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

i slit cose emnpe ition Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO, 1118 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, Ill. Phone Monroe 4712 SUBSCRIPTION RATES -* By mail (in Chicago only): By mail (outside of Chicago): $8.00 per year $4.50‘aix months.., $6.00 per year $3.50 six ‘months $2.50 three monthe $2.00 three months Address all mail.and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, lilinois J, LOUIS ENGDAHL } 5 WILLIAM F, DUNNE MORITZ J. LOEB... ——_——— $$ Entered as second-class mail September 21, 1923, at the post-office at Chi- cago, lil., under the act of March 3, 1879. Advertising rates on application. Greetings, I. L. G. W. Members! In the clash between the membership of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and their reactionary officialdom which carries aloft the yellow banner of class collaboration and which marches side by side with the unspeakable Forward, the DAILY WORKER unhesitatingly takes the side of the membership, partic- ularly of the outraged and betrayed membership of Locals 2, 9:and 22 in New York City. The DAILY WORKER. is not devoted_to wanton attacks on union officials. When they perform their function of leading ‘the membership along the lines of class struggle in the interests of the working class, they shall receive the complete support of the DAILY WORKER, In the New York City joint board of the I. L. G. W. U., however, we have seen the most glaring example of ‘the betrayal. of the membership by the officials, the complete negation of the express purpose and function of unionism, and an amazing attempt to cover the crimes of the officials by expulsions of the leading groups of local union leaders. The DAILY WORKER greets the members of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, compliments them upon their staunch resistance to the Sigman-Perlstein-Feinberg machine, and pledges that its support will unwaveringly be given to the rank and file of the I. L. G. W. U. and all other unions of the workers. <> 290 Get a member for the Workers Party. and a new subseription for the DAILY WORKER. A Naval Auxiliary‘ Coincident with the staging of naval maneuvers around the Hawaiian Islands, there was organized what is known as the In- stitute of Pacific Relations. Perhaps it is a coincidence that the leading light in this organization is Dr. Lyman Wilbur, president of Leland Standford University, brother of the secretary of the navy. According to the press agents of this institute it was organized for the purpose of helping to maintian peace in the Pacific. Need! \less to say this is camouflage. The Institute of Pacific Relations is to the military and naval arms of the United States government what mnd is to the cuttlefish. Between wars the capitalist powers ‘aré always sending up pacific smoke screens in order to feel their enemies. There will be no peace in the Pacific or anywhere else so long as capitalism exists. It is generally agreed that the next great war will take place there. The object of the war maneuvers, in Hawati was a hehearsal for a war with Japan. But it may be a war with England. Nobody knows, not even the heads of the ‘capitalist 2 ernments themselves. Let nobody be fooled by the pacifist declarations of the finperialtit powers. war. ss The “Defense Test” went off like agdud. It didn’t make any noise at all. Rockefeller and the Baptists The right wing of the Baptists, claim that John D. Rockefeller’s money is raising the devil with the church, . Who would expect it? Here is a man who represents the top notch of industrial, reaction leading the forces of progress in the house of God. Tut, tut, tut! Remember what we said about ‘the so-called “mon- key trial” in Dayton, Tennessee. The big industrialists have nothing to lose by polishing God up a little bit, giving him ‘a clean shave and an oil shampoo and making him presentable. In fact the blood- thirsty creature who was so handy to the ruling classes’ of the dark ages, is now only a wart on the face of capitalist progress. Jhe masses may believe in a god looking for all the world like John D. Rockefeller Jr., but who would believe in fa god that looks like William Jennings Bryan? We were told in our youth that God made man in. his own image but it is quite evident today that man is making God after the image of the most stable’ of currencies and the highest. industrial development. a! It is not surprising to.see John D. Rockefeller putting the Baptist church thru a delusing progress. What is known as modernism in the chirch does not interest us half as much as the strike ‘of ‘the Amalgamated Clothing Workers here in Chicago. “We are’ more vitally inferested in the persecution of the left wingers in the In- ternational Ladies’ Garment Workers union than we