The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 26, 1926, Page 4

' electrical Page Four THE DAILY WORKER Organization Meetings Workers (Communist) Party Social Affairs Resolutions The Unions Belong to the Workers By WILLIAM " sIMONS 'T seems strange to repeat in 19 a hundred years after the of unions in the United Sta the unions belong to the K in face of the action-and ideology of those now in control of the unions, it is necessary to repeat that sentence over and over again, until it perme- ates the working class, until it reaches the most backward in the shop. The labor bureaucracy asserts that it is the defender of union tradi- tions against the left wing. As long as they can get away with it, the bureaucrats boast of their majority control, stealing elections to prove and they use it to drive out revolution- | worker ary and progressive elements. But when their claim to a majority -be- comes a laughing stock, they throw away the fig leaf of democracy and] majestically proclaim themselves un-| ion defenders against the devilish left | wing, which has seduc the innocent union membership. Johnston (machin | ists) and Hetrick (painters) have is- sued ex-communication edicts against Communists and sympathizers. Hut- cheson (carpenters) pleads for a cap- italist injunction, under the pretext of knowing better than the Detroit mem- bership, what they want Sigman of the I, L. G. W. U. tried | at the Philadelphia convention to viol- | , ate the! peace pact he himself signed. | He also usurped the presidency of the Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, after boasting of his intention to re- tire, like Cincinnatus of old, to his farm in Ohio. And how does Sigman | justify his defiance of the union mem- | bership? Not merely by his packed | convention, but by his “historic role” | Buffalo District Reports on Number of Trade Unionists The trade union compilation for the | Buffalo party district shows 84 mem- bers organized into labor unions, chiefly among the carpenters, tailors, clothing workers and machinists, and the rest scattered among plumbers, printers, laborers, cooks, food workers, worker: granite cutte auto w ers, cap makers, firemen, firemen and oilers, textile and brewery workers. | This membership is distributed | chiefly in Buffalo and Rochester with | scattered members in Albany, Schen- | ectady, Utica, Syracuse, Niagara | Falls and Erie. There are nine mem- bers in the various central labor} bodies. Many more members are eligible to join unions, and the Buffalo district reports that they are intensifying their work for trade union member- ship, in line with the campaign of the C. E. C. Buffalo is one of the smaller party districts. | policy of class + [labor wage |fhru support of the war; , to save the union from the disrupters. A new idea this, that the union lead- ers are justified in holding the union control, But What of History? But labor history tells a story of op- pression of the workers by the rising capitalist class in America, and of the rise of unions amidst the birthpangs of the working class in struggle, The entire labor movement has been built on struggle for better conditions, resistance to the masters’ encroach- ments, on enthusiastic and heroic strikes and organization campaigns. The struggle for the 8-hour day, Homestead, McKeesport, Lawrence and Colorado are milestones on | the path of unionism, Despite betray- als, the energy and spirit of the Amer- ican working class have forged organ- | izations that can be of service in the | class struggle, The International Association of Machinists grew in influence thru a struggle, influenced by 1 sentiment. The needle trade ns formed the left wing of the movement. Strikes and organ- ization campaigns drove the I. L, G. W. U. onward, building up favorable shop conditions, The outlook of the union was not confined to a fair day’s for a fair day’s work. The |union advocated a new system of so- ciety, with workers’ control. But this before the world war, when the esotktiate betrayed the working class this was-be- fore the Russian revolution of Nov. 1917, when the socialist leaders allied themselves with the bourgeoisie. In the Imperialist Epoch But now the pseudo-radical leaders have become conservative. They use their knowledge of the radical mgqve- radic uni against the will of the major- | | ity of members. jand Ohio plan; the