The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 15, 1924, Page 2

Page Two ee (AT RENN CELINE) EMMY CAPPELLIN'S PLAN FAILS 10 FOOL STRIKERS Renegade Radical Now on Defensive By THOMAS MYERSCOUGH. (Special to The Daily Worker) PITTSTON, Pa., Dec. 14.— Evidently, the chance te sleep for a night on the proposition of Rinaldo Cappellini, vehereby he would allow the co:nmittee i miners to select one umber to be put on il as organizer, was| Sufficient for the committee to! regain its equilibrium, for at the | meeting today y decided al- most unanimously to continue the strike. Yesterday, Cappellini was able to muster thirteen votes in support of his proposition, with 66 against, but at today’s meet- ing only three were found who were still ready to support it. * As soon as ting was opened today, the ¢ om. was turned @way from the pellini proposition *ft being attacked ruse to get the “men back in the x into question ing the 1 2 men who voted in favor of sition. John Martini Hilldale, fellow townsman of Cappellini, quoted in yes- | terday’s repor juestioniag the dis. trict pre t h pretended | raflicalis f 19: nd his ‘esent-day | attitude, attacked those who lacked | “the courage to talk while Cappellini was in the meeting. On the Defensive, He said “If some of you who had so much to say while he was away, had | talked to his face as I did, things | might have been different.” Martini’: remarks had the effect of putting | those who voted yesterday to return | to w hout settlement on the | One of them, Tony Brnd- igo of Forge, in defense of him- seli, ed that it w Wise to at-| tack Cappellini as he believ ed the district p lent was doing the could, and voted accordingly z one of the three to do so at the session today. > other ten who voted to aecept at yest meeting, evidently saw the “pig: he-poke” and changed to their original position, voting to stay out at today’s session Media. tor Davis, of the department of laber who has been present at most of the Sessions, was rebuked at the meeting yesterday, when he pleaded with the men to accept the proposition of their president. When he said “I am tell-{ ing you the “Honest-to-God’ truth when I say that the proposition made by your president is a good one,” the delegates in chorus yelled “Go sit down some place.” Admitted Men Were Right. Today he was back again, and, afte: admitting that the men were right and justified in their he requested that they refrain fr: getting angry when he informed them that they arc “making a mistake in refusing to ac. cept Cappellini’s offer, and that if the strike hangs on they will realize it more fully.” However, he aroused the ire of one of the delegates, who stated that the newspaper men present, would prob ably report that Davis had said the men were making a mistake, but & would fail to report what hesaid abont defen u the strike being a justifiable one. He also took issue with a statement made by Davis about “abiding by contract’ ‘saying, “I am willing and want to be & United Mine Worker, but if the con- tract we work under gets us nothing “what the hell is the use of belonging to it?” Cappellini Old Not Answer. Delegate Rossetti from the Under. “wood colliery, the place where mos‘ of the grievances are still awaiting ad Justment, drew the attention of th: delegates today, to the fact, that wher “he enumerated the many grievances at his mine yesterday for the benefit o Cappellini, that Cappellini had refuse: to answer to most of his claims, while others were admitted and some wer: denied. He surprised the committee with a stitement that, after the ses sion adjourned yesterday, he ap proached Cappellini and in a discussion ‘with him, made the statement that “The Pennsylvania Coal company Promises many things, but fails to give anything,” to which Cappellini re plied, in effect, that when the strik« ended he (Rossetti) would not be given membership In the U. M. W. o A. A note was made of this chargr and a sub-committee, chosen to meet with the district officials and the in- ternational commission to attempt a settlement of the grievances, was In- structed to take up the matter along with other things. The committee is determined that no discrimination will be tolerated. , Five hundred miners, employed at the Maltby mine of the Lehigh Valley Coal company, went on strike yesterday. when they learned that the umpire of the conciliation board had made an adverse decision in a ease from. that mine. District officials are endeavor ing to have them return to work. MICHIGAN COURTS’ RULING IN THE RUTHENBERG CASE PUNISHES IDEAS (Continued from page 1) tute an entirely different crime pun- ishable now by other laws of the state.” Dealing wth the facts in regard to the convention, the court makes the |following statement: “Defendant, as a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of America, by virtue of his office, attended the