The Organizer (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 1934-07-28

              Parade Rally Tomorrow at
DAILY STRIKE BULLETIN
UNITED
LABOR
ACTION
A
SMASH THE
CITIZENS
ALLIANCE
TWO TWENTY-FIVE
SOUTH THIRD STREET
Volume 1, No. 13
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1934
Price one cent
Strikers Demand Troop Removal
15,000 Rally
To Support of
Strike Cause
Parade Ground Meeting
Shows Workers Firm
Despite the holding of the meeting a mile from strike headquarters,
despite the intimidation of a large
part of the public by the National
Guard, more than fifteen thousand
workers streamed to the Parade
Grounds last night on a last minute
call from Local 574 to voice their
displeasure at the bosses' use of the
militia as a cover for scabbing. The
immense crowd declared its unanimous willingness to stand by the side
of 574 to toe finish.
The heroic stand that toe members
of 574 have taken, their determination that never again will they tolerate the miserable fate that has been
theirs for years, is calling forth all
that is finest in the Minneapolis labor
movement , ...
After Representative Dewey Johnson had opened the program, Ray
Dunne, strike leader, warned the assembled throng against ignoring the
fact that, since trucks moved under
the protection of the rifles of the
National Guard, the Guard;is being
used to break the strike. "We will
let no force break this strike," he
said. When he appealed for the support of all Unions and workers for
the truckers' fight, a wave of assent
swept toward the speaker.
Farrell Dobbs, editor of The Organizer, explained the fight that has
been necessary to get out the daily
strike bulletin. In his hand were the
first 30 issues of Friday's Organizer,
almost every one of which was rapidly auctioned off, bringing in amounts
from  $}  to  $5 apiece.
When President Bill Brown, the
next speaker, described the squalor
and destitution of so many of the
workers' homes in Minneapolis, and
then asked, "Are we going to put up
with these rotten conditions any
longer?" cry after cry went up—
"No!"    "No,  Bill, No!"
"We will fight whomever it is necessary to fight," Brown wound up.
"It would be better to die fighting
than to give up without a struggle."
The concluding speaker was Albert
Goldman, attorney for Local 574.
Discussing the various problems facing the strikers, he posed the significant question, "If the National
Guard were called out to help the
strikers—WHY were more trucks
driven today than yesterday?"
"If the National Guard was called
out to help the strikers—WHY must
we come here to gather together,
instead of holding our nightly meetings at strike headquarters?"
When he said, "I would be glad if
the militia would help the strike, but
I am from Missouri and I've got to
be shown," loud shouts of "So are
we" went up throughout the crowd.
A fuller account of Goldman's address, which was received with tumultuous applause, is published on
page 2.
The meeting closed with the singing of Solidarity, led by 574's "radio" announcer. Three times the
powerful challenge of the words of
The Right to Picket is the Right to
j     Organize! Defend It with Your Lives!
Solidarity rang out over the Parade.
The meeting as a whole was a
mighty display of determination and
solidarity. Coming at the close of
the first day of the city's new military dictatorship, it revealed the
working class a3 firm in its intention
to fight for its rights and interests
to the bitter end and against all foes.
Several speakers representing the
Central Labor Union failed to put
in an appearance. This action was
later firmly criticized by the Strike
Committee.
The man who is told he has the right to
eat, but is denied, any means of obtaining
food, is sure to die. He has the "right", but
he cannot exercise it.
The worker who is told he has the right to
organize into unions, but is denied the right to
picket in order to obtain his demands, is sure
to have his union smashed. He, too, has the
"right", but he cannot exercise it.
The right to picket during a strike or lockout, means the right to organize into unions.
The worker who lightly gives up this right,
might just as well bow to every despotic attack upon his standard of living. He might,
just as well hold his arms and legs ready for
the chains of slavery.
Without the union of all workers in one
craft, or trade, or industry; the individual
worker is a serf under the employers' tyranny.
Without the right to strike, the union is a
cruel joke upon the workers, a pliant tool in
the employers' hands.
Without the right to picket, the strike is a
bitter farce Which demoralizes the workers
and gives the upper hand to the employers.
The bosses realize this keenly.
They fight like tigers against workers joining and building a union. They fight like tigers against the workers' right to strike. They
fight like tigers against the workers' right to
picket. They want slaves with bent backs,
sweated brows and sealed lips. The workers
want to be men, to live like decent human
beings, to enjoy an ever greater share of the
gigantic wealth they alone produce.
The workers will not allow themselves to
be robbed of the right to organize, to strike,
to picket.   By nobody!
They will not allow scabs to break their
picket lines:
They will not allow policemen with clubs
and pistols, to break their picket lines.
They will not allow soldiers with rifles, tear
gas and machine guns, to break their picket
lines.
The right to picket is the right to strike.
The right to strike is the right to organize.
The right to organize is the right to live.
Our strike is not a lark. It was not called as
a joke. It is no fun for us. It is a matter of
deadly earnest.
