The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 8, 1925, Page 6

Page Six THE DAILY WORKER THE DAILY WORKER. Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. 1118 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, IIL (Phone: Monroe 4712) SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mall: $3.50....6 months $2.00....8 months By mail (in Chicago only): ‘ $4.50....6 months $2.50....3 months $6.00 per year $8.00 per year A@dress all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER 1113 W. Washington Bivd. J, LOUIS ENGDAHL t Chicago, Hlinels’ woes GIO swine Business Manager WILLIAM F. DUNNE MORITZ J. LOEB. ————————— Entered as second-class mail Sept. 21, 1923, at the Post- Office at Chicago, Ill, under the act of March 8, 1879. => 20 Unity, the Need of Textile Workers The reactionary offensive against the workers, expected by Communists and threatened by the open shop bosses who hold Dawes as their model, is beginning. The whole textile industry, cotton, wool, silk and even the thread trust is trying to force thru a cut in wages. This is the widely heralded “pros- perity” the capitalist press promised and the basis for the unprecedented boom in stocks and bonds in the New York exchange. Prosperity for the multimillionaire owners of the textile mills— starvation and misery for the textile workers! In Paterson the late autumn witnessed the resist- ance of the broad silk workers, led triumphantly by the Communists and the Trade Union Educa- tional League. In Paterson the reactionary bosses were defeated, the fangs of savage exploitation were broken and a union built up and fortified. Tex- tile workers, look at Paterson and take heart for united struggle! Now, thruout New England, the bosses are “an- nouncing” a cut in wages. Shall they get away with it? All depends upon the mood of the work- ers. Are you willing to struggle, textile workers? Are you willing to strike? Not in little groups, but in a giant wave that will sweep the whole in- dustry! The Trade Union Educational League yesterday issued a call to you textile workers, organized and unorganized, urging resistance, united resist- ance—for the keystone of the arch of triumph is named “UNITY.” The craft unions, few and weak as they are, are no weapons with which to face the combined power of the National Association of Textile Manufacturers. Battles are not won with pop- guns, but heavy artillery. You textile workers need an industrial union, and you must force your craft union officials to unite, immediately, in action against the wage cuts, as quickly as possible, in one organic body, one great industrial union to take in everybody in the mills. Textile workers, you must fight your own battles, you must prepare yourselves for inevitable struggle. If you accept one wage cut another will be forced upon you. You will not protect your wage scale from attack by being humble any more than the sheep protects itself from wolves by bleating. The bleating only attracts the wolves and sharpens their appetite. Moreover, you are men and women, not sheep, and should fight like men and women. The Trade Union Educational League has pointed the way for your victory, textile workers: An industrial union! A united front of all textile unions and textile workers against the bosses! Abolition of child labor! Instead of wage cuts— more wages! Instead of longer hours—shorter hours! Instead of many little unions—one giant union! Organization! Unity! And again unity! Unity and struggle! Only in this way can you save yourselves. Reaction in the Balkans Stefan Raditch, the leader of the Croation peasants’ party, has been arrested and will be tried for treason, according to dispatches. This is another step in the drive against peasants and workers in the Balkans and is undoubtedly en- couraged by the allies. ' The Croatian peasants’ party is not a revolution- ary organization, but a reformist-nationalist group that has not betrayed the agrarians and therefore has earned the enmity of the reactionaries. The Raditch party has been working in a united front with the Communists with the result that both city and peasant districts have been solidified against the white guard government. The arrest of Raditch spells trouble in the Bal- kans—trouble for the imperialists and their pup- pet governments. Advertising rates on application " ‘This week sees the opening of state legislatures over the country. That calls for a more intensive class struggle against the upholders of child labor who are seeking to defeat the child labor amend- ment to the constitution. Get busy! Some of the opposition deputies in the Italian chamber want to impeach Mussolini. The Italian Communists will laugh at this proposal. They are out to rid the nation of capitalism in all its forms, including the timid bourgeois “opposition” and the democratic pacifists, parading as socialists. Michigan » Within the We are all agreed on the policy to “Insure the| More trotibles for Mussolini, The United States| Sito walls he is holding a post tor DAILY for 1925!” But that isn’t sufficient. Let] wants the $2,000,000,000.00 advanced to Italy dur-| only hope of our us all get busy and work just a little harder for|ing the war. The present « occurred a that policy. _|year and a half ago. The case being SEER vast Don’t forget to send in that order for the Special pe yrrare Bi, Pe. sieeene Sout Join the Workers Party and subscribe to the| Anniversary Issue of the DAILY WORKER out favorable f ty WORKER, next week. Celebrate this day! f pense, to j 1 re 2 Capitalism’s Mercy to the Houston | “Rioters” The “mercy” of capitalist “justice” is nearly as bad as its vengeance. