From Labor Action, Vol. 5 No. 23, 9 June 1941, p. 1.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
LOS ANGELES – West Coast labor is putting up a magnificent fight on every front against the attempts of the Roosevelt war machine to roller over the rights and conditions earned through many years of struggle here.
In each of these major struggles – there are many others too – the union has a clear cut case which can’t be answered.
The lumber companies, the aircraft corporations, the shipyards and the warehouses are making a big pile of dough. This is common public knowledge and the companies have not dared try deny these facts.
The workers are very dissatisfied with present wage scales since the rapidly mounting cost of living is squeezing them dry. so they demand what justly belongs to them.
Ordinarily, victory would be a cinch.
But now the employers have a powerful open ally in the Roosevelt regime which joins the bosses in yelling “national defense” and hiding all direct attacks on labor under this guise.
Today Roosevelt declared all war industries to be so in name. The purpose of this is to scare labor out of fighting for its just demands. The pattern of tricks runs like this:
The press of economic insecurity is forcing the workers to battle despite all the torrent of abuse and lies hurled at them. And they are becoming increasingly bitter about the raw deal of the Roosevelt regime.
So the strikers are remaining solid.
Fancy maneuvers, calls to Washington, phony peace announcements, delays, etc., are used to weaken or break these strikes. In each case the unionists are standing firm because they haven’t got what they must have in order to live.
The propaganda about “national defense” isn’t catching much hold. That is why the unions and the Roosevelt regime are in a head-on collision.
Showdowns in lumber, the shipyards and aircraft are unavoidable this week.
The unionists are learning through painful experience that they have no friends except themselves. That what they get depends on their own strength.
The pressure on union leaders is simply terrific. FBI men shadow them continuously. Now the trick is to call them to Washington where all sorts of heat is put on them by various government officials. Meanwhile on the picket lines rumors and lies are spread to divide the men.
The resistance of the strikers up and down the coast to these kinds of tactics is a good demonstration of the remarkable power of the union.
Over the week end, all the aircraft plants, the shipyards and other major industrial points were placed under military surveillance, again primarily as a means of intimidating the workers from fighting against attempts to enslave them.
Pursuit planes fly overhead, anti-aircraft and machine guns have been mounted, “unlimited emergency” has been proclaimed, all to terrorize labor.
But thus far labor stands solid. Roosevelt strike-breaking hasn’t succeeded yet. This is the big week.
Last updated: 30.12.2012