The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 6, 1926, Page 1

‘The DAILY WORKER Raises the Standard for a Workers’ NEW YORK EDITION and Farmers’ Government THE DAILY WORKER. Batered as Second-class matter September 21, 1023, at the Post Office at Chicago, Ulinols, under the Act of March 3, 187% SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1926 - <> ™ In Chicago, by mail, $800 per year, Gutside Chicages by fall, 30d eT: yeas, Published Dally except Sunday vy THE DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO., 1113-W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, Ill Vol. Ill. No. 22. Price 3 Cents “ubscription Rates: GERA WORKERS JOINPASSAIC —TRATILE STRIKE 1,300 Down Tools; Re- sist Wage Cuts By J. 0, BENTALL. (Special to The Daily Worker) PASSAIC, N. J. Feb. 4—Thirteen hundred workers in the Gera mill walked out in response to the picket line that marched in front of the shop —half of them going out in the morn- ing and the second shift at two inthe afternoon, The picket line that called out the Gera mill started early in the morn- ing and got the first crew out at once. The afternoon attemp resulted in the complete tieup of this mill. The new recruits marched to the Glida hall and filled it to overflowing. The announcement that the Gera mill was out made at the two mass meetings, one in Glida Hall and the other in Belmont Hall where Organ- izer Weisbord and J. O. Bentall were speaking aroused great . enthusiasm among the thousands of assembled strikers, Conditions Rotten, “We could not stand it any longer,’ said one of the new strikers, “The conditions are simply rotten and the cut took the last crumb out of our mouths.” { The enthusiasm reached the climax ‘ when a large mass of young workers marched to the front of the hall and began to sing, “We ain't gonna work fy no more till we get our wage cuts back.” : “They) did not all come at once,” said Organizer Weisbord, “but one after the other has joined and now we have all Passaic out. That is the way to doit. Always a little increase, always a little sronger. Now we have the hardest battle fought. If we could hold out, we will win all our demands and come out with full victory.” “You have a just cause,” declared Bentall. “You have asked for so lit- tle. You have been imposed upon by the bosses and should consider them the wrong doers that they are; Organized to Hold Demands. “You have demanded your wage cut back. That is very fair. You are demanding time and a half for overtime. All workers in organized shops have that. If you win these de- mands you have stil! the greatest to win—the recognition of the union. Un- less you organize and get power the bosses will lick you sooner or later. Remember that the organization of your industry is the biggest thing to work for.” Lena. Cherneko and Nat Kaplan spoke yesterday and urged the work- ers to organize first of all. “The is women in the industry can never ex- pect decent conditions till they to- gether with the men are completely organized,” said Cherneko. Nat Kap- lan of the Young Workers (Commun- 4st) League urged the young workers (Continued on page 2) 113-Year Old Widow _ Appeals to’ Charity; » Son Can’t Find Work ST. LOUIS, Feb, 3.-After surviving life's ordeals for 113 years, Mrs. Hen- \ Metta Gilland of St. Louis, appeals | to charitable agencies for aid. She is NORTH DAKOT FARMERS FOR CLASS PARTY Pick Candidates for the Coming Election (By a Farmer Correspondent) WILLISTON, N, Dak., Feb. 4 — The opening guns were fired by John G. Soltis of Minneapolis and Sen. Taylor of Montana for the farmer-labor party at two large meetings. here, While the weather was bad, the Court House was filled to its capacity. The speech of John G. Soltis will be remembered by all as one of the ablest ever delivered in Williams county. Both speakers showed the futility of the leaguers staying in the re- publican party and-urged all to come over to the farmer-labor party and ‘o down the line in a unit for a class party. Outside of a few office seekers the audience’ was unanimous for the farmer-labor party. Organization is under ‘way, A committee has been selected and legislative candidates for this district have been chosen, i general grievance steps which is of blind and “makés her home with a grandson who has been unable to find a job or any traces of the Coolidge- Dawes prosperity. TRADE UNION EDUCATIONAL LEAGUE | PLANS FIGHT AGAINST NEW COMPANY _ UNIONS AND CLASS COLLABORATION By GERTRUDE WELSH, _ How receht industrial developments affect the left wing of the American labor movement in its fight against ¢lass collaboration policies of union offi- clals, on the one hand, and the capitalists’ company “unions” on the other, was the subject of discussion at Wednesday night's regular monthly meeting of the Trade Union Educational League in Northwest Hall. Militants rep- yesenting Chicago's principal unions packed the hall, making the T. U. B. L. decide to hire, larger one for next: - jth's meotihe ence, revision of strike policies. John L, Lewis’ arbitration tactics, — jin the anthracite strike, Alex Reid, 8, these miners are urgl feeretary of the Progressive Miners’ be Committeo, stated that 40,000 of the| gressives’ slogan, “Call out the main. king miners have come out| tenance men.” Only if both mainten+ repudiation of President (Continued on page 3.) ' : ; Fascisti Gain Control in Greece. MINERS’ GRIEVANCE COMMITTEES DEMAND JOHN LEWIS STAND BY TRI-DISTRICT MEET DECISIONS By PAT TOOHEY. (Special to The Dally Worker) WILKES-BARRE, Pa., Feb. 4.