The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 9, 1924, Page 6

Page Sia THE DAILY WORKER Wednesday, April 9, 1924 THE DAILY WORKER. Published :by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO., 1640 N. Halsted St., Chicago, Ill. (Phone: Lincoln 7680.) SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail: $6.00 per year $3.50. .6 months $2.00..3 months By mail (in Chicago only): $4.50. .6 months $2.50. .8. months $8.00 per year Address all mail and make out checks to “ ‘THE DAILY WORKER 1640 N. Halsted Street J. LOUIS ENGDAHL WILLIAM F. DUNNE f[ trttesseseseete: Editors MORITZ 3. LOEB Business Manager Entered as second-class mail Sept. 21, 1923 at the Post- Office at Chicago, Ill., under the act of March 3, 1879. ee The Struggle In Britain The MacDonald cabinet is quite correct :in claiming that the tories and liberals sabotaged the Wheatley housing bill protecting unem- ployed tenants from eviction, but there is also yeason to believe that it received but half- hearted support from the MacDonald wing of the cabinet. The MacDonaldites have not as yet shown any great enthusiasm for measures that really challenge the right of the landlords and cap- italists to.control the lives of the workers and the opposition parties derive great comfort from the fact that the leadership of the labor party does not adopt an aggressive tactic for such measures. The attitude of the Mac- Donaldites towards the Wheatley bill was an apologetic one; the noble lords of the tory party and the right honorable gentlemen of ! the liberal party were quick to perceive their hesitancy. The Wheatley bill was defeated by nine votes—proof conclusive that a militant policy would have put it over. The fight on the bill was looked upon by the liberals as a test of the fighting quality of the labor party leader- ship; the liberal leaders, Lloyd George and Asquith, remained neuiral, refraining from voting and from all reports have been greatly heartened by the vacillating policy of the MacDonaldites. The defeat of this measure—a purely hu- manitarian one in behalf of the most poverty- stricken section of the workingclass—affords an interesting sidelight on the temper of the British owning classes. The boasted fair play of these bloated Britishers evidently does not in- clude anything that will en®roach on the right of landlords to kick unemployed workers and their families into the street when the rent is not forthcoming. If such stern opposition arises against an attempt to restrict the profit- acquiring possibilities of a small section of the British ruling class the question is impor- tant of what will happen to parliamentarism in England if by a majority vote following the return of the Labor Party as majority party an attack is made on some fundamental basis of British capitalism. The MacDonaldites have repeatedly empha- sized their devotion to purely parliamentary processes, but the British capitalists have not and they will not hesitate to further sabotage the parliamentary program of the Labor Party while preparing to resist with every means available attempts to extend workingclass control of government and industry. Our advice to MacDonald and his cabinet members is to use the prestige of their govern- ment positions to organize the British working- class in a solid phalanx against British capital- ism; to kick out of strategically important government positions, in the army and navy, and elsewhere, all lackeys of the capitalist system and fill the places with labor men who may not be quite so technically efficient but who are loyal to the workers; to encourage the establishment of councils of action by the labor unions, to unify British labor and pre- pare it to use the full force of its economic Chicago, Illinois Advertising rates on application. eS RUSSIAN CARTOONS ON ANGLO-SAXONDOM | power against the sabotage of the capitalists, the landlords and their hangers-on. Unless something like this is done even a parliamentary majority after the next election will be of little service in making the British workers the real rulers of Britain. The British capitalists, like every other cap- italist class, will fight to the last ditch to pre- serve their privileges and when that time comes —it is not so far away—they will abandon all pretense of democratic procedure just as the German, Italian, Bulgarian and Spanish ruling classes have. ; For inability to pass remedial legislation at present the officialdom of the British Labor Party can be excused even tho it puts up but a feeble fight? it cannot be excused, however, for not broadening and extending, by educa- tional and organizational methods, the eco- nomic base of workingclass political power— the unions of the workers which are the first line of defense and offense in the struggle against capitalism and which must be care- fully prepared for that struggle thru central- ization of their power and a quickened con- sciousness of the all-important part they will have to play. Aid From the Enemy The expulsion of Anton Bimba from Book- keepers, Stenographers and Accountants’ Union, Number 12646, of New York, for mem- bership in the Workers Party of America, is the most high-handed and unjustifiable pro- ceeding yet listed in the personal war con- ducted by Gompers against the Communists. We have refrained from commenting on this matter until all facts in the case were at hand and the liberal “Nation” has already charac- terized the expulsion as an unmistakable in- fringement on the right of political expression of American citizens. The expulsion of Comrade Bimba violates