The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 7, 1924, Page 3

’ Tuesday, October 7, 1924 “NEPMAN” GIVE HIS VIEWS ON SOVIET RUSSIA But the Comeback Near- ly Knocks Him Cold Before a select audience of Chicago professional and busi- ness men, orgauized into the “Homo Sapien Club,” Boris Michaelis, formerly associated with the Ford agency in Mos- sow, spoke on the theme: “‘Rus- sia As | Saw It.” From his talk it would appear that the sun never shone in the two years he spent in the Work- ers’ Republic. Likes “Good” Business. The speaker deplored the tendency of travelers to look at things thru the spectacles of their own interests. He declared himself as) impartial as a photographic plate. man he had been very well treated, he read his credentials from the highest Russian authorities, explained that his friendship with L. A. K. Mar- tens, former Soviet repregentative in the* United States, had: opened the doors in Russia to some excellent bus- iness, of which he had taken full ad- vantage. He arrived in Russia during the first terrible period of famine in 1921, and in exchange for a promise to feed the starving asbestos miners his company was given an enormous asbestos con- cession in the Urals. The grain with which the feeding was done was bot in this country by his company for the Russian government, and was paid for in rich cargoes of furs and bristles, brot back to America and sold here. And so thankful were the So- viet officials for this business-like “famine relief’ that they offered the benefactor any conéession he might want. The agency for Ford products was chosen as representing the one manufactured article of which Russia was in greatest need, and also no doubt, the one that she could least readily economically duplicate. Not Easy with Bribe Takers. But despite this good business the speaker said he was depressed by the lack of “idealism” in Russia. The peo- ple there were too “cruel.” Two non- Communist specialists in the “V'n- storg,” the foreign trade department. who “had been most obliging to him and his company were executed for bribe taking. The evidence showed, he said, that the wife of one of them was spending more on clothes in one week than her husband earned in a month. Another instance of “cruelty.” There had been much evrafting among the local renting agents «f the Com- ‘munal Housing Commission so one day a clean sweep was made,—all suspected grafters were jailed and their victims invited to give evidence against them. Only three months later were the innocent released. The speaker was particularly solicitious about his own renting agent. He knew that this man would not take, graft because he had offered him some—$25 for a safe worth $200. This man did not ‘need graft, he had been a rich man but had not run away at the outbreak.of the revolu- tion. He had been sensible enuf to put his wealth into gold and diamonds which he hid in a hole in the wall, and his job as janitor was just cover up the source of his weal This man was so well off that he had a supply of coffee when none was to be had in all Moscow, and the speaker explained how pleasant it was to visit this janitor and partake of his hospi- tality. And one morning he came for coffee and found the Cheka on the job he even had to give an account of himself, but the American passport did the trick and he did not tell them about the coffee either, Grafters ‘Quick to Go. Yet the speaker had not been slow to remove would-be grafters by a timely appeal to the dreadful Cheka whenever that graft interfered with his business interests. A train of sup- plies was being sent to his Ural con- cession, and. was being held up en route on the claim that a certain bridge was not strong enough to per- mit the cars to pass over. A special train was put at his disposal so that he could see personally what was to AUSTRALIAN LABOR DIVIDED INTO By W. FRANCIS AHERN. (Federated Press Staff Correspondent.) SYDNEY, New South Wales, Oct. the Labor Council of New South Wales, the council is divided ,into industrial groups, formed from unions having the same interest in industry. There is a transport group, whieh the transport industry. The building trades group is represented by delegates from the building trades; the iron trades group is made up from the iron the manufacturing¢ trades industry; group is composed of unions engaged in the'manufacture of commodities in factories. There are other groups. Each group meets sepearately and transacts the business that comes within its own ambit. They have power to make recommendations which are sent on to the open council. This method of organization allows the different questions) arising to be assigned to the group most vitally