t - International Brotherhood Of Electrical Workers

66
The Journal of ELECTRICAL WORKERS and Operalors
RUSSIA c/latched P0lan
By ItICN GITLOW, in "I Confess"
C. I. O.
exists as bolshevik political
front in UJnite(1 States
ta BREAK A. F. of L.
a large piroimressive o're working iside
the A F of I,, to iring abouL that situatiul,
ill the trade uiliis which woul
lead to the oustiig of Goipers and bis
]ieutlenir.s froim control. I.lnin dem.andled
but one c-,iiolition for iis Upploit of such
a ~veinltlit: nanlely, a ehange ill the
,o/d. I/Is b,.ok is h Ire hist orq. Ene"y 'il
dicmios persell from ll the sde to the
rinote frilnges of thre in, fist moteeinet.
,helher he soays so or not will
kn..ow ha it is. IY'rs(ImlIIg I friled tl
delec (,, any vital asste the donllance of
any mo,7tiet o ther thl that of i..rsii-
policies of ihe Tlluiois tOWlrd Soviet Russa.
The Bolsheviks hoped that the succes
of [/,inlii plan would create a vtrv
greait snll nenlI in the trade unions fio
American i ecognitiln of Soviet Russia
and trtd with it. Lenmii was also of the
STALIN
li reahCie ol0 for A F of L
(published by special nrrangement willt
Dlotton & Co.. lite.. Publtshe.)
E P.
gated tlth-tellin9."
The follwning exerpt £from the book
suaoizea the elao,, of RIushla to
Arerit-cr[tz,(,l)il .. ani. t t.t..jt s to creck
te A. F. of L.
t lIE Ilislheviks from the time of Lenin
to the pIreseI have never given li
opiion that if such an opposition novereat
could be launched, its slccess taioud
help transform the (Coinmuist PauI
firon tile sli;,a ll undeground sect it then
was into a powerful mass party.
II 1LM AN (CIIARACTERIZED
T the hIopc of capturing the trade union
ie, Gillow, nc. e.onem.mnist eadidlate
for Vice President of lthae IUlti g terats , movement of the United States. Our parly
[o .e.ly member of the 'uiibg politia i received more assistance, more advice,
,"nmillee of the Amie.ca,, C.o m..ait more dleisions on the trade . nio.n tl.s.-
Prtely, tells all in his . .it boo/, "I Coition thaln on almost any other quetiol,.
less, The Truth Abri. A..l.er.I t (!om- Lenin was particularly lnxious to Wil
mlsat,"I published in Jd.u.a., by h. P, over the Ameerietn trade unions. It was
Dilton & Co., Inc. (price $.75). Mr. Lenin who conceived the idea tinit it
Gilio. , as a CrCIIIt witness before hle would he possible l, the .omn . lln it
Die om nitle.e. Max Eltf.am , ssa it,- in the United States, by hiding their
able iglure in American adia ,lism, nrys identity, to form an opposition bloc in
of this book:
the trade unionis. wi lib would na.ble
This hook is a faithfi al . s.aIteI ly
themn tI diklodge th, reactionary foresi
roodid rui-or.t j'o1nn the iside alsld what in .ontrol of the A.meircan Feleration of
Labol The one policy of the party that
is more important, fi-oem the tol-of a
,titi phahse of r.ecint Americani history.
has no.t 1ndlergonie al.y chags has bIeo
Tbhe
this policy, with hobut nileeptioptn, when,
hin ity is secrt,. aid ., ighl wrel hale
renairerd ,o bat for the exlttordinary for a short iie, the pi,,iLy tllep ted tn
organize its o.Iwn I.ins. Imnmediately
pol ar,,~d eon i-alle of lb is mant, Ren GiiUi
low, sad/ his alti..ttae recorery of/ clear after the failure of that iplicy the party
rjio, and it it iar ed leeotioe to hil ideaIr. again, with some d. e oif souceess put
A fho usand co0ty essl tt5 x on'e~sfl/tige t*0is through the poliey of a,, pposition bloc.
