The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-16
Leader Outlines Neqv Steps
In Fight for Workers. Bill
Pressure Beginning To
Tell on Government
Says Benjamin
BY Herbert Benjamin
Executive Secretary Of the Ma
tionaI Joint Action Committee
For the Workers Bill

tionaI Joint Action Committee
For the Workers Bill
The $500 delegates who came to
Washington from every part of the
United States for the National
Congress provided living proof that
genuine unemployment and social
insurance has become the pressing
need and the consciously expressed
demand of many millions.
Every section of the toiling pop
ulation, the workers of all indus
tries, the farmers and agricultural
workers, the masses of the cities
and rural communities, the workers
Of all professions and occupations,
were represented by large groups of
delegates Even more important as
indicating the representative char
acter of the Congress is the analysis
Of the political composition Of the
delegates and the organizations
they represented.
Six hundred siXty-one delegates
from 3o6 locals and central bodies
of the American Federation of La
Dor testified by their presence and
through their spokesman to the
fact that the demand for insurance
as called for in the Workers Bill
cannot be smothered by the OPP
position of the leaders of the
American Federation of Labor.
Similarly, delegates from every type
of unemployed organization and di-
rectly from locals of the socialist
and other political parties, proved
that the masses are prepared to
sweep aside all obstacles to united
action for vital needs and issues.
Complete Unity
Of great significance is the COM
plete unity Of purpose and program
which this congress reflected. Al
though the call for the congress did
not commit those to whom it was
addressed to support any specific
measure, the delegates unanimously
and fully approved the Workers
Unemployment, Old Age and So
cial Insurance Bill III. R. 2827 as
the basic and central item of their
program. This proves that the
Workers Bill has become the ex-
pressed program of all who need
and all who favor genuine social
insurance as against the various
schemes brought forward by the
government and other sponsors of
capitalist relief and reserve plans.
The unity achieved at the congress
is, therefore, unity for struggle
against the capitalist program which
seeks to safeguard the profits of
the few at the expense of the living
standards of the masses. This
meens a unity of the working class
supported by the farmers, the pro-
feSsionals and even large sections
for the small businessmen masses
for struggle against the program of
he capitalist ruling class.
Not only in that it served to as
;emble the forces that seek enact
11ent Of genuine social insurance
provisions, but in the effective use
made Of this great assembly, the
Congress represents a tremendous
achievement. The contributions
made by the many delegates in
heir speeches and in the resolu-
ions adopted, by the various sub
sessions provide material of the
greatest value for the further work
and struggle. The reports and
peeches, especially those of Mary
van Kleeck, T. Arnold Hill and
others, served to arm the entire
movement with valuable facts and
arguments. The masterful address
If Earl Browder served not only to
dissipate the antagonism which
enemies of the united front seek to
develop by means Of vicious anti
Communist propaganda but raised