in- terested, which results in keen inter- est. being taken in matters that come before the respective groups. Gets Better Results, Also, the matter when it comes be- fore the group is more freely discuss- ed as the standing orders are sus- pended to allow full discussion. It would be impossible to allow the same |freedom of debate in open council as As a pusiness | in a group meeting, because of the Tules governing debate. Before the group system was organ*| favorable to\the new method of organ- ized matters were brought before the council which a great number of dele- gates either did not clearly under- stand, or as the matter did not inter- est their respective unions they had Mi THE DAILY WORKER COUNCIL IS INDUSTRIAL GROUPS 5.—Under the new system adopted by is composed of unions connected with little interest in the question before the chair, The result was that, in- stead of an animated debate on the subject before the council, the discus- sion drifted into a dispute on the question of points of order. Under the group system, the de- cision is reached after the experts in the industry have thoroly discussed the matter. Resolutions of a group are usualy adopted, unless the matter conflicts with the policy of the coun- cil. Thus, after a group has debated a question and come to a decision, the question then comes before the coun- cil with the full weight of the group. Council, if, it endorses the recommen- |dation, gives to the group the support of the whole industrial movement. In Experimental Stage. The group system is hardly out of |the experimental stage, but promin- ent industrialists say that they are izafion. It is claimed that the group. |system is the first practicable step towards industrial organization. Other labor councils in Australia are pro- posing to inaugurate the same system. be done. The station master inti- mated that a hundred poods of grain left at his home would strengthen the bridge miraculously. Yet he could not pay graft—it might have compro- mised his whole concession if it were found out. So he notified the Cheka and that night the grafter “disap- peared.” .A business conscience is an elastic thing. After a little squeamishness he be- came accustomed to seeing beggars die in the streets during the famine. But he attended a Christmas party at which there were also “rank-and-file Communists” present, and everybody gorged and got drunk. He was very sad over it the next day. Others have felt that way. But he explained that the big, leaders did not do these things, as far as he knew. Lenin lived strictly on the rations. They also fed the speculants on rations, but he lost twenty pounds. There had been plenty to lose. i The government was not a workers’ and peasants’ government he thot. There was no use going into a Com- munist court to sue the Soviet gov- arnment. All Communists stuck to- gether, they were soldiers and just obeyed. So, failing to find the. “spir- itual environment” he had anticipated would follow a revolution he had come back to the United States. Crowd Razzes Nepman. Four members of the audience availed themselves’ of the chance to make five-minute speeches, and mhny more would have liked to only for the lateness of the hour. These meetings begin at ten and last until midnight. Every one of the speakers from the floor took exception tn the speaker’s conclusions. One of the four stated that it was precisely such speeches as this that were turning him from an anti-bolshevik into a supporter of the present Russian order. It was clearly shown from the floor that credit rather than blame must attach to a proletarian state that has just em- erged from the revolutionary over- throw ,of one of the oldest and rotten- est autocracies in the world, and that .o |'was fighting at one time the most ter- .|rible famine of history and the invad- ing counter-revolutionary armies of the whole imperialist world. The food rations complained of were absolutely just and necessary, and a grafter at such a period was a traitor to the new order and had’ to be dealt with as such, The speaker’s only answer was that those who now defend the Bolsheviks would be among the first to be shot in the event of an American Bolshevik revolution. It is expected that_ the next speaker will be a traveler re- cently returned from Russia who fa- yors the present regime. May Discard Hanging. SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 5. — The; had dispersed, declaring that “we in Anti-Capital Punishment league of|the United States(are not ready for California has been organized in San|q revolution therefore we will have Francisco to secure an anti-hanging| nothing to do with Soviet Ru law at the next session of the legisia- ture, A majority of the nominees for} party (or what is left of it) is going election are pledged in its beh CHICAGO PARTY ORGANIZER BACKS. 