convention as a fraternal delegate with the right to address, and did address the convention. One duly elected delegate in attendance was a special employe of the United States department of justice, bureau of investigation. A delegate from the Comintern (Communist or Third International) Moscow, Russia, was present, and a delegate from the Hungarian federation and another from the Red Trade International at Moscow were presented and par- pated in the convention. De- fendant reached the convention on Aug 15 and remained there until arrested on Aug. 22. “Federal officers, investigating ac- tivities of Communists, traced down the convention place, recognized certain Communists in attendance, and laid the matter before the sher- iff of Berrien county. The Com- munists in attendance recognized the federal officers and laid plans to disperse, with right to foreigners to go first, and many of the dele- gates hurriedly left. The sheriff, with a number of deputies and the federal officers, visited the conven- tion place one morning and arrested defendant and sixteen others, with- out warrants for arrest or search, seized their baggage, and took them to the county fail.’ The sheriff then learned of the depository of the grounds committee and made search, found the barrels. and seized their contents.” Discussing the question of Ruthen- berg’s participation in the convention at Bridgeman, the court says: “That defendant voluntarily as- sembled with the other delegates at the Bridgeman convention as a Communist leader, factor and paid official is placed beyond question. Defendant, as a member of the Com- munist Party of America, section of the Communist International of Mos- cow, Russia, was re-elected a mem- ber of the Central Executive Com- } mittee at the Bridgeman conven- tion. The national convention at Bridgeman was called by the Cen- tral Executive Committee, of which committee defendant was a mem- ber. He attended the Bridgeman convention as a fraternal delegate, by virtue of his office, with tbe right to address, and did address, the convention. He was a volun- tary vassal of the Third Interna- tional and, as such; was on the er- rand of carrying out its policies, furthering its doctrines, and advo- cating ,its tactics. So found, so bound, so working and assembling with others formed as a group or so- ciety to teach the doctrines and tactics of the Communist Party he is to be judged by the declared poli- cies, fixed doctrines, and command- ed tactics of the Communist Party of America, section of the Commun- ist International.” The court took up at length the present program of the Workers Party which was written by Ruthenberg and which he had with him at the Bridg. man convention, and says in regard to this program: “This proposed program as was in- tended, dovetailed with the illegal purposes of the Communist Party. It declared: ‘The capitalist state, that is, the existing government, munici- pal, state and national is the organ- ized power of the capitalist class for suppression of the demands of the exploited and oppressed workers.’ It stated: ‘The class struggle must take the form of a political struggle, a struggle for control of the govern- ment.’ But this was so transparent- ly buncombe as to mislead no one. It declared: ‘The much talked of ‘American democracy’ is a fraud. Such formal democracy as is written into the constitution and laws of the country {s camouflage to hide the real character of the rule of the capitalist.’ It also declared the fu- tility of accomplishing their ends thru political action and mapped the following scheme: ‘The Workers Party will also nominate its candi- dates and enter into the election campaigns to expose the fraudulent character of capitalist democracy and carry on the propaganda for the Soviets.’ It must be understood, in considering this program, that the authors thereof make no distinction between capitalist, capitalism, and the American form of government.” And further along in the opinion, it has this to say in regard to the pro- gram of the Workers Party: “The unlawful intended purpose of such mass power was stated: ‘If during the present strike of the coal miners, the railroad shopmen and textile workers, the whole work- ing class had united in mass’ méet- ing and mass demonstration against the use of courts and soldiers in the strike, they could have thru such mass pressure compelled the gov- ernment to withdraw the troops and recall the injunctions,’ “It predicted: ‘The miners and railroad shopmen are learning from the experience of their struggles THE DAILY WORKER that the strongest weapon the capi- talists use against them is the pow- er of the government. The mass struggle of the workers will teach them the same lesson, and from these experiences the mass strug- gles of the workers will become struggles directed toward the end of wresting the governmental power from the hands of the capitalist and establishing the workers republic.’ “It proposed to destroy the gov- ernment: “The Workers Party will carry on propaganda to bring to the workers an understanding of the necessity of supplanting the existing capitalist government with a Saviet government The Soviet gov. | ernment of the workers, will, because of the same necessity—the necessity of suppressing the capitalist—be a dictatorship of the workers Pat | Capitalist Government and Religion. | The court went at length into the question of the relation of religion to the existing capitalist government and held that it was proper to introduce the réligious issue into the trial, in view of the fact that religion is one of the bulwatks of government. ‘The following quotation from the opinion states this view: “Defendant claims great hurt be- cause Buchrain’s exegesis to Com- munisis, pointing out the necessity of Be destruction of religion, was read to the jury and insists it bore | no relation to the charge of crim- inal syndicalism. While no law can be made in this country respecting | religion, and none prohibiting the free exercise thereof, the great | moral force of religion in its relation to good government and the happi- ness of mankind, as expressed in the great ordinance of 1787, for the | goyernment of the northwest terri- tory, has ever been recognized and is clearly apparent to Communists; for this force stands as a bulwark against their machinations and ne- farious schemes. Therefore, they at- tack religion, with resolve to abso- lutely destroy the same, because of its support of the state. “The influence of christianity in diffusing moral conceptions of free contact, individual property and testamentary succession is well stated in Main’s ‘Early History of Institutions.’” Rehearing Possible. « In view of the fact that the Michi- gan court failed in its opinion to meet the contentions of the defense in re- jgard to the question of whether the ruling of the trial court that it was not necessary that either the Com- munist_ Party or Ruthenberg advocate ideas “in violation of the crimina! syndicalist law in the state of Michi- gan, it is possible that the defense may ask for a rehearing before the Michigan supreme ‘court in order tc press this question upon the court ané get a definite opinion upon same Under the court rules, the defense has forty days in which to ask for a re hearing. Frank P. Walsh and. I. E Ferguson, attorneys for Ruthenberg are considering this question and e decision as to whether to demand a re- hearing in the Michigan court or ap- peal to the United States supreme court, will be made within a few days In case it is decided to appeal to the supreme court without further ac- tion of the Michigan court, Ruthen berg will have to appear before Judge Wiest of the St. Joseph trial court and be sentenced by the judge before the case can go to the supreme court of the United States. The question whether Ruthenberg shall remain free on bail, pending the proceedings be- fore the United States supreme court is up to Judge Wiest of the trial court. Should he refuse bail, an ap- plication can be made to the supreme court to allow bail pending the out come of the case. 350 Traction Employes Go Back to Work (Continued from page 1) representatives is known to have been close. The compromise on which the men voted called for the slosed shop, and the company agreed to pay ten cents extra an hour for overtime, altho not the time-and-half pay at first demanded by the employes. Vote to Return Close. Traction company officials spread the report that the men had agreed to return to work Saturday night, but this has not been confirmed by repre- sentatives of the union. It was rumored in Springfield Sat- urday that the trainmen had rejected by a close vote the tentative agree ment between the strikers’ committee and the company officials. The com- mittee then ordered a re-checking of the vote, it was reported. J. J. McGuire, international vice president of the Trainmen’s Union, de- clared that the strikers’ committee would again meet with the traction officials Saturday afternoon. A report from Danville stated that the trainmen had voted to reject the compromise agreem and that the stations of the lin st of Urbane were being boarded up, preparatory tc a long idleness. 