The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 17, 1925, Page 2

Page Two RUSSIAN. P. IS IN SESSION Tremendous Progress Soviet Union | (Special to The Dally Worker) MOSCOW, Dec. 15—One of the | most important congresses of the Rus- | sian Communist Party is now in ses- sion In the Kremlin. It is the leader- | ship of the party that has made pos- | sible the tremendous progress since | the close of the era of civil war. In the difficult reconstruction work with- in the Soviet Union the problem of economic development of the country in order to keep it on the road to so-/| clalism has been of primary import: | ance and has consumed the energy of the best brains In the movement. Party congresses are of great mo- ment to the whole country as party decisions are usually put into imme- diate practice in the government. The past year has been one of re- markable progress in industrial life. The heavy industries have not only reached, but surpassed the condition existing before the war and the reyo- lution, This has been accomplished in spite of the large capitalist nations conducting an economic boycott against the Soviet Union. There is little or no opposition to the policy pursued by the leading group in the party. A few elements, mostly inexperienced are unable to grasp the real significance of the situ- ation and raise objections that too Many concessions are being given outside capitalists. In the debates in the Moscow district, Comrade N. Buk- harin, one of the members of the poli- tical bureau, defended the policy of the party and declared that it was absurdly ridiculous to charge the pres- ent trend as capitalistic, citing facts to prove that capitalism has been left behind and that the path was so ob- literated it could never be retraced. The present political bureau of the party consists of Comrades Zinoviev, Stalin, Bukharin, Trotsky , Rykov, Tomsky and Kameney. New York Librarians Get a Wage Increase NEW YORK—(FP)—Wage increas- es ranging from $268 to $308 a ye for the 551 members of the circulfj tion department of the New York P; lic Library go into effect with Ye first of the year on the recommenda- tion of the circulation department ad- ministrative staff organization with which these workers are affiliated. Have a Good Time SATURDAY at These DAILY WORKER Parties. NEW YORK Saturday, December 19 Harlem Casino, 116th St. and Len- nox Ave. | BOSTON | Saturday, December 19 Dudley Street Opera House—Let- tish folk dances; choral singing; dancing; and “Kartoffel Salat.” Given by the Lettish Branch. SAN FRANCISCO Saturday, December 19 Russian Night—given by the Rus- sian (W. P.) branch, at 225 Va- Jencia St. Admission 35 cents. Sunday, December 20 Music, dancing, at 225 Valencia Si., at 8 p, m. NEW YEAR'S | ROXBURY, Mass. | Friday, January 1 Singing; dancing; new year's cele- bration with a new year’s mid- night dinner. Given by the Rox- bury Jewish Branch at the New In- ternational Hall, amg MEADS a revenue of over one million) Drawn for The Daily Worker by R. Logan. Coal Strikes Fight Pinchot Plan (Continued from page 1) of attacks by Ellis Searles in the offi- cial Mine Workers’ Journal. In the interim since the Cleveland convention the officialdom of the United Mine Workers of America has executed a strategic retreat from the progressive program at Cleveland and they now stand pledged, by the ac- ceptance of the “Pinchot plan” to at policy of class collaboration, which,| if carried out in its entirety, will) wreck the miners’ union, and make} of it nothing more nor less than. a} company union, patterned something after the company union on the Phil- adelphia Rapid Transit company lines, as suggested by the Wilkes-Barre Telegram on December 13, 1925. What has come of the hard coal miners’ demands, as put forward at} the Tri-District convention last June?} In the Pinchot plan every demand put forward is forgotten except one,| {the partial check-off is granted, which dollars per year to the interntaional office in Indianapo This is all the miners obtain by this wonderful Har- risburg settlement with its conces- sions to the operators’ concessions to the “public” concessions everywhere, | carried out by the 26, (which action was officialy endors- ed by the executive board of District No, 1—Cappellini’s district) the policy of silence and repression has been Lewis machine with “mathematical precision” to quote a favorite phrase of Lewis, Wherever members asked questions or protested, they are promptly si- lenced. Several members have been tried and threatened with expulsion for simply distributing laflets calling for a full strike. In other cases offi- cials have put thru resolutions call- ing off all meetings of local unions, when members of said local unions demanded some action in the strike. Many local unions manage to transact all the business in twenty or thirty minutes, in other cases no meetings whatever are held, the officers say “We have no business to thansact during the strike” or “We cannot af- ford to pay the hall rent during the