The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-07-17
US. Labor History Shows On,Oard March
Of Strike Struggles Of american Workers

the militia sided with the strikers.
And here too, after several days,
Federal troops arrived to put down
the strike.
DUT again, as strikers in one sec
u ton were repulsed, new mill
fancy surged in other sections. On
June 10, when the Pennsylvania
road attempted to fire almost halt
of it's workers by instituting new
system Of ouble-loeomotives haul
ing trains of 81 instead of the or
binary II cars, strike again flared
in the Pittsburgh district.
The population was, almost to a
man, with the strikers-the same
population which, in the present
events in San Francisco, the cap
italist press calls the public" the
public which 1t tries to arouse
against the workingmen fighting
for their elementary rights. Local
militia was called out, but their
sympathy was with the strikers,
with whom they fraternized.
The bosses then called in troops
from Philadelphia. The Philadel-
phia troops in one attack slaugh-
tered 20 workers, who reformed
their ranks and surrounded and
fired the roundhouse in which the
troops we're housed. In their re-
treat from the city which took place
the following day, these troops
were under the constant fire Of the
embattled strikers
Strikes spread to Harrisburg
Philadelphia, Scranton, Reading,
Altoona, to Buffalo, New York and
other industrial and railroad CEN
tiers. Miners and mill workers
walked out in sympathy and soli-
darity. Militiamen fraternized with
the strikers. A general strike move
ment swept across the breadth of
the land for the first time in Amer
lean history. The use Of Federal
troops during these struggles oc-
Cured for the first time.
The strikers did not reach the
goal set for themselves, but the
spirit of working solidarity
surged to every corner of America.
Workers grew strong in the knowl-
edge of their own mighty numbers,
their militancy, their power. The
years that followed witnessed the
virtual awakening of the labor
movement, the spread of strikes as q
weapon of workers in their fight fer
their rights, the organization OF
mighty labor organizations such as
the knights Of Labor, etc.
THESE many struggles varied 10
1 outcome. Some made obvious
gains, others received setbacks. Vic
tories and defeats mingled.
But every single struggle of this
kind steeled the whole American
labor movement to fuller realiza-
ton of its tasks and difficulties.
Every battle carried them forward
along the line which leads to daily
gains and ultimate victory.
The same course of development
is true for other lands. The Van
couver workers who quit work yes
terday to collect almost $4,000 for
the striking longshoremen in San
Francisco feel the blood of class
struggle in their veins, they re-
member the general strike which
tied up Winning in 1919. The
Swedish workers will never forget
the general strike Of 1909. The
British workers will some day make
powerful use of their heritage of
decades of struggle, of the great
general strike of 1926.
Such general strikes, such class
movement of workers as the one
taking place in San Francisco to-
day land perhaps on the entire
West Coast tomorrow besides adj
vancing the solidarity of the work
ers and impending the attacks of
the bosses, always win certain def
mite gains for the workers. the full
maximum of which is gagged only