The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-08-07
Green DraqVS the SaVord

A AMERICAN workers have nothing to
"A fear. All is not yet lost. William
Green, president of the American Fedora
ton of Labor, has drawn the sword and is
about to lead the assault on the breast
works of capital.
You don't believe it? All, fellow-worker,
you have been touched by Communism. Here, read
Bill Green's statement yourself as that peerless fell
low made it to the press on the eve of the meeting
Of the Executive Council of the A. F. Of L.
Unemployment is still the outstanding prob
lem before us Despite the increase [?!-Ed.1
of employment due to the NR.A and to the ex-
penditures of vast relief funds the slack in unem-
ployment is not being taken up rapidly enough
6. Are captains of industry only fair
weather leaders?
g. Are the sons of pioneers who constructed
the American railroads. who harnessed the water
falls and who built up the greatest productive
chine in the history of the world ready to CAPT.
tuIate to the absentee ownership and control of
bankers far removed from the honest sweat of
factory, mill and mine management?
q. WILL 1T BE NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY
TO TAKE OVER THE MEANS OF PRODUC-
TION? IF THE OWNERS OF INDUSTRY
DEFAULT IN THEIR APPROACH TO THESE
PhObLEH1S, In EhEOETNOG
OF THIS ECONOMIC CRISIS, WILL THEY NOT
THEN FORFEIT THEIR PREROGATIvEs AND
BE COMPELLED TO STAND ASIDE WHILE
SOCIETY ITSELF, FOR GOOD OR EVIL,
MAKES AN ATTEMPT TO COPE WITH THIS
TASK?" Emphasis ours-Ed).
WORKERS everywhere will ask: Can this be2
W Why is Bill Green, sworn friend of the profit
system raising for the first time in the recent
history of the A. F. of L., the question Of the
taking over of industry by the workers.
Why, five years after the crisis set in does Bill
Green begin to doubt the captains of Industry"
WhyP Because thousands of members of the
American Federation of Labor and outside of it are
beginning to understand that the captains of In
dustry' cannot cope with the crisis" that the capt.
talist system cannot feed the starving millions.
Workers in vaster numbers beginning to realize
that the capitalist class cannot reorganize society,"
that amidst plenty it can only rob and destroy.
Workers have not been blind to the plain facts.
They have seen wheat burned while millions starved.
They have seen cotton ploughed under while
textile workers shivered in rags
They have seen the wealth of few parasitic
millionaires grow to fabulous size.
And four thousand miles away they have seen
a land grow up, socialist land, where I'M
employment has been banished and new society
lb Q6N6lOpluR WHICH can ana QOeS cope success
fully with its problems This country rs the
Soviet Union-where the bankers and bosses were
banshed in November 1917 where the wealth of
the country since has become the property of the
millions
And, seeing all this, the American working
class is beginning to draw conclusions of the great
est Importance. 1t is beginning to struggle against
the yoke of a Tabor leadership" which defends
the system that Expresses labor
Bill Green sees all this, feels the growing revolt
of the rank and file Of the A. F. Of L, and draws
the sword the cardboard sword. His radical phrases
only an attempt to swim with the growing cur
rent. 1t is grand gesture But IT won't work.
THE memory Of American labor is not 50 short
Mr.. Green. We remember how in the first
years of what you then called a depression" and
now crisis" you beloved against unemployment
insurance. Now when about 2400 locals of the
A. F. of L. and many central bodies have en-
dorsed the Workers Unemployment Insurance Bill
you talk differently
For years you and the Executive Council of
the A. F. of L, were bitterly opposed to ANYTHING
which smet family of being socialistic Today
you speak of taking over industry a complete re-
versal of the position Of the A. F. of L. leaders
for many years.
But the rank and file will not be fooled by these
4dsCoG WOIuo VI yOuS ny tllS new piece OF d6fnH-
gogy.
Scores of locals of the American Federation OF
Labor will continue to fight for the Workers IN
employment Insurance Bill Thousands of mem
bers of the A. F. Of L., deeply convinced of the
fact that the captains of industry not only can
not cope with the crisis but can only lead the
American masses to disaster, are beginning to see
another way out, the Soviet way out that of taking
over the means and machinery Of production of
the United States.
They are beginning to see with the greatest of
clarity that you and the chiefs of the A. F. of L,
are the greatest enemies of such social change
The workers in and out of the A. F. of L, are
beginning to see that what the Communist Party
9th Convention declared is absolutely correct:
IF the workers will take power, they will in
very short time radically improve the life of all
toilers-industrial workers, farmers, white-coar
workers. professionals intellectuaIs etc. providing
a high degree of comfort and web being for the
toiling masses.
There Is way out of the crisis except by
breaking the domination Of the rule of the can't
taiist class and taking the road pointed out by
the victorious working class of the Soviet Union"
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NJ Oqp A gHinSf A 1IfoWorLor e