4 According to the compromise on which the men voted, nine hours war to constitute a regular working da; for passenger service and ten hours tor freight ‘service work. | capitalists, lies less jfrom the grave of Andrew Carnegie Capitalists in Mourning Over Gompers’ Going (Continued from page 1) onel John ©. McArthur, representing Major-General Charles P. Summerall, commanding Fort Sam Houston, to tender the respects and services of the United States army. “The army considers it has suffered a serious loss,” said Col. McArthur, in recogni tion of the labor faker: who led the American unions into class collabora tion with American capital in the world war. And Col. McArthur added “He was a loyal American, He is a friend gone.” From the capitalist newspapers, even in foreign countries, come expres- sions of sorrow that the great lieu- tenant of capitalism in the army of labor, has died. The London Stand- ard says that altho Gompers was ap autocratic dictator, “it was a sane au- tocracy, for whenever his follower: | show the slightest sign of drifting intc Bolshevism or even socialism, he put his foot down” The Evening News agrees, and the Sunday Observer say: that Gompers was responsible for “the failure of the revolutionary element tc gain ascendancy in the American la bor world.” French capitalist papers unite in praising as a friend of French imperialism. Post-Mortem Class Collaboration, Even in death Gompers desired tc associate himself with the bitteres‘ enemies of the workers. Five or six years ago, he bought a burial plot in the most aristocratic graveyard in the United States, in the Sleepy Hol low cemetery at Tarrytown, N. Y., where the most wealthy and promi nent capitalists of the nation ar: buried. The grave that Gompers selecte¢ for his final companionship with the than 200 fee the founder of the United States Stee’ cohrporation and about the same dis tance from the tomb of William Rocx efeller, brother and co-consiprato against the workers with old John D Near by is the grave of John D. Arch bold, president of the Standard Oil when its subsidiary corporation, thc Colorado Fuel and Iron company massacred the striking miners, their | women and their babies in the tent colony of Ludlow, Colorado. Gompers lived and died for capital-; ism. It is a fitting location for his grave. Cc. P. P. A: Has Hopes That Its Proposed Party Will Succeed (Continued from Page 1.) Mrs. Glenn Plumb, widow of the au thor of the Plumb plan. ss? ©& Bewildered as to “The Future.” The “progressive party of Illinois” will hold a convention immediately after the national convention of the conference for progressive political action, declared Charles J. McGowan, state chairman. “We have not formulated any de- finite plans,” McGowan said. “The na- tional convention to be held in Chi- cago Feb. 21, will be made up of state delegations which supported the La- Follette campaign. “All those who supported the La- Follette campaign in Illinois will be invited to the Illinois convention.” Doesn't Know Its Strength. When asked if any large labor or- ganizations of Illinois had indicated their intention of going along with the “progressive party,” McGowan re- fused to make a statement with re- gard to affiliations in Illinois. The Illinois “progressive” move- ment is uncertain of its strength, and is marking time to see what the na- tional convention of LaFollette ele- ments will bring forth. It is not definitely known what la- bor organizations will line up with the “third party movement” in this state. Bronx, Attention! NEW YORK, Dec. 14.—If you want to have an instructive and enjoyable time come to the class in the A. B. C. of Communism, given at the Bronx headquarters, 1347 Boston Road, every Tuesday night. The students discuss the philosophy and desirability of Communism to their heart's content; the instructor, Dr. I. Stammler, merely listening in, and directing the discus- sion along certain channels. The class is free to all Workers Party members, and only @ nominal fee is charged to outsiders, MILITARIZATION OF THE UNITED STATES IS PROGRAM FOR 1925 WASHINGTON, D, C., Dec, 14.— The war department has issued in- structions intensifying the militarl- zation of the United States during 1925, and speeding up the work of training army units for the next war. “Principles learned in the bat- tles of the world war” are to be taught In the regular army, the na- tional guard, and the reserve organ- izations, 4 hin An all-year-round recruiting cam- paign Is to be inauguratea, the war department announces, and jh ase \s Is laid on the mobilizing of a larg- er army for 1925, ey aha An Ex-Vice President Peddles More Hokum for His Capitalist Class By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL, N Brides the capitalist war upon the children gains another recruit in the person of Thomas R. Marshall, at one time a “progressive” governor of Indiana, and later vice-president of these United States. But his arguments, peddled thru a press ‘syndicate to the most reactionary capitalist dailies, are as old as the most ancient. Marshall is out to “preserve the family.” He makes his hypocritical appeal to.the fathers and mothers; presumably the fathers and mothers of the working class, since the children of the rich do not go into the mines, the mills and the factories of the nation. * * * The prize gem advanced by the Indiana democratic politician, who also raises the age-old plea of states