The Organizer (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 1934-08-10

              UNITED
LABOR
ACTION
DAILY STRIKE BULLETIN
SMASH THE
CITIZENS
ALLIANCE
TWO TWENTY-FIVE
SOUTH THIRD STREET
Volume 1, No. 25
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 1934
Price one cent
No Decision
New Revision
Of Tyrant List
Popular   Demand  For
Second Publication
Because  of  the  popular  demand
from all over the state for information as to just who is forcing the
strike to  go  on, The Organizer today prints again the first half of the
list of firms which refuse to sign the
Haas-Dunnigan plan. The rest of the
list, all of which is revised and up-
to-date, will appear tomorrow.   The
recalcitrant tyrants are:
Acme Transfer and Storage Co.
American Fruit and Produce Co.
American Lumber and Wrecking Co
Armour & Co.
Atwood Coffee Co.
Atkinson Company
Armstrong Transfer Co.
Aslesen, K.
Brugger Bros. Transfer Co.
Buckingham Transfer Co.
Bach Transfer  and  Storage  Co.
Bruer Lumber Company
Bennet-Bailey Lumber Company
Baker Importing Co.
'Bearman Fruit Co.
Belzer Fruit Co.
Bergseth  Fish Co.
Booth Fisheries
Boutell Bros., Inc.
Boyd Transfer and Storage  Co.
Brooks Co., H.
Colonial Warehouse Co.
Cameras Transfer and Storage Co.
Canadian   Fish  Co.
Commercial Transfer & Storage Co.
Chicago Avenue Transfer Co.
Crane Co. —
City Builders Service
Central Supply _
Cooperman Fruit Co.
Casey-Hoban Transfer Co.
Chippewa Springs Corp.
Cardoza Furniture Co.
Cudahy Pkg. Co.
Delaittre-Dixon Co.
Dakota Packing Co.
Jacob E. Decker & Sons
Deere and Webber Co.
Dayton Co.
Davis and Ruben Co.
Davis Manufacturing  Co.
Donaldson Co., L. S.
Elbert Coffee Company
Empire Wrecking and Salvage Co,
Eide-Swanson Co.
Engstrom Lumber Co.
Elsholtz Transfer Co.
Erickion Transfer Co., J. E.
Ferrin Transfer Co.
Fish Brokerage Co.
Friedman Fruit Co.
Ford-McNutt Glass Co.
Faldt Paper Co., Harry
Falk Paper Co., Martin
Feinberg and Co., Jacob
Fanny Farmer Candy Co.
Forman  Ford Co.
Foote Lumber Co.
General Paper Corporation
Glenwood  Inglewood
Glidden Co.
Gamble Robinson Co.
Herk's Transfer
Hanson  Motor
Hedstrom Lumber Co.
Hall Hardware Co.
Ottis F. Hilbert Co.
Hopkins and Co.
Geo. A. Hormel & Co.
Hatch Delivery Service
Holstad Coffee
Hemple Transfer Co.
Jensen Lumber Co.
Johnson Lumber Co., Gust
Johnson Paper and Supply Co.
Janney Semple Hill    &Co.
A. S. Johnson Fish Co.
Jordan Stevens Co.
Kedney Warehouse
Katz Packing Co.
Katzmarek Co.
Klingelhultz & Martenson
The Kildall Co.
Levine Bros.
Landry Transfer Co.
Lambert Transfer
LaBelle Safety & Storage Co.
Leader, Inc.
Luger Furniture Co.
Leslie Paper Co., John
Landers  Morrison  Christenson  Co.
Log Cottage Co.
Land-O-Nod Co.
Lyon Fish Co. .   .  ,.
(To be concluded)
Injunction
The Real and the Fake Issues
The mass meeting on the parade ground last
Monday night, when more than 40,000 people
turned out, was another proof that the great
mass of working people of Minneaoplis understand what the fight is all about and stand
solidly behind Local 574. The Citizens Alliance gang is on the defensive.
It certainly is amusing to see this bunch of
highbinders compelled to put a speaker on the
radio every night to try and convince the public that the workers are perfectly satisfied and
that the real issue is Communism. The workers KNOW what the real issues are; and that
is why the strike holds solid after nearly four
weeks and public sentiment for the strikers
grows stronger all the time.
The issues are clear and simple—even a
lawyer for the 'Employers Advisory Committee" should be able to understand them.
The first issue is wages. The truck drivers,
helpers and inside men have the idea in their
heads that they are entitled to enough wages
to live like human beings, and they haven't
been getting them. They want a minimum of
521/^ cents per hour for truck drivers and 42*4
cents for helpers and inside men. This is the
central issue, and the employers and their lawyers shy away from it as a cat shies away from
a plate of hot milk.
The simple fact of the matter is that the
Citizens Alliance thinks 421/fc cents an hour is
too much money for a family man in Minneapolis. But they haven't got the nerve to say
so openly. They ramble all over the world
and talk about everything else under the sun,
but they don't answer the simple question:
What's wrong about a wage scale minimum of
42V2 and 52%, cents an hour?
They try to make out that this question of
wages is a secondary matter. If the "Communist agitators" would get out of the way
they could easily come to an agreement on this
little point, they say. The fair-minded workers who are worried to death already with the
problem of investing their extra cash would
step forward and say: "We're getting too much
money now; what we really want is a wage
cut, if we could take a secret ballot without
the interference of Local 574." Or, the big-
hearted bosses would say: "Boys, you've got
to take a wage increase as a favor to us. We're
willing to let you work overtime every night
if you insist on it, but you've simply got to take
more money."