not merely certain more or less abstract rights but the laws of the American Federation of Labor; he was expelled by orders direct from President Gompers and for the specific reason that he was a Communist. It was the political affiliation of Comrade Bimba that irritated President Gompers; he was an active member of the ‘union and not the slightest suggestion of irregularity, other than his political beliefs has been made; was the union to which he belonged strong enough to enforce the closed shop Comrade Bimba would be jobless because President Gompers does not believe in freedom of union men to join any political party whose program meets with their approval. Latest reports from New York are to the effect that the arbitrary action of President Gompers has alienated many members of the union who hitherto were his strongest sup- porters and so far as the Communists are con- cerned this is meat and drink to them; they thrive upon the mistakes of their enemies and they have not as yet discovered that expulsions of Communists by labor fakers of the Gompers type is hampering the party to any great ex- tent. The Communists have a program which depends for its success upon winning a major- ity of the workers to their side and if any surer way of doing this than to have enemies violate the laws and customs they have taught the workers to respect has been discovered we are quite certain it will become part of Com- munist tactics. It is probably one of the chief reasons for the Olympian anger of President Gompers that he knows quite well the Communists, con- scious of the weakness of his position, are laughing at him and his anti-red campaign while they capitalize it for organizational and political purposes. He calls that “fanaticism” but history will have a word or two to say on the subject and it is enough for us to know that with the aid of President Gompers, to whom they are a welcome contrast, the Workers (Communist) Party of America rapidly is extending its in- fluence where it counts—among the workers and farmers of America. ] SSS >> Ss 222222 SS SSS L22L2PPIZZL OL SS are >> SSS SSS Drawn by Russian artists for Moscow Communist Dailies. first cartoon appeared in the Moscow Isvestia (News), March 1, and gives the that has hit Washington.” Communist view of Premier Ramsay MacDonald of England shadow of the king. It appeared in The Moscow Pravda ¢ / Reformism I EDITOR’S NOTE.—Interest in the British labor movement is in- tensified by the setback given the Ramsay MacDonald labor govern- ment in parliament on Monday. In order to understand the British situation you must read these ar- ticles by J. T. Murphy, British Communist and trade unionist. They will appear in the DAILY WORKER during the rématnder of this week. Today’s installment is as follows: E VERY day that goes by is simply crammed with incidents justifying every prediction and every word of erticism the Communists have made with regard to the Labor Government. Within a single month of office all the cards are on the table: “Labor Im- perialism,’ “Empire Development,” “Industrial peace,” “social insurance,” “sops for the workers,” “national agreements,” “wages boards,” etc., etc., in short every possible measure to stifle the spirit of revolt. And the Trades Union bureaucracy are at one with the Labor Government in carry- ing this policy thru. The dock strike settlement is illuminating in this re- spect, + em Compromise Strike. The strike ended on a compromise. A compromise that could have been secured without the strike. The terms of settlement were practically agreed upon before the strike begun. Mr. Shaw proposed the compromise which was the main feature of the settlement, secretly, with the differ- ence of four weeks only on the settle- ment of the second shilling. The dockers demanded 2 shillings at once. The terms are 1 shilling now, another 1 shilling per day beginning of June. Mr. Shaw proposed the lat- ter to begin at the end of June. But there had to be a strike for the bene- fit of the leaders. Bevin and Tillet had to win back the confidence of the men and make an attempt to smash the Stevedores Union which had cap- tured many of the Transport Union’s members in the unofficial strike of last year. They got the strike, mag- nificently complete. And then be- gan the developments. , Promptly the Labor Government initated the Industrial Court of In- quiry in accordance with the policy of fostering conciliation and prevent- ing strikes, or when strikes ‘do occur to confine them to very limited chan- nels. At once Bevin seized the posi- tion for lime light and the court ab- ruptly closed with Beyin the winner. The chairman and the Minister of Labor brought the contending parties together and the same night the terms were arranged. But the men refused. They had been told there would not be any compromise what- ever and resented the slightest climb down with so complete a hold upon the situation. Government Strike-Breaking Agency. The Prime. Minister had already announced that the Government was taking every necessary measure tc safeguard the food supplies of the “nation” and had the nucleus of an organization ready for the job, Ther the Postmaster General, Mr. Harts- horn, one time leader of the South Wales Miners’ Federation, proceeded to secure voluntary labor, that is blackleg labor to remove the foreign mails. The police proceeded to pro- tect the blacklegs. The naval ratings were called in to help. Meanwhile the union leaders pro- ceeded to control the men. And this is how they did it. Bevin spoke as follows to the delegate conference which was