The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-07
By ALFREp wAGENKNEcHr.

GREAT strides forward have been made in our
struggles for unemployment relief. The state
and city hunger marches have kindled fires
under the seats of hundreds of capitalist poll
ticians have placed the demands Of the unen-
ployed categoricaly before the fat rulers OF the
United States have exposed the enemy trinity,
the employers, their government and the re-
fornists fascists and social-fascistS, In the A,
F. of l. and socialist party to tens OF thousands
of workers, employed and MISUNDERSTANDING
who, while starving, still thought that their"
government would materially aid them. The
journey made by the workers delegation to the
national capitol with the demand for unemploy-
ment insurance, and the fact that this ruling
center offered the unemployed gas bombs, ma
chine guns and bullets instead of bread fur
Their clarified the role of the ruling class and
stressed the need for quick attention to the
establishment of deeper organizational roots
among the unemployed to attain greater mass
power and achievements.
The movement sprang forward by leaps and
bounds beginning with October 1880. Victor
ous fights against evictons in many cities taught
us an unforgetable lesson. Many new unem-
ployed councils were organized Hundreds of
militant struggles were engaged in. The whole
movement attained much higher political level
Although fewer workers demonstrated on Feb
the illusions spread by the enemy trinity, yet we
must note that February IS demonstrations indi-
Gated a more compact, better organized more
politically important and valuable struggle than
those of a year ago. Ee
At the same time we must examine our weak
neSses in order to ascertain why the demonstra-
tons of February 25 did not equal or exceed in
number and size, those of year ago. We can
not argue for political purity and organizational
progress if at the same time we reduce our hold
upon the masses. The following points are Of
fered to build and strengthen our movement
Although we may interest large masses of un-
organized unemployed workers. once or twice in
immense demonstrations, this alone does not
satisfy the needs of the unemployed for bread
and other relief. this alone does not make these
masscg organic parts of our movement The day
to day struggles for relief must be carried on by
organized masses of unemployed workers. who
meeting in our unemployed councils take the
initiative in planning methods of struggle and
thereby become observant of their gains
Our number of functioning unemployed coun-
ellis must be increased by the hundreds. There
are still hundreds of small STEEL textile and other
factory towns, and mining camps where nearly
the whole population is unemployed and starry
ing and where we have no unemployed coun-
ellis. In-the larger cities; We have satisfied our
selves with sectional unemployed councils which
function in an area SO vast that they never come
into close contact with the unemployed workers
and their families, their lives of misery and
hunger, never bring the unemployed into daily
struggles, never win them for organization.
Every large city must establish dozens of
neighborhood unemployed councils. council for
every twenty blocks in every working class neigh
borhood. These. neighborhood councils must in
vestigate the conditions of the unemployed work
ers' families in the neighborhood, must report
cases of actual starvation and lend assistance,
must fight every eviction, must organize strikes
against high rents, must not allow the light gas
or water of a single unemployed worker to be
shut off, must demand that the neighborhood
school give free meals for the children, must
engage in struggles against high food prices etc.
The neighborllood council must register every
unemployed worker within its jurisdiction win
him for daily activity in the struggle for relief
and for membership in the council; mobilize
him and his entire family for every city-wide
demonstration. mass struggle and hunger march;
make its center, even if only workers home,
the place where the unemployed themselves plan
their day to day work. where, they can come to
report their miserable conditions where they can