The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 11, 1925, Page 3

neers een ne EE EE ME RE RAE APN REEDS JOBLESS DEMAND WORK WITH FULL PAY IN GANADA| Winnipeg Filled with » Unemployed Army WINNIPEG, Man., Canada, March 9. —At a meeting of several hundred un- employed single men in the Labor Temple here, a motion was passed, de- manding that the minimum wage for single men sent to the farms should bé $25.00 per month.. Pickets were placed in front of the government em- ployment bureau after the meeting to see that the demands were enforced. Four thousand married. men with families and 800 single men are on the list receiving government unemploy- ment relief, but the men declare that this relief is a joke. Practically at all times the relief for single men is cut off, in order to force the unmarried nien to go out on the farms. Themen are sent out to these farms with the promise of work at $15.00 a month and board, but most of the time, they de- clare, they do not receive even this meager salary. Many- of the men have been forced to walk back to the city, 100 miles or more, after the em- ployers have refused to give them any wage. There is no work of any kind in the city. Those who receive government relief are forced to pay for it by work- ing in the city wood yard. The relief consists of meal tickets and a ticket for a bed. The beds are filthy and old, with insufficient covering and the food is nauseating. COMMITTEE OF OTTAWA JOBLESS DEMANDS BREAD F orm Organization to Get Work or Pay OTTAWA, Canada, March 9.—The unemployed workers have organized into an association and have adopted the name of the Unemployment As- sociation of Canada, Ottawa branch. At the first meeting as a dues paying association, officers were elected. The membership has more: than doubled since this first meeting, a few weeks ago. Regular meetings are held in the Carpenters’ Hall, every Tuesday evening. Dues are ten cents per month. , In order to obtain the relief work furnished by the municipality, it is necessary to register at the city hall, after which it takes two or three weeks to secure a week’s work, The wages paid for the civic work are 50 eents per hour. If there is no work, and the unemployed workers can prove that he is absolutely destitute, owning not even a scrap of furniture, he may go to the social service de- partment of the city, which gives a family of five an order entitling them, to $2.82 worth of food to last the fam- ily seven days. No provisions are made for the housing of the unemployed. THE WORKERS MONTHLY March Issue has a striking, three color cover designed by a new star in the field of revolutionary artists— Girolamo Piccoli An artist and sculptor who has just been awarded a $1,000 prize in sculpture. It is only one of many features in the splendid issue just off the press. SUBSCRIBE $2.00 A Year . $1.25 “Bix: Months THE WORKERS MONTHLY 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, III. on ne mmm. nen Re RR tS aA ERE 9 «i I eee Leninism or 20 CENTS ———$—$—$—$—$ For Communist Clarity— By Gregory Zinoviev, I. Stalin and L, Kameney. ooo Order from the Daily Worker Literature Dept. THE DAILY WORKER SECTION OF THE TRADE UNION EDUCATIONAL LEAGUE Page Thred CENTRAL HILLMAN WARNED THAT BETRAYAL CANNOT LAST Class ‘Collaboration Condemned By TURKHANSK. There was a time when the Amalga- mated Clothing Workers of America really conducted a revolutionary strug: | gle against the “open shop” and the unbearable slavery in the tailoring in- dustry. After the well known Rick- ert’s regime had been disposed of, the Chicago men’s clothing industry was organized. There followed a few successful years of co-operation between and advancement of the clothing worker's. But it didn’t take long for the Chicago clothing manufacturers, thru their high-paid diplomats, to influence the leaders of our organization, The First Betrayal. In 1922 they accepted the first gen- eral reduction in wages without giving the membership a chance to vote on the question. Since then the wishes and desires of the membership have been put in cold storage. The more advanced workers thot it impossible for such a thing to happen in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. When such an act is committed only once or ‘twice, the workers forget it readily. And so it was in this first instance. The mem- bership rallied to the call of the gen- eral executive board for an organiza- tion fund, every member was taxed from $20 to $30, making a total of over $1,000,000 raised in Chicago with- in a short period of time. “A Million Wasted. This gigantic sum was supposed to protect the general membership from future reductions in wages. But what do we see? Instead of showing the power of our organization, our lead- ers have accepted a second reduction in wages. This second betrayal brot a storm of ciriticism and eondemnation upon the heads of these high paid offi- cials who have forsaken the class struggle for class collaboration. Reactionary machine rule is at last established in the A. C. W. of A. DISTRICT organized opposition. Your machine rule and autocratic dictatorship in sus. pending members of our organization and your present power will then avall you nothing. Brother Hillman, you surely remem: ber the Russian revolution of 1905, after the Russo-Japanese war. You lived in Lithuania then. Thru experi- ence you ought to know that revolu- tionists cannot be disposed of by ex- pulsion from the union.. You also know that the A. C. W. of A. was born in the struggle, and by struggle, with or without your help, and even against your opposition, we will grow ever more powerful. The masses can- not be fooled all the time. Splits Come From Above. The clothing workers in general are class conscious and expect revolution ary leadership. Splits and division within our ranks come from above, never from below. These divisions LOGAL 5, A. GW. EXPELLED, TAKES UP THE OFFENSIVE Makes Demands on the Hillman Machine (Special to The Daily Worker) NEW YORK CITY.