The Saturday press., June 27, 1936, Image 1

About The Saturday press. (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1927-1936

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
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VOL. 111, NO. 35
COMMUNISTS SABOTAGE
MINNEAPOLIS BUSINESS
The strike of the Communist
inspired woodworkers, which has
closed sixteen sash and door fac
tories for over six weeks, is serv
ing as a smoke screen for the real
ends of radical Minneapolis la
bor. We’ll give a resume of the
strike from the beginning.
Nearly seven weeks ago a
strike was called in the wood
work plants by a union affiliated
with General Drivers’ Union Lo
cal 574. The strike was called
because the employers could not
possibly meet the wholly unrea-
The Strength
oS Reason
By McMann
This era has, perhaps with
some justice, been labeled an
“age of reason;” yet every day
the fallacy of reasoning with the
multitude as against an appeal to
the “something-for-nothing” eco
nomic instincts of the mass has
been proven time and again in
the past few years.
To begin with the entrance of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He
appeared at a time of economic,
industrial, and social discord
when hysteria rendered the ma
jority of the population of this
country deaf to the voice of rea
son. Roosevelt, or those behinti
him, were aware, acutely, of the
population’s state of mind, and
mapped the New Deal campaign
accordingly.
Roosevelt recognized the For
gotten Man, and in the Forgotten
Man slogan every indigent or
near indigent in the country read
his name. Forgotten Man was
the name of practically every per
son who voted for Roosevelt.
Roosevelt was not merely a poli
tician to the multitude, he was a
personal friend of each and every
one of them —so they felt. They
felt that; they did not think it.
Reason could have explained to
them that their feelings misled
them, that Roosevelt could not pos
sibly become a personal friend of
every one of millions of voters.
But the ballyhoo and ledgerde
main of the New Deal fostered
and strengthened this idea. Gov
ernment relief fortified Roose-
Sash and Door Strike a Smoke Screen in Drive for Union Pow
er. Reds Menace Entire Woodwork and Building Industry. Sash
and Door Workers Fear to Return to Work— Threatened With
Physical Violelice. Employers Are Being Driven Into Corner.
Business Men’s Only Chance to Call for a Showdown and Force
Hand of Communist C.L.U. and 574!
sonable demands of the union.
During the period of this strike
the plants have been denied the
right to deliver or to ship any
goods.
The employers have earnestly
velt’s slogan, because here was
something which reached out and
touched and influenced practical
ly every person in the nation. •
The age-old words of political
baloney uttered by former poli
ticians in former years, and
which had always been accepted
with a sizable graiu of salt by
the voters, were accepted without
reserve by the lean-bellied nation
when rolled off the tongue of
F. D. R.
Even when, later, under the !
light of reason, the New Deal
was shown to be merely a politi
cal set-up operating on an unpre
cedented spoils system, the For
gotten Man didn’t give much of a
hoot. Whatever the politics of
the party in power, the party was
remembering the voter with
something tangible. It’s pretty
tough to reason with the sucker
type of gambler who is always
playing the long-shots, hoping
for the impossible; and when
that sucker’s long-shot, as rarely
but sometimes happens, comes in,
the sucker becomes practically
incurable. It is useless to rea
son with him and explain to him
that he can’t win consistently,
for if he could there would be
no long-shots since the bookies
would go broke paying off.
Reasoning is not the forte of
the American people as a whole.
This is evidenced clearly enough
by the (late) Huey P. Long’s
Soak-the-Rich program, Town
(Continued on page 3)
THE CRITIC OF CRITICS
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN, JUNE 27, 1936
endeavored, through the medium
of the Minneapolis Employer-
Employe Board, to clearly set be
fore the sash and door workers
the facts: that the woodwork in
dustry is still struggling under
the handicap of the depression,
and that it would be impossible
for the employers to meet the de-
PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1
Most every decade since Bill
Bradford took out a hunting li
cense and came over to shoot
wild turkeys, we have had some
man made infliction that was
rated as a public nuisance, rang
ing all the way from invading
armies to jazz music, and in most
every instance there has been
some professor of something or
other who had a sure cure for
whatever it was.
