The Organizer (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 1934-07-26

              .o
DAILY STRIKE BULLETIN^^t
UNITED
LABOR
ACTION
SMASH THE
CITIZENS
ALLIANCE
TWO TWENTY-FIVE
SOUTH THIRD STREET
Volume 1, No. 11
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1934
Price one cent
Martial Law Declared by Olson
Bosses' Moves
Against Paper
Fail of Purpose
Strike   Daily   Appears
Despite All Threats
Speaking over the microphone at
Strike Headquarters last night, a
member of The Organizer's staff
elicited a thunderous cry of anger
when he informed the assembled
crowd of workers that attempts to
suppress the daily strike bulletin were
continuing.
Not only has The Organizer been
forced out of its second printing
plant in three days by order of the
bosseu of those shops, but new moves
have been made to prevent distribution of our paper.
Yesterday afternoon a cop drove
one of our salesgirls, a member of
the Ladies' Auxiliary, away from the
street corner in front of Dayton's.
He refused to let her sell The Organizer there. He had no legal pretext for such action. According to
law, anyone is supposed to be allowed to publish a newspaper and to
sell it on the public streets. But the
Citizens Alliance has -ordered us off
the streets.
Furthermore, it is reported, the
plot to charge the staff of The Organizer with criminal syndicalism
and to put them in jail for five yearai
is gathering headway. County Attor-
new Goff is in charge of this little
scheme.
The Organizer can not be stopped,
however. It is the voice of the strikers, an indispensable weapon in the
fight against the bosses, and a shield
against the snarling attacks of the
kept press.
The Citizens Alliance has set lt-
self an impossible task in attacking !
And the Fight Has Just Begun!
NO TRUCKS TO BE MOVED! BY NOBODY!
The Organizer. We will be out daily
as long as this strike lasts, if that
means till hell freezes over.
After  you   read  your   Organizer,
circulate it among all your friends
TiKnl-s     Ask t" —J  ;i
funds
  iu«fe   «...   j —   .
and neighbors. Ask them to read it.
Then ask them for funds for the
strike. 574 is urgently in need of
MONEY to carry on the courageous
battle for all laboring men and women. Let each reader appoint himself a
committee of one to help collect these
vital funds. Give receipts to all who
donate. Headquarters will give you
receipts for all you collect.
SOME  SERIOUS  QUESTIONS
ABOUT MARTIAL LAW
General Hugh S. Johnson, head
of the NRA, speaking in Los Angeles on July 20, made some remarks about martial law. He said:
"It is an extreme to which a
public official is justified in going
only when the very safety of the
state is threatened and then only
at his own peril and with full
.criminal and civil responsibility
for every act of the most callow
of his subordinates. It is exactly
like the rule of self-defense in a
murder trial. Your back must be
against the wall with no way to
save your life except to destroy
your adversary."
The Organizer wants to ask
some questions:
Is the safety of the State of
Minnesota threatened?
If so, by whom, in the opinion
of the Governor who ordered martial law?
Why is "the rule ol self-defense" being called into play?
Who has threatened murder?
Have    the    strikers    murdered
anybody?
Who murdered Henry B. Ness?
The bosses' back is against the
wall; does the Governor feel that
the State of Minnesota has its
back against the wall?
Are the troops ordered out to
destroy an adversary?
Who is that adversary?
Now is the time for plain speaking.
Following upon the bosses' rejection of the
draft settlement proposed by Rev. Francis J.
Haas, representative of the National Labor Relations Board, Governor Floyd B. Olson at
noon today established martial law.
Earlier in the day a membership meeting of
Local 574, after careful consideration of the
Haas plan, decided that it represented a minimum acceptable to the Union and that the
strike could be settled on such a basis. The
Union thus went as far as it could, showing
once again that the strike is one forced upon
the workers by a gang of cutthroats headed by
the Citizens Alliance who have no object except to smash the Minneapolis labor movement
and maintain all workers in misery so that the
bosses may enjoy super-profits and luxury.
The responsibility for the existence today of
a military dictatorship in this city, as well as
for the continuation of the strike, is on the
shoulders of the bosses.
The Strike Committee of 100 met last night
in a long session to analyze and discuss the
Haas plan. While this plan did not give the
Union everything the Union is anxious to get,
the Strike Committee of 100 concluded that it
constituted a basis for settlement.
The plan would have established a return-
to-work minimum wage of 4214 cents per hour
for inside men, helpers and platform men, and
of 5214 cents an hour for drivers. Constituting
a material and definite advance in wages over
those prevailing at the opening of the strike,
this item amounted to a real advance over
Haas' earlier proposals.
The Haas plan offered yesterday also eliminated the bosses' demand that the Union reveal the names of its members in order to
prove its right to exist. It set up arrangements
for an election in which all workers (including
inside men) in the 22 market firms would vote
as a group as to whether or not they wanted
574 to represent them. This meant a sure-fire
victory for 574, which includes practically all
drivers, helpers, and inside men in the market
houses.
At the Strike Committee it was decided to
recommend the plan to the Union members. A
membership meeting was held this morning at
Eagles Hall where the strikers heard a report
, on the negotiations from Union officials and
leaders of the Strike Committee of 100.
