BOOKS BY UPTON SINCLAIR b hr' THE BRASS CHECK ' i - A Study of American Journalism-Who Owns the Press and Why? you read your daily paper, are you reading facts or prqmganda? And whose ;an< " ~um~~uesthe raw material for your thoughts about life? k id, ummt material? No man can ask more important questions than these; and here far ,+"P>~S~tifpe the auestions are answered in a book. SLk I THE JUNGLE This novel, first published i;p 1906, caused an international sensation. It was the best selling book in the United States for a year; also in Great Britain and its colonies. It was translated into seventeen languages, and caused an investigation by President Roosevelt, and action by Congress. The book has been out of print for ten years, and is now reprinted by the author at a lower price than when fist published, although the cost of manufacture has since more than doubled.
The Btory of a Patriot Would you like to go behind the scenes and see the "invisible government" of your country saving you from the Bolsheviks and Reds? Would you like to meet the secret agents and provocateurs of "Big Business," to know what they look like, how they talk and what they are doing to make the world safe for democracy? Several of these gentlemen have been haunting the home of Upton Sinclair during the past three years and he has had tke
Vol. I. MARCH, 1922 99 NO. 1 The Principles and Program of The Trade Union Educational League
N every country buit one an advanced state Structurally our trade unions are equally of capitalism, has produced a highly de- backward in development. The American labor I veloped trade union movement. The single movement is the only important one in the exception is the United States. Here we have world which still remains based upon the a very elaborate industrial system and the principle of craft unionism. In all other coun- world's most militant and powerful capitalist tries the main labor movements, accepting the class, butt, paradoxically enough, a trade union logic of capitalistic consolidation, have en- movement which, for general weakness and dorsed the principle of having one union in backwardness, has few if any equals in the pre- each industry and have made great progress dominantly industrial countries. towards is realization. Throughout the rest No matter what vital phase of our trade of the world we fhd many single unions cov- union movement we consider we must admit, if ering whole industries - such as building, we are honest, that the workers in other lands metal, railroad, general transport, clothing, are ahead of us. In ithe important matter of printing, etc.-that have been built up recently numerical strength, for instance, we make a by amalgamatingethe original craft organiza- wretched showing. At present, considering the tions. Others are constantly being created. In ravages made in our ranks by the employers, England the giant new Transport and General it is doubtful if we have as many as 4,000,000 Workers' Union amalgamation is taking place; trade unionists in this country, or about 1 the Amalgamated Engineering Union is like- unionist to each 27 of the general population. wise making substantial headway towards its England, by contrast, has approximately 7,500,- goal of one union in the metal industry; and 000 trade unionists, or about 1 in each 6 of her in many orther trades the process of consolida- 44,000,000 people. Germany shows even better, tion is going on apace. In Germany the metal with over 12,000,000 trade unionists, or about workers, during the past few years, have com- 1in each of her 55,000,000 population. In pleted their record-breaking industrial union, other words, the English trade union movement which now counts 1,800,000 members; the rail- is proportionately about 4 times as strong nu- road, postal, telegraph, and telephone workers, merically as ours, and that of Germany 6 times already closely organized, are combining their as strong. For the American unions to be as forces into a great organization of 1,500,000 large as those of Germany, considering the members to control all forms of transportation difference in the size of the two nakions, they and communication; and the workers in the would have to have no less than 24,000,000 other German industries are likewise closing members. Compare this giant figure with the up their ranks rapidly. In Belgium the original paltry 4,000,000 members that our unions now welter of craft unions has been hammered to- possess and one gets an idea of how far behind gether into about a dozen industrial unions, we are in this respect. In England and Ger- and plans are now being worked out to com- many (not to mention many other countries) bine the whole movememt into one real union. the mass of the working class has been organ- The Australian workers have also just gone ized. In the United States hardly a start has on record for a similar project. yet been made. The same rapid drift towards industrial 4 THE LABORHERALD March, 1922 March, 1922 THE LABOR HERALD 5 ternational. This made us the laughing stock nationalities. And the second goea counter unionism is in evidence everywhere ex~eptin idealism and social vision. It has no SOUL It the United States. Here we are still sticking has not yet raised the inspiring banner of work- of the international labor world, revolutionary to all our labor history. Time and again the and reformist alike. When it comes to mili- workers in this co11ntry have given convincing in the mud of craft unionism and progressing ing dais emancipation. So far as its vague at only a snail's pace. Standpatism has become conscious expressions go, it is still timidly and tancy of program we stand in a place by our- evidence of their aggressive spirit and adapt- an ingrained gospel with our trade union oi3- blindly trying !to patch up wage slavery and selves-at the very foot of the proces~ion. And abiliw to advanced types of unionism. A gen- so it is with many other phases of our move- cials. There is hardly a breath of progress make it endurable. It has still to learn that eration or so ago, during the stormy 'BOs, our ment, which need not be cited here. among them. They disregard the obvio~fact the only solution of the labor struggle is by the trade union movement unquestionably led the that as the capitalists close up their ra* the abolition of capitalism. In this sad position The general effect of the extreme political world for militancy. And since that tiat? our workers must do likewiie: With rare excep- it &nds alone, for the workers of all other and industrial wldevelopment of om tradd industrial history has been marked with a union movement has been to greatly weaken whole series of strikes, as bitterly fought as tions they are content to plod dong with any- important countries have long since defhitely In where up to 20 or 30 autonomous Unions in the broken with capitalism. They look upon it as the fighting power of the working class More any ever known anywhere. view of these than ever this is evidenced by the present facts it is idle to maintain that our workers various industries and to consider such a prirni- an obsolete social system which must be elim- tive condition, with all its resdtant craft scab- inated. They are looking forward to the estab- world crisis in induhy. Where= the trade are naturally unmilitant. bery and weakness, as the highest praclioal lishment of a new proletarian society in which unions of other countries are pretty much The true explanation for the undevelopment stage of ltrade union organization. The man parasitic capitalists will be no more. They holding their own, or in some cases even forg- of American trade unionism vast be sought . 'I kgahead, ours are in disordered retreat before -', who proposes common sense amalgamation dBer widely as to how this great goal can be elsewhere. And it is to be found in the wrong along industrial lines they consider a dreamer, asked, whether capitalism shall be abolished the victorious employers. The latter, strongly methods used by our progressive and revolu- if not a disruptive fanatic. From the stmd- pime by piece, as the Socialists propose, or all organized and controlling the pr,ew, the courts, tionary unionists. Until quite recently they point of structure the American labor move- at one blow, as the Communists and Syndi- and practically every section of the local, state, have failed utterly to realize and perform their ment is at about the pow of .development that calists urge. But ,they are unanimous that and national governments, are smashing the proper functions. For a generation past they - the European unions were 15 years ago. oapitalism must go. The American trade unions right and left and making ducks and have been working contrary to the natural unions are the only general body of organized drakes of the workers' political and industrial evolution of the labor movement The result workers in the world that; have not yet mas- rights. The crisis is serious and so generally is stagnation and ruin all around. tered this fundamental labor conclusion. And recognized that there is no need for us to One of the latest and greatest achievements of Politieauy our trade are in an eons the result is a tremendous weakening in their waste words over it here. Sdceto say that if working class thinking, due chiefly to the ex- L infantile condition. They have not yet ad- and fighting strength. Organized Labor does not soon reorganize its periences in Russia, is a clear understanding of vanced to the point- of even rodimentarly po- primitive craft unions into modern industrial the fundamental proposition that the fate of all litical class consciousness. QhsfnlIy unaware unions and infuse them with real fighting spirit labor organization in every country depen* pri- tha& the class struggle rages in the political it will inevitably dercrushing defeat, if not marily upon the activities of a minute minority they as well as in the industrial fidd, are still A striking illustration of this unparalleled actual annihilation. of clear-sighted, enthusiastic militants scattered trailing along in the train of capitalist intellectual timidity and conservatism comes to THE SOURCEOF Om TROUBLES throughout the great organized masses of slug- parties and shamefnlly begging favors from light in our ,trade unions' relaticins with the gish workers. These live spirits are the natural There Whence comes the ultra-conservatism and them. Their Cause is a football far every po- labor organizations of other countries. head of the working class, the driving force of are two world trade union federations, one extraordinary backwardness of the American litical crook in the country-to the sad demor- the labor movement. They are the only ones alization of the whole labor movement. The with headquarters in Amsterdam, and the trade union movement B What causes the seem- ing paradox in this country of a very high' who really understand what the labor struggle workers in other countries were once in a simi- other in Moscow. Tb Amsterdam Interna- degree of capitalism producing a very low de- means and who have practical plans for its lar boat, but they have all long since got away tional is reformist, and the Moscow Interna- prosecution. Touched by the divine fire of pro- from it. Some, the anti-political tendency, tional revolutionary. All the important labor gree of labor organization ? Many are the answers made to this great letarian revolt, they are the ones who furnish have adopted the Syndicalist program of direct mo~ementsof the world are afKliated with one inspiration and guidance to the groping masses. action on the political field through the trade or the other of these two Internationals-that riddle of the American labor movement. The chief of these are, first, that the conglomera- They do the bulk of the thinking, working and unions, and others, retaining their belief in is, all except ours. We stand aloof altogether Qhting of the labor struggle. They run the -political action, have built up extensive Labor, on the ground that both are too revolutionary. of races here, greatly the dangers of death and the jails. Not Socialist, and Communist parties. But all of Even &he Anwterdam International, whose lead- 'Waetion has checked only are they the burden bearers of the labor the spread of trade unionism ; and, second, that them, Syndioalbb, Laborites, Socialists, and ers nndoubteiQy saved capitalism in its great- movement, also its brains and heart and the warkers in this country, because of its Commun&ts, agree ugon class action in the est crbis by dieeeatbg the recent revolutionary sod. In everg where these vital mili- bonanaa development, have enjoyed more pros- political field. Thssy would laugh out of court uprisings in Germany, Italy, France, etc., is tants fanction among the organieed any leader among thi& who dared advocate much too radical for us. Because its "revolu- perity than European workers and have Come- masses the labor movement flourishes and pros- the antediluvian no-el& political policy of the tionary" doct-rines mightt contaminate our pure quentl~been rendered almost immune to mili- pers. But wherever, 'for any reason, the mili- American trade union mvement. For them bourgeois ideas, and for fear that our associa- tant organization. tants fail to so function, just as inevitably the the adoption of such a pzogram would mean tion with seah a "terrible" organization would But these answers are altogether unsatisfac- whole labor organizatisn withers and stagnates. turning the clock backward 4 generation discredit ns in the eyes of American exploiters, 'H tory. The fist is discounted by ,the fact that The activities of the militants are the "key7, to Another striking feature of our labor move- the American Federation of Labor, not long some of the very best unions we have, notably the labor movement, the source of all its real life ment's primitiveness is its unequaled lack of since, severed relations with the Amsterdam In- in the needle trades, are made up of many and progress, 7 6 THE LAB0R HERALD March, 1922 March, 1922 THE LAB0R HERALD through their respective corresponding secre- VI- Em- ;STAGNATION Hw sionist tendency that has negated their efforts theories, tactics, structure, and leadership. Instead of advocating the prevailing shameful taries. Every phase and stage of the trade In other countries the militants, even while for so long; and, second, they must thoroughly union movement will have its branch of the not consciously aware of the above prinoiples, organize themselves within the trade unions for and demoralizing nonsense about harmonizing life-giving educational organization. have quite generally acted in harmony wilih the effective application of their boundless ener- the interests of Capital and Labor, it is fiing Let the railroad industry illustrate the gen- the workers' imagination and releasing their eral plan: In every important railroad center them. ' They have stayed in the old trade & gies and dynamic programs. When this is ac- and, through their organization, activity, and complished, then, and then, only, can we look E wonderful idealism and energy by propagating there will be educational groups of railroad the inspiring goal of the abolition of capitalism men, not of single crafts, but of the whole six- determination, have been able to take the lad forward confidently to the American labor move- teen in the industry. These local groups will in directifig the workers' struggle. Theg: have ment taking its proper place in the forefront of and the establishment of a workers' republic. co-operate nationally through a secretary (a communicated something of theix own &.a and the world 's trade union organization-a position The League aggressively favors organization volunteer unless the local groups find ways, understanding to the msms, with the resnlt that which it occupied thirty or forty years ago, be- by industry instead of by craft. Although the through donations, to pay him). A national their labor movements have b&n comtantly fore its militants became poisoned and ruined craft form of union served a useful purpose in program will be established and a great drive the early days of capitalism, it is now entirely instituted to combine the sixteen squabbling pushed onward-intell-ye structurally, and by dud utopianism. unions into one solid body. Amalgamation will numericany-to higher and higher stages. Substantial progress is now being made to- out of date. In the face of the great consolida- be made a burning issue all over the country But in the United States the militants, pro- wards the accomplishment of these two vital es- tion of the employers the workers must also wherever railroad men meet and talk. From ,gr@~es and radials alike, have taken a re- sentials. In the &t place, the militant rebels close up their ranks or be crushed. The mul- the live wire section man in San Diego, Cali- verse conrse. Fvr fully years they have are fieing themselves from dual unionism with titude of craft unions must be amalgamated fornia, to the rebel engineer in Portland, Maine, the whole body of railroad militants systematidly deserted and neglected %he trade wonderful rapidity; and in the second place, into a series of industrial union&-one each for - the metal trades, railroad trades, clothing will move unitedly and irresistably to the .unions. ABtioted with a dwonic mioniram, they are everywhere forming the necessary accomplishment of their task, the erection of they have attracted the ovepwhe~mam d propaganda groups within the organized masses trades, building trades, etc.