—Local 5 of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, re- cently expelled froin the joint board, for offending the tender susceptibili- ties of the Hillman machine, has is- sued a leaflet explaining its point of view to the other locals of the A. C. W., pointing out the class collabora- tion of the administration, calling at- tention to the censorship over the official organ which prevents the membership—and even its editor, so it is claimed—from ‘the right freely to express themselves, #nd setting forth come from the fact that official autoc- racy’s personal interests come into conflict with the interests of the mem. bership, and when it does, the work. ers are the ones who suffer. It should be your duty to raise \the slogans of “battle against wage cuts,” "for a higher standard of living.” In- stead of slogans of struggle you raise slogans of betrayal such as “no striker for the next ten years.” Any chamber of commerce would .endorse that slo- gan. Away with the class collaboration policy! The A. C. W. of A. will remain an instrument of the class struggle! AMALGAMATION NEEDED BADLY IN THIS GASE Bat Labor Fakers Do Nothing to Get It CHICAGO—The tangled jurisdic- tional situation in the Chicago build- ing trades unions of the American Fed- eration of Labor is receiving an air- ing thru the test strikes on the huge Hotel Sherman annex. After a week’s strike of the unions affiliated with the building trades The president ‘of our union has forgot. ten his duty to the membership. In- stead of carrying on the revolution- ary education of the workers in the industry, our ex-revolutionist and pres- ent class pacifist officials are playing regular A. F. of L. politics. Every lo- cal in the organization has an organ- ized section of their machine, and everything is done according to the orders of the higher officials. Workers’ Democracy Abolished. The rank and file workers’ voice in the A. C. W. of A. is no longer the rul. ing force in the affairs of the organ- ization. Democracy has been abolish: ed. A powerful labor aristocracy, in- terested in labor banks, etc., has been built up and is taking away the revo- lutionary foundation of the A. C. W. of A. The victims are the poor work- ers who toil in the shops. The officials say, boastingly, that the membership knows no better. While it is these same officials who keep the rank and file in ignorance so that they can control and exploit that lack of knowledge. Not Forever! There are shops where a shop meet- ing is called only once a year, and then only in order that the business agents may appoint a shop chairman. But this period of luxury and power at the expense of the rank and file work- ers in the industry will not last for- ever. The clothing workers of Chicago and many other cities are waking up to the fact that they have been led, blindly, into a swamp. The spirit of revolt against our class collaboration- ist leaders is increasing. The last act of betrayal by the general executive board, against Local 5 in New York, has proven to the general member- ship that the general executive board of the A. C. W. of A. is no longer en- titled to represent the organized men’s tailoring industry of America. With or Without or Against You! The time is near, Brother Hillman, when you will have to face a strongly Trotskyism A COPY council because the Carptenters’ Un- ion, which is not affiliated, was given the setting of metal trim, the issue has gone to arbitration. Repeated awards by the national committee on jurisdictional awards, a mixed employ- er-union board, have favored the sheet- metal workers, In the Hotel Sherman case the work was given the carpenters by the con- tractors who usually follow this course, ‘whether to stir up trouble be- tween the unions or betause, as the carpenters claim, they can do the work faster and better. When the strike was called the carpenters remained at work and so did the steamfitters and the sheet metal workers. An additional twist to the complica tions is given by the fact that these sheet metal workers are non-union. The carpenters claim that union build- ing tradesmen are striking against un- ion carpenters in favor of non-union sheet metal workers, but this is de- nied by Secy. J. J. Conroy of the build- ing trades council. Admitting that non-union sheet met- al men are at work on the job, Con- roy declares that the particular work done in opposition to the award by the carpenters will be done by union sheet metal workers if the contractor gives them the chance or is forced to do so by the strike. Chamber of Commerce Fights Bills to Aid Ohio School Teachers CLEVELAND—Two bills before the state legislature have an important bearing on wages and the tenure of employment of school teachers in this state. The main provisions in the firs‘ bill are: 1. Appointment of teachers for « complete school year. When the teacher has served in one school dis: trict for three consecutive years the next appointment shall be for an in- definite period. 