The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-10-08

Of the leadership intended to pro.
tect the interests Of monopoly CAPT.
talism and its various corporations
and the unprecedented upsurgt
among the rank and file Of wage
workers in practically all industries
This upsurge is directed against thu
hunger program and the denial O.
the right to organize and strike, !.
necessary, that was supposed to bt
conceded in Clause Ia of the Ma.
tional Recovery Act, sponsored by
the Roosevelt administration anc
the leaders of monopoly capitalism
which it represents.
No single fact in connection with
the six days session of this conven.
ton is of more Importance tt
American workers than that The
scheduled anti-red drive, designed
primarily to distract attention Of
the continually more exploited
working class of this country from
the drive aaginst their wage, living
and social standards, did not really
get started. In all probability it vii
get under way next week. 1t ha,
taken a full week for the official
dom of the A. F. of L. to devise
the ways and means by which this
drive is to be started.
The Anti-Red Drive
Walter Citrine, secretary of anC
representative to this convention Of
the British Trade Union Congress
dominated by the social reformists
Of the British Labor Party, will very
likely be selected by the convention
officialdom to fire the opening gun:
in the barrage which the big en-
ployers and the Roosevelt admins
tration have insisted should be LAID
down at this convention against the
Communists.
This is of course an attempt tC
isolate the Reds" from their con-
nection with the hundreds of thou
sands of wage workers who have
conducted truly heroic struggles in
the last year against the starvation
standard Of living which A. F. of L
officialdom and the Roosevelt ad-
ministration, Of which it is an ap-
pendage, insists upon the American
working class accepting so that cap
iGal can crawl out of the five-yeal
crisis over the hunger-ridden bodies
Of American wage workers.
The official program has not done
very well at this convention so far
The officialdom is handicapped tc
a great extent by the fact that it,
54th annual gathering, by reason Of
a decision made year ago wher
the class struggle in the United
States had not reached it's present
intensity, is meeting in the principa.
city Of an area with some million
and a half population, the entire
working class of which engaged ir
a general strike in support of work
ers in the main industry of the area
the maritime workers organized If
some ten unions. Because of this
the officialdom in control of the
convention has been compelled tC
make certain very important polit-
ical concessions to the opinion Of
the working class in this area-anc
consequently to the entire American
working class, organized and unor-
ganized, which welcomed and sup
ported the tremendous demonstra-
ton of working class solidarity thai
took place in San Francisco and the
Bay Counties some three months
previous to the opening session oil
this convention.
Rank and File Resolutions
Also, and of decisive Importance
SO far as the open struggle between
the top leadership and the repre-
sentativeS of the A. F. of L. Rank
and File Committee who are dele
gates to this convention, and are
committed to the program expressed
in some rs resolutions now before
this convention is concerned, is the
fact that President Roosevelt de-
manded, in radio speech broad
cast to the entire country on the
day its first session opened, that
the officialdom of the A. F. of L
agree with him to so-called truce
between industry and labor"
The meaning of this truce" is
clear to every delegate in this con-
vention and still clearer to the
dues-paying membership they are
supposed to represent. 1t means
that President Roosevelt (having
failed to fool American workers
forced to fight against organized
employers, company unions, anc
the armed forces of the various
governmental agencies in a basiC
struggle for elementary rights has
come out for a showdown between
capital and labor.
The growing tensity of the rela-
lions between officialdom and the
dues-paying membership has beer
shown in this convention, and per-
haps most clearly by the way ir
which the press has reported the
proceedings. Nothing is more sig
nif1cant in this connection than the
submission to the official Resolu-
tons Committee, their acceptance
for the proceedings, and the publ
cation of all these resolutions in the
printed daily proceedings of the
convention, of the whole detailed
program of the delegates support
ing in whole or part the proposals
Of the Rank and File Committee.
The Main Issue
The San Francisco papers have
given the titles and short sum-
maries of these resolutions with ar
accuracy that is remarkable under