-even as they have a great and powerful industrial union of rail- the livest spirits among the workera to the futile of trade unionists. The organization through been in other countries. The League also aims road workers by the amalgamation and invig- The union projects of building up all sorb of dud mi0118 which this new and most important movement of to put the workers of America in co-operation oration of the sixteen craft unions. with the fighting trade unionists of the rest of leaders refuse to carry out this absolutely in- based upon ideal prinuples. Thus the trade militant&is taking shape is The Trade Union dispensable project, so it is up to the rank and the world. It is flatly opposed to our present union movement has been sueked 'dry of thou- Educational League. , file militants to do it for themselves. ' sands and thousands of the best militants, the The Trade Union Educatiod League is an pitiful policy of isolation, and it advocates The Trade Union Educational League will very elements who should have been its life informal grouping of the progressive and re& a%lktion to the militant international trade make great use of pamphlets, bulletins, springs, and thus its development has been lutionary elements throughout the entire trade union movement, known as the Red Trade journals, etc., in its educational work. Its official national organ is THE LABOR blocked, its progress poisoned at the source. By union movement; a potent means to assist these Union International. The League is campaign- 'nP HERALD, a monthly published at $2.50 per C the desertion of the militants the unknowing militants in the performance of their natural ing against the reactionaries, incompetents, year. THE LABOR HERALD is carrying a masses have been int&&~~and spiritually functions as the brain and backbone of the or- and crooks who occupy strategic positions in burning message of constructive unionism and decapitated. Leaderless, helpless, they have been ganized mses. It is not a dual union, nor is it many of our organizations. It is striving to solidarity to the discontented rank and fie. It left to the uncontested.contro1 of a conservative mteddirectly or indirectly with any such. replace them with militants, with men and is filled from cover to cover with the living, trade union bureaucracy, which has hardly a It does not hecharters, nor does it collect dues women unionists who look upon the labor move- dynamic organization principles which can find no place in our static, muzzled, dry-as-dust offi- traee of real proletarian nnderstanding and or per capita tax. For the revenue to cavon ment not as a means for making an-easy living, cial trade union journals. Bropess anywhere in its makeup. In view of its work it 'depends upon voluntary donations but as an instrument for the achievement of The launching of The Trade Union Educa- tbk situation it would be a miracle if the from supporters and sympathizers, profits from working class emancipation. In other words, tional Leagzce marks a turning point in Amer- ieah labor movement, with its most vital fa&m-- the sale of Literatare, eto. It is simply a virile the League is working in every direction neces- ican labor history. It is the beginning of an praotically cancelled, were in any other con- edncationd league, operating within and in sup- sary to put life and ppirit and power into the era in which the trade unions, flourishing under port of the trade unions, and by no means in trade union movement. intensive cultivation by their organized mili- di& k one of extreme backwardness. tants, will gradually pass from their present Dud ~nim,the set policy of secessionism, opposition to or in competition with them. It How THE LE~~UEO~amms hopeless defensive fight into an aggressive attack which h@R @@mated the Life-giving militants is an auxiliary of the labor movement, not a sub- upon Capital, an attack which can end only from the cuni%emme organized massethat is stitute for it. It is identical with the movements The Trade Union Educational League groups with the abolition of the wage system. The the prime cause of the stagnation of the Amer- through whit& the militants in other countries the militants two ways: by local'ities and program of The Trade Union Educa$ional League have tra~bmedtheir trade unions into real by industries. In all cities and towns is the only possible effective answer to the ican labor movemeplt. That is the underlying general groups of militants of all trades "Open Shop" drive of the employers; it is the reason for onr ap-mt paradox of the most @hting organhtions. are formed to carry on the work of education sole means by which the American working aggressive capitalist i3-side by side with the TEB xA?ul3m's PF~GI&BM and reorganization in their respective localities. class can take its proper place in the world most weakly orgheaed working class. Dual These local general groups, to facilitate their battleActive of Labor.trade unionists wilIing to co-operate unionism has hams- herimLabor. The Tnds U*rm Edwatioraal Leogl~pro@ work, divide themselves into industrial sec- poses to dedop trade unions from their tions--such as printing, building, textile, rail- in the work of the League are requested to W~TMm%a DONE present antiqaakd and stagnant condition road, metal, clothing, transport, etc. All the write to the undersigaed for further informa- local general groups are kept in touch and Two things are absolutely hdhpensable to the into modern, powerfnl labor organizations tion. E": co-operation with each other through a national WM. Z. FOSTER, Sec'y-Treas., capable of waging successfnl warfare against further life and progress of our labor move- 1' - - corresponding secretary. Likewise, all the 118 N. La Salle St., Chicago, Ill. ment: first, the militants mmrt definitely and Capital. To this end it is working to local industrial educational groups are linked Editor's Note: For outline of the League's immediate pro- finally rid themselves of the dual union seces- revamp and remodel from top to bottom their together nationally, industry by industry, gram, see article "A Call to Action," elsewhere in this issue. 9 8 THE LABOR HERALD March, 1922 Mar&, 1922 THE LABOR HERALD this it is necessary that the machinery of or- first affected. The prospect of a settlement ganization itself, i. e., the unions, must cease of the Irish problem is also having a good ef- to be sectional, and learn to manifest solidar- fect, and there is m doubt if it proves to be The Situation in Great Britain ity, and aim at producing with the highest a settlement of the koubles between the Brit- I efficiency, and distributing the product with ish Government and the Irish, that a substan- By Tom Mam the truest equity. tial quickening of industrial interests will fol- Exactly bw this wii work out there is no low-and probably solidarity will characterize need to wpsry over, but it may safely be as- the workers of both countries. N order to live we must eat. To live well struggles between numerous sections of con- sumed that the most scientific methods of It is too early to gauge the probable effects Iwe must have enough to eat and to wear. The trollers of industrial establishments, financiers production will always be resorted to, as this of the Washington Conference, but there are food we eat and the clothes we wear can only and others, to conduct trading operations in will fit with highest standard of living, in- many in this counfry who believe that the be obtained by labor. Industry is carried on the interests of the respective sections of fin- ciuciinn the fewest working- hours consistent in order to bring into existence the requisites anciers, speculators, industrialists, etc., and with &at standard. of life, but if for any reason a sufficiency is these sectional interests never by any chance I lave seer known such a large per cen- not produced or, being produced it is not coincide with the interests of the community. ' tage of unemployed in England and especially reasonably distributed, it may hapen, and it At the present time, middle of December, in in the Engineering Industry as we have at commonly does happen, that many are in- Britain there are two millions of totally un- present.' The Union of which I am a member, sufficiently fed and clothed, and inadequately employed workers, and as large a number of 'me Amalgamated Engineering 'Union.," has hdused. only partially employed. The unemployed a membership bf 429,500. The returns for Time was when man was unable to work with their dependents number about six mil- No%ember,just 40 hand, show that the number effectively to bring into existence a sufficiency lions of persons, out of a population of fifty sf unesnployed is 92, 272* or 25.85%. There for all to have enough. Owing to the growth millions. is almost as many working short time, and in of knowledge in modern civilized life we pos- The Unemployment Insurance Act provides addition there are 6,842 on sick benefit, and sess the power to produce enough for all, not benefits as follows : weekly benefit payable ; 6,5571 on superannuation benefit. for some portions of the year, but for the men,, fifteen shillings ; women, twelve shill- One contributary cause of this slump in in- whole year round and for every year. ings; boys under 18, seven shillings and six- dustry was the outcome of the War settle- It is not a matter of conjecture, it is a thor- pence; girls under 18, six shillings. A married ment, which provided that Britain should have oughly established fact, that there is on and man receives in addition, five shillings on ac- a large percentage of the German ships. These in the earth a super-abundance of raw ma- count of his wife, and one shilling each for were taken over and sold to British ship- terial, out of which all our requirements can each of four children. To entitle the workers owners at a much lower rate than they could be obtained, and it is equally an established to this, workers and employers pay the follow- be built for; the direct result was to throw fact, that man's power over this material is ing weekly amounts: many thousands of men out of work in the such, that if this power is wisely directed, an Men ...... 7 pence. Employers. 8 pence ship-building yards and the marine engine TOM MANN abundance for all can be produced with the Women ...... 6 pence. Employers. 7 pence shops. Similarly, with regard to the coal utmost ease. Boys under 18. .. 3% pence. Employers. 4 pence Girls under 18.. 3 pence. Employers. 3% pence miners. War settlement terms provided that Although these basic facts are admitted, Germany should supply France with many result will be the allaying of international we are confronted with abject poverty in In addition those unions that provide un- millifins of Cons of coal annually. The provid- friction for a time, and that there will probably every country, not less so amongst the most employment benefits also pay usually from ing of this coal had hitherto been done by be a few years' spell of industrial activity. It industrially advanced, as well as in those five to fifteen shillings a week, this of course British colliers. Result: - unemployment seems to me likely that this will be so, and relatively backward. in addition to the State benefit. amongst miners in Britain on an unpreceden- this will be the time for the workers to perfect Europe of course is experiencing exceptional It is a matter for wonderment that the ted scale. their organizations and to become clear as economic difficulties at present, as a result of principal trade unions, which have endeavored I am pleased to say there are some signs of regards ideals. There is no need for despon- the Great War, but prior to the war there never to guard their members against the worst improvement, though as yet not very pro- dency. Humanity is slow in traveling up- was a time when the whole of the people in evils of unemployment, sickness and accident, nounced. The tiq plate trade of South Wales ward, but there is no doubt at all about it any country had a sufficiency ; in England, con- should not have long ago endeavored to en- .is reviving. This of course means the steel really traveling. The organized workers must currently with an ever increasing wealth pro- tirely eliminate the causes of unemployment. plates, tinned, for canned goods, etc., and past have a greater share in social etro1 than ducing capacity, there has continued as an Innumerable discussions have taken place experiences show that this trade is usually hiiherto. ever accompanying corrollary, a per centage as to the best means of alleviating the effects of unemployed workers, who in consequence of unemployment, whilst the cure of the causes of unemployment are wageless and therefore therof have been comparatively neglected. The subjected to serious privation. modern conception of trade unionism does, It would seem that notwithstanding the ever however, undertake this task. It holds that increasing power to bring into existence the it is not sufficient to organize the workers, CLOSE UP YOUR RANKS! necessaries and comforts of life, that those except as the preliminary essential to the or- The employing class is solidly organized. The workers mu& likewise close up ganization the who accept responsibility for managing in- of work. !. their ranks. The time has come whm we must fuse our craft dons so that there dustry never aim at concerted action either to The objective of the up-to-date trade union- is only one union for each industry. We must do this or be 11'- cr~~hed. ascertain total amounts required, or at pro- ist is-The organization of work in all its - 8 . .Ubu(l- viding a sufficiency for all. forms so as to provide adequately for the re- ',> It is left to the chance forces of competitive quirements of the whole community. To do -L. -, . * 10 THE LABOR HERALD March, 1922 March, 1922 THE LABOR HERALD 11 '
chummed around with the state and county vention to appeal to the delegates from all over officials. A little conversation that I chanced the country to uphold the Kansas Miners and to hear shows this well: keep them in the qrganization. For a time The Industrial Court - Dead I was in the District Courtroom one day there was a little imesponsible talk about an during the strike, to attend a damage suit. 'independent union,' but that was quickly sat I Right after adjournment, the Judge inquired By John Dorsey on. The Kansas Miners are a part of the for the Sheriff. The stenographer spoke up: - "Did you try Van Bittner's? I usually get him there if he isn't in his office." T IS two years now since the State Legis- September the Kansas miners again came out lature passed Governor Allen's law to stop on a general strike in protest. We stayed Thcf got a few hundred men to desert us. I strikes-the Industrial Court Law-but ~ve out for over three months to prove to the Sevmd mines started up, and Van Bittner be- are still having strikes in Kansas. The min- world that the Industrial Court Law could gan to give out optimistic interviews in the ers of District 14 have kicked this anti-strike cause strikes, but couldn't stop them. It was capitalist papers. He made arrogant claims about "breaking the strike." using about the law around so much that nobody in this part a bitter struggle. The coal operators, the of the country pays any more attention to it. Governor, the courts, the state troops, the same manner and language that the big pack- I noticed that the packinghouse workers went county officials and the "Provisional Govern- ing companies were using at the same time out on strike when they got ready, and the ment" of our union, set up by President about the strike of the packinghouse workers. Industrial Court didn't even try to stop them. Lewis, all worked hand in hand to drive us The members of the Industrial Court plucked No, the law didn't stop strikes in Kansas, and back to work; but their combined forces only up courage tp come back to Pittsburg to look the whole idea of chaining men to their jobs succeeded in getting a few hundred to break the situation' over. Governor Allen, who had by law has been pretty thoroughly discred- ranks. The District as a whole stood solid been singing mighty low about his law to stop ited. until the strike was called off on January 12 strikes, again began to issue statements de- We paid a big price for this result. District by Howat on the ground that we had thor- nouncing Howat and the "foreignersJ' who sup- MINERS' WOMENFlOLK MARCHING 14 has been living on short rations for a long oughly discredited the Industrial Court Law, ported him. So far it had been a man% fight: United Mine Workers of America, and they time; Howat and Dorchey had to lay in jail and that further demonstration was not at this point the women took a hand. for awhile, and so did many of our best rank needed. It was done by the women themselves, on are going to remain there. They are the last and file fighters. Our union is fighting for The general strike made the Court look like their own motion. No men were allowed to ones in the country to split the ranks. They are now preparing for the expected national life right now. But we have one consolation: a joke. Our enemies didn't think we would take part, so I can only tell