The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-07-24
BY HARRY YARIS


Part III
Where did the Socialist Party
and its leaders fit into the picture
of those four days? What were the
contributions? This is the next
question which must be answered,
especially since the Socialists play
such an important role in the poll
teal life of the city. Mayor Daniel
Hoan is an old time Socialist, and
as Mayor of the city is in a very
strategic position to give a great
deal of help in order to achieve a
victory.
However, the rather garrulous
leaders of the Socialist Party acted
as If they were suddenly struck
with fit of speechlessness and
writers cramps. For three days,
while the fighting was going on,
police ruthlessly clubbing hundreds
of workers, using tear gas to dis
perse the crowds of pickets, and
arresting over 100 workers, Mayor
Hoan, the new-found left" leader
of the Socialist Party militants, did
not say word He just kept silent.
All politicians know that situa-
tons arise where it is discreet to
remain silent. For Mayor Hoan
such situation had arisen. AS far
as the Mayors office was concerned.
the strike might be on the FIJI
Islands, but not in Milwaukee. Only
after three days, when the will and
synpathies of the mass of workers
had become clear to the blind and
even to the dumb, did the Mayor
feel it safe to commit himself and
rushed to the press with a state
ment.
Socialists Say Nothing About Police
No mention is made in this state
ment of the events of the past three
days, nothing about the activity of
the police, who were making a liar
out of the Mayor and his boast to
the Socialist Party convention at
Detroit that the police in Milwaukee
are never used against the workers
in strikes, nothing about the ar
rests.
The day before the strike broke,
committee representing the Com
munist Party, 1. L. D., Steel and
Metal Workers Industrial Union
John Reed Club, and other radical
organizations, went to the Mayor
to protest against the provocative
action used by the Electric Co. in
putting out armored street cars be-
fore the strike was declared, and
to demand that the city guarantee
that police would not be used at the
picket lines. The committee was
referred to an aspiring young man
member of the Socialist Party anc
City Attorney, Max Raskin, another
of the 'left wingers" of the Detroit
Convention of the Socialist Party
With courtesy and attention he
listened to the protest of the com.
mittee, pleading his impotence to de
| anything, but when mention wa.
made of the police, he became bel
ligerent, lost his dignity, anc
threatened to throw the commit.
tee out of his office for nerel,
daring to infer that there was {
possibility of the police being usee
against the strikers.
Adjacent to the city of Mil,
waukee, there is another city mucf
smaller in size, but with some yer!
important industries in its confine'
the city of West Allis. Tit
workers of that city we're especial,
militant during the strike, beinl
among the first to stop all traffi,
and keeping it stopped. The com
pany Immediately sent letter t
the city of West Allis advising then
that under Wisconsin law that cit,
would be held liable for all damage
during the strike. The compan.
was answered by the Socialis
Mayor Baxter of that city. Bax
ter has always posed as the mos
radical of all revolutionaries, anC
many Socialists have accused hin