I. L. G. on} | commi ment to denounce the Communists and progress: They join hands with the bosses, The machinists’ union was the first to inaugurate the Baltimore W. U. of: | ficials surrendered to the governor's ion; and now Red Hillman be- comes the apostle of the yellow gold- en rule, wearing a crown given by capitalist Nash. The surrender to the bosses furthers the lowering of the Wo! rs’ standard of living, by the speed-up system, diminishing of union control over shop conditions, and wage reduction. The labor leaders in tying the noose around the work- ers’ necks, are the labor agents of the imperialis the left wing of the capitalist class inside of the trade unions, in a period of imperialism. What Say the Workers? The immediate answer of the work- ers to this surrender by the labor bureaucrats must be intensification of the struggle for change in policy and administration, The unions have been perverted into organs of class collabo- ration, of workers’ subjection. The capitalists have adopted more modern methods; method of attempting to stifle the unions, used for the past century, they have added the civilized means of buying up the labor leaders and the leading stratum of workers, the first with power and position; the second with crumbs from the imperialist table, with a higher wage than the mass of workers. The workers gener- ally must be made to understand (1) the historic role of the union as an organ of the workers in the class struggle; (2) the morganatie marriage of the labor leaders with finance cap- ital; and (3) correct strategy and tac- tics, The workers are not saying enuf about these matters; they have in addition to the uncivilized ;the resistance of the still to learn, The Task of the Revolutionist, The Communist, whom the bureau- crats are trying to oust from the un- ions, muSt be in the unions, There | where the fight is thickest, there must he be. To remain outside of the union displays an underestimation of the role of unions in the class struggle. The fight against the imperialists im- plies a fight against their labor lieu- tenants. The unions must be taken out of the hands of labor's enemies. Who will teach the,mass of work- ers the role of the union? Who will drive home to them the lessons of their shop experiences? \\Who will act as living examples of working class devotion and leadership? That is the historic role of the Communists, These comparatively peaceful periods have their tasks no tess renowned than periods of revolution. Who will transform the vague, in- coherent protest of the workers into definite revolutionary* forms? Who will give it guidance in the struggle against bureaucrats, directing it into political channels? Who will stiffen workers, sup- plying the bands of steel? None but the Communists, } Our immediate task}ig to build the party fractions, Past”exXperience has shown us that where we had frac- tions, there we were able to accom- plish more in proportion to the proper functioning of these fractions. There where our fractions functioned we were able to influence progressive elements. If we wish to strengthen the T, U. E. L., if we wish to broaden the left wing, then every party mem- ber must get into the unions, and take his place side by side with the other party members in the party fraction, I. L. D. CHICAGO MEETINGS German Branch Meets Thursday. The German branch will meet at 1665 Bissell street, Thursday night, Feb. 25, at 8 o’clock. Alex Reid will speak on the “International Strug- gle of the Miners and Their Perse- cution.” ee ° Russian Branch Meets Thursday. The Russian branch will meet Thursday, Feb. 25, at 8 p. m., at the Workers’ House, 1902 W. Division street. oe Greek Meeting. The Greek branch will meet at the Hull House, 800 S. Halsted St., on Saturday night, Feb. 27, at eight o'clock. e) ese Northside Ukrainian, The Ukrainian branch will meet Saturday night, Feb. 27, at 1532 W: Chicago Ave., at 8 o'clock. J. Ko- walski will speak at this meeting. oo Pullman Holds Concert. The Pullman branches of the In- ternational Labor Defense will hold Stancik's “Mother” be a concert and dance at Hall, 205 East 115th St. Bloor and Victor Zokaitis will the speakers at this meeting. aaa * Joint Northside Meeting. There will be a joint meeting of the North Side English and Fin- nish branches at Imperial Hall, 2409 North Halsted St. Sunday after- noon, 3 o'clock. There