strike.” There are a number of lo- cal, unions that~have not held meet- ings Since the strike. When the min- ers ask for relief they are brow-beat- en by the local henchmen of the ma- chine. Cappellini threatened to expel the Pontiac local if they use their funds for reHef. In the Pottsville | but nothing for the striking miners. | Put Up No Fight. The scale committee, so far as can be gathered from press reports, never jeven made a fight for the Scranton |demands, but swallowed the Pinchot plan practically in its entirety, which gives the operators that which they would hardly have dared to ask for three months ago: A five-year contract. A no-strike agreement, and, arbitration of the miners’ demands. In this “settlement” if it is ratified, the miners surrender the right to strike, the right for which organized labor in America has fought its bitter- est and bloodiest battles, this prin- ciple which even Samuel Gompers would always defend to the limit, ultra-reactionary as he was, The sur- render of this principle, one of the} cornerstones of the labor movement, is the net result of the miners’ strike to date. Another accomplishment of the wonderful “settlement” isthe sep- aration, for all practical purposes, of the hard coal and the soft coal min- ers, When the 1922 strike was called all miners quit work together. By some wonderful manipulation of “Lewisan” policy, they returned to work with contracts, which expired at different periods (to say nothing of the strikers in the Connellsville coke region who were left withqut any agreement at all), The result of this policy is, that while the hard coal miners strike, the soft coal min- ers continue to work, and by the Pinchot plan this policy is to be con- tinued for at least five more years. Operators Want “Separate” Union, The operators’ press is carrying on a subtle propaganda, for ¢he creation of a “separate union” in the anthra- cite, and this vicious anti-union posi- tion is strengthened wy the fact that these two sections, of the union, are dealt with as two separate entities when contracts are made, Will the miners in convention rati- fy the “Pinchot plan”? At the pres- ent time, it appears as tho they will. | During the “100 days’ vacation” the Lewis machine, in collaboration with the state and local authorities have done everything in their power to stifle any expression of the union membership, and to silence all cri- ticism of their activities, no matter how sincere or constructive it might be, Attack Progressives. Commencing with the breaking up section, we have the spectacle of lo- cal union officials dragging their mem- bers before a police magistrate and making them swear affidavits before they can obtain relief. Lewis Prepares His Ground, These examples of the Lewis pol- icy are but an extension of his en- tire policy in the international since he took the helm. From Cleveland to Harrisburg he took a long step, but the entire policy of. Lewis has been bent to this end. In his public speeches and statements during the strike, Lewis has stated repeatedly, “I will gladly recommend a five-year agreement to my people.” “We have always stood for stability in the in- dustry,” and “We are ready at any time to meet the operators on a give and take basis.” These statements of Lewis given out in advance, prepar- ed the way for the “Pinchot plan” which was promptly accepted by Lewis despite its vicious character. The suppression of the miners’ pro- tests in the local union, together with Lewis’ systematic propaganda in ad- vance for the terms of the “Pinchot plan” coupled with the fact that no effective relief or commissary system has been organized, with consequent distress for many strikers and their families, have prepared the way for the acceptance of anything of which Lewis would recommend. This is the key to the whole Lewis policy in the strike to keep the miners in the dark, and in suspense, and to sup- press the meetings when protests arise, and failing any adequate relief system, to capitalize the “war-weart- ness” of many of the strikers by put- ting over the “Pinchot plan” in order to “get the boys back to work” in re- sponse to the demands of the pub- lic for “the adjustment of the pres- ent ‘controvensy’.” This destruction of the union how- ever, which is implied in the “Pinchot Plann” will not be effected without protest. The bosses-having had three of their major demands accepted by the scale committee are “asking for more,” and in answer to their de- mand, local unions and policy com- mittees, all over the coal region, are EE? THE DAILY. WORKER LADIES’ GARMENT WORKERS’ UNION GREETS GITLOM Demonstration Marks Entrance to Hall By J. W. JOHNSTONE, (Special to The Dally Worker) PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 15—A most enthusiastic demonstration took place, when Benjamin Gitlow, who has just been released from the Sing Sing prison at Ossining, N: Y., entered the jhall, It was equalled only in its intensity |by the second demonstration which followed his introduction to