The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-05-15
Labor Rouses the Waterfront
BY MARGUERITE YOUNG

TN ASLi1t dAiNcu 9tllApiIAs RhAHdu
changed things. The moment
1t was explained. the sesmen
gravitated toward It. tt shipped
IS men during its first week. It
has shipped nearly 1000 since then.
Seamen registered In It meet regu-
larry. adopt or change rules, thresh
out putty grievances. United front
from below in a struggle for i'm
mediate needs, that in itself brings
forward the fact that the revolu-
tionary program Is the workers
only way out has been carried
through in the Centralized Ship
ping Bureau with inspiring skin.
tt met attacks from the outset
but the nature and source of the
attacks served to rally the workers
more solidly beyond it and to in
crease its strength against attacks.
1t has exposed once more the gor-
dian knot in which are tied the
employer, the government, and the
leaders Of both the safe" non
revolutionary labor union and the
once-super- revolutionary organiza-
ton. First to oppose it openly was
mighty Standard Oil, the stagger-
plan giant of industry. then came
the Sea Service of the Shipping
Board. and in rapid succession the
7. S. U. and the I. W. w. They
tried everything from the boycott
to the stool-pigeon to direct action.
Two weeks after the Bureau was
set up, In the recreation hall Of
the Sea1nen's Relief Project, the
seamen were notified they would
have to move IL because the Ship
ping Board opposed its location on
government project They moved
it into the M. W. I. q. hall, and
its support grew. Standard Oil
and many others refused to hire
through the Bureau; only three
lines, Calmar Oriele and Bethlehem
Steeps Ore Line. ship all their
forces through the seamen's pro-
iect. But because the seamen in
turn unitedly refused to ship
through the shipping sharks, the
latter were forced to come to the
Bureau to get men for the COM
panies which were "boycotting' the
bureau, for at least 80 per cent of
their men. For example, the Ship
ping Board adamantly refuses to
ship through the Centralized Ship
ping Bureau-but it telephones the
Y. M G. A. Anchorage, which in
turn calls upon the Bureau for sea-
men.
Try to Smash Bureau
Standard Oil, however, was will
ing to spend unlimited amounts to
break the Bureau. When STANDARD
Pete" its agent. couldn't draw a.
seaman into his restaurant-b bar
lodging house next to the gospel
mission beyond the market,
Standard imported crews from New
York to ship from Baltimore. 1t
shipped them by bus to Baltimore.
Sometimes it failed because when
seamen thus recruited happened to
pass the Bureau and discover what
was behind it. they would turn
back. The company resorted to
Shipping crews from New York to
an island 80 miles from Baltimore,
and sailing from there.
In this connection the Shipping
Bureau made its one serious mis-
take-one already corrected. how
ever. The Standard Oils tactic so
reused them that they allowed them
selves to direct their fight against
workers instead of solely against
the conpanv-that is, they applied
the name "Scab" to anyone who
shipped through STANDARD Pete
Recently, however, they correctly
decided to work instead toward
drawing those who ship on Standard
boats into the struggle. to force
recognition Of the Centralized Ship
ping Board Bureau Though win
ming Standard crews to support it.
The shipowners went direct to
Washington relief officials with de-
mands that worker control of relief
be abolished in order to smash the
Centralized Shipping Bureau. This |
much am informed not only by the
seamen, but by a government |
source. Delegations arrived in
person - Munson line representa-
tives, the mercantile section of the
Baltimore Chamber Of Commerce,
and others. Next. the Seamen's
Church Institute and the Y. M. C.
A, and then officials of the I. S. U. !
all frankly declaring that the
worst" feature of the seamen's
movement was the Centralized
Shipping Bureau