are in, the trial of John Scopes in Dayton, ‘Tennessee.. But the Scopes’. trial nevertheless shows that American capitalism has an immense reser- yoir-of feudal ignorance from which it can replenish its forces in its war.on the advancing workingclass. The burglars who robbed St. Peter’s in Romé seem to-have made a good job of it. But the priests will pick the pockets of the workers a little more assiduously and/ quickly retrieve their losses. Or some more multi-millionaires will be handed new decorations. as- sowards for greater gifts. Secretary of War Weeks is having just as difficult a time getting out of the Coolidge cabinet as did Daugherty, Denby and Fall. But the skidway is ‘greased and he will no doubt make room very soon for some other fellow multi-millionaire. Coolidge; has joined John D. Rockefeller as a passer of thin dimes. The boys getsxomething tp buy candy with and the political faker gets big space th the “warm Feather” departments Of the daily a Anything may happen:during the dog days. When French ‘tied ante begins changing generals in Africa, vivs only another sera ai ait its outlook is turning from bad to “woree on the southern shoi the Mediteranean. EP The thunder clouds of tewext world war get thicker and- thicker. But when the lightning strikes it must mean the destruction of cap- italist imperialism The more they talk of peace the harder they prepare for, (Continued from page 4) $300; American Labor Party, $105.; the Freie Arbeiter Stimme, a “‘revolu- tionary” organ, $300.; Jewish Socialist Verband, $200.; The Kropotkin Socie- ty, an anarchist organization, $200.; The Messenger, a socialist paper, $300, the National Socialist Party, $100.; the New Majority, $250.; the New York Call, $3,000.; The Rand School, $500. For the socialist campaign, $300; and in a long list of other conventions you will see that it is an established custom for the International to give financial support to anarchists, social- ists, and other revolutionary organiza- tions of all sorts, and the same organ- izations are also being acres by the various joint boards, Never Considered Violation Only recently the joint board has contributed the sum of $500. to a re- volutionary Jewish paper in Poland somewhere . If we would go over the records of our organization, we would find that organizations of such a nature have always been supported, not only by the International, by the joint boards, but also by each and every local union of the International, and it was never interpreted that these expenditures or donations are in violation of Secion 10 of Article 5 of the constitution. It says here in Section 1 of Article 11, “Trial and appeals”—it reads as follows: “Section 1. Except as elsewhere provided in this conventior® for auto- matic suspension or expulsion or for fixed fines or penalties, no member of the I. L. G. W. U. shall be fined, sus- pended, or expelled; no local union shall be reorganized or suspended, and no officer of the I. L. G. W. U. or of any joint board or. district, council or local union, shall be removed from of- fice without proper notice of charges and a fair opportunity to be heard in defense; but an officer under charges, +] under Section 6 of this article, may be suspended by the executive board of his organization, the joint board or the general executive board, pending trial.” Now let us see what Section 6 of this article says. It reads as follows: “Section 6. Any elective or ap-| pointive officer of a local union, joint | hoard, district council, or general ex- eeutive board, may be removed from | office for any violation of this consti- | tution, or of the by-laws of the body | ot which he is an officer, or because of | the commission of any act which may be; calculated to impair the usefull- ness of the organization, or which is unbecoming to the dignity of the of- fice held by him.” "!°" article Does Not Apply »This article certainly does not apply tothe members of the executive board of Local No. 2 First of all, I want the committee to understand that most of the members have nothing to do with the arranging of speakers for the May Day meeting. Even if that meeting ‘impaired the usefullness of Our organ- ization; because the Times did not write a favorable report of the meet- ing, which is a very far-fetched thing to interpret an article in this way— ‘the members of the, executive board officers referred to in Section 6, We have always known in the joint board that an officer does not mean an éxecutive board member. An offi- cer means a business agent, a man- ager, a vice-president, and a local man- ager. Executive board members are not classed as officers. They are simp- ly called officers in this trial for the purpose of getting rid of them and for no other purpose. It is known to everybody in the un- jon that at the time wher the