1 It was generally agreed that in adopting the
new Haas plan, the Union would be making
certain concessions. It was, however, felt that
nothing basic was being sacrificed and that,
jnst as the May settlement was a gain over previous conditions, so this new settlement would
constitute a gain over the May conditions.
This, apparently, was also clear to the bosses, who desired neither to concede any higher
wages nor to open the door to permanent and
consolidated organization of all the inside men
in the market and most of those in other
houses They "accepted with reservations"—
that is to say, they turned down the proposition
,with a lot of fancy language.
The Federal Government has not been very
famous lately as a friend of the worker. One
has only to bear in mind the raw deals that
were pulled on the workers at Weirton, in
Detroit, in the steel Union and other cases to
realize that the Federal Government has been
pro-boss all the way through the "New Deal."
But for the bandits of the Minneapolis Citizens Alliance, not even this is enough. They
want to exterminate us, crush us, smash us
j completely.
The Rev. Haas, a professor and student of
labor problems, is reputed to be one of Washington's best bets. He dashed out here by special plane with a lot of advance publicity.
We do not know what went on between him
and the Citizens Alliance, but we do know that
he has not induced the bosses to give the workers even a crumb.
What would have happened if the bosses
had accepted a Haas plan and we had turned
it down? Not a bandit or yegg, not a pious
hypocrite or snivelling labor-sweater, not a
stockholder or stockjobber in town but would
have yelled for our blood. And what would
the Federal representative have done?
What will he do now? It will be interesting
to see what, if anything, the Rev. Haas has to
say about the bosses who turned down the
olive branch he flew with from Washington.
Of course, the Rev. Haas's speech or silence
;will not determine this issue.
The spirits of the strikers are higher than
ever. Neither conciliators nor negotiators nor
dictators can dampen them.
■ We will not return to work for a pittance.
We have had enough of twelve and ten and
eight dollar weekly checks. We have had
enough of insecurity due to lack of organization. We will go back but with decent wages,
decent conditions, and a Union, Local 574, to
protect us.
We cannot do less by ourselves, we cannot
;do less by our wives, we cannot do less by
our children. We will not do less.
Despite death and the devil, despite the
whole unholy alliance which is pitted against
us1: the strike goes on. Peaceful picketing continues. The banner still waves on which is
inscribed our slogan:
1 No trucks shall be moved 1   By nobody!
574 Demands
Olson Recall
Militia Order
Troops Empowered to
Allow Truck Movement
Governor Olson has declared martial law. Troops are taking over our
streets.   What for?
Do the workers need the help of
troops?
Of course not. If the workers are
to win this strike, union recognition
and decent living conditions, it is
enough for them to tie up trucking
and related operations. This they
have done for eleven days. They need
no help from anybody to do ths.
Will the troops help the workers?
The Organizer does not see how the
troops can help the workers.
Governor Olson says that when
martial law is in force "trucks will
move only on military permits and
picketing by automobile or otherwise
will be completely stopped." That
n.eans that the troops can make possible any movement of trucks which
it suits them to sanction.
Until now trucks have moved only
with permits from Local 574. Now
)OJ)S
Thii
Nor can a prohibition  of picketing
be a help.
The troops, we are told, will do
what the bosses and Bloody Johan-
the troops are to decide who is to
ymove. This cannot be a help to us.
EXTRA! EXTRA!
Tonight at 8:15 there will be
the usual meeting at Strike Headquarters, 215 South 8th St. The
events of the day will be analyzed
and plans announced. Strike leaders will speak. AH strikers asked
to attend. Broadcasting as usual
over "Station 574."
nes could not do: they will make possible scab movements of trucks and
break our strike.
Time after time in American labor
history, when the bosses were on the
point of taking a bad beating, the
militia has come in to save them. Arrests, suppression of newspapers, prohibition of meetings and picketing,
shootings—these have always been
the inevitable accompaniment of
martial law. And these can break a
strike.
Martial law cannot help the
strikers. It must help the bosses.
Local 574 is opposed to martial
law. Every step that these troops take
toward moving or helping to move
trucks, is a blow at Local 574 and
the strike.
And because of the nature of this
struggle, such a blow is a blow at
the whole Minneapolis labor movement.
/ Those who have asked for troops—
the Citizens Alliance and •■ Mayor
Bainbridge—and he who has called
them out, will be responsible for such
blows.
The troops must not interfere with
picketing.
We call upon Governor Floyd B.
Olson to withdraw the troops immediately from the city of Minneapolis.
We call upon eveiy labor union in
the city of Minneapolis, upon every
worker and every friend of workers'
rights, to second this demand. We ask
them to impress with the utmost
force and solemnity upon the Governor the implacable oppositon of
the overwhelming mass of the population to the presence of these troops
and the operation of martial law.
We call upon labor throughout the
state and the country to rally to our
side in this moment of need.
The right of labor to carry on
peaceful picketing must be maintained at all costs!
FLASH:   PICKETS  PINCHED
Union men peacefully picketing
Freddy's lunch to protest against
mistreatment of a picket yesterday,
were pinched by Bloody Mike's coppers. See page 2, column 2, for background of the incident.