Montana labor news., 1937-05-06
Weasel orded Splitting

mobility 10 coll q spade q spade hos
marked the craft leadership of whdt is
left of the A. F. Of L., ever since it en-
bdrked on its crazy. suicidal and unsuc-
cessful struggle to prevent union organ
izdtion Of the muss-prOduction industries.
The Committee for Industrial Orgoni-
zdtion Wds originally founded for the
purpose Of organizing the millions of I'M
organized into the A. F. of L. So long as
this lduddble purpose wds in the stage
of declarations the executive council con
tented itself with Viewing it with alarm"
But when the C. |. O. proved as good
as its word dnd dctudllY succeeded in
bringing tens Of thousands of new mem
bers into the A. F. of L. in the auto and
rubber industries. and in launching q
greet campaign to organize the steel
workers into the A. F. of L. union. the
council turned on the movement it wos
supposed to head dnd split it in hdlf with
one fell blow.
When Willidm Green announced the
suspension Of the C. |. 0. unions last
August. however. he could not bring
himself to describe this act for whdt it
wds. He would not even coll it by its
technical. legal name Of q Suspension"
To the amusement Of all, he cldimed thot
the unions he wds throwing out Of the
A. F. Of l. were withdrawing"
Actually thdt act Of midsummer mod
ness on the port Of the council wds for
more thdn q suspension. Both Green and
the council knew it well. though they
could not bring themselves to say so. 1t
1900 - 11~-4 -- 1A1~s4~ 49, 11 ~zr-.1-s-zz
could be. It deprived the G. !. O.. unions
Of their voting rights dnd divided hope
lesslY q movement which the G. /. O. had
sought to unite dnd strengthen.
Even at the Tampa convention Of the
A. F. Of L. the crdftist splitters did not
have the courage to coll an expulsion an
expulsion. They confirmed and deep
ened the split they had created. and
threatened more drastic action" otter
their crime dgdinst labor had been al
ready consummdted.
Now the dssdssins Of labor unity ore
following their course of action to its logi-
cal conclusion. Having split the Fedora
ton, they ore proceeding to split all its
state dnd city central bodies. by driving
out the c. |. 0. unions from them too.
They ore even chdrtering strikebredking
company outfits as duel unions to fight
the bona fide organizations.
But here again Green hid the fell in
tent Of his orders to these bodies to GUST
their hedlthiest and strongest units, be-
hind q weller Of weasel words. His
henchmen knew, however, whut the
splitting letter meant and have gone
about the job with q will. The council
hos met and adjourned and still hos not
called its expulsion Of the c.. |. O. unions
ON expulsion.
At no point hos the C. |. 0. set up any
duel labor movement. At every point it
has been the A. F. of l.. council thut hos
compelled the tremendous wave Of G. |.
O. organization to take place outside tie
Federdtion's ranks.
Now it hos reached the point that the
center Of gravity Of the American labor
movement hos shifted to the vital, grow
A. F. Of L. With each blow struck
against them by the splitters, these IN
ions hove had to draw closer together in
s~elf-defense.
The issuance Of charters which the c..
|. Q. hos now begun is but q long-de-
ldYed recognition and reguldrizution Of
q condition which the A. F. Of L. council
itself created. By refusing to permit or
gdnizdtion Of the mass production indus
tries in the A. F. of L.. and by throwing
out the unions which have %dctudllY or
Gdnized these industries, it Wds the coun-
Gil itself thdt decided the main body Of
American labor should be the C. |. O..
and not the A. F. Of L.