will be a num- ber of speakers at this meeting. All members must be present and as many sympathizers as possible should be brot along. Women's Day Celebration in Chicago SATURDAY EVE., at NORTHWEST HALL Cor. North and Western Aves. (8rd_ floor.) All friendly organizations are requested not to arrange other affairs on that day. MARCH 6 TEMPLE HALL 50c in Advance 75c at Door MARSHFIELD AND VAN BUREN STREET | | Benj jamin Will Tour |District 4 to Inform Membership on Policies | BUFFALO, N. cordance with the decision of the district executive committee, Herbert Benjamin, the district organizer, has arranged the following: tour for the purpose of completing the reorganiza- tion and to acquaint the membership | with the objects and>tactics of the present campaigns of the party. Par- ty members must attend the meetings jas arranged and it isthe duty of the jrespective section committees, nuclei and language fractioni;organizers to secure the attendance of their entire memberships. The itinerary follows; (all meetings are at 8 p. m, unless otherwise stated.) Erie, Pa, Wednesday 24; James- town, Thursday, Feb. 25; Buffalo sec- tion two, Friday, Feb. 26; Buffalo sec- tion one, Saturday, Feb. 27; Rochester, Monday, March 1, general member- ship; Rochester, Tuesday, March 2, in- dustrial fraction; Syracuse, Wednes- day, March 3; Utica, Thursday, March 4; Van Etten, Friday, March 5; Ithaca, Saturday, March afternoon and evening; Endicott, Sun- day, March 7, at 2:30 p, m.; Bing- hampton, Sunday, March '7; Glovers- ville, Monday, Marth ‘8; Troy, Tues- day, March 9; Albany, Wednesday, March 10; Schenectady, Thursday, March 11, Section committees are instructed to make the necessary arrangements for these meetings to secure halls and notify nuclei organizers of the hall. Nuclei organizers will be held respon- sible for the attendance of every one of their members, Language fraction organizers must visit all members who have not registered and induce them to attend, Where it is possible, section com- | mittees may arrange mass meetings or conferences for the protection of the foreign-born, for about the time when the district organizer., will be return- ing from his tour. These meetings are not to conflict with the general mem- bership meetings and must be ar- ranged for after the 11th. If you pro. popse to arrange such meetings, you must notify this office.at office. SER i Seo PARIS COMMUNE CELEBRATION All working class organizations are asked not to affange any con- flicting meeting on March 19 as the International Labor''Defense, Chica- go local, is arrangirig a Paris Com- mune p int and ‘drama. Moving pictures of labor defense in the United States and In Europe will be shown. Bishop “William Mont- gomery Brown is to be one of the spearers. [WHITEMAN WILL SPEAK IN NEW YORK CITY ON MONDAY EVE,, MARCH 1 NEW YORK, Fort-Whiteman, Feb, 23—Lovett who has come to New York for organization work, will address a meeting at the Public Library, 136th St. and Lenox ave- nue on Monday evening, March 1, at 8 o'clock, 1 The meeting is part of the cam- paign of the American Negro Labor Congress to bring Negro workers into the fold of the American Ne- gro Labor Congress which was or ganized last October, a 7 Y., Feb. 24 — In ac-| 6, either or both | BOYS 19 YEARS... OLD CANNOT GET JOBS IN BRITAIN Cook, Miners’ Leader, Predicts Struggle LONDON—(FP) — Thousands of British lads of 18 and 19 years have neyer held a job in their lives simply because there was none to be had, says Secy. A. J. Cook of the Miners Federation of Great Britain. “We are facing a crisis. Why should we blink it,” demands Cook, “The [capitalist papers keep urging us to forget it. They write of optimism. How can we be optimistic! In my own trade there are 300,000 men out of work. Some of them have not been employed in years. “Mayday, 1926, will be a fateful day for our industry. Unless we yield be- fore that time we shall be forced to take a cut in wages or to make a fight. Papers talk as though it were in my hand to decide the issue. But suppose I should yield to the demands of the employers. The miners of Wales would be after me with guns, Papers tell you every day in discussing these matters that I am only one person. But I speak for more than a million members of a single organization. That is our highwater mark. Our membership has never been so large as it is today and the men have