The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-10-05
Use Wagner-Lewis Bill
to Side-Track the
Workers Bill
By Milton Howard

WHEN a man has no job, no
w wages, he faces starvation.
This would seem to be simple. 1t
would seem that any honest per-
son could see that the 100000
workers who are now jobless in this
country need one thing more than
anything else-cash relief and in
surance against the miserieS Of I'M
employment. It would also seem
that any honest person san see that
the millions Of American workers
who still have jobs are haunted by
the terror Of uncertainty that
poisons their hfe-the uncertainty
that tomorrow they may find them
selves without that one support that
keeps them from the breadlines-
their job.
The workers didn't make the
crisis. The employers are respon-
sible for it. But it is the workers
who pay for it in the bitter suf-
feringS Of unemployed and hunger.
Why shouldn't the government
and employers pay for the crisis
for which they are responsible? Why
should not every worker be guar
anteed a decent standard of living,
at the expense Of the employers and
the federal government, when he
loses his job through no fault of
his own?
Morrison Fights Real Insurance
THIS is what the Communist Party
L says in the present elections for
Congress and has been saying since
the crisis began. But Mr.. Frank
Morrison, secretary of the American
Federation Of Labor, thinks some
thing else. Mr.. Morrison gets a fat
salary with which the members in
the A. F. of L. locals supply him
out of their wages. But Mr.. Nor
rison is fighting tooth and nail
against the only kind of unem-
ployment insurance that can be OF
any use to these workers and their
brethren on the bread lines and at
relief stations.
Examin the letter, reproduced on
this page, which Mr.. Morrison wrote
to a worker who asked him some
pointed questions. Mr.. Morrison
makes several arguments" against
the Unemployment Insurance Bill,
Initiated by the Communist Party
and supported by the Unemploy-
ment Councils and other organiza-
tons. Let us examine these argu-
mentS one by one, and see what re-
dictionary rottennsss lies beneath.
DON'T One-"We have no infor-
nation regarding how many To-
Gals or State Federation of Labor
have endorsed H. r. $685."
We will enlighten Mr.. Morrison,
who thus diSpenseS falSehoods so
easily.
There are no less than 2,400 A. F.
Of L. locals which have endorsed
the Workers Unemployment In
Surance Bill. In addition, six reg
ular State Conventions of the A.
F. of L. have endorsed this Bill,
and five International Unions of
the A. f. of L. have endorsed it
in regular meeting.
That is to say, several hundred
thousand A. F. Of L. members in
good standing have already given
their approval to the Workers
Unemployment Insurance Bill, Mr..
Morrison.
DON'T Two-"The Bill is uncon-
stitutional," Mr.. Morrison says.
"The subject of unemployment in
surance is not within the sphere of
Congressional action"
Is that so, Mr.. Morrison? The
appropriating of no less than &c.
000,000,000 in IS months for Wall
Street subsidies and the building
Of battleships is within the sphere
of Congressional action" and the
feeding of the starving jobless is
not?
Who determines what is and what
is not constitutional" Mr.. Nor
rison? Once, slavery was "consti-
tutional." Now it is not. VINO
changed it, Mr.. Morrison.
1t was the historic fight against
slavery that changed it from being
constitutional" to being very much
unconstitutional"
To us Communists there is moth
ing more constitutional" than the
need for feeding hungry families
of the working class. If there is
choice between feeding the hungry,
and observing the constitution"
we know what choice the workers
will make.
No bunch of constitutional law
yers or Supreme Courts can stand
in the way of the determination
of the American working class to
provide itself with bread and Sc
curity. The masses alone decide
what is constitutional" In the
face of the aroused working class,
the capitalist lawyers will quickly
enough find ways of making fed
eral unemployment insurance CON
stitutional." Out West, in the face
Of militant mass actions against
evictionS and foreclosures, the CAPT.
talist courts suddenly discovered
that moratoriums on mortgage pay
mentS were constitutional"
DON'T Three-"The American Fed
1 Grafton of Labor is in favor of
the Wagner-Lewis Bill for Unem-
ployment Insurance to compel
the various States to enact unem-
ployment insurance laws to protect
its industrialists and others from
taxation"
A good test of whether an I'M
insurance bill can have
any real value to the workers is
provided by the following ques-
4