On of the largest and most important union of the first half of the twentieth century was the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union. As such, it was often the scene of sharp struggle over leadership, practice and orientation with various Left forces playing key roles in the union. Morris Sigman’s 1923 coming to power in the International Ladies Garment Workers Union was with the support of the right wing of the Socialist Party around Cahan’s Forward. Sigman immediately began expelling Communists and T.U.E.L. supporters who were gaining through their work in Chicago’s long 1924 strike. Except for the mighty Local 22 of New York City, nearly all the, not insignificant, T.U.E.L. and other left oppositions were expelled or driven underground. Rebecca Grecht on the 1924 Convention.

‘Left Wing Only Hope of Needle Trades’ by Rebecca Grecht from The Daily Worker. Vol. 2 No. 57. May 23, 1924.

THE 17th bi-annual convention of the International Ladles’ Garment Workers Union which came to a close last Saturday, was a clear exhibition of the degeneration of an international union which at one time stood at the very forefront of American labor. At the same time, it was a significant demonstration, of the rising tide of progressivism and militancy within the organization which no amount of suppression can stem.

This convention was most unusual in character, unlike any ever held by the International. It was not assembled as might have been expected, to hear reports of past activities and deliberate upon future policies. It was brought together, on the contrary, simply for the purpose of waging a decisive battle against the “lefts” in the union and giving a “democratic” sanction, by a majority vote of the convention, to the policy of coercion and expulsion which the Sigman regime has been pursuing against the militants.

Just a Heresy Trial.

The spirit of the convention, from the very start, was that of preparation for a fight. Battle was in the air. Questions of a constructive nature which came up for consideration were regarded merely as so many unimportant interludes. It was hardly conceivable that this was a trade union convention.

The entire proceedings took on the character of a trial for heresy rather than of deliberations upon the problems of a labor body.

When we consider the conditions confronting the workers in the ladies’ garment industry at the time the convention met, the absolute incompetency of the present officialdom of the International, their failure as leaders of a working class movement, becomes all the more evident.

Jobbing System Perilous.

The International today is faced with a very critical situation. Through the development of jobbing a profound change is being wrought in cloak production amounting almost to a revolution. Jobbers, who do not themselves own factories, but supply material and styles to contractors, are rapidly taking the place of the former big manufacturers and are fast becoming the controlling factors in the industry.

In their wake has followed a return on a wholesale scale of the sweatshop. Jobbers send their goods to small out-of-town contractors’ shops where union control is totally lacking and workers are unorganized.

The result of this extension of the sweat-shop system has been to threaten every labor standard gained by the workers through bitter sacrifice. Control over the industry is fast slipping out of the union’s hands. Unemployment is making alarming headway. Gradually the workers are being forced to yield their hard-won positions in face of the competition rife in the industry.

FACED WITH GENERAL STRIKE

When the convention assembled, it was therefore confronted with problems of vital significance to the organization. The International was on the eve of a general strike in New York. The entire strength of the union had to be mobilized for the struggle. It was necessary to adopt an entirely different program of industrial tactics. Plans for an intensive organization campaign had to be outlined. In short, had the present leadership of the International the interests of the workers really at heart, then the convention in Boston would have been the occasion for a critical analysis of the past tactics and policies of the organization and a careful deliberation over future activity.

The outcome of the convention, however, is proof enough that the present chaos and demoralization in the industry will not be overcome so long as the present leadership rules the organization.

T.U.E.L. Organized Left.

For several years past there has been developing in the International a strong opposition to the methods of struggle pursued by the administration which have been held largely responsible for the condition of the industry. Since the organization of the Trade Union Educational League more than two years ago the opposition has become crystalized and has adopted a definite program which is gaining ground in the union. This has led to bitter persecution of the militants reaching its climax in the expulsion of the most active members of the International. The decision of the convention approving Sigman’s expulsion policy marked the culmination of the attempt to drive progressivism out of the union.

9 Days of Machine Hysteria.

For fully seven days the credentials committee reported on objections to regularly elected delegates based on charges of membership in the League and criticism of the officialdom. At least two more days were taken up with the officers’ reports on the “left hysteria” and the cases of the expelled members from Chicago and Philadelphia. Throughout that time the convention was the scene of an orgy of persecution by an officialdom drunk with power.

The convention was under their control—they had planned for that before it met. By expulsions from the union, illegal removal from ballots, and other acts of discrimination, they had eliminated from the convention the leaders, the fighting militants of the opposition. They had brought at least 80 delegates from country locals artificially created for that purpose, to offset the votes of any progressives who had not been kept out. By their propaganda and scurrilous attacks before and during the convention they had created a spirit akin to the mob psychology of lynching.

Eject 16—Choke Discussion.

The machine had been well-prepared. Sixteen delegates were ejected from the convention while Sigman’s steam roller choked off discussion of the issues involved in their cases. Full leeway was given the officials of the union for the most violent attacks upon them and the principles they advocate, but no answer was permitted.

When the case of the Chicago expelled came up, Sigman refused to grant any of the individuals involved a hearing before the convention; and vice president Perlstein went so far as to threaten with similar punishment those delegates that dared defend them. On the question of the League, the center of all attacks, no debate was tolerated. Constitutional amendments practically making illegal any manifestation of progressivism were jammed through.