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announces that getting a parole for 20 of the large group of so-called “Houston rioters” from Leavenworth | prison is a victory of the organization during the past year. The writer, who happens to have shared. prison fare with these black soldiers, knows how many of them will receive this “mercy” with secret cynicism, They will, of course, be happy as any animal is happy to escape bondage in the narrow confines of a steel cage. But in the deeps of their hearts they will not grovel at the feet of a capitalist government that extends them the “mercy” of the capitalist system. The writer knows them well enough to understand that they have learned a profound enmity to the powers that be. The “mercy” of parole, again, is an ironic charity, that keeps a worker at the mercy of his boss, the whims of police surveillance and treated always as a suspect to be arrested and questioned and possibly convicted any time a culprit is needed that cannot be caught. Always, the man’s “record” is held against him as proof, positive of present deriliction if he cannot prove an iron-bound case of innocence. This goes back to the facts of the Houston case, too long to recite here, except to say that a regi- ment of Negro soldiers in their camp at night, were attacked by a bloodthirsty mob of lynch- minded Texans led by policemen. They had arms and used them in defense and counter-attack. Naturally, somebody got killed. ss The vengeance of capitalist government, which recruited these black workers to shoot down colonial subjects, oppressed races like themselves in the islands—east and west, Mexico, and to pro- tect capitalist rule with bayonet and bullet from overthrowal by the exploited workers of any and all colors—the vengeance of the courts martial was swift and terrible. A whole group was taken out, about twenty or thirty, as we recall, and hung —almost without pretense at trial. The others were sentenced to a living death—to life at Leaven- worth. é Now some of them are paroled from the prison of Leavenworth to the prison of the capitalist sys- their every hour. This is the “mercy” of capital- ism for a worker who mutinies. And it is strange to see that the fact of the remainder of these victims being eligible to receive this “mercy” of parole in 1928—three years more in the prison hell—is hailed as a sort of glad tidings. As we said at the beginning, the mercy of capitalism is nearly as bad as its vengeance. Labor Is Aroused The new attacks, thru the Michigan courts, against the Communists will stir the American la- bor movement to definite protest. This can clearly be seen thru the resentment resulting from the brutal sentence imposed on C. E. Ruthenberg, na- tional secretary of the Workers (Communist) Par- ty, and the eagerness with which the capitalist bloodhounds have rushed him off to the state prison at Jackson. When the attack was first launched against the Communists, thru the raids on the Bridgeman con- vention, the organized labor movement of the na- tion protested vehemently, recognizing this as an attack on the whole working-class. The workers everywhere understood that this was not an of- fensive against the Communists alone, but against all workers and workers’ organizations that dared fight the bosses. The thinking elements of organ- ized labor, that are not now under the complete domination of the bureaucracy will realize more than ever that this continued attack on the Com- munists, is also a fight against all labor. The quick response from the organized workers, as is seen for instance in the resolutions adopted by the Stone Cutters’ Local, of Omaha, Neb., shows that the rank and file is jealous of its rights, and that it does not intend to quit in the fight against its class enemy, even if the capitalists are rein- forced by their “labor lieutenants.” The struggle in Michigan is on again. Thinking workers will rally en masse in this struggle on the side of the Communists facing prison. State legislatures are meeting quietly and con- tentedly over the country. They contain no Com- munist members ready to make a fight against capitalism. That explains it. Get into the Work- ers (Communist) Party and help remedy this situation for the future. They are giong to broadcast the speeches made in the Norwegian parliament. The Communists will surely help warm up the radios of an evening, when the workers are at home ready to “listen in,” Our first birthday—Jan. 13. Help celebrate it! Distribute a bundle. Order blank on another page. Fill it out! Send it in! Another “allied conference” is being held at Paris. It will be as fruitless as all the rest. Not even “conferences” can keep capitalism alive. bondage or wage slavery in the larger prison of | tem, closely watched and required to account for | STUDENTS STUDY LABOR PROBLEM IN FACTORIES Banker Denies Existence of U. S. Imperialism NEW YORK, Jan. 7.