The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-09-17
OfficialdOm Tried to
Prevent Coast and
Textile Strikes
By Bill Dunno
By Bill Dunno

Officialdom Of the American Fed
Grafton Of Labor, and the Roose-
welt administration, in the midst of
the greatest textile strike in Amer
lean labor history, and on the eve
of the 54th Annual Convention of
the A. F. Of L. Injecting in San
Francisco, Oct. u are following the
same policy developed and applied
in the West Coast strike of ten
maritime unions and in the general
strike in the Bay Counties Oak
land, Berkeley, Richmond, Alameda,
San Francisco, etc..
President Roosevelt has appointed
a board for investigation and me-
diation as a gesture of Impair
tiality"-as he did in the historic
West Coast struggle. The Board
does nothing-as it did in the West
Coast strike. 1t does not investi-
gate because any kind of an in
vestigation will reveal the slave and
starvation conditions in the indus
try-and put the mill owners in a
morally untenable position.
Fight for Elementary Issues
The board cannot mediate be-
cause the textile workers are fight
ing for the right to work and live,
for the RICH to organize and deter
mine to a minimum extent under
what conditions they are to work.
Such elementary issues cannot be
arbitrated or mediated. One might
as we'll try to arbitrate the class
struggle-which develops out of
just these elementary issues.
RooSevelt's textile board stands
today, just as his longshoremen's
board, he i'd ed by Archbishop
Hanna, stood in the West Coast
strike, as an instrument intended to
maintain the shrinking illusion of
government impartiality in labor
struggles, as second line reserve
upon which to fall back if the half
million textile workers are not
crushed by military force and di-
vided by a leadership engaged in
lauding the same Roosevelt who
encourages and condones the muir
derous attacks of massed military
and semi military forces upon the
strikers, their families and SYM
pathizers.
Forced to Give Verbal Support
The A. F. of L. officialdom,
headed by Green and VOL, has
been compelled to give verbal sup
port to the courageous struggle of
the half-starved textile workers
after moving heaven and earth to
prevent strike action against the
continuous drive of the employers
on wages, working conditions and
living standards. AS for German,
Mcmahon and the rest Of the Off
cial clique of the United Textile
Workers Union, the last thing they
wanted was general strike in the
industry. Twice they flirted with
the question of a general strike
but only to bring pressure on the
administration for securing posi-
tons for themselves on the textile
code authority and on the labor
relations board.
while U.T.W. officialdom played
with the general strike issue and
negotiated behind the backs of the
textile workers with the mill own
ers' representatives, the rank and
file of the workers in the industry,
faced with rising prices, lowered
wages and merciless stretchout, took
the general strike slogan seriously
and began to prepare the strike.
Ranks Demanded Strike
At the U.TW. convention held
last month in New York City, the
rank and file delegates came in
structed to demand a general strike.
The rank and file pressure was ir-
reSiStible. The officials had to go
along or lose their leadership. They
went along-just as the San Fran
cisco labor officialdom went along
with the general strike. They had
tried to strange the strike and they
had failed. They went along
apologetically German aped Green
in raising the Red Scare" He