about it as it was strike, and you can bet that if it comes off, and The Industrial Court Law is as dead as a door- have the nerve to do it again, after all we had told to me by some of those who took part in all other districts hold as solid as District 14 nail. The workers of America owe that to gone through, but we did it. The members the action. They organized into an "armyJJ will, the strike will be won. Kansas has had us. of the Industrial Court got cold feet, and went about four o'clock on the morning of Decem- more than her share of the fighting, but we I said the Industrial Court is dead, but may- back to Topeka. The business men and the ber 13. Led by a woman with a baby in her can go anoth& one if we have to. be I am speaking too quickly. There is a coal operators began to holler for a compro- arms, they marched to the working mines. chance that it will come back to life again, mise. They had Howat and Dorchy in jail From one shaft to another they went, routing after all. It was dead, sure enough, and but they couldn't get the miners back to work. out the scabs and chasing them away like so everybody knew it. But John L. Lewis, the Howat said: "We never denied that they many outcast dogs. The papers made it out Union Subscriptions to be a sort of peaceful demonstration, but International President of our organization, could pass a law to put men in jail; but we If your union is a real live one, every sent his men down here with the pulmotor, do deny that they can stop strikes by law. from what they told me there was nothing member will want to read THE LABOR and they are trying their best to pump the They have got us in jail, but they have also "lady-like" about the way they handled those HERALD. We expect to find many such, breath of life back into it. The bosses tried got the strike. You can't stop strikes by law they went after. so we have figured out a suecial subscriv- They took the lunch buckets from the scabs, tion price for-unions which want to s&- by all means to establish the anti-strike law in Kansas because the Kansas miners will not scribe for their members and distribute the in Kansas. The Governor, the legislature, the obey such a law." and threw the contents at them. An Austrian magazines at the union meeting. The ratea press, the militia, injunctions, jails, special It was at this point that John L. Lewis woman with a Chaplin-like sense of humor for bundles sent to secretaries for distri- LCvagrancy" ordinances against strikes-all took a hand in the game. While Howat and took a fiendish delight in searching the buckets butJon or sale among the members are as these instruments and some others were Dorchey were in jail, they were removed from . for custard pie. Woe to the man in whose follows : brought into play to put over the anti-strike office and expelled from the United Mine bucket she found it. They tore one fellow's 25 copies, $3 per month or $36 per year. 5? copies,a$6 per month or $72 &r year. law, and the net result was total failure as far Workers of America for life. Our District trousers off and sent him flying home across the cold prairie in his shirt, "like a rabbit," 75 copies, $9 per month or $Mi3 per year. as we miners were concerned. They couldn't Executive Board was deposed. The char- 100 copies, $12 per month or $I44 per year. make it stick. We went on strike just the ter of our District organization was revoked, they told me. They made the scabs swear al- Take this up in your llnisn if you think same as ever, and the workers in other or- and a "Provisional GovernmentJJappointed to legiance to the strike while they poured, cold they are a real bunch of unionists there ganized trades did the same. But now the take charge. They ordered the miners to go cpffee from their own lunch buckets over their and know a good labar axagazine when back to work. For three months they tried ' &ads. "It was no "tea-party," I suggested to they see it. Let us lenm what the results International President of dur Union is on of your attempts are, even if they don't the job using all the power of his office to every' means to break the strike. They the group of Italian women who were telling me about it with twinkling eyes and enthusias- order the first time- The best kind of pro- break up our district organization and make worked hand in glove with all the other tools paganda for a &IS subscription is to get us submit. If the Industrial Court Law is of the coal operators. Thomas Harvey, the tic gestures. "No ! No !," they laughed, "coffee- a small bundle on4 .sell them in the meet- finally put over, John L. Lewis will be the sherips brother, was appointed secretary of party." ing before you the matter up. Get the district organization. Van Bitfner, the Btit the strike has been called off now, and busy, and pa-ur union on the map1 man who did the job. )-..% When Howat and Dorchey went to jail last special representative of the International, Alex Howat is down at the Indianapolis Con- 12 THE LABOR HERALD March, 1922 March, 1922 THE LABOR HERALD 13
But as the strike wears on a Discipline vs. Freedom In Russia profound change takes place. By Paul Dupres 3 -ateriilize. On thi contra j, I re come hardshins ~iled EVOLUTIONS are eammonly urged for the prevailing restriction of popular rights in the purpose of estah&hiagl in addition Russia in an abominable tyranny and disgrace R to many other deslral$lities, the most to the sacred cause of revolution generally. complete freedom of sped9pass, and assem- Now wheilce comes this undeniable limita- indeed. Their enthusiasm, bly. Yet, strange to say8 &fidllhssianRevolu- tion of free speech, free press, and free as- base& upon simple emotion tion, the most profortnd in history, has fallen sembly? Is it because, as all the above types r8Um?r than upon real under- far short of this BQL~.B %spIa, as everyone declare, Lenin, Trotzsky and the rest are s%nd'kgrlgradually evaporates. knows, there are dr;%s& 1imita;tions upon the heartless oppressors of the same stripe as the Thew laheart and take on a right of the people to freely speak and write old Czars? Or is there another and deeper def&~s$ attitude. They de- their thoughts. Indeed, this right is very reason? In view of t'he clamor that has been,, genera& &to carping critics, qrgely restricted to the membership of the raised and the unfavorable propaganda ma&, and becpm~laa prey to all sorts Communist party, and 'it finds but limited ex- againsf Russia, it will be well for us to look of p~q~agaadadestructive to pression even ihe. into the matter a little. the strike solidarity. In short This state of a.fEa$rs has brought the Russian For all those who have had to do with thk they are &sc~tolo~call~licked. revolution a lot o* -ahcedaaeous condemna- working masses in great struggles, and the C critical situation. tion. Capitalists mati their hangers-on, yellow Russian revolution is above all a tremendous In thi; 11 which corines in every protrac Socialists of the Sgptrgb type, petty bourgeois mass struggle, the situation, is or should be, ted strike, the burden of main- labor leaders like .Mr. Gompers, theoretical quite clear and understandable. These practi- taining the indispensible disci- Anarchists of the Emma Goldman persuasion, cal leaders know that in such severe tests of dine falls uoon a small min- etc., etc., have raised their voices in energetic the workers' courage and endurance the su- protest. Each gives his complaint ehe neces- preme thing that must be striven for is soli- ority. These are the true sary twist to conform to his particular phil- darity, a united front against the enemy. This fighters. They are the only osophy or hypocricy, but all are agreed that can be achieved only through a rigid discipline, ones who really understand which. in turn, inevitably involves a heaw what the struggle is all aboat. restriction of the rights of free speech, free Their unkillable enthusiasm press, etc. Every strike makes clear this fun- and inexhaustible energies are damental proposition 'of mass action. When drawn from intellectual sources and are very different from the we understand why the workers, during strug- , . ,- gles against employers under capitalism, deny semi-blind impulse which rules .HOME OF ALL-RUSSIANUNI.ONS themselves freedom of expression in their . the niasses. If the strike is to I I I?. Formerly Moscow Nobles' Club trade unions, then we will understand why ' , be won these fighters must they have taken similar action in the Russian , I make their psycho~ogyprevail. - , They must take the discouraged masses firmly The Wmeq b Rewohtiop revolution. 'I .-, . in hand and literally make them fight. They The foregoing ihfritian of the course Q%- a The Mas- On Strike n must break up all sorts of defeatist movements strike applies equally well to the courw of All strikes are marked with a strong sup- J among the rank and file, which, in turn, means the Russiart revoldion. And naturally w, be- cause the lib~er,like the former, is 9 &we of pression of the workers' rights of free expres- the sappression of free speech to a very large 1 sion in their organizations. In the early stages extent. Indeed, only those tendencies are al- thg misses in bitter struggle. What we have of such struggles this suppression is the work lowed to flourish which make direely for sol:- sea bppen a thousand times in hard fought of the mass itself, later on it is done by a small dariky and the continuance of the strike. GI1 minority. At the outbreak of nearly all strikes the rest are ruthlessly smashed, m metter bw the discipline is practically spontaneous. Deep- ?" - maay abstract rights are violated in the debg ly infected with strike fever, the masses of it. That is the history of all great stni enter enthusiastically into the struggle. Every- It is a fact known to all labor men that mt thingJooks rosy to them; they can see victory severe industrial struggles that w& wan hawe just 'around the corner. They are altogether:. . been won after the mass of tke ~$rbwale intolerant of dissenters and critics. No mat- g '@$ icked; after they had reached the stags af ter how fernperate or justiiied the latter may defeatism and discouragement they wad be they are promptly dubbed company agents that or fools adthen sat upon instantly. Under have given up the fight had it not Bees fag the &, discipline imposed upon them more oe l& tar- f valor were ber- such circumstances "free sneech"x - is--- altoeether 0 at a discount. What rev ails is a snontaneous bitrarily by a small minority of andefeatable formed and ~f e&rgy expended bithe secretary, Red T ernational mass discipline. !pfighters. transported I% ',The - whole people were March, 1922 THE LABOR HERALD 15 @ - 14 THE LABOR HERALD March, 1922 6, , swept away in a mighty, swirling, irresistable of the masses are pretty much defeated. For torrent of revolution. them the glamor of the thing has worn off. I This was the dream era, the idealistic period They want the easiest way out. If the revolu- 1 I *:**:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:*:+:+:+:+*:*:.+.'*+:+:*:+:+:+:+:+:+:+<* of the revolution. But it had to come to an tion were left to them, it would be over in a I1 end, just as does the similar period of unthink- hurry. They would not fight for it; t!~ey 3 ing enthusiasm in big strikes. Soon the period would not work for it; they would allow them- + '111 A PLEDGE! of cold, hard, unemotional fealism set in, the selves to be made tools of by the 57 varieties fc+:*:+*.:+:+:+:**:+:+:+:+:. period of long and bitter struggle. As the of sophistry-mongering agents of the reaction. months rolled by the heaven on earth expected There would be a swift collapse. . by the 'masses did not materialize. Instead, But these tired, disillusioned, and disheart- To Tom ~oone~,Jim Larkin, Warren Billings, Alex Howat, Ben Oittlow, there came a whole series of soul-trying or- ened masses are being held to the struggle hy deals. Famines, blockades, civil wars, pov- the minority of indomitable fighters in their Ralph Chaplin, Harry Winitsky, Harrison George, Fred Mooney, erty, were the people's portion. The revolu- midst, the Commtl~~;~ts.The latter are main- tion proved a hard taskmaster. The masses, taining the discipline essential to the life of Frank Keener, Niccolo Sacco, Bartolomeo Vanxetti, Vincent St. with nothing but shallow enthusiasm to sus- the revolution, just as tlie fighters always do John, Jim Thompson, and the hundreds of Labor's champions, now tain them, did not understand. Somehow the in severe strikes. This could not be done if revolution seemed a failure. They could not they allowed absolute freedom of discussion prisoners of war in capitalist jails: meet its severe requirements. Their revolu- to prevail. If given free rein the reaction, tionary fervor waned, their original enthusiasm through the instrumentality of its intentional DEARBROTHERS AND COMRADES:- began to abate. More and more the responsi- and unintentional assistants, would have easy bility for eontinuing the revolution fell upon picking among the rank and file, who, always We send you greetings from THE $~OR and the workers whose aspirations the shoulders of the minority who are revolu. gullible and easily led astray, are now even we voice. In creating this new weapon for our common struggle, the struggle for Labor's tionists, not through mere impulse and ideal- more susceptible than ever because of the complete emancipation, we turn to you to pledge our faith. istic imaginings, but because of deep-seated hardships of the revolution. Soon solidarity intellectual convictions. They are the ones on the political, industrial, and military fields The high mission for which you sder, and to which we are dedicated, calls for the These virtues of the working-class move- whose revolutionary spirit is inextinguishable, would be ended, and serious, if not fatal, dam- deepest loyalty, devotion and courage. ht the Communists. age done to the revolution. Because of this ment which you embody, are the very basis of all of Labor's cause. This process has gone on in Russia for many unlovely but inescapable fact, the workers many months, until now we find a situation But you have been almost deserted by Labor's ranks. Only here and there have a literally have to be protected against them- Only in brief, comparable in principle to that in the latter few strong voices been raised, and a few arms wielded, in your behalf. selves by means of discipline. Defeatist and spasmodic moments has Labor moved to bring you justice; and then has been confused, stages of a hard-fought strike. Great sections disruptive tendencies must be broken up, even disunited and drugged, by the lies, the tricky arguments, the traitorous actions, of pre- if this does involve the limitation of tended "leaders. ' ' the rights of the individual. And it makes little difference whether such For years you have lain in the rotten capitalist jails! With deepest shame must tendencies originate in the brains of we write the record of how you have been deserted! We know, and the workers of scheming reactionaries or in those of America know, that it is only because you were fighters in our own strugglethe st~le impractical Socialist, Syndicalist, An- against capitalistic exploitation, against the degrading wages system, against the VIC~O~ archist, or Communist workers. They and corrupt society which destroys all beauty and joy in the lives of the working people. must be checked just the same. And the measure of our shame shall be the measure of our passionate cry to the workers Successful struggle by the masses of the whole land-"To action! Our brothers are being tortured for fighting our battles unavoidably implies limitation of their for us! Masters! open the prisons, before Labor is forced to act indepedentntby to. rights of free speech in the name of that en.d! " discipline. That is the experience of The heart of the working class is sound! In spite of all the every areat strike: it is likewise the Brothers in prison! - - forces of darkness and corruption which have prevented your class from coming to your 1) experience of the ~ussianrevolution, rescue, your brothers in the trade unions of America know why you suffer. They move the bitterest and most trying struggle restlessly in the knowledge of their base desertion of you. They are going to move to ever undergone by the world's work- your defense 1 ing class. Reactionary labor men like Mr. Gompers (whose trade union THE LABORHERALD pledges to you that we will shoit this message to all our class, practice would teach him the logic of in every labor hall and labor home, until our class rises to do justice. So long as we the Russian situation if he were not have voice it shall never be raised without carrying this call as a vital, pressing, urgent too blinded by prejudice) may rail demand of a militant labor movement! against this conclusion, and idealists )I l&e Emma Goldman (who lived in a -11 realm of cloudy theory and disdains Labor ! Act at Once to Rescue Your Prisoners of War! the crass inconsistencies of hard real- CONGRESS OF THE RED 'LJXADE UNION ity) may do likewise. But suppression INTERNATIONAL (Continued on page 31) 16 THE LABOR HERALD March, 1922 THE LABOR HERALD
A CALL TO ACTION! Editor's Note: For general outline of the League's pur- poses, read article "The Principles and Program of the Trade Union Educational League," elsewhere in this issue.
