Montana labor news., 1935-01-10
DRIFTS AND RAISES
(This column contributed by Butte
Miners Union No. y

The President Of the United States
reported to Congress on the state OF
the Union, in a message delivered last
Friday and there are two groups who
must have listened with great salts
faction. One is big business and the
other is the Communist Party and its
sympathizers. Lest it seem like a con-
~tradiction that two such Numerically
opposed groups could both be pleased
with the Presidents message, we hast
en- to add that the reason was very dif-
ferent in each case.
Big business is satisfied because the
President is following closely their re-
concentrations in regard to relief work
and they are thus assured Of a vast
reserve army of unemployed which can
be used to drive down wages and avert
strikes. Mr.. Roosevelt makes it very
clear that wages on the new relief must
be kept low, in other words, at a bare
subsistence level, so the workers will
be glad to accept jobs in private in
dustry. 1t is a frank and cold-blood-
ed drive against the living standards
of the working class, both on the job
and off. Gone is the talk Of high
wages and greater purchasing power.
Gone are the bold experiments OF 1888
and driving the money changers from
the temple" Not a word about a cen
trail bank and government control credit
the most vital force in the economic
life of the nation. Wall Street has
nothing to fear from Roosevelt. He is
a Wall Street President.
The radicals are pleased because their
predictions are coming true with I'M
canny accuracy. Roosevelt cannot find
a way out of the depression. The
working class will become continually
more disillusioned and more imbitter-
ed and that will make the building Of
revolutionary sentiment easier.
To the great, voiceless, impoverished
mass Of workers and small farmers, the
message will be a keen disappointment
that is, if they read it and draw the
obvious conclusions. They still have
a waning faith that Roosevelt will
do something" But they cannot eat
platitudes, they cannot live on wishful
thinking.
As year after year Of life slips away
while they wallow in poverty and Or
gained wealth becomes even more
firmly %entrenched, the grim picture is
becoming clearer. The working class
need not expect any capitalist Messiah
to lead them into the promised land.
If they want a better social order they
must build it thru their own efforts,
intelligently organized, and actuated by
the courage that makes revolutions.
In fairness to Mr. Roosevelt, it must
be said he had a hopeless task in try
ing to write a message of cheer and
hope and constructive accomplishment,
unless he shut his eyes to the facts.
After nearly two years Of the New
Deal, unemployment and restitution
are reaching new peaks. No amount
of printing the pump seems to revive
heavy industry. Why should U. S.
Steel invest new capital when the pre-
sent plant is producing at less than 40
per cent Of capacity? The prices Of
farm products have risen to the pre-
war level but the farmers real income
has declined, due to the monopoly
prices of the things he must buy and
to his staggering tax burden. Money
wages of industrial workers have been
increased, mainly through strikes but
real wages are lower, due to the in
crease in the cost OF living. Mean
while, the national debt is showing a
healthy growth and will reach an all
time high Of $34,000,000,000 by June 80,
1886. All in all, not very cheerful mat
erial for a message.
Among the smooth R%ooseveltian
phrases you will find a reasserted faith
in the profit motive, which he deprives
as the desire to earn and save and make
a living. This is probably the weird
est definition Of the profit motive ever
given and puts the horny-handed SHOW
eler in the same class with Andy Mel
lon. They both have the pr~ofit-motive.
Shall we ever have social progress
when ever a liberal President sticks
s%tubbornly to the belief that only the
profit motive will encourage people to
work and invent and produce wealth?
One of the most sensible acts Of the
present administration was to resume
diplomatic relations with Soviet Rus
STA. 1t happens that in the land Of the
Soviets, national wealth is increasing
at a prodigious rate and without the
profit motive. Industry, farming,
science and culture are making giant
strides and without the profit-motive.
Soviet Russia is living proof OF the fact
that people can be induced to work for
the collective good Of all rather than
for private gain.
The Presidents message ends on a
spiritual note. We are entering a New
Order wherein things of the spirit will
count as much as things material Tell
that to the guy on a bread-line.
Congratulation To