come back since the 1921 crisis becanse they realize that unionism is the only +| possible road to victory.” | Cook produces figures showing that the miners in many coalfields, such }as Northumberland, are now receiv- Jing an average of about 10 shillings a day. (1 shilling, about 25c). The seale advocated by the employers would cut the men to about 6 shillings, a wage far below the cost of sub- sistence. “They talk about a Locarno for labor,” Cook said. “What does that mean? It means forcing Belgian and German miners to take lower wages or starve, and then using. the low con- | tinental wage scales to beat ‘own the standards of British miners. One thing is needed, he insisted, unity—both at home and. on a world scale. ‘SUGAR BARONS BUY FUIANS AT $15 EACH By W. FRANCIS AHERN. SUVA, Fiji Islands—(FP)— When Thakombau, king of the Fiji Islands, ceded the islands to Britain 50 years ago, it was stipulated that the rights of the Fijians to lands, foods, etc., were to be guarded from the capital- ists then prowling about the group and despoiling the natives. How this British obligation has been dishonored is now a matter of daily experience. The best of the Fiji lands. have been given to others. The sugar barons finding the natives not amenable to their appeals for labor, induced the British government to permit coolies from India. This sys- tem operated’ for years, and proved a curse to the Hindus and a greater curse to the Fijians. The outrages perpetrated under coolie indenture led to its repeal. But denied the indenture of Hindu coolies, the sugar combines are recruiting Fijians at $10: per head. The poor recruited simpletons, bribed. by a promise of $15 value in native drink, sign up for work in the sugar plant- ations and mills. Few understand what they are doing. Before a Eu- ropean magistrate they touch the end of a pen, and the enlistment is made. If recalcitrant later, they are fined and imprisoned for breach of con- tract. The contract wage of this slavery is $100 a year. Thus the Fijian natives are being enslaved in their own country, and on their own lands to foreign Christ- jan capitalists despite the British guarantee of immunity from exploit- ation. The village gardens are ne- glected, the communal life is being destroyed, the men are taking to drink, and their women folk are now, in the absence of their own men, co- habiting with the Hindus, International Sanitary Convention. MOSCOW, U. 8. S. R., Feb, 24.—The conference of the health commissar- fats of the allied republics, held at Moscow, resolved to convene @n in- ternational conference for the purpose of concluding a sanitary convention with the eastern countries: Persia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Mongolia and China, Trade Union Educational League International Concert SATURDAY, MARCH 13, 8 P. M. Eighth Street Theatre. Best Musical and Vocal Talent, / Tickets for sale at T, U. E, Ly office, 156 W. Washington St.; DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Blvd.;Worker’s House, 1902 W, Division St. and by all’ members of the T, U. B. L. Get Your Tickets Now! CONDUCTED - BY TH By SAM emergency, should be settled at the next fraction meeting and not on the floor of the union, 3. The fraction must. work in closest co-operation with the indus- trial department of the district. If there are any exceptionally important matters to be taken up at the union, the district industrial organizer should be present at the fraction meeting be- fore. 4. The league fraction is entirely separate from the party fraction but must work very closely | with it. Mutual representation at the meetings of both fractions is imperative. Some- times this gives our comrades too many meetings but this is imperative because our trade union work is so very important. 5. The fraction should in addition strive to get the non-Communist young workers to attend the union meetings so as to rally greater strength for the youth program. 6. The fraction must at all times distribute leaflets, shop bulletins of NG WORKERS LEAGUE HOW A TRADE UNION FRACTION WORKS DARCY. NUMBER 1—ORGANIZATION. 