ILITANTS! The time has come for action! We must now gird up our loins for a great effort to make a real fighting organization out of the trade union movement. We must M now plunge directly into our vital task of ama?gamating the many craft unions into a few industrial unions and of inspiring them with genuine proletarian spirit. The Trade Union Educational League has launched its nation-wide campaign to organize the militants everywhere to carry on this indispensible work of education and reorganization, a work for which the hard- pressed labor movement now stands in shrieking need. All.true trade union rebels are urged to join hands with the League immediately. THE League's task of organizing the militants is a gigantic one, one that will require intelli- . gence, determination, and discipline to accomplish. As things now stand the militants are scattered broadcast through many thousands of local unions, central labor councils, etc., and there is scarcely the faintest trace of communication Qr co-operation between them. It is an utter chaos. And the only way this chaos can be conquered and the army of militants developed into a unified body capable of exerting great influence in the labor movement is by the rigid applica- tion of modern organization methods. Such methods are the very heart of the League's pro- gram. It proposes not to attack the problem simultaneously in all its phases-which would be a futile project-but to go at it intensively, section by section. It is going to carry out a series of great national drives, month by month, to organize the militants in one industry after another. When the circuit of the industries is completed-which should be in six or eight months-there will exist a well-defined organization of the militants in every trade union and industrial center in the entire country. Then a general national conference will be held, to map out a complete educational program, to elect League officials,etc. All told, the campaign is one of the most elaborate in labor history, and it must eventually result in making the progressive and radical unionists the determining factor in the labor movement. THE fist of these national drives will be directed to establishing local general educational groups of militants of every trade simultaneously in all the important cities and towns every- where. Once established these local groups, in addition to their other activities, will perform the vital organization work of carrying out the rapidly following later drives to organize the mili- tants in the respective industries. Their first job (the second national drive) will be to organize the railroad educational organization. It will be done as follows: At a given signal (which WUcome late in March) the hundreds of local general groups all over the country will direct Wr eted attention and energy to organizing local educational groups of railroad militants in the% Wpective territories. By this intensive method scores, if not hundreds, of such bodies will coz@& bto existence simultaneously in all the principal railroad centers. All these local railroad grow will be put in touch with each other through the general office of the League, and thus the &road militant organization will take on national scope. It will immediately embark upon a nation-wide campaign to amalgamate the sixteen railroad craft unions into one industrial organization. This educational propaganda will be carried into every local union in the entire industry by the local railroad groups, or rank and file amalgamation committees. For the fist time in the history the railroad militants will fhd themselves in an organized movement to combine theif many obsolete craft unions into one modern industrial union. Month by month , . similar drives d$l be put on in the other industries-metal, building, clo@ing, mining, etc, until finally the educational organization covers every ramification of the trade union strncture and the rejmaating influence of the organized militants makes itself felt throughout the entire labor movement. :' , a The Traileiqnim Educatiod
WITHthis CalI To Action the first phase of the League's organization campaign-the setting '" I I up of the loeal meral groups-is initiated. Besides being issued publicly, the Call is also being laid directly before ,more than 1000 live wire trade unionists in that many cities and towns, with an urgent appeal that they immediately call together groups of militant unionists and- get our campaign d dynamic education started among them. Considering the present dm- ITS W- L. mestreet, ohiqgi-hi.- March, 1922
Making and Breaking-- the Packinghouse '.q:A Unions By "A Packinghouse Worker"
HE collapse of the national strike of the of 1904. Then followed a thirteen-year period Tpackinghouse workers at the end of Janu- of unrelieved slavery and exploitation, a period ary marks the close of an epoch in the in which the industry turned out a little group long and bitter struggle to establish trade of enormously wealthy parasitic idlers on the union organization in the packing industry. one hand, and a vast multitude of impover- Menaced by the establishment of company ished and downtrodden workers on the other. unions and. radical wage cuts, the workers All efforts to re-organize the unions were de- struck desperately in the face of great odds feated. It was not until 1917 that the pack- and covered themselves with glory. They inghouse workers, responding to the hope succeded in tying up large sections of the in- that springs eternal, again take courage and dustry for eight weeks. But they did not raise their heads. Taking advantage of the have a chance; they were whipped from the war conditions, they struck in Denver, Kan- start. Their organization went into the fight sas City, and Omaha, achieving some little weak and demoralized. Besides being desti- success in each place. But the real movement tute alike of funds and spirit, it was afflicted among them did not begin until the Chicago I with officials in whom the rank and file had no Federation of Labor began its big campaign MOUNTED POLICE DRIVING STRIKERS FROM STREET faith. Under the circumstances the loss of to organize the workers employed in the the strike, the breaking up of the hard-won packinghouses of Chicago. organize, but to no purpose whatever. First the other for the packing trades. The jealou- organization, and the surrendering of the in- Organization of the Industry dustry to the "open-shopper" was a foregone it would be the cattle butchers; they would sies and quarrels between these two councils, conclusion. It is one of the greatest tragedies The initiative to the Chicago campaign was carry on a bit of a campaign and get a few resulting finally in one scabbing upon the in American labor history. given by Wm. Z. Foster, who presented a reso- hundred members assembled, when, lo, the other, was a prime factor in the loss of the The cause of the packinghouse workers' de- lution to the Chicago Federation of Labor packers would turn their tremendous organ- great strike of 1904. feat was a double one; incompetency and calling for a joint organization movement on ization against them and crush their budding The Stockyards Labor Council organizers treachery by the officials of the basic union the part of all the trades with jurisdiction union as a giant would an egg shell. Then stag- were determined that no such blunder should in the industry, the Amalgamated Meat Cut- over packinghouse workers. This project was nation would reign a while more, until even- be made in the future. They raised the slogan ters and Butcher Workmen, and utter failure adopted on July 15th, 1917, and the Federation tually, probably a straggling movement would of solidarity of all trades in the packing in- of the rebel elements among the workers to at once took serious hold of the situation. It develop among the sheep butchers, the hog dustry. With this rallying cry they went hutchera, the steamfitters, the engineers, or organize themselves and thus to exercise con- organized the Stockyards Labor Council to forth among the packers and put on one of trol over the administration of their union. carry on the work. John Fitzpatrick was some other trade, which in turn would go the the most aggressive campaigns of organiza- These fatal factors had been constantly at selected to head this body during the organ- same way. In this manner practically every tion known to American labor history. En- trade got its licking, yet the union heads never work ever since the packinghouse workers be- ization work, and Foster was made its secre- couraged by the new program ,the oppressed gan their last great effort at organization in tary. learned the lesson from this experience. They stockyards slaves responded en masse. They 1917. The story of the ill-fated packinghouse Ever since the great strike of 1904 sporadic could not see that the only possibility for the poured into the unions by thousands and soon packinghouse workers to make headway movement is one that Organized Labor should efforts had been made to re-organize the pack- the Chicago industry, then employing 55,000 against the powerful packers was through take well to heart: inghouse workers, but without a particle of workers, was strongly organized. The news absolutely united action along the lines of the No body of workers in American industry success. When the big Chicago campaign of this achievement spread like wildfire in whole industry. have been more bitterly exploited or have started the Amalgamated Butcher Workmen every packing center in the country, and soon But if the Butcher Workmen and other made more desperate efforts to escape from had only a handful of members, and the whole the whole body of packinghouse workers craft union officials knew nothing of industrial their slavery than the packinghouse workers. industry was demoralized. The prime cause everywhere were swarming into the organiza- solidarity, the men who organized the Stock- As early as 1886 they built up trade unions and of this failure was low grade leadership. The tions. The packing industry, long the: despair established the ei~ht-hourday. But the wily men at the head of the unions, the other crafts yards Labor Council did. Tee breath of life of Organized Labor, was finally unionized. of that organization was unified and powerful packers soon smashed their or- as well as the Butcher Workmmen, persist- action by The whole job took but a few months. all packinghouse workers. Before was or- ganizations and made themselves uncontested ealy attempted to apply outworn principles it masters of the situation. The next important of craft unionism to this great basic industry, ganized an agreement was secured from all An Incompetent Oi5cialdom the trades that they would cast in their- lot--- movement of the workers took place fifteen when the only hope of the workers was the together, and that espeCially they would ,not During these stirring events the officials of years later, and resulted in quite thorough or- most complete industrial solidarity. During the thirteen black years of unorganization, make the mistake they made in 1904, when the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher ganization. But again their unions were they had two local councils in the Chicago Workmen, the union which controls about wiped out, this time in the big national strike craft after craft made individual efforts to I. stockyards, one for the mechanical trades and 80% of the workers in the industry, were like 20 THE LABIOR HERALD March, 1922 March, 2!E2 THE LABOR HERALD 21
feathers in a gale. They did not know what nickel in money to the campaign until after Thy bwvery well that the stabllishmes& Butcher Workmen nevertheless went blithely it was all about. Such a slashing camp* , hadreds of dollars had been turned over to a body w4dpull dl their unioas but ahead with the nefarious task. To further of unionism was altogether beyond their kmb it h membership fees-the Chicago Federation cd & Stockyards Labor Council adieave their project they sent a flock of "organizers'" Petty labor politicians, their practical con*, .o9 kbw 'mderwrote entirely, to the last tbbtter only a shell. Tb would Grate a re- into the stockyards district to prepare the tion of their union was-as ae orgsnization hf pe-myd%$& cost of .the early work. But when of the dualism that had &ed the way for the new council. These sowed the a few thousand meat cutters in retail butdim- was finished, the Butcher use workers' srlganizathn &I 1904. seeds of disruption. thickly, undertnining the shops. They had no hope or ders.staacbg a rapidly growing organiza- Bxat.&%%ethat worried them. T~Twmt ahead whole structure of the movement. Several of organizing the packinghouse workers prop- or more, and possessed of a with their project regardless ineffectual attempts were made to start the er. They practically abandoned -theleadeahip ch were the results in the Tk &rasing of the new new council, but they all failed as the senti- of the movement to John Fit~phek,Wm. 2. ry by the application of indus- council was. h direct violat ment of the workers was overwhelDZing1y in Foster, J. W. Johnstone, ad8ke 0th gwm t-y. The mass of workers were lnf?ntktww the Butcher Workmen d fayor of the Stockyards Labor Council. Izi- at the head of th.e S~&.&-k~&~&I.. on their feet and given a weapon o*LM, +midm in the movement. From the ia- w&, however, in July 1919, enough dupes The flouridend dm& wd&~t: $8~l&mw QS~ they could protect themselves c&@i&~d:%$te campaign it had been definitely scared up to form the fatal District No. ized the i9dtpsta-y fisr.tlie$a;,, . . settW. &here shotrlci be only one loclrrl .9, and it was duly established. Chicago Packing industry and hlude all trades. In fact, this Warbare and won was very beart of the propaganda used to k'ss $h~$.pw&~&F Cauicff 33 is.- detraction. fi-on the work done by the 1 dy turmoil 'raged among the pack- organize^^^ wee &&c amra urnen were fairly wgankers in other txmters to say that the ~;giiaspired re-organize the workers. They ingheew awiatbs, who looked upon these ef- well lined up, Wthtsd at move- brunt of the struggle was borne hkJ,been &faitely promised that the great fott fbP t@?