The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-03-21
Comm 2 Months VIII
Test Party's Ability in
Heavy Industries

shops, and recruiting some Of them
/ for our union The very &C
| comp1ishmeuts in some Of the
smaller machine shops in the
vicinity, which we're brought about
by our work in this large plant,
served as a stimulus, for further
work in the large plant. Things
are moving here, much more
slowly. We must travel on different
roads, in order to arrive at the
same point, lie. the organization Of
this shop.
3. The work in the Navy Yard
and private shipyards confronts us
with even greater difficulties. The
/ government Yards, all over the
/ country. are strongholds OF the A.
F. L. The officials work hand in
hand with the government and the
| administration in the yard The
/ A. F. L. functions more in the
style Of q company union than any,
thing else. The private shipyards
are very much connected with the
Navy Yard. They DO quite good
] bLl VI WDIh ADA tilt kONct
and much cheaper. because wages
in the private yards are much
lower than in the Navy Yard The
workers of the Navy Yard and the
private yards in many instances be-
] long to the same local unions Of
the A. r. L. They may be found
today working in the Navy Yard
and few weeks later perhaps in
the shipyards, and vice-versa. The
Navy Yard workers realize that as
| long as low wages exist in the
private yards, the government will
be able to lower their standard of
| living For this reason they have
contributed several hundred dollars
to the strike Of the shipyard work
ers, This was not only an express
sion of solidarity, but showed that
the Navy Yard workers considered
| themselves a part of the strike.
Our work in this field is proceed
ing even less satisfactorily than in
other places.
az First because we have not. as
yet, overcome our main shortcom-
ing, namely, not ORIGINATING our
selves. mainly, to the heavy in
duStry.
b. Second because up untH three
months ago no opposition work had
been carried on in these A. p. L.
unions, and now only very little is
being done.
q Third because we have not sue
ceeded, as yet, in getting a group
of leading forces suitable for this
work.
d And last because Of these
tremendous difficulties. the leader
ship Of our union has many times
taken the line Of least resistance.
One thing that we want to en-
phasize, at this point, is the broad
ness of the question of concentra-
ton on the Navy Yard, and that
by no means can the Navy Yard
be successfully handled as one
point in itself, living in a vacuum.
Key Workers in the Shops
One important problem that is
not discussed in our party, when
we discuss concentration, Is the
role that key and influential work
ers, must and will play, in organ
izing these large shops. Some COM
rades say, Key men-that is an
orientation towards skilled workers
and labor aristocracyl"
This is entirely untrue. Com
rade Lenin, in his struggle against
the Mensheviks, on the question of
leadership said, that every working
class movement or working class
struggle, whether organized or
spontaneous, has its natural work
ing class leaders, without which no
struggle can take place. This is
also true in every factory The
finding out of these key and in
fluential workers cannot be over
emphasized. Many groups that
were built in important shops
throughout the country went out
Of existence. because we looked for
/ quantity and not quality. The
workers who are usually attracted
by US to these groups are good
workers. but those who know little
Of organization. and have little in
fluence in the shop. Key and in
fluential workers are not won over
easily. When we do win these
workers, our shop organization
stands better chance to grow than
to die out. The winning over Of
these workers cannot be counter
posed as against the systematic
work among the whole mass of
workers, but, in many instances, we
have seen that when we succeed in
winning over these key and in
fluential workers, it takes but
short time to swing the whole mass
Of workers to our side.
Conclusion
The leadership of our union,
which has to perform a big task
in the revolutionary movement, has
learned number of things in the
past few months. We are tagging
tremendously behind. The union
is not yet definitely concentrating
its efforts on two or three import
ant points, without being carried
of its course by daily events. We
still haven't overcome the
habit Of talking of the i'm
portance Of the war indus
try. instead of doing something
more to get foothold in this in
dustry. The experiences that the
metal fraction hos had during the
lest few months, has helped it to
broaden its outlook on the whole
question Of concentration. We are
approaching these problems from a
more realistic point of view, but
by no means do we know all about
these problems.
Undoubtedly. the coming few