The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 12, 1924, Page 1

THE DAILY WORKER RAISES THE STANDARD FOR A WORKERS’ AND FARMERS’ GOVERNMENT THE Vol. Il. No. 47, SUBSCRIPTION RATES CAR UNION WALKOUT STOPS ALL PIT In Chicago, by mail, 8.00 per year. Outside Chicago, by mail, $6.00 per year. DAILY WORKER. MONDAY, MAY 12, 1924 ERB 290 iS Entered as Second-class matter September 21, 1923, at the Post Office at Chicago, Illinois under the Act of March 8, 1879. Published Daily except Sunday by THE DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO., 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Il, I. L. G. W. U. MACHINE ABANDONS ALL PROGRESSIVE PRETENSES IN ITS WAR ON MILITANTS . By JACK JOHNSTONE. The Ladies’ Garment Workers’ convention, entering its fifth day, promises to be the most ruthless, undemocratic and reactionary convention that this once progressive organization has ever had. The yellow Amsterdam disruptive tactics are the rules of order govern- ing the proceedings and the sinister figure of Abe Cahan hovers in the background of the conventiton. Nothing of a constructive nature has even peeped into the con- vention hall as yet. Nothing in four days except bitter denunciations of the militants, the T. U. E. L. and the Workers Party. raceme ham exsep lovin | aaa ON APPEALS TO HEAR ARGUMENTS OF . THE EXPELLED MEMBERS election year variety or of a bombas- tic appeal for unity, mingled with a bitter denunciation of all militants and a condemnation of progressive bprty petty bourgoise leadership Se aaa ene Werkeed Comes out in broad relief against the BOSTON, May 11.—A committee frank cla’s conscious arguments put| 0” @PPeals has been appointed here up by those workers who are being} 3¢ the convention of the Internation- thrown out one by one from the con-| 2! Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, vention. So far six have been un-| t? hear the cases of the expelled seated, five from New York and one| embers in Chicago and Philadel- from Chicago. There are still about| Phia, and of the 19 members of Lo- twenty more objections. It is only|-¢a! No. 22, of New York City, re- thru this violent method that the| Moved from the ballot in thie elec- present reactionary leaders can hold| tion of convention delegates. control of the organization. Their The cases of two more contested delegates are yet to come before the convention. The speech making be- fore the convention was just about completed on Saturday, when Jacob Panken, the Socialist judge in New purpose is to remove from the con- vention the leading spokesmen of the York City, appealed for support of the July 4 gathering at Cleveland. left wing and then after making the left wing inarticulate, to push thru their reactionary and disruptive Policy. Expel Oldest Members. The six that have been unseated are members of long years staiding, from five to fifteen years in the I. L. G. W. U. They have held, and four of them are still holding, official posi- tion in the union. The reactionaries have not yet found ways and means to stop the rank and file from elect- ing them to office, or electing them to represent them at the convention, but they have been able thru their ruth- Jess expulsion policy and arbitrarily vention election ballot, and by’ ob- jecting, to those who managed to pass this barrier, being seated at the convention, to get the majority of By THOMAS MYERSCOUGH. BELLEVILLE, Ill, May . 11.—Ap- the delegates to the convention in lieu of support of the majority of the membership. One can have respect for Gompers, at least he is a frank open enemy of everything progressive or revolu- tionary. He hat® amalgamation, In- dependent Working Class Political Action, Soviet Russia, the T. U. E. L. and the Workers Party. He is for (Continued on Page 2.) pointees of President Frank Farring- ton in the Illinois mine workers seem to have “interpreted the handwrting on the wall,” if the efforts of some of these men can be taken as a criterion. The determination of the rank and file miners to do away with the ap- pointive power is so strong that the men who now hold jobs by virtue of such power in the hands of Farring- ton are getting afflicted with “the coal mine blues.” Many of the men holding these alone have they no delegate to the jobs, by appointment, are strenuously opposing the rank and file efforts to put an end to this method of “ma- chine” building, dnd are proposing a referendum vote of the membership to settle the question. They are claiming that this is a