The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-01-22
The A. F. of L. Comes South

lean textiles in foreign markets by using In
dian and Chinese coolie labor and by ration
alizing English mills with the help of the Eng
lish labor takers. Efficiency engineers began
to be seen in the textile mills. The stretch
out tspeed-up) was introduced; the hank
clock and piece-work became typical features.
1873 al 1929 saw series of isolated, spon-
taneous revolts on the part of the workers
This time it was not the UTW but the Ma
tional Textile Workers Union that stepped in.
organizing the workers under the banner of
militant, industrial unonism
The UTW and the A. F. of l.. had no hold
upon the workers at this time This was pri.
marty because there was very little objective
basis for the A. F. of L. There are no skilled
workers in the highly machinized industries of
the South to speak of. These great masses
OF unskilled workers, including hundreds of
thousands of women and young workers. raw
recruits to the mills, with the militant tradi-
lions of the mountaineers still strong in them
were workers whom the A. F. of L., by its
very nature, could not lead. Only the Music
ties CHoffman, Ross, etc., trying desperately
to stave off the organization drive of the N
I. W. d., male few isolated attempts to
Organize" the workers, that is, to mislead
them. Elizabethton, Marion, Greenville. Ware
But the A. F. of e. generally retreated quickly.
leaving trail of hopelessness and despair be-
hind them
The only road for the workers was the N.
I. W. U. and the T. U. U. L. This they began
to take in ever-increasing numbers The panic
OF the bosses grew at this. Finally there was
evolved system of planned terrorism-raids,
b>atngs, arrests, floggings, kidnappings,
Sho or l.,
the sentence Of workers to virtually life
sentences in the Raleigh, N. c., pen and the
shooting of Ella May. Blacklisting, evictions,
terror, arrests, long Jail Notwithstanding
could stop the organization work of the work
ers into the militant industrial unions like
the NTWU. The meanwhile some little gen.
eral TUUL work was being carried on The
TUUL officially established itself in the South
at its conference of Oct. 18th. The political
influence of the Communist Party grew apace.
''Far-seeing" capitalists and liberal men,
bers of the southern intelligentsia began to
see that this would not do Terror was not
sufficient to stop the workers from organiz-
ing. The leaders of the NTWU, proletarians,
many of them Communists could not be terri
fled by jails or death. Something, a certain
more advanced" section of the capitalist class
thought had to be done. The workers had to
be given something to pacify them. The crisis
was growing more acute. Unemployment was
increasing. The A. F. of L.. which had done
such yeomans service in strikebreaking in the
North, must step in Thisssection of the capi-
talist class and especially the liberal intel-
gentsia-who often react more swiftly to poll
teal events than the main body of the class
they represent--commenced an agitation for
"bona-fide unions with constructive leader
ship" and the right of workers to organize
into the yellow unions of the A. F. of L.
Typical of their attitude is the following ex-
cerpt from the Dec. 14th issue of the "Daily
Tar HeeP' University of North Carolina
newspaper):
Through unionzaton alone can the in
terests Of the workers be safeguarded, and
we believe that once labor is in position
to be assured of receiving it's just portion
of the profits in the textile industry, il will
cooperate fully with the manufacturers in
attempts to increase their profits" EN-
phasis ours.--SG.)
The plans for the 'uniorization of the
South" (by the A. F. Of L.) were undoubtedly