—Five young college graduates are finding out by vivid personal experience what a fac- tory wage workers’ life is and are trying to find out what they, the col- lege workers, can do to help workers reach a larger life. Justine Wise is one of the young women in-the mixed group. She told her impressions and conclusions to the annual’ sttident conference of the league for industrial democracy. The college group lives in a worker's house in a textile town near New York. Thé students are employed in the mills and in addition each stud. ies a special phase of community life in’ reference to the dominant indus- tries. One studies politics, another religious. life, another social activi ties, as affected by industrial condi- tions. One of the group has run intc the industrial spy system, Miss Wise tells, so closely are unusual manifes tations watched for. Treated Like Robots. Employers treat workers as part of the macinery and do not even try tc get maximum efficiency when piece work is the rule, Miss Wise told the conference, Workers wait hours for materials. She has earned from $14 to $17.50 per week at piecework bob- bin winding. She suggested that go ing into industry is the best way fo: college students interested in the la- bor or radical movement to be trained. Otto Kahn, banker, denied the ex. istence of imperialism at the league’s banquet. He said it was a myth that Standard Oil or any other business interest controlled the U. S. state de- partment. Scott Nearing took the op- posite view and said the Monroe doc. trine was the cloak uzder which im perialism is sprecd by the United States. By ALFRED V. FRANKENSTEIN. The twelfth program of the Chicago Symphony tra, given. at Or- chestra Hall, was the annual Theodore Thomas memorial.. Theodore Thomas, the first conducter of the ochestra, died on Jan. 5, Every year since his death, on the Friday and Saturday nearest the fifth of January, a memo- rial program has been played for him. These memorial programs are al- ways made up of works of the four German composers, Thomas excelled in interpreting—Bach, Beethoven, Wagner and Richard Strauss. The program on this occasion open- ed with a chorale of Bach arranged by J. J. Abert and tacked on to a fugue of Abert’s own composition. In this work the mathematical style of Bach is greatly enhanced by modern orchestration. Beethoven Style Seen Thruout. Following this ie the most talked of and most writ about symphony symphony is the first of the nine in which the typical Beethoven style is used thruout. It is the first important use of the formula known as the “motto theme.” A theme is stated at in the world, the Beethoven fifth. This | disarmament. terms with Britain, France, Italy and the other powers. Without that equal ity of treatment, he believes, the con- ference will be doomed to futility. Borah has raised this issue since President Coolidge, at the instance of large numbers of peace advocates, has hinted that he favors a new conference for reduction of armament. Coolidge does not promise to call such a tieet- ing of spokesmen of the powers in the near future, nor does he say that should consider anything but the tech- nical problem of getting all_the world’s military forces reduced in concert. But Borah, remembering how his own re- solution calling for a world conference on naval reduction was followed by Harding’s action in summoning the Washington arms conference of 1921- 22, believes that the hour has struck for another move. If he can get his measure through the foreign relations committee of the senate, Coolitge and Hughes will have to act. And even though Harding and Hughes excluded him from the Amer- ican delegation, three years ago, they cannot shut out the chairman of the senate committee. Once a member of the American delegation, he can insist upon discussion of economic bases for militarism. He can bring up the Ver- sailles treaty, the war debt manipula- tion, and the postponement of peace with Russia. For his resolution the senate is not now ‘ready to give its support. If he secures the approval of the foreign relations committee, however, he will have built such a fire under Coolidge and Hughes as to force them—regard- less of the adjournment of congress in March—to offer to the country some plan for reducing the danger of out- break of another world war. the outset, and thru the four move- ments it reappears in various guises to tie the whole together. It is this motto theme of four notes, tw6 measures long, that has caused all the discussion, Some say it is in- tended to represent the notes of a bird and others that its meaning is the knock of fate. George Grove, who is an authority, says the theme repres- ents Beethoven himself, in contrast to the second theme of the first move- ment, signifying a certain princess to whom the composer was engaged to ,|be married at the time, The chances are that none of them jis correct. At any rate this symphony, second only to the Schubert eighth in |popularity, shows all the sides of |Beethoven’s nature. Angry and troubled in the first-movement, the second is idylic and almost pathetic. Hector Berlioz described the third section as producing “that inexplic- able emotion which you feel when the magnetic gaze of certain persons is fixed upon you.” The last movement is an overwhelming march in spirit tho not in form. “A Hero’s Life” Hokum. ‘Strauss was represented by the BORAH RESURRECTS HIS PLAN FOR AN ECONOMIC WORLD MEET WITH RUSSIA TO BE INCLUDED By LAURENCE TODD (Federated Press Staff Correspondent) ‘WASHINGTON, Jan. 7.