Valuable reports from the first T.U.E.L. conference on work in the building trades, rail, metal, printing, needle, transport, coal mining, metal mining, boot and show, food, textile, and amusements.

‘Report of Industrial Sections’ from Labor Herald. Vol. 1 No. 7. September, 1922.

REPORTS OF INDUSTRIAL SECTIONS

Building Trades

Del. Johnstone submitted a project for organizing the Building Trades Unions upon an industrial basis. Upon motion the plan was adopted and the Sec’y-Treas. instructed to use his best efforts to get it printed in leaflet form and circulated widely among building trades workers. The plan, as adopted, is to be found elsewhere in this report.

Railroad Trades

Del. Keas reported on the railroad situation, proposing the adoption of the plan of amalgamation issued by the Minnesota Shop Crafts Legislative Committee, with recommendations for definite action to put it into effect. Upon motion the recommendations were concurred in. The plan, together with the specific propositions to realize it, are to be found elsewhere in this report.

Metal Trades

Del. Knudsen reported on the Metal Trades and read a statement of the actual situation and a project for consolidating the many unions into one industrial organization. This section caused an extensive debate, in which the present demoralization of the metal trades workers was indicated. It was the opinion of the Conference that in the reconstruction of the metal trades unions careful consideration should be given to including the steel workers proper as a definite department of the metal workers industrial organization. Del. Knudsen’s project was adopted and is to be found elsewhere in this report.

Printing Trades

Brother Wicks, a member of the Typographical Union, being present at the Conference as a visitor, was invited to outline the situation in the printing trades. He made substantially the following statement:

My organization, the International Typographical Union, is going to hold a convention in Atlantic City in a couple of weeks. It will be one of the most important conventions in the American Labor movement. For a long time the printing trades, particularly the Typographical Union, was recognized as the backbone of reaction. It was the most powerful union financially and is yet, and it was very conservative. Its members, the so-called brains of the printing trades, looked upon the rest as being inferior persons that needed no consideration. But some lessons have been learned. The “open shop” drive has hit the printing trades especially hard, and with the exception of the Typographical Union, the other unions have been gravely damaged. Some of them have been completely wrecked. The pressmen’s union has been destroyed. All of which inclines the workers to listen to progressive suggestions.

The militant elements began action in the Typographical Union about two years ago. I am a member of the Trade Union Educational League, and I was a member of the Typographical Union at that time. The campaign did not start exactly from the League, but those of us who are interested in the

League have been pushing it to the very limit. When we began, the tremendous opposition to amalgamation from the reactionaries completely swamped us. They were able to hypnotize the masses with phrases. But by constantly hammering away and taking advantage of every crisis in the organization, we showed them that we were really working toward the betterment of the rank and file. The struggle in Chicago resulted in a victory, because we insisted upon all the trades acting together. It was a concrete illustration of our program.

At the Quebec Convention last year, for the first time, we were able to put through a resolution to the effect that the International Union favored the into one union. This year the Convention will be complete amalgamation of all the printing trades held at Atlantic City. We are going there, and we believe we will have a majority. We have the practical assurance of many delegates that they will support the proposition of complete amalgamation. At the Atlantic City Convention, we are going to endeavor to bring into actual life the resolution adopted at the Quebec Convention calling for the reorganization of the entire printing industry into one union. If any union is to take the lead in this matter, it must be the Typographical Union, and the proposition we are making is to bring all the other organizations under its jurisdiction. The success we are having has not been the result altogether of the tremendous agitation we have carried on, but the conditions of life have actually forced the situation. The printing trades workers have found through practical experience in the everyday struggle that they absolutely cannot obtain victory acting separately. Even the reactionaries are being forced to accept the program of amalgamation.

