The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 16, 1925, Page 1

i | | | | The DAILY WORKER Raises the Standard for a Workers’ and Farmers’ Government Vol. Il. No. 230, 6 SAME OLy so 2°, PREVAILS We fae PROGRESSIVE TALK IS BUNK By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL, (Special to The Daily Worker) STEEPLECHASE PIER, ATLANTIC CITY, Oct. 14.—If it were not so tragic a situation for the whole American working class, it could be considered good comedy, the frantic manner in ~which the Green regime in the American Federation of Labor is trying to put on a mask of progress at the convention here. When the resolutions committee, with all the profundity it could muster; came back with its amended report on wages, Pre- sident Green solemnly declared that this “places the American labor movement in a most advanced position on wage theories.” This so-called epoch-making statement contained merely the ‘hscription Rates: In Chicage, by mall, $8.00 per year. Outside Chicago, by mail, $6.00 per year. following: : “Social inequality, industrial in- stability, and injustice must increase unless the workers’ real wages, the purchasing power of their wages, coupled with a continuing reduction in the number of hours making up the working day are progressed in proportion to man’s increasing. power of production.” Same Old Bunk. This is merely a statement of the basis of the trade union movement, upon which it has been struggling these many years, although president Greem suddenly discovered that it is “the enunciation of a new idea estab- lishing a position far in advance of any position we have ever taken be- fore. We stand on the threshold of a giant industrial era. New condi- tions are here. This is our way of meeting them.” The way, of course, is the adoption of a general declaration, hoary with age, while all definite programs for class struggle actions are denounced as Communist doctrine, Still “Reward Friends.” It was Delegate Andy Furuseth, of the Seamen's Union, who hailed the convention statement declaring for nonpartisan political action as a re- turn to sanity. This statement de- clared that “the nonpartisan cam- paign policy not only ‘opens up a vista of hope and promise to Ameri- can labor and American democracy; it is imperative as a measure of de- fense against the @eadly menace of “ So the convention abproved of the executive council's declaration for boring within the two old paftiés of Wall Street with not a single voice or vote raised against it. Politiest Optimism. Altho congress is being stripped of its so-called “progressives,” the report declares that “a thoroly and perma- nently progressive congress is almost within our grasp.” The labor party is applauded in Great Britain and Mexico, but in. the United States republicans and demo- crats get the féderation’s support. The Railway Clerks were turned down in their jurisdictional fight with the Teamsters’ Union by a vote of 23,845 to 3,895. According to a state- ment issued by the Qelegates of the Railway Clerks, this union will quit the federation. oer statément fol- lows: “It is the optus of the representa- tives of the Railway Clerks that our grand executive council will give up its charter in the American Federa- tion of Labor permanently rather than to give up its jurisdiction over their employes involved.” This union has about 80,000 members. The union label campaign was given considerable discussion, President Green rising to the occasion with a speech in the late Gompers’ best style. He declared. it would dissipate the so- called “apathy and indifference” that he claimed had seized the workers wince the war. More A, F. of L. news on page 2. Navy Wage Board in Secret Session Goes Over Labor ‘“‘Requests” (Special to The Waily Worker) WASHINGTON, D.C.’ Oct. 14.— % Committees representing 26 crafts of “the employes of the navy yard are ppearing before the navy wage board id presenting their’ “requests” for ge increases, supported by evidence which is somehow required by law— compiled from a survey fo wage scales in the locality, The attitude of the U. 8. govern- ment toward labor Which it employs ‘s shown in the fact that all hearings ere secret and the “requests” of the workers are concealed by the govern- ! ent navy board until after the board rakes its decisions on them, It has leeked out that all crafts are making “vequests” for inoresees, however, VON HINDENBURG FIRM AGAINST LOCARNG PACT Allied Proposals Not Acceptable (Special to The ‘Dally Worker) BERLIN, Oct. 14—In face of and as a direct reply to the statement at Locarno this morning of Austen, Chamberlain, the British foreign min- ister, that “no nation can afford to take the responsibility for wrecking the security pact,” President Hinden- berg, after