The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-07-30
By THEo BERNER

general secretary, resigned nan
year before his term was over be-
cause he suddenly discovered he
was too old for this job. The real
reason for his resignation, however,
is probably looked for somewhere
else, namely, in the question which
is at present occupying the mem
bership of the Amalgamated Food
Workers: the unification of the
workers in the food industry.
And in this connection, Burk-
hardt's sudden resignation should
be a warning signal for all members
of the A. F. w. and especially of
Local that something is happen
ing behind the scenes which may
be good for the interests of a small
clique, but not for the broad mass
of the membership.
Five years of a deep capitalist
economy crisis, and as an additional
factor the bankrupt policies of an
incompetent and reactionary leader
ship, whose methods are in no way
different from those of the A. F. of
l.. burocratS, have convinced the
food workers of the necessity of
united struggle.
At it's last convention the Food
Workers Industrial Onion addressed
an appeal to the A. F. W. for the
of the two unions. This
appeal was accepted by the Cen
trail Executive Committee of the A.
F. w. and submitted to the locals
for discussion. Locals l, 164, and
Cafeteria Workers decided in favor
of continuing the negotiations for
the merger. AS soon as the Bakery
and Confectionery Workers Interna-
tional Union found out about the
proposed merger, they also sent an
appeal to the A. F. W., but not for
the purpose of beginning negotia-
tons for amalgamation, but just
asking them to re-join. The Cen
trail Executive Committee rejected
this invitation; SO did Local 1874,
which informed the A. F. of L.
bakers local that they should first
return the bakeries that they have
taken away.
In the largest and most infiuen-
tial A. F.. w. local, Bakers Local 8,
in Brooklyn. however, events took a
different turn. A small group Of
arch-reactionary elements are DOM
mating this local, and decided
acting against the constitution of
their own organization-to begin
with the international
union.
1t seems that this procedure of
the reactionary machine in Local 8
was prepared long in advance, and
every clear thinking worker cannot
help asking the question: Has
sudden resignation any
connection with this?
One does not have to look far for
a reason why the reactionary ele-
ments want to prevent a real unfit
cation of the food workers, by trying
to send the bakers back into the A.
F. of L. One does not Lave to as
sumo right away that these people
were bribed-the big treasury of
the local provides plenty of money
after retaliation with the A. F. of
L. Their reactionary theology is
sufficient explanation for their &C
tions. The very people who until
now have always been against ANAL
gamation, seeing that the Senti-
ment for amalgamation is becoming
Overwhelming, declare now If we
must have amalgamation, then only
with the A. F. of L., there we do
not have to conduct a struggle"
They will be taken care of all right;
they don't care if the situation of
the bakery workers becomes worse.
And what will become OF the 900
members of Local 8 if
the reactionaries succeed in selling
the local to the A. F. of L.? They
will simply be left to their fate, for
the international union will nct
take over such a burden.
This is how one makes scabs. This
is how one hampers the workers
struggle for improvement of their
standard of living. Perhaps next
week the workers of shop which
has been considered a firm union
shop may be forced to go on strike,
and many workers (not all of them,
some of them will not degrade
themselves by becoming scabs,