the con- vention and the presentation of a basket of red carnations from the progressive delegatés bearing the in- scription: f “Welcome to our class war prisoner, Ben Gitlow, from the progressive dele- gates to the Ladies’: Garment Work- ers’ Convention.” When the convention adjuorned for lunch, Ben iGtlow was'presented by the progressive delegates with a gold watch as a-token oftheir esteem of his activities in behalt of the work- ers. “I speak to this convention with a great feeling and emotion that it was the action of the convention in pass- ing unanimously a resolution demand- ing that Governor Smith pardon me that is responsible for my being @ free man,” declared Gitlow. He showed that this was only pos- sible because it came from a great and powerful international union and that -it showed what the members thot on the question of political class war prisoners. He declared that it was not himself, not one man, but that it was the workers who must open the doors of all the jails and set all the class war prisoners free. He hoped that this act of solidarity in the convention, held in one of the largest industrial states in the, union, Penn- sylvania, where the constabulary were used so brutally against the workers, where the right to organize and free- dom of expression were denied, would be a warning to the state and the fi- nancial and industrial. ¢ombines and that ‘the workers thrih ‘their power would abolish the state-constabulary. He showed that Smith in pardoning him was not opposed ry the criminal syndicalist laws but thot that the pun- ishment was too severé, Gitlow the irdustrialization of America and the development of gfatit trusts and with America nowthe dominant world’s power, that thé*workers must form a labor party afl bring about world trade union unity. He hoped that out of this conxention would come unity and showed that the In- ternational Ladies’ Garment Workers’ organization had one af» the most en- lightening histories inythe American labor movement and that they had conducted great struggles, lifting the workers out of the sweatshop hell- holes, building up froma few hundred members to 150,000 and that this was the proof of the courage and calibre of the membership, which makes cer- tain that the organization cannot be destroyed, cannot be split, and that it will meet the future as it was able to meet the past. He pointed out that we cannot live on the past; that the future belongs to those with vision, to the advancing exploited workers of every country in the world. The convention is still discussing the officers’ reports. The left wing resolution for direct negotiations with employers with the strike weapon to enforce demands instead of arbitra- tion and that arbitration was only to be entered into after along protracted strike, when the union was too weak to carry it on further“and that all fu- ture agreements must have the clause giving the shops the’ right to strike was adopted. Nagler, Halperin, “Aantonini, Fine- berg and Sigman defended class col- laboration.-. Antoninf gave away the machine strategy. After defending class collaboration he said that the left wing wanted thém to defeat the left wing resolution} but that they were not going to'@o it. Fineberg “evolved” a new “théory.” He stated that the class struggle did not only mean getting the workers out on the streets but that arbitration, with so- called “impartial” ¢hairman, was a weapon of the clas struggle. ‘The convention is expected to end with the fight on the expulsion policy. > only program that gives them a fight- ing policy in the Present situation is the program of the Progressive Min- ers’ Committee, and wherever speak- ers have ben able to present that pro- gram it is endorsed wholeheartely by the strikers, passing resolutions demanding that |Step further and organize committees the maintenace men, and miners be pulled out, tions have been passed Wilkes-Barre, Forrestville, Primrose, Duncot and Branchdale, Back Progressives! The miners are beginning to realize of the progressive miners’ meetings in many towns, culminating in the arrests of Toohey, that a real menace to their union ig involved in the present fight, and it Valentine, Reid, |#iven real leadership the minerg will| brother a sub to and Zarek, in Soranton on September | ht to the end for “the union,” The| WORKER, soft coal |f militant miners to pit. this program Such resolu: | {nto effect, and substitute for the class at Avoca, | Collaboration policy of Lewis the pro- Pine Hill, |8Tam and policies of the workers based on their conditions as a class. This is the only basis on which they can win their fight; He will like it!, Give sour unton to The DAILY Watch Congress and Be Convinced of Necessity for the Party of Labor By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL. — ODAY, Robert M. LaFollette, Jr., senator in place of his father, is given his committee assignments by the regular republican senate organization... In reply to a request by newspapermen for his comment on these se