2. When teachers may be dismissed written charges must be delivered te the employe, who may reply and de- mand a hearing. The second bill would equalize the wages of men and women teachers. The Cleveland chamber of commerce has joined with the board of educa tion in fighting this bill. St. Louisians! Turn Out Wednesday Night! ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The local general group of the Trade Union Educational League of St Louis, will meet Wed. nesday, March 11, at 8 o'clock in the evening at Workers’ Hall, 2412 North 14th street. The speaker will be John Brown of Typographical Union No. 8. Every worker is welcome the demands of the local. These demands are as follows: “TI. The throwing of workers out of the shops should cease. We believe that if our leaders would co-operate less with the bosses and co-operate a little more with the workers in the shops, this can be carried out. “2. We demand “that reductions should not be made. The old story is being used. The tailors in New York are being told that the cities of New York compete for the work by cutting the wages, and if they consent to wage reductions the work ‘can be brought back to New York. This same story is being told to the cities out of New York by our faithful rep- resentatives. A production inquisi- tion goes on while thousands of work- ers are walking the streets idle, hun- gry and destitute. A stop must be made to this harmful policy. “3. We demand that the two New York Joint Boards, including the cut- ters, amalgamate into one Joint Board. We hold that the organiza- tion must be unified before we can be successful in our fight against the bosses. We cannot gnc should not permit the continuance of a situation where in one firm one section of the trade goes out on strike while the other remains working. “4, We demand that the locals in a given branch of the industry be amal- gamated into one local. We believe that if it is possible for the Italians, Lithuanians in Chicago, Rochester, Pittsburgh, Boston and in all other clothing centers, pmessers, operators and tailors in the same branch of the industry to belong to one local, there is no reason why it cannot be done in New York. The division of the work- ers into separate locals benefits the bosses and is, advantageous to the politicians of the vatious locals. It brings only disaster to the workers in the shops. “5 We demand that the manufac- turers be prohibited from employing former union officals ‘as managers in their factories, as has been the ‘case with many of the betrayers who have obtained such jobs with the approval of the officials who have remained in the organization. The betrayers know well how to heartlessly exploit and drive the workers. “6. W demand that the wages of the officials shall be no more than the prevailing rate of wages received by the workers. Officials that receive big wages forget very quickly the needs of the workers. “7, We demand that two terms be the limit for any official to remain in office, and if the organization is dear to them they will gladly go back to the shop and keep in touch with the daily struggles of the workers. Offi- cials that make a shop out of the un- ion and a job out of their position cannot protect the interests of the workers as they should, “8. We demand that unnecessary of- ficials be removed. The organization under one joint board would do away with many officials, ich would be a saving to the organization of many thousands of dollars which could be put to the use which would further the interests of the workers. “We, the members ‘of Local 5, be- lieve that not one honest, class-con- scious worker, no matter to what local or city he belongs, can afford to ab- stain from giving our local their ut- most support in this fight. This is a serious and earnest fight. “The events in Lotal 2 and tn the other locals where thé members do not get the opportunity to express themselves and are being ruled and persecuted by groups Which are well rewarded by the officials for tnetr ne- farious acts prove that our leaders have in earnest decided to extermin- ate every trace of free expression in our organization. The fight concerns not only our local; it 1 a fight for the whole Amalgamated—a fight for a real union, a’ fight for the men's clothing workers all over the coun- try. “We hope that your local will im- mediately give this matter the consid- eration it merits and reach the right decision. “NEW YORK LOCAL 6, A. C. W. of A.” i Give your shopmate this copy of the DAILY WORKER—but be sure to see him the next day to get his subscription, ., on ) , | EASTERN MYSTERY OF THE MISSING LETTER NEEDS SOLUTION But It Doesn’t Save Hutcheson (Special to The Daily Worker) NEW YORK CITY—Altho, as it seems, a letter and resolution from Local 2140 of the Brotherhood of Car- penters and Joiners was sent out Jan- uary 30 to every local of the Brother- hood, it has not yet reached Local 2090. Without such official communi- cation it was hardly possible to do any- thing to help our expelled brothers. But at a regular meeting on March 5, was read General Secretary Duffy's letter in which he tried to whitewash Hutcheson by pointing out that by ex- pelling Brother Reynolds and others. Hutcheson was carrying out the de- cisions from previous conventions that no member of the Brotherhood