The Daily Worker

Communists in British Wool Strike

LONDON, Jan 1 (By Inprecorr Mail Service).-The strike of the wool workers in Saddleworth in Lancashire is still going on. Saddleworth is a small industrial district consisting of a chain of villages whose inhabitants work almost exclusively in the wool mills. Saddleworth is about 20 miles from the real center of the wool industry in Yorkshire and this renders any extension of the strike difficult.

There are 12 wool mills in Saddleworth, of which eight are now closed down in consequence of the strike. The employers demand a 10 per cent wage reduction. In the four factories which are still working no wage reductions have been announced as yet. The workers in Saddleworth are organized in an all-embracing local union. The secretary of this local union was one of the witnesses for the prosecution in the trial of four arrested Communists. He declared, inter alia, that he visited the factories daily in order to assist the police in the execution of their duty.

There is no Communist Party organization in Saddleworth, but this did not prevent the party from carrying on considerable activity amongst the strikers. Numerous meetings were organized, leaflets distributed and a strike news sheet issued daily. At a meeting organized by the Communist Party, four workers were arrested for resisting the police in the execution of their duty and inciting to violence, at least, that was the charge. The workers were heavily fined. The Communist Party is doing its best to bring out the workers of the other factories, but although the union recognizes the strike it does its best to sabotage all action.