourgeois re-
forrlism finds its way into the
working class. There it appears
in the garb of Glass coliabora-
tion," ''the higher strategy of la
bor," ''LaF olletism,' petty bour-
geois socialism and reformism,
pacifism, etc. The labor bureau
cracy, the socialist party, the So
called liberal churchmen, the lib
erals and proeressives in the re-
publican and democratic parties,
the host of bourgeois economists
and efficiency experts-all these
constitute the channels through
which bourgeois and petty bOur-
gaois reformism-the servants of
big capital, are attempting to
break the developing resistance of
the masses to capitalist rational
izaticn and war preparations"
Comrade Bittelman and | disputed
a little over this paragraph, which is
the same general line as
my article. Almost at the end of
our task of writing the thesis pro-
posed to list the words capitalist
socialism" together with
"the higher strategy Of labor" ETC.,
but Comrade Bittelman demurred
stating that a paragraph would be
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12
Q) THE DECLINE OF THE OLD UNIONS.

ton not only by the Minority but
they were also not challenged in
the discussion by the Majority, who
had the same idea. 1t is only now,
when these comrades put forth
new line surreptitiously, that objec-
ton to them is raised upon their
disappearance in my article.
But this theory Of the decline of
the trade unions was not something
that we first developed in the pres
ent Minority thesis. 1t also occurs
in dozens of documents, articles, ETC.,
of the past few years. So much i'm
portance did we attach to this idea
that in the document "The Right
Danger in the American Party" we
accused the Majority of "Underes-
timation CT the crisis in the trade
unions" which they Indignantly de-
MED. They even claimed to see a
bigger crisis than we did. Nor were
they without ample documentary
evidence of theirs on the decline. :"
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12
PARTY PRE-CONVENTION DISCUSSION SECTION

garb of class collaboration, 'th
higher strategy of labor IaFol
letism, petty bourgeois socialism
and reformism, pacifism, etc. TIL
labor bureaucracy, the socialis
party. THE SO-CALLED LIBER
AL CHURCHMEN, THE LIBER
AIS AND PROGRESSIVES II
THE REPUBLICAN AND DEM
OCRA TIC PARTIES, TIL
HOST OF BOURGEOIS ECON
OMISTS AND EFFICIENCY Elk
PERTS-ALL THESE, CONSTI
TUTE THE CHANNELS THRU
W Fl I c H BOURGEOIS AM
PETTY BOURGEOIS REFORM
ISM-THE SERVANTS OF BIZ
CAPITAL--are attempting t
break the developing resistance
the masses to capitalist ration
alization and war preparations
Hence the Party WHILl
WAGING A STR GIL
AGAINST JINGOISM AND MIL
ITARISM must concentrate it
main attack upon exposing and de
feating reformism and pacifisn
among the working Masses"
Here is a studied attempt
change the line of the Minori
thesis, in the dark of the moon,
to speak. In the original text, nov
ever wrongly, the main attack of Il
Party in exposing and defeating
formism is directed, not only again
the labor bureaucracy and the
cialist party, as the text torture
by Comrade Bittelman would ha'
it, but against the labor burea
cracy and the socialist party PLU
the liberal churchmen, progressive
engineers, etc. This is a vital ma
ter. It is exactly the thing which
SO violently criticized in my articl
1t touches the heart of the who
controversy. Only by slaughterir
off the liberal churchmen, progre'
sives, engineers, ETC., by simply Gu
ting them all out of the text an
putting four dots in their place, ca
Comrade Bittelman make the thes
concentrate the main Party attack
the labor bureaucracy and socialis
party in the struggle against II,
formism. Such manipulation is {
course totally impermissible.
In this article l have made tw
things stand out clearly "a tbs
both the Majority and the Minorit
theses contain the same line as m
article, (2) that the comrades al
now using impermissible means t
change their line. If, as they sa,
I have grossly underestimate til
role Of social reformism, they al
equally guilty. But we shall e>
aminc all this later. In further al
ticles l shall deal with the merit
and defects of my article in detail
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12