democratic procedure, but the men hereabouts say that they do this because a check up of the delegates elected has showed that the miners are over- whelmingly opposed to appointments. The working miners have for too long seen the use of thts power work hardships on the men who are forced to pay the bills. For instance, men who once, held elective positions, if they have served the machine well while holding same, thereby winning for themselves the enmity of the men who elected them, with the result that they were defeated in a subsequent election, are’ put on the pay roll and the rank and file have no say in the matter. They see their only hope in the referendum, because they know how to “put it over” on a state-wide basis. If the’ appointive power is taken away and they are forced to submit their cendidacies to sectional FURRIERS HOLD CONVENTION IN MORRISON HOTEL Expulsion of Radicals Big Issue The International Furriers’ union will open its annual. convention this morning in the Morrison hotel. The union has approximately 12,000 mem- bers, the great bulk of the member- ship being in New York. The Furriers’ union is under the control of the New York Daily For- ward leadership. Abie Cahan’s agent is Morris Kaufman, who is interna- tional president. While the great ma- jority! of the members in New York support the left wing position, not convention, but radi¢als are not al- lowed to hold office in the union or have their names placed on the bal- lot. Tenth Vice President Surot was ex- pelled from the union because of his progressive stand in the organization. In @ recent issue of the Furrier, an editorial declared there should be a are doing this without any such pro- vision. “What is the constitution be- tween friends?” Local Toronto, which has three del- egates at the convention, passed the following resolutions, among others to be presented for consideration: elections, these men know, in many instances, that they cannot be elected. Hence this display of “meal ticket philosophy” under the guise of democ- racy. However, this is not going to stop the rank and file delegates from fight- ing at Peoria next week to do away with Farrington’s appointive power, for they intend to follow the lead of Kansas. . As one miner expressed it, “We are quite willing to have some of those birds join us in our job of looking for a job. We want them to have a bird’s- eye view of their own plan of stabili- zation in operation.” Civic Federation. bts Myersco Writes Of) | - THE WORST PULLMAN STRIKERS ARE HOLDING MONSTER MASS MEETING THIS MORNING TO MAKE STAND CLEAR The striking Pullman car builders at a rousing strike meet- ing, unanimously agreed to hold a mass meeting at 8 o’clock this morning in their strike hall at 205 Hast 115th street, to present their side of the wage controversy to Benjamin Marsh- man, strike conciliator for the U. S. department of labor. The reason for the lies being spread by company union stool pigeons that half of the men had returned to work was learned od eee te Sere, . itis reported to. the : DAILY WORKER by well in- Pweg y thant ae ently ON WORKERS AND PEASANTS TO FIGHT THE BOURGEOISIE red with the Pullman President, E. F. Carry, and asked for a con- ference among the men, the PARIS, May 11.—As the cam- paign for the parliamentary elec- tions closed last night the indica- company and himself. Marshman was informed by the Pullman Company, the DAILY WORKER: learns, that the strike was tions were that the left would win || broken, and that the men had all easily over Poincare and the bloc national. The Communist party, which occupies the extreme left and must not be confused with the promised to come back to work to- day. It was finally agreed that if the bourgeois-socialist bloc, which calls itself “left,” issued a manifesto men did not return to work by this thru its paper Humanite, urging morning, Marshman was to hear the strikers’ side of the case, and do his best to effect a just settlement. He Won't Go Back. the “proletarian bloc of workers and peasants to vote against the bourgeois bloc.” It is predicted that the Communists will make The Pullman Company evjdently, was afraid to put its case before a fair judge, for it has left no stone unturned during the last few days to et the men to return to work by hook or crook, “Seven-eighths,” a company stool pigeon, who has been wandering in and out of the Pullman offices ever since the strike started, was again the job for the Pullman Company Saturday. When the vote was taken to refuse to go to work today, and to meet Marshman in an effort at a just settlement, “Seven-eighths” tried to sneak out the door so he would not have to put himself on record. He was caught, however, and was jeered by the men until he had to get up he had no intention of going to work today. The following resolution was sent Successor To Ousted Stoolpigeon ‘WASHINGTON, May 11.