The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-03-21
The Open Letter and
the Metal Industries
in New York
J. mATLEs-New York

It is not the purpose of this
article to report on the status OF the
Steel and Metal Workers Industrial
Union in the New York District,
generally. We want to devote this
article to the problems that con-
front us in attempting to carry out
the Open Letter in the metal in
dustry-one of the four industries
that the New York District decided
to conquer for the revolutionary
movement. Until about three months
ago, the Steel and Metal Workers
Union has been involved almost ex-
clusively in the organization Of the
lighter sections of the metal in
dustry, where many strikes took
place under our leadership. The
heavy sections of the industry such
as large machine shops (mGinly
working on war materials and ship
yards, remained almost entirely I'M
touched, although they had been on
record for years, in district resolu-
tons rs concentration points. What
are the reasons for this situation,
is the question that the leading
fraction of our union, has been
trying to answer for the last few
months?
One Little" Thing is Left to the End
Decisions to concentrate, up until
now, have been based only on sin
cere wishes, and willingness to go
on record saying that we are carry
ing out the resolutions of the higher
bodies. We call a conference or a
convention, of the party, and there
We adopt plan to do nothing more
or less than master the marine in
dustry, local transport, railroad,
metal industry, and the General
Electric, in Schenectady. After the
plan has been voted upon by every
one, we start scratching our heads
for capable forces. Usually, we find
that there are no forces on hand.
We lose few months. We then
call another conference to again de-
eide to concentrate, and assign
proper" forces. This repeats it
self time and time again.
If our decision to concentrate were
not based only on good wishes, then
we would understand, that the first
and most important part of con-
centration, is the securing and as
signing of capable comrades to
tackle the basic industry. This
question is usually answered very
simply.
We have 5000 Communists in the
district, and therefore there are
plenty of forces to master these
basic industries. The experiences
Of our Russian party, can help us
to understand this question much
better. The tens of thousands of
Communists in the Soviet villages
did not succeed in solving the ques-
ton Of collectivization of agricul-
ture. 1t took Bolshevik Central
Committee to place at the head Of
these large numbers Of Communists
in the village, about 1000 trained
and experienced Bolsheviks, and a
sharp turn was made, in a very
short time. Here in New York our
Party has great difficulties in find
ing one dozen capable comrades who
can handle these basic industries,
and provide leadership to the large
numbers of Communists. This
makes it more difficult to give or
ganizational guarantees to carry out
the correct political decisions.
Therefore, it places more respon-
sibility on the shoulders of the lead
ing party committees, to find solu-
tons for this first and most i'm
portant part of concentration.
The reasons why we are in most
instances helpless in solving these
problems is, because our leading
comrades try to solve this problem
within the ranks Of the leading
committees Our leading comrades
cannot be found as yet carrying on
practical work below, where these
forces can and will be found. The
attendance at section committee
meeting by district representative
once in two weeks Is not the thing
tn the present existing situation
demands. Even the best forces