The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-05-29
PARTY LIFE
BY NAT GOODWIN
Youth Organizer of Needle Trades
Workers Industrial TTuior,

workers industrial Union
/ HAVE just read the draft resulo-
l ton of the National Executive
Committee of the Y. c. L. for the
convention. I fully agree with this
resolution, as a correct estimation
of the present economic situation,
also in reviewing the activities of
the Y. G. L. since the last conven-
ton.
The resolution points out correctly
that we failed to penetrate into the
factories and that there is actually
resistance on the part of league
members to joining a trade union or
other youth mass organization.
The resolution states that in the
last few months there has been
some improvement of our work in
the A. F. Of L. (SteeD, but the work
of the league in the revolutionary
unions has not improved and re-
mains in the same unsatisfactory
position.
1t points out the reason for this is
as follows:
THAT a small percentage of
young workers in the Y. C. L, are
members and active in trade
unions.
2-That there is 2 resistance to
taking up youth problems, and
youth forms Sy the revolutionary
union leadership, which is a rem
nant of reforn1ist theology Needle,
Steel.
3-The lack of understanding in
the ranks of the Y. G. L. of the
need for economic youth demands
and that these form the basis for
youth sections, youth committees,
etc.
I want to discuss two of the most
important problems confronting the
league at this convention.
1.-The work in trade unions and
mass organizations.
2-How to work in these organ
nations.
I am in the league two years.
In these two years, 1 witnessed the
formation of about a dozen youth
committees, but none of them ever
functioned. I also have been organ
izer of the last youth committee.
Here is how they were organized.
Our union leadership never took up
the question of the young workers,
as union question, to be solved as
any union problem, but left to be
solved by itself If there were few
Y. G. L. members in the union that
wanted to organize youth section,
these young workers had to do
everything by themselves.
Most of the league members of the
committee did not regard the work
in the trade union as important.
They were ''busy" with unit work!
1t therefore took weeks just to get
them together to a meeting, and
after few weeks, the youth COM
mittee went to pieces.
We we're so busy organizing our
selves that we left out the task of
taking up the problems of the young
workers of our industry, calling
youth conferences in a given trade
by our union in order to work out
demands for these young workers,
and to elect a youth committee from
there to carry on organizational
work. Our union failed to do this.
I was the last one to try to or
ganize the shipping clerks of my
trade (Fur). In the fur trade, our
revolutionary union was able to win
better conditions for the fur work.
ers, with the result that 95 per cent
of the workers are members of our
union.
In the fur trade, there are quite
a few crafts working in the same
shop, but our union was able to or
ganize them into an industrial
union. But, in this same trade there
are shipping clerks and floor boys,
who are unorganized young workers,
and work under the most miserable
conditions 5000 hours week for
$40 to So per week. When I took
up this question of the shipping
clerks, l met strong resistance from
the union leadership. Even in this
trade, where we have organized the