The Organizer (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 1934-07-25

              UNITED
LABOR
ACTION
DAILY STRIKE BULLETIN
■ ■•..-.JitV1.-
V   %MASH the
CITIZENS
ALLIANCE
TWO TWENTY-FIVE
SOUTH THIRD STREET
Volume 1, No. 10
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 1934
Price one cent
40,000 Attend Ness Funeral
Thousands Before Strike Headquarters for Ness Funeral
Photograph by
L. Pype
Wave of Strikes
Continues Rise
Over Country
Chicago   Packing  Houses
Now In Walkout
The crushing of the San Francisco
general strike, which the capitalists
of the whole country hoped would dis-
cpuragfjj to/bor in ite^struggle for decent living conditions, has not
stemmed the rising tide of working
class militancy. Aside from the drivers, helpers and inside men of Minneapolis, other important strikes continue while new waves of workers in
all regions are coming out to battle
for existence.
In Chicago 1,500 stock handlers
have succeeded in tying up the whole
stockyard system. Straw bosses are
out in the pens trying to feed cattle.
The bosses set up a hypocritical cry
that for men to strike and leave cattle unfed and unwatered is cruelty to
animals. Of their own cruelty to the
workers they say nothing. If a steer
dies, they lose some invested capital;
if a worker starves they don't give a
damn.
In Detroit the Licensed Tugmen's
Ej'yiteetive .Assn. is still on strike,
sewing up much of the Great Lakes
traffic. In Butte, Mont., 5,000 copper
miners and smeltermen are on the
picket line; 15,000 more are preparing
to join them. In Parkersburg, W. Va.,
tool makers are striking despite a
reign of terror by State Troopers. In
Los Angeles knit hosiery workers are
out. The workers of Kohler Village,
Wis., continue their fight for recognition of the union, higher wages and a
30-hour week.
In Rochester, N. Y., truck drivers
are striking against the Sibley, Lindsay, Curr Co.
THE TALK ABOUT MARTIAL LAW
There is increasing talk about establishing
martial law in Minneapolis. Some reports even
indicate the possibility of martial law being established by the time this issue of The Organizer is on the press. The thousands of National
Guardsmen encamped in the city are to take
control in the present strike situation and regulate all activity by force of their military authority and arms.
The establishment of martial law means a
recognition that a state of war exists which
cannot be dealt with by the ordinary police
authorities. And, in a certain sense, it cannot
be denied that a state of war does exist in Minneapolis. It is a war in which thousands of
workingmen are fighting for something more
than a hard crust of bread for themselves and
their families, fighting for a right to live like
human beings. It is a war of cruelly exploited
workingmen against a predatory band of business barons who still think they can rule over
labor like the feudal lords ruled over the serfs—
barons of commerce and finance who are set upon bringing to their knees the slaves who are
determined to stand up like men.    \
In this war of poverty against wealth, of labor against capital, there is no room for a "No
Man's Land" of neutrality. You are either on
the side of the men and their families who refuse any longer to live on fourteen, or twelve,
or ten dollars a week, or you are on the side of
the men who refuse to grant them a higher
wage. You are either on the side of the men
who strike, or you are on the side of those who
want to smash the strike. You are either for
the right to peaceful picketing, or you are for
the "right" of the police to massacre the pickets.
You are either for the right of the workers to
organize their own Union to defend themselves,
or you are for the "right" of the employers to
crush the Union.
Whom and what will they protect ? We never
asked for protection from the Guard. We have
no "property" to protect. The employers have.
It is their properties and their profits extorted
from our labor that they want protected. It
is their scabs, and their scab trucks, sent out
to rob us of our bread, that they want protected.
We never called for the troops. The employers did.   We call for their withdrawal.
The employers are desperate, and whatever
noise you hear from them is whistling in the
dark to keep up courage. We have sewed them
up and they know it. Their proudest boast is
that they have been able to make 22 trips in
one day, under the heaviest police convoys.
That means less than one-fourth of one per cent
of the number of trips made per normal day in
Minneapolis, based on the conservative figure
of 3,000 trucks involved in the strike, which
usually make a minimum of 3 trips a day! We
idon't need the Guard to stop scab trucks. But
*the employers need it to convoy them through.