returning to the districts to reverse the instructions of the men. “The Government is responsible for the meving of mails, They have re- frained from using soldiers, naval ratings, blacklegs or force of any kind. But they are being driven up against it, and soon will have to take the choice of exercising their powers or going out of office. That was the choice and there is no need to beat about the bush. We discussed the position with the Government ... I want you to see the influence on our judgement in the course of the de- velopments that have gone on.” Three days later Bevin had won. The Labor Government had won and the transport workers believed they had won a lot. And so they had. Following upon the Locomotivemen’s modification of the reductions which were being imposed upon them they had by direct action won back nearly to the position of 1922 when their wages were 12 shillings per day with the cost of living 79% higher than 1914. Now they were 11 shillings per day with the cost of living at the same figure. By the time they get the next 1 shilling there is every probability that the cost of living will have risen at least another five points and _ nullified the second shilling as a gain. Nevertheless they have broken the back of the offensive on wages and given an impetus to all other workers to be up and doing. And the demands for increases in wages are rolling in from all directions. But let us look more closely at the terms of settlement. The first six clauses deal with the wages questions and the adjustment of piece work prices, overtime rates ete. thereto. Terms of Settlement, 7. Local Joint Committees. Local Joint Committees shall on the request of either side, consider, with a view to arriving at locaj settlements, the following matters: a) Time workers differentials when working to or from pieceworkers. b) The adjustment of piecework rates which are deemed too high or unduly low. c) Adjustment exceptional working conditions, pro- viding that the decisions and minutes issued by the National Joint Couneil shall not be displaced locally. d) Questions of safety working and gen- eral conditions affecting health. 8. Local Joint Committees shall meet within seven days of written re- quest by. either side to consider etc., ete. ... Failing agreement within one month from such request or other time mutually agreed upon matters shall be deemed to have been referred to National Joint Council and its find- ings shall be deemed final and bind- ing on all parties. 9. Decasualisation. The parties to this agreement shall agree to appoint a sub-committee, the Minister of Labor to appoint an independent chairman ... . to examine the pro- posal for a guaranteed week with a view to arriving at an agreement to give effect to the Shaw report. 10. Either party to this agreement desiring to amend or end the agree- ment shall give one months notice. Upon such notice being given the par: ties shall meet forthwith to discuss the position. - Failing agreement at the end of one month fom such notice the parties may extend by agreement or either party may give fourteen days to terminate the agreement, 12. This agreement shall be con- sidered as a modification of the na- tional agreement of May 5th, 1920 and subsequent conditions attached thereunder, With the concessions on wages and the promised inquiry into the de- casualisation question the leaders have won the confidence of the men. With the creation of the above ma- chinery and the popularization of the Industrial Court, the leaders and the Labor Government have now got their grip upon.the transport workers for Farmer-Labor Party Great By MARTIN ABERN. MASS Farmer-Labor Party in the United States can be of immense aid to the young workers in their struggles on the job and also politically. The young workers in the indus- tries and in the fields of American capitalism, as in every capitalist country, are, together with the fe- male workers, the worst paid of all exploited workers; they labor as long, and in many industries where youth labor is especially employed, toil more hours than the older work- ers; their conditions of work, sur- roundings, are dismal and miser- able. These are the terrible condi- tions that prevail for the fledglings, the millions of exploited and en- slaved children in every imaginable industry and field in America—from the office boy in the business insti- tutions, receiving a half dozen dol- lars or so per week, to the page boy in the congressional halls of Amer- iean capitalism; from the child:in an East Side sweat shop to the infant laboring and broiling under the ter- rific sun in beet or cotton fields; from the little girl’s hands bleeding wasting away in the canning fac- tories for a few nickelg a day to the noisy street urchin, racing the streets or patiently standing on a|should enact laws jail corner trying to make-a few pennies for the home larder by selling news- pers. : pave have, too, the thousands of | ingto: young workers in the basic indus- tries, such as coal and steel, and in thousands of manufacturing works. Mainly these workers oung: children entirely). are an! the | given it would strive. for a minimum wage, a maximum working day and better working environment. A Farmer- Labor Party would: support any ef- fort to organize the youth workers and children into unions, not apart from the existing unions, but into the same unions. It may not be ‘pleasant to think that young people have to ‘fe organized when they be- long in school, but we deal with actual conditions not with our de- sires. A yolitical party would, therefore, if