Asked to explain the origin of the so-called progressive movement in the Typographical International Typographical Union, Brother Wicks said:

The progressive movement developed out of the “outlaw” strike of the printers in 1919. The workers demanded a 44 hour week. The employers refused, and a strike situation threatened. At this time Marsdon G. Scott, International President of the Typographical Union, and a tool of the former corrupt president Lynch, hastened to New York and said: “You dare not go out on strike, I demand and insist that you remain on the job.” The local men refused to obey this mandate and, going over the heads of their national officials, called the outlaw strike. Then the officials threatened to expel them. But the men got into communication with Chicago Local No. 16, who declared they would back up the New York local, to the point of seceding if the latter was expelled. There were about 10,000 members in the New York organization, and 6,000 in that of Chicago, so the officialdom did not dare expel the “outlaws.” So the strike proceeded, with the result that in a few weeks the employers capitulated and granted the 44 hour week. Then the struggle spread all over the country, and eventually, on May 1st, 1921, an order was drawn up to the effect that the 44 hour week would go into effect throughout the entire jurisdiction.

Consequent upon this situation in New York, a strong movement developed throughout the organization. The progressive element rallied together, notwithstanding the attacks of the reactionary papers published by the officialdom. So when the election came around we put up John McParland as candidate for president against Scott, as well as a full ticket against the whole machine. But unfortunately the only one elected in 1920 was McParland. This gave us the president, but not a single member of the Executive Council. In Consequence, McParland was in an exceedingly difficult situation. He was confronted with a Council that would not support a single one of his measures. Every step he took was sabotaged by them. But this year we did better. Again we put up a full ticket, and instead of getting only one, we got all but one, or the entire Executive Council, and we re-elected our president. If the radicals in the labor movement will handle such situations correctly; if they stick and refuse to allow the officials to stampede them into disrupting the organization by dual unionism, it is possible to win against the old reactionaries. At the present time we have practical control of the know whether we will be entirely successful at the coming convention. This is because of the antiquated system of representation prevailing. Organizations having between five and six thousand members are entitled to only four delegates, while small locals with only eight or nine members are entitled to a delegate apiece. Thus sometimes there will be four men from small town districts representing 28 members with just as much of a voice and vote as the four men representing 10,000 New York members. Naturally the old machine seeks the perpetuation of such a condition.

Answering another question as to whether or not it was proposed to departmentalize the industrial union of printing trades workers, Brother Wicks said:

We would have the amalgamated union departmentalized pretty much along the same lines as the industry is organized now, a department for the pressmen, the compositors, the bookbinders, etc. But each department would be represented on the Executive Council, which would act for the whole organization.

In connection with the printing trades situation, Del. Rogers pointed out the vital necessity of organizing the newswriters. These men occupy a very strategic position in social life and great efforts should be expended towards bringing them within the pale of the labor movement. Up to this time very little has been done in this respect by the Typographical Union, the organization having jurisdiction over the news writers.

Second Day’s Proceedings, Afternoon Session

Needle Trades

Del. Wortis, reporting for the Needle Trades Section of the Trade Union Educational League, submitted the program of the militant element in the clothing industry. After considerable discussion, it was adopted by the Conference. It is printed elsewhere in this report.

Transport Trades

There being no delegates from the Transport industry present at the Conference, the discussion of the problems in this branch of industry was thrown open to the Conference. It was pointed out that within the past two years serious movements of dissension have developed among the longshoremen and sailors on both the Atlantic and Pacific coast following the unsuccessful strike movement in these trades. As a result, secessions have developed, fragments of the discontented workers have been absorbed by the I.W.W. here and there and various other dual unions. But as far as the main body of the transport workers are concerned, namely, the street car men, teamsters, etc., they are controlled by the old trade unions. It was recognized that the transport workers generally are one of the most backward and reactionary groups in the American labor movement. They have not yet advanced to the point of understanding their common interests to set up even the mildest form of a federation. The Conference, not having sufficient data on hand to map out a definite program of action in the transport industry, voted to leave this matter to the incoming National Committee.

Coal Mining

Del. Gill reported on the situation in the coal mining industry, where the great national strike is now apparently coming to a close with an unsatisfactory truce. Over this general discussion arose in the Conference, during which the following basic principles were outlined as a skeleton program for the militant miners in their efforts to strengthen their organization and the policies of the United Mine Workers of America.

