The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 10, 1924, Page 5

Monday, March 10, 1924 LEAD OFFENSIVE #18 OF ISLAND LABOR Ashleigh Tells About Militant Dockers NOTE.—This is the first of a series of descriptive articles on the great British dock strike by the DAILY WORKER'S own corres- pondent—Charles Ashleigh, The articles came by mail. Ashl\\gh, poet and journalist, served a titm in Leavenworth penitentiary au a class war prisoner and was after- wards deported to England. The first article follows: oe ee By CHARLES ASHLEIGH (Special to The Daily Worker) LONDON, Feb.:19 (By mail).—On Saturday, February 16, at noon, the great British dock strike began, This strike is unequalled in the annals of he struggle of the dock workers, as it is the first completely nation-wide Beonflict in which her have engaged, All previous strikes have been of a sectional nature, confined to one or more ports, but never has there been a strike which affected every port in Britain, from the largest to the smallest. Thus begins a new chapter in solidarity. I went to-day for a walk in the great dock neighborhood of London. It was like a Sunday or other holi- day. Hardly a man was to be seen on the water front. Here and there, perhaps, in the long vista of miles of docks, you would see a little group of half a dozen strikebreakers, en- deavoring to cope with the immense accumulation of goods which lie upon the wharves. But most of the docks were completely deserted, x There was one exception to this, however. And that was in the case of, the National Amaigamated Steve- dores’, Lightermen’s and Dockers’ Union, an organization which posses- ses members only in London, a small union whose numbers were some- what swollen after the unofficial strike of last year. The members of this union remained at work—or, rather, were ordered to remain at work, for many of them did not respond to the order. Many of them tore up their cards in their union and came over to the striking union, the Transport and Genera! Workers’ Union. On the South side of the river, however, some of the men re- mained at work. Now, even those are on strike, for, last night, the smaller union .ardered its men to come out with the rest, So, now, complete solidarity prevails, Nearly 150,000 men are on strike. From all parts of the country come reports of the firm attitude of the men, There igs general satisfaction among both leaders and_rank-and- file militants at the success of the movement... ¢ At the Dock Gate. The dockers are striking for two shillings a day increase in wages, and for.the guaranteed week, jis last means the decasualisation of the work. The method at the British docks is that, in the early morning, cr before each shift, the dockers stand in their crowds at the dock gates. At the appointed hour, the gates open, and the foremen step out. He then selects, one by one, the men whom he requires, and the rest go disconsolately home. By this method, a docker is never sure of employ- ment. When a ship has been dis- charged or loaded, he does not know when he will get his next job. This insecurity is one of the worst fea- tures of the industry. The workers, besides the increase in pay, also wish to stabilize their employment. They demand that a fund be created, by which each doocker may be guaran- . teed a fixed minimum weekly wage. Ten Dollars a Week. Owing to the iniquitous system, above described, there are about 50,- 000 dockers in the country who aver- age about three days’ work a week, thus earning under two pounds weekly-—a miserable wage, which, in the case of a married man with children, is less than he would receive as unemployed pay from the author- ities. It is against these degrading conditions that the dockers are now fighting. , In 1921, when the employers started their offensive, the dockers were forced to retreat. The retreat went on until they had lost, thru a series of wage reductions, six shill- ings a day. Now, at last, the retreat has stop- The dockers are desperate. ey are striking for the bare neces- sities of existence—and they are determined to win. The port employers’ organization, in reply to the men’s demand, stated that they could not afford to pay the two ings daily. They offered o ing, and to submit the other shilling to arbitration. This, the men re 5 But, could the employers afford to pay the two shillings? Let us look nto the facts, see what truth there was in the pitiful wail of the \ | u *) for re-election are: Hicks, Turnbaugh, THE DAILY WORKER Zinoviev’s (NOTE.