The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-04-01
A. F. of L. Leaders Betray
Tom Mooney
BY BURCK

disguised with the futility, the impotence the
poisonous influence of the leadership of the A.
F. Of L., wrote the following editorial before the
Toronto Convention of the Federation, october
8, 1929:
ITO anyone interested in the rights and well
fare Of workers the American Federation of
Labor is a somewhat pathetic organiza-
ton. 1t has to report failure to make appre
ciable gains in membership, being now below
100000 compared with its 100000 and more in
1920. 1t has to report labor awakening in the
South in which it has little share. -. 1t has
TO report increased chronological unemployment
caused by machines doing the work Of men,
and its own inability to obtain government I'M
employment and old age pension systems to pro-
tect strapped labor. 1t has to report basic in
dustrieS such as coal and textiles in which
chaotic conditions drift from bad to worse with
the Federation having no constructive program
to prevent increasing suffering in these trades.
1t has to report a growth OF anti-labor njunc-
tons and helplessness to protect the constitu-
tional civil rights of the workers What is
the American Federation of Labor for? Unions
are organized in trades and federated in a ma
tional body for the specific purpose of protect
ing the interests of labor. If the A. F. of L.
cannot get justice for labor in Congress Ia the
courts in industry, who can? The truth is the
"A l.. ID
Every year its weakness is more apparent. The
Southern Textile situation is vivid example of
that failure but it is only one Of the many exam
pies. For thirty years the A! F. of L. has ig
nored this field, except for easy resolutions and
a handful of organizers. The job has been left
to the Communists While hungry southern mill
hands are facing alone the organized employers
and hostile authorities, are beaten by MODS and
shot down by sheriffs the sleek A. F. Of L. Of
ficials sit twddling their thumbs at mahogany
desks in washington or are making patroteer-
ing speeches at West Point The A. F. of L.
is described accurately as the aristocracy of
Labor. All aristocracies are subject to dry rot"
WHO ARE THE FRIENDS OF TOM MOONEY?
The enmity, the malice, of the labor leaders
would be disheartening were it not for few
militant A. F. of L. leaders, few cear-sighted
Sympathizers of labor, and the great bulk of
the rank and file workers The vital impor-
lance to Labor of the Mooney Billings case has
been correctly understood by intelligent people
everywhere Especially by the workers.
When Tom Mooney was sentenced to death
and Warren Billings to life Imprisonment in
1917, a spontaneous wave of militant protest
spread around the world, and workers number
ing hundreds of thousands poured into the
streets of every large city of the earth Gemand-
ing their immediate pardon Huge demonstra-
tons of thoroughly aroused workers marched
upon the American embassies and made the
ruling class know that they would not stand
for this outrage. When the United States en-
tered the war, huge throngs of workers before
the American embassy in Petrograd demanded
the freedom of Mooney and Billings. This
demonstration attracted worldwide attention
to the frame-up, and the great majority of
Americans first heard about TON MUM" as a
result of, the protest of the workers in far-off
Russia. In a furry of excitement President
Wilson, anxious to secure the continued CO.
operation of Russia in the war, found it adj
visable to politely but none the less emphatical-
ly instruct the Governor of California to COM
mute MONEYS death sentence until he can
be tried upon one of the other indictments"
in order to appease the anger of the Russian
workers.
Throughout the United States union men
voiced such loud protests that many labor
bodies passed resolutions demanding general
strike to force the releace of Mooney and Bill
ings. deluge OF resolutions fell upon the
labor misleaders OF California, and to each OF
these militant resolutions, backed by the mailed
fist of labor, the California underlings of Big
Business turned deaf ear California must
lead" The resolutions stated: "When it leads
we pledge our honor as working men to follow"
California did not lead. Its labor leaders were
too busy pcddling Organized Labor's powerful
nfMerce and m jcc for cold cash or its
c7uiva,ant, political Jobs, to bother about
| Mooney ana Billings The California leaders