The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 26, 1925, Page 3

THIS Is Devoted to the Activity and Interests of. the Trade Union Edacational League (T. U. B. 1.) North American Section of the RED INTERNATIONAL OF LABOR UNIONS (RL HE T. Represents the Left Wing Purpose Is to Strengthen the Labor Unions by Amalgamation of Existing Unions, Organization of the Unorganized, and by Replacing Reactionary and Class Collaboration Policies with a Unified Program for the Transformation of the Unions Into Organs of Revolutionary Class Struggle for the Overthrowal of Capitalism and the Establishment of a Workers’ and Farm- ere’ Government. LEWIS LEADERSHIP COST U. M.-W. 119,000 MEMBERS IN 18 MONTHS: PAGE L, U.) ~~ U.E.L. of the Labor Movement. ite ae THE DAILY WORKER INTERNATIONAL JEWELRY UNION DISINTEGRATES Anarchist Greenstein Turns Reactionary By CHAS, SCHWARTZ. (Secretary, Boston Jewelry Workers’ Protective Association. (Formerly Locat No, 3, |. J. W. U.) The International Jewelry Workers’ Union was a smal! but lively organ- ization, It embraced the most class conscious and most militant section of the jewelry workers. Built up in ORGANIZE PULLMAN PORTERS ATA, F, OF L, MEETING IN N. Y, (From a Worker Correspondent.) NEW YORK CITY, Aug. 24.—A campaign to organize the unorgan- ized porters on the pullman service is well under way. These workers are known to be the most exploited In the railroad industry In this country. The first organization meeting will be held this Tuesday evening, August 25, 1925, at the Elke’ Audi- torium, 160 West 129th street, Har- lem. The campaign drive Is under the ausploes of the A..F. of L. STRIKE AGAINST WAGE CUTS IN TEXTILE FIELDS NORTHBORO, Mass., Aug. 24.— (FP)—Northdale Woolen Mills em- ployes have struck for wage increases. Weavers have been given 10 per cent increases and are not out. Ten Per Cent Cut, d LAWRENCE, Mass., Aug. 24.—(FP) —Striking workers of International Woolen Mills at Methuen are reported returning to work under the an- nounced 10 per cent wage reduction. Strike in Utica. UTICA, N. Y., Aug. 24.—(FP)— TREASON AND COLLABORATION COLLAPSE OF GERMAN UNIONS se Page Three FAILURE OF CLASS PROVEN BY THE By EDO FIMMEN (Secretary International Transport Workers’ Federation of Amsterdam) “At the present time Gemany, with its present democratic regime, may be regarded as the stronghold of liberty, the bulwark of freedom.” —P. Grassmann, Vice-President of the A. D. G, B. (German General Fed- eration of Trade Unions), at the |. F. ber, 1920 T. U Congress In London in Novem- “Germany, which was for decades pre-eminent In all social ques 1916 as a result of the three months’ brilliant struggle in New York, The 850 employes of American Woolen Co.'s Utica mill may strike against the | tions, is today one of the countries most backward socially, put to shame by Poland and Czecho-Slovakia.”—J. Oudegeest, Secretary of the. Interna- tional Federation of Trade Unions, reported in Vorwaerts of June 17, 1925. ynder a radical, militant leadership consisting of socialists and syndical- ists, which reduced our hours from 54 to 47 per week, it rapidly spread thruout the country, bringing improv- ed conditions to jewelry workers in the farthest sections of the North American continent, Giving Up—Once. The I. J. W. U, took full advantage of the post-war prosperity in our trade, and with New York in the lead COST $599,500 TO KEEP 76 MEN ° By ALEX REID (Secretary. of the Progressive Miners’ Committee.) The latest financial reports issued by the International office of the United Mine Workers of America, prove conclusively that the statements of the Progressive Miners’ Committee were abso- lutely correct when we stated that John L. Lewis either did not Intend to:organ ize the miners of West Virginia, or was absolutely incompetent to do.so. The. report just published by Kennedy, the financial secrétary, is a disgrace to the miners’ union, when we consider enormity of the failure in the non-union fields of Ken- tucky and West Virginia, at'this time. * Progressive Prophecy Proven Correct. They not only have miserably failed to make any impression in-the non-union fields with their spineless organizing campaign, but many of the organized have+— been lost to the union as a re- sult of cowardly and ineffective leadership. ‘The readers of the DAILY WORK- behalf of miners. In fact the only thing that he has been success- tol in has been sticking close to the A sample-of his “usefulness” to the miners in this country was demon- strated by him in the last internation- @i convention, when he fought bitter dy to permit the ku kinx klan to be the