THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20586, 8 December 1928, Page 20

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

NEWS AND NOTES. /, By J. T, Paul. A BIG STRIKE ENDED. After a six months’ struggle, the great strike in the textile mills of New Bedford, Massachusetts, has ended. Under the terms of the settlement the workers accept a 6 per cent, cut in wages in place of the 10 per cent, cut against which they struck in April. The employers also agree to give a month’s notice before making any further general wage cut, ’ Of the 30,000 employees of the New Bedford mills some 6000 are skilled Operatives (mostly Lancashire-born, the rest are semi-skilled, mostly Portuguese and Poled).

It was the shilled workers (organised in local unions) who called the, strike. But the others joined -in solidly. Unorganised at the beginning, they were rapidly organised by the Textile Mills Committees formed for the purpose. And the strike has been run—not always in entire harmony—by these committeds and by the United Textile Workers, in which the local skilled unions were merged.

wages in, America. i A lecturer at the' University of California (Sacramento. U.S.A.). writing in the Trade Union News, says that the prosperity of American workers is confined to a small category. "There is a widely credited legend,” says he, that labour, as well as the nation, has become fabulously prosperous. The plumber is pictured as little more than a highwayman; the carpenter rides comfortably to his work in an auto; Yale students are abandoning the time-honoured professions and turning to plastering. What are the facts?

“ Skilled organised workers have secured an hourly wage higher than any ever paid, and some unorganised skilled ones have reaped the benefit, too. Altogether these total no more than 3,000,000, but the annual wage, not the hourly wage, is the important factor. “ Even the building trades in New York work only 63 per cent, of the time, bringing their annual wage down to £3BB, and these are the ‘aristocrats of labour.’

“Transportation workers, including the railway brotherhoods, average £312 a year. “The United States Bureau of Labour i Statistics has set a sum well, over £4OO as the cost of a ‘fair standard of living,' “And what of the rest of the 31,000,000 wage earners of America?” The writer adds that California’s average is 18s 2d a day, that.of America.at large is 16s 8d a day, and that every family_ whose income is less than 16s 8d a day is a‘necessary and legitimate charge upon public or private chanties.. THE BRITISH DICTATORSHIP. Some little time ago a delegation of British Communists, Messrs Point, Jones, Jackson, Parmer, and others, visited Southern Russia. . Subsequently, at a meeting of the Caucasian Communists, one of their leaders, M. Manuilsky, was reported. (says Glasgow Forward) as expressing himself as follows:-^ “Mr Purcell assured ns several times that in a country with such an old democracy as England the present, methods of dictatorship of the proletariat could not be applied, Our opinion, on the contrary, is that the same methods of dictatorship of the proletariat which were found to he good for Moscow and Tiflis will prove as good for London. Certainly, in the capitalist countries of Western Europe these methods of dictatorship will bo even more cruel and slower than they were with us, because Western capitalism and the bourgeoise are stronger than they wcro_ with us. . We highly recommend the English Communist Party to vote against the Labour Party, even though it were known that in consequence the Conservatives would get the upper hand. The whole meaning of our new programme,” he concluded. “ consists in ah endeavour to create irreconcilable relations between the Communist Party and the democracy which is supporting the bourgeoise.” So (says the Forward) if M. Mnnuil,sky is correctly reported, the dictatorship of the proletariat and its methods in England are going to”'-bo “ oven more. 6ruel and slower ” than they have been in Russia, though it is cheering to think that the first .10 years of it , will probably be the worst,-. . . Note that Manuilsky would rather have a Tory Government than a Labour Government for England, although the last Labour Government went down fighting , for the Russian, Loan and the Russian Treaty,. THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY IN , VICTORIA. - The Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the dairying industry has submitted its report to the Victorian Legislative Assembly.- Among the many recommendations made are that:— It is essential to establish the industry on a more economical basis. The provisions of the Dairy Supervision Act be extended to cover the whole of the State and that a board be appointed to control the marketing of butter in Victoria. i The price to be paid to producers andby consumers be fixed. The Department of Agriculture should extend its work to include the selecting and distributing of suitable pastures, every facility for herd testing should be provided and that unprofitable cows, and scrub bulls should be eliminated from herds. Greater facilities should he provided for the education of butter factory managers. Failing amalgamation where to prevent wasteful overlapping of organisations,' the Cream Grades Board be given power to recommend the non-re-newal of certain licenses. The Milk Supply Committee appointed under the Milk Supply Act of 1022 be abolished, and legislat’on be enacted to create a milk board . consisting' of the chief veterinary officer as a representative of the Health- Commission, two representatives of the producers, and one representative of the distributors. _ Wider installation of pasteurising plants. The report states that the dairying industry is on the decline m Victoria, In there were 62,424 dairy farmers, with 794,898 cows, compared with 09,935 farmers and 673,089 cows this year. The question of regulations for the making and storing of cheese is also dealt with. , WHITE-ANTING LABOUR. All that the Australian Worker has said in the past regarding the efforts made by members of the Communist Party to whiteant the Australian Labour, Party is now Confirmed in an amazing statement made last week-end by Mr F. A.‘Armstrong, a delegate from the Federated' Clerks’ Union .to the Labour Council of New South Wales. His statement is all the more important because of the fact that he was formerly An active member of the Communist Parly of Australia. According to the Worker, Mr Armstrong said that when the New South Wales Labour Conference, decided, some time ago, not to admit Communists to the A.L.P., and; by this decision, threatened to curtail the activities of the Communists within the A.L.P., the Sydney district of the Communist Party < held a meeting and carried a resolution instructing him and others, who were ‘ then members of the A.L.P., to retain their membership in the A.L.P. for the purpose of carrying propaganda into the Labour leagues, and spying upon the activities of the leagues wherever possible.