—The miners assembly, composed committee's district No. 1, United Mine Workers ot America meeting in special session in Wilkes-Barre took several decisive interest to every anthracite miner at the present time. For Tri-District Demands. The special meeting was called “to consider .more fully the question of relief and to consider the latest deve- lopments of the negotiating conference meeting in Philadelphia, particularly in regard to. the new offer of the miners’ proposals to the operators.” This question was discussed for two hours by all delegates present, in- cluding the delegation of the workers at the Pennsylvania Coal Company whith the genera] grievance mittee recently affiliated with the as: sembly. Many delegates brought out point after point that the “plan”: of Lewis as proposed to the-conference. calling for a five year agreement, vol- untary check-off, voluntary arbitra- tion, ete, were detrimental miners and could not be sanctioned by the rank and file who have struck 8a long for the demands formulated at the tri-district convention, The policy of Lewis was severely scored by the delegates for his repu- diation of the demands and his weak ‘attitude in the Philadelphia confer- Delegates made no bones by stating their exact sentiments in réla- tion to the conduct of the strike by the ‘her officials and demanded a drastic Pro-Lewis delegates attempted fend the actions of the leaders but id not succeed very well. After a long and thoro discussion on the part of three elements |in the assembly, @ conservatives, the ‘mildly pro- Reporting on the present situation| Thru their union grievance commit: gives and the .#% lial’, a motion the im-|was unanimously adopted''tb “instruct diate putting into effect of the pro- fee L. Lewis and ‘the’”anthracite le committee it is thé" position of {hfs body to stand by thé’Yemands as {fortouin at the ae conven- ae SEM aii Ror tac ATE A ee NT IR LR rte rt De oh OS ee SE Drawn by William® Gropper. 5 [AUTO WORKERS FACE CONFLICT WITH BOSSES Bosses Propose Wage Cut and Longer Hours (Special to The Daily Worker) NEW YORK, N. Y., Feb. 3 — The automobile workers of New York City are facing serious trouble on the ques- tion of a new wage scale and working agreement. The old agreement ex- pired on December 31, 1925 and the jatest move by the employers thru their organization is an attempt to reduce wages and increase the num- ber of working hours. Men Stand Firm. At the last union meeting the j Workers to Detroit for a year of prac- whole matter was thoroly thrashed out and the following letter was sent to the employers’ organization: se 8 “To the New York Automobile Coach Manufacturers’ Association. “Gentlemen: The New York Local No. 49 of the United Automobije Air- craft and Vehicle Workers of Amer- ica at several of its membership meet- ings dealt with the question of sub- mitting a new wage scale agreement to the employers after the old one two years in power has expired. “The union membership resents the many violations committed by the em- ployers in the old agreement by for- cing upon the workers’ conditions in contradiction to the signed agreement with the union. “Furthermore, the union member- ship realizes that many clauses in the old agreement are contrary to their best interests as union men, and «finally, the present wage scale does not correspond’ with the,ateadily” in- creasing present day ing condi- tions. ie “Therefore, a committee! yas elect- ed at the last meeting of Local 49 of the United Automobile Aircraft and Vehicle Workers of America to work out and submit to the employers a new agreement for the coming year of 1926.” Special Meeting Called. Since then several conferences were held between the union ‘represént- atives and representatives from the employers. The outcome of these con- ferences, a flat refusal by the employ- ers to grant any of the demands made by the men, is not surprising to the membership. A special meeting will be held on Thursday, Feb. 4th at the Labor Temple 243 E. 84th street, at which the conference committee will make a report and it is expected that the membership will turn out 100 per cent to take action on this important mat- ter. ion.” Several delegates attempted to eave and not be recorded but the assembly passed a motion that no delegate leave until adjournment. In