&' *eiE ment for @he e~tabljshrnentof an by the Stockyards Labor Council. mistake of 11304 would not be repeated, and ranka as $&e BKO& ef agreemeat with the packers to It planned the campaign, con- that, dnlr or swim, the whole bdy of pack- the psrckers. cover the whole industry. Re- ceived the method of organiza- inghouse workers would fight h one unit. refused point bkak luctantly this was rybber-stamped tion, and to a very large extent They were violentl~in favor of the Stock- to affiliake w&h Dis- by the Butcher Workmen ofici- carried it through to success. yards Labor Council and violently against the tri& N& 9, in ~ita ds. Accordingly, the local agsee- Considering what is had done newly-proposed packing t r a d e s council, sf the fdmina&ims ment between the twelve trades I for their organization, one might known as District No. 9. of &eir national om- €Ma Oi 40,000 OF- in the Chicago packing industry think that the officials of the 'Ws Stockyards Labor Comd Destmyd was expanded into a national one I Amalgamated Meat Cutters and gaBimrd artlrkl-s mt and a general committee set up Butcver Workmen would have The behanical exme 'agered by the Bl~tc&r z.mwe than 2,0(TO to ccmdtzct the fight for the whole greatly valued the Stockyards joked the new body. country. John @itzpatrick was Labor Council. But the fact was tuth &-*d it. Bwt The9 the national made chiqn bf this national exactly the contrary. From the we.Their deb &ee of the Butcher three-fourths majority Werben carried its packinghouse committee, and very beginning they looked ask: J. w. JONNSTONE Foster its Secretary. As usual, JOHN R~ZPATRICK ance at it. They had no sympathy Labr Cormd and could work of destruction the Butcher Workmen officials with its militancy or its doctrine I &me as tbey liked with that Bady. stiil further by sus- sat on the side lines, expressing agree- of all-inclusive solidarity. They were craft Workmen oRcid8 been in- pending all the locals that refused to accept with what was being done, but unionists pure and simple. They stood aside king an organieatisn in the their dnal council. This meant wahaian little part in it. Demands were st& and let it orgaaize the industry for them, but which in my jadgment they worse confounded. Thousands quit the unitas and, after a spectacular arbitration immediately this was done they set about des- wemz not) they could easily have postponed disgusted, fedis~gthat they had been betr@. ing conducted by Frank P. Walsh, .a troying it. Indeed, so eager was the Presi- ntia their national convention and Others entered militantly into the many b&e~ settlement secured covering the whole indus- dent of the Butcher Workmen, one John Hart, a arrangement that codd take factimd qmwrels that had been stastedastatmg tV. % to break it up that just as the national move- a &ituation. The plain fact of the the wmhers by the irresponsible natima1 offi- Whahad happened from July 15th, 1919, ment uos developing he double-crossed all w is that so long as the Stockyards La- *a whea the Chicago campaign began, until the othw trades by secretly sneaking off to & Cb~~~eilserved their imm&&tc eds hy Stwan the disruptive work of the &ma,bore March 30t9 1918, when Judge Alschuler Waehingt~aaand placing the entire matter in sqamaiag thousands of men into their imim its, fdl Br&, soon the former sp handed down l$s findings in the arbitration the tender care of the Food Administration. and vwt sums sf money .into their wBw4 adty d the workers was destr proceem vm tht the packing industrp. This nearly wrecked the whole movement. It thy hcl m trouble to go along with i%. I%& ob %he one unified council that tarried the big had been organized all over the country; the was saved My by the Stockyards Labor just as soon as they thought they battle through, they now three: the eight hour da.~established, heavy wage in- Comdl for* Hart to back out of his ar- eootagh, as soon as they felt t& emmct.dated Stockyards L&M?cCouncil, Dis- situation well in hand, they cm~dmh.fp trict No. 9, and a Mecbi-1 Trades Council. creases secured; the forty-hour per week rangemen% w&b the Washington politicians *- I guarantee introdwed, and other important im- and to lmv~rtke'rregotiationsaltogether in the covered insurmountable, constitutionah ahqjec- In addition there were a =umber af indepen- provements in the workers' coaditions insti- hands o$ &@ e~mbinedunion again. tions to its ping on as bcf- thy dent unions disgusted dhall these bodies tuted. Besides this, the Butcher Workmen's Imme&fi@ Judge Alschuler's decision was stabbed it to death. '. and affiliated with them. The work , Union had been lifted from poverty and in- made ia @@arbitration matter the national Even though the veriest tym~1~~ci&eve- of dissllption was e+e. The officers of significance to afflusnce a* power. When oficiak dechxl open war upon the Stock- meat could see from the sen the Butcher Woh* had done the Chicago I the Chicago campaip tarted @is organiza- ya&d&Zahr Chuncil. Their chosen way to wmkers that to break up the S moveqnt to dm& md with it the movement tion had only a few khousand'members and desfroy it was by the organization of a dis- box Council meant to smash the whole! pa&- all over the e ry, for it is a truism that was so poor that it did -%ute a single trict council of Butcher Workmen locals. ing house movement, the oEcials d the the status of t22 . =qkinghouse unions every-
I March, 1922 THE LABOR HERALD - 22 THE LABOR HERALD March, 1922 23 Ta kulski, an influential Palish organizer who where depends direetly upon the degree of them to come in to the struggle. But in each was neither competent leadership among the meall he got was a cold shoulder. The radi- was later killed by some of his many enemies. rank and file nor among the Butcher Work-. organization prevailing in Chicago, the hart K&ulskiYsdesertion disrupted the rebel ranks, Dis- d8, save for a few notable exceptions, would men officials. ;All the packers had to do was of the industry. After the installation of Many went back with him to the Butcher trict No, 9 the fate af the union was waled. have nothing to do with the trade laaim. to sit tight. for a while and'wait for the in- They pderred to ~pendtheir time in contem- Workmen, and thousands gave up their affilia- evitable collapse. This they did, refusing all Its course thereafter was rapidly domward tion altogether. And what was httppening in It was only a matter of time until the packers plation af their beautiful industrial utopias. edarts at settlement. On January 31st the The aoM bawd fact@of the mass struggle were Chicago was pretty mnch happenbg in all the great break came. The Butcher Workmen -. shodd deliver a coup de grace which finally other packing center& Mismaaagement, if came in the recent strike. far 6- them. eaf1d off the hopeless strike, The packing- not worse, by the Butaer Workm& officiab, base movement was crushed, brokm by the As Usual, the Rebels bb throttled the organizatiae everywhere. eornb'mled mismanagement of its official lead- By the Spring of 1921 the organization was at Here we wme to the crux of the trouble. ers and tbq indifference of the rebel elements Considering the type of men the head virtually a wreck all oTer the country. So in the industry. of the Butcher Worktam's Unlon,. the onlp The real halt for the failure of the paeking- much so that the packers, fresh13 freed from possible hope for the pat movement to suc- house movement lies with the rebel elements the war-time control agreemat administered ceed was for the live spirits amomg the rank in the industry, and they are many, as the by Judge Alschuler, deter&d,b ~utit out As to the Future and file to take the simatb well in hwd and body. of workers are foreigners. Hart, Lane, of business altogether. B& f; flash of What the future has to offer for the pack- force their fmtemtiod oflcMs iaM line or adthe others who held control of the Butch- the old spirit the workers mlliad again in out of office. This was evident from the start, er Workmen"$ csrgmizsrtion during the criti- wonderful form. Enofmoae mms meetings inghouse workers in the way of organization and it became more evident as the movement cal days were typieal craft unionists and took place and the unions grew like weeds. is problematical. After such a crushing de- wore on. Eor a time the live wires handling t'herefore altogether unfit to make headway. Quite evidqntly the workers were decided to feat, following in the train of so much be- against modern combinations of capital. It trayal and mismanagement by their o%cials, the Stockyards Labor Council were able to put up a bitter fight. But again their officials hold the reactionary national officials to wodd be stupid ts apectl them to follow any it is safe to say that they will be seized by other course than the ruinoui one they did, failed them. They meekly accepted the pro- profound demoralization and depression, Al- something like a real program. But as the posed wage cuts and allowed the establish- latter became more md more intrenched by save under pressure. A leopard cannot change ready the dual unions are gathering to feed his spots. If the msvement was to live and ment of the compapy unions. Once more the upon the corpse of the fallen giant and to add the stabilizing of the union everywhere and organization began to disintegrate rapidly. the extendon of their machine, the spreading proBper the impetus thereto had to come up to the general confusion. They have nothing of the rank and file movement to a national from below, from an aroused and organized Things went from bad to worse until the to offer, in spite of their glowing programs. sale beeme imperative to prevent the gen- rank and file. packers announced their next heavy wage cut, The only hopeful hctor in the situation is the eral o&cials from wrecking the mvewat But this impetus did not come. The rscli- a few months ago. The organization had al- changed views of many radicals in the indus- through their stupid methods-to put it char- ds, the only ones who could develop it, were most bled to death. Yet the workers re- try. Within the last few months (although itably. asleep at the switch. Here was a grerat move- sponded again, this time more weakly. A too late to appreciably affect the dying move- mwt ping begging for them to control it. strike ballot was taken. This carried affirm- ment) they have come to see that it is their The burden of organizing tbis rank ihad Ne atively in a small vote, and finally a strike movement fell.upon 5. W. Johnstone-before The enbrmclus organizations in Chicago were part to stay in the old unions and to so organ- the bitter struggle really got started =tzpat- in the han& of the minute group 015 radids - date was set for December 5th. Then a mar- ize themselves there as to'compel thi proper who did show enough understinding to take vel happened: When the strike was called few handling of the organization, no matter who rick and Foster, the first president ,and secse expected that any considerable numbers of tary of the Stockyards La$& Cewci1, ha4 part in fie movement. And it would have may stand at its. head. Had they understood withdrawn from the mmem~ent to take up be= an easy thing to have secured dmhr the discouraged and disappoipted workers this fact three or four years ago and taken &her duties. Johnstme was the new secre- csn*rol ia other places, had the radial ele- would walk out. But when the fateful day charge of the packinghouse movement when arrived they turned out en masse emrywhere, t-~of the Stockyards Labor Council and an men* dybeen willing to assume such con- it lay wide open before them, the whole his- man in the labor movement. He trol. Sficient resistance, at least, could have hamstrhging the whole packing industry. In tory of it would have been diaerent. Instead had to be done and he tried to do been dml~pedto prevent the national officials; Chicago it was estimated that fully 757% of of being crushed and defeated as they now the actual workers struck, and in other cen- the national officials set out to from wrecking the union. But no, the radicals are, the packinghouse workers would still pos- Id cdugcif Johnstone undertook to stad aside, oallously indifferent, and allowed ters the percentage was even higher. A few sess a powerful and well-intrenched trade the mganimtbn to be cut to pieces by the of the craft unions, notably the engineers, union organization. organize the rebels everytohare against them. stockhatzdlers, etc. wbo had been thoroughly reacthmaries. ' The loss crf the packinghome It is never too late to mend. The rebels He and tks associates published an indqen- alienated by the Butcher Workmen officials, dent pawa The Packinghouse Worker, and rnovernwt is just one more item, and a terri- in the packing industry must set out at once refused to strike. But nevertheless the strike scaaered I& badcast over the industry &I ble we, rhak mast be added to the heavy price to break the power of the reactionaries at the the trade mian movement is paying for the was quite general. Considering the circum- head of their organization. They must see to duollistic no~~swhich have destroyed the stances, the organized treachery and misman- it that when the next big drive comes, and it power anet 'krherrce of those worken who agement that: the' workers had sdered from is only a matter of time, the mea who conduct work failed com- shodd be its but and livest elements. in their unions for years, it was a noble dis- it are real wrsrkiag class fighters and not, pletely. The rebids. were simply not to be play of solidarity. But it was futile, it was mere place-hmtiers and incompetent bureau- roused. They were d heavily afflicted - The bdding trddes' fight ia Chicago is anoth~ dstently g~dout apinst the whole bushas from glaring example of the foolishness of continuwg begin*. c end. Others have wavered between - (7" the old craft union tactics of each separate unio- t,&se 4wo: pg&tions, phg on strike, going back to hrings with it the most serious one hand we must Dreoare for a des~erate for itself. The employers have organized a solid work* d-ting with moh other, and increasing and the ciatfwa af & front, backed by Judge Landis, and by the "Citi- the and lack wlidarity. internal quar- zen's Comtnittee" with its many mi%lions of dolhrs The Bm.gTrades Gmd, the body which has pledged to break the unbns. The have a1- adem, intema1 and extend. re1 does not ~r~ducea secession movement: brnebt sbpt =hat united action there has hereto- Rcga&g t%e external side of it: the em- lowed their soEdarity to be brhup, clch lldnn @ been vtte~lpunable to cape with this We must conhe our fight within the bounds any ~h~ fore acting