The Daily Worker

NOCKELS AND FITZPATRICK ARE EXPOSED AS TOOLS OF 'B. & O. BILL' AND THE SIGMAN MACHINE

That Edward Nockels as recently as June 5, 1925, sought an interview with Jack Johnstone, former member of the executive board of the Chicago Federation of Labor and organizer of the stockyard workers, is the charge made and proved in the following reply by Johnstone to the vicious attack made on the Communists by Nockels and Fitzpatrick a few weeks ago.

At the very moment that Nockels was penning the lying letter against the Communists, he was also penning a "dear friend Jack" letter to Johnstone, one of the leading Communists in the United States, whose work for the revolutionary movement is well known to Nockels. This proves Nockels' hypocrisy.

Johnstone exposes Nockels and Fitzpatrick not only as tools of the unspeakable Sigman-Perlstein machine, but also as a willing assistant to "B. & O. Bill" Johnston, in that that election stealer's campaign to expel all the radicals and progressives from the Machinists' Union.
At the Executive Board meeting of the Chicago Federation of Labor held July 8th, two propositions were accepted which on the surface, seem to be unrelated to each other.

1. A resolution condemning the scabbing tactics of the United Garment Workers in the strike of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers against the International Tailoring Company and the J. L. Taylor Company.

2. The sending to all local unions a four page lying and vicious attack upon the Communists. We reproduce the last paragraph of the letter, which will give the readers the essence of the whole.

The Executive Board of the Chicago Federation of Labor exposes the Communists' tactics, unmasks their schemes and denounces their deceptive methods because they are sailing under false colors and dare not come into the open using their own name as Communists and the American agents of the "Third Internationale". Instead they use the titles:

"Labor Defense Council,"
"Trade Union Educational League"
"Amalgamationist". "Progressive Building Trades". "American Negro Labor Congress'.", "Irish Workers and Peasants' Famine Relief Committee".

"The DAILY WORKER".
and "The Workers Monthly". Beware of them!

Respectfully submitted.
Chicago Federation of Labor,
John Fitzpatrick, President,
E. N. Nockels, Secretary.

The uninitiated will say, well, where is the connection between these two acts?-that is the basis of this article.

Forced Their Hand.

The condemnation of the scabbing tactics of the officials of the United Garment Workers is endorsed by the Communists, the T. U. E. L., and the whole progressive movement generally

(Continued on page 3.)

POLITICAL TURMOIL IN
BULGARIA, SENTENCE 10
COMMUNISTS TO DEATH

LONDON, August 4.-Reports of general political disorders continue to come from Bulgaria by way of Vienna. A Vienna dispatch from Sofia today said ten Communists had been sentenced to death.
FITZPATRICK, NOCKELS TOOLS OF 'B. & O. BILL'
Also Bared as Allies of Sigman Machine

(Continued from Page 1)

ally. In fact, it was the left-wing that pushed this action upon Fitzpatrick and Nockels. A number of local unions had already condemned the United Garment Workers, and the fact that it would have come up in the meeting of the Federation any way pushed the Executive Board into action.

Without question this action aided the strikers at least morally. But, it does not go far enough. The strikers need and want the active support of the labor movement. A call from the A. F. of L. for mass picketing would assure the success of the strike. But instead of this practical step, they passed the buck to Bill Green, who promptly told them to keep their nose out of that situation. Which they are proceeding to do.

The Amalgamated Clothing Workers have been very good to the Chicago Federation of Labor. A call for financial support has always met with a quick response. And the least that could have been done was for the Chicago Federation to give them moral support.

Nockels Condones Scabbing.

However, Ed. Nockels at the meeting of the Federation let it be known that he at least condemned Rickert and his scabbing policy with fingers crossed. In fact, he admitted publicly that if he was in the same position as Rickert he would do exactly the same thing.

As for the letter condemning the Communists—that was for the purpose of offsetting any accusation that might be made by the reactionaries, thru whose grace they retain their present positions, that they were in league with the left-wing in condemning the scabbing tactics of the United Garment Workers. It also expressed their resentment against the left-wing for having compelled them to officially take such action. They would rather have had a number of private conferences with both sides to the controversy stretching over the entire strike period.

The sending of this letter to the local unions is a public declaration, to the reactionaries that control the labor movement, that they are good and kosher, that they have learned their lesson and will never again stray from the fold, and that from now on orders will be orders and will be carried out.

Sunk to Low Depths.

The labelling of the Labor Defense Council, the Irish Workers and Peasants' Relief Committee, the American Negro Labor Congress, etc., as Communist camouflaged organizations, shows the depths that these once misnamed progressives have sunk to. The Tammany Hall trickery of Fitzpatrick and Nockels is shown in the following excerpt from the letter mentioned:

"They (the Communists) principally use a letterhead having big, bold type, 'Labor Defense Council, National Office Federation of Labor Building, 166 W. Washington St., Chicago,' and then immediately under this in faint type-writing they have 'new address, 19 S. Lincoln St.' Only one person in ten thousand would look close enough to see the fraud."

