The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 10, 1924, Page 12

SIM aa By GEORGE HARDY. The recent strike of German sea- men in the British Isles was a new attempt at striking. Its importance was the international aspect. But the end was a tragedy. The determina- tion of the strikers was the only bright spot in the strike itself. And after the ships had got away with skeleton crews we got the announce- ment of 600 strikers being shipped to hdéme ports, only to be arrested and severe. sentences inflicted upon many of them. We search for the causes of. defeat, which are many. The treachery of the Deutsche Vohrkesbund .(German Transport Union) was unsurpassed. Their members were about two-fifths of the organized strikers. The other three-fifths belong to the Deutsche Shiffarhtsbund (German Seamen’s Union), affiliated to the R. I. L. U. Many were unorganized. The D. S. B. showed a willingness to fight on and would have: co-operated whole heart- edly, but the executives of the D. V. B: refused to endorse the strike, and as usual did what their Social-Demo- cratic compatriots have been doing the world over, and particularly in Germany. ; No United Action. It mattered not that the struggle had a partial backing'in Britain, and that the strike must be won to save the seamen from prison under the nautical law in Germany, or that the strikers chose Britain to escape the bullets of “Comrade” Hense, the So- cial-Democratic ¢hief of police at Hamburg, and his colleagues at other German ports. They refused to aid in any way to achieve victory. They only discouraged and divided. The division of the German sea- Foes of Conscription. Federated Press Review. While most people wére opposed to, conscription before the big business interests threw the shadow of world war across America, only 500 men of draft age carried the opposition to the extreme limit in the brave days More Books Given Away “Through the Russian Revolution” By Albert Rhys Williams “Industrial Revival in Soviet Russia” By A. A .Heller “The Great Steel Strike” By W. Z. Foster “A Week” By Iury Libedensky SEND US $6 FOR A FULL SHEET OF RUTHENBERG APPEAL COUPONS’AND TAKE YOUR PICK The Michigan Defense Needs Money Get Behind the Ruthenberg Appeal! LABOR DEFENSE COUNCIL 116 W. Washington St. Chicago, Illinois men into two unions again helped to defeat them. Confusion thru lack of preparation was also a contributing cause. ' And even the lack of policy of the D. S. B. was to be regretted. Also arising out of the strike amalga- mation of the two unions and the ne- gotiations had “progressed far, have received a severe setback due to the spineless conduct of the D. V. B. of- ficials, Notwithstanding the support of the Transport Workers at the Surrey and Commercial Docks, at London, the strikers were sent home defeated largely because the ddckers dis- charged, loaded and bunkered ships. Thus allowing the skippers to ship and get away. It is said there was an arrangement that upon the call for assistance from Havelock Wilson the Transport Workers’ Union offi- cials would take strike action against the ships involved. Did Wilson call for help or was he more concerned with ulterior motives, both of aiding British shipping and making interna- tional publicity for himself witha view to resurrecting the defunct “Interna- tional Seafarers’ Federation”? He certainly did not encourage any out- side help, nor was the necessary in- ternational. publicity to the strike given publicly, which was calculated to win the strike by extending it to other countries. Political Ambitions. Failure to set up a joint strike committee composed of representa- tives of the two German unions involv- ed, the Seamen’s Union of Britain and the Transport Workers’ Union, to- gether with full co-operation of the seamen’s section of the Revolutionary Transport Workers of the R. I. L. U. and the seamen’s section of the Inter- national Transport Workers’ Federa- tion, led to defeat. The money of the when every bayonet dripped with gory democracy. These 500 war objectors and the 4,500 who went part of the way with them in defying the Wilson war ma- chine, get their day in the court of the reading public thru Norman Thomas’ book, “The Conscientious Objector in America.” The American is not a bad kicker, and he will therefore find much to interest him in the account of the government’s troubles with these reb- els against w \tary authority. He will pass over the accounts of inhu- man torture in American camps of some of the objectors, knowing that soldiers in battle suffered just as much and more, tho not perhaps in the name of liberty and justice, cold- ly administered by safety-first cap- tains and colonels. He will linger a bit over the 57 variet?=\of religious objection and then wi ‘come down to the honest-to-god ‘objector that ev- ery doughboy could understand. This was the objector who handed it out to the officers as his view that it was a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight. This objector had no ob- jection to the army and to the fight- ing men as such. In fact, he rather fa- vored a good scrap like the Russian revolution or the American revolu- tion, and wouldn’t mind putting on a uniform and shouldering a gun to fight against the Wall Street war profiteers and the bosses generally. The dollar-a-day Yank who has now been refused his cash borus will ap- preciate such fighting doctrine. Right here the more belligerent reader will conclude that the book falls down a bit. The author is evi- dently allied with the groups opposed to all war and develops a comprehen- MAC’S BOOK STORE |: 27 JOHN R STREET DETROIT Full line of Sociological and Lavor