The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 18, 1925, Page 12

- } i NATIONAL DEFENSE HELD IN CHICAGO ON JUNE 28th UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTS RESOLUTIONS The resolutions printed herewith were unanimously passed by the more than one hundred delegates present at the National Conference for Labor Defense, held in Ashland Auditorium, Chicago, June 28. workers’ organizations from all parts of the country and were called together by the Labor Defense Council to unite all forces in the labor movement against persecution of workers and for defense of all class war prisoners regardless of political opinion or industrial affiliation. The Conference founded the International Labor Defense, an individual and collective membership organization that is to undertake the role of champion for all workers attacked by organized capital irrespective of their A National Committee of 37 was elected upon which are many prominent figures in the labor, radical, and liberal movements of this country among whom are Eugene V. Debs, Upton Sinclair, Bishop William Ralph Chaplin, Foster, Benjamin Gitlow and Ben Fletcher. Andrew T. McNamara of Pitts- . burgh was elected chairman of the organization, B. C. Wentworth, vice- chairman, and James P. Cannon of Chicago the secretary. At the conference 25 local trade unions beside central labor bodies, work- ers’ defense organizations and labor fraternal and benefit societies totalling a membership well over 200,000 were represented by delegates. scores of endorsements came from workers” organizations and prominent in- dividuals thruout the country who could not be represented there, The resolutions that follow were passed by the conference in the nature of instructions for work to the officers of the International Labor Defense and taken as a whole, comprise a complete program, faith or affiliation. Montgomery Brown, Fred Mann, I 2. Against Injunctions and Anti-| [ Labor Legislation HE campaign of the exploiters to erush and terrorize the organiza- tions of the workers includes, among its most effective weapons, special antilabor legislation and the arbitra- ry use of court imjunctions against workers in the midst of struggle. Cri- minal syndicalism laws of an almost uniform type are now on the statute books of thirty-five states and serve ag the most handy “legal” weapons at the disposal of the bosses. These laws are supplemented by lesser sta- tutes, such as anti-picketing laws, and by decisions of the highest courts in the several states and the union, de- signed to close every door to the le- gality of ‘the labor movement. The use of auteeratie*imjunctions in labor disputes turns over to corporation hirelings on the bench virtual control over the activities of workers’ organ- izations and shuts them off from all means of legal redress. The infamous Daugherty injunction issued by Judge Wilkerson practical- ly outlawed the great railroad shop- men’s strike of 1922 and paralyzed its aetivity in all parts of the country. The notorious Busick injunction in California condemned members of the I. W. W. to’ prison witheut the right of trial. Practically every industrial dispute in recent years has brought with it the issuance of injunctions cal- culated to break down the resistance of fighting workers. Criminal syndicalist laws and: in- junetions are aimed not only against the revolutionary sections of the working class. The whole organized lubor movement is menaced by this legislative and judicial tyranny. The persecutions of the more radical workers by these means are only ex- periments in preparation for their wholesale use against all sections of the labor movement which show any disposition to fight for the interests of the workers. There is already abund- ant evidence of the intentions of the capitalists in this regard. It is a matter of the greatest ur- geney to make the organized workers generally understand that the perse- cution of the I. W. W. members in California and other western states and the railroading of Communists in Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York are rehearsals for wholesale campaigns of the same character against wider sections of the labor movement. ° The defense of the I. W. W. and the Communists in these cases is the con- cern of the whole organized labor movement. The fight against criminal syndicalism laws and the use of in- junctions is the fight of the working class as a whole, The International Labor Defense will undertake as one of its principle activities the organization of a cam- paign thruout the whole labor move- ment against criminal syndicalist and other anti-labor laws and injunctions. . CONFERENCE These represented Scott Nearing, Wm. Z. ne nc In addition NADEQUATE and incompetent lIe- gal defense has eased the way for the framing-up and railroading of many workers. Able defense counsel and widespread attendant publicity are obligations which the labor move- ment owes to every worker who is put on trial for his activities im the class struggle. The employment of qualified attorneys is necessary not only from the standpoint of legal technique and proceedure. The cor- rect policy is to secure the services of eompetent lawyers and, by combining their work in the court room with or- ganized publicity and protest, to tran- sform court trials of workers into pro- paganda demonstrations in which the capitalist persecutors are put on trial before the working class. An important item in the pages of worker persecution is long confine- ment of defendants awaiting trial. A substantial bail fund must be provided to ensure the liberty of persecuted workers pending trial. These projects require large sums of money which must he raised by workers in defense of their persecuted brothers. A great defense treasury to be expended in procuring the best pos- sible court actions for workers on trial for their activity must be cre- ated. A large national bail fund, esta- blished thru loans from workers and individuals and organizations sympa- thetic to their cause, must be ready to secure the release of workers pend- ing trial. The International Labor Defense calls upon all class-conscious workers and all sympathizers of the labor movement to do their fuM share to- ward providing the funds necessary for this work. bs 4 Information and Publicity | yap labor movement is not general- ly informed of the facts of labor persecution and perversions of justice in labor causes. Consptracies against labor are frequently carried out in secret. Many an obscure worker has been railroaded to the penitentiary without its being known publicly. These cases that cannot be kept sec- ret very often do not receive the in- terest they require and deserve. La- bor spy systems flourish, foreign-born workers are deported, class-war pris- oners are maltreated and workers are flagrantly deprived of constitutional rights without the knowledge or pro- test of the labor movement as a whole, These matters are of vital concern to the masses of the workers. Every unprotested persecution engenders more. Unacquaintance with the methods of frame-up, ignorance of the extent of perverted