The native Indians were prob
ably the first to make the head
lines, but muzzle loaders and
cheap likker ruined their show,
then the British Red Coats, until
George got their range, and so on
until our time when Carrie Na
tion nominated the liquid courage
dispensers, who might have been
cured by prohibition if that
hadn’t gone into a tail spin, and
down the line to bootleggers, kid
nappers and Brain Trusters, al
of which someone has had or will
have a cure for. i
But the rub is that up to date
no mental colossus has devised a
cure for the worst disturber of
public peace the nation has ever
suffered to exist, namely, the em
ployer of labor.
Most all of our troubles, past
and present, can be traced to
them, for if some left wingers
hadn’t gotten the idea of out
smarting the Indians and setting
up a new nation on their land,
Bill would have shot his limit of
turkeys, sailed back to England
and everbody would have been
(Continued on page 4)
I
_J—
By Col. Lionyshot
mands set upon them. The em
ployers have made clear that at
the earliest opportunity, depend
ent upon business conditions,
wages will be raised, and have
iterated their desire to pay fair
COMMUNISTS BACK
THE F-L PARTY
The Minnesota Communist
party is backing up the Farmer-
Labor i>arty. That isn't news to
some who know their Minnesota
politics, but it may be for those
who don’t.
The Communist party has is
sued pamphlets urging a vote for
the F-L bunch. All voters who
cast for Nat Ross, Communist
candidate in the fifth congres
sional district, are urged to cast
their votes for Dewey Johnson —
F-L-ite, same district —as Ross
has withdrawn in his favor.
The Red pamphlet has a bit to
say about the 574 outfit, too, as
follows:
‘‘The Communist party wishes
to state frankly that it does not
entirely agree with certain poli
cies carried on by some of the
leaders of 574. We do not agree
with the head-on attack on the
A. F. of L. nor the failure to
consistently fight for reinstate
ment in the A. F. of L. We do
not agree with the leaders of 574
who oppose the United Front.
Above all we are in disagree
ment with their indiscriminate at
tack upon the Farmer-Labor par
ty. These policies are not in the
best interest of 574 nor of the
workers as a whole. Ultimately
they will have a detrimental effect
upon the labor movement. How
ever, despite these differences,
the Communist party salutes the
power and militancy of local 574
and its progressive contribution
to the Minneapolis labor move
ment. The Communist party is
SINGLE COPIES FIVE CENTS
wages. The majority of the em
ployes understand the employers
predicament and are willing to go
back to work —but dare not be
cause of fears of physical vio
lence! These employes dare not
go back to work for fear of Com-
munist thugs!
This strike has narrowed down
to where the true facts are forced
out. It is the same old story that
has been acted out in blood, vio
lence and general strife in Min
neapolis during the past three
(Continued on page 3)
throwing all its forces behind 574
for its defense against the reac
tionary attack of Meyer Lewis
and Murphy (the latter is head
of the Teamsters and Chauffeurs
union Local 500, with whom 574
is at odds). We know that if
574 is smashed or weakened it
will also be a direct blow against
the A. F. of L. movement and
above all the industrial union
forces, and will lead to a whole
sale drive on union conditions.
Therefore, we say, the need of
the hour is a United Front of all
labor forces to protect, defend
and build 574. Local 500 must
not be allowed to become an
established drivers local and an
instrument of the craft unionists
to again split the drivers.’'
The agitation displayed by the
Communist party over the “at
tacks” on 574 is real enough.
These “attacks” are an indica
tion of Minneapolis American
labor to rid the labor movement
of Communists. Minneapolis la
bor has become tired of being
misrepresented by 574.
The Communist party also is
not a little upset about the strong
forces lined up against the Farm
er-Labor pariy this year. The
Communist party has to say
about this:
“Can there be any doubt in
anyone’s mind that it is the duty
of every worker to bring about
the victory of the Farmer-Labor
party, to build it and make it a
(Continued on page 2)
A