for itself, litbut kWdnllpba situatim. Z& has been for a strike, then it has been plo~ware determined as never before to deal of the Unite'd Mine Workers. Our muse is rwults are phh, the *wul mu& be us a hushia blow. The "open shop" deoo- the cause of progress. It is a just one and cran &iag ashist, && .hr a strike again; but it has not been befare Labor 5gb a battle. ab'le. sac&.tlre unified attack of all the capitalist teeslare so axmaraged by their success in driv- when the great rank and file come to under- *rted &st last yar, ~g&jzatid@, te weall its forces one way or kgkk railroad men, smashing the build- stand it they will rally to aur suport. Lewis May- the @&es at the sam time. Under pressure of the * &&-IS' Awcbti~fire*ed ta re- i.ng t&s# &kcS that they are all set to give was able to muster a majority of wstes against sde@~s8im@ly &a &kek and locked at attack, of the bitter newspaper barrage of lies, of US s ,first trimming7 Indeed, they have us at the re-convevned convention. Bit he the weight of Judge Landis, and the ,force of the Thb Iko& eontiizued uatil 1 start, as the wr&- the empkoyero agd the uaipns massed millions of the Citizens' Comdttee, the slen- barely squeaked by. And if we keep going agree&@smpt. the #ago.qnas&a to arbitration, and der threads of solidarity woven by the federation nd Colorado districts ahead it will be only a matter of a short while agreed upon J1~da;eLaam as' the arbitrator. In the ~fi+e craft unions in the Building Trades Council s aur whole union is until he will come to his Waterloo. The only have given way. As this is baing mitten, the meantbe L txe~3ce~d~sbarrage of newspaper at- to meckd we will have to get right down Council has voted to accept the award, while many thing that can save him would be the same tack kid been levelled at the -ions, and prepara- to hshti:~~aad put up such a struggle as we thing that has saved dogens of other fakers in tions were made to "get them" in the arbitration unions are in bitter rebellion and are refusing to accept it under any condition. h&re never made before, similar crises, a ~ecessimmovement that pulls @recess. Landis immediately took the uBensive by But our internal crisis is worse even than assuming jurisdicOion over working rureq in addi- Much bitterness has been aroused in the worfrerss out the oposition and leaves the reactionaries tion to wages. In September he announced his ranks in the course of this fight. Harsh names have the external one. We stand in the most im- . in control. we must avoid any such mistakes award which slashed wage8 savagely and completely been called, and charges hurled back and forth. minetlt danger of a disruption that will lay this time. revised the working rules. The utuen members Probably some of tho harsh names are just; surely us helpless be-fore our enemies who are all Lewis' strength is due more to our mistakes spontaneously walked off their jobs, although the some of the. charges have truth behind thea But unions did not immec2iatdy call a strike. The con- ready to devour us. The quarrel over the than to his own ~odmnagement. Our side this is the lesson which building trade's workers must Kansas situation is thxeatening to split our has made blunder after blunder in tactics. tract- ware willing to reopen the ease. The learn from this experience, or it will have been in BuWng Trades Council was capable oi 'handling a vain: TEESE CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE organization. This would be absolutely fatal. Many of them would be ridiculous were thy dispate with some degree of success so bag as the UNTIL THE BUILDING TRADES UNIONS ARE It must be: avoided at all costs. Whatever not so tragic. We must sharpen up our wits opp6nent was only the cantractors. But this time SOLIDLY UNITED INTO ONE ORGANIZATION. comes or goes, the rqiners must present a solid and sit right into this fight as thoulgh we the Unions were up aminst something biggm. The front this year. Anything else would be suci- , *Citizensy-Committee" h@dken formed, containing Federation of the 2.5 and more unions into the meant business. The fate of the eoal mkrs' &e financbl and copxmte powers of Chicago, with Building Tradfes CounQil 3s not enough; it has dal. orgrtnizatian depends upon our getting rid of a wr .chest of nzillie~saf d~brs,and they took broken d-1; it doe6 not meet the conditions of to- Lewis's treatment of Hawat and the Kansas Lewis and all the bunch grouped aroundi*him. of the capitalist Side-of the fight. darp. Eaa#hing short of COMPLETE AMALGA- miners is ;t crime, a disgrace that can never We must organize ourselves better. We must af MATION all'building trades uniQns into one in- b elhigated from the records of trade unian- see to it that our cause is carried into every =~Sxomthe beginning of these anfortunate arbi- dusMal mion for the buildig trades, will meet the ceedings,. the result of whkh might situation. Such a unified, solidly organized body of , ism. But it must not be allowed to lud to local organization in the whole union, p that kh be been foreseen, the buil&ng trades workers, ld by men of spirit and intelligence, ' -a split. muld the last word in folly. when delegates are eleded to the varibm dis- ces were split, Five of the qaions were ddquickly change the present terrible chgos, Tim .e~-mggde not make a right. That would tricts and national conventions they have to the' arbitration from the first. Those &&ty cad helplessness In the face of a united be meref9 cutting off our nose to spite our some idea as to what the .&ht is .jout. unwise as to participate ie the yon- Bd&ng Trades Union, the "Citizens' Committee* face. 'The very most that could be accom- Ibis they dn not have at the pres- time. ivided into those who accepted it with and Judge Landis would Re pitifully impotent. and the "good unions" who were dl- plisbd by 3 secession movement would be Abeve all we mczst have T journal that will orders. The regult was a dsag- EUILJX&fQ '&%ARESWORKERS! NEW METH- the tmti~?nof; two miners' unions, both of voiee our cause. 8w International jaad is e of the unions being out 66~ODS ARE NECESSARY TO MEET YOUR EN- ahat the same strength. Those who tell us absolutely stacked against us. We must ning to work about the same EMIES 'REDAY. GET CLOSER TO-GETHER, that the masses of the men would rally to the counteract its lies, which have been primarily as went out. Some of the JOIN BANDS, AND AMALGAMATE YOUR tried to get the good will new donare either fools or tools of the em- t-espaasible for owl defeat so far. Before r of the tmp oe got it by going back to UNIONS DKBZ3 OME COVERING TEE .ENTIRE ployers. At this particular time we will do. many months have gone by we shdd have a A few of them have con- BUILDING STRY. well to turn a deaf ear ts the preachers of hot re&r independent coal tnine1-s' paper that air dual unionism, those who appear at criti- will carry the trtlth to the mfi..ke.nd file. And cal moments in union struggles iwd tear the in the n~~antime-ve should ten11 our hearty Qrderabundleof - unions all ta pieces on the basis of their beau- support to The Labor,Herald. It may be de- tiful schemes of dual unionism. These are the pended upan tu fight emr battle tc the best af jakals of the labor movement. mly ones its ability. THF: LABOR HERALD who pmfit from their activities are %h&bosses. Besides this we mwst organize our forces A split now would be worth $18)0,1000,~to to sell at your uniod%i~tings.-hbundles U 10 or more, 12 cents per mpy ' better. At all the district and national con- the mine operators. ventioas, the rebel elements should get to- In this crisie our course is plain. On 16he (Continued on page 31) - +'.-I' d 26 THE LABOR HERALD March, 1922 March, 1922 THE LAB0R HERALD 27 - agreement with the Piano and Organ Makers' they can successfully use the injunction as a so-called "better classes" as a matter of principle. Union. Although this still had a long term to run, weapon in their own behalf, is to take a long step Over their doors, in spirit if not in letter, runs the the company suddenly violated it, slashed wages, backward, not forward, Mr. Hilquit. It will re- fateful legend: "Abandon hope all ye capitalist. who THE LABOR HERALD and locked the workers out. The case was almost sult not only in giving Labor a false and unwar- enter herein." They discriminate openly in favor of the workers, and are careful to tell the whole A Militant, Constructive Monthly identical with that of the Cloakmakers. The Inter- ranted faith in the courts but also in definitely in- national Union, against the advice of many labor stitutionalizing the injunction. When Labor begins world of the fact. Trade Union Magazine men ,then sued for an injunction to make the com- to use the injunction itself it can no longer corn- Why the hypocricy of American courts, and why plain at the employers doing so, nor can it use the frankness of Russian courts, in recognizing their Official Organ of the pany conform to its agreement. Not only was its suit denied, but the very same judge, dwing the militant tactics agaiflst its application. We say, patently class character? The answer is easy. 'The Trade Union Educational League class that the Landises serve is an exploiting class, same sitting, granted the empIoyers a typical air beware of using the injunction; it is poison to WM. Z. FOSTER, EDITOR tight injunction against the workers. And \rho was Labor. a parasitic class, whose prosperity involves the en- surprised? Certainly not any intelligent labor men. slavement and degradation of the rest of society. Subscription price, $250 per ye How could they look upon the affair ~xceptas the 'They do not dare to acknowledge their defense of - logical working of our class courts? A mAL ACHIEVEMENT the interests of such an anti-social class. But in Published at Russia the courts protect the interests of the great 118 No. La Salle Sweet Another illustrative case occurred in Pittsburgh HE annual meeting of the Fe'derated Press working class, the useful class, the class whose su- during the steel strike. The city authcrities had T briags forcefully to our attention the revolu- preme mission is the regeneration and civilization CHICAGO, ILL. forbidden the holding of meetings of all kinds by Member of The Federated Press tion that has been achieved in labor journalism in of society. The Russian courts may well be proud the strikers. Even business m.eet;ngs ci the local the Uhited States. Four years ago this field was of militantly defending the interests of this all- unions were prohibited. Wherenpon, the steel ccm- the most cheerless and disheartening prospect imag- important social element. That is the difference be mittee's lawyer, who had much of the same faith inable. It was a veritable chaos. There were hun- betweencourts. American class courts and Russian class in the courts that appafently Schlessinger and Hil- dreds 'of isolated little sheets, each with its under- quit have, prayed the Alleghenv County Court of paid and overworked editor trying to spin the LABOR USING THE INJUNCTION Common Pleas to enjoin Mayor Babcock from in- material for his paper out of his own tired brain. terfering with a local union of the Amalgamated There was the dry-as-dust and absurd A. %. of L. HE settlement of the New York Cloakmakers' Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers from News Letter with its stupid and trivial items from GOMPERS AND RUSSIA T strike, which was brought about by Judge holding its regular business meetings. Could labor two weeks to six months stale, not to mention the Wagner issuing an injunction compelling the posibly have had a stronger case? Yet, what was N MAKING formal protest against the participa- petrified trade journals, full of cheerless and un- tion of Soviet Russia in the Genoa Conference, Manufacturers' Protective Association to live up to the result? Not only was the injunction denied, interesting technical matter and "women's pages" I their agreement with the International Ladies Gar- but the Mayor's supression of free assembly was Mr. Gompers has but added one more item to his piti- giving the latest dress patterns. All in all it was ful "policy" towards Russia. All the world knows ment Workers' Union, raises still more clearly the . endorsed. Grace to our attorney's naive faith in a picture of isolation, stagnation, desolation and ever-sharpening question of whether or not Labor the courts, the petty politician's tyranny received that Russia is broken down industrially, and that hopelessness. its only hope for rehabilitatisn rests in commerce shall make use of the injunction as a fighting the solemn sanction of law. And one would be Into this chaos came the organizing spirit of an weapon. Schlessinger and Hilquit loudly respond astounded were it otherwise. with the balance of the nations. And all the world idea, the idea of a real labor news service, the idea knows likewise, that the whole European economic in the affirmative. one would think, from reading Still another case has occurred in Chicago within of the Federated Press. There are thousands of "Justice," official organ of the union, that a new the past month. The Carpenters' Union sought an system is so shattered that it can never be set right things going on in the world, in which Labor is while the Russian blockade is on. But all this means and wonderful means had just been discovered to injunction against the "Open Shop" Citizens' Com- vitally interested. The news is all available, given free the working class. But as for us we answer mittee which is fighting the building trades unions. nothing to Mr. Gormpers. He has his own pet little the organization to get it and distribute it. The theory (apparently gleaned from the New York categorically, NO! ;We are absolutely opposed to Of course it was refused. .The practical result of . Federated Press brought the organization into this Times) as to how the Russian people should con- the labor movement employing the injunction, ..ad its effort was to strengthen the Citizens' Commit- neglected field. Under the influences of this new we unhesitatingly prophecy that any widespread tee and give its nefarious activities the color of duct their Government, and until they canform to force our press has made strides forward which it Mr. Gompers is willing to let world economics attempt in that direction will cnIy resuit in more legality. And so it will nearly always be when are really remarkable. Our journals