The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 15, 1926, Page 4

| | Page Four ~ THE DAILY WORKER Workers (Communist) Party . W. P. TALKS T0 CONVENTION OF OHIO TEACHERS Cleveland Party Sends Letter of Action (Special to The Dally Worker) CLEVELAND, April 13.—The dis- trict committee of the Workers Com- munist Party, District 6, has addressed the Ohio Educational Conference, at Columbus, Ohio, pointing out that “teachers do not play the role that they should in the affairs of the United States, because they do not yet recognize their class position and the necessity of organization and ac- tivity to improve their status.” Teachers Must Organize, The teachers, must organize, the let- ter continues, for “educators are placed under drastic compulsions so that they are not even allowed to think independently.” The Scopes trial is cited and the. teachers are called upon to take a militant stand and demand the right to teach evolu- tion in the schools of this country. Condemn Militarism. Military and religious training in the public schools are both condemned in the letter, which States that “the teaching of religion in the public schools is contrary to the conatittuion of the United States, for it means coercion. The letter praises the board of education of Cleveland for taking @ courageous stand in abolishing mili- tary training from all Cleveland schools, and continues: “The forces making for war are determined-that the youth of the country shall be sub- jected to military drill . . . although at one and the same time they are engaging in orgies of peace talk, the governments of the world, together with that of the United States, are preparing arsenals of material for war in the not-distant future. “Governmental force is also used against , striking workers, and the teachers are called upon to align them- selves with the industrial and profes- sional workers against wars between imperidlist powers, wars to oppress colonial peoples, and to insure invest- ments made abroad by the million- aires of this country.” The letter points out the super- ficial methods that are recommended for combating the crime wave, and states that “it is the duty of educators to point out the social causes of crime viz., instability of employment, dis ease, overwork, undernourishment, congestion in housing—evils that at- tack only the working people of this country.” The letter pleads for an end to persecution of the foreign-born and to discrimination against the Negroes, particularly in the schools of the country. It states that this persecu- tion “may be witnessed in the exist- ence of the militant ku klux klan and other 100 per cent organizations.” The letter concludes: “The organi- zation of the teachers must use not only moral force, but all the weapons that workers employ. The teachers must line up with the working class, in order together with them to fight for the best interest of the working class as a whole.” Women’s Celebration Proves Great Success That the women of the party in Dis- trict No. 8 are very much alive was evident from the success of the spring festival given under their di- rectign at Imperial Hall last Saturday night and Sunday afternoon and night. A special effort was made to secure recruits for the Young Workers League on both days, Leslie Morris and Nat Kaplan being the speakers. The program included singing, instru- mental and orchestral numbers, and a play by the Waukegan Dramatic Club on Friday and two plays on Sunday night. ‘The Young Finnish Dramatic Club of Chicago gave a one-act play, “What*Money Will Do.” The most interesting of the num- bers, however, was the appearance of the local Young Pioneers in a trav- esty of the Amerftanization schemes perpetrated on our public school chil- dren by the exploiters of labor. The children drew round after round of applause as they depicted how they are handed instruction in patriotism for the benefit of the bourgeoisie. | Admi Beginning at 2830 P, M. “The Studebaker Worker” Is on By WILLIAM SIMONS, HE first issue of the Studebaker Worker, the shop paper of the Studebaker workers of South Bend, Ind., is off the press. Three thousand copies are being distributed at the gates of the plant. It is issued by the Studebaker shop nucleus of the Work- ers (Communist) Party of South Bend. The nucleus members spent much time in preparing material, pa- tiently gathering items of shop in- terest until they were ready to come out with the stuff. Shop News the Basis, The main part of the newspaper (for that is what it is) is taken up with news about the factory—“Our” Corporation, And Then Came the Cut, The Joys of Group Work, Even the Elevators Are Rotten, Workers Show Power, Cutting to the Bone, Prison Guards, The Lying Sheet—these are some of the heads, covering short and interesting stories. They expose the huge profits of the corporation and show that the cut came in spite of these profits, pointing out also that the cut was put oVer because the workers were weak and unorganized. Under the heading “Phoned In From The Department,” are items from three of the departments, one exposing autocratic action by the fore- man, Woods, who scabbed in the strike of two years ago. A greeting is given to all of the factory papers springing up in the country. It prom- ises news about the Studebaker work- ers in Detroit. A story is told of the Protection of the Foreign-Born meet- ing held in South Bend on March’ 27, and urging the Studebaker workers ‘to stand by the