convention, swept him into ob- Tivion at the convention with his K. K K. friends, and now we find him in West Virginia standing stripped as a complete failure again, and the min- ers there in a worse condition than ‘when he went into the district. Sum Would Pay Them All a Salary. According to the latest report from ‘Kennedy, we find that the Internation- al aid to District 17, for the year end- img June 1, 1925, was $1,006,575.00. From the same report we find that ‘we have only.1,400 dues paying mem- bers in that district So these 1,400 miners—doubtlessty a fine lot of men —cost just $718 each to keep in the union one year. But they ditin’t get this money. The miners will pay strict attention to this part of the re- Port, and compare it with the report given to the last International vention. 4 At the convention we found that we had twenty three thousand paid up members in West Virginia, and now, after an expenditure of over one million dollars of the starving min- ers’ money, we find 1,400 organized. A few more weeks of this kind of organizing and we will have no more men left in the union in that field. ‘We have repeatedly pointed out that Lewis did not intend to organize them, and pointed out the tactics adopted by the Lewis gang to prove int i ' ys Hi e 7 ; & to Kennedy's report (76) Kentucky according to the te We spent $559,600 in the cam- Le eae’ paign and we have succeeded In re- ducing our paid up membership in Kentuck from 10,000 to 76 members paid up. Kentuckians are noble fellows, and Kentucky miners are among the best men in the U: M. W., but | submit that for the 76 miners left in the union that their condition would have been rosier than It Is, had Lewis merely given them the $7,888,85 which each cost. It would have built them a good house on a shady street and given each one a bigger salary than he got. Can any sane minded member of the U. M. W. of A, doubt the inability or treason of the Lewis gang. Lewis agreed with the operators that there were two hundred thousand too many miners in the industry, so perhaps this is the method they are using to| force them out. U.. M, W. of A. Lost 119,895 Members, In the last international convention the financial secretary reported a paid up membership of 419,895, and now according to his report we have a paid up membership of 300,000. Is it any wonder the coal mine operators are holding the Jacksonville agreement in contempt. Another article on the drop in membership will be published in a few days, . CARPENTERS OF DETROIT FLOCK TO BIG LOCALS No Yellow Dog Pledge in No. 1191 and 2140 DETROIT, Mich., Aug. 24. — The carpenters of Detroit are getting fat now-a-days over the opposition of the Hutcheson crew. The effort of the reactionaries to make every carpen- ter sign a yellow dog pledge to leave his brains at home when he goes to a union meeting has only led to the popularity of the “expelled” locals, These locals have now issued a cir- cular to all carpenters and are build- ing up their forces so that they con- trol the jobs, and let Botterhill con- trol his anger. The circular says: Carpenters of Detroit! “Do you want union wages? Do you want steady work? Are you more interested in union organization than injunctions? If so, here are some facts. “Local Unions 1191 and 2140 con- trol an average of 76 per cent of the union carpenter work in this district. We must have 400 additional mem- bers to take care of our jobs, and only those in the above locals will be recognized on jobs. No Yellow Dog Pledges to Sign. * “Members of other locals may trans- fer with full rights and benefits with- out charge. Transfer or join at once, Now for a real organization. Meet- ings are as follows: Local 1191 meets every Monday at 935 Alger; Local 2140 meets every Friday at 1032 First. There is an employment office at 935 Alger, phone Northway 1681.” Spanish Colonel Dies in Africa. Aung. 24.—Colonel Monas- terio, r of the Spanish troops on Alhucemas Island, has been killed in the artillery battle between the Riffs and Spaniards, according 1) advices reaching here today, again has established, without any difficulty, the 44 hour week. In the same period of time, due to the. ag- sressiveness of the new union men, who took the slogan, “In union there is strength” seriously, we raised our wages from 300 per cent to 400 per cent. The crisis of 1920 found the New York jewelers entrenched again in a six months’ bitter struggle for the seven hour day. The New York jew- elry manufacturers made up their minds to fight to the bitter end, and with the powerful ally, the crisis, de- feated the workers. From Anarchist to