The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-08-14
Vital Issues Of Working Glass
Viii Face 4. +. L. Convention

submission and starvation or OF
struggles for their needs.
Paramount questions before the
national convention of the A. +.
Of L. will therefore be the organ
ization of the impending strike
struggles, the organization Of the
fight for the right to organize, to
strike and to picket, the organ
izatiOn of a broad mass protest
against the terror of the ROOse-
welt government.
The rank and file of the conven-
ton will present a program of
struggle, for a fight against the N.
R. A. attacks on the workers living
standards and on their elementary
rights. The rank and file will pre-
sent a program for a broad united
front of all workers for these basic
demands.
Although the mass resistance of
the workers to the union smashing
campaign Of Roosevelt is growing,
the weakness Of the rank and file
has so far been the lack of organ
lied opposition groups inside the A..
+. of L. unions. AS the article of
Comrade Browder of Aug. clearly
pointed out, in those places such as
San Francisco, where the left wing
groups were active and organized,
the workers won concessions in the
form of part of their economic de-
mands. Where the rank and file
opposition was weakest, the A. F. L.
leaders were able to end the strikes
in defeat of the workers demands.
The task of the Communists is to
throw all energy into the organiza-
ton of the rank and file opposition.
Comrade Browder states:
I'm San Francisco, the strength of
the strike movement from the be-
ginning, including the general strike,
was based upon definite, organized
left-wing groups, which even though
young and weak, played most de-
cisive role, and brought San Fran
cisco into the vanguard of the whole
national strike movement.
THE lesson is the supreme, vital
Importance of work inside the A. F.
of L., the same lesson that the 9th
Convention of the Party hammered
so heavily and stubbornly. Even
the beginnings of serious systematic
work, with all it's weaknesses, brings
the most tremendous results for
the workers and for the entrench-
ment of the Communist Party
among the masses"
These are the opposing forces in
the coming A. F. L. convention.
The A. F. l.. officialdom, represent
ing the Roosevelt government, de-
termined to stif1e all struggle.
On the other hand the Rank and
File Opposition, demanding and
leading struggle for unemploy-
ment insurance, a fight for the eco
nomic demands of the workers, for
their elementary rights-the organ
ization of broad, united strike
front of the Workers. determined
fight against company unions and
fascist terror-a fight against the
treacherous policies of the A. F. L.
leaders.
In the preparations for the A. F.
l.. convention, as Comrade Browd-
er's article demonstrates, the key
question is the strengthening of the
rank and file opposition groups in
side the A. F. l.. In the prepare
lions for the coming A. F. L. con-
vention. these problems should be
discussed in all A. F. L. local unions
and in mass meetings of the Rank
and File Committees. The fight for
the election of delegates to the ma
tional convention, representing the
rank and file, the organization Of
the left wing groups in the A. F. L.
locals, are major party tasks.