have a new firmly fastening the shackles of slavery upon tlie Labor attempts to employ the weapon par exceI- go hang. life and vitality. Compare the journals of today Mr. Gompers' attitude toward the Genoa confer- workers. lence of the "open shoppers," the injunction. with those of four years ago, and get a measure oi Our basic reason for opposing the injunction ,no Few indeed are the points upon which we are in ence is altogether in line with his attitude towards the progress made. No other country in the world the Russian famine relief work. Here are twenty matter by whom it is invoked, is that it gives the agreement with Mr. Gompers. By and large, we today has so good a labor news service and labor courts an enormous share of control over the set- consider his philosophy and policy to be the very millions of peasants starving to death under the press; it is the one field of labor organization in most awful circumstances, yet Mr. Gompers, al- tlement of industrial disputes, and we have abso- antipodes of what the labor movement requires. which we are not lagging. This is another example lutely no faith in the courts. We are not childish But we must admit that he is theoretically straight though standing at the head of a great movement of what a few live progressivcs can do, if they set whose sole aim is the lifting up of the oppressed enough to think they will give Labor a square deal. on the injunction question, even as he is on the to work in a sane, energetic, constructive manner. On the contrary, we know very well that they anti-strike laws. He declares that such measures and the suffering, has made absolutely no effort are as reactionary as the employers, if not even are tyrannical invasions of the most fundamental through -the American Federation of Labor to raise more sb At least nine times out of ten they rule rights of the workers and must be openly disre- funds for their relief. They are not even Bolshe- against the organized workers. Does Labor wish garded. That is the very best of rebel doctrine, TWO KINDS OF CLASS COURTS viki, but Mr. Gompers is so blinded and unbending to leave 3s cause to the tender mercy of such a and in it lies the solution of the injunction and in his hatred towards everything Russian that he brace game as that? If so, all that it has to do many other difficult problems. That Mr. Gomp- HE American courts are like the Russian courts, would let them die without extending them a help- is to reco&e and use the injunction and the job ers has never gone beyond theory in the matter T in that they are class courts. In both countries ing hand of fellowship. This is carrying political will be done. As sure as fate, it can Iook forward in no way changes the correctness of his position. the courts are instruments to keep a class in sub- partisanship beyond the uttermost pale. Even the , . to a thorough clubbing from the courts. By ignoring the mandates of the Kansas Industrial jection. But they differ in the fact that the Ameri- capitalist politicians themselves, the Hardings and It would be stapid to judge Organized Labor's Court, Alex Hoarat and his co-fighters have done can courts hypocritically deny their class charac- others, whom Mr. Gompers himself has denounced e, possibilities with the injunction by drawing hasty more to destroy the menace of such institutions ter, whereas the Russian courts proudly boast of it. as the blackest reactionaries, have shown more heart conclusions from the Cloakmaker strike settlement. than all the lawyers in the country could have In the United States the Landises, the Andetsons, and human sympathy in the situation. Judge Wagner is an exceptional case, the unusual done by fighting them through the courts. and the thousands of their ilk who wear the Urobes How long shall this shameful thing be allowed to continue? Is it not time that Organized Labor instance of a man on the bench with some slight We must not recognize or use the injunction. We of justice," shamelessly do the wotk of the employ- sense of honor and hummi*. Labor has had other must fight it openly. Because the courts are ing class and crush the workers down to submission. awoke from its slumber and insisted upon a rational experiences with the injun~tbn,and they run much stacked against us, it is purely an employers' wea- They fill the jails with Mooneys and Howats, and policy towards Russia? Mr. Gompers' senile pre- truer to type, they are much more in line with pon-the decision of Judge Wagner to the contrary negate every liberal law on the statute books. Then judices must be swept aside or overridden. Labor what we must expect from the oourts than is the notwithstanding. The trade union movement of with solemn pomposity they fare forth to convince in this country must demand the unconditional lift- Cloakmakers' experience. America is right on the injunction. It will have a gullible world that their purely class institutions ing of the blockade against Russia, and the exten- A case in point occurred in Chicago eighteen nothing to do with it. To destroy this clear under- are based upon principles of impartiality. How dif- sion of every possible assistance to her hard pressed months ago. The Stark Piano Company had an standing, to delude the workers into believing that ferent it is in Russia! There the courts soak the people. 28 THE LABOR HERALD March, 1922 THE LABOR HERALD 29 and the other conservative. Each either has or is "Pen Pictures of Russia," by John S. Clarke, is busy establishing provisional organizations in all quite a different sort of book, but in its way quite THE INTERNATIONAL of the industries. It is factional war to the knife. as interesting. The author describes it as "Rem- At present the radicals have the best of it. The iniscences of a surreptitious journey to Russia to GREAT BRITAIN whole labor movement into one compact organi- majority of the workers are on their side, won over attend the Second Congress of the Third Interna- E British trade union movement is now pass- zation-much as the Belgium and Australian work- by the latter's skillful campaign in the old unions. tional," and the story is a curious mlxture of narra- ing through a severe crisis. It has recently lost ers are now doing. It is fraught with tremendous Unless all signs fail the old guard are doomed and tive of the journey, historical ancedotes. literary quite heavily in membership, and conditions of possibilities. the French movement due- for a rennaissance. recollections and quotations; and keen observa- labor have been somewhat worsened all around. tions on things Russian and things revolutionary. FRANCE The Worker, This is largely due to the terrible industrial depres- BOOK REVIEWS Clarke is editor of a weekly paper of sion, which is the worst in Britain's history. On Glasgow, and puts the same rough-and-ready vi- Sad disruption has come into the ranks of French THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION December 31st, there were 1,885,300 workers totally Labor. A definite split has occurred between the tality into this book that he does into his paper. unemployed and over 2,000,000 on short time. Gov- right and left wings of the trade union movement. "Through the Russion RevoIution," by Albert The forty-two photographs reproduced are not the ernment figures put the total number of days work Rhys Williams, is more than an ordinary book. least interesting part of the book. This is the result of a bitter struggle between the "Through the Rusian Revolution," by Albert Rhys lost last year from this cause at 50,000,000. In addi- two. Williams went through the first months of the revo- tion to this naturally disadvantageous condition, Before the war the French General Confedera- lution, and was personally acquainted with many Williams. Boni & Liveright, New York. $2. the trade unions are also afflicted with a consider- tion of Labor was a very revolutionary organiza- of the chief actors. He saw the large aspects of "Pen Pictures of Russia," by John S. Clarke. Na tional Workers' Committees, Glasgow. able amount of demoralization. This set in among tion, but during the big upheaval many of its lead- the greatest social upheaval, and at the same time them after the betrayal by their leaders in the Trip- ers degenerated into typical labor fakers. This preserved a keen sense of the Russian atmosphere. He gives the reader both in this book. Especially ple Alliance strike movement last Spring. The forced the radicals to organize groups all through SPECIAL NOTICE 1 workers have largely lost heart. An illustration of the various unions in opposition to the traitorous valuable are the colored reproductions of the flam- the general state of the movement is seen in the bureaucracy. The minority organization, known as ing posters which are the unique contribution of In compiling the list of 1,000, live wires with circulation of the London Daily Herald, which has the Revolutionary Syndicalist Committee, or C. S. R., the Communists of Russia to the practice of edu- whom we are communicating to organize THE dropped from 400,000 in 1920 to about 200,000 at the was in line with the customary tactics of French cation of the masses. Here is working-class art and TRADE UNION EDUCATIONAL LEAGUE, we did pesent time. trade union radicals for many years past. science, organized by a working-class Government; our level best to get the names of the most active Taking advantage of the situation, so favorable To defeat the rapidly growing C. S. R., the old the thing is laid before one in its originaI form, and reliable workers in each locality. There is no to them, the employers are making a big drive bureaucracy began to expel local unions con- together with an amazingly interesting story of the doubt, however, but that we have erred in many against the organizations. In nearly every trade, nected with it. This provoked still further oppo- revolution as seen through the eyes of Williams. places and have got hold of the wrong parties. transport, railroads, textiles, metal, etc., they are sition and bad feeling. At the Congress of Lille It is too bad that the book, with all its splendid Where such is the case, and where our correspond- forcing the unions slowly backward. In a few in- last Spring the disruptionist policy of the old offi- features, cannot be published at a price which ents do not take the proper action in forming stances they have actually gone so far as to de- cialdom was rebuked. But after the Congress it would give it a wider circulation. We hasten to League branches, we trust that the local militants clare the "open shop," which has created quite a was continued just the same. C. S. R. locals were add, that compared with other book prices in the will realize the difficulties we are under, and will sensation in airtight union England. expelled on all sides. Things went from bad to United States, this one is very reasonabIe. get busy at once to straighten the situation out. Unlike our leaders here however, the British worse, with the revolutionaries trying desperately unionists are not standing idle and helpless under to stay in the unions and the reactionaries to expel this attack. They are meeting it by a general them. The latter think that if they can get rid m tightening up of the lines everywhere. Get-to- of the radicals the Government and the empIoying gether movements are the order of the day now class will show appreciation of the "cleansed" in England. The Miners and the Metal Workers unions by giving them recognition and considera- (A. E. U.) have signed an agreement whereby the tion. A. E. U. members working around the mines agree Finally the situation got so bad that the organ- RAILROAD MEN! to strike whenever the miners go out, and they ized revolutionaries. to save themselves from an- also agree to pay a portion of their dues into the nihilation and the movement with them, called a Learn why our trade unions are on the retreat and what to do about it? Miners' Union to cover the cost of negotiations special national convention to decide upon their with the companies. Besides this a most impor- next move for unity and a militant labor movement. tant amalgamation has taken place in the trans- At this juncture, the. Red Trade Union Interna- port industry, fifteen big unions having joined tional (Moscow), fearing a split, proposed to the hands and formed the Transport and General International Federation of Trade Unions (Amster- Workers' Union. The National Union of Shipsy dam) that the two bodies meet and compose the The Labor Herald for April Cook, Stewards, etc, has amalgamated with the differences between the warring facttons. But the British Seafarers Union and formed the Amalga- latter conservatiee organization, which is of one nated Marine Workers' Union. Marchbanks of the mind with the French union stand-patters, declined National Union of Railwaymen has also declared to assist in keeping the movement intact. will be a For one solid. union of every branch of the railroad The left-wing unity national convention met in tnd general transport service. Paris on December 22-24. To pacify the situation, But probably more important than any other it offered to virtually dissolve the Revolutionary feature of this general closing up movement is the Syndicalist Committee, which was presumably the Special Railroad Number - proposition now being acted upon in referendum bone of contention. But the old officialdom weie by the affiliated unions, to give the General Coun- cold to this. With their unshakable determination cil of the Trades Union Congress control over all to drive the radicals out even if they had to also serious disputes involving trade union standards expel the majority of the whole labor movement Articles by many nationally known rank and file railroad men outlining the so that the united force of the whole movement that is lined up with them, they refused the con- weakness of our unions and initiating immediate action to remedy it. may be brought into action when necessary. The ciliation. Then, seeing that all else was hopeless, proposition reads: "that in the event of any attack the radical convention demanded the calling of a being made upon any uni6n's general standard of general Congess of the whole French labor move- wages or conditions, the union should not take ment early this year and in the meantime set up action without seeking the advice of the General a provisional council to act until the Congress takes Council, and so giving an opportunfty for the con- plzce. Every Railroad Man Must Read This Vital Numbg sideration of a united policy!' This is the first As things now stand there are practically two definite move of the British unions to unite the distinct labor movements in France, one radical THE L.ABOR H;ERALD March, 1922 March, 1922 THE LAB0R HERALD and it is r2volutionary; it is the only plan offered today that LABOR BREVITIES rallying, to fight the bill, and if it becomes Iaw they gives the digbtest hpe of soIidifying labor'^ scattered Newport, Ky.