—Chairman Borah of the senate committee on foreign relations has revived his resolution of two years ago, proposing a world conference on economic readjustment as a necessary preliminary to In order to remove all doubt as to the purpose of the discus- sion of economic relations, he will call his resolution a proposal of a world conference on economic affairs and armaments. January, 1923, he proposes that Russia and Germany be invited on equal eer an = Thursday, January 8, 1925 ere crn And, just as was the case in UNION MEN DEMAND RETRIAL BE GIVEN FOR SAGCO-VANZETTI CASE (Special to The Daily Worker) NEW YORK, Jan. 5.—At the reg- ular meeting of’ the: Union of Tech- nical Men, Local No. 37, a resolu- tion was passed, protesting against the denial for a new trial of Sacco and Vanzetti, and demanding a re- trial for these martyrs of labor. A contribution was made to the Sacco-Vanzetti defense. Prisoners Eat Swill. GALESBURG, Ill, Jan. 6—The 285 inmates of the Knox county prison were fed in 1924 on meals which cost only eight cents apiece. But this eight cents included, in addition to the food the turnkey’s salary and the cost of soup used by prisoners. When asked if the cheap food did not harm the prisoners, Sheriff L. Wilson repli- ed, “They grow fat on it.” To the DAILY WORKER:—Enclos- ed a copy of our daily paper, with streaming headlines of the welcome our city gave our (capitalist) Bill Green. This welcome was initiated by bankers and others, exploiters of labor. His speech proved he is a real class collaborationist. Yours for a better WORKER L. H., 423 N. 11th St., Coshocton, O. grandest piece of hokum in musical literature, the symphonic poem “A Hero's Life.” In the six movements of this creation Strauss pictures first the hero, his adversaries, his com- panion, his battlefield, his mission of Peace, and his escape from the world. The hero is a regular one hundred per cent, A-1, red blooded, two-fisted~ he- man. The hero is incidentally Richard Strauss himself, for in the fifth move- ment, where the hero surveys his life, a hash of themes from the composer’s previous work is brought in These grand self-revelations of Strauss were written for exactly the same reasons, as those actuating the memoirs of royal ex-concubines in the yellow press—to make money and attract at- tention. The Wagner excerpt was the finale from “Das Rheingold,” quite recently discussed here in detail. — a casa STONE CUTTERS LOGAL PROTESTS MICHIGAN: LAW Urges Support for Labor Defense (Special to The Daily Worker) OMAHA, Nebr., Jan, 7.—The follow. ing resolution was adopted by the Stone Cutters’ Local of Omaha at their regular meeting last Friday night and ordered sent to the press: Resolution Against “Criminal Syndi- calism” Laws. WHEREAS, the many state “crim. inal syndicalism” laws and “sedition acts” are contrary to the bill of rights of the United States constitution, and such laws are used by the employers as a class to tyrannize over the work- ers and their organizations; and WHEREAS, the latest act of perse cution is shown by the state supreme court of Michigan in upholding a con- viction for “assembling with” the Communists, in an opinion that pun- ishes ideas and denies free speech and assemblage, and which evades and ignores the’ fact that the defense showed there was no violation of the state law, since no overt act or advo. cacy was done by the defendant in Michigan; and WHEREAS, Assistant. Prosecuting Attorney Bookwalter and others of his class insists on a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment and $10,000 fine, for this “crime” of hold- ing an opinion opposed to that of the prosecutor and his class, thus recom- mending government action based on prejudice rather than the law and con- stitution; and * WHERDPAS, the sustaining of Ruthenberg’s conviction by the Unit- ed States supreme court will mean the railroading of Wm. Z. Foster and twenty-nine other well known fight- ers in labor’s ranks to long terms in prison also, and gives further encour. agement to high-handed suppression by the capitalist-controlled govern. ment of all workers’ organizations who dare oppose their open shop rule; andand WHEREAS, the solidarity of the entire working class must be assert: ed in defense of freedom of opinion and in support of those at the front in our struggles; therefore be it RESOLVED, that, we protest against and condemn the action of the Michigan supreme court, and that we support the Labor Defense Coun- cil in this case and call upon all la- bor bodies and working class organ. izations to take the e stand. That we petition the governor of~ Michigan to pardon the defendant in the event that the United States su- preme court sustains the conviction, it being our view that such action by the federal supreme court would nulli- fy the constitution in the interest of capitalist suppression of the work- ers; and be it further RESOLVED, that copies of this res- olution be sent to the Labor Defense Council and to the press. Adopted at a regular meeting of Omaha Local, Journeymen Stone Cut. ters’ of North America, at Labor Temple Friday, Jan. 2, 1925. Signed: R. J. Fidler, President. David Coutts, Secretary. : :s 6 The address of the Labor Defense Council is, 166 West Washington St., Chicago, Ill. ~ “In Memoriam—Lenin” to be shown dan. 15 at Gartner’s Theater. Comrade Ruthenberg Takes His Post — 'HE doors of the Michigan. peniten- tiary have opened to receive our Comrade C. BE. Ruthenberg into the prison chain.gang. © A live sense of the reality of the class struggle should be awakened by this