IGNORING TRADE PROBLEMS.

This spectacle lasted almost throughout the convention. The trade problems facing the workers in the industry were not taken up until the eleventh day of the sessions, and then, the strongest oppositional elements having been removed, it was all simply a matter of accepting reports of committees with little, if any, discussion.

The convention adopted plans for educational work, for unemployment, sick, and family protective insurance and enthusiastically authorized the General Executive Board to call a general strike of cloakmakers in New York.

It approved the report of the organization committee, which took exactly half an hour, recommending that an intensive campaign of organization be started immediately after the convention. No basis, however, was laid for putting even these measures into effect. On the contrary, the convention decisions have made it impossible for the International to cope with its present industrial problems.

Needed Unity Against Sweatshops.

One of the greatest needs of the organization at this juncture is unity of all factions within it, based upon cessation of persecution of the militants, so that the maximum effort of all members may be directed towards overcoming the dangers which threaten the union through the return of the sweat-shop system. The convention’s approval of Sigman’s expulsion policy, however, and the amended constitution have established an inquisition in the International which makes heresy hunting its chief object, thus intensifying the discontent of the membership, and further weakening the union. In addition, the officialdom by driving out the most active members of the union, or eliminating them from participation in the direction of the organization, has greatly diminished the fighting force of the union.

“LEFTS” THE VANGUARD.

The “lefts” in the International against whom the administration directs its attack are the vanguard of the organization, the shock troops in any battle with the enemy. Each of the members expelled from the union in Philadelphia, and Chicago or unseated at the convention, can point to a long record of achievements for the International, of self-sacrificing devotion to the interests of the workers in their industry. Without these militant elements the union cannot hope to strengthen itself and offer resistance to the onslaught of the employers.

The International stands at a turning point in its history. The proceedings of the convention have given sufficient evidence of the incompetence of the administration. More than that, however, they have proven the failure of the ideology which governs that leadership.

Right Wing Socialist Bankruptcy.

The convention was in reality a test of strength between the “left” militants within the union and the bureaucratic administration with its reactionary following. Though individuals were involved on both sides, it was in reality a battle of principles. In the final analysis the great significance of the convention lies in this–that it demonstrated the bankruptcy of the socialist ideology and methods of struggle which rule the International and against which the revolutionary elements are battling.

The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union differs from other international unions in that it has revolutionary traditions, and was regarded as one of the main props in the socialist movement in this country. It was founded by workers imbued with the spirit of class consciousness. It gained strength through the efforts of men and women whose eyes were turned to the distant goal of a free workers’ commonwealth. The preamble to the old constitution stated explicitly that the purpose in organizing the union was “to bring about a system of society wherein the workers shall receive the full value of their product” through the “abolition of the capitalist system.”

Drop Revolutionary Preamble.

Under its social-democratic leadership, however, the International has gradually abandoned the revolutionary principles of class struggle in favor of a policy of class collaboration. The most striking proof of the International’s swing to the right is the elimination of the revolutionary preamble from the new constitution adopted by the convention. The object of the organization, as stated in Article I, is now to obtain just and reasonable conditions of work through collective agreements with the employers. There is no mention of the class struggle, of any aim for a co-operative commonwealth.

“A Fair Day’s Wage.”

The International has adopted Gompers’ goal for trade unionists–a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work. It goes Gompers even one better, for the constitution does not even speak of “industrial democracy.”

This repudiation of its position as a revolutionary labor organization and its definite alignment with Gompers, this absolute return to the comfortable shelter of safe and sane unionism which was the keynote of the convention, has aroused the opposition of the revolutionary elements within the union.

The battle in the International is but a reflection, in a trade union dominated by social democrats, of the bigger struggle going on everywhere between social-democracy with its policy of class collaboration on the one hand and, on the other, the revolutionary forces with the policy of class struggle.

LEFT WING’S GROWING STRENGTH.

The convention of the International has exposed the incompetency of its bureaucratic officialdom, their ruthlessness in crushing opposition, their failure as leaders of a militant trade union. But on the other hand, it has demonstrated the growing strength and power of the left wing in the union. True, the machine had a big majority at the convention, but this gathering was in no way representative of the membership.

It is indeed the fact that the constructive program advocated by the militants is gaining more and more adherents and that their influence among the membership is rapidly increasing which caused their persecution in the organization. The tactics of the International administration, before and during the convention, indicate a policy of despair on the part of those who see their hold upon the organization gradually slipping, and use all means of suppression in a last desperate effort to maintain their power.

Left Wing’s Program.

The future belongs to the militants in the International. Theirs is the only constructive program which can lead the union out of the morass into which its leadership has thrown it. The only constructive note sounded at the convention was that contained in a leaflet outlining the program of the left wing distributed among the delegates. This emphasized, among others, (1) consolidation of locals in each branch of the industry, (2) the shop delegate system, (3) economy in the administration of the Union; (4) employment bureaus controlled by the union, (5) the labor party, (6) amalgamation of all needle unions into one powerful organization.

In a courageous struggle for these and other demands the militants will lay the basis for the building of an organization that can become an effective weapon in the battle of the workers for a full, free life in a workers republic.

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924. National and City (New York and environs) editions exist

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