couid ?mrat expose the f.,ts caIp...al in thbis
ILENIN'S "PENE ITATR ION"
book,. A thousald resea.'.. e.h -pwts, rotvin.ced
of thel, colid .o.t make them Lenin firt woiked out the policy whl
c.ao.cnTinq The g iiok of he C(.o)lai,. .st Willuam Z. Foster iad Sidney liillnn
Pnol in the United Staits has intl h1d a were in Mosow in 1922. At that time
setion o/ offanaticalien ones. s, I 0) oIly Leoinl hoped that le, who hos was nit
agaiast A rieitrmt lia or An.iican 'isI)I' to discilors his i]entity as a corlnomlrl,
but against the par.ty'# own pips w .uld succeed in builiong up a powerful
and ideals-gahnst hfe wo.khig cmase. plogrtiuve opposition in ithe A F, of L.
NothIbn less than a con fvssfen hy one of It was hoped that liiIma i. would bie able
those jpdlty of catdearlip in tlhese trbaes to ellinst in the .i.pplsition mor men t
oatnhrrtne zeatotry coaldd odeqnateley ie the pox' erfnl uaiollo; of the Railrrtl
'eat them.
Rrotherloods, which. like his own inion,.
'Zr every rz$e whetre the athov, de- the A .ma gmated Cblthing Workers of
scribes On event or sial(t),.o wvith whh:h America, were not affiliated with the
I had personal cnIallirf b l ld e tha, el, is A. F. of L. At the opportune nllonlitq.
a good anay both hire, ad in Iosc.a w the two frires, were to combine in a con
his stalemerat of the foe,, in so far as certed dhive igalinsi the Gompers m;ia-
that can be separtied from p,.litical or chine. It was hoped, Ltrough such a move-
personal feelings toward then,, is unasnment, one part of it resting on the base
sailable. In a numher of cases he ily hbare of the powerful independent unions out-
the essentilas more ohjectiely thatn I side of the A. F. of L, and the other onl
However, Lenin did not knuw Hillman
He did not know that Hillman pursued a
two-fated policy in his own ulihi., Or
the one halld, he gave exprossion to progress.ie
and radical phrases, which hb
took care were widely publicized, aln
on the other hand, he pursued as cnservatiye
a course ill tralde union i attos
as did Goinpers in tie A. F. of L. Ililleian,
who was not a communist and noet l
as even a socialist, was at best a lukewarm
liberal. His actions as president
of the Aialga l ated were always characterized
by extreme opportunism The
trade-union mnachine vith whieh he conl
trelired the Amalgaaoted consisted of a
mixture of adicals and socialists, who
hadliasnt all their soealsIrt and radicl
idealis ... alrI a rowd of Clpt.p reactiot
ary trae ii union oflicials racketeers a'd
'angstvs. Hillnian bad his general cx
ccutive bo;rd exert pressunr upon iLcrlI
Big Ron, of the AmalgaiiLted to exp:l
nae as a inelmber of the organizatioin becaulS
I had exposed the corrupt and
rackteelhlg machine of ]ieckerniala in
that local when ke-i, .. hnad the flil
support of Illhn.an. Liatc litlmion hinself
hid In expel, Beckllaii, because lthe
charges wichh I had ... ade were nie iily
prroven true in bi ec['aue they bcl.am e
widely iiow.n. When llillma ,I eturned.
from Mos.ow, he miade all lhe eapt;pd hi'
couih out if his vimt, as fil, aS the n.i,,lers
of Ili organizati ll were eonernod.
hen r.. a .ular lre .. ber (If them were
radieally inclined and sipported Soviet
Russian ul he did nothing for the idea
of helpilg to form, an opplosition bloc in
the trade unions.
Though Lenin's plans failed to materialize.
the iba was not given up. Attempts
along that line were being made
Continllued on page 105)