foreign-born workers. A lively poem, “The Ford Worker's Prayer,” is clipped from another fac- tory paper, “The Ford Worker.” An article on “Must We Organize?” shows what the government and open-shop- pers have done to the workers since the war, and urges shop committees and union organizations. “Workers’ Education” tells the workers to start classes. ; An appeal is made for support of the International Labor Defense cam- paign for free speech in the state of Indiana. The workers are also asked the Job at South Bend, Indiana to subscribe to The DAILY WORKER, which printed stories about the plant in the past. The writers introduce themselves as follows: “Who Are We?” “We are workers in the Studebaker plant, who are dissatisfied with conditions, as all of you are. We believe that all of us should discuss the conditions in the factory, and also the working class of America and @f) the world. Thig paper will appear regularly. It is your paper. It is our Adpe that you bio crc it such.” : A)\striking cartoon of ‘ohe capitalist holding a worker while ‘the second robber goes thru the workers’ pockets brightened up the first page. A Good Beginning. This shop paper has met with the approval of all who have seen it, who regard it as one of the best issued in the country. It will appear regularly, and is sure to gain favor among the Studebaker workers, It is printed in The DAILY WORKER printshop, a four-page paper 8 by 10 inches, pleas- ing to the eye. The South Bend workers can con- gratulate themselves on their paper. DETROIT PARTY HAS SUCCESSES IN UNION DRIVE Set Up General Fraction Committees By ERLING WICK. (Special to The Daily Worker) DETROIT, Mich., April 13.—At its last meeting in March the district ex- ecutive committee of District 7 of the Workers’ Party set aside the month of April for an extensive drive to put our party industrial policy into effect. The party here in Detroit has been successful in building up fractions in the various trade unions and has also organized a building trades fraction tional League, the campaign for the send of a trade union délegation to Soviet Russia. We are ready to fight for these demands afd numerous other rank and file demands, provided one thing, provided that ‘we can en- list the support of ere sonra, of every Communist in our party district. Getting Results, We can already at this time note some gratifying results from our trade union drive. The beginning of the drive was made at a’ membership meeting of Section No. 1. Among the members present were nine that did not belong to a union, The party now has nine more trade unionist. Thai is action, and action is what is needed The other sections have genera! membership meetings on the following dates: Section No, 2, Tuesday, Apri. 13, in South Slavic Tall, 1343 Hast Ferry; Section No, 3, Tuesday, April 20, in Finnish Hall, 5969 14th street; Sections No, 4 and 5, Sunday, April 11, at the House of the Masses, 2646 centralizing the work of the fractions |St. Aubin; Section No. 6, Thursday, in the building industry. A general fraction committee has been created, acting as a city central body, super- vising the work of all the trade union fractions. The district industrial com- mittee functions as the executive com- mittee of the general fraction com- mittee, Good Structure. So it will be seen that the party. here has the organic structure ready and able to take care of our party’s many campaigns in the trade unions. The campaign for the formation of a| labor party, the campaign for the @ro- tection of the foreign-born workers, the campaign for support of Interna- tional Labor Defense and Interna- tional Workers’ Aid, the campaign for organizing the unorganized workers, the campaign for the building up of a strong left wing bloc in the A. F. of L. through the Trade Union Educa- April 22, at International Workers’ Home, 3014 Yemans street. At all these meetings there will be present members of the district execu- tive committee who will give short speeches on our party trads union work. Comrades, if you have the de- sire to build up our party in this locality, do not fail to attend your section membership meeting. Let our slogan be: “A 100 per cent Unionized Party by May Day.” ** WORKER CORRESPONDENTS, ATTENTION All worker correspontients of our foreign language press are urged to send in thelr names and addresses sta- ting for which paper they’write. It is very important. * The American Worker Cotrespondent 1113 W. Washington Bivd. Chicago, Hl? The Activization of Our Party By BERT MILLER. have now completed the task of setting up a machinery in various shops and factories—the machinery which is to permeate and revolution- ize the masses of the American work- ing class—namely, the shop nuclei. This machinery is of the latest and most improved model, the product of many years of revolutionary experi- ence in the Russian Communist Party, and in the Communist parties of the world. But at present it stands idle and powerless without the necessary energy from the central source or sources of power, The machine has not yet been prop- erly “hitched up” and started partly because of the conservatism hesitancy of some of our party members who are awed by the apparent difficulty in operating this modern Communist in- vention. We see them standing aghast somewhat like the Russian mujik on his first contact with the American tractor. What are the rea- sons for this conservatism and hesi- taney? Largely it is the result of our