That's the way they would dispose of the
little question of wages if Local 574 were eliminated. In a pig's eye.
The second issue is organization. The money sharks want sauce for the goose but not for
the gander. They are organized under the control of a little clique that doesn't allow the individual employers involved in the strike the
right to say a word or cast a vote. They threaten any employer with financial ruin, boycott
and the shutting off of credit if he comes to an
agreement with the union. The controlling
power rests with the chain banks which in turn
are controlled from Wall Street. They spend
money like water importing strike-breakers
and finks from the P. L. Bergoff strike-breaking and murdering agency of New York City.
But when the workers decide that they want
to organize into a union of their own, and to
be represented in collective bargaining by officials of their own choosing, these organized
exploiters throw seven fits and begin to bellow
about Communists, Reds, Russians and foreigners.
Most of the progress that has been made in
this world for the past hundred, years has
started from organized labor. Section 7-a of
the National Industrial Recovery Act expressly
guarantees the right of independent labor organization. Every worker who has cut his eye
teeth knows that without a union he can't get
to first base. The workers must organize—
that's the starting point of any move to improve their conditions and standards of life.
They must insist on this right and defend it
with their lives. They must insist on the right
to have their own unions, not company unions;
to have officials of their own choosing, not
chosen by the bosses.
The attempt of the Citizens Alliance to deny
this right of organization, plus the refusal to
pay living wages—these are the two real issues
behind the strike. They are too simple and too
clear to be obscured by lawyers' arguments
over the radio. The masses in Minneapolis understand the issues. That's why the strike gets
such widespread popular support.
The third issue which is assuming the greatest importance is the issue of the Citizens Alliance. How long are the workers and the rank
and file of the general public going to stand
for the domination of this rotten clique of imitation Hitlers who boss the town and seek to
crush and destroy, and even murder, anybody
who stands in the way?
Local 574 is leading a fight against this reactionary gang in the open.
They accuse us of wanting to make Minneapolis a union town. Right! We want to see
the workers of every craft and industry banded together in their respective union organizations for mutual protection. What's wrong
about that?
That idea inspires every intelligent worker
in Minneapolis with the prospect of better
times and happier lives for all of us. Every
time the exploiters accuse our organization of
wanting to make Minneapolis a union town
they only convince the workers that old 574
has the right idea and deserves support in its
struggle.
574 Is Ready
For Anything
Suit Outcome Not Primary Concern of Union
No decision on the bosses' injunction suit against martial law had been
reached by the Federal judges at the
time of going to press. Sources close
to the judges, however, are reported
in the boss press as stating that a
verdict might be expected within 24
hours. At 2 p. m. the Judges went
into another conference on the question.
Questioned as to their views on the
outcome of the matter, Union and
strike leaders stated that they were
in no position to tell on what side of
the Olson-Citizens Alliance spat the
Judges would fall. They affirmed,
however, that whatever the verdict
the Union would continue to demand
and to exercise to the fullest extent
of its ability its right to strike, to
picket, to assemble and to carry on
other activities supposedly guaranteed
by the Constitutions of State and nation.
The Strike Committee is prepared
for either eventuality. If the martial
regime is sustained, they will continue
to fight along the lines of the past
week, as well as to demand the release of all prisoners from the stockade. If martial law is suspended,
pickets will immediately take the field
in force and tie up all trucking as
Local 574 has repeatedly shown it can
do without difficulty and without violence.
"We are not primarily concerned
with this argument between the Governor and the bosses," said one strike
leader. "The bosses, of course, prefer
the tactics of Bloody Mike. But they
can change mediators a dozen times
and move troops out and in a hundred times before the Strike Committee of 100 will alter its position. We
accepted the Haas-Dunnigan plan,
making a compromise in doing so.
That is our minimum. We will not
be budged therefrom, and we will
fight until the bosses have been
forced to accept it."
Four-Page "Organizer"
Will Appear Tomorrow
Tomorrow's edition of The Organizer will be a four-page affair, the
biggest and best in the history of
the world's first local union daily
newspaper.
In addition to the usual news, editorials and cartoon, The Organizer
tomorrow will contain a number of
interesting special feature articles.
One of these will deal with the role
of the unemployed in the present
strike and in labor's struggle in general. Another, by Albert Goldman,
attorney for Local 574, will discuss
legal questions connected with the
fight of the trade union movement.
Two thousand extra copies will be
printed for the picnic at Pine City,
where a delegation from the Union
led by President Bill Brown will distribute them to members of the
Farmers Holiday Association.
By decision of the Strike Committee of 100, The Organizer will continue to appear as a daily for the
duration of the strike. There will be
no Sunday issue.
Brown to Address Farmers
President Bill Brown of Local 574
will address a picnic at Pine City
Sunday at 1 p. m. The picnic is
under the auspices of the Pine
County Farmers Holiday Association.
This organization has contributed
generous quantities of fresh ■ foodstuffs to the Strike Commissary and
Local 674 is profoundly grateful for
the co-operation. A truckload of
574 members will attend the picnic,
bringing with them the loud-speaking apparatus now in use at Strike
Headquarters. All 574 men are welcome.