3,000,000 DISTRIBUTION CAMPAIG. By ARNE SWABECK. We are not always successful in speaking to them, about the necessity of uniting their forces for a militant | umother’ for the needs of their class, because we lack the power of expres-|,_ Dowel We are not always able to demonstrate the need of following @ revo: lutionary policy as the only solution for the labor problem because we lack viii a strug Salon. the proper approach, Print many times speaks louder than words and with more effect. The nda, the press, is our most powerful instrument, That our sas Hall, Tach comrades should realize and make use of to its fullest extent. The plan proposed by the national office for a special propaganda week Bae in which the whole membership is to be mobilized for the purpose of bring-| | 1 ing the Communist message to the greatest possible number of workers is ~an excellent,one. No Communist who knows his duty will shirk his respon- field of activity, and | am sure our members wilt millions of copies of seca written prop convincing our fellow workers, when BLOOR MEETING AT PEORIA, ILL, IS BIG SUCCESS Party Speaker Gets An Excellent Response By MAX COHEN. (Special to The Daily Worker) PEORIA, Ill., Oct. 6—The destruc- tion of posters placed on_ walls, fences and on the windows and doors of the hall in which she was to speak did not stop “Mother” Ella Reeve Bloor from delfvering her address in Peoria as scheduled. We conducted an open air meeting instead She spoke before a crowd of over 300 that filled the huge walk in front of the court house to overflowing. “Mother” Bloor is a great drawing card. It so happened that an “old time” socialist was making use of the speaker's platform as “Mother” Bloor and the committee came to the scene. He was talking incoherently about the workers getting together and yoting for LaFollette. At first there were six listeners, then two, and when these got restless, he was informed that a lady was preparing to address the meeting. “Mother” Bloor Gets Crowd. He was kind enough ‘to introduce her to what was left of the audience, shouting that “she represents the Workers Party, which is against all parties and I will not be responsible for what she says!” Before “Mother” Bloor had spoken two minutes the crowd had grown so big that the people were asked to come nearer the speaker in order not to congest the sidewalk. In her speech Comrade Bloor as- sailed the assumption of leadership of the two contradictory groups of mon- eyed men and labor by LaFollette, and came out directly for a government of workers and farmers as against the control of the means of production and distribution by and for a few. “There is class dictatorship,” she declared, “and it is a question of choos- ing between the dictatorship of capi- talism in thé interest of a few or that of the working class for the benefit of the producers of all wealth.” She also told of the progress being made by Soviet Russia in the recon struction of its economic and educa- tional systems. Many Questions Asked. The audience gave close attention and asked numerous questions at the close of.the splendid address. The “old timer” seized an opportun- ity for @ “come back” before the crowd Little wonder that the socialist to the dogs when their membership is 80 ignorant as to assail the first Work- ers’ Republic on earth, while even a misleader, LaFolletter, is favor- ” of the recognition of Soviet Rus- Dates in District jhe rope esday, Oct. 8, Rex is Thursday, October 9, I S020 'N, Sth’ So, Bp , Oct. 10, City ‘tail, mM. 1 Baturday, (vena it. Madison—Sundi Oct. ‘and "Siadison Ave. it. Loulé, Mo. it. ore: is Hall, nan, cram ton ‘vingston, Tl.—Monday, Octé 138, City Collinsville—Wed: Oct. 1 ina are ayrsieg 5, City The anh 12, ers to return to work if no girl mak- ————————————E ee NOT $0 GOOD FOR WALTHAM WATCH SCABS 3,000 Workers Hold Out in Big : Straggle By ESTHER LOWELL chasse Press Staff Correspondent.) WALTHAM, Mass., Oct. 6,— With women and girl strikers waving yellow feathers, yellow flowers, and yelldw handker- chiefs, the forlorn faithful few still go into the Waltham watch and clock factory every day, and with the men strikers clap- ping and hissing, the fight against the wage cut and the collective agreement is be- coming bitter in its eighth week, Nearly 3,000 workers, most of whom never struck before nor participated in collective action as far as their work is con- cerned, are still holding out against the new management of the watch workers and are organized in the Watchmakers’ Protective Association. This workers’ organization has