The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-28
BY CARL EVANS


WISCONSIN has gained reputa-
" ton as a center for the La
Toilette brand of "Progressivism'
and Milwaukee as a city where the
Socialist Party fiourishes. Conse-
quently an examination of the re-
cent strike record of this section
has special importance. The fol-
lowing questions require answers:
l. Have "Progressivism" and
Socialism" aided in establishing
strong unions?
2. When the attack on the wage
earners' income developed under N.
R. A., did the unions react promptly
by militant defensive strikes?
8. What connection have Social
list Party leaders had with A. F.
of L. union?
4. What policies have these lead
ers pursued?
5. What role are the T. U. U. L..
and the Communist Party playing?
1. The workers in industrialized
southeastern Wisconsin entered the
crisis either with no organized pro-
lection or with the most himsy kind.
Almost all industry was on an open
shop" basis and, according to Of
fetal capitalist sources, the wage
level was lower than in the adjacent
non-Progressive and non Socialist
states of Michigan and Illinois.
Not only had unions failed to
take root, either widely or deeply.
but there had also been a strong
tendency to implant the subtly
poisonous belief that unionism was
unnecessary. BY going to the ballot
box at intervals of a year or more
and electing Socialist and Progress
sive politicians who loudly grated
that they were for" the working
man and against the big capt.
talist," large numbers of workers
were lulled into a false belief that
they were checking the bosses in
the most effective way.
2. When the capitalists first be-
gan to apply their more refined
technique of exploitation under the
thin disguise provided by N. R. A.,
Wisconsin Labor was slow to react.
Farmers in Wisconsin could strike
militantly, and labor in the non
Socialist East demonstrated solidar-
ity in mass strikes. But the Wis
consin proletariat continued to
nurse illusions. The virus of "vot-
ing" of legality" of confidence
in the constituted authorities" Gin
La Toilette "ProgresSives," Mayor
Hoan and other Socialist Party of
ficials) had become imbedded, it
seemed, in the workers minds.
They had been taught to believe
that government officials who said
they were against the capitalists
but who in Office necessarily became
part of the capitalist apparatus of
state-were to be mainly relied on
rather than rank and file in
dustrial organizations.
3. To large extent the leaders"
in the Wisconsin Federation of
Labor, in the Milwaukee Federated
Trades Council and in the various
locals of the A. F. of L. "interna-
tional" unions are Socialist Party
members. Demagogy concerning
the greed of the rich" does not in
the slightest change their gradual
list" point of view, their profound
aversion to militancy, and their sup
port of class collaboration. The
net effect is that they are more
interested in engaging in political
which will keep Hoan
and Company in political jobs than
in the job of organizing the work.
erS.
Playing the A. F. of L. Game
4. Some of these Socialist-A. F.
of L. misleaders occasionally ex-
press theoretical preference for
unions built on industrial lines. But
since they are, above all, practical
men," they have continued to play
the A. F. of L. game according to
the craft union rules. Thus, this
year when the eyes and minds of
rank and file workers did finally
open and they did strike to the
number of more than $4,000 in many
factories and shops, the A. F. of
L. misleaders have invariably fol-
lowed a set pattern.
First, they attempted to discour-
age the strike-they wanted to