The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-11-09

DndJ In coming out curing Jhe GSn-
eral Textile Strike the workers
have violated the agreement.
Therefore they proceeded to declare
lower rates, and if the workers re-
fuse to accept them, lockout is
declared. This is the consequence
of Gorman's betrayal Of the silk
workers.
The district officials of the union,
when confronted by the member
ship, shift all blame on the Ma
tional officials and even express
sympathy for the suffering workers.
In the meantime, silk manufac-
turers throughout the country are
looking to Paterson, the leading
center, and if the union remains as
impotent as it is a general wage
cutting drive will sweep the in
dustry. But so are the tens of thou
sands of silk workers looking to
Paterson, expecting to get the lead
for a general struggle to stop the
cuts and enforce union shop.
Officials Chief Obstacle
The most unfortunate feature in
the situation, however, is that the
of1cialdom of the Paterson silk
weavers, who occupy such a key po-
sit-on, consists of as INSCRIPTIONS
set of reactionaries as will be
found i'll any A. F. of L. union. AS
general manager of the union,
there is Eli Keller, a Lovestoneite,
who was cleaned out of the Com
munist Party with the rest of the
renegades.
Keller is now the leader in pre-
venting movement that may bring
the entire silk industry on strike.
Yet in the Oct. Is Workers Age"
a SANDER sheet published by the
Lovestoneites, we read the follow
ing in the Trade Union Notes:
Paterson has become a con-
centration point fer all of the
Party's trade union brain trust.
Jay Rubin, Ann Burlak, and even
the mighty Hathaway descended
upon Paterson, like vuItures, in
an effort to pick the bones clean.
Under their excellent tutorship
union meetings are broken up,
fist fights started and the normal
functicning of the union de-
sSrOyed. This at time when the
greatest solidarity is needed"
What the Lovestoneites are really
trying to do is to cover the fact
that they are detailed to doing the
dirt.est work of the Germans and
MacAahons, national leaders of the
U. T. w.
Net Concerned with Workers
What are the facts?
When German called of the
General Textile Strike, Keller did
not consider what the consequences
will be for the silk weavers in Pat
erson. When the workers came to
the next strike meeting after Cor
mans order ending the strike, they
found the doors locked, and an Or
der to go to their shops. Confronted
by the angry workers, many. of
whom were later locked out, Keller
said that he had no other course
but to obey the dictates of the ma
tional Office.
To enforce this brazen sell-out.
Keller later had several of his
henchmen in the union deputized
and stationed as guards against the
rank and file. He refused to call
membership meetings for over two
months. Shops forced to remain
on strike were left to shift for
themselves, with no cooperation
from the union.
To help Keller, Lovestone came
down to Paterson and after a con-
\ ference with his strikebreaking
crew.. advised that Keller ask sane
s ton for a general silk strike. This
schemer knew that asking Green,
German or MacMahon for strike
sanction is like asking the bosses.
But in the meantime it appears as
if Keller is for strike. The result
was telegram from Keller to
Green at the A. F. of L. conven-
ton asking that a general strike
in the silk industry be called.
Weakness of Rank and File
Unfortunately the rank and file
movement in the union was neither
united nor well organized. Former
members of the National Textile
Workers Union had just merged
into the American Federation of
Silk Workers.
When the general strike was
called off, without even a meeting
of workers, committee of rs was
eleated out of mass meeting on
lot (since the doors Of the sched-
uled mass meeting and union hall
were found closed. This commit
tee mistakenly tended to shift the
struggle outside Of the regular
union channels. A similar action
n was later taken when a committee
of II was elected at a mass meeting
4 called by this committee of IS. This
: was supposed to be an emergency
executive committee, and naturally
had the tendency of isolating the
fight of the rank and file from many
within the union.
Keller Gangsters in Action
Fist fights did take place, and
the union certainly does not func-
ton in a normal manner. But 1t
was the Keller gangsters who DELHI
erstely provoked this trouble. Rank
and file workers in the union hall
were chased out by Keller's men,
with badges At one rank and file
mass meeting, several of Keller's
gangsters came in and provoked a
fight so as to throw it into confu-
SIGN. They had to be thrown out
arl several chairs were broken.
Then finally membership
M ling was forced, and it was ap-
parent that the left wing had the