was allowed to belong to any dual un- ion or antagonistic (to the Brother- hood) organization. This opened debate. Mostly all speakers denounced the action of Hutcheson, but came to the conclus- ion that as long as the local has not heard the other side it cannot take any action. The local business agent, in a lengthy speech, tried to prove that Brother Reynolds was guilty by be- longing to the T. U. E. L. After the business agent another member took the floor and made a mo- tion that Local 2090 should make a protest against Hutcheson. He pointed out that it is useless to wait for further communications from Lo- cal 2140, that such communication, probably, will never reach us, but that the local has enuf’ grounds to base its protest on Duffy's letter, that it is everybody’s privilege to belong to any organization or sect and thru his ac- tion, Hutcheson is trying to interfere in others’ private lives. As long as a member is not violat- ing the constitution and laws of the Brothérhood he can not be expelled. Furthef it was pointed out that Local 2090 is not the first one who makes protest, thatalready over 40 locals have sent in their protests. Another member pointed out that the local has already proven its dis- trust in Hutcheson by casting only 44 votes for Hutcheson and 400 for the progressive candidate, M. Rosen, and should not fear to protest. The motion was adopted almost un- animously. BABIES DIE LIKE FLIES AS MILLS EXPLOIT MOTHERS Textile Towns Show the Highest Rate PORTLAND, Me., March 9.—Be- cause Lewiston, Maine, has the high- est infant mortality rate in the United States, due to its overworked textile mill mothers, an investigation of the sondition of the workera in the in ustry is being sought in the state legislature. Representative H. E. Homes o! Lewiston charges that women weavers in the cotton mills are so overworked that their health is seriously imperil- ed. He asserts that this is the rea son Lewiston has the highest death rate for infants of any city in the country. Authorization to hold hearings, summon and examine witnesses un- der oath, and power to compel pro- duction of books, papers, records which may be pertinent to the inquiry, and to employ necessary assistance is to be given a special committee, Bath House Rubbers Organize and Walk the Picket Line NEW YORK—Rubbers in Turkish and Russian baths on New York's lower East side are amazing their employers and bath patrons by their unprecedented strike for organiza tion. For five months the union, a federal union of the American Federa- tion of Labor, affiliated with the United Hebrew Trades, has been struggling to get rubbers organized. ‘When some of the employers got scared and locked out the union work: ers a strike was called and daily pick ets parade in front of these baths with placards telling of the strike, The rubbers have to work all hours of the day and night and are often paid only by tips. They must labor ir the unhealthy over-heated, steamy, sweaty atmosphere for so many hour: that many succumb to tuberculosis or to @ peculiar skin disease, 4 i] DISTRICT UTIGA TEXTILE MILL STRIKERS GET HELP FROM OTHER UNIONS UTICA, N. Y—Striking cotton textile workers of State street and Mohawk Valley mills, Utica Steam & Mohawk Valley Cotton Co., re- main firm against the wage reduc- tions of the company in spite of announcements that the mills would reopen. About 1,200 workers, or ganized in the United Textile Work- ers Union, are out in their sixth week, ‘ Employes of the New York mills in Utica pledged each $1 a week to the strikers and Utica Typographi- cal Union No, 62 endorsed the strike and voted an assessment of $1 per week per member for four weeks for the strikers. ‘Other local unions are doing the same. JOB FEE SHARKS GET BIG GRAFT FOR POOR JOBS Have to Pay Desly for “Right to Work” NEW YORK—The decision of the Central Trades and Labor Council of New York to probe the employment agencies that batten on the job seek- ers and supply strikebreakers calls at- most populous American city. One employment agent on the lower water front on West street offered, for a fee of four dollars, to ship the in- vestigator out to an unnamed New Jersey town 34 cents’ distance, trans- portation to be paid by the applicant There was a choice of two jobs; one in the yard at ten hours and $3.15 a day; the other inside at eleven and a half hours and $3.50 daily. Along the Bowery similar wages were offered for fees, tho one railroad agent agreed to ship without a fee at four dollars a day. That was the highest wage offered for unskilled work. At the plant of the Nedick orange drink concern, that vends drinks from dozens of sidewalk counters, the re- industrial porter was invited to peel oranges at 22 cents an hour. At 44 hours weekly this would mean only $9,68 but it was explained work would range from 54 to 60 hours, thus bringing up the pay. Reports which delegates to the Cen- tral Trades and Labor Council are re- ceiving from persons answering adver- tisements by laundries, candy factor- ies, unorganized needle trades plants in the lower paid departments show that the above conditions are far from uncommon. In the more genteel occupations wages are often lower even than in un skilled hard labor jobs. For instance many telephone operators are being placed at wages of fifteen dollars up, with the fee for the job ranging up to a@ whole week’s pay. Strike Against Speed Up in Pacific Mill at Lawrence, Mass. LAWRENCE, Mass. March 9.