so- cial-demotratic training. We have been a party in which a chosen few have earried on the bulk of activity leaving the large majority without suf- ficient revolutionary training and ex- perience. The bulk of our’member- ship has not been trained to carry out the simplest party tasks. Naturally, we must expect a feeling somewhat akin to terror among many good mem- bers at the prospect of being suddenly left to shoulder great responsibilities and carry on the party activity. Need Leadership. Instead of the large branches of from 20 to over 100 with the experi- enced functionaries ready and eager to settle all difficulties our member- ship finds itself in groups as small as three. Sometimes they all speak dif- ferent languages. Sometimes none of them speak English. They work among English speaking elements with whom they have not yet estab- TTL MLO LLL Come to the ANNUAL PUBLIC GYMNASTIC EXHIBITION & DANCE given by the Czecho-Slovak Workingmen Gymnastic Association Omladina (Youth) SUNDAY, APRIL 18, 1926 at Pilsen Pavilion, 26th St. and Albany Ave., Chicago, Ill. ion: 50 cents in advance and 75 cents at the door.—Tickets for the Daily Worker office, 1113 W. Washington Blvd Workers League district office, 19 So, Lincoln St.—NO ADMIS- * SION IS CHARGED TO YOUNG PIONEERS. lished contact. ‘ They work in the “modern” Amer. ican industrial plants infected with and at the Dance After 6:00 P, M. spies and stoolpigeons. Often they are situated in the typical American one-industry town where loss of em- ployment means that it is, practically impossible to make a living in that particular locality. These towns are usually located at a considerable dis- tance from a large city to which out- of-town members usually came for their branch meetings. These are the difficulties. They are great to be sure. But we have sufficient faith in the vitality, and revolutionary initiative of the party to feel confident that these difficulties will be quickly and effec- tively. surmounted, How then shall we “hook up” our machine with the sources of power so that we can start the wheels moving? Where are these power stations to which we must look for life and en- ergy for our revolutionary machine? Activization of Nuclei. First and foremost each machine, each nucleus must have its own dy- namo, its Own source of power. It must have at least one active com- rade with “pep” and initiative to give life to the units. If no active com- rade works in the shop one should be attached from elsewhere. A “live wire” is essential for each unit of the party. In many cases such “live wires” will be found among the youth who are venturesome and progressive must cease pruning thémselves and boasting of their accomplishments in the big cities. They must look on the movement for a nation§l viewpoint. They must do away w: “big city provincialism.” They ust devote more attention to the basic industries. It is a necessary for us to adopt the slogan “The Face to the Industrial Town” as it was for the Russian party to adopt the slogan of “The Face to the Village.” Our moventent, with the big cities as nerve -ceirters, should radiate energy and power in eyery direction. - Finally, we come to the foreign language fractions. Td leave our foreign language comrades to shift for themselves, to expect them over- night to function as an English. speak- ing party would be ridiculous and suicidal. It would result in discourag- ing many of our most valuable ele- ments and would ultimately lead to some serious membership losses to the party—losses of members whom we can ill fford to lose, Here we must call for the support of our language fractions, For years to come-until our party is thoroly Americanized they will serve as a necessary instrument for giving life and inspiration to the party units, thru their press, thru their organizers and other organizational channels. The comrades leading *the language fractions, the trained political leaders enuf to adapt themselves quickly to the new form. Reports have shown that some housewives are excellent leading comrades for factory units. In casés where a number of languages are represented, in the unit the ac- tive comrade should be the amalgam which cements together the various comrades speaking different lan- guages, usually a comrade who can speak several languages, A source of inspiration and stimula- tion to activity should be the section meeting under the leadership of an active and energetic section commit- tee. At these section meetings experi- ences are exchanged and plans are ex- plained for future work. As New York reports, wherever here is a live sec- tion committee, we have live units. This is as true elesewhere as it is in New York. With the present tendency toward the building up of one-industry towns outside of the large cities, these large cities assume tremendous importance as a source of energy and activity for the party. If we will wait for the in- itlative of our comrades in these in- dustrial- towns, where they are terror- ized by the manufacturers and with- out sufficient means of keeping in touch with the most recent develop- ments in the theory and practice of the movement, then we will be mak- ing a serious mistake, The initiative, the inspiration must come from the large city. Big City Provinelalism, The comrades in the-large cities aneeemn among our foreign elements these must under all circumstances be brot into the working activity of the new units. We cannot spare°them at this critical