this manner the assembly succeeded in registering every delegate. Their action in this respect is a di- ZEIGLER T + NEW YORK LAWMAKERS DISCUSS BILL MAKING HYPOCRISY A GRIME ALBANY, N. Y., Feb. 4 — A bill which would make hypocrisy a crime. was introduced in the legis- lature by assemblyman Hackenburg, New York democrat. The measure defines as hypocrites “persons who solicit and collect funds for the pur- pose of promoting measures res- traing the exercise of personal |i- berty.” Russia to Send 100 Workers to Detroit; Study Auto Production MOSCOW, U. Soviet . R., Feb. 4 —The government is sending 100 ticat training in automobile and trac- tor plants. The Soviet Union at pres- ent has 7 schools in the Caucasus and Siberia for the training of mechanics for the 20,000 tractors that are to ar- rive in the union in the spring. FORTY MINERS LEWIS OFFICIALS ANDPROSECUTOR CONFER ON JURY Collaborate to Imprison Zeigler Miners BULLETIN Get Eight Jurors. BENTON, Ill., Feb, 4—The thrid day of the coal miners’ trial here has resulted in the securing of eight jurymen. Indications are that the full jury will be selected soon. The prosecution is still being openly aided by union officals of the Lewis- Farrington machine in the selection of the jury. The interest of the miners has not slackened since the first day. The courtroom is crowd- ed every minute of the sessions. So: @ (Special to The Daily Worker) BENTON, iil., Feb. 4 — Constant conferences on the selection of jurors, in the Zeigler miners’ trial, between the state’s attorney's forces and the reactionary machine officials of the United Mine Workers of America shows the unity of the state and the union bureaucracy in the prosecution of the Zeigler defendants. ENTRAPPED IN BURNING MINE Company Fails to Warn Men of Danger (Special to The Daily Worker) PITTSBURGH, .Pa., Feb, 4.—Over. forty miners were’ trapped” and - prob- ably killed in a terrific gas explosion in the Horning mine, No. 4, of the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal company, near Castle Shannon, 10 miles from Pittsburgh. Three bodies were taken out. The explosion followed a:fire in the min which began at ten o’clock yesterday morning. Six hundred men continued to work in the mine while the fire raged as they had not been informed of the danger by the company officials. The men came out of the mine shortly before the explosion, having finished their day’s work. A-large rescue crew is trying to break thru to save the entombed men. No steps were taken vy the company officials to warn the miners of the danger. Two miners, William Yelmicko and Louis Paul, were still working in one section even after the explosion. They discovered they were trapped only when they attempted to leave the mine at the close of the day’s work and were No prospective juror is selected un- til a conference is held between the attorneys for the prosecution and Lon Fox, sub-district president, Del Cobb, vice-president of the sub-district, Hez- zie Hindman, secretary treasurer of the sub-district, Darby Babbington, a district board member, and Lige Wal- ker, the notorious field appointee of the Farrington crew. The prosecution acts only after consulting them. A Farrington Frame-Up. This braven -collaboration -exposes the-whole.trial as an.attack of Far rington and his henchmen upon their opponents in the union. The Farring- ton machine is obviously conducting the prosecution against the union miners who are on trial for their liberty, simply because the latter have been militantly fighting for progres- sive policies in the organization, and have refused to go along with the shameless hobnobbing between the union officials, the coal operators and the ku klux klan. This is significant since the whole struggle grew out of the fact that the officialdom gave a union decision to the operators as against the miners in Zeigler, in the checkweighman contro- versy at the Ball and Zoller mine, The unity of Farrington with the operators goes to the extent of using the union machinery, funds and officialdom tor the prosecution of any opposition to his class collaboration policies in the United Mine Workers of America, Miners Fight for Rights, The entire incident arose out of the taken out and rushed to the hospital. rect slap at Lewis and his handpicked scale committee. It is a direct notifi cation to Lewis from this rank and file body that no momkey business will be tolerated. The».miners, now on strike over five months are in no mood to go backvto work at the old scale of wages. Lewis repudiates the demands of the 2Scranton conven- tion, Lewis: wants to drive the miners back to work at theold scale of wages after striking for five months, and have them tied down to a five year contract. As soon as the press car- ried the “plan” of Lewis, immediately the call for the special meting was sent out. If Lewis!terms are accepted (Continue@ on page 2.) Daily Worker Boosters to Have Booth at New York I. L. D. Bazaar NEW YORK, Feéb. 4—Every reader of The DAILY WORKER in and around New York is expected to help the cause of International Labor De- fense by donating or collecting artic- les for the International Labor De- fense Bazaar, which is to take place at Cetral Opera House Feb. 10 to 13 inclusives . The DAILY WORKER Builders’ Club of New York is arranging for a special booth at this Bazaar in which articles collected and donated by read- ers of The DAILY WORKER will be sold for the benefit of the Defense.