a meeting of the German cabinet, announced that his govern- ment was determined to stand pat on the original demands. The president, backed by the cabinet, is said to have found the allied propo: unsatis- factory and impossible of acceptance. Last night the. cabinet went into session ond heard the lengthy report Entered) as Second-class matter September 21, 1923, at the Post OMco at Chicago, Hlinols, under the Act of Murch 3, 1879, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1925 Benjamin Gitlow. COMMUNIST IN TERNATIONAL EXPECTS CLOSER COOPERATION FROM U. S. SECTION, SAYS CABLE REPORT EDITORIAL NOTE:—The following cablé report has been re- ceived by the DAILY WORKER thru the commercial news service for which It subscribes. MOSCOW, Oct. 14.—The Communist International;.in consequence of promises embodied in. a report just received here fr: the American Com- munist Party, is hopeful of closer cooperation from the United States In the future than has been the case up to this time. The American Communists, their latest pledge declares, will devote their best energies from now on to an attemipt to bore deeper into the trade unions, as the best method of gaining control éf the American working class. In the local Moscow comment upon this clause of *the American program it’ of Dr. Kempner, secretary to Chancel- is remarked that “the American trade unions are the most reactionary im lor Luther, on the proceedings in the little Swiss town where the repres- urity pact’ guaranteeing their. frontiers so that their hands will be free to prosecute an assault upon Soviet Russia and continue their own colonial wars to subdue the natives of Africa and Asia. May Mean.the End. Last night the action of the cab- inet was considered of decisive moment, determining ‘the* final deci- sion of the German delegation. The tentative agreement reached yesterday was scheduled to go to final reading today, but in view of the decision of the cabinet it is doubtful if ministers’ at Locarno will proceed further until the full details of the action of the German cabinet are known. oe ; Chamberlain’s Locarno Threat. LOCARNO, Switzerland, Oct. 14.— No nation can afford to take the re- sponsibility for wrecking the “security pact” conference here—this ment made today by Austen Chamber- lain, British foreign minister, was in- terpreted as being a direet threat to} sassins the German delegation, and the Gere man nation. “Negotiations here have already progressed so far and so favorably, that no delegation can afford to take the responsibility for wrecking these negotiations,” Chamberlain said in a statement to the British press. Chamberlain’s statement was par- ticularly significant in view of the |fact that the German delegation since yesterday has presented a number of “incidental” demands as conditions to ;its entrance into the “security pact”. | These demands inelude evacuation of Valley and the for some of German's ‘former ¢olonies. These demands Lave gréatly; irritated the Allies statemen. © It was stated that France is still insistent upon having a free hand in guaranteeing the pact between Ger- many and Poland: ST. LOUIS—(FP)—The’ St. Louis ‘Typographical union's’ campaign is calling attention to’the antiunion po- Hey of the Crowell Publishing Co., Springfield, Ohio, publisher of the American Magazine, Oollier’s Weekly, Farm & Fireside, Mentor, Woman's Home Companion, GREENVILLE, Miss—(FP)—Two hundred Mexicans have arrived to be parcelled out to the planters for work in the. cotton fields and 160 more are scheduled to arrive this week. The Mexicans, it ts saldy are satisfied with lower wages aes — laborers, the Rhineland and dae of the Saar the world.” Among the accomplishments of the ,party, which the report itself sities entatives of the principal powers of! are modest, the executive lists the organization of the “Hands Off China” ‘urope-are trying to devise a “sec-| committees; the organization ef a league of young workers}: and persistent own) work among “the Negroes and farmers of Americ 2: tak it SHANGHAI LABOR UNION SUPPRESSED BY TROOPS; WOMEN STRIKERS SHOT «Special to The Daily Worker? SHANGHAI, China., Sept. 25 (By Mall)—Chinese soldiery of Chang Tso-Lin, tool of foreign imperialists, » are savagely suppressing the labor unions, dissolving the organizations by force and arresting union lead- ers. Nine union workers were shot to death yesterday without trial, three of these were women who were picketing a Japanese mill. The General Labor Union has been closed by troops, tho the Seamen's Union is still operating. Li Lis- state-| san, president of the General Labor Union who led the anti-British boy- cott, has escaped the military as” by isappearing. Strict censorship of the cables prevails. Poland Anxious