al- ready taken the first steps toward af- filiation with the American Federation of Labor thru its becoming part of the Jewelry Workers’ International union, The workers in the machine shops which make the Waltham watch-mak- ing machinery are already in the Ma- chinists’ International. Town Backs Strikers, The whole town of Waltham is be- hind the strikers. The other citizens have contributed $10,000 in all to help the strikers win a living wage and the right, to organize. The Irish land. ladies who are losing tenants as strik- ers seek work in other towns come out to the semi-public square across from the long old-fashioned red brick buildings of the factory and boo and shout with the pickets. strikers picket morning, noon and night and a few are left on duty be- tween to warn prospective workers that there is a big strike on at Wal- tham. Mayor Henry Beal has made himself most unpopular by bringing in extra police from Newton, the next town, altho only one arrest has been made and that not of a striker. The Waltham Watch and Clock Co. came under the direction of Kidder Peabody Acceptance corporation in February, 1923. This firm of bank- maine of Waltham trouble has been brewing, Association insists. Organization Leaders Fined. Protective Association began. Inter- summer. long before. to send a committee to Boucher and failing, hired hall. parade to the bicycle park. doors, and left their jobs. Workers Demand Recognition. the earlier union nucleu: the worke return of workers fi ther wage reduction without arbitr tion with the assocation; given the com) By the end of union had made an offer for all work- ing under $20, and no man making under $40 per week were given a cut in wages. The ly semed ready at night Bouche: ') $13, the minimum wage,” All of the ers. controls the Amoskeag mills of Manchester, N. H., where the workers are reported to have accepted a wage cut thru their company union re- cently, President Frederick C. Du is treasurer of Amoskeag. Since the bankers took over the direction. of the watch works, secretary Howard N. Mayhew of the Protective LE. Boucher, who was brot from Amoskeag to be Waltham superin- tendent, soon changed the old system of an aggrieved worker dealing direct- ly with the management as had been the custom for more than 70 years. A strike accurred in the assemblers’ de- partment within a few months—the first strike in the factory—and the est in the union did not spread far nor last long so that the organization was practically dead by this last The leaders had been fired When wage cuts up to 40 per cent were announced for Aug. 11 this year, the finishing department workers tried walked out. The strikers hall at once, decided to call a mass meeting, sent a man with a ban- ner to march up and down in front of the factory announcing the big meeting for that evening in a larger The place was packed. Next day a workers’ band was assembled and went by the factory leading a The workers poured out. of the sachet Ernest Faulkner,«who had been in became president of the revived Watchmak. ers’ Protective Association and the or- ganization began to function with all backing it. Demands for recognition of the association and for the right of collective bargaining, for |{ during the two past years for union activity; for the return of every worker on payroll of Aug. 11 to their former jobs; for the arbitration of future discharges with the association; for time and a quar: ter for overtime and time and a half for Saturday afternoon; for no fur and an- nouncing no return to work until the scale of Aug. 10 was restored were seventh week the Help! Help! A campaign for increasing the cir- culation of the DAILY WORKER has heaped loads of work on our force. We need Help—NOW— Comrades wishing to assist report at the DAILY WORK- ER office any day this week during the day or evening. We have work to spare. We want volunteers quickly—HELP! HELP! QUICKLY. could cut under that arrangement were too few! The workers marched around the factory shouting to the superintendent suntil very late. Faced Third Wage Cut. Two of the girls who do the highly skilled finishing work said that the wage cut of Aug. 11 would have been their third this year. The first cut amounted to one-third and the second to one-eighth of their earnings and both of them said that living costs were high in Waltham. “One woman with three children was paid only one of the} friendly neighbors of the strikers said. The girls estimated that about two-thirds of the Waltham watch workers roomed out and that most of them were girls. They declared that many girls were barely getting the minimum wage and they were positive | that they could not live on such low wages. “Stick” is the badge worn by all the strikers and sticking they are. Pres. Faulkner says that the company has got to recognize their collective bar- g@ining power and that workers who have spent 20, 30, 40 years in the factory can own their homes and their flivvers as well as he without having ers’ wages. The workers are nearly emphasizes, and won't stand for this overbearing management. The Pro- tective uses the old American cry “United We Stand” and is holding its members to the fight. Oil Workers Win Strike MEXICO CITY.