Reactionary, Mr, A. Greenstein, the secretary-or- ganizer of Local 1, New York, was an able leader, but was hated by the members for his despotism and auto- cratic behavior. Hence, they got rid of him . - But thru wilful maneuv- ering he became the general secretary of the newly formed I. J, W. U. Then he became respectable and from a pretended .anarchist who was ‘at ithe head of the 1916 May Day parade in New York carrying the red flag} (coinciding with the day of our first victory over the bosses) he turned. into a fervent supporter of safe and sane trade unionism. His main task was to befuddle the minds of the rank and filers by a cam- paign of slander and persecution against the “reds” thru the columns of the Jewelry Workers’ monthly bul- .letin, of which he was the sole edi- tor and. censor, . But, in his eagerness to keep the job, he violated every rule and clause of, democracy in the union constitu- tion, The last act was the calling off of the 6th general convention that was to be held in July, 1923, under the fitmsy pfetext that there were no funds; altho the locals made pracitcal suggestions to meet this situation. Membership Revoits. The explosion occurred in July, 1925,.when the locals in and arouhd New York refused to pay any more per capita tax unless the convention was held. But Greenstein would not call a convention to sign his own de- feat, so he just “whistled” and when the funds ran low he turned the “busi- ness” over to a lickspittle of his, Mr. J. Isenberg and went into real busi- ness, This successor supported by an Executive Board of deadheads who feared the militants in the trade unions more than their own. doom. have assumed the position of “‘Me and Gott,” meanwhile losing local after local which got tired of paying dues to an autocratic dues-collecting agency, constantly sabotaging every effort toward unity. They do not even keep their locals informed as to what happens to their funds, May Call Conference. The militant locals that have con- tinually warned the general member- ship as to Greenstein’s intention of ruining it he could not rule, are con- templating calling a conference in the noar future of all seceded locals, which, it is claimed, number more than the International, in conjunction with those locals of the I. J, W. U. who see the need of unity, to work out a plan of re-establishing the once powerful International Jewelry Work- ers’ Union, U.S. S.R. Did Big Trade with America Thru the Amtorg Since Jan. 1 NEW YORK, Aug. 24.—About $1,000,000 worth of s: sage casings imported from Soviet Russia have been sold by the Amtorg Trading Corporation on the American market since the beginning of the calendar year 1925. The latest transaction in- volving the sum of $530,000, which was concluded last week by the Am- torg Trading Corporation with the Drodel Casings Company of Brooklyn, and a local banking concern, is con- sidered the largest single deal in the trade, The transaction follows in- creased sales of other Russian prod- ugts, notably bristles, Meorice root, skins, hides, etc., which had been for- merly purchased by Americans on the European markets from second and third hands. Build the DAILY WORKER. \ PLAN MERGER TO LAY OFF 50,000 RAILROAD MEN By LELAND OLDs. (Federatéd’ Press.) The possibility of laying off 50,000 of the 160,000 workers employed on the railroads of Canada js a feature of the plan to merge the Canadian Na- tional with the Canadian Pacific rail- way. This appeals especially to the financial interests backing the attempt to eliminate a well’ operated nation- ally owned system. Says the Wall Stréet Journal: “Slic- ing of labor costs, particularly oper- ating labor, would be the most impor- tant item in savings resulting from merger. The Canadian National em- Ploys 100,000 and the Canadian Pacific over 60,000. The payroll of the Na- tional railways last year was $143,242, 026 and the average number of em- Ployes 98,875, making the average an- nual labor cost per employe $1,448. Using the estimate that the two rail- road systems comprising over 35,000 miles of road can be operated with about 110,000 instead of the approxi- mately 160,000 now.employed, there would be a reduction of $72,400,000 in the labor costs,” Aside from the, problem presented to the operating unions by this threat of wholesale layoffs the analysis is an “unwitting boost for operation of rail- roads in one big national system un- der public control, .No one questions the high efficiency. of the Canadian National under Thornton. There would 10 per cent wage cuts, according to Joseph R. White, United Textile Work- ers Union organizer, if the referendum vote now being taken among all union | workers employed in mills of the com- pany shows that is the verdict of the workers. More Pay Slashes. BRISTOL, R. 1., Aug. 24.