amy honors” bestowed upon him by Wall Street's politicians, LaFollette, Jr., stated, “I! have nothing to say,” . The conclusion is that the regular republicans have ef- fectively gagged the “crown prince” of Wisconsin politics by accepting him as their own. The middle class attack waged in the senate by the elder LaFollette against big business is thus completely silenced. ° . e ° It was no later than last Sunday that the so-called “progressive” party of Illinois, meeting in Chicago, sent a greeting to LaFollette, Jr. The message was no doubt in- spired by the forlorn hope that perhaps LaFollette, Jr., was still on the doorstep of the republican party facing the out- of-doors. Developments indicate that in fact the young senator is facing quite the other war What is true of LaFollette holds equally for the other members of the so-called LaFollette group, especially in the house of representatives. They will be assigned to minor committees in most instances, stripped of all seniority rights, and eager to get the crumbs. Not one has appeared to wage an independent fight against both the old capitalist parties. As this is being written the news comes from Washing- ton that LaFollette dispatched his note of surrender to Sen- ator James E. Watson, the most unscrupulous profit politi- cian in the whole Wall Street fold, who is chairnfan of the G. 0. P. committee on committees; in other words, capital- ism's top caucus in the senate. LaFollette protested he is still an ‘ igs op republican” adhering to his late father’s platforms. But old party political platforms are made to walk in on, and LaFollette, Jr., has walked right into the republican party on the platform his father provided him. Now he will have no more use for it. “Jim” Watson's republican crew, Wisconsin’ senator's note Seas Matlin Mao , decided unanimously not to change then pointed tout that with | They must proceed one’ their position, “that LaFollette’s letter didn’t change the situation at all.” Wall Street has thus decided that a few “independent republicans” will look good in its political menagerie, where Borah, Capper, Couzens, but threaten it not at all. Johnson and a few more talk much LaFollette is the latest and pro- bably the most valuable addition to this zoo, tige of his father well keep large numbers since the pres- of workers and farmers paralyzed politically a little longer in the belief that there is “something good” in the republican party. __ Daily events in Washington, however, will cause them to think otherwise. The Brookhart-Steck contest in lowa for instance will end this week. republican organization suppo! Brookhart, the republican, ing on this situation, Brookhart would be hart, outside the senate, of the lowa farmers, evitably decide for the buildin dent of and opposed to the ol LaFollette, Jr., Is ‘ Now in the Fold of the Old Guard (Continued from page 1) portant that there should be no mis- understanding as to my position. Can Play Politics, “At the recent special election held to fill the vacancy ‘created by the death of Robert M. LaFollette, I was designated as the regular republican nominee by the voters of Wisconsin at the primary, duly elected under Such designation, “In announcing my candidacy, and thruout my campaign, I declared my allegiance to the progressive prinei- ples and policies of government as in- terpreted and applied by the late Rob- ert M. LaFolette thruout his entire public career. The platform upon which I was nominated and elected was that upon Thich he announced his successful candidacy for the sen- ate in the republican primary of 1922, and upon which the republican members of the house of representa- tives from Wisconsin were elected at the same time, “I shall, during my service in the senate, adhere to the letter and spirit of the platform upon which I was elected, and shall follow the inde- pendent course which I have marked out for myself, “With these facts before thi shall ments, Old Guard Isn't Worrying, wecept such formal mittee on committees met again and reaffirmed its previous action, “LaFollette’s letter didn't change said Watson “He will be assigned as a re- the situation at all,” later. publican.” The assignment of LaFollette as a republican member of the committees on manufacturers, Indian affairs and mining committees was later confirm. ed by the senate, without debate, HELP SAVE THE DAILY WORKER! mittee should they assign me to. "7 mittees as indicated by the pre I assign- After receiving the letter, the com- In the election campaign the rted Steck, the democrat.’ But claims the election. a capitalist sheet recently declared that J seated by the re; him last year, because if he isn’t seate elections next year and cause trouble. contest will not be decided on its merits, how the decision will affect the future party. Brookhart, a United States senator at Washington, inside the republican fold, is considered In comment- ublicans who fought 1 he might go into the In other words, the but on the basis of of the republican safer than Brook- seeking to organize the discontent As workers study these developments they must in- of their own party, indepen- parties. Watch the sessions of congress and be convinced. Special Constabulary Refuses to Follow Out Free State Dictates (Special to The Dally Worker) BELFAST, Dec. 15.