The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-06-01

VHE militant and splendldly
L organized strike of some
5000 Minneapolis auto truck
drivers and helpers, which at
one time showed strong signs
of developing into a general
strike of all trades, caused a
crisis in the Minnesota state
Fsrmer-Labor Party administration.
headed by Governor Olson, and
threatened for a while to put a
speedy end to his meteoric and
demagogic career.
The strike brought on a crisis in
the ranks of the employers as a
whole in Minneapolis, st. Paul and
vicinity.
The FaImer-Labor Party admin
istration and the employers escaped
from the crisis by virtue of the
policy of the Trotskyites of the
Communist League (the four
Dunno brothers, with Cannon as
their political advisor whose lead
ership of Drivers Union STA is a
matter of record.
This policy, in spite of the efforts
Of the Communist Party resulted
in surrender to the employers and
Governor Olson, to the official
henchmen of Olson in control of
the Central Labor Council. in the
political and 10 some extent organ
national isolation of the 5000 driv-
ers and their militant women's
auxiliary in the rehabilitation Of
the aroused working class-and in
the defeat of the strikers.
No Wage Gains
The auto drivers struck for wage
increases and recognition of their
union.
In the official settlement no wage
increases are granted. But com
pulsory arbitration is instituted-as
in the infamous automobile agree
ment engineered by Roosevelt and
President Green of the American
Federation Of Labor. The present
wages are to stand for one year.
Recognition is accorded-to Clause
IA and the Minneapolis-St. Paul
Regional Labor Board of the MIRA
This Is a Trotskyite victory! Will
someone please page John L. Lewis
of the United Mine Workers and
President William Green and advise
them Of the advance of their policies
in Minneapolis under the Trotskyite
banner?
Such a victory the thick
crust which enables the Trotskyites
and their sheet to herald it as such
especially in view Of the militancy
Of the strikers and the wide mass
support accorded them-shows that
these leaders are wallowing, and in
viting workers to follow their exam
pie, in the same filthy pool of class
cooperation as the official A. F. of
L. leaders.
Had Just Begin to Fight
This shameful settlement has not
the justification that the workers
were defeated. Defeated workers
have to make compromises that irk
them. But the 5000 drivers and
their sympathizers, the large num-
bers of unemployed who fought side
by side with them on the picket
line, had just begun to fight.
They had inflicted q whole series
of severe defeats upon the employers
and their army of special deputies.
The morale of the strikers was high.
Relief was we'll organized.
The building trades had declared
general strike. Building was
stopped by the fact that the strike
stopped deliveries of material.
There was mass sentiment for
general strike among the other
unions aff1liated to the Central
Labor Council. More than half of
these unions had already voted for
a general strike according to reports.
To considerable extent the
strikers and their sympathizers con-
trolled the streets. The class lines
were tightly drawn. But so bad
are the economic conditions in Min
neapolis that even large sections of
the lower middle class sympathized
with the strikers-in whose ranks
a large number of taxi drivers was
already included.
Strike Popular
So strong was popular sentiment
in favor of the strikers that the
Minneapolis Tribune and the Jour
nal - two of the most reactionary
sheets in the country, running neck
and neck with the Chicago Tribune
for this honor-did not dare to at
tack the strike editorially during the
whole duration of the struggle.
When one G. A. Lyman, we'll
known businessman and clubman
who had made the mistake of think
ing that a special deputy's badge