The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-08-22

men, and so called deputy" were
wounded, one of the policemen fat
ally. This was jumped upon by the
mill owners as a chance to crush the
union. that in the meantime his es-
tablished itself not only in Loray
mill but in a number of mills in the
two Carolinas. However, the bosses
went a step too far, when they de-.
cided to send 16 of US to the electric
chair for the alleged killing of the
policeman. This attack upon the
workers was the last drop in a buc-
ket already full with oppression and
misery. The workers revolted. The
movement that started with the
strike in the Loray mill on April the
first is now reaching unprecedented
proportions.
Organizing the Movement.
A Provisional Conference of South
ern Textile Workers held by the N.
7. W. U. in Bessemer City, six miles
from Gastonia, an uly %, the eve
of our trial in Gastonia, 227 dele
gates responded. They represented
about 10000 workers directly and
about 10000 additional workers in
directly. The conference has decided
October 1918 as the date for the
General Conference of Southern Tex
tile workers to held in Charlotte, N.
c. The organizational basis for the
broadest mass movement, ever seen
in the South, has been started.
A few days following the Besse-
mer City conference came the first
victory of the union. The yarn mill
bosses of CASTOR County announced
that henceforth their workers would
work only 55 instead of 60 hours a
week, and instead of working 512
days week they would work only
days. This affects about 10000
workers in this region. The workers
have only started to move, and the
capitalists are trembling.
A Southern leadership Needed.
The fact that the workers of the
South have not had any experience
in labor struggles before, makes it
necessary to further intensity the
training and developing of South
ern leadership for the union. In this
the young textile workers will play
considerable role. The experiences
so far have shown that the best
leadership will come from the youth.
The steps taken in develop
ing the Youth Section of the
union, the calling of the Youth Con-
ference on the eve of the General
Textile workers conferenc in Char
lott, are steps in this direction. The
question of work amongst the youth
and the building of Southern lead
ership cannot be overemphasized.
The Task of the Communists.
The Southern workers are getting
their first experiences in the class
struggle. 1t will be the duty of the
leadership to formulate and teach
the workers the lessons from these
experiences. The textile workers
struggle is not confined to a strug-
gle against the strech-out, the long
hours, the low wages and for the
other union demands. The textile
workers who are so affected by the
tremendous speed-up and ""''.-,-''
zation of the industry, must be
brought into active struggle asau..
naturalization is preparation.
the war danger, for which this
These workers must develop a sys-
tematic fight for social insurance
and housing. These workers against
whom the state was used in such
varied forms, the use of the Nation
al Guards, anti strike laws, and even
the us, % the courts to legally MUIR
der their leaders, must be drawn in
to political activity. That is the
task of the Communist Party, whose
members are taking a leading role
in the struggles of the Southern tex
tile workers.
The textile workers of the South
have awakened. The death knell of
the cold" South has been sounded
The New" South in which the work
ers will rule is on the wav