joint board used to have “an executive ses- sion where only delegates of the joint board and officers are permitted to at- tend,” the very same persons who are in this trial classed as officers were not permitted to be present at the meetings, because, it was said; only delegates to the joint board and offi- cers of the union are permitted and executive board members of the local are not officers. They were not trust- ed to attend meetings of the ‘joint board as officers. And so far as the expenditures upon.which the charges in this trial are based, everyone knows that the executive board had nothing to do with incurring these expenses in their details. So far as checking the bills and personally seeing what kind of expenses are being made, this is only done by the officers committee which consists of three or four exe- ‘cutive board members. Accusations Are Ridiculous Therefore, to make wholesale accu- sations against members of a board for a bill which is claimed to be not in accordance with the constitution of the International, is absurd and ridi- culous, They might as well bring charges against the 12,000 members of Local 2, for having spent the money for a May Day meeting. In conclusion, I want to say this on behalf of the members of the execut- ive board of Local 2. We have not restricted the questions asked by the chairman of this committee, and we have permitted the committee to ask all sorts of questions that have abso- lutely nothing to do with the charges. Such questions as to whether they would have been in the committee, whether they would have engaged Olgin, or whether they have read this article or the other, and are of the opinion of this writer or another— these questions are entirely out of place. reemeanesariag t. FIGHT FOR GLASS STRUGGLE I LL. G. W. SAME ASIN ALL UNIONS SAYS T.ULEL STATEMENT | The National Committee of the Trade Union Educational League today issued a statement regarding the struggle going on in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and expressing the viewpoint of the T. U. BE. L, toward both sistes of the contending factions, It reads as follows: € * * * * 'HE attempt by«the. reactionary machine of the International Ladies’ ‘ Garment Workes* ‘Union to expel the whole executives of Locals 2, 9 and 22 in New York'City is but one of many onslaughts being made against the left wing in the American labor movement. Everywhere the membership of the unions, driven by conditions into theiclass struggle with their em- ployers, find that the union bureaucracy, instead of leading the struggle for them and against the bosses, is betraying their intere: the membership and lining up with the bosses to “clean out the reds.” Everyone knows that the charge made against the executive of Locals 2,9 and 22, that they committed a crime by having Communist speakers at their May Day meetings, are pure fakes, trumped up merely to prevent the militant membership‘of these locals, comprsiing 60 per cent of the New York City membership, from’ having their rightful control of the their own affairs in their own union. And why does the Sigman-Peristein-Feinberg machine wish to prevent the 30,000 members, of Locals 2, 9 and 22 from controlling those locals? Is it not clear that the machine has a totally different point of view than the membership? The workers of Locals 2, 9 and 22 want a policy of militant class struggle against the bosses. The machine wants no struggle but “peace” and class collaboration. The machine wants no demands or but slight demands upon the bosses. The workers want as much as their power can bring them. It is the old struggle of the workers fighting against betrayal; the old fight between the workers who wish and who must fight, and the traitorous officials who try to prevent them, \ The workers use their union to fight with. It is their instrument of struggle. . The officials try to constrain the union into a mere collection of dues-paying, whose labor power they sell as merchandise, To the official bureaucracy, the members are but slaves to be sold on the block in the open market. The members have no rights to think or speak or act for them- | selves, no voice in or control ‘over the union, no right to approve or reject the terms of their servitude: 4 The battle against such a slavish position is the highest duty of every | union member. The‘saspension by the I. L. G, W. machine of the executives | of Locals 2, 9 and 22,'proves beyond question that these local executives | have been faithful to the trust of the membership and are loyally leading | the membership in the right direction—the way of class struggle. It proves jo that the machine is so fearful of conscientious leaders arising to chal- lenge their corrupt control of the I. L. G. W., that they are trying to choke | of this expression. ofsthe membership