—(FP)— About 1,000 employes of Cranston Worsted Mills are affected by wage cuts of 10: per cent. Cotton Mill Closes. CHICOPEE, Mass., Aug. 24.—(FP) —Dwight Manufacturing Co., cotton goods, is closing its mill for a few weeks to reorganize its machinery, leaving 400 workers unemployed for the period. UNION MEMBERS ARE FRIENDS OF CHINESE WORKER Take Part in United Front Meeting in N. Y. (Special to The Daily Worker) NEW YORK, Aug. 24.—Who doesn’t remember the campaigns for the support of foreign missions abroad to teach the heathen to “love their ene- mies”; and for that American impe- rialism made up by shooting such ene- mies as they fancied they had at home, or across the border. And now the New York Central Trades and Labor Council expresses its “full sympathies with the Chinese” unquestionably be a similar saving if the Canadian Pattfic entered the na- tional system, a0} A similar authoritative estimate of the waste of and manpower in the oper transporta tion system seth by tions might stagger the private com- petitive ownershipjadvocate. ——_s—— Norwich Weavers on Strike 1 u for a Raise a NORWICH, Conn, Aug. 24.—Weay- ‘jers in the New #ngland Mills Co. plant are striking, for a wage increase that will average $2.50 per week per worker, 11 t a Kidnappers Busy in Mexico. MEXICO CITY, Aug. 24.—Villages in the vicinity of Mexico City were being patrolled by, armed guards to- day after bands of kidnappers raided the public schools in Xochimilico and carried off a umber fo girls. Newspapers in the capital published warnings to parents to keep their chil- dren at home as the only means of foiling the kidnappers who have car- ried off scores of girls thruout the country. COOLIE WAGE SCALE OF TEXTILE MILLS,'BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH, SHOWN BY BOSSES’ OWN PAPERS 4 By ART SHIELDS (Federated Press Staff Correspondent) z NEW YORK, Aug. 24.—The coolie wage rates paid in the southern cot- ton mills are being/advertised in a report by the extension division of the University of North:Carolina which has found ifs way into New York textile journals. The report of comparative according to a news report; and they also “request the government of the U.S, A.” to do this and that; and also to “cancel the extra-territorial rights” “since the present political situation is closely connected with the begin- "| ning-of unionism in China's, csc | development.” All this would come with better grace if the American labor bureau- cracy had not condoned so far the suppression of all colonial people, at home and abroad. On the contrary, the bureaucracy of the New York Central Trades and Labor Council, and of the American labor movement are generally doing their best to keep the Chinese, the Negroes and others that are not “white men’ out of the unions in America. Unions affiliated with the Central Trades and Labor Council and all others, union men of New York, come to our conference on July 28, at Stuy- vesant Casino, 142 Second avenue, and make the following demands: Hands Off China. No extra-territorial rights against the Chinese in China. No extra-territorial exclusion acts against the Chinese in the American unions. Hands Off the Chinese in China, Hands Off the Chinese, Negroes and other suppressed races over here. {would have gone to pieces. earnings in the mills of the several} states north and south shows Alabama at the foot of the wage ladder with average actual eathings of $10.62 a week and South Carolina only a little higher at $11.16. Both north a) wages down still per hour and the nd, south the part time system is general and this brings lower than they otherwise would be. actual + The wage averages weekly earnings in,the 12 leading cot-} New Hampshire and Connecticut be- ton states are given as follows: verage Average earnings earnings State per hour Massachusets $18.94 New Hampshire 5 20.39 New York . ‘ 17.25 Connecticut : 20.99 ‘ 15.67 “ 18.53 a 17.00 ‘ 16,24 North Carolina ‘ 14.68 South Carolina 263 21.16 Georgia 262 = 11.68 * Alabama 235 10.62 Even TI ‘These figures are, challenged by tex- tile unionists in the. case of the northern mill states.. The original statistics on which the report was based were gathered in 1924 and since then the part time system and extended and the average actual earn- ings have fallen considerably. The report also needs : interpreting in the northern items where an average weekly wage runs higher in sause of the longer hours worked. Hell in Dixie. Alabama