The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-06-04
By H. KORETZ.

needle trades industry, under the guidance of
the Profintern should have signified a complete
dissertation from the past and the full ac-
ceptance of militant program of struggle.
But the past weighed too heavily on the
present. The stubborn resistance to the call
ing of one convention of the furriers, cloak
and dressmakers, under the pretext that
TRANSITION period" needed, just several
weeks before the convention was proof that
the leading comrades were far yet from being
convinced of the necessity for such step.
Hence, the result: craft union parading I'M
der sign of Industrial Unionisn-at a time
when there were splendid opportunities to
spread out to the trades and leading the work
ers into struggle. Why a Mems Clothing
Department? Why a Youth and Negro De-
partment? To many of us it looked more of an
abstraction than real problem, while to the
Lovestoneites it appeared as a real obstacle to
a possible united front with Hilman, whereby
we would secure "Amalgamation" with Golden
Rule Hllman as its first president. Mere lip
service given to the Amalgapated Group
to the T.U.U.L. When the revolt among the
tailors sumed ever greater proportion, when
the most conservative section the pressers of
the A.CW. could not stand any longer the be-
trayal of the Beckerman-Hotz gang and joined
hands with the T.U.U.L.; when delegates and
representatives of about AS shops participated
in a conference to lay the basis for a broad
struggle, the N.TWI. Union was invited to
send speakers to express our sympathy and
solidarity with the tailcrs. The result of course,
that the finest struggle undertaken by the
tailors smashed in no time by the Iron
Heel of the Hillman guerllas. tIt not
our struggle, it their struggle" No
wonder the remnants of Lovestonism propose
even in the G. E. B. that we must build
up strong left wing in the A. c. W.
Only Thru Struggle Will The N.TW.L. Union
Grow and Expand.
The dressmakers strike of February, 1929,
in New York was the first appearance of the
N.TW.I. Union on the arena of struggle, right
after it's convention. The strike was timely.
The dress industry was almost totally unor-
ganized, with conditions getting worse from
day to day. The dressmakers were ready for
struggle and accepted our leadership. But
what was wrong with it? We have figured
out in advance, that the strike will not last
long chow familiar these words are). There
fore no sufficient preparations, looking for a
short cut to "Victory" - the old Lovestonian
game of building mass movements over night.
That is why an Employers Association was
sponsored with our consent so that with the an
nouncement OF the settlement the strike was
over. And when the TU.U.L. attempted to
correct our mistakes, pointing out the neces-
sity of spreading the strike, the entire leader
ship fought bitterly against it. The writer
caught in a net of opportunst manpulatons,
did not see the possibility for Acknowledgement
and joined the crew in its attack upon the
proposals # the TU.UL.
In spite of these mistakes, the Industrial
Union made some important gains. 1t took in
between 1000 to 5000 new members and es-
tablished for itself a strong base to continue
to operate from. But for revolutionary unions
it is not sufficient to make gains. The more
important problem is to keep these gains And
here again the N.T.WLU. failed mserably, with
the result that some workers totally dis
illusioned about the left wing. Shons were ne
elected, complaints not attended to, with con-
ditions naturally becoming
The Sigman Fake Cloak Strike, July 1929.
Would we have evaluated properly the les
sons from our first struggle in the dressmakers
strike the determination of our policy towards
the fake stoppage would have been a cinch.
But there was never greater confusion in our
ranks than at the time Precisely because we
knew all details of this united front between
the bosses, bureaucrats and the state, it was
all the more reason why we should have pre-
pared in defense of the workers interests and
give them leadership. What was the original
policy proposed by those under the guidance
of Mr.. Lovestone at the time? "Stay at work,
do not answer the call for the fake Sgman
strike Join the Needle Trades Industrial I'm
ion" Total capitulation, giving up the struggle,
leaving the coakmakers to the mercy of the
company union-this was the meaning of this
policy. Even now, there plenty of leading
comrades, as we'll as number of workers, who
think that this policy would have been ideal.
eve would have saved the jobs for active
members). But the second policy was not any
better, creating more confusion in the minds of
the masses.
Instead of accepting the policy of T.U.U.L.
of preparing the cloakmakers for real gen.
eral strike; for real conditions under the leader
ship of the N.TWI.U.. we were presented
gem of policy by Mr.. Lifshitz, the expert
right winger on feminist Strategy Convert
the Fake Stoppage into General Struggle
What a mess! The masses should have taken
bats and split our heads for such leadership.
What they demanded to know was how to act
when the fake strike will be called. They de-
manded clean cut policy. But notice how the
Lovestonian spirit was afraid to mention the
word strike, substituting it with "a General
Struggle" an affront before the CT, that they
were not right wing. Yes, we were totally
he defensive. Both the policy and slogans
wrong. Therein lies the reason, why we
the cloakmakers. The needle trades work
good or bad looks The proper policy would
have been to first anticipate the fake stoppage
and mobilize the cloakmakers for real gen.
eral strike. That we should have set our own
date for the strike, and make our mobilization