The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-08-25

THE strike OF the Royal Weaving mill, which
1 began June 26, 1881, is over. For reasons that
must be made known to every textile worker,
the ROYAL workers have been temporarily de-
feated in their struggle against Is per cent
wage cut on the box loom weavers and for i'm
provements in the bad conditions existing in the
other departments of the mill
For seven weeks the workers fought brave
battle against all the forces of the min owners
and their government The PaWtucket police.
acting as the paid watch dogs of Joe OFT and the
employers, waged ferocious terror against the
strikers Chief of Police Hill issued his infamous
shoot to kill" order; this order, well as all
the brutal and lawless actions Of the police, was
approved by Mayor Holt and by Governor Case.
The workers we're deprived of their most ele-
mentary rights. Picketing was brutally sup
pressed Police armed with shotguns patroled
the streets around the mill Workers, many of
whom had no connection with the strike, were
arrested and beaten for walking on the side
walks. William T. Murdoch, national secretary
of the National Textile Workers Union, was TAX
en- out of the strike on framed-up charges and
is still held without bail for deportation. Many
other workers were arrested and threatened il
legally with deportation.
In spite of all this police terror the Royal
workers could have won the strike had they been
better organized and more firmly united in all
departments of the mill The National Textile
Workers Union takes responsibility for this
weakness in the strike.
The union did not sufficiently make the other
departments realize that if the cut on the box
looms went through, all departments would be
cut next. Although the National Textile Work
e-s Union raised demands for the plain loom
weayers the winders, and other departments
these demands were not made popular enough
both before and during the strike. These workers
therefore thought that they had nothing to fight
for. and they were the first ones to break the
ranks and go back to work In the last week of
the strike onl" the box-loon workers remained
out
The National Textile Workers Union must crit
ffcis5 itself for not organizing the different de-
rsrtments strongly enough around department
demands and thus preparing thoroughly for the
strike all over the mill
The Union also failed to break through the
police terror during the strike This could have
been done by spreading the strike to other mills
and by organizing mass action and mass protest
against the terror. Police and government terror
is powerless before the mass power Of the work
ers. This was clearly proved in the Central Falls
strike where the vicious police attack was COM
rletely defeated by splendid mass action of thou
sands of workers who broke through the terror
and kept the General Fabrics mill closed
The National Textile Workers Union. the
workers of the Royal Weaving, and the workers
of all other mills, must learn the valuable les
sons Of this strike. We must know how to fight
If we are to win the battle against wage cuts,
speed-up and capitalist exploitation We must
organize strong in every mill, bringing workers
from all departments into the union We must
give close attention to the organization of the
young workers and the women Only by giving
attention to the special needs of the youth and
women who are the most exploited sections OF
our class, will we be able to form a solid unity