to Pawn Her Industries (Special to The Daily Worker) RIGA, Latvia, Oct. 14—The larger Polish. banks are unable to pay their obligations to Latvian creditors, and those doing business with Poland have lost large sums of money. Mon- ey transfers made to Polish banks have not been paid. The total claims on losses of this nature are well over a million dollars in American money, As a result the director of the Lat- vian state bank reports that. it is impossible to do business with Po- land. As Poland is already in financial difficulties, owing to insisting upon maintaining one of the largest stand- ing armies in Europe and due to’ the pressure of the German customs war against her, a similar war threatened by Latvia will be ruinous, it is stat- ed hero. To overcome this condition, Poland is trying to “pawn” her industries td any country that will grant her a loan to overcome her financial difficulties, ' New Railway Ready Nov. 7. NOVO-NIKOLAEVSK, Oot. 14.— (Tass)—The construction of the new railway between Achinsk and Minu- sink is near the end. The new, line will be ready for exploitation on the UNITY DEMANDED BY BRITISH AND RUSSIAN UNIONS Dawes Plan Denounced asaMenace . LONDON—(FP)—Representing 11,- 000,000 British and Russian trade unionists, and addressing its appeal | to the workers of every country, the joint advisory council of British and Russian labor, which convened in London, declares that “the establish- ment of an all-inclusive, world-wide trade union international has become more necessary than ever.” The joint advisory council, whose report is signed by Tomsky, on behalf of the Russian trade unions, and -by the late Fred Bramley, on behalf of the British Trades Union congress, notes the ratificatién of the agree- ment for joint action, decided upon at the: London conference on April 7. The Russians ratified April 30, and the British at the recent Scarborough Trades Union congress, The report summarizes the world situation as it affeets labor, noting the increasing attacks of the em- ployers and the -evil effects of the Dawes plan. Theedanger of war is drawn attention to and the increasing revolts of colonial peoples against capitalist imperialism and exploita- tion, The object of the guarantee pact to include Germany in a military alliance directed against Soviet Russia is also exposed. “The removal of all obstacles and difficulties in.the way of national and international working-class unity” is called for. “Invite Pacific Labor SYDNEY, Australia — (FP) — fhe Labor Council of New. South Wales at Sydney is sending out invitations for a Pan-Pactfic Conference of political and industrial organisations to all countries bordering on the Pacific, to be held at Sydney May 1, 1926. The conference ie to harmionise the rela- anniversary of the Soviet revolution, | tionships of the workers around the November 7th. Pacific, ecenoa 290 A. F, OF L. CONVENTION PROTESTS U. S, TROOPS INVASION OF PANAMA | ATLANTIC CITY, N. J., Oct. 14.— A resolution was introduced today at the A. F. of L. convention, asking an® investigation Into the reason, American troops are being used in breaking the strikes of union work- ers and In “quelling disorders” ari- sing from the strike of tenants against high rents at Panama City, republic of Panama. William Green, president of the A, F. of L. was authorized to protest the use of American troops in a message to President Coolidge. GITLOW BARRED BY N.Y. BOARD FROM BALLOT Protest Meeting for Friday Evening » (Special to The Daily Worker) NEW YORK, October 14.—For the third time within four-yeara the New York City board of elections has de- prived Benjamin Gitlow of the right to run for political office In this city on the grounds that he Is an ex-con- viet. Yesterday this board, a creature of that odious combination of graft and corruption known as Tammany Hall, threw out the petitions of the Work- ers Party on the grounds that Gitlow being an ex-convict is not entitled to run on the pure and undefiled ballot that will be used by voters in the el- ection of Nov. 3. Protest Meetings Spring Up. No sooner had the announcement been made than a wave of indignation swept the left wing of the labor move- ment*in this city. The Workers Party has called a protest meeting to take place in Union Square @t 5 p. m. on Friday; just as the werkers in the shops in that part of the city pour out of their slave pens. Gitlow and others will address the meeting and will ex- pose the real motive behind his ex- clusion from the ballot, Engdahi Meeting at Night. In the evening at 8 o'clock Gitlow will also speak at the Manbattan Ly- ceum meeting, 66 East 4th St., where J. Louis Engdahl, editor of The DAILY WORKER, will relate the story of the farce just closing at At- lantic City, the annual