is credited in the report petweek | Not only with the lowest hourly rate and the smallest weekly average, but with the minimum of labor legisla- tion, So far as hours is concerned there is none. An Alabama manufac: turer may legally work his men and women employes as long as he wants to or they will stand for it. North Carolina and Georgia allow the boss to keep women on the job 60 hours a week, Nothing is said in the quoted por- tions of the university report on the comparative strength of the labor or- ganizations in the northern and south- ern fields but it is well known that unionism is near the invisible point in the southern mills. The only union making any effort there is the United Textile Workers’ Union, which is ex- pected to ask the American Federa- tion of Labor at the Atlantic City con- vention for further. assistance in storming the open shop strongholds of 4 i than five years have elapsed L between the day when Peter Grassmann, one of the most promi- nent leaders of the German trade union movement, made the first of the declarations quoted above, and the day when Jan Oudegeest, the no less prominent secretary of the Am- sterdam International, made the sec- ond. It may be that when Mr. Grass- mann made his dec tion he was »xaggerating a little, and looking too nuch at the results on paper of the so-called German revolttion, and tak- ing too little account of realities. Yet altho it was even then quite clear that the revolutionary movement @f the end of 1918 and begining of 1919 had not brot freedom to the German working class, the power of the Ger- man trade union movement was still such that it was regarded as the most mportnt stronghold of the west and niddle European workers’ movement. Only half a year earlier the Ger- man trade union movement had by a spirited general strike checked the at- tempts of the German reactionaries to overthrow the republic, but the leaders of the movement neglected to take advantage of the result of this action, which saved Germany from a return of the monarchy, just as they had neglected to pur the Novem- ber revolution to its logical conclu- sion, Nothing But Defeat. During the five years which have since elapsed the German working class has known nothing but defeat. Step by step, both politically and eco- nomically, the reactionaries and capi- talists have not only reconquered what they lost in November of 1918, but have also forced the German working class into a position worse than they were in before the war. The time when Germany, with its so-called “democratic regime,” was rightly -or wrongly regarded asthe “stronghold of liberty” has long since passed by, and so has the time when the German working class was regard- ed as the finest and strongest bat- talion im the international workers’ army. The German movement has become so weak that had it not been for the financial assistance given by the movements in other countries at the end of 1923, the whole organization The fact that Mr. Oudegeest, an international trade union leader who is noted for the eautiousness with which hé ex- presses his opinions, now comes out in the open with the statement that “Germany is today one of the countries most backward socially” is a fact that speaks volumes. Bad For All Workers. From the international workers’ point of view the fact that the Ger- man worker has become the “coolie” of Europe is a very regrettable one. The fact that in Germany the eight- hour day has been lost in the most important industries; that the Ger- man worker is slaving at wages one- jhalf or less of what is paid for the same work in Great Britajn; that his fighting power has become so weak- ened that his employers are virtually able to dictate their will as to slaves these things have a very great and ; very unfortunate influence on the con- | ditions and-the struggle of the work- jers in the rest of Burope. The weakening of the labor move- ment in Germany has been due to the same reasons which have oper. ated in other countries; the contro- versies inside the movement over principles and tacties—whether it should be class struggle or class co- operation. Germany was the first country where class co-operation was advocated and worked on a national scale (as a matter of fact it was during the same days of November, 1918, when the workers were fight- ing in the streets of Berlin, that a pact was concluded between Hugo Stinnes and the German trade union leaders for co-operation for the wel- tare of the “Fatherland”.) Class Collaboration Proven Failure. Germany is also the country where it has been proved in the most con- clusive way that