Text of a leaflet from the recently formed United Communist Party addressed to striking Brooklyn Rapid Transit workers printed as an example of the new party’s labor policy.

‘Carmen, Strike To Win!’ from The Toiler. No. 136. September 10, 1920.

(The mail brings us a leaflet issued by the United Communist Party to the carmen on strike in Brooklyn, N.Y. We print it for the information of our readers so that they may learn the tactics of this new political party in the field of working class activities. Editor).

They’ve decided to fight you again, fellow workers. They’ve decided that you are not even entitled to a living wage. They’ve decided that they won’t even discuss matters with you. They want you to wait for two weeks, then they’ll have all the strike-breakers they need and you’ll fail miserably. They want two weeks to break up your ranks and then tell you to go to the devil!

You must stand together, fellow workers! They are playing a dirty game, but you keep your ranks closed just the same. For weeks, they have known you were going to strike, if your wages weren’t raised and conditions changed. Still, Acting Service Commissioner Barret NOW has the impudence to say that he is going to begin to investigate the cause of your strike!

Nothing To Investigate.

What is there to investigate?

You are earning only 52c to 62c an hour. And you are demanding 84c to 92c. AND NO ONE DARES TO SAY THAT YOU ARE ASKING MORE THAN YOU ARE ENTITLED TO! You know how the cost of living has gone up and so does the B.R.T. But the B.R.T. says it can’t pay you a living wage. THEN LET B.R.T. GO OUT OF BUSINESS!

You have even given up the demand for the closed shop–and that means something to an organized man. But they don’t care.

In August, 1919, the B.R.T. agreed to arbitrate all matters–but now it refuses. And Judge Mayer has the impertinence to want to be the sole and final judge of everything. You are not going to submit to that, are you, fellow workers?

The B.R.T. is not sorry you are on strike. The big capitalists have determined to crush union labor and this is the beginning of your fight against them.

Press on Bosses’ Side.

Of course, they’re working up the public against you. They’ve got all the press on their side–that’s part of the capitalist game. So don’t expect any sympathy there. And the police are on the job. That’s what they are for–to shoot obedience into you. And the business men, lawyers and bankers of Brooklyn are getting on the job. That’s what they are for, too. And next, the American legion and the militia will be called out, to teach you your place.

Two weeks ago, Receiver Garrison said he wasn’t afraid of a strike. He made preparations. And do you know that those preparations were, fellow workers?

Mr. Garrison, the ex-secretary of war, knows his business mighty well. He knows the business of war and bullets. So he made provision for the strike-breakers that are taking away your jobs. He got COTS AND BLANKETS FOR THEM FROM THE MILITARY WELFARE LEAGUE–AND HE HAS TO GET PERMISSION FROM THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR THAT!

So you see what you are up against, fellow carmen.

You can’t expect to win as things stand. The power men, electricians and motormen are scabbing on you. What can you do when your own fellows break your strike?

Tie up the Whole System!

You have got to agitate among them to tie up the whole system, so that all the strikebreakers they import can’t take out the cars. If the B.R.T. dares to send out any cars with scabs, they’ll be in danger of repeating the Brighton wreck. And you’ve got to get help from the B.R.T. employees. For if you don’t, the city authorities will manage to get the crowds to and from work and that will weaken you.

The longshoremen are on strike.

ALL YOU WORKERS OF THE TRANSPORT INDUSTRY–MAKE IT A GENERAL STRIKE! IT’S YOUR DUTY TOWARD YOUR FELLOW CARMEN!

Of course, that isn’t A. F. of L. tactics. The A. F. of L. believes in letting one craft strike by itself and other crafts scab on it. That’s what it is letting the powermen, electricians and motormen do now. That’s what it did in the steel strike–that’s what it does in all strikes.

You’ve got to put an end to such methods. YOU’VE GOT TO ORGANIZE ON AN INDUSTRIAL BASIS, FELLOWS, and have a whole industry go out when a single man is touched.

Throw Out False Leaders.

You see how your leaders have acted. Shea wanted you to give the B.R.T. more time THAT WOULD ONLY MEAN TIME TO BREAK YOU. IT’S TIME TO THROW OUT YOUR REACTIONARY LEADERS WHO ARE WORKING HAND IN HAND WITH THE BOSSES! It’s time to put an end to all the graft that is taking place. It’s time to understand that we workers are the only ones entitled to a living. It’s time to see that everything is against us. The capitalists and all their hangers-on are united against us. They’ve got their police and their thugs and their militia, and then the government and the U.S. troops to use against us. It’s time to see that we’ve got to organize for something more than higher wages and better conditions, that the bosses always counteract by raising the cost of living.

Favor Shop Councils

We workers have got to form our shop councils to take over the industries we are operating. We’ve got to put an end to exploitation. We’ve got to serve notice on the bosses that we’re done with the present robber system. But we’ve got to organize for it.

Elect a shop chairman for each barn. Have the guards elect a delegate; the motor men a delegate; the powermen, the electricians and all the workers elect a delegate for their department. They are the fellows who know what you want. They are the men who act for you. These delegates form a council to control the shop. They elect a committeeman to work with the committeemen of the other barns, and thus control the whole industry.

The Way Out.

THESE MEN YOU CAN CONTROL, BUT YOU CAN’T CONTROL THE LEADERS YOU HAVE NOW. If your delegate doesn’t act as you want, you kick him out and elect another to take his place. That’s the way they are doing it in England, in the shop steward movement. That’s the way they are acting all over the world, to build up an efficient organization to fight the bosses. That’s the only way out of it, fellow workers.

You may lose your strike, fellows. BUT YOU WON’T HAVE LOST IT, IF YOU LEARN THE LESSON THAT WE WORKERS HAVE TO STAND TOGETHER TO FIGHT THE BOSSES AND EVERY AGENCY THAT THEY USE AGAINST US!

We’re with you, comrades. We know that the members call on their unions to support you. We odds are against you. We’re going to have our are going to help you in every way we can. YOU CAN COUNT ON US!

All power to your shop councils, fellow workers!
Power is in solidarity!
All power to the workers!

The Toiler was a significant regional, later national, newspaper of the early Communist movement published weekly between 1919 and 1921. It grew out of the Socialist Party’s ‘The Ohio Socialist’, leading paper of the Party’s left wing and northern Ohio’s militant IWW base and became the national voice of the forces that would become The Communist Labor Party. The Toiler was first published in Cleveland, Ohio, its volume number continuing on from The Ohio Socialist, in the fall of 1919 as the paper of the Communist Labor Party of Ohio. The Toiler moved to New York City in early 1920 and with its union focus served as the labor paper of the CLP and the legal Workers Party of America. Editors included Elmer Allison and James P Cannon. The original English language and/or US publication of key texts of the international revolutionary movement are prominent features of the Toiler. In January 1922, The Toiler merged with The Workers Council to form The Worker, becoming the Communist Party’s main paper continuing as The Daily Worker in January, 1924.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/thetoiler/136-sep-10-1920.pdf