class-justice and lack of knowledge generally of the conditions of labor persecution in- volves the danger of unpreparedness, Silence concerning their excesses en- | 6 a no a eee e eee a ee eee ee ey es courages the labor-baiters to more vio- lent ones. Widespread, systematic and organ- ized publicity must be created to throw glaring search-lights upon all of these crimes against the workers. Not a single instance of labor-baiting should be allowed to escape’ the at- tention of the labor movement, It is the aim of International Labor Defense to develop publicity toward this end in all its forms. Regular press service, public meetings, motion pictures, books, pamphlets, leaflets, stickers and posters shall be utilized, for extending to every corner of the labor movement the exact news and data about all cases of working-class persecution. In addition to these, the National Conference is of the opinion that an illustrated monthly magazine devoted to the cause of Labor Defense should be published as soon as a suf- ficient organization base is estab- lished to assure its success, * * * ea eeeneeseretessstnsnsaenseesneesnseeninpsumenssomnss 5. Prison Relief *: a is not to the credit of the labor movement that its fighters who are in jail for their activities in the class struggle, are frequently neglected and deprived of the ordinary comforts of tobacco, books and other necessities that help to mitigate in some degree the horrors of confinement. Shut out from the world and from the movement for which they are sac- rificing their liberty, these fighters are deserving of all the material com- forts that can be supplied them. And, what is equally important, they must be kept in communication with the movement by means of frequent and regular leters from those outside. Such letters from all parts of the eountry from members of the workers movement, sealing the bonds of solid- arity and expressing fraternal re- membrance of the imprisoned fighters, keeps up the morale of these captives of capitalism and strengthens their will and courage to face their prison burdens. At the same time, the let- ters in return from the class-war pris- oners, serve as constant reminders to those outside of their duty. International Labor Defense will devote special attention to the organ- ization of this work. It will under- take to institute all the necesary ar- rangements required to establish ex- tensive communication between those outside and those confined and raise special funds for the maintenance of systematic provision of material com- forts and necessaries of life to class- war prisoners. 6. Relief for Dependents of Im- prisoned Fighters in Class War. ‘T\HE weakest spot in the armor of of the revolutionary working-class fighter is concern for his dependents and the fear that they will be neg- lected while he is confined in prison and powerless to protect them. It must be recorded to the shame of the labor movement, that poverty, hard- ship and neglect have too often been the fate of dependent families tamilies and the consciousness of it eats into the very hearts of those in prison. This is so only because defense work is not properly organized and because the workers are allowed too soon to forget those who fought for them. The heart of the working-elass is warm and sound. .The workers will respond readily to an organized ap- peal which reminds’ them of -their duty to the dependent families of their imprisoned fighters. , The conference appeals to all work- ers to respond liberally to a special fund to be set up by the International Labor Defense for the purpose of re- lieving the hardships of the mothers, wives and children of the soldiers of the class war who sacrifice their lives or liberty for the cause of labor. The International Labor Defense feels it a first duty of the labor movement to provide regular material and finan- cial aid to the dependents of class- war prisoners. 7. The White Terror in Other Capitalist Countries 1 hal almost every capitalist country in the world white terror is raging against the workers. The imperialist A a en NOAA RSID ON AT NILE AC etme masters of the world, and particular- ly in Europe, are attempting to ex- terminate ‘the revolutionary move- ment of the exploited working-class by wholesale murders, jailing and tortures, ‘ In the Balkans countries, the labor movement has lost all semblance of leagl rights. In Roumantfa, Bulgaria and Jugo-Slavia, labor unions and or- ganizations of farmers are outlawed. The slightest protest from the: work- ers and poor farmers calls forth the most bloody campaigns of murder and persecution. In Bulgaria alone no less than four thousand workers and peas- ants have been murdered by the black reactionary Zankov government. In Poland the white terror rages with the greatest fury and claims thou- sands of victims. In Hungary, Italy and the Baltic states, the fascist tools of foreign imperialists have murdered workers and jailed them in great humbers. In Germany and the rest of Western Europe thousands of workers lie in prison for their resist- ance against intolerable economic exploitation and ruthless political tyrrany. This is of the most vital concern to American workers whose fate is indissolubly bound up with the fate of workers im other lands. The class struggle is an international struggle and demands the international soli- darity of the workers of all countries. This conference declares itself heart and soul for the cause of interna- tionalism and reaches out fraternal hands to oppressed workers and ex- Ploited peoples in all lands who fight and suffer under the iron heel of cap- italism. The Conference dedicates the In- ternational Labor Defense to whole- hearted support of the victims of the white terror in other lands. It sends fraternal greetings to the Labor De- fense Organizations throughout the world and pledges its cooperation in the work of aiding class war prison- ers in all capitalist countries, = * a2 8 Cooperation and Unity of the Defense Forces ene fP\HE defense of persecuted fighters for the cause of labor and the fra- ternal support of their dependents is a common platform upon which all sincere workers who believe in the principle of the class struggle can unite, gira activity is the concern of every ’class-conscious worker and merits the full support of all sections of the workers’ movement, and all those sympathetic to the cause of la- bor. The International Labor Defense is dedicated to the principle of unity in the common fight and will endeavor to weld together into one body all the forces of the labor movement for the struggle against working-class perse- cution and for the defense and sup- port of persecuted fighters and their families. - Where special circumstances create the necessity for separate, independ- ent defense bodies, the International Labor Defense will strive to coordin- ate its activities with theirs in such a way as to ensure the maximum of defense endeavors on the basis of fra- ternal unity in the common fight for be to rally all possible support in de- fense of workers persecuted for their activities in the class struggle, with- out exception. rei