Sol Dollinger Archive | Trotskyist Writers Index | ETOL Main Page
From The Militant, Vol. X No. 4, 26 January 1946, p. 3.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
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The following statement nailing the corporation-inspired, red-baiting attacks in Flint was issued to the press on January 17 by Sol Dellinger, Flint organizer of the Socialist Workers Party: |
In the January 16 issue of the Flint Journal appears an article in reference to my activities as organizer of the Flint branch, Socialist Workers Party (Trotskyist), and in regard to the program and activity of the Trotskyists in the UAW-CIO.
It is our considered opinion that the statements appearing in the pages of the Flint Journal are corporation-inspired. The time-honored method, but none-the-less disreputable, to split the unity of striking workers is to resort to red-baiting.
At no time during this strike has General Motors Corporation been successful in breaking the magnificent solidarity of the GM workers. One has only to ask himself the question “Who benefits?” The answer is obvious. The only beneficiary of these red-baiting attacks is the power-glutted General Motors Corporation.
The General Motors workers are engaged in a titanic battle with the mightiest, the richest, most arrogant financial colossus in the world. The GM workers have the right to expect the aid of every working class organization, whether it be a political party or another trade union, in their fight to maintain a decent standard of living for the working people of America.
The Socialist Workers Party, all of its members, and I as an official representative of the party, are actively participating, supporting and aiding the striking General Motors workers. We accept our obligation as should every individual worker and organization in the entire country.
We feel that the basic problems of this country—war, inflation, and unemployment—will not be solved until the workers and farmers organize and win a majority of the people over to the idea of taking control of the government, running the government in the interests of the majority of the people, and not as it is today, in the interests of America’s 60 Families, who number less than 1 per cent of the population.
Our party bases its principles and program on the great Russian Revolution of 1917, led by Lenin and Trotsky. There, for the first time, the poor people of Russia proved to the workers of the world that it was possible to take power in the country and wield it in the interests of the people.
In answer to the four misguided individuals of A.C. local, who issued the release to the press about Trotskyists working in the GM-UAW locals of Flint, we would like to make this clear: If there are any people in these locals who accept part or all of our ideas, they can rest assured that they are the most active people on the picket lines, the best supporters of the strike, the most selfless, self-sacrificing and devoted members of the UAW. Where any members of our party are elected to office by the membership of their union, they perform their duties in the best traditions of militant, progressive unionism.
We expect and know that all our members in the UAW are in this fight to the finish, for a 30 per cent wage increase. For this strike will determine whether the American workers will be able to maintain themselves and their children at a decent standard of living or be pushed down as serfs of the corporation.
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Last updated: 18 September 2018