Mr Armstrong further Said that, this instructions came from the Central Executive of the Communist Party in Moscow, which also instructed that they go the length of denying their association with the Communist Party, if necessary, to remain inside the A.L.P. •

This statement by Mr Armstrong should create no surprise. The tactics adopted by the Communists arc strictly in line with the policy laid down by Lenin in his "Left Communism,” and by noted Communist leaders at the various annual conferences in Moscow. They arc faithfully obeyed by members of the Communist Party in Australia, and, as a result, many of them are now members of the New South Wales branch of the A.L.P. SEAMEN AT VARIANCE. Charge and counter-charge arc the order of the day in the Australian Seamen's- Unions, and the outcome is by no means certain. The partisans of Mr Tom Walsh and Mr Jacob Johnson arc in bitter contest for supremacy. Mr Walsh has charged the Johnson faction within the organisation of having recklessly squandered the funds of the union. In a manifesto issued to members Mr Walsh said:—

“ Since Mr Joliuson and his faction have gained control, and since their policy has become triumphant, nothing but accumulating wreckage has resulted from their administration. Up to the beginning of June, 1928, the funds had been attacked to the tune of nearly £6OOO in Mr Johnson’s first attempt at Dictatorship. The two Jnst ballots have accounted for another £2437. Not lees than £12,000 has been transferred to the head office since January, 1926, and'seamen should ask themselves bow this huge sum has been disbursed. It will be of interest to. members to know that when I returned to the head office and examined the account books I , discovered that several claims for burial allowance had been refused or'their payments postponed ■ for lack of funds; Yet several hundreds of pounds had been absorbed a few weeks before in paying the legal expenses of Mr Johnson. I also found that he had not only been paid his wages, but had also drawn a cheque for £3l 10s for holiday money. The deplorable mismailagement and general misconduct of the Johnson faction have forced the members to take matters into their own hands, and seek the protection which registration under the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act will afford them. I want to say frankly to my fellow-seamen that whatever our views may. be of Communism or Socialism, we, as unionists, have got no possible ; right to manipulate the unions for, the purpose of bringing about a Socialist or a- Communist State, either by revolutionary or constitutional means,” ' In the course of a counter-menifesto in rebuttal of these charges the following statements are made:'—

“ We ask the seamen and members of the Labour movement to analyse carefully. Mr Walgh’s past. “In 1020 Mr Walsh was expelled by the Executive Council because he could not, as general secretary, produce a balance sheet. Read what the auditors (Messrs Robertson and Rudder) said in 1920 of Mr Walsh:— “‘As you are Aware, no books of account Were kept during the period from March to December by the general secretary, Mr. T. Walsh. ' ‘“The general secretary appears to have 1 kept, no detailed account of all moneys bandied by him during the period under review. ■ -

"■‘As stated earlier in our report, the general secretary kept no detailed account of all cash received and' paid by him, and it is quite impossible to indicate what amount of money was drawn by him on account of his own wages and expenses from home/

“The auditors’ report covers 13 sheets of foolscap, and proves beyond all doubt that Mr Walsh should be the last person in the world to accuse others of squandering the funds of the. organisation. Mr Walsh has squandered more funds than all other officials have legitimately expended.”

Mr Walsh’s last words, as published in the, current issue of the Australian Worker, are as follow; .

, “ Continual -holds-up for trivial matters will make even the staunchest unionists desert the movement, unless, they can rid’ themselves of a leadership which panders to disruption and has no regard for the economic interests of the members. During my v previous term of office'l protested in vain to the Johnson clique against the expense and inconvenience to which the union was put in defending legal actions which were the result or ilbconsidered tactics by militants. The stupid behaviour of some of our. members in the ships, encouraged by Mr Jqhnson and his friends, was always a costly • blunder—a sheer waste of the seamen’s money.

_ “ The, offitials who are to-day supporting Mr- Johnson know this ns well as I do, arid every one of them has expressed the game view to me over and ov>.. again. They know of the internal struggle which urns carried on for a return to sanity before the dissensions among the seamen’s leaders were made known to Ihe public, but each and every one of them who is supporting ,Mr Johnson to-day has, against his real opinion, bowed to the domination of the Reds to save his job.”