Page:Jay Lovestone - What's What About Coolidge.pdf/11

 out the entire State Guard of Massachusetts and assumed full authority of the strike situation as commander in Chief of the State forces. The strike was broken thru the display and employment of the military forces.

Then Coolidge followed up his strong-arm, strike-breaking tactics by denying the policemen even the limited right to organize that the Bankers Citizens' Committee accorded them. In his reply to Gompers seeking a reinstatement of the striking policemen Coolidge said:

"There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, at any time. I shall support the Commissioner in the execution of law and order."

It was this browbeating attitude of Coolidge that was responsible for the local authorities refusing to reinstate policemen who had struck. It was this dictatorial procedure on the part of Coolidge that uprooted even the faintest semblance of organization that the Bankers' Committee would allow the men.

Because of the policy of the mailed fist pursued by Coolidge, the big capitalists from coast to coast placed laurels on him and sang his praise to the tune of "Thank God for Coolidge." The employers rejoiced and the workers gnashed their teeth. It was Coolidge's unyielding hostility to unionism that made him a national hero of the enemies of labor.

In explaining his refusal to reinstate the policemen Coolidge boasted:

"There is an obligation to forgive, but it does not extend to the unrepentant. To give them aid and comfort is to support their evil doing and to become an accessory before the fact. A government which does that is a reproach to all civilization and will soon have on its hands the blood of its citizens. I have resisted and propose to continue in resistance to such action."

Such bitter hatred did this revengeful attitude of Coolidge engender among the workers that on July 21, 1920, the Executive Board of the Boston Telephone Operators' Union voted, in special session, not to participate in any Labor Day parade which was to be reviewed by the Governor. The workers expressly stated that they took this attitude because of Coolidge's conduct in the police strike.

The capitalists on the other hand forthwith showed their appreciation of the strikebreaking services rendered them by the President. At the Massachusetts State Convention of the Republican Party a special resolution lauding Coolidge was passed on October 4, 1919. During the sessions of the Republican National Convention in 1920 "Big Business" paid its tribute to him. Gov. Morrow, of Kentucky, was chosen to notify Coolidge of his nomination as Vice-President. It is interesting to note that this Governor Morrow is himself a strikebreaker of the