class co-operation only benefits the employers, and that treason fh the class struggle causes incalculable harm to the workers. The fight between those who advo- cate the class struggle and those’ who stand for class co-operation has been raging thruout the years which have elapsed since the end of the war, weakening the movement until it be- came powerless, Union Congress August 31. On August $1 next, the 12th Ger- man Trade Union Congress will be held in Breslau. A great many of the items which compose the lengthy agenda show that in many of. the branches at least there is a real{za- ‘on of the causes of the weakness . . of the movement, and of where the blame lies. In addition to a very important, pro- posal put forward by representatives of a number of the most prominent German trade unions, and which would provide for complete reorgan- ization and amalgamation into four- teen great industrial unions, there are a large proposals ¢ ng for nati 1 and” in- ternational uni for readmission of all trade union who have been ex- pelled for their political views; for the sending of a delegation from the German labor movement to investi- gate conditions in Russia; for admis- sion of the Russian trade unions into the Amsterdam International; urging the formation of a single all-in inter- national trade union movement; and welcoming the formation of the Anglo- Russian Committee. Reaction Obstinate. It is difficult to say at this moment what kind of reception these different proposals and resolutions will have when the congress meets. Altho there is no doubt that the unity movement is growing in Germany as well as in other countries, there are still many difficulties and much resistance to be overcome before those who represent the workers will admit openly that it is only thru the greatest possiblé unity nationally and internationally, on a revolutionary basis, that the Ger- man working class, as well as that of other countries, will be able to achieve its aims. It is» to be hoped that the delegates who come together in Breslau will un- derstand that the eyes, not anly of the German workers, but also of those in. other countries, who fully realize how much depends upon the attitude of the German movement, will be up- on them. May they fully realize how great will be their responsibility. May Be Significant. A declaration of the German trade ~ number of resolutions and, * a union movement in faypr of nations ——e and international unity, or a decisive step in that direction, would mean the breakdown of the forces which are keeping the workers divided in- ternationally and would also be the beginning of the end of the capitalist regime. The British trade uniom movement marching hand in hand with the Rus- sian movement is already a great promise for the future. The German working class joining them in their efforts for international unity and in- ternational working class revolution would mean the fulfillment of that promise. Build the DAILY WORKER, DETROIT LABOR DAY TO BE HOT STUFF PICNIC Wom en ’s Organization Mix Delicious Eats DETROIT, Mich., Aug. 24.—The De- troit Young Workers’ League in con- junction with the Federation of Work- ing Womens’ Organizations is holding its International Youth Day celebra- tion at a picnic to be held at Camp- bell’s Grove (at the end of the Mack carline) on Sunday, Sept. 7th, begin- ning at 12 noon. This celebration will be a demonstration against capitalist militarism and imperialism. Speak- ers for the day will be for the Young Workers’ League—Barney Mass; a Hindu speaker; a Chinese speaker and a Negro speaker. A special sport program fs arranged which will be conducted by the Work- ers’ Sport Alliance. An extra special program of games, songs, and various other interesting feats has been ar- ranged in order to provide enjoyment for all-the Young Workers present. Besides this and perhaps more im- portant—delicious eats will be pre- pared. To convince anyone of this it is only necessary to state that the Federatfon of Working Women’s Or- ganizations are in charge of the eats. There will be several other special and interesting events that will make this one of the longest remembered of all the summer affairs. To make this a real international demonstration an attempt has been made to secure a real international at- tendance. At least a hundred Hin- dus, a hundred Chinese and a hun- dred Negroes, along with many other foreign elements; as well as many American workers are expected to turn out to this demonstration. All workers, young and old are urged to attend this demonstration against cap- italist militarism and bs } } eg renee eh