rights always championed by his party, is: “To my mind the first question for each citizen to determine is: Does he belong to the state or does the state belong to him? Or, in other words: Has he organized the state to do his will or is the state organized to make him do as he chooses regardless of his desires.” This is the usual hokum passed around by apologists for the capitalist order. The capitalist state does not belong to the 110,000,000 of the American people. The capitalist state, that is called “the American government,” is a weapon in the hands of the most powerful capitalists for the oppres- sion of the masses. The family relation, the rights of child- ren to the enjoyment of their childhood, all human rights are ground into the mire of the most cruel exploitation by this Moloch of greed. Marshall, who is a profit system lawyer as well as poli- tician, resorts to this usual subterfuge of “democracy,” try- ing to foo! the masses into the comfortable belief that the state belongs to them. If the masses accept this belief, as they do in giving their support to capitalist institutions, then they foolishly blame themselves for all the wrongs they suffer. * * * e To the illusion that the state belongs to the people, Marshall adds some more hokum about “God given rights.” The erstwhile vice-president claims that, “Long before he reaches 18 years of age a normal child has begun to find his way in the world,” and that he must have the “God given right” to go it alone, without being hampered by a constitu- tional amendmént declaring that, “Congress shall have the power to limit, regulate and prohibit the labor of persons under 18 years of age.” Marshall says the boy and girl under 18 years of age must enjoy the “God given right” to go out in the world and battle with the cotton trust, the textile barons, mine owners and other employers of youth labor, for the right to Jive. Marshall goes to church and he must get considerable heavenly-inspired joy out of this uneven combat. Yet this is not the first time that the capitalist state has found an ally in God in the. struggle to defend its institutions. The church thruout “The South,” in the days before the Civil War, was almost unanimous in its defense of chattel slavery. Religion is but a reflection of the system of oppression under which it thrives. * * * * Marshall fears that the protection of the children heralds the coming of socialism. He stands petrified in the grip of a fear that any government might concern itself with the welfare of growing boys and gis ‘ Marshall may rest easy, insofar as his capitalist state is concerned. It will never lift the burden of toil from the shoulders of the young. No cannibal was ever born who devoured his human meal with greater relish than the jo with which capitalism feeds upon its youth. Capitalism will always fight for the right to send children into the maw of the great industrial machine, as competitors with their fathers and mothers, their grown brothers and sisters, in the slave market of the wage workers. The problem of child labor, like the problem of unem- ployment and other ills inherent in the present social system, aul acthare as long as capitalism lasts. The struggle against child labor, the struggle against unemployment, is ftunda- mentally the struggle to end the capitalist system and all the evils it spawns, ° ° * ° That is the oveee of the Workers (Communist) Party and the Young Workers (Communist) League in their joint war against child labor. Labor must learn that the Tight against child labor is a fight to abolish the capitalist state; an effort to establish Soviet Rule for the suppression of the last remnant of capitalism and the ushering in of the Communist social order under which children will become the heirs of their childhood for the first time since human history began. ELEMENTARY MARXIAN ECONOMICS LASS in Elementary Marxian Economics meets Wednesday night, at 8:15 p. m., 2613 Hirsch Blvd Earl R. Browder, instructor. Alt com. rades entered inthis class are re quired to be present this week; fai! ure to appear or to present valid ex- cuse will result in being droppec from the roll. Text for this week's lesson is “The Peoples’ Marx,” 1921 edition, Chap- ters I, I, III, and IV. Answer the following questions with material from these four chapters but in your own words: necessary labor-time.” in the process of production, Questions. 1, Show that it is impossible to find the determining factor of prices in the “cost of production.” 2, Explain how the existence of an average rate of profit creates the il- lusion for the capitalist that his in- come is the natural fruit of his capi. tal. 3. Show the contradictions that are involved in the theory that a commod- ity increases in value thru the process of purchase and sale, 4. Show the contradictions that fol- low from the idea that commodities are sold above their value, 5. What relation has the useful quality of a commodity to its rate of exchange. with other commodities? 