by expulsions. The berayal to arbitration compromises, the cheating of representation of the big mémbership-in: the joint board, the vanishing funds of the organiza- | tion, the arbitrary raising of dues, the struggle to lay violent hands on the local treasuries; the failure to enforce existing agreements, the abandonment of the workers’.demands, the fight to control the next convention—in a word the fight: between theworkers in the shops and the bosses and their agents in control of the union machinery—these are the issues in the New York, organization. The ridiculous charges about first of May meetings and such trivial things are.fake: charges and are recognized as such by every worker. and fighting agai nst* of Local 2 cannot be classed as the | In this struggle the final victory drive the traitors out fo their ranks other needle trades.bnions and unde; free society of the future. can belong to the workers, who will! and march forward with determined r the banner of class struggle to the NATIONAL COMMITTEE, Trade Union Educational League. Wm. Z. Foster, Secretary-Treas. he wouldg have doné’ in a particular Place and under. pafticular -circum- stances which did not exist. We have given the mémbers of the committee an opportufiity to ask such questions and permitted the defend- ants to answer, in order to bring out the entire ridiculousness of the whole charge, and to prove to this committee and to everybody, that the whole charge was not made in good faith, and the reason these people were sus- pended and their offices taken away in the middle of the night by force, that was because the entire case from be- ginning to end was not only contrary to the constitution of the Internation- al, but also contrary to all civilized laws. This has been done by people who claim to be high-standing citizens, who are the highest_officials of the International, but under an impartial administration of the laws they would today be in jail as ordinary criminals who broke into private offices in the middle of the ‘night and’ took away money and property/of which others are the owners and trustees, Shows Real Cause of Attack We claim that ‘the. fights and the differences that we have had with the officers of the Joint hoard and of the International, who dre the bosses of the “International iivates.” are the real cause of thes’ charges being brought, and not the May Day meet- ing. These officers shave looked long since for an excuse to get rid of us because we are their strongest op- ponents concerning, questions of policy affecting labor andgagreements with the manufacturers, One year and a hale ago, the general executive board adopted a revolution- known as the “ten com- mandments”—the way they have styled it in their own organs, These demands were of a fundamentally re- volutionary character. The general of- ficers paraded amongst the members of the union as the real revolutionists, beca they said; “Here is such a program as no has ever before submitted to th ployers, and we are going to de this, and we are going to strike as long and as hard as in 1910, until we are going to get each and every of our demands.” These same leagers who assure the workers that they will let their hands be,.cut off befor y will sign an ent without any of these de- being these sama leaders have submitted all of the de- mands to a commission appointed by |Governor Smith. The union has pro- mised to abide by the decision of this commission at a time when the manu- facturers of all associations said that they would not submit to any ruling of an arbitrator but would come to the hearings simply to listen and to bring out some of the facts of the industry. Joint Board Disregards Advice As it is known to everybody, an agreement was reached by the sug- gestion and recommendation ‘of the portant points of the 10 demands was incorporated in the agreement. Never- theless, the union accepted it, but after the agreement was signed and everything peacefully settled, the strike was called all the same by the international officials. We at that time opposed the calling of such a make- believe strike. We argued that it is useless and a waste of time and money to call a so-called stoppage at a time when an agreement has been reached with all the associations in the industry. But our voice was dis- regarded as usual by the joint board which is constituted by a majority of members, because each local, whether they, have the same number of dele- cals come with their demands, altho bers, they are out-voted by the nu- merous locals who represent a minor- ity of the members, and so it was in this case, The stoppage was called. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent, a yet. When the union had emptied out its treasury and hecome indebted to the extent of hundreds of thousands of dollars, the leaders came then with @ recommendation to increase the dues from 35c a week to 50 a week, and to levy a new tax of $20. We op- posed the tax as well as the raising of the dues, but neverthel t the Joint board meeting, by a majority of delegates representing a small minor- ity of the members, they have in- creased the dues in spite of our pro- tests, of the protests of the represent- atives of the greates\ number of the workers, and they went so far as even to rule that these recommendations raise the dues were not to be submit- ted to he majorly vote pf the locals for approval, Consitution Is Disregarded This was absolutely in contradiction to the constitution of the joint board, which says all the minutes of the joint board shall be submitted to the locals for approval. We have challenged their right to disregard their own con- stitution. When they had a commit- tee or a majority of delegates, they can very easily afford to overlook the constitution at such a time, as they did on all other occasions. We have then refused to carry out their deci- sion to raise the dues, and we have challenged the right of the joint board to the general executive board. The general executive board answer- ed us that»the joint board in their opinion acted legally, and that they are helpless, to do anything at present, but they haye, promised us that at the next convention they will recommend that this part of the constitution which should be so interpreted, shall | be amended, because they themselves did not think at that time that the constitution will be liable to such in terpretation, and that even the editor of Justice wrote that he did not know that the constitution gave them such rights to. raise the dues without the consent of the members. ‘We contend that the general execut- ive board could not reverse the deci- sion of the joint board because they were. faced with an accomplished fact, the 50c.-dues being in effect, and because the leaders of the joint board are the same as the leaders of the general executive board of the Inter- national, and they could not very well speak here for raising the dues and vote there against it. Every impartial man that will read this constitution of the International, where it says that a majority of dele- gates representing a majority of locals can decide the minimum dues to be paid by different locals, it cannot be interpreted that this means when the Joint board has a constitution that provides that the minutes of the joint board shall be submitted for the ap- proval of the majority of the locals, that’because the constitution says the delegates ‘shall have the right to raise dues ‘that this means they are absolv- ed from the requirement to submit all their actions, according to the consti- tution’ ‘ofthe joint board, to the ma- jority of the locals for approval. ‘We'therefore contend that this was an‘absolute violation of the constitu- tion’ 6t'the joint board, but, neverthe- less,‘“a8 law-abiding members, altho we ktéw that the leaders are wrong, we fbided: by the decision, and we have ‘charged the 50 cent dues. But Sonie'of “the locals decided that they shalt ‘pay ‘sick benefit for the same 50 cents, to give the members some bene- ft Wr'the greater dues, and Local 22, whith “had a tax for sick benefit pay- merits’ has declared that in the future ft’wilffiot levy this’extra tax but that spirit to militant teadership, to fighting policies, and to amalgamation with | the ‘iémbers shall receive sick bene- fi€ the 50 cents dues. “Wethav¥e also as yet not collected the"$2.80 tax levied by the Internation- al,.and it’ was specifically stated by Brother Baroff, the general secretary- treasurer of the International, that dué fo-'the rebellious attitude of the threé‘focals, Nos. 2, 9, and 22, in their refusal'to collect the tax, is respons- ihle for the depleted condition of the treasiry of the International, and their inability to collect this tax. * Discus: Increase in Dues Brother Baroff stated that he him- self went to his Local No. 22, and the clerk said the executive board order- ed not to collect this tax, and there it was decided to bring charges against Local 22 well as the others of the three locals, The reason that they do not want to state that these are the commission, and not one of the im-} charges is very obvious to everyone. It is very easy for them to get public sympathy, and the sympathy of some of the members, by accusing the exe- cutives and officers of the locals with being Communists even though they themselves know this is not true, The eight-hour day is history. R Hyman Blasts the Sigman Machine in N. Y. whereas it would be a great diMfculty for them to get such sympathy should they; charge us with not raising dues, with not levying taxes. ou Local 9 has been brought on charges some months ago for refusing to