—Inspector Faurot, noted criminologist of the New York police force, today was the man most prominently mentioned as Probable successor to Wm. J. Burns, who resigned as head of the bureau of investigation, department of justice. Faurot is understood to have the sup- port of Senator Wadsworth and his name has been suggested already to President Coolidge and Attorney Gen- eral Stone. W. H. Moran, head of the secret service, also is mentioned as Burns’ successor. by the strikers’ committee, stating the strikers’ position on the meeting of stool pigeons with Pullman Company, where the stool pigeons pretended they represented’ the strik- ers. Men Hit Misrepresentation. “Be it resolved that any individu- als who may attend this meeting or other similarly called meetings in (Continued on Page 2.) Labor Against Lash. MONTREAL, May 11.—~The Trades and Labor Council of Montreal is on SPRING SPRAYING—1924 FASHION PEST OF ALL ee STRIKE OF DETROIT STREET CAR WORKERS LOOMS TOMORROW AS CITY TURNS DOWN ARBITRATION (Special to The Daily Worker) DETROIT, May 11.—Fighting to save their union from destruction at the hands of the Detroit Street Railways the street car men are preparing to walk out Tuesday. Full support has been pledged by the Detroit Federation of Labor. So united are the union motormen, conductors and car barn workers in their stand that not a car will be moving Tuesday morning unless the officials of *— this city owned company con- sent to arbitration of the griev- ances of the workers. Union Men Discharged. Discharge of union officials by the company, withdrawal of the right to collect union dues at car barns, low wages and other grievances forced the workers to fight for self-preserva- ic latest move, of forbidding col- lection of union dues at the barns, has awakened the most conserva- tive workers to the open shop plans of the present city administration and the policies of Ross Schram, assist- ant general manager of the lines and tool of the big open shop industrial concerns in Detroit, who have deter- mined to wipe out the example of unionism in every industry of the city lest their own employes become aroused to the need of organization. Workers Double Crossed. PITTSBURGH STRIKE FORCED WHEN BOSSES REFUSED ARBITRATION (Special to The Daily Worker) PITTSBURGH, May 11.—The strike which the Pittsburgh street car men will carry thru to victory was forced by the company’s hard boiled refusal to consent to the formation of a local board of arbitration by John H. Rear- don, representative of the interna- tional executive board of the carmen’s union. The mayor is equally blamed with the company in the statement which follows: \ “In all the conferences which have taken place between the mayor, officials of the company and the representatives of the men, the officials of the company refused to concede anything, while the repre- sentatives of the men offerad, to concede several of their demands and settle the controversy for a 3- cents-an-hour increase. “Regarding arbitration, the repre- sentatives of the men offered the following proposition: “Let the officials of the company select a man as the representative of the company, the men to select @ man as their representative, and these two men thus selected to se- lect a third man to act as umpire. These thyee men to investigate and hear all of the facts in the case, The Detroit street car workers are aroused at the double crossing of the railway management. When the lines were taken over by the city Mayor Couzens assured the workers that the department of street railways would do business with the chosen repre- sentatives of the men. In those days the union officers were granted leave of absence from their jobs while on duty representing the men. Times have changed. Big business in Detroit has notified the city ad- ministration that the street car men’s union must be destroyed. So the obe- dient corporation flunkies in’ charge of the municipally owned lines have begun their attacks. The list of attacks on the union is tersely given by William Fitzgerald, first vice president of the Amalgamat- ed Association of Street and Electric Railway