—The strike of the Huasteca Oil Co., (Doheny) ends in victory for the workers. Of the 25 per cent increase asked 18 per cent was secured with recognition of their union. The company agreed to take no action against the leaders of the strike. The strike against the Pierce Oil Co. also ended victoriously for the work- ers of the capital. They secured the disciplining of the foreman who used to léfid the workers money, at usurer rates, the 8-hour day, time and a half for overtime, 40 per cent increase in wages forall factory workers, and medical care for diseases contracted on the job. Story Sounds Fishy VALPARAISO, Chile—‘“We have taken over the government only tem- porarily—until we give our country a new constitution and until we win the masses,” is the cry of the military group that forced Arturo Alessandri to leave the presidency of Chile. Judg- ing by the proverbial reaction of the military class of Chile and from such men as Gen. .Altamirano, who is in the new Chilean cabinet, it is hard to believe that they have taken power only temporarily. aE REA Claim Tide Favors Freedom SAN FRANCISCO.—A swing toward sanity in California is noted by the defense office of the Industrial Work- ers of the World in San Francisco. During the first nine months of 192 73 1. W. W. have faced trial as politic- al offenders under the criminal syn- dicalism law. Of these 48 were dis- missed or acquitted, 16 got hung juries and 9 were convicted. Dunne’s Dates W. Frankfort, Ill.—October 16, boyy ta Iil.—October 17, Du Quoin, Ill.—October 18. Satan Il.—October 19, afternoon. nuis, o.—October 19, evening. Beiteville: Ill.—October 20. Collinsville, Til.—October 22. Springfield, Ill.—October 22. THE CAMPAIGN FUND CAMPAIGN! Five million leaflets to five million work- ors if you'll send in tne money. their personal property made an ex-| ense for cutting their and other work-| all American for generations back, he! 4)In an affidavit made for the defense CARRY SACCO, VANZETTI FIGHT TO HIGH COURT Five Separate Appeals} for. New Trial (Special to The “Daily Worker) | DEDHAM, Mass., Oct. 6.—| The complete text of the de-| cision of Judge Thayer denying | five motions for a new trial leaders Nicola Sacco and Bar-| tholomeo Vanzetti became pub-| lic today. A great part of the comment on the motions is taken up ‘with jan attack on Fred H. Moore, | chief of defense counsel and a defense of the frame-up tactics of the district attorney’s office. Shift Scené of Fight. The decision of Judge Thayer will merely shift the scene of the fight to save the lives of Sacco and Vanzetti from the court in Dedham to the state supreme court. The first thing that will be done is to appeal to the supreme court asking a new trial on exceptions taken by defense lawyers to certain of the de- cisions of Thayer during the trial. If the motion for a new trial is de- nied by the higher court then the su- | preme court will be asked to pass on the judge’s decision denying the five | motions for a new trial. Each motion will be made the basis of a separate appeal. Justiee Works Slowly. The motion for a new trial which the judge has just denied have been before the court at intervals since 1921. The’ first motion denied by Thayer was one based on affidavits that Walter Ripley, foreman of the jury which tried Sacco and Vanzetti, had on his person at the time of the trial certain bullets very much like bullets introduced in evidence in the case. Ripley it is charged by the de- fense used the bullets in his possesion as a basis of comparison with those introduced in evidence. He thus vio- lated the constitutional guarantee of the defendants that they must be faced by all evidence brot against them. If the state supreme court decides against granting a new trial to the |tion Judge Thayer |asked by the two Italian labor |, Page Threé New York Comrades, Attention! TAG DAY WORKERS PARTY CAMPAIGN FUND Saturday and Sunday, October 25th and 26th Make no appointments for these dates. charged Moore with using duress in obtaining an affi- davit from Mrs. Andrews. Of the |charges against the prosecutors that they has intimidated Mrs, Andrews \the judge said nothing. The fifth motion was based on long