The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-09-01
ALL. Rank and File
Seethes in Protest
Against Top Leaders
Members Have on Many Occasions Taken Affairs
into Their Own Hands, Overriding Policies
and Actions of ReactiOnary Officials
BY MARTIN YOUNG

The ranks Of the American Fed
Grafton Of Labor are seething with
discomfort against the policies and
actions Of their leaders. Against the
will of their bureaucratic officials,
the membership of the A. F. Of L.
halye on numerous occasions taken
thf affairs of their organization into
their own hands and fought for
the improvement of their conditions
ahd for the rights of their union
Organization.
The boss class sees this taking
,.'place and is afraid of it. The cap
italist press is seriously discussing
how to meet "the growing ascend
ency of rank and file workers, their
distrust Of their older leaders and
their increasing suspicion of gov
ernmental boards and function
aries :" Louis Stark in the New
York Times of August 5, 1934).
This same Louis Stark, who is the
labor expert" of the Times, after
examining the labor situation in the
country, comes to the conclusion
that 'undoubted signs of revolt,
surging up from the bottom, give
evidence that the rank and file
members of many unions are on a
rampage These signs continue to
multiply, but are perhaps more evil
dent in the mass production and
basic industries than elsewhere"
What are these signs of revolt"
In the local unions of the A. F. Of
L.? Why is there increasing sus-
picion of governmental boards? 1t
Is almost universally known how in
every struggle the A. F. of L. leaders
betrayed the workers, forced them
to give up strikes on the verge of
victory, disarmed them in the face
of open onslaughtS of the enemy,
disorganized their ranks at times
when the workers were most ready
for strike action with good assurance
of success. This happened in the
automobile and steel industries, in
the San Francisco general strike
and the bureaucrats of the United
Textile Workers are hoping to find
a way to do the same in the ma
tional textile strike which is to be-
gin tonight.
The workers also know that in
every instance where the A. F. of
l.. officials forced them to turn over
their just demands for settlement
and arbitration to the various gov
eminent boards they were always
forced to return without any gains.
From their own experience the
workers learned that section TIA of
the N. R. A. is not the new charter
Of rights for labor" so widely her
aided by the A. F. of L. leaders.
They have seen the N. r. A. as a
Strikebreaker and promoter of COM
pany unions.
The capitalist class bemoans the
inability Of its governmental strike
breaking machinery to prevent the
struggles Of the workers. In the
weekly magazine Today of Aug. IL.
the unofficial mouthpiece of the
New Deal, r. L. Duffus writes as
follows: ct 1.-THE National Labor
Boardl did not succeed in recon-
CLING the interests and demands of
labor and capital sufficiently to pre-
vent widespread industrial warfare"
Nor does the bourgeoisie think that
the strike wave is already over. On
the contrary. This R. l.. Rufus
keeps on repeating in his articles
1--WE are likely to have more strikes
before we have fewer"
Only when we take these facts
into consideration can we realize
the purpose and significance of the
two recent statements of William
Green. The first threatening the
employers for their inability to solve
the crisis, and the second which is
declaration of war upon the Com
munistS.
OF course, no intelligent worker
who knows the record of William
Green and the other A. F.. of L.
leaders takes Green's demand for
naturalization of industry seri-
ously. The capitalist class took this
statement for what it was worth.
The A. F. of L. leaders wanted to
scare those obstinate rulers of in
dustry who as yet do not call for
their services and do all the strike
breaking themselves and in their
own way. This statement was de-
signed primarily to have the rank
and file membership believe that the
A. F. of L. leaders have also some
criticism" to make of the capital
lists and the capitalist system. 1t
was aimed to conceal the close tie
up between the A. F. of l.. leaders
and the bosses. 1t was aimed to
white-wash the past strike breaking
of the leaders. Green knows that
his position on the San Francisco
general strike, his strike breaking
role in the threatened auto and
steel strikes have not made him too
popular with the Federation mem
bership and the workers in general.
The recent textile workers conven-
ton indicated it.
What Was the Statement?
The second statement of William
Green is call to the A. F. of L.
to drive all Communist from its
ranks. In its reply to William
Green. the Central Committee of
the Communist Party correctly said:
"The attack of Mr.. Green is proof
of the fact that his policies are not
meeting with success, that the work
ers are more and more taking the
path of Struggle against the cap
italists." Green's attack upon the
Communists is really an attack upon
the workers, upon the members of
the A. F. of L. who refused to let
the bosses destroy their union or
ganization, who refused to see them
selves betrayed by the A. F. of L.