The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-10-02
AFL Report ShunS
Strikes, Backs NRA
By CARL REEVE
Continued from Page y

layoffs, in rehiring, in many kinds
of preferment the union member
was at a disadvantage"
But the A. F. of L. executive
councils report clearly seeks to
the illusions of the work.
ers in the N. r. A. and the RooSe-
welt government. The conclusion OF
the report is-"The decisions OF
Labor Boards reassure the rights
written into the National Recovery
Act"
The Roosevelt government,
which modified federal troops in
New England ready to back up
National Guards, if needed, which
urged the workers to return to
work under Germans betrayal,
which sent the auto and steel
workers and coal miners back to
work defeated-this federal gov
eminent, which has launched
strike breaking terror from San
Francisco to Maine, and which
refused unemployment insurance
to the jObIess-Green tells us to
trust implicitly. The federal gov
eminent, whose boards have fOs-
tered company unions and black
listed thousands, we are told, is
the sole agency to which should
be entrusted the demands Of the
workers.
The N.R.A., the machinery Gre
ated by the employers government
with which to place all of the
burdens of the crisis on the backs
of the workers, we are told must
be extended and made per
manent." The N. r. A., which
the employers dominate from top
to bottom and which they ere
ated, is characterized as ga gigan-
tic attempt to restore prosperity
to this country" which is being
carried on by "the government,
labor and industry"
Deserts JObIess
The same abject deSertion of the
workers struggles is seen on the
front as well as in the
field of strikes. The report OF
Green paints heart-rending pic
ture of the plight of the unem-
ployed. More than 100000 are
jobless, his report states. Relief is
inadequate.
But what about the struggle OF
the workers for unemployment in
What about the demands
of the thousands of A. F. of L.
members and the unorganized
workers for the passage of the
Workers Unemployment Insurance
Bill. What of the campaign to
force the federal government to
make good its campaign promises
and grant security to the jobless?
Here is Green's answer: ut is
definitely understood that Congress
cannot enact federal unemploy-
ment insurance law"
The Executive Council of the A
F. of L. then endorses the Wagner
Lewis unemployment reserves bill
and calls for state unemployment
compensation measures" The Green
says not a word re-
garding the Workers Unemploy-
ment and Social Insurance Bill
which is has fought consistently
Contempt for Workers
The utter contempt with which
Green and his Council regard work
erS who conduct a fight for theil
rights and their demands, creeps
into the report when the question
of organization is taken up. Thf
report regarding the auto industry
is here taken as an example. o.
course, in this section not single
word is said about the way in which
Green and the Roosevelt govern
ment sold out the auto workers
strike, set up an employer controlled
arbitration" board, and through
this Auto Labor Board rejected
every demand of the auto workers
and brought forward the company
unions.
Instead the auto workers are con-
demned because they are militant
enough to protest against thu
Green Roosevelt sell-out. Here L
what Green's report says regarding
the auto workers: "They are highl!
nervous and suspicious, entirely un
disciplined, completely inexperi
enced in the trade union movement
They have been driven so long il
the terrific speed-up Of the indus
try and forced to live SO long unde
unfavorable conditions, that the,
present special problems to organic
ers and to union officials"
Nor can we expect to find Il
Green's report mention of the prob
lens of the steel workers-of tn
fact that Green called off the stee
workers strike, lett their demand
in the hands of a Roosevelt Boarc
and thus kept them from winnin
a single one of their demands.
The vital demands and problem
of the rank and file find no reflec
ton in this document. The f1gh
for the right to strike, to organize
to meet and to assemble, strug
gle which is as old as the working
class itself, is not mentioned in tn
report. The fight against the terro
of government police, of nationa
guard troops, of all the strikebreak
ing agencies of the government
which are driving towards fas
cism, are not dealt with by Greer
TIL fight for rank and file contrc
of the unions, the fight agains
racketeering and gangsterism,
passed by in silence. The demand
for the Negro workers are nc
raised.
The rank and file will have t
carry on this fight in the conven
ton and in every local union. o.