time. Trade Union Fragtions. One more source of power might be mentioned which will valuable in the agtivization of party units, That is the fractions in the gnions. Once they begin to realize the strength and usefulness of the nuclei jin connection with their work in the trade unions, we will find that they will take a lead- ing part in stimulating the growth of new units in the factori¢s and in aid- ing the existing units to function pro- perly. Up to the present time very few fractions have concerned them- selves with this necessary phase of their work, With the energy supplied from these power stations the active com- rades, the youth, the leading women, the section, the section committee, the large citiés, the federations and the trade union fractions and the eager- ness of our party membership to carry on the party work, we will on the basis of the policies and slogans is- sued by our central executive commit- tee in a short time establish a Com- munist super-power system. that will make for the speedy a ishment of a real Communist Party with real mass influence in Ameq 3. The American Work ent is out. Did you urry up! Send in yeur sub! it's ly 50 cent= ots ; Ave NEW JERSEY. IS MADE NEW W. P. SUB-DISTRICT Action Taken at Party Conference (Special to The Daily Worker) NEW YORK, April 13—The forma- tion of a sub-district of Workers Party District No. 2, in New Jersey, took place at a conference of city central committee secretaries held at the La- bor Lyceum in Newark, N, J., attend- ed by Comrades Krutis and Chanis of Elizabeth, Raskin and Kowalski of Paterson, Pearlman of Hudson coun- ty, Bela Buchar of Linden, Blumkin of Passaic, Szepesi and Altshuler of Perth Amboy, Rosenthal and Alin of CONDUCTED = BY Thi By THELMA KAHN (A Graduated Pioneer.) N March 27, 1925, a Pioneer grad- uation was held at 108 Hast 14th street, at 7 p, m. On this night 25 of New York City’s leading Pioneers graduated imto the Young Workers (Communist) League. At the Comraderie many pioneers were called upon to speak, and this they did without preparation, Com- rade Don, Katterfeld, and many other league and party members spoke. But this was not the important event of the evening. ‘The important thing of the evening was these 25 leading Pioneers gre now going into real Communist ac- Newark; Weinstone and Ashkemudzi for District Two, district executive committee, Mrs. Gitlow for women’s work, in addition to many other com- rades active in and around New Jer- sey. Importance of Jersey. Comrade Weinstone spoke on the ecommendation of the D. E. C. to es- ablish a sub-district committee in New Jersey, pointing out the growing mportance of New Jersey as a large industrial reservoir which has not yet been exploited by the party organiza- tion, Comrade Weinstone said that New Jersey, because of the large fac- tories and heavy industry, must re- ceive ever greater attention from the party and that in order to exploit these possibilities every aid will be given to New Jersey by the district; also greater possibilities for initiative of the New Jersey comrades for car- rying on the work themselves would be given them thru the establishment of a sub-district committee, Shop Nuclei. - Reports were made by representa- tives of the city central committee re- garding the reorganization, showing the establishment of shop nuclei in big factories in Hlizabeth, Passaic, Hud- son County, Perth Amboy and other cities in factories having two to three thousand workers employed. Good re- sults have been produced thru the dis- fribution of shop bulletins and more attention will be given in that direc- tion in the immediate future. It was decided that Newark shall be established as the sub-district head- quarters, and an Action Committee was elected consisted of Comrades Pearlman, Freiman, Rosenthal, Kru- tis Alin, Blumenthal, Steveris, Gardes and a representative of the Women’s Committee. The Action Committee vill carry on the work ‘of pushing thru he reorganization and will meet once v week. Meetings of the Sub-District Committee, composed of former CCC Secretaries will be held frequently and a conference will be called inthe near future to'elect a permanent Sub-Dis- trict Executive Committee. SPRING FESTIVAL IN CLEVELAND IS TO BE BIG AFFAIR Mass Play Will Feature Good Program CLEVELAND, O., April 13.— The most ambitious thing that has yet been attempted by the Workers’ Party in Cleveland will be the feature of the Spring Festival, which takes place on Sunday, April 18. A revolutionary play entitled “1871” will be given. This is a mass play telling the story of the fall of the Paris Commune, in three scenes, One hundred persons are required for the play and rehear- sals are_in full swing under the direc- tion of Comrade Sadie Amter. Moose Auditorium, 1000 Walnut street, will be the scene of the festival and large crowds are expected. In addition there will be a musical section of the festival. Five of the best workers’ choruses will partici- pate. The Freiheit Gesangs-Verein, the best known chorus in the city; the Slovak, Hungarian, Ukrainian and Lithuanian choruses will sing their best songs. H. Offner, violinist of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, and a soprano soloist will be the other features. The Finnish Athletic Club will do some unusual performances to make the festival the finest that has ever been given in the city of Cleve- land, The kitchen will be under the direc- tion of a Spanish chef well known in tadical