technical, testimony of various bullet nd firearm experts given to the court after the trial had closed and while the motions for a new trial were be ing argued. The long fight for the lives of Sacco and Vanzetti of which the decis- ion of Judge Thayer is the latest de- velopment grew out of the red hys- teria of 1919 and 1920. They were arrested and questioned as radicals in | May, 1920. A few days after their ar- rest they were charg committed a payroll holdup and mur- der in South Braintree, Mass, on April 15, 1920. When brot to trial a long line of government witnesses whose testi- mony has since been proven to be fals¢é by the defense “identified” Sacco as one of the pay roll bandits. The framed testimony against Van- zetti was weaker than that against Seco but it was easy to get the jury to return a guilty verdict as both ad- mitted they were radicals and had fled to Mexico to escape the draft dur- ing the war. Ten Million Protest. When the trial was over and the men were awaiting sentence the workers in nearly all the countries of Europe and South America held huge demonstrations protesting against their legalized murder. It is estimated that tens of millions af workers de- clared their belief in the innocence of Sacco and Vanzetti. The demonstra- tions had the effect of delaying the carrying out of the sentence of death which was expected to follow the ver- dict and so gave a chance to the lawyers to continue the legal phase of the fight to save the condemned men from the gallows. a Against War In School Books ADELAIDE, Australia—The Adel- jaide Trades and Labor council has pentioned the South Australian minis- ter for education (Mr. Hill) to delete two labor leaders this motion will be used as the basis for an appeal to the U. S. supreme court. The second motion made on the strength of-affidavits made by persons who saw the holdup and murder for) which Sacco and Vanzetti face death) and in which these witnesses say that} neither Sacco por Vanzetti were, among the bandits was dismissed by| the judge as “weak, unsatisfactory and unconvincing.” In denying the third motion for a new trial Thayer began to show his prejudice against, Fred Moore whose brilliant fight to save the lives of his; clients often brot him into conflict) and under the displeasure of the judge. The third motion was based on information that one of the star witnesses used by the prosecution was} nothing less than a common horse| thief and that at the time he was called by the prosecution they knew | his character and his criminal record. by Goodrich after the trial he tells that he was under indictment for lar- ceny at the time of the trial but that when he volunteered to testify against Sacco and Vanzetti the district attor ney had him given a suspended sen- tence in order that he might try to swear away the lives of the Italians. The judge in his decision on this motion says that Moore frightened “Goodrich into swearing something that was false against the district at torney's office.” He Wanted All the Graft. The testimony of Mrs. Lola And rews, chief witness for the prosecu- tion, who has. told five different stor. ies about her part in the trial of Sacco and Vanzet*i was the basis of a fourth motion. In denying this mo the boosting of empire and the glor+ Gfication of war from the schoolbooks of the state, now under Labor rule, and order the teaching of industrial history in its place. The minister asked the council to go thru the |schoolbooks and suggest what should be cut out. He added that the Labor- government was opposed to militarism and believed in school children beig | taught to abhor war. Join the Workers Party! NOTICE! The new headquarters of the Workers Party in District No, 9 is Rooms 2 and 4 617—4th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minn. You should change your records at once in conformity with the above changes. Cc. A. HATHAWAY, District Organizer No. 9. PITTSBURGH, PA... DR. RASNICK § DENTIST ti Rendering Expert Dental Service | for 20 Y : 645 SMITHFIELD S' 1627 CENTER AVE. WANTED! Experienced printer who can acquire small interest and position in printini com| Must understand principles 0} ion and know activities in so-' id communist movements, M give references as to character. T State 8491. i UNIVERSITY PRESS, Incorporated 6 Burnham Bldg., Chicago. WORKERS’ PROTEST MEETING TO BE HELD Wednesday Oct. 8th, 8 P. M. at WEST SIDE AUDITORIUM, Taylor and Racine Streets- SPEAKERS IN ENGLISH, ITALIAN, JEWISH WILLIAM F. DUNNE, English ditor of THE DAILY WORKER Member C.E. C. of Workers Party Auspices, Workers Party, Local Chicago TURN OUT ANTONIO PRESI, Italian Editor IL LAVORATORE ALEXANDER BITTELMAN, Jewish TURN OUT ADMISSION FREB | «