We are fighting for the right to live, for
our very lives!
And we have showed the whole country that
we can fight this battle -successfully. The few
scab trucks the bosses tried to run, never got
beyond a try. We put them off the streets and
no trucks rolled.
The bosses got their police and thugs to try
to roll scab trucks, but none rolled.
The bosses now pin their fading hopes on
the National Guard.
The National Guard, by its whole nature,
is a weapon against workingmen. It is there
to "protect property." Whose property? Ours?
We have none, we are poor, we are wage-
slaves. We have only our strong right arms,
our clear heads, our workingmen's solidarity
and consciousness. The property the Guard
protects is the employer's—his commercial
houses, his warehouses, his SCAB TRUCKS!
The official staff of the Guard, by its very
nature, is anti-labor. The officers are men of
wealth and position. They are blood of the
blood of the whole capitalist class, of Johannes
the Murderer. Together they jointly plan the
regulations by which picketing is to be suppressed and scab trucks to be moved.
Why, right now they are cruising to stop
pickets—and cruising in borowed trucks and
squad cars belonging to the Johannes police!
For us to give up the right to picket at the
militia's command, is to brand ourselves cowards and slaves.
We shall fight tooth and toe-nail for this
right. We want the right to organize, to strike,
to picket, to free speech, to free assemblage.
Before the Guard came in, the bosses and
their trucks were sewed up tighter than a
drum. Now the Guard is moving scab trucks.
These are two indisputable facts.
These facts mean one thing, and can mean
only one thing: the National Guard is playing
the part of strikebreaker!
And we propose to allow nobody to break
our strike, nobody, do you understand—no,
sir, not even the National Guard!
Every worker in Minneapolis, and not only
the men of Fighting 574, must roar out the
demand until it shakes the city: WITHDRAW
THE NATIONAL GUARD!
We are going ahead, teeth clenched, to exercise our right to picket, to meet, to speak.
We shall let nobody stop us.
We are fighting for ourselves, for our womenfolk, for our children—for our lives!
The right to picket means the right to organize and live!
Workers—defend that right to the last
ditch!
Committee Sees
State Troops as
Harming Strike
Scab Trucks Roll Under
Military Protection
BULLETIN!
Angered by the wanton murder ol two of their pickets, the
striking workers of Kohler, Wis.,
. battled 400 aimed deputy-thugs
all last night. This morning the
Wisconsin National Guard took
over the town. As they invaded
the so-called "model village,"
workers lined the streets to boo
and hiss them. The soldiers
cleared the streets by a fixed-
bayonet charge. The strike goes
on in the face of this attempt to
break it by use of the National
Guard.
After 24 hours experience of martial law, with an increasing1 flood of
evidence that the militia is permitting the movement of trucks with
scab drivers as well as flagrant violation -ef so-called military orders to
limit deliveries to necessities of life,
the Strike Committee of 100, on the
recommendation of the leaders of
Local 574, this morning adopted a
resolution demanding the immediate
withdrawal of the National Guard
from the streets.
Great enthusiasm greeted the announcement of this action over the
loud-speaker at Strike Headquarters.
The experience of pickets ever since
the militia "took over" has been uniformly one of dissatisfaction. Truck
movements have not been stopped.
Picketing has been gruffly interfered
with. All orders limiting movement
of trucks have been violated by the
bosses with impunity. Pickets bringing complaints to Military Headquarters have been thrown into the
lock-up and held for hours, incommunicado, under miserable conditions, and have been refused any explanation on their release. (See statements on page 2.)
Widespread sections of the general
labor movement and general public
are equally resentful of the activities
of the troops. The latter have interfered with several peaceful groups of
people on the streets. At last night's
mass meeting called by Local 574,
the crowd voiced high indignation
when it was pointed out that, because
of military decrees, the assemblage
had to be at the Parade Grounds
rather than at the Strike Headquarters as usual. '
General Walsh has issued a statement forbidding all picketing and
denying to pickets and citizens the
right to stop trucks which are violating military orders.
A sub-committee elected from the
Strike Committee of 100 waited on
Gov. Olson shortly after noon with a
copy of the resolution demanding the
withdrawal of the troops. Local 574
and the Strike Committee calls on all
workers, their organizations and leaders, to back the strikers in this demand. The troops must go if the
Citizens Alliance is to be beaten!
The full text of the resolution submitted to Gov. Olson follows:
July 28, 1934.
"From the beginning of the strike,
Local 574 has succeeded in very effectively stopping the movement of
all the trucking industry involved..
However, on Thursday, July 26,
when martial law was declared and
the National Guard appeared on the
streets, the issuance of permits by
the Military authorities was conducted in such a loose manner that the
movement of trucks has increased
hour by hour. It is the observation
of the Union that the policy of the
National Guard in issuing permits,
coupled with the lack of vigilance on
Continued on page 2, column 1