The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-04
Defeat OF the Eagle Pencil
Workers Strike

Statement of the Bureau of the Trade tnIon
Unity Council of New York
THE complete defeat of the workers of the Eagle
/ Pencil factory in short strike CT !'<s .han
three weeks shows very glaringly the ".Asress
of the Trade Union Unity Council as strike
leader and how slowly we learn from the mis-
takes made in past strikes. The mistakes N the
Illinois coal strike. the Flint auto strike, the
Philadelphia and New Orleans marine strikes
etc. have been discussed by the errors made in
these strikes the lack of preparation Tor these
strikes have not been hammered home and we
repeat the errors in the strike of the Eagle Pencil
workers.
In the preparations for the dress strike it IS
necessary to know our shortcomings, to analyZH
our strike experiences, expose our errors and
what is more to the point, to understand WHY
we made these errors and how to correct them
In this respect, this brief statement of the Bu-
reau of the Trade Union Unity Council criticiz-
ing the errors in the strike will help to develop
a clearer understanding of revolutionary strike
strategy in general and specifically and in the
preparattion of and conduct in the dress strike
While the Communist Party has carried on
propaganda for some two years, very little or
ganizational results had been gained, however,
with the posting of threatened wage cut of
10 per cent, the fruits of the long propaganda
showed results in outspoken verbal protests. The
TU.UC sent an organizer into the field and
in few days with the assistance of the Com
munist Party,ia fairly representative Shop Com
mittee was set up which created such foment
in the factory that the wage cut slated for
October was not put into effect. This retreat of
the company emboldened the workers. The Shop
Committee grew in numbers, and although not
elected, its influence spread. and its leadership
was quite generally accepted by great majority
of the workers.
Although almost a month was allowed for
strike preparations against the wage cut that
everyone knew coming. the main error in,
the preparatory work was lack of preparations.
While some organizing work had been done when
the strike was called December /. the workers
generally, most of whom were inexperienced
young girls and women. had only been prepared
ideologically and only for defensive struggle.
The first and fundamental error in the strike
preparations was the timd approach to the
workers. a. too careful selection of the factory
committee. who did not during the period of
strike preparations take up single grievance
of the workers. The factory committee merely
appeared before the workers in leaflets, while
the Trade Union Unity Council appeared be-
fore the workers through its organizer at fac
tory gate meetings The excuse given for the
careful selection of the factory committee was
that l8 months ago. similar committee had
been fired due to the work of stool pigeon:
however this was too readily accepted-we were
far too cautious-a holder course should have
been followed.
This timid, over-cautous approach in the
preparations for the strike, really laid the basis
for the defeat of the strike Because if we
would have recognized this error before the strike
call had been issued, and corrected it, q stronger
and more collective leadership Uo,l1 have heen
developed and militant fighting picket line
and strike committee organized which would
have resulted in at least stopping the wage
cut and organizing the workers into union
But th' weakness was not understood until the
strike was badly demoralized under vaciliat-
ing strike leadership that resisted militant strike
activitic
For example: although the TU.UC took the
leadership in the strike preparations holding
daily shop meetings, organized the factory COM
mittc-. only one member Of the committee was