Page:William Z. Foster, James P. Cannon and Earl Browder - Trade Unions in America.djvu/14

 sional criminals with jail records, who use their labor connections to cover up the most nefarious activities. At this time "Big Tim" Murphy, a prominent Chicago trade unionist, is sojourning three years in Leavenworth penitentiary for having robbed the United States mails of $100,000. Often labor officials in the building trades are criminals, who maintain their control over the organizations virtually at the point of the gun. The worker who tries to oppose them actually does so at the risk of his life. Constant feuds rage between these gunmen officials, marked by frequent killings. Many of these dishonest officials have grown wealthy, becoming even real capitalists and living in luxury. John Mitchell, former President of the United Mine Workers, died worth $500.000. Often after an official has held an important position in his union for many years, he will go right over to the employers and become an official in their companies and take charge of organizing their fight against his own union. Many leaders of the Miners and Steel Workers have gone this route. The European labor movement has much corruption and betrayal among the officials of the trade unions, but the situation in this respect in the American labor movement is incomparably the worst in the world.

The trade union movement of the United States and Canada have an extensive system of journalism. But for the most part it is contemptible in quality. Each of the national and international unions has its own journal, usually a monthly. Besides, there are many labor papers in the various industrial centers, some owned by the unions and others by individuals. There is a general news collecting agency, the Federated Press, which serves about 100 papers. It is supported by the liberal and radical elements and fought by the reactionaries. The A. F. of L, publishes a monthly magazine, a weekly news service, and it has the International Labor News Service, which is mostly a propaganda instrument for the Gompers machine. The various independent unions, revolutionary and conservative, also have