arrests, also beat many workers IN
an effort to drive them away from
the picketlines. The workers show
ed. however, that they would not
submit meekly to police assaults.
One such incident occurred during
the arrest of Ben Gold. B. Kalfides,
a member of the Amalgaamted Food
Workers, who was picketing on seth
St., between Eighth and Ninth AYES,
shouted: "Three cheers for Gold and
the new union!" A policeman rush
ed up and hit Kalfides ON the back
and hand with his club. Kalfides
began struggling with the police
man and was aided by other pickets
who forced the uniformed strike
breaker to beat retreat.
The cases against five Greek
strikers who, upon the plea OF the
notorious attorney, Markewich, had
been held for felonious assault on
Friday, were dismissed when they
appeared in court yesterday. Jacl,
Shine, a picket, who was arrested
Saturday, was also dismissed yes
terday.
Shop Chairmen Meet.
Yesterday afternoon a meeting OF
the shop chairmen was held in Web
ster Hall. The shop chairmen report
ed that the workers in their shops
were holding solid and showing ex-
cellent spirit.
The overwhelming success of the
picket demonstration yesterday has
given new impetus to the strike and
filled the enemies of the needle
workers with CONSERVATION. Schles-
niger has been sending frantic letters
to scabs in an effort to break the
strike and prevent the bosses from
losing business during the peak sea-
son. But even his best efforts have
been of little avail. Today and all
succeeding days big zlass picket
demonstrations will be held. All
militant workers are urged to come
out on the picket line and support
the fight of the striking dressmak.
ers for the 40-hour week, minimum
wage scales, recognition of thu
union, the right to the job and theil
other demands.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12

Comrade Bittelman is especially
exasperated that | should bring
forth such new conception as the
decline of the old unions. He de-
clares that it has nothing in common
with the line Of the Minority. But
let US see what the Minority thesis
says. Ii points out, among other
reasons for the disappearance of
the Labor Party movement ''the gen.
eral decline of the old trade union
movement" This was written by
Comrade Bittelman himself. In the
thesis section on Trade Union Work,
written by myself but gone over
with a double microscope by Com
Tade Bittelman, occurs the follow
I fslr: 's.The old trade unions degener-
ate and crumble in the face of the
employers offensive" And further
along in the same section, ''The old
trade unions continue their decline"
These conceptions of the old
unions were adopted without ques-
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12

ing Brightly or wrongly we shall
discuss later) to flee from it and
this in an absolutely impermissible
manner. They are simply seeking
to put forth their new line without
formally disassociating themelves
from the old line, and giving the
necessary analysis. This is a total
liquidation of Bolshevik self criti-
cism. The whole maneuver COM
prises one of the most outstanding
instances of irresponsible diplomatic
ing in the life of our Party.
Comrade Bittelman calls the line
Of the article Fosters theory of
the declining role of social reform
ISM" Wrong, what I speak of is
its changing" aspects, but we will
pass that for the moment.) In it are
two alleged general false assump-
tons: ~ that the old trade unions
are in crisis and decline, (2) that
there is a developing merger of
the ideologies and organizations of
social reformism and bourgeois
reformism. Comrade Bittelman con-
dennis these ideas as dangerous in
novations. But it is my contention
that instead of being new to us,
something just developed in my ar
ticle now under fire, they are very
well-known acquaintance of ours.
They represent a generally accepted
line of the Party. The documents
of both the Majority and Minority
comrades, as well as official Party
statements unanimously adopted are
saturated with them.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12

Now it is perfectly right for COM
rades to correct their position when
this is necessary, and especially is it
proper to do so in response to Com
intern decisions or known currents
Of opinion. But when this is done
the comrades concerned must speak
frankly to the Party about it, par
ticularly when such basic question
is involved. Unless this is done
Bolsnevik self criticism is negated
ard the Party thrown into confusion.
But instead of coming to the
Party and stating their new line and
the reasons for accepting it, to-
gether with an explanation of past
mistakes, they bring forth the new
line as though it were simply the
old. Comrade Bittelman, in the
Minority statement, handles it in the
following improper manner. He
simply denies that the, Minority ever
stood for the theory of the decline
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12

