The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-05
Party Life
Shop Papers
Must Reflect
Life in Plants

n Paper Commission assigned Il
the c. E. shop unit found the fol
lowing conditions:
The shop unit was meeting witt
extreme irregularity. The cause fol
this, according to the section or
ganizer, was due to fear of exposure
One Of the comrades very active tr
the unit had sent a letter to the
Daily Worker which had beer
printed with his initials. He i'm.
mediately dropped all activity ir
the unit. and his fear of exposure
was transmitted to all the members
Apparently no real effort had beer
made to overcome this fear.
AS a result Of the irregular meet
ings no information was drawn
from the unit membership about
conditions in the shop. No unit
buro was established. The unit or
ganizer and shop paper editor were
Party members from outside the
shop. No attempts were made at
recruiting. No activity Of an or
ganized fashion was carried on in
side the factory.
The shop paper, appearing ir-
regularly, failed utterly to reflect
the conditions in the shop. Instead,
although one issue contained twelve
pages, it dealt with the general pro-
gram of our movement, the unem-
ployed issues, American League
Against War and Fascism etc, One
had to scan the paper closely to
find shop news. It was obvious that
the worker in the plant would ex-
perience no feeling Of familiarity
and recognition when he read the
paper. He could scarcely be rallied
around 1t since it dealt with prob
lens that we're not immediate to
his existence.
The section organizer defended
this state Of conditions by saying
that nothing could be done with the
unit at the present time" and that
the section was doing pretty well
in seeing that the members con-
ttnued to pay their dues" He hoped
that sometime in the future, some
how leadership would appear in the
plant and there would be a unit
at hand to work with.
A meeting with the shop was ar
ranged. The unit was found to
consist Of completely American
element capable of commanding in
fluence among the workers. They
readily saw the weaknesses of the
shop paper and one worker stated
that the reason the company freely
permitted the distribution Of the
shop paper was that it had nothing
to fear from 1t. since the paper did
not deal with conditions In the plant.
A discussion was held on the griev-
ances in the shop and the contents
for the next shop paper. In a dis
cussion held preliminary to the
meeting, the shop paper editor, an
earnest and hard working comrade
from outside the shop, stated that
there were no real grievances in the
factory. The workers were being
paid from so to 80 cents an hour
Except in the refrigerator depart
ment where they were making S14
a week. and in general were COM
paratively satisfied.
The comrade was wrong. Lack
OF information from the shop had
caused him to form this idea To
begin with. the refrigerator depart
ment. consistently PLAYED down. was
found to consist of 1900 workers.
half of the plant staff. Actually
grievances of a major nature were
numerous. The company was work
ing an unemployment and sickness
insurance racket that had aroused
protest among the workers: there
was terrific speed-up under the
guise of bonus plan; all married
women with husbands in the plant
were to be layed off; the company
union was infested with company
"yes-men" who refused to take up
workers grievances.
Contrary to the report of the Sec
ton organizer the workers were
bubbling over with information on
the conditions in the plant and
could scarcelv be stopoed to get
down to the business of taking con-
crete steps.
A table OF contents for the next
shop paper was drawn up. % A
thorough and convincing expose of
the Mutual Benefit and company
unemployment insurance racket. ~
Refrigerator department grievances
taken up. CD Against the lay-off
of married women. Here it will be
pointed out that the firing of the
married women Is q company man
euver that will not result In the
| hiring Of new workers but in the
further speeding UP of those al
ready in the plant "a The Bonus
Plan exposed as concealed method
OF speed-up 90 An article on the
company union. Here particularly
attention will be paid to the com
pany stools and "yes-men," their
names and anti worker acts promi-
nently displayed. Such an exposure
will lay the basis for the election
OF real fighters actually represent
ing the workers. co A box show
ing the tremendous profits of the
company. Cd An analysis of the
company union paper. Here sar-
casm will be used to counterfeit the
company method of soft soaping
the workers by giving them per-
sonal attention. Cor example. the
company paper announces that
John Jones will go hunting. The
shop paper asks If John Jones finds
it necessary to supplement his food
supply because of the low wages he
is receiving)
Such table of contents has every
opportunity of bringing lively
response from the workers. The is
sues concern them; they are recog-
nizable. At the unit meeting the
comrades sensed this. The neces-