The daily worker., 1929-11-19
TEXTILE TOIL.ERS
M|L|TANCy RISES
Oppression Smashing
Racial Barriers

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which, though involving only 200
employees, the whole force in the
mill, indicates that neither the south
ern workers nor the National Tex
tile Workers Union is succumbing
to the attack of the bosses, and that
on the contrary, the workers are
reused to more militant action by
the unemployment and speed-up tao
tics of the employers.
Negroes, Whites, Unite.
Dunno pointed out that there has
been a tendency to exaggerate the
difficulties caused by race prejudice.
He showed that so far there has
been no single case of race war, par
ticipated in by workers, in spite of
the most strenuous efforts of the
employers to provoke such strife.
The mass meetings, particularly the
one at Atlanta, contradicted all pre-
dictions that the Negroes would not
come to such meetings, that if they
did, the white workers would leave,
and that if they were actually held,
they would be broken up. The ter
rible economic and political persecu-
tion of the southern working class,
Negro and white workers alike, is
smashing the racial barriers, and
eliminating them much more rapidly
than had usually been predicted,
more rapidly than is realized in the
North.
The economic oppression he char
actefized as terrific, and growing
worse.
The ten and twelve hour day, the
SS and S12 wages paid large num-
bers of workers in the textile mills
are now fairly we'll known to the
board members. But Dunno pointed
to instances of similar economic ex-
tortion in other industries of the
South. Instances are the Fulton
Bag and Mill Co., where 5000 Negro
and white employees work for an
average wage of So to SO a week
In Winston-Salem, tobacco workers
get 81 to So per week, and have 81
a week deducted by the employers
to buy stock in the company for
them. Negro workers in tobacco
are getting Is cents per hour.
Develop in the Struggle.
The National Textile Workers
Union, one of the unions of the T.
u. U. L., is handicapped by lack of
organizers, but has had good sue
cess in developing new forces, dis
covered during the present organ
ization period. Most of the organ
izers now working in the South
are local men. They are scattered
out in a long line from Atlanta to
Danville, Virginia, and their work
is increasing in efficiency and re-
suits.
The board took up seriously the
question of T. U. U. l.. Negro
organizer, and a general I. U. U.
l.. organizer for the South, voting
to establish them there Immediately,
to closely coordinate the organiza-
tion in textile, tobacco, marine
transport, Coal, etc. Discussion of
the relation between youth and gen.
eral textile organization work
brought out the fact that though
the young workers have special sec
tions in the N. T. w. u, it is inn
possible to sharply separate the
work of youth organization and gen.
eral adult organization. Youth or
ganizers are doing general textile
union work, as the young workers
do a mans work in the mills.
Little Money in Use.
The difficulties of financing or
ganization work in community
where the workers live on star
walton basis, and in fact, see very
little money, usually being paid by
checking off their rent and grocery
bills in country stores, was dis
cussed. It was evident that dues
and initiation fees must be very
low in the South, until organized
effort itself bring better conditions.
Dunno told Of seeing great stacks
of pay envelopes, covering over
year of work, in which seldom are
more than a dollar or two in cash
was actually paid to worker per
week, and often only few cents.
In the face of this heroic struggle
by the southern workers and or-