6. Explain briefly why “labor-time” pended, in raw material and tion, on the one h: hand, capitalist? Explain. the instructor. is the only possible basis of measure ment of value, and how this “labor. time” must be understood as “sociall; 7. Show that the surplus value realized in the form of profit during the process of circulation of commodi ties must necessarily have its origin 8, Explain how the capitalist can follow the law of exchange of equa! values for equal values, in the pur chase of all things necessary for pro- duction, gnd yet, after employing these commodities in production, find him’ | self with a greater value than he ex 9, Explain the vital difference for the capitalist between capital invested jeans of produc: , and capital in- vested in labor-power on the other 10, Does the capitalist advance the wages to the worker, or is it the worker who advances credit to the The review of “Value, Price and Profit,” required from all students of the class, are not yet all turned into Monday, December 15, 1924 ‘QUTLAW’ STRIKE OF SWITCHMEN: IS UP IN COURT BuffaloHearing Reveals Treason of Officials By JOSEPH SIMINOFF, (Special to The Daily Worker) BUFFALO, Dec. 14.—The “outlaw” switchmen’s strike of 1920 was up in the supreme court in Buffalo. The widow of Simon J. Mahoney, an alleged “outlaw” striker, is suing the Switchmen's Union for insur- ance due on the policy held by her husband while a member of the union. During the proceedings in the case a number of facts have been brought out as to the that the officials of the Switch- men’s Union played in betraying two thousand railroad workers in that strike. Morris Welsh, grand secretary and t easurer of the union who appeared in behalf of the union testified that the 2,000 workers who in 1920 took a fishing vacation, violated the consti- tution of the union and struck agains’ the United States government. Conditions Grow Worse. Worker after worker who was called on the witness stand pointed out that the conditions on the railroads for the workers were becoming more unbéar- able from day to day. The wages paid to these workers were so low that it was hardly sufficient to keep body and soul together, let alone of getting the necessities of life. The men who were then well or- ganized in Buffalo appealed to the grand lodge officers for action to al- leviate this situation. But the bureau cracy of the Switchmen’s Union, in- stead of acting in this situation, hav« been feeding these workers on prom ises for a number of months. They realized that they could not expect anything from these bureau- crats, and decided to take a vacation in April 1920. The officials of the union have enlisted the aid of the rail- road managers and the United States government to drive these 2,000 work ers back on the railroads. Soone than go back to the slavery endured by them en the railroads, they have found cther employment... In private conversation with some of the former switchmen, they inform- ed me that the former grand lodge president, Althering, the man respon- sible for the outlawing of the switch men’s strike, while president of the union, instead of looking after the in- terests of the workers, has been trav eling around selling oil stock for some western concern. This hench- man of the capitalist class and be- trayer of, thousands of railroad work ers, at the national convention of the union following the “outlaw” strike refused to stand for re-election as president, knowing that the member- ship of the union were up in armr against his vicious betrayal of the workers to the capitalist class. He went west and became the president of a western mining company. Thru the action of these leeches of the Switchmen’s Union of North Am- erica, they have succeeded in smash. ing the organization in Buffalo, where today there is hardly any organizatio: left to speak of. These misleaders have served the interests of the rail- road capitalist as well as could be ex- pected. AS WE SEE IT By T. J. O'FLAHERTY. (Continued from page 1) E socialist party leaders boasted . that the four or five million votes cast for LaFollette were socialist votes and pointed with scorn to the showing made at the polls by the Workers Party. They said: “Where do you land with your sectarian tac- tics? A paltry twenty-five thousand votes against our five million.” But now a section of the socialist party has summed up sufficient courage to come out with the unpleasant truth. The votes are counted but the 8. P, is wrecked. Their few remaining pers are dying. They gambled formation of a farmer-labor third party. Even the most urs: ridicule on the Comm: we mtn national and holds that H. G. Wells’ “Outline of History” is a great ad- vance on Das Kapital, the monument- al work of Karl Marx. Som: