The Organizer (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 1934-08-02

              DAILY STRIKE
UNITED
LABOR
ACTION
BULLETIN^^?
;mash the
citizens
alliance
TWO TWENTY-FIVE
SOUTH THIRD STREET
Volume 1, No. 18
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, THURSDAY, AUG. 2, 1934
Price one cent
Leaders of 574 Released
Straggle Wins
Release of 3
Imprisoned Pickets Get
Improved Conditions
Bowing to the pressure of the
aroused workers of the city, and
seeking to forestall a general protest
strike against the brutal and highhanded actions of the military forces,
the State administration backed
down at midday today and released
from the Concentration Camp three
leaders of Local 574-
From the Concentration Camp,
Miles Dunne proceeded immediately
to a doctor to be treated for a weed
infection  contracted in the  camp.
When the three union leaders were
removed from the camp, several
score pickets remained behind. The
leaders proceeded immediately to demand of Governor Olson the release
of these unjustifiably detained prisoners.
The pickets who remained behind
have now organized a prisoners' committee which successfully demanded
of the military administration improvements of the conditions in the
camp.. They required additional
blankets and cots, and so keen is the
militia's sense of popular disapproval
today that, although two days ago
conditions in the camp were foul, the
prisoners immediately forced the
concessions from their guards.
While Brown and the two Dunne
brothers sat inside the stockade, Rev.
Haas and E. H. Dunnigan visited
them, and the world was treated to
the amusing spectacle of representatives of the Federal Government asking ~to. carry on' negotiations . with
three men whom the State Government was treating as dangerous criminals of a type "to be kept in custody."
The Union leaders, however, informed the Federal representatives
that no discussion concerning the
strike situation could be held within
the confines of a military concentration camp.
The imprisoned leaders referred
Rev. Haas and Dunnigan to Union
officials still at liberty. Later in the
day Haas and Dunnigan made efforts
to get in touch with Farrell Dobbs
and' Grant Dunne, but they were even
less successful at finding them than
the militia, who were completely unsuccessful.
Broaden the Strike Front!
Workers to Attend
Funeral of Belor
All members of 574 and all workers are called 'upon ?by'the Strike
Committee of 100 to attend the funeral of John Belor and pay their
respects to their martyred brother,
the second member- of 574 to die
of the wounds inflicted by Bloody
Mike's cops two weeks ago.
The Belor funeral will be held
Saturday at 2 p. m; from the Knae-
i ble and Sherer funeral parlors at
513 Plymouth Ave. Burial will be in
Crystal Lake Cemetery. Detailed arrangements as to the formation of
the procession, speakers and the like
will be announced tomorrow by the
Strike Committee.
Belor, who was unmarried, is survived by a brother and sister. He
lived at 25th and James N;
A memorial placard with a wreath
of laurel leaves has been hung in
B dor's memory over the entrance to
-strike headquarters. The joy of the
strikers at having forced the troops
to evacuate their center yesterday
was tempered with sorrow at the
news of their departed brother.
John Belor gave his life that the
workers of Minneapolis might preserve their organizations and win the
right to a decent living. His death,
like that of his brother, Harry Ness,
is another crime of those who exploit
and grind down the worker. Our
answer must be incessant struggle
and the perfection of our organization!
All day yesterday, Local 574 showed its
fighting mettle.
Faced by an autocratic military regime
which sought to deprive it of those elementary
rights for which labor has fought and shed its
blood for more than a century, 574 defiantly
refused to bow its head in servile submission.
It declared that it would assert these rights
and defend them with its life, regardless of
the superior armed force which attempted to
rob it of them. Armed only with a just cause
and with a deep-seated conviction, the workers on strike went right up against a military
power supplied with the most deadly equipment  of  modern  military  warfare.
The strike-breaking tyrants declared that
we could not hold our own meetings. We replied with a mass assembly of the vanguard
of Minneapolis labor—25,000 strong who
shouted their support of the heroic battle being waged by 574.
The military despots declared that picketing would not be permitted, that the scab
trucks would roll with the blessing of strikebreaker Olson. We replied with an intensified
mass picketing which promptly put the fear
of labor's might into the hearts of the slave-
driving employers and automatically cut down
the number of trucks by about 75 percent.
The autocrats of the bayonet and the machine gun set a new precedent in the State of
Minnesota, and committed a crime which the
most despicable reactionaries throughout the-
country have hesitated to d6 for decades: they
raided the headquarters" :6f bur Union, and
then the central headquarters of the organized trade union movement  of  Minneapolis,'
and ousted the workers by force of arms. Together with   an  indignant working i class of
Minneapolis, together with the great mass of
the members of Governor Olson's own party,.
we replied with such a thunder of protest, that.,
the military martinets, were, compelled to ■ re^
treat and return our headquarters to us.
'The would-be Hitlers, surrounded by their
brownshirts, swooped down upon the beloved
leaders of 574—-mark you, not of the Citizens
Alliance, but of 574!—arrested them on
trumped-up charges, and threw them into their
military concentration camp. By this, they
.thought to behead the Union, {to deprive it Of
its general staff, to demoralise, disorganize,
scatter and paralyze its ranks. The fearless
rank and file replied by the?-most imposing
picket demonstration witnessed in the strike
since its inception.
