The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-09

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ton from their shoulders. ,,, ..
Cops, cops everywhere. Police
sergeants ordering their mer
around. themselves the most brutal
and blood-thirsty. Bosses, = too
bosses stood out in front of their
shops with a bodyguard of Tam
many police. Bosses called to work
ers or the streets, police :mmedi-
ately escorted them into the build
ing.
Scabs are pale when they enter
their shops under the protection of
cops in the face of fellow-workers
who are on strike. Some scabs are
more vicious. Some boast Of the
fact that they have guns and knives
in their pockets. Others are con-
scious Of the wrong they are doing
their fellow-workers and scurry into
the Railways with downcast eyes.
Patrol wagons. They even called
special truck. As the patrol wag-
ons and truck rumble over the
muddy streets down Seventh Ave,
loaded with pickcts, workers massed
on the sidewalks cheered. The work
ers in the wagons cheered back,
waved and sang. This is the spirit
of a strike i'll which the rank and
file have placed their whole being.
No amount CT cops and clubs and
fiery police sergeant5 and bosses
magistrates can stop this strike IN
til it is won.
The strike halls are flooded with
workers. The registration commit
tees are busy recording the new
adherents. Strikers come and 60,
either fresh from a picket line or
off to another. The shop chairmen
meet to discuss the tactics and plans
for the day.
Many stories are told of how
workers came along or would not
come. One girl tells Of the betrayal
of one of her friends. She was with
the other strikers on the picket line
in the morning. She tells how she
saw her girl friend walking ahead
This girl had always said she was
left-winger. She read the Daily
Worker.
But when she walked ahead of
the picket line yesterday morning
she tried to avoid the eyes of her
friend. The striker reached her just
in front Of the shop.
you're not going to be7a scab 2"
she said. 71"a~
But the boss and the cops were
there. Pointing to the girl striker,
she said: "See that girl, she's a
trouble maker around this neighbor-
hood"
And the striking girls friend,
pale as a sheet, walked into the
hall in front of the policeman to
be a scab. Will she be enc tomor-
row? We shall see.
Noon hour in the cloak center.
Thirty-sixth Street, between It'll and
Sth Avenues, blocked off from traf-
fic by the police, is seething mass
Of excited workers. Cops in front
Of every shop that has not yet
walked out. Pickets are not allowed
near sthe doors.
But there are plenty Of strikers
on the streets, talking and arguing
with other workers and convincing
them that they are scabs if they
go back to work. There is indie
cision on many faces.
Many Of the workers just need a
littles convincing. And they were
getting it. Others did not need any.
They.were surprised by the strength
of the strike.
Whoever thought the strike
would be like thisl" said one work
er. He had believed the Schlesinger
lies, but the force Of the strike was
enough to dispel a mountain of lies.
As the end of the lunch hour APP
preached, crowds remained on the
streets. There was trucking line
back Unto the shops.
"Well, are you going back to
work." asked one worker of an
other.
mo. Where is the nearest strike
llH'
At the headquarters of the union,
bosses lombard the office for ap-
plications for settlement. They
have half petulant, half grinning
look on their faces. The man at
the door directs them into the set
Element office.
"Oh, my god. But l want to set
tie right now, right now"
Many of them come. But they'll
have to come back another day
The union has got the upper hand.