-Tanks and troops are patrolling say that it will be openly and in mass disobeyed. forces and cglling a halt lo the oictMious mar& of organ- the streets here at the request of the Steel Trust, on Nebraska City-Governor McKelvie sent state ized Capital, The fnasue marks an epoeh in our labor history.- It ca.n- account of a strike at the Newport Rolling Mills troops into the packinghouse districts here at the not possibly fail if ow people have ay imagination what- Co. Col. Denhart's soldiers have run amuck, as- request of the big packing companies, to suppress ever; first, beerum it shows clearly the meet way of tack- saulting promisciously, so that even the city author- the strike. liag aur pr~blems; aemd, it or$anire.s all the heretofore wengo, Feb. 10. 1922 disorganized radical and pragressiac forces; and thitd, by ities have joined the unions in their protest. Four- Dear Sir and Brother:-I have careidly read th advance rhng ~hultaneously on a single plan in many hundred teen units of State troops are on duty. Trinidad, Co1o.-Troops which have been patrol- pages of the LAB6R HERALD seat to me, aad to shaw towns at the embe, it draws the fire of our reactionary ling the strike district in Huerfano County coal what I thfnk d it am enclogiia,~mmer order fgr 25 e~pies leaders from tbe inafviduPil radical In the single laeality, of tka fist issae. to the hundred times rtraagcr group in many bnbeds 08 Pittsburg, Kan,-The "Provisional Government" fields were withdrawn about the first of February. If the rest of the articlks in thig Erst issuc are as h&- loealitics. This plan multipUer the eB~etiveness of our oi the miners of District 14, set up by J. L. Lewis ment-91 and timely as the sdvaner: article I have seea. I pmpagrrnda a thousandf~ld,whila at the same time it gives with a few hundred members, has sent delegates to Denver, Co1o.-The State Industrial Commission will Gve all my spare time to a$& the good news that the greatest protection agaht dfs~rhinafion,blacklist, etc. atJast we have a atonbhly mawthat covers the labat used asainst individual agltatws, the national convention at Indianapolis to contest designed to prevent strikes, has obtained the im- srmblems. not only of America, but of the entire world in I unreservedly accept the principles and program of the the seating of delegates of the followers of Howat, prisonment of the leaders of the packinghouse a eompteheasive, constructive. an& aggressive astamer that League, end affer all my spare time in its service. As a consisting of almost 13,m miners in the state. workers' union, for their part in leading the recent WBmean $eat$ to the pie-card artist and the tker, and member of the rank and fik I say It is our Lague, it is Under advice of friends, Howat and Dorchey have walkout. Following the lead of the Kansas miners, the rapid grgwth of a militant and solidly united Eghting aar fight, and it is our job to put into e@st the pw@;rin h+w movement. laid down h The Trade Union Educational Lame. . given bonds to secure release from jail for the pe- the Colorado packinghouse workers refused to rec- ' Fraternally yorvs riod of the convention, and are at Indianapolis to ognize the "can't strike" law. S. H. N. place their case again before the delegates. San Francisco--It is rumored that a move is From California. St. Paul-State troops were used effectively here about to be made to heal the split in the Building Fresno, Feb. 1. 1922 in breaking the spirit of the packinghouse strikers. Trades Council and bring back the unions now out- Dear Sir and Bro.:-I. was sure glad to hear about the plan Terrorism on the streets, and invgsion of strikers' side in the Rank and File Federation. Active union- YOU are working on for the railroadmen, to get us out of Discipline vs; Freedom in Russia the hole we are in. The men here are much enthused about &' homes by the soldiers were testified to by many ists say that such a move will be hailed with de- the proposals, and, looking forward with great interest. witnesses in hearings before the Grand Jury. light by all sincere union men who deplore the Send me a bundle of the magazine. Fraternally, (Continued from page 14) present disruption. CHAS. BRENNEN New York-Unions and workers' organizations affiliated to the Friends of Soviet Russia have con- A SUGGESTION I From the Secretary of a Railroad Union Council: of the individual for the sake of the mass re- ~ributedmore than a third of a million dollars in (Editor's Note: The leagues in the various cities are requested St. Paul, Feb. 6, 1922 mains an inescapable necessity of the labor cash, and over a quarter of a million dollars worth to give consideration to the following letter): Dear Sir and Brother:-Please send me 25 copies of "The of medicines, clothing, etc., in the national drive for Principles and Program of the Trade Union Education movement, nevertheless. It is an inexorable League" reprint from THE LABOR HERALD. Also advise Russian famine relief. Other organizations co- New York, Feb. 6, 19n. if large quantities are obtainable for general distribution. condition of successful movements by the operating through the American Federated Russian I am endeavoring to interest the Shop Crafts State Legisla- Dear Sir and Brother :- masses at this stage of their development. Famine Relief Committe have brought the total cash tive Committee in this work, and if successful, to send a When the Soviet Government establishes free- well over the half million mark. I see by your Rules of Organization that you copy to the secretaries of all local unions, shop chairmen and have done, away with all dues and per capita tax in roundhouse points in the state. dom of speech, press, and assembly for all Fraternally, Chicag-The story of the mine war in West THE TRADE UNION EDUCATIONAL LEAGUE. classes in Russia-and that must soon occur- Virginia, with its martial law and assasination of Personally I think this is a very good thing, and I Two good ones from Ohio. it will be the unmistakable sign that the situa- union officials by company gunmen, and whole- am heartily in favor of the proposition. E. Liverpool, Jan. 30th, 1922 We must by all means avoid giving any chance tion has passed beyond the stage of life and sale persecution by the State, is told in a series Dear Comrades:-Have just been reading about the Trade death struggle; the sure indication that the of articles sent out in February by the Federated for the charge of dual organization to be applied to Union Educational League, and it looks good to me. We are working along those lines at present in our Potter's revolution has triumphed and that the new Press. These articles were prepared by the Civil us. This is accomplished by the rules you have Union; we are trying to amalgamate four closely related Liberties Union of New York, an orgainzation of adopted. Certainly no one can say that we are a crafts into one union, and it looks like we will accomplish society is firmly established. liberals not connected with the labor movement, dual union, when the entire finance will come from it. We have some live wires here, and all are looking for- ward to the new magazine, THE LABOR HERALD T. C. and summarizes the evidence given before the Sen- literature 'sales, voluntary donations, etc. Dear Sir and Brother:-Please rush about 200 copies of ate Investigating Committee which disclosed the The only point that needs consideration is, how THE LABOR HERALD and send bill for same. lawless rule of the companies prevailing in the coal are we to have a definite test of membership in the Fraternally, fields of that State. League. I understand from the rules how this is J. B. The Coal Miners Crisis taken care of for the National Conference. We From the Secretary of a Central Labor Union. Washington-"To secure to all men the enjoy- are going to have delegates according to the aver- (Continued from page 25) age circulation in our localities of THE LABOR January 29, 1922 ment of the gains which their industry produces," Dear Sir and Brother:-As secretary of the Central Labor is said to be the purpose of a conference called in HERALD. But this doesn't solve our local League Union, I feel it my duty after reading your program to Chicago on February Mth, of trade union and farm problem. I want to make a suggestion on this write you for full information, so that we here can be gether and map out their course of action. organization representatives, and spokesmen oi point. playing the game with the rest of the active workers right Then we would not see the machine riding Why should not each local League ask each mem- from the start. Hoping this venture will meet with the best liberal parties and groups. The( practical aim seems 4 of success, and promising you my fullest co-operation. rough shod over us as heretofore. Knowing to be to secure co-ordinated action in the coming ber to subscribe for THE LABOR HERALD. who Fraternally, elections of the labor parties and sympathetic ele- is also a good union man, and wants to join the what we want and being fully organized we League, is certainly entitled to a full voice and vote January 22, 1922 would be able to get it. ments. The call is said to be authorized by the six- Dear Comrade:-Rush by express C. 0. D. one hundred teen railroad unions. in the Lgague; but any one who isn't a subscriber copies of RAILROADERS' NEXT STEP. Must have them Brother coal diggers, no dual unionism, no -well, I'd be inclined to let 'em speak, but dam'd for system meeting next week. Fraternally . . . . X. Y. Z.. . gecessionism. That would be .fatal. Beware ~f I'd want to see 'em vote. Albany, N. Y.-Labor in this state will have an New York, peb. gth, 1922 of the man who tells you to split the union, opportunity to show how much it has learned from Sa I suggest that each local League make the test Comrade Foster:-Just received, read, ad re-read, the ad- the Kansas miners about the way to kill oppres- of full membership to be "Subscription to THE vance copy of THE PRINCIPLES AND PROMOF THE he is no friend of ours, no matter how well sive legislation, if the bill which has been intro- LABOR HERALD!' Anyway, let's talk it over. TRADE UNION EDUCATIONAL LEAGUE? f have been he may he equipped with hot air. What we You'll think a long time before you hit on a better eagerly awaiting the advent of the League, hoping with a duced to establish an Industrial Relations Court is wehadly tinctured with scepticis'm peculiar to the Axneri- must do is to organize ourselves wi'thin the made law. The bill calls for a special session of plan to get an accurate and definite membership eaa radical, born and reared in that dualistis, "destroy-the U. M. W. A We are just on the verge of the Supreme Court which will have power to de- list, and at the same time avoid completely the k F. of L.' atmosphere, which I see more clearly than ever dues system and per capita tax. What do you say has been the curse of the movement for the past thirty victory. Let us go through to the end. We termine wages and working conditions in New York years. State, and prohibits strikes and picketing under to it. Fraternally yours, I assure you my scepticism has been entirely removed. must continue to demand the reinstatement penalty of imprisonment. Labor organizations are J. S. R. The program leaves no room for argument; it is practical of the Kansas battlers. 32 THE LABOR HERALD March, 1922 I --ThIM&€EIXIATE TASK of the MILITANTS of the American Labor LIVE WIRES WANTED Movement Is to PUT ACROSS the Work To circulate the following Boob 1 FOR THE RELIEF OF THE FMINE IN SOVIET RUSSIA Food is the great need in Soviet Russia. The Revolutionary Crisis of 1918-1921 in The only food surplus in the world is in America. Germany, England, Italy and France If the Russian famine situation is to be met it must be met by America. 64 pages, paper bound By Wm.' Z. Foster If America is to meet the situation it is the workers who must act. There is no one else with the desire or the power. Single copies, 25c each; 10 or more, 15c each In every shop, mine and factory; in every local union; wherever there are workers, the drive for the collection of funds for the Russian Famine , Relief must be made the matter of primary importance. , The Russian Revolution BY wm. Z. ~oster b 155 pages, paper bound, 50c per copy ONE HOUR'S PAY A WEEK 1 11 . (Only a few copies left, and no orders filled except for single copies ; cloth bound sold out) FROM EVERY UNION WORKER IN THE UNITED STATES WILL SAVE 10,000,000 LIVES IN SOVIET RUSSIA I I 1) It is up to the trades unions and the trade union men and women, which means that it is : The Great Steel Strike BY wm. Z. ~oster 265 pages: Cloth bound, $1.75 per copy; paper bound, $1.00 per copy Up to the Trade Union Militants To Put the Work Across The Friends of Soviet Russia has 140 local branches in as many cities. It has col- The Railroaders' Next Step BY wm. Z. ~oster lected $400,000, which has been spent for foodstuffs which has been sent to the Kamn 48 pages, paper bound District of Soviet Russia in cases marked Single copies, 25c each; 10 or more, 15c each "FROM THE AMERICAN WORKERS to the RUSSIAN WORKERS and PEASA$TTS" The work of the Friends of Soviet Russia must be extended to every city and town in America. The collections must be increased to the very capacity of the American Resolutions and Decisions of the First working class, which means thah it is World Congress of Revolutionary Up to the Trade Union Militants Trade Unions-Moscow I Per copy, 15c II Send all communications and contributions to SPECIAL RATES TO AGENTS ORDERS PAYABLE IN ADVANCE I FRIENDS OF SOVIET RUSSIA American Section of the Internationsl Workers' Famine Relief Committee SEND ORDERS AND REMITTANCES TO I/ 201 West 13th Street The Trade Union Educational League New York City 118 North La Sde street Chicago, Illinois II Thie advertisement is donated to the Famine Relief Oampaiqn by THE LABOR H~ALD