1. Alliance between Miners and Railroad Workers: There must be created a real fighting alliance between the men who dig coal and those who haul it. This must not be merely a weak affiliation like the present arrangement, which produces merely an exchange of friendly telegrams during times of trouble, but a well-knit organization which will provide specifically for joint strike action of the two bodies. What could be a more deplorable spectacle than that to be seen all through the coal strike, when the railroad workers hauled mile after mile of cars of scab coal, to their own detriment as well as to that of the miners. Sympathetic action by the railroad men would have ended the coal strike in a hurry. The miners and the railroad workers must be united in one organization.

2. National Agreements: “No district agreements” must be the slogan of the miners. Coal mining is a basic national industry, and it must be handled upon a national scale, notwithstanding all the operators’ arguments about competition between the various fields. Their cry for district agreements is founded upon the desire to divide the workers. They know that if they can reestablish the system of one district striking while the rest are working, the power of the United Mine Workers will be destroyed. The union officials who echo the demand of the bosses for district agreements, as many did during the big strike, are agents of the employers and traitors to our cause. In the early days agreements were made between individual operators and local unions, then by sub-districts, next by districts, eventually by inter-districts, and finally a national settlement was arrived at. All this was progress in the right direction. To retreat now from the principle of national agreements would be a step backward and a disastrous mistake.

3. Intensive Organization Campaign: It is vitally necessary that plans be laid to bring into the organization the great army of non-union miners. During the big strike these mavericks, who amount to one-third of all miners, threatened the cause with destruction. Most of this unorganization has been kept in existence deliberately by the international union officials. The latter, seeking control of the union at all costs, have found it very profitable to keep certain districts in a demoralized condition. Such district organizations, poverty stricken and hard pressed by the employers, need the assistance of the general organization and will do almost anything to get it. At the national conventions the representatives of such districts, trying to curry favor and support, are as putty in the hands of the ruling officialdom. They vote as they are told, regardless of the issues involved. Every administration for years past has used them consciously as a weapon to keep itself in power. On the other hand, the districts that are organized 100% are the ones with independent spirit. They alone have the courage to stand for progressive policies in the union. Had the administration really desired it, all the miners in the country could have been organized easily during the war time. It is indeed time that this state of unorganization, so fatal to us during strikes and so disastrous to progress in the union, be brought to an end. Thorough organization of the whole industry must be achieved at all costs.

4. Direct Election of Organizers: A most necessary reform in the organization is to bring about the election of the organizers by the rank and file in the respective districts. At present the big staff of field workers are appointed by the administration, with the result that they are to a large part simply an electioneering machine to keep the former in power. They spend most of their time running around the districts playing politics and seeking to develop sentiment in support of the administration. And when the conventions assemble, they flock in and literally swamp them. The only remedy for this state of affairs, which is extremely demoralizing to the union, is for the rank and file in the individual districts to directly elect such organizers as may be necessary for their territory. The “pay-roll vote” must be abolished in the United Mine Workers of America.

Metal Mining

Several delegates reported on the situation in the metal mining district of the west. This industry has undergone a stormy development during the past dozen years. Originally highly organized, it has now lost practically all its unionism. Here and there is a remnant of the International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers, formerly the Western Federation of Miners, a powerful organization. There is also some sentiment in the industry for the I.W.W., although this body has little or no real organization. The One Big Union likewise has a small following. The speakers all agreed that the industry is now booming and that a splendid opportunity for organization exists. Wm. F. Dunne, of Butte, was generally agreed upon as the one man best capable of conducting such a campaign. The incoming National Committee was instructed to do whatever it could to inaugurate a campaign for organization among all branches of the metal miners.

Boot and Shoe Trades

Del. Canter gave a partial report on the situation in the boot and shoe industry of New England. He stated that the propaganda of the Trade Union Educational League is having a profound effect on the independent unions in this industry. But a short time before, the tendency was for them to split and split again, as the different factions developed. Now, however, due largely to the League’s work, a new spirit of solidarity is showing itself. The independents are getting together to form a new organization, to be known as the Amalgamated Shoe Workers of America. This body will start out with a fair-sized and militant membership. Likewise, considerable Likewise, considerable of the former bitterness against the A.F. of L. union, a feeling bred from many unfortunate experiences in the past, is now disappearing. Instead of wanting to destroy the old organization, the sentiment is now developing for an amalgamation with it. Sec’y-Treas. Foster stated that he had received a very complete report on the unions and recent struggles of the workers in this industry, but unfortunately could not present it to the Conference because it had been seized by the police during the raid on the League headquarters. By a motion, the conference instructed the incoming National Executive Committee to get in touch with the militant elements in the boot and shoe industry, in order that a practical plan of operation might be worked out to produce the necessary solidarity among the demoralized workers in this important industrial branch.

