The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-11-04
MASS UNITY
BREAKS Thru
S.P. BARRIERS
LOO Communist and
Socialist Workers
in Walkout
FIGHT WAGE REDUCTION
Socialist Leaders On
Railway Board Insist
On Pay Cut
Gable By InprecOrrl

BERLIN. Germany, Nov. 3.-Twen-
ty thousand street car, bus and sub
way workers struck this morning a.
gainst an attempt of the Street Rail
way Trust, a city controlled body,
to cut wages two pfennings Chaf a
cent? Per hour. The strike is led
by the Red Trade Union Opposition
and committees Of rank and file
workers in flat defiance of the So
cialist leaders Of the union and of
the government.
Street railway traffic is completely
paralyzed. The company has an
nounced that not enough of the d.
900 employed appeared for duty this
morning to run single subway train,
and the company, after a brief at
Ampt TO run few street cars and
buses with scabs, has closed all
stations and suspended traffic en-
tirely.
Vigorous Mass Picketing
The attempt to use scabs was
started at II a. m. today. Mass
picket lines wrecked 25 street cars,
removed the controller handles, cut
the wires overhead, cut down some
Of the poles, hammered stones into
the switches, removed the switch
levers. Seeing the determination OF
the strikers, the company early in
the afternoon gave up the attempt
to use scabs, except for a few cars
which run, filled with police. No
buses are being run at all.
Union officials Sell Out
When the wage cut was announced
the union officials submitted it tc
referendum, with recommendation
that the cut be accepted. The vote
to reject the cut and strike was
14,47l, against 1898 for accepting the
cut.
Union rules require a rs per cent
vote to declare a strike, and the
vote for striking was over 80 pei
cent. But the union officials anc
Socialist leaders tried to get arounc
this By stating that there must b.
70 per cent of all employees, which
is ridiculous because under the stag
ger system this company uses, l.
per cent Of the workers are Away
away from the job, and wages arr
already so low that hundreds arr
always on sick leave. Actually, I'M
der these circumstances, q very high
percentage Of the workers voted il
the referendum.
Red Opposition Leads
Nevertheless, the union official
refused to call a strike. Yesterda,
evening meeting of workers dele
gates from the shops was called b.
the Red Trade Union Opposition, anC
voted unanimously to strike. TIT
conference elected a central rank ant
file strike committee, and sent on
the strike call
The nearly unanimous response Il
the strike took the union official
and the traffic trust completely b,
surprise.
Socialists Try To Enforce Cut
"VorwaertS" (''Forward'O the Of
fetal organ Of the Socialist Part.
was so eager to sabotage the strik
and enforce the wage cut that j
published this morning report tina
"the union delegates agreed unanim
ously that the ballot failed to jus
tify strike action but this treacher
Gus story appeared on the streets ;
little after the workers themselve
had tied up the whole Berlin tran
sportation system by their strike.
The union then declared tn
strike unsanctioned and outlaw. Blu
delegations Of workers from al
parts of the transport system hav
been besieging the union office Al
day demanding it recall its declar
alton, and sanction the strike.
The government press, without an
basis in law to justify it, has de
clared the strike illegal.
The traffic trust has appealed fc
a public arbitrator to decree a de
cision.
Vote Communist Against Misleadel
The strike will seriously cripple tn
Socialist vote in Sundays gener;
election, and build up the Comnun
ist vote. The workers see the So
cialists tried to stab them in tn
back, and that the Communists tul
support their anti-wage cut fight.
Socialists Unite With Bosses
The city government controls tn
street railway company, and tn
strike could be brought to an en'
by decision of the board in charg
withdrawing the wage cut. The Com
munist and Socialist members OF tn