Montana labor news., 1936-09-24
HOW TO BECOME A
LABOR spy
By Lewis Gardner

one? If a man wants an ordinary
job he applies where he wants to
work. There is nothing wrong
about wanting a job, and he has no
hesitation about applying for one.
And if an employer wants an hon
est workman he hangs out a sign
or advertises and that's that.
But this isn't so with a stool
pigeon. A stool is a crumb and
knows it, and the man who en-
ploys him is a crumb and knows it,
and neither one is anxious to have
anyone know about it.
Preliminary hearings before the
LaFollette subcommittee investiga-
ting violations of civil liberties re-
veal how both go about their bust
ness-the mar who wants to hire a
stool, and the man who wants to
get a job as a stool.
. When a detective agency or an
employer wishes to hire a stool he
looks around for an active union
member, usually one who is hard
up. J. P. Harris, secretary of the
Amalgamated Iron, Steel and Tin
Workers Lodge in Portsmouth,
Ohio, testified before the LaFollete
subcommittee that he was ap-
preached after he had been denoted
for union activities. At the time his
child was sick and he went to his
boss to see if he could get his old
job back. He didn't get it back but
the boss kept repeating, $50 you
need more money, do you? So you
need more money, do your" A few
days later a private detective ap-
preached him and offered him more
money-to be a stool pigeon.
The affidavit of F. L. Dobbs of
Louisville, Ky, presented to the
committee, reveals another ap-
proach. Dobbs had edited a labor
paper in Durham, N. c., but even
tually the paper folded up and he
went to Houston, Texas, to work.
When the textile strike began, a
David Clark was made generalissmo
of all strike breaking forces in
North Carolina. The first thing he
did was to hire detectives to find
Dobbs. When he found him he
wired Dobbs a request to come to
Durham. Dobbs replied that he
would return if expenses for him
self and his wife were paid. Imme-
diately the money was sent him.
Dobbs, who was well known in
the labor movement, was offered on
his arrival in Durham a thousand
dollars to sign a statement to the
effect that he knew from personal
knowledge that a strike leader there
was immoral. When he refused he
was given three hundred dollars for
his trouble and told to think it over.
J.. S. Witkowski, whose letter
found its way into the committee
files, wanted a job as a stool, so he
wrote to ten manufacturers in
Brockton, Mass, suggesting that
each one pay him five dollars a
week for spying on workers. He
claimed he spoke English, Russian,
Polish and Lithuanian, and that he
would keep troublemakers and agi-
tators out Of town.
Usually, however, the initiative is
taken by employers and detective
agencies. The report of j. M.
Shields Of the National Labor Rela-
tons Board indicates their recruit
ing methods.
"How does the company get these
people? How does it corrupt trust
ed self-respecting workers, leaders
among their fellows, and turn them
into %despicable tools to betray those
same fellows?
"It is a story of long, careful
watching and analysis by company
representatives of the lives of men
who hold positions of trust and in
fluence, of careful approach at the
psychological time when the pros
spect is in dire financial need or
when he can least Withstand expo
sure of some past slip, actual or
apparent, a casual, blunt, or implied
offer las the case demands) from
some generous man of wealth to
pay for certain unimportant infor-
nation not directly akin to labor
spying.
eff the victim balks, if he refuses
angrily-whatever his attitude-his
temper can afford to wait. Pres
sure increases. The victims affairs
go from bad to worse. Perhaps he
takes his medicine like a man. Per-
haps, goaded by the prospect OF
temporary relief, fooled by the APP
parent innocence of the type Of in
formation for which he is to be paid,
he yields just once. From that mo-
ment he is their man. Once the
signed receipt for money is in their
hands, the fear of exposure alone is
sufficient to bend the victim to their
will"
An NRLB investigator estimates
that there are at least 10000 labor
spies functioning in practically every
local functioning in practically
every local labor union in the
United States. They cost industry