—Ulster has what appears to be a first class re- bellion on its hands. Special constabulary who have re- volted against being disarmed unless they are granted bonuses and special gratuities for their services on the free state border, refused an interview with Premier Craig. Thus far the mutineers have been peaceful but they have issued warn- ings that they are heavily armed and will shqot to kill if any attempt is n.ade to interfere with them. Announ- cement has also been made by the re- bellious constabulary that when their present food and supplies has been exhausted they will make raids upon stores and private supplies. ‘ SUNDAY, DECEMBER TICKETS $1.25 3. Plain 48-inch re 3 Squirrel Trim. 48-inch 1 White Cony Jacquette Including—Made-to-Ord: TTT IML LUL IMAM MOLL LLCO BUFFALO READERS, ATTENTION! INTERNATIONAL BANQUET given by the D, B. in Engineer's Hall, 36 W. Speakers: Ben Gitlow, W. W. Weinstone, Norman Tallentire, and Ben Lifshitz. ai, 1 Brown Caracul Jacquett 1 White Cony Jacquette, Trim. 1 45-inch Used Hudson Seal, Squirrel Trim 1 36-inch Used Hudson Seal, Mortin Trim.. Re CRAMER, 6722 Sheridan Rd. tei. sheteraxe 0618 ‘CACHIN SPEECH SHAKES MORGAN BANK'S SCHENE French Communist Hits U. S. Imperialism (Special to The Dally Worker) PARIS, Dec. 15.—Marge!l Cachin, leader of the Communist fraction In the French chamber of deputies, threw a monkey wrench Into the maturing plans of American imperial- ism to completely dominate the French people as it has do e Ger- man people under the Dawes’ plan, in a Speech attacking Wall Street and the Washington government yester- day in the French chamber. Strikes Popular Note. It happens that it strikes a popular note among all Frenchmen, for the French bourgeoisie resents the steady pressure of American financial impe- rialism, and the radical working class well know that everything will be taken out of their hides by some scheme similar to the Dawes’ plan when once Wall Street gets its dom- inance officially established. Thus :it was that Cachin’s speech drew applause from all sides of the chamber when he launched a vitriolic attack on the American government. In part he said: Peculiar Example for Disarming, “America reproaches us for not dis- arming. But do they themselves do anything toward the disarmament that, with supreme hypocrisy they wish to impose on the universe? “Military expenditures in the Unit- ed States in 1925 reached a total of $850,000,000. They have 16,000,000 men available and a conscript law to draft them forcibly to make war. Their fleets are worth $3,000,000,000. And that is the disarmament in Am- erica as the example they sef for us! Seeks to Yoke France, “America is not only the factory for the .world, but the banker. The Dawes’ plan amounts to the subjec- tion of Germany to America, and the Belgians had to modify their budget on the commands of America, the financier. What concessions did Italy make which we do not know? Is France herself not about to feel the yoke of Wall Street? They want to buy even our tobacco monopoly.” So forceful was Cachin’s speech that it is the sensation of the day, some of those who applauded vigor- ously afterward considering that per-" haps the whole outburst may not have been discreet if France wants to get American loans. But it has created a political opinion which makes it much harder for the French ruling class to surrender the French work- rs to the merciless exploitation of merican financiens, for the privilege of being insured their part of the robbery. Chicago Tuberculosis Society Endorses Tests for Illinois Herds The Chicago Tuberculosis Society at its last meeting passed a resolution demanding that the city council pass the milk purification ordinance, de- manding that all milk entering the city be carefully inspected and that the herds be submitted to the tuber- sulin test. The farmers of Lake county met at Libertyville and formed the Federal Tested Herds Association of Lake county. Over 500 farmers owning 700 herds joined the association and en- dorsed the tuberculin test for cows, The farmers of McHenry county, who ‘have an injunction against the city of Chicago, prohibiting it from inspecting the milk and insisting on the tuberculin tests, declare they are in favor of the tests, but that as the state and the federal government re- fuse to reimburse them for part of their herds, it would mean bankrupt- cy for them and that as soon as the federal and state governmént make sufficient provision for them, they will submit their herds té the test. ©. of the W. P. A, 20, 1925, at 8:30 P.M. Huron St., Buffalo, NaY. GOOD MUSIC ee rT TT TTL LLL LULL LALLA ELE SPECIAL! To Daily Worker Readers SPECIAL! No. Seal Coats ai No. Seal Coa ed Fox Trim, jeling, Repairing, Etc. |