Employes, as follows; Broken Promises. “It has been quite evident that the street railway commission has been seeking an opportunity to de- stroy our organization. They have constantly sought to embroil us in (Continued on Page 2.) and whatever decision was arrived at by a majority of these, three men should be binding on both the com- pany and the men. “This would have avoided the strike, but the mayor and the off- cials of the company wanted to tell these three men how they should decide the matter before they heard the case, while the representatives of the men insisted that the three men should hear all the facts in the; casg first and then render a de- cision, Workers! Farmers! Demand: The Labor Party Amalgamation Organization of Unay-anized The Land for the ie 6 The Industries for the Workers Protection of the Foreign-Born Recognition of Soviet Russia Price 3 Cents URGH TRAFFIC BUY GUNS AND GAS TO CRUSH CAR STRIKE Mayor Declares War On Pittsburgh Workers (Special to The Daily Worker) PITTSBURGH, May 11.— First rounds of strike ammunition were served out to the police yesterday when scores of modern riot guns, more than 10,000 rounds of ammuni- tion and hundreds of revolvers ar- rived at detective headquarters. More riot guns, tanks and gas gren- ades are being rushed in s 2 8 PITTSBURGH, Pa., May 11— Tear gas grenades, riot guns and tanks are the weapons with which Mayor McGee and the Pittsburgh Railways company intends to fight the strike of 3,200 motormen and conductors which has paralyzed street car service in this city. The strike for better working conditions’ which began Satur- day morning has thrown busi- ness interests into a state of panic and resulted in the. im- mediate passage by the city council -of an appropriations bill for the death dealing weap- ons against labor. Twenty-five thousand dollars is the amount provided, at Mc- Gee’s request, by the “emergen- cy” ordinance which will be used in purchasing the gas, guns and tanks to protect scabs and to attack the strikers. Demands Just, Mayor Admitted. Mayor McGee’s declaration of war on the strikers, before they have been even accused of any acts of vio- lence, comes just two days after his admission that there was much jus- tice to their demands. The demands of the strikers are the slightest possible. They demand that the company pay half the cost of their $28 company uniforms; they de- mand that they be given thirty minutes instead of fifteen for making out accident reports. A demand for a small wage increase followed. Plan to Crush. Union. The company’s purpose is to crush the street carmen’s union. Their pro- gram is part of the great open shop drive in the Pittsburgh district, long noted for the greed of its employing class. John N. Nelson, business agent of the street carmen, has notified the public that the workers are going to insist on their rights in spite of op- position. Scabs Endanger Life. Warning the public of the danger from reckless and untrained scabs-— as well as from the riot guns—he says in part: “It may conserve human life from accidents if the public which uses street cars going to and from their homes would bear in mind that the men to be put in charge of the Street cars by the Pittsburgh Rail- ways Co. are men of little or no ex- perience in managing cars. “Pittsburgh grades are steep and many short turns are experienced by motormen on every line running thru, into and out of the city, Only trained men, used to these dangers, have been in charge of the cars, Regretful and very great accidents are liable to occur. 40 Overcome in Gasy Tunnel. Danger to human life from auto- mobiles carrying passengers, came in an unexpected way Saturday when nearly 40 automobile passengers were overcome with gas.in the new Liberty tunnel running from Brownsville to Carson’ streets. Mayor Mctee’s police, in their eagerness to break the carmen’s strike, allowed the autos to crowd ” into the tunnel recklessly with total disregard of traffic laws. What was worse no inspection of gas conditions had been made. Fearful Auto Jam. Gas was seeping into the tunnel, Had there been no traffic jam no one might have been injured, but as the cars caught into each other and the line of scores of machines became blocked, men and. women began to fall unconscious, Police Responsible for Injuries. Twenty-four persons were more or less seriously injured and about 40 in all were overcome by the gas. ‘These first injuries indirectly traced to the strike are directly at the door of Mayor McGee's police.