event. Ruthenberg, indefatigable fighter and clear-headed, resourceful Marxian leader, has long been a thorn in the flesh of the capitalist ruling class. In the shock of war, and in the reaction and terror that came with it, Ruthenberg loomed high as a leader of mass demonstrations in the city of Cleveland, which Jed to his first im- prisonment. Ruthenberg fought where other “socialist” leaders fell away from the fight, the fight from which the war had stripped away the easy parliamentary veneer. It was but logical that this man should be: come, as he did, a towering leader in the left wing of the socialist party, and logical again that he became one of the founders of the Communist Party. ‘ The fs 1920 found Ruthenberg in Sing Sing penitentiary, under a six. year sentence as one responsible for the “left wing manifesto.” When released from that term he immedi- ately stepped again into the front trenches, being made executive sec retary of the Wi Party. Now again he takes up a new task in the service of the working class, to serve a term as its representative in the the verdict. “impartial” jurists as well as the whole capitalist governmental ma- chine, in acting always on a, favor. able political wind, is notable. The arrest of the Communist Party con- vention in August, 1922, had a direct relationship to the immense mass strikes of a million coal miners and railroad men. The Daugherty injunc- tion was only one of the principal measures of the capitalist government against the strikes; the arrest of the Communist convention was another of the principal measures. But the country was in a state of ferment of the working class. This precipitated the raid, but it also delayed a decis. ive conclusion of the cases. The Fos- ter trial, in which a jury consisting mostly of farmers failed to respond to the capitalist state’s demand for conviction, was a warning. The state tightened its lines and struck again, this time getting Ruthenberg. But having gotten a conviction of Ruthenberg in the lower court, and having learned a severe lesson in the propaganda effects of a Communist defense, the state became wary. The ferment among the workers and farmers was still in existence; it would have been politically unwise, from the capitalist viewpoint, to ad. vertise during the pre-election period the conclusion of a case which ex- poses the non.existence of “constitu: tional” rights for working class movements. To do so would have in- jured the “democratic-pacifist” illus- ion which it was especially necessary at that time to keep alive, The election of Coolidge was the The manner of thesejelection of Coolidge, the capitalist class of America felt reassured that its power to drive the masses into its corral’ was unimpared. Coolidge still thinks it necessary to mouth “pacifist” phrases to cover up the Preparations for further domestic and international reaction, violent suppres- sion and the coming world war. But in- practice it is considered safe to proceed with the nulification of “con- stitutional guarantees.” The cowardly supreme court of Michigan steps out in the open and strikes at those withoug whose program and organized leadership it knows no struggle of the working class and the impover. ished farming masses can be effective. The sentence against Ruthenberg is @ savage one. Three to ten years’ im- prisonment, with an additional $5,000 fine to work out, was the heaviest sen- tence that lay in the power of the hypocrite, Judge White, of St. Joseph. This little man White acted, not for himself, nor for the so-called but non.eixstent “public,” but for his capitalist masters. Acting thru this pitiful tool of a judge, the capitalist class proclaims the end of the “demo- cratic-pacifist” era in America in con- demning Ruthenberg. Behind the mask of court room formality, the capitalist class picks the enemy of its system class has its own form of justice, purpose of which is to crush its class enemies. The working class will have its own justice, and with it the working class will yet put on trial the horde of petty, prostituted tools of capitalist. justice. A Meantime the leaders of the Work ers (Communist) Party will take their turns with the capitalist courts of Michigan, and will be proud thus to serve the only cause that is worthy of a man’s or a woman’s loy- alty. Undoubtedly there will be many more trials in Michigan. Robert Minor will be called to trial on Feb. 2, and unflinchingly he will defend his party there. Others will follow; the intention is evidently to imprison every possible leader of Communism in America, Every Communist, and every sym- pathizer, and every worker who can made to learn from this travesty the true meaning of the class strug: gle, must vigorously take up the de- fense. It is their cause—it is-not the cause of the individuals. who are di. rectly put on trial. The capitalist court must be made into a political sounding-board from which to speak to the masses of toilers—every act of the court must be made a priceless part of agitution. Not to excuse them: selves before capitalist justice, not to obscure their enmity and hatred of the capitalist system, but to inculcate into the exploited masses a knowl- edge of what capitalism means, and what working class revolution and « on means, will be the pur- each of our comrades who court at St. Joseph, Michi. gan, Down with capitalist class justice; beprfi: the justice of the working