The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-03-03
TEN DAYS

MARY continues. at was 10 days
HL Just 10 days today. Ten days
that shook our world We had
snow, and rain and scabs and pc
lice to fight. Our big demands.
40 hours, so cents suit, 80 cents q
dress, recognition of the union.
Well, the cutters began talking
what a nice gentleman the boss
was They tried to demoralize the
girls. They said the government
doesn't recognize our union. They
said that we are Communists. They
didn't succeed. We we're always OF
the alert. Meeting after meeting
we exposed them. 1t was punch
and give with those scabs ano
stools. Most of them are boys who
wanted to make themselves biz
with the girls. Now they're lower
than a cent.
There were fodr conferences witt
the boss At the first he Wouldn't
give q cent raise. At the second
he offered two cents. mot thai
you deserve it" he hollered. He
threatened to move his shop out
Of the city to Yonkers. At the
third conference he was SO mad he
rushed out, slamming the door
A racketeer representative Of hi
talked for him. He said if the
place were not opened tomorrow
1000 people would be thrown out
of work
The girls were terribly frighten-
ed. They wanted to take the two
cents raise rather than lose their
jobs. Mary patiently explained to
the girls that the boss was in no
position to move his factory.
The girls stiffened their resist
anCe. They redoubled their picket
ing. Their defied the police, who
arrested five of them for close
picketing. They finally closed down
completely the whole shop and
showroom. Next day the boss call
ed up. He agre- d to settle.
MARY has a copy OF Lozoysky's
isI Strike Strategy in her hands.
She folds it and makes a small
btlCoCOlC VI ~ do Sic betlhOs IOO
we've won. We've won recognition
of our shop committee and the
union. Forty-hour week. No dead
time. One dollar increase for the
week workers. Three cents increase
per garment. No firing at the
cosss whim, Equal division of work
during slack season. Improved san
itary conditions in the toilet, gloves
for the markets, etc. Considering
the fact that it was a backward
element, our gains are tremendous.
If the cutters hadn't scabbed and
the S'~ishers had been out on the
p,ck~i ne and not stayed home,
we could have won 100 per cent
our demands.
Materially the gains are not SO
great. But we have freed our
selves. The struggle has brought
us closer. The workers are now
convinced that q revolutionary
union like the Needle Trades
Workers Industrial Union is a real
union of workers. During the
strike they got relief and atten-
ton every minute of the day. They
saw the union using outside SYM
pathetic forces like the Unemploy-
ed Councils to help with the fight.
Now when we explain what COM
munists are, they listen. If that
is communist, we are all for 1t,
they cry"
Mary gets up and buttons her
coat. She looks up at the picture
of Lenin with the crossed sickle
and hammer as if sharpening each
other. On the other wall there is
a poster of q woman leading, with
her powerful legs breaking through
her skirt. We pass the bookshop
with the slogan: knowledge Is
Power. Workers! Learn To Fight
On the way through the streets,
Mary extends an invitation to
dance and concert, for the bene-
fit of the strikers of the Maimon~
Sanger shop, to be held Saturday.
March 4, at pm. at 269 West
25th Street. She shakes hands.
Then she hurTies down to catch
her train.