it were really a work. ing class political party, try to ha¥e strong economic organizations, un- ions, co-operatives, supporting its political efforts. It would encourage | Bo: the unions everywhere to organize ei unorganized workers, young and ° A Farmer-Labor Party not yet having political surrematy or con- trol of the government, but a strong miriorit party stegdily growing, would have a powerful influence on the capitalist republican and demo- cratic parties. These reactionary parties would watch their steps in promulgating reactionary measures against the class, A Farm- er-Labor Party in actual control of n Full Swing - a long time to come. They ‘have gained the machinery of conciliation to. stifle strikes, to delay them and to strangle them. Milk and Water Laborites. Immediately they had succeeded the Daily Herald opens with a campaign for Courts of Inquiry... Here we are told, within a few short weeks a miners strike will be upon us. Why not a Court of Inquiry now and avoid all the distress and dislocation of industry which strikes entail? We are told to look at the Steel Smelters Confederation, the highest paid work- ers in the country operating with a sliding scale which goes up or down according to the cost of living, and they have had no strike for forty years. Look at the National Union of Railwaymen, how they are settling things without strikes, In this policy the General Council of the Trades Union Congress is lending every as- sistance and is turning to account its latest concession to the revolutionary workers of the unemployed commit- tees. It has begun thru its joint com- mittee of the Congress and the Un- employed Workers’ Committee to take the sting out of the movement by giving it a respectable constitu- tional agitation with the sting drawn out of the demands. It is clear that the concession to the Unemployed is part of the big concerted move to maneuver the whole working class movement into a truce with capital- ism, The final debate on Poplar adds strength to this contention, Poplar Debate No. 2 Rent Bill. John Wheatley, the Minister of Health scored a “parliamentary triumph” but he delivered, on behalf of MacDonald, a most hefty blow at the workers of Poplar and every- where else where they had been ac- tively fighting for the guardians to line up with the Poplar policy, He turned the tables on Asquith and the Tories but failed utterly to take his stand with the Poplar guardians and fight the opposition as a class war fighter. His case was purely a par- liamentary case, on the rights and wrongs of the proceedure he had taken with regard to cancelling the order which nobody had been able to enforce. He said: “Let me summar- ize what I have been saying. I have not surrendered Poplar, I do not in- tend to surrender to Poplar. I have rescued MY department from a state of degradation. I have put my de- paytment in a position in which it ean and will enforce the law and do so fearlessly because impartially and felty cs é.¢ I am willing and anxious, as is the Government, to reform the Poor Law, and. particularly the Poor Law See of London, at the earliest possible moment and in doing so I will see, if I am in office, that the rights of the poor and the principles of Popular Government aye protected in the measure submitted to the House.” In an earlier part of the speech he declared, “I am not defending the Poplar Guardians, That is not my business or my duty.” Lansbury was left to face the brunt of this part of the business and it seems to settle very definitely the fate of Wheatley in the cabinet of MacDonald. To decline to line up with Poplar when every section of the opposition were attacking Poplar and cared not two pence whether the Poor Law was reformed or not so long as Poplar could be discredited in the eyes of the people, may be good par- liamentarism in the MacDonald school but it is damned poor class war fight- ing. Poor Law Reform. Indeed his final declaration on the Poor Law reform is a complete sur- render to the Liberals who are only becoming enthusiastic gbout poor law Aid to Youth Farmer-Labor Party, such as we hope will be formed in Minnesota on June 17, could prevent to a great extent further militarization of the United States. It could and must try to abolish the Citizens’ Military Training Camps as public nuisances, as a menace to the peace and wel- fare of the masses of workers and farmers. Jt should and must then immediately abolish the Reserve Officers Training Camps in the uni- versities and colleges and thus stop the training of persons for scabbery and gunmen duty against workers on strikes. A mass Farmer-Labor Party would show the lousy role of Boy Scouts crganixations and Amer- ican Sentinels and enlighten the workers so that workers would not be fooled into sending their children into these scab-teaching’ organiza- tions, Educating the Youth. political and industrial fields, It would rmit and toster the teach- the government could perhaps ap-| ings of the value of unionism to the Preciably crack, the fabric of child children; it would promote working bor exploitation. It could and|la#s education rather and Gosling- forthwith | 8m and Go: * those who employ child labor. A workers’ p: in control of the Tasks of Farmer-Labor Party. | €0vernment would, in short, among With the Teapot scandal at Wash- other things, so as m still s formerly unthinking, yet another, maybe more important than the other possible benefits, aid could be strong ‘Labor in either a trade or indus union, | cially if the Farmer-Labor Would Help the Youth, A Farmer-Labor Party, really trying to