— About 70 men and women frame tenders walked out of the carding room, cotton department, of the big Pacific Textile mills in Lawrence be- cause of the company's efforts to in- troduce new speed-up methods of work. The mill has been on a 72-loom basis in the weaving department for several months in spite of workers’ protests. Gradually the employers have been doubling and tripling the amount of work in spinning and other departments. By making changes suc cessive instead of all at once the company his sought to avoid a gen- eral strike ir all departments. The United Textile Workers, is es- tablishing headquarters in Lawrence again for the beginning of an organ- ‘zation campaign. Local wool spin ners will first confer to lead the drive. Lawrence Central Labor Union is ex- pected to assist. Get Service in Pittsburgh on all matters pertaining to subscrip- tions, dealers’ orders or retail purchases of The Daily Worker The Workers Monthly and all foreign and American Com- munist publications, and all Communist Literature Books and Pamphlets —Order trom-- The Pittsburgh Daily Worker Agency Fred Merrick, Agent 805 James St. Pittsburgh, Pa. tention again to an old evil in this} LOSOVSKY WRITES OF THE UNIONS OF THE WORLD Their Pre-War Number And Nature By A. LOSOVSKY. General Secretary of the Red Inter national of Labor Unions, In order to understand the develop ment and the ways of the world trade union movement in the post-war per iod, we will have to give a short char- acterization of its conditions before and during the war. | Before the war the trade union |movement could be characterized as follows, first of all from the geograph. ical point of view it was not yet a world movement; it was mostly de- veloped in Europe and in the Anglo- Saxon countries, and on the other hand in the British colonies, such as Canada, Australia, South Africa. All Asia without mentioning Africa --this great area of working masses —which by its population is much greater than the so-called civilized world, had not been drawn tnto the world’s socialist nor into the world’s trade union movement, for the simple reason that the labor movement began to crystalize in these countries only at the end of the war and mainly in the post-war period. So from the geographical point of view we have a trade union move ment which is confined withon a cer: | tain territorial frame, which can only be called a world movement with cer- tain reservations. | Trade Union Statistics. | In the whole world before the war ;there were about ten million organ- ized workers, which were organized |into unions of all kinds of political shades, beginning with anarcho-syndi- calists and ending with catholic, dem- ocrat, protestant and so forth. The bulk of these organized workers were in Europe. Taking the main countries we get the following picture: Before the war in Great Britain in round num- bers, were about 4,000,000 organized workers; in Germany, about 3,500,000; in the United States, 2,700,000; in France, about 1,000,000; in Italy, 900, 000; in Belgium, 200,000; in Holland, 220,000, ete., etc. We will stop with these figurés in order to show the real value, to show what they really contain. What These Figures Contained. France before the war was show- ing 1,000,000 members in the trade unions; but in the General Confedera- tion of Labor, the only organization which could be called a class organi- zation, there were no more than 500,- 000. The rest were unions of agricultural workers which stood on the other side of the national trade union movement —almost on the other side; unions of government employes, which in fact were in opposition to the C. G. T.; here we also find some little yellow unions; in short, the official statisties include in the trade unions every or- ganization, which under the law of 1884 had to register its by-laws—and even without such registration was under that law. It is clear such figures cannot give the real picture of the trade union movement, for such a picture we can get only when we know not only the amount, but also the contents— in other words, the political composi- tion and the political movements which exist in that group of workers. The same about Germany. The same about England, where in- stead of four million and a couple of hundred thousand, we should say a maximum of about three million work- ers had, if not a class conscious plat- form, at least very close to it. In the whole world we had about ten million organized workers. In the first question which naturally comes up-—What actually did that big army represent?—-we have to look behind the figures. That ten million is a big army is shown by the last war. Ten million well organized workers, know- ing what they want, distributed all over the world, are a great power. We can say without exaggeration that, if these ten million organized workers had been not only revolu- tionary in mood, but revolutionary in fact, the world war would have never come about. You will see that this mass of workers represented a very vivid and varied picture. (Each week on this page we will print selected excerpts form, Com- rade Losovsky’s great book, “The World's Trade Union Movement,” The book’ may be ordered from the T. U. E. L., 1113 Washington Bivd., Chicago, Ill, for 60 cents.) Los Angeles Workers! ATTEND WORKERS PARTY OPEN FORUM Every Sunday at 8 P, M. 224 So. Spring Street, Room 200, ay, ADMISSION Bagg, a