—Today THE DAILY WORKER publishes the first in- stallment of Comrade Zinoviev’s speech on the situation within the Russian Communist Party to ,a conference of party members in the Leningrad district. Zinoviev was one .of Lenin's closest associates and is chairman of the Third In- ternational.) * Sp problems requiring solution, authori. tative solution on the part of the Party. For two years the Party has been working under the conditions induced by the New Economic Policy. At the Twelfth Party Congress I em- phasized the fact that we must make a distinction between two things. In the first place the New Economic Policy is a historically necessary and very earnest chapter in the history of our struggle for the world revo- lution, But when we speak of the NEP we have often in mind the capi- talist commercial view of it, the speculative moment, I believe, com- rades, that we must hot forget this difference for a*moment. To what degree this.NEP influ- enced our Party? Are those adver- saries right who croaked their prophecies that the NEP was bound to transform our Party into a petty bourgeois Party? Is it true that the fundamental nucleus of our Party organism has degenerated? Is it true that we have ceased to be the Party of the World Revolution, and have become transformed into a Party of democratic petty bour- geoisie? It seems to me, comrades, that the best answer to these questions is as follows: The German revolution is developing, but the period of its de- velapment is proving longer than the estimate made by us, in the month of October; on the basis of our information. The German revolution is postponed for some months, but the fact that our Party took action, and the manner of this action is and remains, in view of the impending events, a point of the utmost import- ance, Severe Test Undergone. The Party, from the top to the bottom, down to the last man, re- a 6 ZINOVIEV SAYS: | (\OMRADES! At the present time | the Central of the Party is en- | gaged with the discussion of those ‘same questions which are now being dealt with publicly... The Central has formed a comprehensive commission, participated in by some members of the politigal bureau, for dealing with this question. This commission will begin work within the next few days, and we are firmly convinced that within the next few days the Central will lay before the whole Party a definite and unanimously ac- cepted resolution containing proposi- tions towards the solution of the whole of the burning questions which have been recently debated in the press. Perhaps, ‘comrades, I really acted somewhat wrongly in giving the title of: “New Tasks of Our Party” to the article which I wrote as subject for discussion, A number of opponents have pointed out that these are merely old questions which have never been answered, and that. the title of my article does not, there- fore, quite correspond to its contents, To be perfectly accurate, I should have indicated that I was writing on the topical tasks now. set our Party —whether they be old or new tasks will be seen later, NEP—Necessary Chapter. At the present juncture, however, we are faced with a number of eech to Leningrad Communists acted upon the impending events in Germany just as the revolutionary Party of the proletarian should react, and not as would have been expected of a NEP party, This test is very important. It is the test in the light of history. The Party reacted in such a man- ner that, had the expected events taken place in Germany, our Party would have regarded itself as the corner stone of the Communist In- ternational, and would have been pre- pared to fulfill to tne utmost the duty of the revolutionary party of the proletariat. The test thus undergone by the Party must serve to prove to us that it is essenitally sound, quite apart from the way in which events actual- ly developed, Had there been any real decay in the Party, had there been any degen- eration of the findamental nucleus of the Party organism, then our Party would have reacted very dif- ferently with regard to the matur- ing events in Germany; it would have hidden its head in the sand. But it did nothing of the sort. On the con- trary, if there is any reproach which can be made to us, it is what we over-estimated to a certain extent the speed at which events were develop. ing. and that we expected in October, in November, and in-December, 1928, that which will perhaps happen in Germany in May, 1924—but no one can reproach us that we have suc- cumbed to the NEP, and that we made any attempt to avoid following up the world revolution. s Our Weak Points. This does not by any means sig- nify that we possess no weaknesses whatever within the Party, We have many weak points. In connection with the NEP we can observe, in