Textile Industry

Sec’y-Treas Foster reported that some two weeks before the opening of the Conference, he had received a complete and authoritative write-up of the complicated situation in the textile industry, but that report, like the one on the boot and shoe industry, had fallen into the hands of the police, hence it could not be presented to the Conference. Del. Canter was then called upon to give a general view of the situation in the New England section of the industry. He stated that the textile industry is one of the two most important in New England. There are a number of independent unions, as well as the static organization affiliated to the American Federation of Labor. The same get-together spirit manifesting itself in the boot and shoe industry is also at work among the textile workers. The need for a consolidation of the scattered forces was strikingly illustrated in the great textile strikes. These were conducted principally by the United Textile Workers (A.F. of L.), One Big Union, and Amalgamated Textile Workers.

The One Big Union secured quite a grip in Lawrence, Mass. This is a radical center, and has had a stormy experience with unionism. In the early days the old United Textile Workers had big strikes there. Then, in 1912, came the historic walk-out of the I.W.W. After that, in 1919, the Amalgamated Textile Workers succeeded in winning the support of the workers and leading them into a big struggle. And in 1922, it was the One Big Union to which they principally attached their hopes in Lawrence. During the recent strikes much jangling took place between the rival organizations. This bitterness reached the point where the organizations picketed each other’s headquarters. Now due largely to League influence, a better spirit is developing among them. A big wave of amalgamation sentiment is spreading over the industry. The workers are tired of the old program of splitting away and forming new groups. They now want to affiliate together. So far this amalgamation sentiment has not made the best headway in the United Textile Workers, but the determination is to see to it that the militant workers penetrate this organization as well as the independents, so that it can be infused with the new spirit. On motion, the National Committee was instructed to take the necessary steps to work out a definite plan of consolidation in this industry.

Food Industry

There being no delegates from this industry present at the Conference, the discussion of it was of a general character and inconclusive. It was recognized that the broken-up condition of the unions, with several independent organizations operating in competition with organizations operating in competition with the A.F. of L. body, that the question of developing a united front is a real problem, one that can only be worked out after a careful consideration of the situation. Accordingly, the National Committee was commissioned to survey the industry and to get into touch with all the militant elements possible preparatory to enlisting them in a definite work of bringing about solidarity and organization of all branches of the food workers.

Amusement Trades

No delegates being present from this industry, the same course was taken as in other industries where no definite survey was before the conference. The matter was referred to the incoming National Committee to work out a program. Del. Walker urged that the moving picture industry be given consideration when such a program was being considered.

The Labor Herald was the monthly publication of the Trade Union Educational League (TUEL), in immensely important link between the IWW of the 1910s and the CIO of the 1930s. It was begun by veteran labor organizer and Communist leader William Z. Foster in 1920 as an attempt to unite militants within various unions while continuing the industrial unionism tradition of the IWW, though it was opposed to “dual unionism” and favored the formation of a Labor Party. Although it would become financially supported by the Communist International and Communist Party of America, it remained autonomous, was a network and not a membership organization, and included many radicals outside the Communist Party. In 1924 Labor Herald was folded into Workers Monthly, an explicitly Party organ and in 1927 ‘Labor Unity’ became the organ of a now CP dominated TUEL. In 1929 and the turn towards Red Unions in the Third Period, TUEL was wound up and replaced by the Trade Union Unity League, a section of the Red International of Labor Unions (Profitern) and continued to publish Labor Unity until 1935. Labor Herald remains an important labor-orientated journal by revolutionaries in US left history and would be referenced by activists, along with TUEL, along after it’s heyday.

Link to PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/laborherald/v1n07-sep-1922.pdf