Is it "riots" that the Guard will prevent?
Scabs and scab truck movements—these cause
, riots. Police shooting down unarmed workers—
'this causes riots.   Where there is no scab or
police interference—there is quiet.   Look at the
.imposing demonstration of 40,000 workers at
Henry Ness' funeral yesterday where, without
jl policeman in sight, the workers themselves
^maintained perfect order during the ceremony
'and all along the long line of march.
;.   Another illusion  that prevails  among  employers is that if the Guard is sent into action,
'that means the defeat of the strike.   Fighting
.^74 has no such idea!   The only ones who can
Jdefeat this strike are the strikers themselves.
Their cause is lost if they weaken, if they break
tanks, if they lose their fighting spirit.   And
this is just what they will not do.
.'  We  know  from  rich   experience:   Clumsy,
cowardly scabs cannot move trucks.    Policemen's clubs  cannot move  trucks.    Deputies'
^Badges cannot move trucks.   Guardsmen's bayonets, tear-gas guns or trench helmets cannot
move trucks.   Yes, not even field artillery has
* ever been known to move trucks,
i You need truck drivers and helpers and platform men and inside men to move trucks.
j And they are all in the ranks of 574.
And that's where they are going to stay.
And under its banner they are .going to win.
j No force has yet been produced that can rob
tjiem of victory unless they voluntarily submit
to the tyranny of the employers, unless they
surrender.
iOnly cowards surrender — but Union men
fight!
And the men of 574 are Union men!
Imposing Rites
For Victim Of
Bloody Friday
Hundreds of Autos Follow
In Huge Procession
One of the most solemn and impressive gatherings eyer witnessed jn the
city of Minneapolis, was sffin*;when
40,000 workingmen and women assembled to pay tribute to the first
martyr of Local 574, Henry B. Ness.
Men and their families, from every
trade and industry, Union men and
unorganized, employed and unemployed, came from all parts of the
city to honor the first man to give his
life so that others might live, the
fearless warrior who was shot down in
cold blood by Johannes, the Murderer,
shot in the hack by cowards who dared
not face him.
Not a policeman was in sight as the
grim thousands gathered at the call
of 574. Starting from the funeral parlor, they marched to the strike headquarters at the old Sutorious Garage,
packing the streets jintil not a person
could squeeze through. In front of
the headquarters, a temporary stand
had been erected and a broadcasting
apparatus set up, from which last
tributes were paid the heroic martyr.
William S. Brown, president of Local 574, spoke about the fighter whom
he had known so well and who was
so beloved by all the men. He was so
overcome with emotion as he spoke
about the man by whose side he had
fought many" good battles, that he
was unable to say more than a few
brief words.
Albert Goldman, the noted labor
attorney from Chicago who is now
attached to the Union's legal staff,
followed him on the tribune. In
solemn, well-chosen words, he excoriated the murderers of the dead"
man, not only those who shot him
down, but those higher up who had
given the orders for his assassination.
The last speaker was Chaplain Nelson of the Post of the National Veterans' Association to which Henry
Ness had belonged. His invocation
was .a touching tribute to the intrepid
soldier who had so fearlessly fought
for himself, his family, and for his
brothers—for his Union.
The echo of the last address having
died down, the massed thousands
wheeled into marching columns behind
the coffin of the dead. Following them
was a cavalcade of hundreds upon
hundreds of automobiles filled with
workingmen who swung into line.
So magnificent and startling a demonstration has not been seen in Minneapolis in years. By the tens of
thousands, the workers of Minneapolis
displayed a solidarity with 574 and its
martyr which flung into the teeth of
their detractors the lie that the labor
movement of the city is not behind
the truckers and inside men on strike.
By the tens of thousands, the workers
of Minneapolis showed their hatred
and horror of the murderous attacks
of the police and the masters from
whom they take their orders. By the
tens of thousands, the Minneapolis
workers bowed their heads at the
grave of a hero and soldier of the
labor movement.
Farewell, body of Henry Ness!
Hail, your immortal fighting spirit!