my opinion, two departures from the cor- Page Five rect. line, two false views of the na- | ture of the Party itself. On the one hand, those comrades who are up to the eyes in adminis- | trative economic work look upon the | Party as an institution provided for | the purpose of aiding the successful | execution of administrative or eco- | nomic work. The others go to the | opposite extreme and look upon the} Party as a sort of freq debating so- ciety, a kind of “parliament of opinions,” ow Neither extreme is right. We must reject both, and must look upon our Party, as it is right for Bolsheviki to do, as a political organism, con- | nected with the masses by thousands of threads, and setting itself the gi gantic task of leading the whole state, What is the present standard of our Party? tatistical data up till Sept, 1,°1923. | Speaking generally, our statistics | are somewhat lame in this direction, | |As you know, the latest statistics | were compiled with special care and accuracy, with the aid of the Central. | I believe that they correspond very | fairly with the truth. | The figures are somewhat surpris- jing. We had all assumed that we! have about half a million, or even 600,000 Party members, It appears, | however, that up to Sept. 1 we had | in the whole federation only 351,000 | communists ¢ineluding the commun: ists in the Red Army), and 92,000) candidates for Party membership. | To this‘the C. Y. must further be | added. I am, however, dealing with | the members of. the Party in the | strict sense of the word. We have 54,000 Party members ac- tually working in the shops and fac- tories (not including candidates) ; this is but few. (To Be Continued Tuesday) | qualitative | We have} | | | | | bosses. Let us see whether they are really so poverty-stricken that they cannot afford the two shillings. What Profits. If we take the reports of the capi- talists themselves, we see that the profits of the ship owners, for one year only, are 88 million pounds, The | Cunard Line made a net profit of | £12,844,164 during the years from! 1918 to 1922, Between 1914 and 1922! the White Star Line made £8,428,000 | clear profit. In the year 1922, the} Royal Mail Line’s profits amounted | to £708,808. | And so on, taking company efter} company, these fabulous profits were piled up, after all expenses had been| ls via waget, maintenance, expan- sion, the cost of new ship: . | i out oh all as eter ae | tunity to work, he must do the thing coined from the workers’ labor, they | ye Jower: wages Shan. the ‘olimp: Worx 1. a" | OTs, And this increase would only mean Rage aepiaceg aioe aa? rod pal paar ak about four million pounds per year good guage of nha Agr son . : out of their profits of 88 miliions!| Youth. The Hawthorne dae 7 Deciniie: f~-Offensi | insiance, employes 40,000 workers, ginMng ol ensive, 27,000 men and 18,000 women—near- __ The great significance of this strike| ly a!! of the women are under 30 and bs ove te - not an “aah to a new! most of them are under 21, while half ai 0 ¢ employers upon of tl al re very young, a great standards of the thatmenen i weal et teen aay eee. “se this case, the workers are not upon 5 ; Five thousand men and boys make the defensive, They have launched i i i an attack upon the masters’ profits, application for jobs at the Chicago in their effort to gain for themselves Lid ogy graben, galls improved conditions. And that is the vital importance of this strike. It is tne ‘first offen- Youth Views By HARRY GANNES Young Investigator Finds Job Hunting Hard Work. + * * NE of the big capitalist dailies has employed a young. fellow to look for jobs. His stories make interesting reading to a rebel. They show how heart-breaking it is for the young fellow or girl, without any outside help, like his family or friends, to exist. Jobs are almost impossible to get, and where the young worker is offered an oppor- job seekers, only 800 are esopleren and many of these are kicked out in a very short time. The wages are so low that a good deal of the growing crime at the present time can be charged to the inability of many of the young workers to live decently on the money they get. At the same time, we find that the Western Electric Company spends hundred thousands ef dollars in pro- paganda to keep the workers con- tented in mind if they are ‘not exactly so in their stomachs. There ate entire industries that are run on youth labor in the United States. Every day so-called “light factory” work becomes more com- mon. The youth are used almost ex- clusively in the light factory institu- tions, which also pay “light” wages. Unemployment is affecting all of the factories