serve the interests of the workers would ree Cor to Rigo at once cl profiteering. ‘armer- Taboe Party would agitate to take the young out of” aa! and put into schools. Failing them in that, it Brey ite for pM pork is in . It could, if it were waluaty toe the taeeieaea ne tee ee: ers and farmers, and not a middle}— and exploited farmers, | class so-called } # rty (as is the Labor of England, and similar Regi ycaiem BEM countries) be a most powerful force in hinder- ihe ty emia ir ec of American t workers and children are concened f strive for abolition of child for the organization of the into the unions, for teaching history of the the class the hacking Mei ‘and By J. T. MURPHY reform because ‘they feel that the only way to defend the spread of Poplarism which is growing in Boards of Guardians is to trans! the functions of granting relief. 1 Councils where they feel the capita | ist forces have a firmer hold, From being an outspoken critic of Mac- Donald, Wheatley is be@pming his most powerful ally, may be later to supersede him, but. only to pursue more vigorously the policy of Mac- Donald, : This he is making obvious on his building schemes. Planning to build on a large scale and cheap which will catch the eyes of the multitude he desires the stability of capitalism over a period of years in order to carry out the dilution scheme with regard to skilled labor in the building industry. He is therefore asking for a building scheme extending over fifteen to twenty years with a working agree- ment between employers and workers without the slightest inroad into the powers of the capitalists. That he has got great scope with the housing problem no one can dis- pute. In 1911 nearly 5 million sons in Great Britain lived more thi two in a room; over 1 million in Se land alone were living more thany three in a room. (The Government standard of overcrowding is more than two in a room, living rooms in- cluded.) If the surplus persons had been removed from the overcrowded houses and re-housed in 5-roomed houses on the basis of 10 persons to a house 200,000 new houses would have been required in 1911. By 1914 there was an absolute shortage of 820,000 working class houses. During the war practically no houses were built except in overcrowded munition areas. At the end of the war the shortage was 620,000. Under the Addison scheme (1919 to. 1922) 176,- 000 houses were built. At the present time it is estimated that there is an absolute shortage of at least 800,000 houses, without making any allow- ance for an improvement in standard. These were the conditions that forced up the rents. In 1915 the Government in war time introduced the first rents restriction act, This was continued until the summer of 1923 when the government announced its policy of gradual decontrol until 1925 when all control was to be re- moved. The act limited the landlord to increasing his rent not more than 40% above pre-war plus end increase in rates. Nor could the landlord turn out a tenant without finding alter- native accomodation. The new policy permitted the landlord to turn out the tenant without providing alter- \ j native accomodation if he bought the , house before June 1923 and wanted it for himself or child of his over 18. That would mean also that control of rents would lapse ag houses were released. Outdoing Liberals in Liberalism. This week a private members Bill was read twice and is likely to be adopted by the Government as a Gov- ernment Bill fathered b: Wheatley, / which proposes to State con- trol until] 1928 and impose new res- trictions on the landlords right of recovering possession of the house. It further proposes to cut the 40% above war rent to 25%. That this will be popular outside there is not the slightest doubt. Add to this the proposal for 9 shillings-per-week- houses and it will be seen that the Labor Government is straining every nerve to win mass support and win confidence by. social amelioration. They are striving to outdo the Liber- als in Liberalism. Partly for these motives and partly for motives of in- ternational politics the question of the 48-hour week is receiving im- mediate attention. |, Thursday: ‘The 48-hour Week. vents the realization of a single one of its aims. And thus, such’a Farmer-Labor Party, if it were truly such, would come to realize, as the Workers Party and Young Workers League already realize, that no lasting ‘enefity, in, not even momentary ones, can attained for the masses of workers and farmers unless the whole sys- tem of capitalism is abolished, and replaced by a system in which the producers, the workers, farmers and so-called brain workers would have the total ownership and manage- ment of the mills, factories, mines, fields and the government wholly in their hands. But even tho a Farmer-Labor y cannot attain these needs of the young workers within capitalism, still the attempt must and will be) made. young. worker m realize these demands; If working rant the capitalist system and es- tablish a rosa uve and farmers’ government, which excludes all capitalists, preachers, lawyers and other ‘ugeless elements in s0- ciety, from any participation ‘or rights in the government unless they do useful work, Ultim: , the ne ee rule, bagel ei . ai ‘or Mass Farmer-Labor Party. We are for a mass Farmer-Labor Party in the United because it is a gigantic step for the workers farmers, because a Farmer-_ Labor Party trying Bs carry out ‘workers’ ating ler cay itself helpless an to the Comm the overthrow of capital. establishment of a Soviet freer the first real to carry out ee “a only for them but dN "