The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-23
By JACK sTACHEL

III ll1E 1lSllg VI blAC CAkyGA AGA4-G "a b+ASAN
years. OF course, in this short article
we can touch only on the main points
The Communist Party has been the
decisive force in helping to develop
the revolutionary trade union move
ment. All the achievements, problems
and weaknesses of the revolutionary
trade union movement have been
identified with the activity Of the
Communist Party.
From the very beginning Of its eX-
istence the Communist Party has
carried on a sharp struggle against
the class collaboration policies Of
GomperS, Green, Vol & Co. and
their supporters, the Hillquits, Hill
mans and Thomases. From the very
beginning the Communist Psrtv h9-
came a force mobilizing the workers
in struggle for better conditions, eau
cIating the workers in the experience
of these struggles of the necessity to
fight for the abolition of the whole
capitalist system Of exploitation. But
while the Communist Party through
out its existence has remained true
to the policy Of the class struggle
and carried on a determined struggle
against the A. F. Of L. bureaucracy
and it's class collaboration policy the
trade union policies and tactics have
undergone q change throughout these
years, on the basis of the changes in
the labor movement as well as re-
suit of experiences gained in the
struggle.
we can divide the trade union
policies and tactics of the Party into
three main phases.
The first, the period of main en-
phasis on small pure" revolutionary
industrial unions and no work in the
A. F. of L. organizations; the second
period a swing to the other extreme
namely work only in the A. F. Of L.
and neglect of the unorganized; the
third, the present period Of our trade
union work which consists of both
the building of new unions among the
unorganized and especially in the
basic industries, and at the same time
work within the existing unions, the
A. f. of L. and other reformist con-
troIIed organizations.
The fight for a correct trade union
policy was throughout the Party's ex-
istence also connected with the fac
tional struggles that mark the early
history of our Party, and the process
that went on in the Party Of merging
into one united Party the elements
that came to the Party from the vari-
Gus currents of the labor movement
The first orientation of the newly
organized Communist Party in the
main was to neglect the work in the
A. F. of L. unions. There was even
a certain theoretical justification de-
veloped for this. This tendency was
not limited to the U. S. 1t was pre-
valent in most newly formed parties
throughout the world. 1t was this
condition that led Lenin to write his
famous pamphlet SHOULD COmmu-
nists Work in the Reactionary
Unions?" in which Lenin sharply Cri-
ticized the leftist mistakes of aban-
doning the workers in the reaction
airy unions to the bureaucrats. In the
U. S. this policy had its counter
part in the main emphasis Of the
trade union work being laid upon
the IWW, which was still at that time
a fairly large organization, and also
upon small groups of independent
unions that led a sectarian existence,
such as the Amalgamated Metal
Workers in New York and similar Or
CARNATIONS. This was the heritage of
the young Communist movement from
the sectarianism Of the S. L. P. and
the I. w. w. Its positive side was
the sharp struggle against the class
collaboration policy Of the A. F. Of L.
and the policy of the S. P which was
the same but cloaked in neutrality
on the trade union field.
THE intrusion of some native expert
L enced trade union leaders into
the Communist Party led by the pres
emit outstanding leader Of our Party
VIM. z. Foster, made turn to work
among the millions of workers in the
American Federation of Labor. Foster
already found a substantial element
in the Party (Browder, Dunno, etc.
who pressed for work in the mass re-
fornlist trade unions. 1t must be re-
menbered that at this time new mil
lions of workers from the basic in
dustries had been brought into the
A. F. of L. and that the A. F. L. hac
at this time the largest membership
in its entire history. Foster and Others
of the experienced trade union lead
ers, among them the present Genera
Secretary Of the Party, Earl Browder
Jack tombstone, Bill Dunno, helped tt
orientate the Communist Party to.
wards the millions of organized work
ers in the American Federation Of
Labor. Foster organized the left wing
in the A. F. of L., the Trade Unior
Educational League, that became 6
big force in the labor movement, re-
ceiving support for its policies from
large section of the membership Of
the A. F. of L. and outstanding Of
ficials who at that time professed tC
support progressive policies.
DUT this period of our trade unior
~ work though marked by great for
ward strides towards the masses was
not without its mistakes Especially
at the later stages when the mass
expulsion policy and decline of the A
F. of L. set in and large sections
of the masses that had focked into
the A. F. of L. during the war were
driven out, the policy remained al
most exclusively work in the A. F. OF
l.. with no attempt to organize the
masses of the unorganized into new
unions when it became clear that the
A. F.. of L. bureaucracy was not in
terested. and unwilling to organize
the millions of lInnrpanizad in the