that hire the young men and women. Others which formerly employed older workers for the light factory work, let them go and take younger people in their places at less wages. This is a regular procedure for the bosses when hard times and unemployment comes, alge The problem of remedying the eco- nomic conditions of the young work- ers is extremely hard because there is no organization whatever indus- trially among them. The Young Workers League is working hard wherever it ean to urge the unions to organize the youth, but results are slow and hardly _perceivable. Meanwhile the organization of shop nuclei (units of the Young Workers League on the job and in the fact- ories) is being pushed in the effort to get the youth themselves to fight against the miserable conditions im- posed on them. sive move of the British workers since the long series of defeats which started with Black Friday, It means of that, at long last, the workers Britain are recovering from their, couragement, and are once more. paring for battle, They are at last on the aggressive. This strike must be won—and that will be the battle ery to other sections of the British proletariat to assume the offensive, to carry the fight on into the enemy’s territory. Chamber of Commerce Has Dick on: Guard at State Capitol SPRINGFIELD, Ill, March 9.—The Illinois chamber of commerce, which wants to put a state police bill thru the 1925 legislature has an agent at the state capjtol here closely watch- ing the primary nomination petitions filed for prospective lawmakers with the secretary of state, Legislators running for re-election are divided into sheep and goats, The sheep are those who voted for the state constabulary in 1928; the goats those who suceessmully opposed it. The chamber’s agent reports on senators as follows: “Senators who voted for the bill who are candidates Lantz, Meents, Bailey, Dunlap, Wood, Swift, N. EB, Smith and Gray.’ Hold: over members who supported the bill are: Boyd, Carlson, Essingtor, Mac- Murray, Mason, Roos and Wright. “The ten who voted against the measure and are candidates for re- election are: Van Lent, Schulze, Dailey, Hanson, Hamilton, Cuthbert- son, Forrester, Telford, Sneed and Kessinger.” For information conee the Young Workers League of Amer- ica, address Y. W. L., 1009 N. State St., Chicago, Hl, “a A LAUGH FOR THE CHILDREN week. Out of this veritable army ob} SPAIN’S DICTATOR IS NOT AFRAID OF WOMEN'S VOTES gional Commune (By The Federated Press) MADRID, March 9.—Primo de Ri- vera, the Spanish dictator, has granted votes for women. Thus he imitates his great model, the Dicta- tor Mussolini, who granted the ballot to women in Italy. But while Mus- solini gave that cherished privilege only to Fascist women thru decrees limiting the vote to property holders, wives of war veterans, wives of Fas- cists, etc,, Primo has gone him one better and given it to all women. It i8 significant that woman suf- frage, once ultra-radical doctrine, in this day of Fascist versus proletar- ian dictatorships, should prove a fitting instrument in the hands ot reaction. It is a fearful commentary on the conservatism of the Spanish women, that Primo de Rivera should have granted the ballot to all of them. A Castillian Patriot. De Rivera is a Castillian patriot and in the dominance of Castille over the other regions of Spain, he thinks should be included an edict that ev- eryone should talk Spanish with a Castillian accent, He has forbidden the teaching of the Catalonian’ dia- lect, the Basque dialect and other regional variations of the general language family of the Spanish pen- insula. This decree has strengthened the already powerful movement toward regional autonomy and even inde- pendence. He permitted the Basques to sing religious songs in their own language during the fiestas of Santa Agueda, but otherwise none of the regional languages must be sung in public or taught in schools, Barcelona Boycott, To greater enrage Catalonia, the industrial center of Spain, he has dis. solved its regional commune or ROY ernment and replaced it with hand: picked members, all of them of the National Monarchist union. The peo- ple of Barcelona have responded by boycotting the members, who, being prominent patriots are also big busi- ness men. One of the boycotts is against the biggest, department store in Barcelona, Hard-won parliamentary _institu- tions, such as exemption of members of parliament from arrest until they have been impeached or expelled, a privilege slowly conquered thru the middle ages ‘in long fights with em- perors and kings, has been abolished by a decree of the direetorate, It has decided that it