The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-01-11
By /. AMTER.


New York, the city in which the
gangster rules for the reactionariest
in the unions, in which the cossacks
of the Walker regime act like saw
ages against the workers-New
York, in which the workers have
fought brilliant battles in recent
times-the New York workers face
new battles.
Battle in Shoe Shops.
In the shoe industry the workers
are today in struggle, locked out in
% shops. They carry ON mass
picketing, face gangsters and po-
lice, and battle on. In the shoe in
dustry it is the Independent Shoe
Workers Union Which is organizing
the workers. 1t has not yet reached
the $4,000 shoe workers in the city.
But the men and women are fighting
against all the forces of reaction
at the head of which is the depart
ment of labor of the United States,
aided by the state labor department.
The U. S. labor department has
been sending letters denouncing the
union and its leadership, thinking
that to call it Communist will
brighten the workers. Tn" manufac-
turers send other letters of the U.
S. department of laborsto the work
ers, praising the American Fedora
ton, of Labor, the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers, the Railroad
misunderstanding them "genu-
inc labor organizations" believing
that the workers will not clearly I'M
derstand that these genuine" labor
organizations are the organizations
that today are working hand in
hand with the government and the
manufacturers against the workers.
These organizations have as their
motto to cOmpany-unionize the
workers, and enslaye them SO much
the more to the employers.
In scores they go to jail, these
shoe workers, after fighting the
gangsters and police; in scores they
return to the picket line unafraid
of consequences, But these workers
stick, for they know that Commu-
nist-led unions are the only unions
today that defend the workers.
Food Workers Militant.
In the food workers union the
struggle is growing. Many tens of
thousands of hotel, restaurant and
cafeteria workers in the city, unor-
ganized, working II to 16 hours a
day at low wages and bad condi-
tions. The spy system in this in
dustry is vast one, but the food
workers are out fighting on the
picket line, enforcing conditions in
the shops, preparing for struggle
in the entire industry. Against
them are the courts, the police, the
socialist party, but in their ranks
are the militant fighters who are
unafraid of the courts and police,
and battle like heroes. And in the
leadership of this union, too, is the
Communist movement, which gives
them the fighting policy and the
militant class-conscious leadership.
They do not stand alone. When
the shoe workers picket the shops,
the food, needle and other workers
help them. When the food workers
picket the shop, the workers of the
other industries show their .solidar-
ity, and aid them on the line against
all the foes of the working class.
This is the solidarity which only the
Revolutionary Industrial Unions of
the Trade Union Unity League not
only preach, but practice. Carrying
it out on the firing line, where the
police wantonly beat down the work
ers with their clubs, where they use
their guns-but where the striking
workers do not go away defeated,
but with their fists and otherwise
let the police and ganesters know
that the workers of this country
recognize their class enemies.
The workers know that William
Green promised to prevent workers
movements to improve their condi-
tions, while the bosses promised not
to make any wage reductions. The
bosses laughed up their sleeve,
and introduced a series of wage cuts,
for they knew that William Green
would help to carry them through,
for that is his function. And the
bosses also knew that as long as
there are courts police and the A.
F. of L. and socialist party, they
could be relied on to do their duty
even if the cops get beaten up by
the militant men and women on the
picket line.
The needle trades workers face the