ing it forth as a new line in the
article under consideration. The
plain fact is that Comrade Bittel-
man, as we'll as the comrades of the
Majority, have very recently changed
their opinions on this whole matter
without frankly telling the Party.
The how and why of this l shall
discuss further along.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12

necessary. l did not insist. He made
no objection, however, to the pres
cnt inclusion Of the general theory
in the paragraph. In fact, he wrote
four-fifths of it himself.
That both the Majority and Min
ority subscribed to the general line
Upon which my much-attacked ar
ticle is based is incontestable. In
fact. Comrades Bittelman and Hath
away actually went over my article
with me in detail. Nor did they
find any objection to the so-called
decline theory contained therein, and
why should they, seeing that it was
their own line? But now both Ma
jority and Minority reject it. What,
then, has happened in the mean
time? 1t is that a draft of the pro-
posed Comintern decision has been
received. This document greatly
concentrates the attack against the
A. F. of L. bureaucracy, far more
than either Majority or Minority
have hitherto done. And now these
comrades, fearing they have made
a serious mistake in the past by I'M
derestimating the role of the bu-
reaucracy and social reformism gen.
orally, are making haste to re-orien-
tate themselves. The new line pre-
scented by Comrade Bittelman in his
article of Jan. directly flows from
the Comintern draft decision. 1t is
not the old line of the Minority. My
article, written before the draft de-
cision came, is the old line.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12
Negro Party Members
in Meeting Tomorrow

The District Executive Committee
of the Workers (Communist) Party
calls upon all Negro members of the
Party and the Young Workers
(Communist) League to be present
at the district office, &c Union
Square, tomorrow evening At 6
o'clock.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-12

= The Communists disdnin to con-
ecA1 their views and aims. They
openly declare that their ends can
he attained only by the f0rcible
eveKthrow Of all existing social con-
HSt1ons--karl Marx (COm munist
ManeSestol
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-02
STOCKS FLUCTUATE
IN PROF|T-TAK|NG
Small Recessions Noted in
Some Leaders After Run
Up Yesterday.
BY GEORGE I. HUGHES.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, March 2.-Realizng
sales dominated the Stock Market to-
day. Traders who had profits fastened
to turn them into cash over the week
end, and the result was a somewhat
lower level of prices.
The market formed a striking con-
trast to that Of yesterday. 1t lost its
buoyancy, but at the same time volume
diminished also. In the first half hour
today, when the market was distinctly
heavy, $50, 400 shares changed hands.
In the first half hour of the preceding
session. when the upward movement
was in full swing, the turnover was
1,169. 800 shares.
Everything considered. the market
took today's selling very well. The
losses were not greater than normal
after so excited a rise. The coppers
and the steels were affected the most
because they had advanced the most.
Anaconda. which had sold at 155 yes
terday, was down z points around LAB
today and more than points from the
preceding close. More or less this was
true of the other copper stocks.
United States Steel opened lower and
half way through the session was down
from two TO three points on the day
Bethlehem held better than the leader,
although it. too, was off from its best
The rails were not weak and yet
Baltimore &c Ohio, which had gone up
so rapidly yesterday. yielded sharply
under the profit taking So it ran
throughout the list. Stocks came down.
but for the most part they were those
which had been favorites earlier in the
week. The motors made comparative
ly good showing, but motors had not
participated in the preceding rise.
Hudson was strong and stood out
among the shares of the independents.
The market hardened toward the
end and some stocks recovered all or
nearly all of their earlier loss. Ana
conda and Bethlehem Steel made i'm
pressive comebacks. United States Rub
Der went to the best of the year.
Transue & Williams was strong, Pos
tum did better and Patino Mines set q
new high price since listing. In the
railroad list stocks on the Northwestern
roads worked upward under leadership
OF Great Northern preferred.
The late rally showed conclusively
that the heaviness in the first half Of
the session had been due primarily to
technical conditions.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-02

81. This falling Off
was pretty general
over the rest of
the country as total
clearings were SILL
465,041,000. against
for
the previous week,
which did not in
clude a holiday.
Baltimore report
ed clearings for
the week of $82,-
$4,000 a gainst
more than $10l.-
100000 in t h e
previous week and
a decrease of 1919
per cent under the
same week a year