can try its par- liamentary critics for treason or any other offense without asking permis- sion from parliament. How many of ti id THE DAIL’ WORKE Gel pg them to subscribe today. Dissolves Barcelona Re- ‘8 Wagner’s Misery Hit | Responsive Chord in | Hearts of Hearers'| ALFRED V. FRANKENSTEIN. Selections from Richard Wagner’s love tragedy, “Tristan and Isolde,” occupied half the program of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert at Orchestra Hall on March 7 and 8. The music was an outgrowth of Wag- ner’s own tragic experience, and more than any of his operas gets close to the souls and frustrated hopes of his hearers. Three excerpts were played, taking in the best music of the drama. The prelude is a long, sombre study in despair, the love duet and death of Isolde reach the highest degree of artistic expression to which love inspiration can carry genius. Another Brahms work, the over- ture “Academic Festival,” opened the concert. This consists of sémé student songs of Germany, particu- larly of Breslau university, woven together in a singularly brilliant or- chestral pattern. A somewhat similar work is Rubin Goldmark’s “Negro Rhapsody,” play- ed also on this occasion. Goldmark has taken a number of Negro melo- dies and made a spiendtd, in the lit- eral sense, orchestra piece out of them. The finest thing about the work is that, in treating the themes symphonically, Goldmark has not lost their Negro character. Next week, Wanda Landowska, a Polish pianist, will be the soloist. Miss Landowska is an enthusiast over old music, and has had con- structed a harpischord, the instru. | ment that was in use before the mod- ern piano was invented. On‘this she | will play a concerto by Handel and} three short solos. She will also play | a piano concert by Mozart. The or-i chestra will play a suite by Gretry, the Brahms third symphony, and two nocturnes of Debussy. } | Every new DAILY WORKER reader | means a new recruit in the ranks of | militant labor. 'SOVIET BANK TO jalong with “chervonetz,” of stable | | AiD FARMERS CO-OPERATIVES ‘Chervonetz’ Notes Are Stabilizing Currency March 9 | od Central | Bank of the Union of | st Repub) was au-! y the Soviet Congress on | the recommendation of Acting Presi-| dent Tsurupa of the council of peo- | ple’s commissars The government bank is to have a paid-up capital of 40,000,000 “cher- | vonetz” rubles and is organized to | provide the peasants with cheap credit and to develop the agricultural co- | operative movement. | A wonderfilm based on the story by LEO TOLSTOI. Produced by the MOSCOW ART THEATRE Will be shown in RIDGEWOOD, N. Y. C. March 14, Queens Co. Labor Lyceum NEW YORK CITY March 18, Labor Temple, 243 E, 84th St. YOUNGSTOWN, O. March 19, Park Theatre CHICAGO, ILL. March 19, Orchestra Hall CLEVELAND, O. Stabilizing Currency. Mr. Vladimiroff, mak a report | for the People’s Commissariat of Fi- nance, stated that the monetary re- form, consisting in the introduction, treasury notes, would be completed by the end of the month. The speaker stressed the importance of this reform | to the peasants, who mugt have a table currenc 7 With ref ate budget | of the Soviet Union, Mr. Vladimiroft pointed out that it was for the firet} time that, in the working budget year, | not only a certain equilibrium be- | ing established between revenue and | expenditure, but there was actually | March 22 and 23, ee of ne | Engineers’ Auditorium Thus the State budget for 1922-23 | had been balanced at 1,400,000,000 | gold rubles, while the estimates for the year 1923-24 were computed at | 1,750,000,000 gold rubles. | In the course of the ensuing de- bate, Mr. Larin insisted on the in- erease of the income tax. Mr. Bog- danoff stressed the necessity of a larger unification of the taxing s) tem in the urban and country dis- tricts, | In a_ resolution, unanimously} adopted, the Congress approved the reported financial reform. Presented by RUSSIAN ARTFILMS, Room 701, So. Wabash Avenue hicago, Yl, Any Book Mailed Free Anywhere on Receipt of Price. Ask Us—We Know Books. Stationary—Greeting Cards Office “Supplies RADY’S 00K sxoP 3145 Broadwa Phone Well. 1281 Chicago, Ill. SNNNNANANNY | SLIP COVERS Including Labor and Material j Davenport - - $9.50 Chair - - - - $5.50 Satisfaction Absolutely Guaranteed Also a wonderful selection of imported Coverings at a tre- medous reduction due to our wide experience in the making of Covers, enabling ue to give you superior quality, Save 30% on your Automobile covers. Order direct from— GOLLIN BROS. Formerly With Mandel Bros. People’are judged by the books they read. 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