The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-03-13
The Present Crisis Within
the Irish Labor Movement

skilled and unskilled, the majority
OF Whom are organized in the Work.
ers Union of Ireland.
Railroad Bosses Cut Wages
Now come the railway directors
ana dismiss the running staff and
also demand reduced wages. fbe
British National Union of Railway
men, due to the policies of the lead
ers, Thomas, Cramp G. Co., stand
helpless before the attacks of the
railway companies. The men grow
restlve and so the mass meetings
OF the Workers Union of Ireland are
the largest in the country and it's
membership increases daily. There
nave been up to date over $500 Irish
railway workers dismissed. The
Workers Union of Ireland has
brought the fight from the indus-
trlal field and now demands that
the railways of the country be taken
over and controlled by a national
council composed of representatives
Oh the workers. This move has been
enthusiastically received by the rail
way workers. The officials of the
British unions are afraid to face this
issue before their own membership
and SO out of these day-to-day
struggles the demand for Irish work
ers in Irish unions grows.
The demand of the opposition in
the free state parliament for lower
taxation, occasioned by the serious
depression of Irish agriculture and
the competition of British trusts.
finds the employers demanding from
the government either taxation or
reduced wages. In this struggle the
government tries to retrieve its no.
sltlon by making itself the leader in
the fight for lower wages. The
rank and file of the trade unions de-
mand action. The class collabora-
ton policies of the Irish Labor Party
and Trade Union Congress are op-
posed to any strikes. The represen-
tatives of trade unions against whom
the fight is directed find themselves
differing with leaders of the PARTY
who turn more to middleclass sun
port for a coalition to form a gov
eminent. AS the fight grows more
intense the demands upon the trade
union leaders grow more insistent
Hence this split within Irish Labor
Party.
Labor Takers Discredited.
The industrial" leaders of the
Labor Party cannot regain the con-
fidence of the rank and file. Their
condoning of executions of republic
ans who opposed the British-inspired
Free State, the open Indictment to
direct war upon the rebel forces
and the pacts between them and
the employers, have made it impos-
sible for them ever to regain their
control over the working class.
Small unions under the domination
OF former large unions like the Irish
Transport and General Workers
Union now fight to throw off this
control. Each day finds them in
volved in struggle and each day
finds them tuning to the Workers
Union of Ireland, which has the
largest number of unskilled workers
organized in Ireland. During the
stable" years when the country
was torn in two with an armed
struggle the price paid for the
treacherous neutrality of the right
wing was a class collaboration
agreement. Today the employers
feel comparatively secure. But rank
and file workers throughout Ire
land are now awakening. The crisis
within the Irish Labor Party is proof
positive. The Irish Labor Party
can never return to anything like
its former position. 1t lies dis
credited and broken, warning to
all those who believe that they can
fool all the workers all the time.