The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-10-17


I'VE ARE today experiencing in Milwaukee an
W unprecedented flood Of social demagogy which
is Indicative of the greater use of this weapon
against the working class throughout the coun-
try in the months to come. We can already
draw certain lessons from our struggle against
the socialist party and against social demagogy
in the Milwaukee section.
In the struggle against social demagogy it is
necessary to remember that the social fascists
and the capitalist demagogueS can talk as well
as we can. They can produce at times as Ire
volutionary" sounding programs for relief Of I'M
employment on paper as we can. Therefore it
is necessary not only to expose these people in
words but in deeds As long as we lag behind in
the development of concrete struggles for i'm
mediate relief for the unemployed as long as
we fail to put into life our slogans of organize
and strike against wage cuts, in the eyes Of the
workers the paper program of the socialist party
may be just as good as our paper program.
The first task is therefore to show the workers
by means Of deeds that we know how not only to
formulate correct programs and to advance cor
rect demands but also to organize and lead the
struggles for these demands and actually win
some of them. To win the workers for our Party
it is not enough to advance the slogan-Organize
and fight against wage cuts We must above all
go into the shops and actually organize such
strikes against wage cuts on a mass scale. 1t IS
not enough to demand immediate relief for the
unemployed. 1t is necessary to actually organ
lie the workers and lead them into mass strug-
giles which will win them immediate relief
On the other hand, it is necessary to so man.
ouver that the socialists and capitalist dema-
gogues shall have to expose before the workers
their real program, not their paper pro-
gram, but their program in deeds. We must
above all vancouver to force these people into
taking action on specific issues before the work
ing class in order to expose their program as
nothing but empty phrases, in order to prove
that in deeds these people always act against
the working class. We must on no account rely
on denunciation alone but must have positive
approach in our struggle against social dema-
gogy.
For instance in Milwaukee where the social
list party exercises a decisive influence in the
city administration, a system Of unemployment
relief is in effect which practically amounts to
forced labor. The workers put in three days
a week on public works for which they are paid
one dollar in cash and the balance in food
stuffs etc. It is necessary here to expose this
for what it is. To do this we must advance i'm
mediate demands Of cash payment in full for
a minimum wage Of fifty cents an hour and we
must demand actively to organize the workers
on these fake relief jobs and to strike these
jobs. The organization of the workers on the
Jobs in preparation for strike action must be ac-
connpanied by the widest exposure Of this forced
labor program in our agitation and by mass
demonstrations of the unemployed before the
City Hall deouncing this whole program. The
comrades are already working along these lines
in a similar situation in Racine Wis
In Milwaukee the comrades state that the
socialist Sheriff, Benson, signs eviction notices in
the morning and in the afternoon appears at
mass meetings where he advocates unempIoy-
ment insurance at the expense of the employ
ers and the overthrow Of capitalism. We must
expose people of this type concreteIy Therefore
we must make every effort to collect batch of
these eviction notices signed by Sheriff Benson
and when he speaks at a mass meeting we must
have the unemployed there with these eviction
notices in the hands of their leaders ready to
expose him before the workers on this concrete
action against them.