The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-04-09

A restlessneSs and discomfort is permeating
the American Workers They are beginning to
awaken from their prosperity days" illusions.
They are not only feeling the scourge of unen-
ployment but the radical lowering of their stand
ards of living in dozen different forms: Wage
cuts, frightening of the work-day, intensified
ton of labor, "stagger systems and the like.
The bureaucracy of the A. r. Of L. and its
whole conservative machinery, are pillars OF the
American bankers and irldustrialists. Without
the Greens and VOLS the security Of the en-
ployers would be considerably diminished, for
the function of the A. F. Of L. leadership is to
fool the workers and make them arienable to
the employers.
What the present situation demands is Wig
orous denunciation Of the whole A. F. of L.
leadership and those who serve it in the labor
movement Workers must no longer tolerate
these betrayers - the labor leaders who have
grown fat upon the misery of the toilers. The
rank and file in the A. F. of L. must realize
that capitalist development through the rapid
introduction of machinery and various forms of
efficiency is rapidly crowding the skilled work
erS out of production and reducing them to the
position of the vast masses of unskilled, I'M
organized workers. The interests of the Or
ganiZed and unorganized-the skilled and un-
skled-are alike, therefore, they must organize
bined forces against the employers and their
servants, the treacherous leaders of the A. F.
of L.
The Mooney Billings case has always been and
must always be, a vital part Of the general
struggle between the workers and the employers.
Mooney was saved from the hangmans moose
only through the mass protests and pressure of
the workers Of Russia and the rest Of the world.
The workers and all sympathizers of labor must
again be aroused and In brotherly solidarity
they must demand the pardons of these two in
nocent workers.
1t is not evidence that has kept Mooney and
Billings in prison for Is years Capitalist class
justice in our sham democracy has done it
through the frame-up, aided by Perjury, Bribery,
Prejudice, and class hate super-charged with
general corruption. The betrayal of these two
trade unionists by the very men supposed to
lead labor to victory, the labor leaders, is the
most damnable, most disgusting single factor in
the entire cesspool Of depravity responsible for
the frame-up.
For IS years demands for pardon have fallen
upon deaf ears. In California Justice is like a
corpse that stnks and offends the nostrils of
the entire world. The Governor, the Legslat-
ure, the Supreme Court of California are the
tools of the respectable Big Business elements
the Bankers Industrialists, and the Chamber Of
Commerce-who are the real rulers Of the State.
They hold Mooney and Billings in prison to ter
rify other workers; as an example to all nilit-
ants who might become too active in the labor
movement. They will continue this brutal judi
cial lynching until real labor movement forces
the master class to free Mooney and Billings.
Mooney and Billings are living symbols Of the
desperate struggle between labor and capital.
Their fate, their freedom their hopes, their very
lives, are vital and inseparable part of that
struggle. If they are ever to gain their freedom
it will only be through real industrial and
political solidarity Of the working class demand
ing their unconditional pardons and insisting
that these demands be met Immediately.
The workers who in 1917 demonstrated in
Petrograd and in this country saved the life
of Tom Mooney. That was when labor stood
up on it's hind legs and roared. Big Business
listened, gave President Wilson orders and Will
son instructed the Governor OF California to save
Tom Mooney. But this demonstration was but
speck compared to what the organized might
of labor can do when aroused Had a general
strike been called in 1917 it would have changed
the outlook of many people, especially the work.
ers. For the power Of the workers Of this
ton has never been given the supreme test.
That supreme test would be the joining of
hands of the employed with the unemployed, the
organized with the unorganized In militant de-
monstrations demanding the unconditional par
dons Of Mooney and Billings. There can be no
doubt about this BIG Business ana Al ito Tick
spittle political henchme1 Would beeonsr panic