The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-02-23
A.F.L. Heads
Echoed NRA
B ally h o o
Green Helped to Put
Wall Street Codes
Into Effect

Into Effect
In helping to put over the MIRA,
which Wall Street needed as the
means to intensity its grip on in
dustry, drive out the small COM
petitors and lower wages, the top
leaders of the American Federation
of Laoor played an important part
1t IS necessary for Roosevelt and
the employers to get the workers
believe that the MIRA. would bring
them benefits. If they could get the
workers to believe this, then the
employers could go ahead with their
attack against labor, while labor
was still hoping for gains, and not
preparing to struggle.
A list Of the statements of Will
liam Green and other prominent
A. F. of L. leaders shows how will
ingly they supported the prop
Uganda for the MIRA. codes (Which
they, of course, attack today. now
the workers have feared what they
mean.
Today we know that the codes
have fostered company unionism,
have attempted to transform the
right to strike into compulsory ar
bitration and have lowered the real
wages Of the entire American work
ing class.
While the Communist Party was
warning the workers against these
results, William Green played his
part. as did Norman Thomas and
Louis Waldman, in selling the codes
to American labor. Green. speaking
over national radio network ar
ranged for this purpose, echoed the
promises of Roosevelt and coun-
selled American labor to fold its
arms. He said Of the NRA.
"A wider distribution of work is
being made through a reduction Of
the hours Of labor. For obvious
reasons, the wages must also be in
creased as the hours OF labor are
reduced.
Labor Is expected TO do its part.
The nation is enlisting men and
women in n treat war against
powerful forces"
This year. on January 90. almost
two wears after the codes had been
in effect Woll. vice president of the
A. F. of L. continued to repeat the
early promises Of the codes, Flout-
ing the experience of the whole la
Dor movement. which had seen its
nay envelopa shrunken by the work
ing out OF the codes, Vol declared:
'The principIe Of higher wages
underlies the N.R.A. and the en-
tire recovery program :. the very
moment recovery program was
formulated in Washington the
high wage principle was made
basic fentUre and was definitely
embodied in the N.R.A."
The leadership of the A. F.. Of L.
was especially anxious to block any
strike movements of the American
workers falling in completely with
the desires of Wall Street industry.
In September 1893 Green, writing
in the American Federationist,
counselled the workers against any
resistance to the growing misery
resulting from the codes. >
eve are facing crisis in our
effort to save our national institr-
tons he wrote, and it is wise to
avoid interferences with work if
possible"
It was with such propaganda, of
which can be found innumerable ex-
amnles in the spseches and writings
of the A. F. of L. too leadership
during this period, that William
Green and his colleagues performed
their service to the employers.
Today, as with the Socialist Party
ASN'0SAoA4lD, tAlC n. L u u, ledQSIS
are sending barrage of criticism
against the codes, feeling the ris-
ing resentment of the workers in
the unions
But. as in the case of the So
cislist leadership. this criticism is
never directed at the principle Of
the codes nor at the R,oosevelt pow
eminent which enforced them. In
the current criticism by Green, his
attacks persistently directed against
what he calls 'the betrayal" of the
N.R.A.. concealing in this way the
salient lesson which the Communist
Party had been emphasizing
throughout the past two years-that
the NR.A. had az its central pur-
pose precisely the results which It
was achieving in driving down the
wage levels of the workers.