Vol. 79/No. 16      May 4, 2015

BY FARRELL DOBBS  
Wiseacres of the day spoke pontifically about the “passivity” of the working class, never understanding that the seeming docility of the workers at a given time is a relative thing. If workers are more or less holding their own in daily life and expecting that they can get ahead slowly, they won’t tend to radicalize. Things are different when they are losing ground and the future looks precarious to them. Then a change begins to occur in their attitude, which is not always immediately apparent. The tinder of discontent begins to pile up. Any spark can light it, and once lit, the fire can spread rapidly.

In Minneapolis the flames were bound to become widespread because it was not only the coal workers who were being driven toward action to correct an increasingly intolerable situation. Conditions were bad throughout the entire trucking industry. Wages were as low as ten dollars and rarely above eighteen dollars for a workweek ranging from fifty-four to ninety hours. …

Another objective factor impinging upon the Minneapolis scene was the general working-class upsurge then beginning to take place throughout the country. Seeking help from the official labor movement to defend their class interests, workers were pouring into the AFL in growing numbers. During 1933 a mounting wave of strikes developed nationally. This trend arose primarily because of low pay, long hours and a general feeling of insecurity. It got further impetus from one aspect of Roosevelt’s “New Deal” which had been in operation since the spring of the year. Section 7(a) of the newly adopted National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA) purportedly guaranteed the workers the “right to organize.” This official declaration helped along the process of unionization, even though the workers were to find themselves mistaken in their belief that the capitalist government would actually protect their rights.

At root the NRA was devised for the benefit of the capitalist class. To stimulate production for profit, Roosevelt had adopted an “easy money” policy leading to what was called the “sixty-cent dollar.” The resulting climb in prices struck a new blow at the workers who were already suffering the dire effects of economic depression. As a consequence, organized labor intensified its pressure for government assistance through wage and hour laws. To sidestep labor’s demands, the NRA provided for self-organization of “fair competition” among employers who would voluntarily set minimum-wage rates and maximum hours. To give them a free hand, antitrust laws were suspended. NRA labor codes for each industry were thereby decided by the employers alone. The workers had no voice in the matter. …

In Minneapolis, however, the Citizens Alliance leaders took the view that the NRA didn’t go far enough in their favor on the collective-bargaining issue. A directive was issued to the employers of the city that no union whatever was needed, in any form, for bargaining with their labor force. Workers should be urged, the Citizens Alliance said, to “bargain” with the employer as individuals concerning the terms of their employment. This hard-nosed employer policy caused the local AFL officials to lean all the more heavily upon the Regional Labor Board.

A problem resulted for the insurgent workers, especially the younger militants who spearheaded the radicalization. Their youthfulness freed them from the inhibiting effects of earlier labor defeats and they moved toward battle with the bosses as though they were inventing something new. It followed, however, that they were inexperienced and didn’t know just how to conduct the fight. This made them vulnerable to AFL misleaders trained in the Gompers school. A saving factor existed in the workers’ objective need to find leaders with a correct policy and the fighting ability to carry it out. To meet this need, the help of a revolutionary socialist party was required.

As the political vanguard of the class, the revolutionary party constitutes a bridge in historic consciousness for the workers. It absorbs the lessons of the class struggle, victories as well as defeats, preserving them as part of its revolutionary heritage. The party’s cadres are the mechanism through which this “class memory” is infused into labor struggles on the given contemporary scene. The Communist League cadres could fulfill this role in the trucking industry if they could link themselves with the militant workers through the trade-union movement. In their approach to this problem the comrades made a distinction between formal and actual leadership.

Holding an official post does not automatically make one a leader. A semblance of leadership authority can be maintained for a time through bureaucratic abuse of official powers, but in the long run one must actually meet the responsibilities of a given post or a leadership void will be created. In the latter case someone else can step into the void and begin to exercise actual leadership authority without necessarily holding an official post. A contradictory situation develops, the outcome of which has to be determined by the course of events. In the end the more competent leader, as proven through performance, can wind up with the official authority as well.
 
 
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