This is to create the opinion that the Labor Defense Council never had an office in the Federation of Labor Building while the truth of the matter is that the Labor Defense Council had its national office in the Federation of Labor Building from 1922 until May, 1925, and quite naturally they used up the old letterheads.

As for it being a Communist organization, Buck, the editor of the "New Majority", was the chairman of the Labor Defense Council ever since it was organized and only relinquished this position when he moved to Washington.

The labeling of the American Negro Congress as a Communist organization by Fitzpatrick and Nockels will receive the whole-hearted support of every exploiter of labor in the country. They want to keep the negro unorganized. By propaganda they have for too long built a wall of race prejudice between the white and the colored workers. The American Negro Labor Congress is making a successful drive which is bringing a better understanding between white and Negro labor and which can only result in bringing large masses of negroes into the labor movement.

Against Negro Workers.

It is all right to talk about equality for the Negroes and as long as it remained in the talking stage Fitzpatrick and Nockels were for it. But as soon as the Negroes tired of a mere talk and decided to organize and thru organized effort abolish Jim Crowism and fight for social, political and economic equality, and Nockels, who like the twins Daugherty and Palmer, raises the red scare, sends a letter to every union in the city of Chicago which practically asks them to condemn the American Negro Labor Congress.

It is true that in all of the organizations mentioned in the letter Communists play their part, in some they play a leading part. The Communist work within every working class organization and very naturally in this stage of development of the American labor movement, always find themselves in the minority.

The writer along with W. Z. Foster, Joe Manley and other Communists are very well acquainted with Fitzpatrick and Nockels, having worked in close touch with them for many years.

Never for a moment were we deceived with the progressive mantle that they donned for a short spell. The question was always at what point will they turn tail and run?

As long as they were assured of sufficient support in the Chicago Federation of Labor to insure them their official positions, they were quite willing to pose as progressives.

The success of the Russian revolution, the betrayal of the German revolution, the rise of military and fascist dictatorship throughout the world, dispelled the wrong conception held by the many revolutionary groups that existed in America as to how the world's proletarian revolution would be achieved, out of which developed the Workers (Communist) Party.

This followed by the rapid and for the first time, conscious development of the left wing movement under the leadership of the T. U. E. L. which drew the class lines much clearer putting to the test all those who considered themselves radical, from the mildest progressive to the conscious revolutionist. In other words, historically speaking, an abrupt and quick realignment of forces took place.

Those merely posing as radicals quickly scrambled back into the reactionary labor official family.

No Fundamental Difference.

The personal antagonism that existed between Gompers and Fitzpatrick and Nockels, which to a very large extent forced them to assume a progressive pose, made them rather reluctant to go back into the arms of Gompers, so official pressure had to be brought to bear. Ideologically they never differed fundamentally from Gompers.

The difference that existed was more a personal one than of policy.

The Chicago Federation of Labor took the lead in many progressive moves, such as the demand that the Canadian government release Trotsky and allow him to proceed to Russia, the recognition of Soviet Russia, the Mooney case, the organizing campaign in the packing houses and the steel mills, Defense of the Michigan cases, Amalgamation, Labor Party, etc.

But it is a mistake to think that Fitzpatrick and Nockels initiated or even actively supported any of these moves. Their support was passive. In other words, they did not oppose them.

However, Gompers demanded a showdown. In a speech made in the Morrison Hotel Gompers frankly told the reactionaries that they must take over the Chicago Federation of Labor.

It was rumored around that Gompers was going to send a special representative to organize against the progressives and to remove Fitzpatrick and Nockels if they continued to kick over the traces.

Fake Progressives.

This greatly perturbed these two pseudo progressives. They immediately began to count those who would support them. Nockels very abruptly asked the writer where the reds would stand if a fight between them and Gompers took place and he was promptly told that the reds would fight against the reactionary Gompers policy and would support them if they made a clear cut fight. However, something happened that made them change their minds very quickly and scamper back into "respectability".

There is no doubt that many labor officials, who were opposed to all the progressive measures passed by the Chicago Federation of Labor, but who because of personal friendship had supported Fitzpatrick and Nockels served notice upon them that they would have to line up, abandon their passive support and enter into an open campaign against the progressives and if they refused to do this, somebody else would take their place as president and secretary of the federation.

So they decided to eat crow and the letter sent to local unions condemning the progressives, raising the red scare by following the bureaucratic lead and labeling the mildest progressive organizations as being a Communist camouflage is only one of the many goose steps that they have made in order to prove to the Powers-That-Be that their conversion has been complete.

