The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-10-10
Page -Four
By BILL LAWRENCE

MITH the sharpening of the class struggle
!" and the deepening of the crisis of capt.
talism the attacks against the workers become
more severe. 1t has been pointed out on num-
erous occasions that the American boss class
is trying to shift the burden of the crisis en-
ti-ely upon the shoulders of the working class.
On the other hand the fighting spirit of the
workers and their readiness to struggle for
better conditions is growing daily. Thus the
thesis OF our seventh convention correctly
pointed cut that:
The sheer economic weight of the crisis
tends to effect political awakening of the
masses, opening the road to the Communist
Party for organization and leading the
raa05es into struggle" Under these condi-
1ioas the detailed and fundamental work of
Echilizing the masses for resistance against
decentralization, and wage cuts and for
employment relief campaigns, the oTganiZa-
ten OF the revolutionary unions, the
Strengthening ard building of our Party
becomes the all overshadowing tasks"
Warned Against Spontaneity.
In pointing out the abovesc correct statements
the seventh convention realized that because
of the readiness of the workers to struggle
some of cur comrades may go to an extreme
and completely overlook the Importance of
preliminary organization before strike, thus
it warns the Party leaders against relying on
TIE spontaneity Of the masses.
However, it seems that not always do lead
ing comrades take warnings seriously, which
results costly for the Party. In this respect
the Philadelphia Party had an experience from
necessary lessons.
For months the Marine Workers Industrial
Union concentrated on the Philadelphia water
front. The conditions of the longshoremen,
beth organized and unorganized, are worsen-
ing every day. AS result of the great IN
employment organized longshoremen are glad
to work for so cents an hour. The dissatisfac-
ton with the liza (section of the A. F. of L.
is growing daily. In period of few weeks
our union was able to recruit several hundred
members on the waterfront However, in
carrying on the work the MWIU made a num-
Der of mistakes:
Our Mistakes.
1. 1t carried on the activities on the basis
of attacking the lila leaders and not together
with fight against the conditions prevailing
on the waterfront.
g. 1t concentrated entirely on the organized
workers deep water men) and practically
completely neglected the unorgsnized coast
wise).
g. While the union correctly raised the slo-
gan "strike against wage cuts!" it didn't lay
enough stress the Importance of organza-
tion thus failing to draw in the workers on
the waterfront in the leadership of the union
A. The union failed to take the necessary
measures to safeguard the jobs of the work
ers who enlisted in our union which resulted
in victimization and blacklisting of loyal men,
beTs CT the union.
s. Our union completely neglected the sea-
men and orientated itself entirely towards the
longshoremen.
g. The theory of some of the organizers was
that unless there is strike the longshoremen
will not take active part in the organiza-
ton
z. Failure to build and establish a func-
tioning Party fraction.
8. Instead of carrying on day to day work
lining up worker after worker, the work was
carried on in spectacular ways; one week we
would have several meetings and another week
we completely failed to do anything.
9. And finally theory of exceptionalism
was advanced by some of our organizers,
claiming that the marine industry is different
from others and that here preparatory organ
ization is unnecessary.
Direct Wage Cut Avoided.
In spite of the above mistakes and short
comings the influence of our union on the
waterfront was growing. We became real
factor among the workers. The workers lis
tened and responded to our speakers. The lila
and the bosses knew these facts and fearing
the revolt of the longshoremen avoided an open
and direct wage cut by renewing the old agree
mcnt, which in reality is nothing but wage
cut agreement, worsening conditions in gen
eral.
In the face of these facts what should have
been the position of our union? Not strike
at all costs, but the organization and activiza-