The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-05

Mobilizing Women Workers
For Economic Struggles

THE report of the Political Committee delivered
lby Comrade Browder at the Party Plenum
in November and the discussion and resolutions
brought out before the entire Party the absolute
need for leading the fight for economic demands
This holds good with regard to our work among
women We will attempt in this article to bring
p few examples of our work among women and
to point out the correct and wrong methods OF
work
In Lawrence, Mass, in one OF the textile
factories the bosses as part Of their rationale
zstion program wanted to change the schedule
of working hours Instead of beginning work at
eight O'Clock in the morning, they were to start
at six O'Clock in the morning and were to lay
off two hours ahead which would not increase
the working hours. The majority of workers in
the mills are married women with family duties
at home These women, because of the fact
that they had to prepare the children's break
fasts and send them off to school before they
went into the factory, were so aroused by TINS
additional burden placed upon them by the COM
pany that our Textile Workers Industrial Union
was able to mobilize them around this issue for
militant struggle They struck under the leader
ship Of the National Textile Union, fought mill
family and won. This successful strike increased
the prestige of the union and as a result great
numbers of women joined the union and prac-
Another illustration is the bread strike which
recently took place in Detroit This strike de-
veloped from the high price of bread at the
Jewish bakeries, and was initiated by the wom
ems organizations in the Jewish neighborhood.
Our Party correctly evaluated the Importance of
this strike and gave leadership and guidance to
it together with the Trade Union Unity League.
real militant strike against the bosses Of the
bakeries was conducted through mass picketing
both by men and women and the strike was
spread to non-Jewisn bakeries. The women work
ers we're Joined by the workers from the bakery
who sent representatives to the strike commit
tee. After two weeks duration the strike was
successfully won with a reduction in the price Of
bread of two and three cents per loaf The
important part of the strike was that for the
first time in the history of Detroit, and possibly
in the United States a joint contract was drawn
up by he owners of the bakery, the TUUL and
the womens organizations, which, while it re-
duced the price of bread, did not reduce the
wages Of the workers, which remained the same
after as before the strike. Needless to say, this
strike has helped 10 establish the prestige of our
Party and the TUUII in the eyes of the workers
of Detroit as leaders of the daily struggle of the
workers. and good organization results will follow
On the other hand, we have examples
Of where our Party failed to take the lead in the
daily struggle OF the workers as for example, in
Rochester, N. Y. There too, the women fought
against the high cost of bread. But here not
like in Detroit, neither the Party nor the TUUL
stepped in quickly enough and as result, with
out mass picketing and spreading the strike to
other neighborhoods, and without the pr per lea
dership and guidance, the struggle dissipated
and instead of militant policy as carried out
in Detroit, the women began to orientate them
/ selves toward organizing their "own cooperative
bakeries as means of getting reduction in the
price of bread.
One OF the outstanding examples of the
Party failure to mobilize and prepare organi-
nationally women workers to fight for their de-
naands can be illustrated by the strike recently
held in New York at the Eagle Pencil Company
which involved TOO workers 500 of whom were
women The section committee failed to recog-
nize the Importance of women workers in the
plant, and the fact that they represented the
most underpaid section of the workers in the
shop. Our Party failed to take note of the
special grievances of the women to formulate de-
mandS, and above ALL underestimate the mill
fancy Of the women and their readiness to fight
to improve their economic condition. When the
strike call was issued much to the surprise OF
the comrades in charge, the women responded
equally with the men, and were the most mill
tant on the picket line. However, the women's
apparatus in the section and the district, being
unprepared for the mass response. failed to work
out concrete plans for activizing the women il