﻿T-Bone Slim Says: 

Worker’s lot sure is hell—anybody that comes along can call off his strike. Recently, a judge in New Yoick called off the sewer-workers strike. That was in February.
March 1st when Big Boss Rosoff goes over to the job expecting to find sweat bubbling from millions of pores, he found the boys playing cards. Can you imagine, frittering away their time in drawing to flushes instead of reading Blackstone or studying catechism.
Note: Sandhog tells me, “You’re all twisted, ‘flushing’ is a very important part of sewer construction and maintenance.”
I tried to tell him Flushing is a town over in Long Island and is purely a geographical sub-division.
“Boys,” sez Subway Sam (Rasoff), “go on downtown and have your heart examined—I’ll pay the fare.” He interrupted himself. Sam evidently thinks the judge has ended the strike.
It’s an awful mess.

A noticeable improvement secured in the relief distribution since that negro in Denver invested his few last nickles in powder and ball (killing relief agent, two caseworkers and shot into a crowd of lady clerks.) They say he (is) crazy? Mebbe so?—driven so? But knowing the conditions, I think it all makes sense. Adds up just fine! Two and two makes four. (Mebbe the requirements are a bit stringent?) Special privilege and independent thinking is tangling horns. But this relaxing of the bandages comes close to being an error: It’s a bid for other sufferers to arm. I think it would be well for relief subordinates to ignore all such rules that bring death. That would be the sensible thing to do, and organize against their superiors. This may all seem crazy, editor, but I swear by the beard of Charley Marx that I’m no crazier than the relief administration, and its works; so I am proposing that Harry Hopkins dress his agents in all metal, with all modern-air-conditioned appliances and have them look down upon the hoi polloi through a periscope. (Note: you can’t shoot a guy through a periscope no matter how he deserved it).—
And then—and then Harry, your men can put a lie-detector upon the starving millions without fear of mortal injury or physical violence. That’s my story, Harry, and if I’m to be accused of silliness or playing offsuit un trump you shall be my first witness.
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which they cannot do as individuals should decide the tactics pursued that the I. W. W. supports and practices local autonomy. Thus if a grievance concerns one camp all those workers on that job should have the right to take whatever action thet collectively decide on. But when a grievance is common to all the camps then the action and tactics adopted should be decided apon by the members in all the camps affected and the decision of the majority should be binding on all to stick together until they all gain their commondemand.
Autonomy fa Efficient
The practice of local autonomy m this way is desirable and efficient as can readily be seen. It is efficient because only so much of the power of the union is called upon to assist as is necessary. If the members in all the camps had to take a vote and act on all the conditions peculiar to a single camp, union business meetings would be swamped under and they would cease to function. A small hammer should be used to break small stones and big hammer should be used on big stones. Job branch action should break small job stones and industrial union action should break large industrial stones. The I.W.W. supports this kind of local autonomy.
But where local autonomy is denied in order to stop necessary job action and then made a fetish of to destroy essential industrial solidarity, as in the S.M. and T.W., the I.W.W. stands definitely opposed. That is why we cannot accept Pritchett’s statement as progress. On matters pertaining to one camp, local autonomy has been consistently overruled by the W.F. affiliates. But where success of demands of the workers demands industrial solidarity local autonomy is made cry and separate settlements are made by each and every camp.
Strike Action Vetoed
Invariably the local autonomy of members on a job to take action has been declared unconstitutional by the officials of the S.M. and T.W. and Plywood Workers. On Grays Harbor, on the Tacoma Eastern, and other places, strike actions has been vetoed by officials not even on the job. The members on the Olympic Penninsula don’t hold meetings excepting when an official is free to attend and oversee the proceedings and the meetings are arranged so that this is made possible. Local autonomy is a myth in these cases.
But when it comes to a case of a general raise in pay or better conditions throughout the industry then local autonomy is rammed down their throats with a vengeance. After going on record as in favor of the six-hour day and a ten cent increase in pay for the whole lumbering in-[rest of the text is missing]