The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-10-29

the International with full rights
and privileges, which means the
right to participate in union activi-
ties, to vote, hold Office, become
shop chairmen and officials.
And precisely for that reason the
present officers in the Internationl
will resist the only effective unity
of the dressmakers tooth and nail.
Precisely for that reason, as a
rank and file speaker of the IL.G.
WI. stated, it is necessary to start
at once to mobilize the dressmak-
ers to fight for the acceptance of
the militant dressmakers Of the In
dustrisl Union, as the opening gun
m the fight for union conditions.
Tells of Advantage
What would be the advantage"
Gold said Gin sending our fighting
forces into the International, If
they will be prevented from becom-
ing effective members of your union
for two years or more? BY that time
the very urgent reason which die
tates our present step-maintenance
of the dressmakers as an organi-
cation capable of fighting for It's
rignts-will no longer hold.
ut is not because we made Up
with the International officials that
we now send in our workers to join
you. They go in the spirit of fight
ing for their rights, for their wages
and for the conditions of all of the
oressmakers. Our task grows bigger,
our responsibilities enlarge. We go
in to fight to a standstill all those
who betray. who beat down the
conditions and the livelihood of the
dressmakers."
The capitalist press, the articles
in Wcmen's Wear, the Day and the
Forward, show that their inspira-
ton comes from one source. They
dwell upon the declaration by Ben
Gold that 1t would be stupid" for
the International to accept the
dressmakers as full-fledged men,
bers. They make slight omission
that vitiates the meaning Of this
remark.
For the international officials
who maintain union only for dues,
taxes, and initiation fees, who, while
boasting of a war chest of hun
dreds of thousands of dollars, do
not raise a finger to check the
dangerous toboggan-slide of worker
conditions in the ress-shops, who
maintain a private racket in alli-
ance with the bosses to sweat the
last cent out of the workers, it
would indeed be stupid thing of
their own free will to admit those
into their union who are sworn to
raise bitter fight against just
those policies.
But for the International, con-
sidered as the body of thousands of
dressmakers organized as a solid
fighting unit, it is not only not
stupid, it is the wisest step that 1t
can take at the present time.
What attitude will the high
moguls Of the International-the
Dubinskys, Hochmans, thinner
mans, take to the offer Of the In
dustrial Union, what answer will
they make to the letter which the
GEB of the NTWIU has sent them,
what will they say to the commit
tee of Is that will come to demand
that the dresSmakers be taken in?
In the absence of Dubinsky, who
is on the West Coast, minor officials
have indicated that it is "prepos-
ferrous" "impudent," for the In
dustrial Union to demand any rights
for the dressmakers if 1t releases
them.
They consider it impudent to de-
mand that the workers who have
been pioneers in the trade, who have
been in the International before
1926, who are known as those who
have always had the interests of
the trade at heart, be given their
status in the industry that they
are entitled to, to ask, at an adj
mittedly critical time, when the
dressmakers are clamoring for unity,
when a last stand must be made
by all the workers before they are
all overwhelmed by the rising tide
of fascist aggression on the part of
bosses and governmental forces,
that these seasoned veterans be not
bound, shackled and gagged, but
be permitted to raise hand and
voice for the defense of the ele-
mentary rights Of workers!
The dressmakers have a far diff
ferent notion of what constitutes
"impudence." In the course of the
next few weeks, if the mood and
the temper of the workers present
at Cooper Union is any indication,
the dressmakers may be able to
convey their meaning of that word
to their nigh-hat officials The spirit
of unity raised at this hisoric meet
ing will not be downed. Those that
stand in the way will not be toler-
ated much longer.
The bosses, the jobbers, and the
contractors who have matured the
plan of attack at the expiration of
the agreement, will be in no great
hurry to commence, faced by this
new unity of the dressmakers. Con-
fident of their power, assured of
the united strength and support of
all elements in the field. the dress
makers will soon again become the
mighty force that they we're be-
fore.