Nockels goes out of his way to assist the discredited Sigman, Perlstein, Feinberg reactionary machine in the Ladies Garment Workers' Union, and publicly announces that it was he who got the management of the Ashland Auditorium to refuse to give their hall to the officials of Local 2, 9, 22 of New York City because they were progressives. In spite of the fact that the hall had been rented and paid for. This he did at the request of the local lieutenant of Sigman, Perlstein and Feinberg.

Compelled to Resign.

Nevertheless a successful meeting was held in another hall and the story of the betrayal of the New York cloak and dress makers told to the rank and file of the Chicago garment workers. Since then Perlstein and Feinberg have been compelled to resign and the overwhelming majority of the members of the I. L. G. W. are now demanding the resignation of Sigman. Nockels at least, if not Fitzpatrick, has also aligned himself with the crooked Johnston administration in the Machinists' Union. About three weeks ago, much to my surprise, Nockels phoned me at the office of the Trades Union Educational League asking an interview on a very important matter.

A few days later I dropped into the Federation Building. Nockels was not there, but he had left his pink haired lieutenant, Charles Wills, a Johnston supporter to do Nockels' dirty work.

Wills in a very nonchalant way handed the writer an envelope containing two letters, one written by Wm. H. Johnston to Ed. Nockels asking him to try and get the original letter written by M. J. McMahon, a member of the General Executive Board of the Machinists' Union to a

(Continued on page 4)

NOCKELS' LETTER TO JACK JOHNSTONE
FITZPATRICK, NOCKELS
TOOLS OF 'B. & O. BILL'

Also Bared as Allies of Sigman Machine

(Continued from page 3)

friend which exposed the corruption of Johnston, Davison and company in their fake labor banking schemes. This letter, without the name of the receiver was printed in full in the DAILY WORKER of April 13th. Johnston is very anxious to get this letter to use it against McMahon with the purpose in view no doubt, of expelling him as he has J. F. Anderson, and as he intends to expel all of his political opponents because he cannot meet the charges of corruption brought against him.

Johnston in his letter begged Nockels to try and get the original even going so far as to offer to pay for it. The other letter in the envelope handed to me by Wills is herewith produced in photographic form.

You will note that Nockels states that he has a special reason for wanting the McMahon letter. But Wills was very specific just what the letter was wanted for, and when he was informed that under no circumstances would the Workers Party give the letter to Johnston or Nockels, he intimated that a law suit would force us to produce it.

Would Expose Johnston.

The Communists never go into a capitalist court of their own volition, but Johnston believes in capitalist "justice". But this is one case that he will not trust the courts with because in the process he would be compelled expose his own corruption.

Fitzpatrick and Nockels have gone the way of many others who a few years ago thought they were progressives, as witness the socialist parties who have become the betrayers of the working class the world over.

The world war was the first clear and definite sign of the actual decay of capitalism. In that wild orgy capitalism delivered its own death blow from which it cannot recover. The present period of partial stabilization of capitalism does not mean that capitalism has overcome its crisis. On the contrary it simply means that the revolutionary center has changed from Europe to the imperialist colonial possessions, as witness the struggle between the Riffians and the French imperialists, the revolutionary crisis in China, which encourages and strengthens the fight for national independence of all colonial people and national minorities and weakens world's imperialism.

The threatened British coal miners' strike, now postponed, which has the support of the railroad workers, the Machinists and Marine Transport of Great Britain as well as the support of the revolutionary miners throughout the world, when it breaks, will shake the British empire to its very foundation.

These and many other movements show that the stabilization of capitalism in the European sector is not a
Revolutionary Movement Gains.

On the other hand the success of the Russian working class against their capitalist class and their ability to hold their victory against a united world's capitalist front, coupled with the fact that in many countries all pretense of democratic government has been abolished, the bourgeoisie being compelled, in order to quell revolutionary uprising to launch a reign of terrorism and to set up military and Fascist dictatorships, shows the ascendancy of the world's proletarian revolutionary movement.

The vicious attacks made upon the progressives and the Communists in this country by the labor bureaucrats strengthens the hands of the enemies of labor. Letters such as the one sent out by Fitzpatrick and Nockels are attacks upon the working class. They can hinder the development of the left wing movement by raising the red scare but they cannot kill it. Slowly but surely the American revolutionary movement is growing in strength under the banner of the Workers (Communist) Party and under the leadership of the Communist International.

Side by side with the Workers Party within the trade unions there is developing a militant conscious left wing under the leadership of T. U. E. L. and the Red International of Labor Unions. 66,000 votes in the miners' unions, the forced resignation of Perlstein and Feinberg in the I. L. G. W. U., the stealing of the election by Johnston of the machinists are not isolated incidents. They are the results of conscious movements from below that will eventually establish a leadership that will lead the forces of labor into the struggle to fight the battles of the working class.