The guardian. [volume] (Boston, Mass.) 1901-1960, 1939-07-22

LOOKING AROUND
and BEYOND
By
FRANK R. CROSSWAITH

Polish girls from other parts of Penn.
sylvania, and a group of fine, ont.
standing, Colored girls from New
York City. We We're all from tba
shops-all making our living in the
same way-all belonging to the same
big union and all facing the same pro.
blems. We were all fighting against
the same obstacles. When people work
together, live together and fight their
battles together, race, color and re-.
ligiOn are not important. What is
important is that we are all fighting
for the same things: decent hours,
decent wages and the right to live as
human beings. We came into this
world with white skins. Some of our
fellOw-members were born with black.
brown or yellow skins. Underneath
those skins, we are all workers. A
boss is a boss, whether he is Jewish.
Irish or Italian and worker is a
worker whether he is Jewish, Irish or
Italian. We hate and fight our enc
mics because they are our enemies
and not because of race. And in the
same way, we must remember that
the people we work with are our fellow
unionists, regardless of nationalities
or color. Today, when racial prejudices
and hatreds are being cultivated BY
the very people who would destroy
US, we must realize that it is only
through unity and solidarity can we
effectively fight those enemies.
Religious differences can also
weaken and destroy US. In our Union
all religions are represented. A per-
sons religion is a part of his personal
and private life, and has no place in
the affairs of the Union. Differences
in religion can be a weapon which
our enemies will use against us. Jew
can be set against Catholic and Pro-
testant against the Jew as in parts of
Europe today. Unless we are intelli-
gently firm in our tolerance and thor
oughly united against such a vicious
attack, we may be divided against our
selves. Let us learn our lesson before
such things happen here in America"
FROM ONE OF the responsible
leaders of the Union we get the fol-
lowing traditional report to the Educa-
tional Department of the I.L.GWU.:
even if the school accomplished
nothing else for my girls, it has done
one thing which no amount of talking,
arguing and explaining under differ
ent circumstances could possibly have
done. We have a twenty-four weeks
old strike here. One of our strikers
who attended the institute is a very
fine girl whose main shortening,
from my point of view, is deep-rooted
racial prejudice. One of the worst
policemen the strikers have had to
deal with is Colored, which has intensi-
fled this girls antagonism toward
Colored people. When the girls
arrived at the Institute, they were
assigned to a room across the hall
from three Colored girls. Saturday
night, l went into their room and was
joined there by my Harrisburg girls.
We talked for long while. You can
imagine how pleased l was when, the
next morning, that hitherto preiudiced
girl came to me and said: you know,
last night when we were talking to
those Colored girls, l forgot that they
were Colored. They seemed just like
us-they work in shops and they're
part of the Union too. There really
isn't any difference except the color
of our SKINS"
IF THE EDUCATIONAL work Of
the other units of labor rested in hands
as capable as in the I.LG.W.U. with
Mark Starr as Director and Fannie M,
Cohn as Secretary, labor would now
be moving rapidly away from Egypt's
land of oppression and exploitation
and we'll on its way to the Canaan OF
the Cooperative Commonwealth.