The daily worker., 1930-03-04
THE UNEMPLOYED ON THE
MARCH IN MILWAUKEE,
By LEO FISHER.


the unemployed, screamed one of the Mil
waukee daily capitalist sheets in commenting
on the two demonstrations of the unemployed
held on February 9Th and 18th respectively
The agitation and organization among the
unemployed in Milwaukee has attained mass
proportions. In the first demonstration
staged on February 5th, about two thousand
workers participated, while week later the
number rose to about ten thousand. The party
played the leading and organizing role in this
movement, spreading it's influence among wide
sections of the workers that were never
reached by the Party before.
The thick crust of Socialist" domination
over the workers, keeping them from effective
struggles against the bosses, is beginning to
crack by the action of the masses themselves.
For years this socialist" domination was a
dead weight on the masses, choking every eff
fort for struggle on the part of the working
masses. The deception of the working masses
by the S. P. and Trade Union Bureaucracy
made the growth of the Communist movement
very difficult in the past. Our party was.
stagnating, with little or no progress for years.
The Party membership not bound up with
the struggles of the masses, it was not even
propaganda organization in the genuine sense
of that word. The Socialist caste ruled su-
preme over the activities of the working
masses.
The Socialists" Exposed.
But, through the action of the unemployed
workers, staging two big, impressive demon
stratons, the socialist party received blows
such as it never received before. The demon
strations, from the very outset took on a de-
cidedly anti" Socialist character The $50
cialists" recognized that, and from the very
beginning they were thrown into consterna-
tion, and undertook a whole series of man.
euvers and fake measures to offset the effects
of the demonstrations.
Mayor Hoan and the Milwaukee Leader, a
socialist" sheet, hardly got through boasting
that the unemployment situation in Milwaukee
was not nearly as bad as it was in other cities,
at least there are no bread lines in Milwaukee,
they claimed, when the workers answered with
a demonstration of 1000 jobless, and another
one in a weeks time with ten thousand. Thus
the workers, through their own action, an
swered the lies of the Socialists"
The next move of the Socialists" was an at
tempt to split the movement of the unem-
ployed by creating dissention in the unem-
ployed council. They actually tried to play
off the "home" workers against the "out-
siders," that is, those workers that at one time
another came to Milwaukee from some other
town.
The socialist" alderman, John Fleissner,
made a statement in the common council wide
ly published by the capitalist press, that he is
going to introduce resolution to ask local
firms to give preference to the "home" work
ers in employing labor And this Socialist
faker, processes to adhere to Marx slogan:
workers of the World, Unite!" The purpose
of this move was two-fold: First, to split the
movement into "home" workers and "outsid-
ers," and second to create the Illusion that
whatever unemployment may be in Milwaukee
is not so much due : to the slowing down of
the industries, but to the influx of "out-
siders."
Attempt to Split Workers Unity.
1t is not the fault of the capitalist system
which has entered into a deep going crisis
that is the cause of unemployment, but the
"outside workers" are to be blamed. This in
substance, is the meaning of the Socialist"
crusade against the outsiders" This also
means that the workers should not fight the
bosses but fight among themselves. The yell
low socialists remain true to their role of
flunkies to the bosses!
But in this movement of the unemployed
every trick of the Socialists" is being exposed
so successfully that the crowd during the sec
ond march booed and hissed the Socialist
leader while the parade was passing the head
quarters of the socialist party. The S. P.
chiefs got scared and made decision in the
Centrad Trades Council to Investigate" the
Communists, in other words they officially de-
cided to become stoolpigeons for the bosses
They openly admitted that their unions "a.
F. of L. were losing members to the Commu-
nstic unions.
The assertion of the socialists" that Mil
waukee, as far as its home industries are con-
cerned, is not effected by the general crisis
of American and world capitalism, is bare
faced lie. Their theory in regard to Milwaukee
as an exceptional town is similar to the famous
Lovestone theory of American exceptionalism.s
But glance at the "home" industries in Mil
waukee, most of them slowed down to the
limit or shut down completely, only proves
to what extent the yellow flunkies of the
bosses have prostituted themselves to capital
ism in their over-anxiousness to serve the cap-
italist master.
No Exception to General Crisis.
The Seaman Body plant normally EMPLOYS
about 5000 workers, now hardly thousand
are working. ABOUT 5000 workers have been
laid off in the International Harvester Co.:
about 1000 in A. 0. Smith; the Eline factories
are completely shut down. the Nash plant is
practically shut down; Norberg laid off the
entire night shift, about thousand men are
out of work; the Railroad Shops have laid off
thousand. men, the Chain and Belt likewise
this section of the unemployed to counter all
the other unemployed workers and all in en-
ployment