| miners’ Articles should be left as soon as pos- sible at The DAIDY WORKER, New York Agency, Roam 32, at 108, East Ith street. Geom A180 success, ers of America, was asked to address of the miners in West Virginia. told of the hard fight of the coal dig- gers for the right to organize, and stated that if “we 120,000 miners could organize; we could contro] the state of Virginia.” He narrated the story of the starvation and misery of the miners and their families, but de- clared that despite everything the miners would fight on and win their victory. The conference was opened by Dele- gate I. Amter, district secretary of the Workers (Communist) Party, who spoke of the importance of the con- ference. Delegate Elmer Boich was elected chairman and Delegate Philip Shatz temporary secretary. A delegate from the conference call- ed by the district committee of the Workmen's Circle stated that that conference would be glad to have the relief conference send dele- Workmen's Circle, A motion was then made on the floor that “this confer- ence goes,on record in favor of a unit- ed front with, any and all organiza tions raising relief for the striking miners, and, instructs the incoming, ex- ecutive committee to take the most energetic, stgps to bring about a unit- ed front, 9qjphat united action may be Watch the Saturday Magazine Section for new) features every week. This is aygood issue to give to your fellow worker. he He+~ gates to join the conference of the| CLEVELAND FORMS COMMITTEE TO AID STRIKING ANTHRACITE AND WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINERS} 244 03 1eIDedg) CLEVELAND, Feb. 4.—The conference valled” by the Workers (Com- munist) Party for relief of the striking anthracite miners was a splendid Thirty-six delegates representing 24 organizations—trade unions, sick and death bénefit societies, educational clubs, etc., came to the meet- ing full of enthusiasm for the work that stood before the conference. Brother William Richards, the oldest member of the United Mine Work- the meeting, and told of the struggles carried on in Cleveland.” Delegate J, A. Hamilton then pro- posed that the main activities of the organization should be to run some large mass meetings leading up to a (Continued on page 2) fact that the company in Zeigler re- fused to allow the men to have an as sistant checkweighman at the scales so that the men might get an honest weight for the coal they were mining. The company had been running the cars so rapidly over the seale that it was impossible for one man to keep accurate count of the pounds record- ed, When the regular checkweighman threw up his hands in despair and re- fused to be party to this robbery of the miners any longer, the men struck their jobs spontaneously and returned only upon the urgings of Henry Cor- bishly, then president of Local Union 992, who promised to have the case taken up by the sub-district officials. The gub-district officials, Cobb and Fox, rendered a decision in favor, of the company, which enraged the cheated miners. Another spontaneous strike took place, At a union meeting a short time later, a fight started by a (Continued on page 2). ———— ZEIGLER MINERS’ TRIAL IS ATTEMPT OF FARRINGTON MACHINE TO CRUSH CLASS COLLABO RATION OPPOSITION + By TOM BELL pes : > prosecuting attorney is Roy C, (Staff Writer, Daily Worker.) Martin, assisted by special prose- COURT HOUSE, BENTON, IIL, Feb.|cutors Judge Neeley and Robert 4—-The trial of thirteen of the twenty Zeigler miners charged with assault with intent to kill D. B, Cobb, vice- president of the Franklin county sub- {district of the United Mine Workers jof America is on before Circuit Judge Kerns. The great interest of the min- jers in the case is demonstrated by the ‘crowded court room, the swarms \ {blocking the stairway and overflow: | ing onto the “square” all eagerly. dis- cussing the case and the possible out: come. eee inte te Ast Seabee Smith. The defense lawyers are I. EB, Ferguson, H. E, Morgan, Judge Ward, and George B. White. Refuse Separate Trials. At the opening the defense moved jthat separate trials be given each of the thirteen defendants on the grounds that no fury would be able to follow the evidence concerning thirteen de- |fendants at the same time. This was refused by the judge. The task of selecting a jury ocon- pied the rest of the day. It was rec «Continued on page 2). a \ . | BARSTOW: RAW