B.J. Widick Archive   |   ETOL Main Page


Jack Wilson

Akron C.L.U. Head Backs
Green Red Drive in the Unions

(6 July 1935)


From New Militant, Vol. I No. 28, 6 July 1935, p. 1.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).


AKRON, Ohio, July 1. – Joining hands with William Green and other A.F. of L. bureaucrats in their latest “anti-red” drive, Frank Patino, president of the Central Labor Union here declared he not only supported Green’s move to split labor through mass expulsions but also began a campaign to oust local militants.

Patino, backed by the Summit County Labor News, announced his policy the day after the monthly meeting of the C.L.U. thus preventing an immediate reply by militants to his disruptive tactics.

It was the first open admission of Patino that he is with the A.F. of L. bureaucracy, although his previous actions in strikes had branded him as a hopeless, petty bureaucrat. His statement, widely featured in the labor paper, came three weeks after Coleman C. Claherty, rubber organizer, dragged the red herring across rubber workers’ union meetings in an attempt to scare progressives.


B.J. Widick Archive   |   ETOL Main Page

Last updated: 24 February 2016