Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-10-02
WHY CAN'T WORKERS STRIKE
AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT?

"You can't strike against the government" is a slogan that
IS always spoken in a shrll voice, with sweeping gestures. That
means you can't quit your job if you're working for the Federal
Government. But there are other governments. so we're told
you can't strike against the state government. Then, of course
you can't strike against the city government. And, we suppose
you can't strike against the ward and prcinct governments. When
the Boston. Mass policemen went n strike While COOLIDGE was
governor, he Numbered lin his thin falsetto), You can not strike
against the government" When the railroad engineers went on
strike some months ago, Truman screamed: You can't strike
against the government" ,.. .-
Where does il say in the Constitution that workers must
stay on the job if they are dissatisfied with pay or working con
ordinance which denies workers the right to quit when they find
they can't tolerate conditions imposed on them? The simple
fact is that Americans have the right to strike against private
employers, corporatlons-and the government, Under present
conditions, the strike is labor's most effective weapon when bad
conditions are to be remedied. When workers are denied the right
to strike, they are denied the right to improve their social and
economic conditions. There are powerful elements in this country
that would like to chain the toiler to job by making him criminal
when he quits with his fellow-workers in protest against injus
tees. But they are still to write their aims into law. The workers
are still free to strike.
1t isn't true that American workers have always enjoyed
this right, A century ago it was a crime established by the courts
for workers to strike against private employers or corporations
But the workers won out in the end, and now they can strike
But the old attitude remains with regard to the government
Labor must, in time, do away with this brutal discrimination, if
labor is to be truly free.
If school teachers, organized into unions, wish to strike
against their school board, they should have the right to do so,
regardless of the fact that the tin-pot Mussolinis at the top will
cry to heaven that you can't strike against the government"
If ditch diggers want to strike, they should have the right to walk
out, even though thevr working for the CITY r state. And the
same goes for policemen, firemen, postal workers, government
clerks, janitors, keepers and the like. The cry You can't strike
against the government should be dismissed as just another
rnorsel of bunk. Free American workers should always have
the right to lay down their tools in order to give emphasis to
their demands for better terms of employment.
If it's wrong for private employers and corporations to
enslave their workers, it's equally wrong for any form of gov
ernmental organization to insist its employees are tied to their
jobs. The slogan, You can't strike against the government
IS a hangover from times when workers were hardly more than
slaves. The test of real freedom in America is the acceptance
of this more enlightened and humane slogan: You can strike
against the government"
The state can be just as severe and cruel a slave-driver as
any Simon Legree. It's the duty and obligation of freedom
loving Americans to insist that working people are really free
to work or quit, as they see fit-The Montana Labor News.