The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-09-04
BY
INDUSTRY AT The
CLEVELAND MEET
Arrange and Report on
Organization Drives
Continued from Page One)


cisco, California, to speak for the
hundred odd agricultural workers
that have been driven by capitalist
exploitation into union, and eager
to discuss the problems of the agri-
cultural workers with farmers from
other. sections of the country.
Miller exposed the Hoover Farm
Relief" program, pointing out that
the farmer, provided he had enough
money to get the support of the
trusts (Hoover calls them "coopera-
tives") in the first place, would
merely be selling himself TO the
bankers.
"The proletarian farmer is like
any other proletarian. He sells his
labor. The only way he can better
his condition is to organize and
fight" Miller pointed out that the
agricultural worker has no protec-
ton whatsoever if the boss held
back his wages or refused to pay
him.
He rehearsed the we'll known
story of the trek from the farm to
the factory-from the factory to the
scrap heap. The farm workers
would organize and fight-that was
why they we're here-but in their
fight they must have the support
of the industrial workers - "The
agricultural proletariat and the in
dustrial proletariat must stand side
by side" said Miller.
Loggers' Voice.
From far off Aberdeen, Washing
ton, came representatives of the
lumber workers. Delegate Pitkin,
The loggers reporter, said they were
here "for two purposes; to get help,
and to give help" He told of the
low wages-$275 to 1925 per day
in the saw mills and the lumber
camps, of the filthy bunk houses in
which the loggers had to live, of
the speed-up and the blacklist that
awaited all workers who have not
for their main object in life the ac-
emulation of money for. the bosses.
Many of the loggers Of the north
west have had to change their names
so many times they couldn't tell you
their right name if you asked them"
He demanded strong industrial
union, and told how one strike in
Aberdeen was successful only few
months ago. A foundation for the
new union was there, he said. All
the loggers wanted was help and
guidance. The men are ready for
struggle" In the last months there
have been two spontaneous strikes
in the saw-mills of Aberdeen"
All Speedily Worse.
An interesting commentary on the
extension of the speed-up and on
naturalization in American indus
try was had in the fact that almost
every reporter claimed that the
speed-up and naturalization was
worse in his industry than in any
other.
Murdoch on the South.
Southern Organizer Bill Murdoch |
of the National Textile Workers
Union told of the conferences held
in the South the past weeks, and
of the great conference scheduled
for Charlotte on October IL and IS.
He told of the enthusiasm with
which the Southern workers hailed
the new left wing union. And then,
"This convention won't have done its
job unless it send representatives of
all unions into the South" One
hundred and four hours a week is
the lot of some of the Southern tex
tile workers, Murdoch said "The
workers of the South are in revolt,
ready to join our union. 1t don't
matter damn to the workers in the
South if the leader is Bolshevik."
Murdoch made definite sugges-
lions and proposals: eve must
guard against Interchangeable it
can creep out in our union as we'll
as in any other. Hew to the line
of the R. 1. L. U. and let the chips
fall where they may. More con-
fidence in the workers. Develop the
young workers. Get the leaders in
the rank and file. To the textile
organizers must be added organizers
from all the other industries-from
the mines, from steel, from trans
port, to fight alongside of the tex
tile organizers They won't detract,
they will add. They will make it
possible for US to mobilize the work
ers Of the entire south, to break
open the Gastonia prison DOORS"
Miners Turn South.
Pat Toohey of the miners an
swered Murdoch. The big slogan
raised by the miners was, "On into
the South" Rank and file squads
were to be organized, to go into
Kentucky, Tennessee, West Va, and
the other coal fields of the South.
Toohey told the tale of rational
ization in his industry, how Indiana
in 1928 produced more coal with an
average of sixteen thousand miners
employed than it had in 1927 with
twenty-five thousand. 1t was the
same story in all the fields, he told
the convention. Homes were being
boarded up. No place to live, no
place to work, nothing to eat. To
meet the situation the Miners Con-
ference had elected a committee on