1. The fraction must meet before every meeting of the union local, dis- cuss the line of action to be followed and decide in greatest detail as to who should make the motions, speak, etc. 2.» The fraction should choose a steering committee of about three of the most experienced fighters who should have absolute authority in case of If'there are any differences with the steering committee they a, the industry, Young Workers, etc. It must never fail to recruit for the league, 7. Broad left wing youth fractions should be build upon special youth issues. Great care must be taken in this work and no steps completed without the closest direction of the district industrial department. At- tempts should always be made to get connections with other fractions in the same industry in other cities thru the national office of the league. Lake Boat Boy Pinched for Begging After Losing Job (By Young Worker Correspondent) BUFFALO, N. Y.—The won- derful lot of the young workers under capitalism and Coolidge’s prosperity, is shown by the case of Edwin Mork, eighteen year old worker who was arrested for begging on Main St. This young worker came to Buffalo from’ :Nebraska and worked on the lake boats until navigation was closed by the December ice. From that time one he has had to exist by doing whatever odd jobs he could pick up. Last Saturday he was faced by the necessity of begging or going without food. His plight can be appreciated when~ one knows that the temperature was a little above zero. Mork was pulled into court, where the kindly cdpitalist judge suspend- ed sentence, and left him to his hunger. The high wages paid to the young workers is shown by the fact that Mork was marooned here whe nhis lake-boat job was taken from him. The Young Workers (Com- munist) League raillies the workers of Buffalo to a fight against these rotten conditions. The League meets every Mon- day evening at Finnish Hall, 159 Grider St. All young workers are invited to the meetings. In brief the important things to remeber are to write the bulletins in popular fashion, to draw in other young workers in putting it out, and not to ge caught distrib uting the mif there is any chance of losing your job as a result of it. Trumbull Will Speak in Kansas City in March KANSAS CITY, Mo., Feb, 24—-Wal- ter Trumbull, class war prisoner who was feleased froth Alcatraz military discipline barracks, will spéak at the Musieians’ Hall, 1017 Washington St., Tuesday evening, March 2 at 8 p. m. Workers are urged to come and meet. and hear this fighter tell his story. The meeting is held under the aus- pices of the Local International La- bor Defense. COOLIDGE’S PROSPERITY. ST. PAUL, Minn.—1 got up early in the morning to look for work. For the last two weeks since I finished high school I have done the same thing —looking for work. At school, where I was supposed to have studied to increase my earning ability, the teach- ers constantly told mé that if I really wanted something hard enough, I al- ways could get it. But two weeks have already passed and no job of any kind , is yet in sight. Returning from my vain job-hunting this morning, I happened to glance at the front page of the local capitalist sheet (until now I only looked at the want ads). In a big headline it told that our President Coolidge said that we are experiencing at present a wave of prosperity in our country. Maybe we are, but I couldn’t find it no matter how hard I looked for it. Hundreds of workers in our city, many of whom are young boys and girls just out of school, are also looking vainly for the wave of “prosperity,” and they have no jobs yet. And the capitalist newspaper still writes “prosperity.” Papcun to Speak at I. L.D. Dance in Glassport, March 6 GLASSPORT, Pa., Feb, 24 — The Glassport International Labor Defense and the Young Workers League will hold a dance Saturday, March 6, at 7 p. m. om. Vernon Ave. between 9th and-10th St. The Croatian orchestra Tamburica cun ‘who is out on bail will speak, He will speak on the “Persecution of the workers in the United States.” FOURTH ANNUAL RED REVEL AT TEMPLE HALL ON SATURDAY NIGHT The Fourth Annual Red Revel given by the Chicago Workers (Communist) Party will be held at Temple Hall, Van Buren and Marsh- fiéld Avenues Saturday night, Feb. 27, 1926, Tickets for the Red Revel can be bought at The DAILY WORKER, Vilnis, Radnik Book Store, Ny Tid, at the local office, 19 South Lincoln St. and from party members. Buy your ticket: rly. Shop and street nuclei secretaries are asked to set- tle for their tickets at the earllest ible opportunity. The biggest stink of the capitalist disarmament conference is the paelfio out to the proletariat.