in- crease dues quickly enough. We had a meeting before a committee of the general executive board, of which vice- president Perlstein was the chairman, After grilling us for several hours, trying to make us believe that we are the greatest criminals, that we have violated the constitution of the Inter- national, the orders of the Interna- tional: and the joint board, we have not heard from them nor of their dect- sion; that is because they would not dare to bring out the real charges. So they hgve made a fake, and they try to make the:world believe that the reason they are fighting us is because they are conservatives and we are: ultra-revolutionists. Only a minority of us are members | of the Workers Party. The Workers Party is a legal party. When the of- ficials want to make you believe that members of the W. P. cannot hold office in the union, they know that they are not telling the truth. They themselves knew the program of the Workers Party, They knew that these members were also members of the Workers’ Party. They allowed them to go on the ballot in the local elec- tions. Nothing has been changed in the last few weeks since these people have been elected by the greatest ma- jority in the history of our union, and with the permission of the officials, knowing that some of these members are members of the Workers Party, and that they cannot prove that they did anything except calling the May Day meeting, and this is not a crime against the union. Trial Committee not Open-Minded We have during the course of this trial, stated that we did not believe that this committee is open-minded, we do not believe that its members are free to give a verdict in accord: ance with their belief. Thru the fact that they have been selected by those who brought the charges they will do and act the way they will be instruc- ted from them. They cannot do other- wise. They have never before done otherwise. We have therefore requested from the beginning, that since you have branded us as Communists, union- breakers, and what-not, we have chal- lenged you that you should also come out before the whole world where you have published your staterhents,. and show what you have against us, and not. conduct the trial in star-chamber proceedings where the chairman of this committee should be able to tell me that I “can talk to the wall,” that he “will do the way he pleases” no matter whether his conduct is in ac- cordance with accepted rules or with the constitution of the International. If you will look over the record you | will see the rulings of this chairman | in the entire trial, and you will readily see that from the very start the ob- ject of this chairthan was not to find out the truth, that his conduct and his questions show that his was not the work of an impartial judge who is ready to listen to both sides and then give out a verdict, That is shown from the very begin- ning, his partiality, that he is inter- ested in one side, and that he wanted to bring out answers from the witness- es that will incriminate them, ques- tions that were absolutely irrelevant, that had nothing to do with the case. I did not object to these questions be- cause I know that these members on trial here are so much in the right, that you have absolutely nothing against them. The fake charge of call- ing the May Day meeting is, on the face of it, so absurd and ridiculous that it is condemned not only by our membership but by every liberal and progressive-thinking man in the entire country, and in every country thruout the world. WHERE DO YOU STAND? Ee WAGES and long hours of toil are steadily haunting the workers Milions of workers are walking the streets in the vain search of a job. Workers who still have a job live in con locals who represent a minority of the stant fear that they will be laid off tomorrow, In face of this situation, the labor leaders are practising class-collabora- it has 200 members or 15,000 members, | tion instead ‘of striving to unite the workers in the struggle against the eS and lockouts the capitalist class is using its political power— gates, five—and so when the large lo: | the. government to suppress the workers. DO.YOU WANT TO FIGHT THESE DAILY nian 3S hone they represent a majority of the mem- AGAINST, THE WORKERS? DO.YOU, WANT TO FIGHT WAGE CUTS, OPEN SHOP orives, ano UNION, SMASHING CAMPAIGNS? ARE YOU FOR THE STRUGGLE VERSUS CLASS-COLLABORATION? ‘DO YOU WANT TO DESTROY. THE BLOOD-SUCKING CAPITALIST’ TEM AND ALL ITS INSTRUMENTS .OF OPPRESSION THAT ARE report on which was nevér given to |USED AGAINST THE WORKERS? the members and never made public Name, DO YOU WANT A WORKERS’ PRES§ TO HELP YOU CARRY ON YOUR FIGHT AGAINST THE BOSS CLASS? Join the Workers ( Communist) Party! WORKERS PARTY, DisTRICT No.2. 108 E, 14th ST., NEW YORK CITY, I want’ to join the Workers Party.