Literature. © Periodicals and Newspapers . « 8 N. S. and F. U. was not enough. The whole weight of the British unions should have been behind the strike. A call for international action going out with the signatures of the R. I. L. U. and the I. T, F. attached would have proved “international” was not a mere word nor pretense. It would have stirred all port labor and seafar- ers’ unions to declare themselves, and a victory might have been the result instead of defeat. Now we must prepare. The Ger- man seamen will continue to strike i other countries. The enormous amount of seamen unorganized and unemployed adds to the difficulties to seamen striking successfully at home. Besides the ruthless suppression of a dictator, the D. S. B. is an illegal organization by the dgcrees of Von Seeckt. These features Make it very hard for the German seamen to win at home. If German seamen’s wages are not to remain an influence for low wages in British ships then we must be up and doing. There is no question of the German seamen repudiating the officials who really betrayed them, and determining their own policy. Already last week at Barrow-in-Fur- ness anether crew struck. But the N. S. and F, U. refused aid. As there is no common understand- ing as to what we will do if such trade unionists and transport workers strikes continue we propose to all n win, i Aid For the German Seamen and the shipowners can pay equally as well as all other countries. Action!—More Action! If the German seamen can get the General .Council of the Trade Union Congress and the Transport Union of Britain to agree to support them finan- cially and declare a boycott against German ships, then the German sea- men will make a definitely organized fight. And with such machinery created as indicated above we could surely Between the two internationals over three million transport workers could be effectively used to support the German seamen, And by creating machinery as indicated above we could show for once what real inter- national action means to the workers. Get your branches to demand action and remove the danger of low wages and destitution. The following telegram was re- ceived from the German Seamen’s Union by the secretary of the Inter- national Seamen’s Section of the Red International Transport Workers: “Wire at once Australian union to hold German ships until all claims granted by owners. Severe punish- ments inflicted on German seamen owing to strike in England. Wire an- swer whether this received. Letter follows.” . / We appeal to the General Council of the British Trade Union Congress _ to take this question up, and in con- in particular, both ashore and afloat, ;/junction with the Transport Workers, that we discuss helping the German seamen and declaring an international boycott against all German ships which do not p 7 the full demands of the German seamen. The <éerman wage of £2 18s 0d is slavery and threatens every seaman’s home with starvation. Compared with world and in accordance with resolutions passed at the I. S. F. Congress, make a fight for international wage stand- ards and conditions. To send money to help the German trade union bureaucracy is impotent. Support the Germans who are strug- gling for their very existence. prices, Germany is as high as any,' Let’s have international action! ‘® Literature-- Music -- Drama e sive anarchist theory of the state. America,” by Norman Thomas; B. W. The good point about this is that he knocks those easy-going © objectors who were willing to take noncombat- ant service. They ‘were unwilling to feed the gun, but jumped at the chance to feed jthe gunner. Thomas shows them up.>~ The book has % foreword by LaFol- lette, who picturesquely points out that “a conscience against war brought objectors to prison! A lack of conscience against stealing brought rofiteers to palaces.”—C. H. “The Conscientious Objector in 3 Penetrating Analysis! General Secretary of the Red GGAUANADAUANUEANUGAD END ENA SEA UAHAAAUAULEEOOAUEEDTEAAEAOEAUO EAU EAAA EUG SAU EEA EEA DEGO EEA UAA AAA aE AAA EEA SE TTT TTT LLL MTL LOLA LLL ELLE Burning Criticism! THE NEW AND SIGNIFICANT BOOK ENTITLED 2 The World’s Trade Union Movement By A. LOSOVSKY In this bor #, published in March at Moscow, and now made available to American readers, the leader of 13,000,000 trade unionists depicts, dis- sects, and measures the relation of forces developed before, during, and = since the war. The first book ever written dealing so comprehensively with this vital subject William Z. Foster says: “Here are described every political, economic, and organizational force of the world’s trade unions, and their role in the fight, developed since the war, between Reformists and Revolutionists.” 112 PAGES, STIFF PAPER COVER, WITH PHOTO OF AUTHOR. FIFTY CENTS PER COPY, Bundle orders of ten or more, 35 cents each, with special rate on larger orders. Trade Union Educational League, 1113 Washington Blvd. A special edition of this book has also been published for the Workers Party. Branches and members of the party are expected to place their orders with. the literature department at the same address. Huebsch, Inc., New York, $2. y. * * «& Labor Pamphlets. “The Denial of Civil Liberties in the Coal Fields,” by Winthrop Lane, has been published by George H. Do- ran for the L. I. P., the American Civil Liberties Union and other or- ganizations. It pictures the ezarist rule of company managers and gun- men in company-owned towns. Be- sides the results of other investiga- tions are given, including the official report of the federal coal commission. Sound Logic! fern tr International of Labor Unions Chicago, Ill. = ’ awe aniinemeneeeee ee nt tt = » |