pow-wow of the American Federation’ of Labor. Shyster Candidate Runs. It is noteworthy that the board of elections made no effort to remove the name of the socialist candidate, \ the Rey. Norman Thomas, petty bourge- ois dilletante and defender of the re- action in the labor movement in New York. And, of cotirse, the fact that “Little Jimmy Walker” the Tammany candidate, has been proved to be a mere tool of the poison meat trust and other polluters of the food supply of the state even while he was on a/ committee of the state senate sup-| posed to deal with such violations of | law, does not prevent his name going | on the ballot. Neither does the record of the fountain pen manufacturers, Mr. Wa- | terman, whose factory is scab from | top to bottom, prevent his name ap- pearing. It is only the true champion of the working class, a man who has for years stood staunchly in the fore- front of labor’s struggle, who is bar- red from the ballot. Other Meetings Arranged The needle trades workers have rallied to the struggle against this exclusion of Gitlow from the ballot and have arranged a monster mass meeting to be held in Hunt’s Point Palace, 168rd street and Southern Bivd., on Wednesday, Oct. 21. Four unions have already passed resolutions against this act of the board of elections. They are Locals 2, 9 and 22 of the International La- dies’ Garment Workers’ Union, and the joint board of the furriers. This act has already intensified the campaign for Gitlow and as the peak of the campaign is reached thousands upon thousands of workers will be rallied to the support of the Commun- ist candidate when they learn of the real working of that monumental fraud known as American democracy. Arrest 1,600 Communists, MILAN—(FP)—Some 1,500 Italian Communists have been arrested thru- out the country on charges of plotting against the state. In Rome during a single morning, 170 were arrested. Publisned Datly except PUBLISHING CO., 1113 JARMY STOPS VICTIM'S FUNERAL : NEW YORK EDITION\ THE DAILY WORKER shington Bivd., Chicago» OL STRIKERS AGAIN IN ACTION: TENANT LEADERS IN JAIL (Special to Tne Dally BALBOA, Canal Zone, Oct. 14.—Panama City is still besieged by hordes of United States troops, brought there to assist the loathsome vassal of Wall Street, who sits in the presidential chair of Panama, to crush the mass demonstrations of the workers against the exhorbitant rents imposed upon them. Business Men subservient to the government and taking their stand with the avowed enemies of the working class have been permitted to open their stores, but clubs and saloons are tightly closed, except those permitted stealthily to supply, the privates and quench the inordinate thirst of certain officers of Worker) the army. Workers Still Defiant. In defiance of the regime of pillage and murder that was instituted by the Panama police Saturday night and carried to the utmost excesses by the intervention of the United States army on Monday, the strikers are again stirring to action. The city, at first stunndl by the ferocity of the blows that fell upon the workers, neluding the pillaging of the labor headquarters, the murdering of one triker and the wounding of many others, is rising again. Transportation still remains at a standstill while tailors, bakers and many other craftsmen are still on strike’ with the movement spreading. Strikers Denounce Murder. The savage butchery of Damion Babrera at labor headquarters by United States troops did not go un- challenged and in spite of the reign of terror established by Brig. Gen. C. H. Martin and his soldiers, the strikers sympathizing with the move- ment against high rents last night posted printed sign’ throughout the working quarters of the city, bear- ing the following announcement: GENERAL SOCIETY OF WORKERS Comrades:—We must assist at the funeral 6f Domion Babrera, who fast night was the victim of foreign bayonets here, with the consent of our government. Meet at 20 West Seventh St. at 3 p. m. Martin, the United States “6m- mander, flew into a rage when in- formied of the appearance of the pos- ters and ordered his soldiers to tear them down, He also ordered an in- vestigaton to determine the source of the posters, Interfere at Funeral. “ j Determined. that the funeral of the | victim of their own bloody fists shall not be the occasion for another dem- onstration, Col. John W. Heavey, in jcommand of the 39rd infantry, is to be present with soldiers for the pur- pose of forcibly preventing the strik- ers paying their last respécts to the martyrdom of this worker. This bes- tial act has inflamed the whole work- | ing population and new outbreaks are | momentarily expected. . | Tenant Leaders in Jail. | Early this morning the leaders of | jthe tenant’s movement against high | jrents were rounded up by Panama | police, under protection of United States army bayonets and herded in| the vile jails of this city, known} throughout the world as dungeons | junfit for habitation. At the same time President Chiari, | ‘of Panama, is professing to be anx- jious to effect a compromise between |the tenants and landlords. The tenants and the strikers sym- pathising with them refuse to con- |sider negotiations until their leaders jare released and they further demand |the removal of the governor, the mayor and the inspector of police, |whom they charge with responsibility for the murders of Saturday night. FRENCH FRANG FALLS BELOW BELGIAN FRANC ON LONDON EXCHANGE (Special to The Dally Worker) LONDON, Oct, .14.—For the first time since the war the Belgian franc was worth more than the’ French franevon the stock market here. The Belgian franc was quoted at 106.55 to the pound sterling, while the French franc was quoted at 106.75, The fall in the French currency is due to the unsatisfac- tory outcome of the recent confer- ence in Washington. Depressing re- ports from Paris indicate a further fall and it is not unlikely that it may definitely hit the tabboggan, sinking to new low levels sufficient to produce an alarming crisis. The prolonging of the Locarno confer- ence is also having an adverse ef- t upon French currency and Bel- gian currency also is likely to suf- ter. f PANANA’S “FREEDOM IS A MYTH Bayonets ‘Rip Veil of “Independence” By MANUEL GOMEZ, Sec’y. All-American Anti-imperialist League ARTICLE |. It there was ever an act of inter national politics that tore the ¢over from a carefully nurtured fiction of international relationships, it is the in- cursion of American troops Into the “Republic of Panama.” Panama ie sup- posed to be a free country. Actually, its only freedom consists in that its minister plenipotentiary at Washing- ton has the privilege of importing ali the brandy, wine and beer that he wants. The real status of Panama, and of the other little “republics” of Cen- tral America and the Caribbean, has now been exposed so plainly that even the readers of capitalist newspapers can see it. Coolie Conditions in Panama The workers of Panama labor under conditioug: which approach in. wretch... . edness those of the oppréssed colonial countries of Asia. Wages are pitifully low, while living costs have been mounting steadily. The great major- | ity live in little one-room hovels, for | whch the landlords have been charg- ing more and more extortionate rents. Rent profiteering became so flagrant that a month ago the worker-ten- ants in the city of Panama went on strike, refusing to pay rent until an agreement should be reached limiting the earnings of landlords to 12 per cent annually. The strike spread | rapidly; it became a mass movement of arouséd worker-tenants. Where upon, General Lassiter, in command of the Canal Zone department of the | Untted States army, sent three bat talions of the 33rd infantry into the city “to put down the rioting.” Appropriate Time Picked The moment selected for the inva- ; Sion was a fitting one. It was in the | midst of a funerg] procession which | the strikers had arranged for two of | their comrades who had been brutally | murdered by the police. The American soldiers broke up the demonstration, occupied the strikers headquarters and proceeded to restore “law and order” for the Panaman landlords. It was a nice, quiet “domestic” affair. Senor Rodolfo Chiari, the dummy president of the republic, called. for and obtained the service of U. 8. gov- ernment troops, just as a governor of the state of Pennsylvania or Kansas might request and receive federal troops to put’down a strike there. a is a recognized business of the U. army to break strikes. American ‘oa unionists’ know this from bitter ex- perience. Panaman workers know it too. This is not the first time that American soldiers have invaded their territory. It has happened time and again. The United States government has inter- vened in the affairs of every country in Central America, and never once on the side of the workers A Spanish Proverb It was “como Pedro por su casa,” as the Spanish say, that the infantrymen of the 38rd regiment entered the city of Panama (“like Pedro going into his home”). And this is the country that boasts itself the defender of the rights of small nations, and talks about “moral claims!" Ah, but there is a treaty giving us the right to intervené! say the re- sourceful apologists of American im- derialism. Article 7 of the treaty pro- vides that the military forces of the United States’ “may take over the (Ci ontinued jon ST A OF eG 3) > - de Louis Engdahi+-Speaks on A. F.of L Convention—Friday Nite~-Oct, 16--Manhattan Lyceum-N.Y. See Page : See Page 3