The courageous men of 574, who do not
surrender because they are not cowards and
slaves, who fight because they are Union men,
saved the honor of the Minneapolis labor
movement, we repeat. They gave meaning and
substance to the great motto: "Resistance to
tyranny is the beginning of freedom." With
their militancy and perseverance, they gave
new spirit to the strike. They inspired the rest
of the labor movement with respect and admiration. They brought home to every work-
.ingman this profound truth: .. . ,"
Labor is invincible, no obstacle is too great
to surmount, no force is too powerful to withstand it, if it is united, if it is conscious of its
aim, if it fights militantly!
The dictators and the candidates for Hitler-
ism have "given back" our headquarters to
us. A few of our arrested pickets have been
released. Our leaders were finally released
today. .
We suppose that we shall be expected to be
grateful for these kind and generous favors.
And perhaps we would be, if they were favors.
But they are anything but that. They are part
of the retreat which our fight has forced.
But we are far from believing that the fight
has been won. Quite the contrary. We know
that to win this battle against the tremendous
forces arrayed against us, it is necessary to
supplement our strength by the strength of
the whole labor movement.
Against us stands the whole army of the
employers: the Citizens Alliance, its press, its
police, its administration, its militia. Even this
combination we can-triumph against if the
forces of our whole army are summoned to
action. We are fighting the battle of the whole
labor movement. Our cause—we have repeatedly pointed out—is the cause of every workingman. But we are now like one battalion
bearing the brunt of the battle while several
other battalions are kept passively in reserve.
The time has now arrived to call the rest of
our army to the front. The time has arrived
for the whole labor movement of Minneapolis
to respond to the colors.
It is now imperative to broaden the strike
front!
The labor movement cannot stand by pas-?
siyely while 574 is cut down by an overwhelmingly superior force.
We feel completely justified in calling upon
the entire organized labor movement in Minneapolis to respond like one man to our appeal
for a general strike of protest!
Such a demonstration of labor's strength in
Minneapolis would be not only a fitting, but a
decisive and crushing reply to all the labor-
haters, to all the slave-drivers, to the. sinister
Citizens Alliance, to the murderers of Johannes' police force, to the strike-breaking acts
of Olson and the desposition of the militia, g
It would throw into the scales a tremendous
weight sufficient to tip them in favor of 574,
which means in favor of all the working people of Minneapolis. Now is the time to act!
Now is the time for every workingman and
every labor leader to show where he stands,
with whom and against whom! J
Strikers Elated
By New Gains
Union Rejects Employers' New Proposal
The indignation which swept the
whole labor movement of Minneapolis when the National Guard, true to
its strike-breaking role, imprisoned
the leaders of Local 574 and occupied its headquarters and the headquarters of the Central Labor Union,
resulted today in a signal victory
when the military authorities found
themselves compelled to release Wl-
liam S. Brown, president of Local
574, and V. JR. Dunne and Miles
Dunne, leaders of the Committee of
100 which is directing the strike of
the truck drivers, helpers and inside
men. In addition,' the headquarters
of 574 were evacuated by the troops
and repossessed by the Union and its
strike staff.
The spirit of victory which heartened every workingman in the city,
and particularly the 574 men, was
charged with the realization that the
military authorities had backed down
under the threat of the general strike
for which Local. 574 immediately
appealed.
Trade union militants throughout.
the town were seething with anger
and demanding''prompt action to
force the withdrawal of the National
Guard and martial law from Minneapolis, where they have systematically- sought to undermine and break
the ranks of the strike.
The fact that the mere threat of a
general strike caused the military
authorities to make a turn about
face, with a feeble statement made
to save their prestige, has brought
home to every worker, and the trade
unionists in particular, the realization that the united 'strength- of the
working people is an invincible weap-.
on with which to batter down the
exploiters, their civil and military
agents, and to force the.revocation
of the military regime which' has
been arbitrarily imposed upon the
workers in the town..
Another result of the firm attitude of 574 and the fact that it continued and extended its picketing activities, as well as the dread inspired
in the hearts of the employers by the
appeal of our Union to the organized
labor movement to stand by with a
general strike movement, ,has been
the issuance of a new statement by
the "Employers Advisory Committee" in which a new basis for a strike
settlement is proposed..
The employers' proposals are thoroughly unsatisfactory and unacceptable to the Union, which refuses to
have them serve as a' basis for a
settlement. The Union is of the opinion that by accepting as the basis
for -the settlement' the Haas-Dunni-
gan proposals ■ which the employers
then rejected, it went as'far in making concessions from its original demands, as it is going to go. The
Union and the Strike Committee of
100 continue to stand by their original acceptance of the Haas-Dunni-
gan statement as the minimum basis
for calling off the strike.
• The fact, however, that the employers have felt the enormous pressure of the strike, is indicated by
their latest statement
The successful picket line, and the
fact that their solidarity has compelled the military to back water,
has elated the strikers and raised
their spirits to a new high level.
The strong spirit of support from
other sections of the labor movement
has also served to bolster up the
ranks of 574. Without being lulled
into a feeling of over-confidence, the
strikers realize that they still have
reserves behind" them, that the workers in other trades are ready to come
to their aid, that the general strike
weapon still hangs over the heads of
the employers and the National
Guard like a mighty sword, which
labor can seize and wield for the
attainment of its ends.