circles. The festival will be- gin at 2 p. m., and there will be an intermission at 6 p. m. for the com- rades to enjoy the splendid food pre- pared by the chef and dispensed by the comrade waitresses. The evening will be given over to dancing under the inspiration of the finest dance or- chestras of the city. The Spring Festival will be “some” festival. No worker should miss it. Bring along. your shopmates and friends, There will be something to interest man, woman and child, Unemployment Still Evident on Coast. PORTLAND, Ore., April 13—Tho no workers from other points are needed, most of the cities in the Pacific north- west report that the number of unem- ployed is decreasing from the high level of winter. on tivity, are now going to continue train- ing on their Pioneer foundation,. are now entering the real fight against capitalist exploitation in the factories, mines and mills, are now going to play an active part in organizing the workers, are now going to organize and. fight discrimination against. for- eign-born workers, are now going to play a great part in fighting capitalist campaigns. Some of the important campaigns are against child labor. The Com- munist movement is the only organi- zation that fought child labor since the Communist movement was organ- ized to the time child labor came up before the United States supreme court, and it is still fighting child labor and always shall, until it is abol- ished. Another campaign is against finger-printing of .foreign-born work- ers. The capitalists want the finger- prints of foreign-born workers so that when any of them become active in organizing the workers they will be -Young Pioneer Comrades Enter League able to locate them easily and then deport them. Military training camps is still another thing the Communist movement is fightmg against. The capitalists want to stir up patriotism and a large enough army so it can tyranize over other countries, espe- cially Soviet Russia. Another cam- paign the movement is fighting against is the taking of control of Mexico by Wall Street. The capital- ists of the United States want to force their control over Mexican work- ers just as they have in China, the Philippines, etc. Still another cam- paign is against open shops. The cap- italists want open shops so they can hire scabs and make them compete with the union men and so make a sweatshop and lower wages. There are so many capitalist campaigns that it would take many sheets of paper to tell about them. These are a few things the Young Workers (Communist) League, the working class youth organization, is fighting against. m The 26 Pioneers are going into ac- tivity in the league. This does not mean that the 25 will all become lead- ers, but it does mean that they all will be militant, class-conscious work- ers. The 25 Pioneers going into the league means the injecting of new blood and enthusiasm into the league, and the organization which has the driving power of youth always wins. The 25 going into the league is a stepping stone toward our goal—a workers’ and farmers’ government. * The Young Workers (Communist) League,’ realizing this, greets us and draws us into its ranks. Experiences of Shop Nuclei and Concentration Groups N. ¥. CONCENTRATION GROUP, Meeting opened at 6:30. Order of business: e Roll call. Reading of minutes. Tickets. Reports, Dues. Good and welfare. Comrade C. elected chairman. We discussed about the comrades who don’t attend meetings and we decided that we take up the matter of R. F. with the D. O., and about Comrade W., |that we! send him a letter. Comrade M. reported that she will form a shop nucleus in her shop.» Comrade W. made a motion that the executive com- bine concentration groups J. and K. Comrade G. was instructed to see Comrade G. and get all the records for the literature and report at next meeting. The section meeting will be on February 5 and we will have a discussion on Leninism and the American working class. At the meeting the date for the class was set. Our meeting will be held on Monday at the Novy Mir. Meeting adjourned. BELSON MFG. CO, FIRES YOUN WORKER ON FRAME-UP CHAR Open Shop Boss Fears Union 1 Agitation By a Worker Correspondent On Wednesday, March 31, a young worker who was learning the sheet metal trade was discharged from the Selson Manufacturing company, lo- sated at 800 Sibley street, Chicago, nanufacturers of railroad metalware, dairy and creamery supplies, painters’ tinware and other metal wares. The young worker had been in the employ of the open-shop firm for only two weeks and had always done his work well. On learning of the youth’s dismissal, which, by the way, was done so quietly that very few of the men, including myself, were aware of the fact until two days later, I immediately obtained his address from the city directory and went to his home for information as to his dismissal. I found him at home and immediately began to inter- view him. “Why were you fired?” was my first question. “Ask old man Belson; I don’t know for sure,” was the astonishing reply. “But it can’t be possible that he fired you without telling you the rea- son,” I countered, very perplexed. “Well, then, I'll tell you all about it so you cah judge for yourself,” he answered. And then he began to nar- rate his experiences with the bogs on that fateful Wednesday afternoon, His own story follows: , “Wednesday after work as I was putting on my coat to go home, old man Belson called me over to one side and said: ‘See here, lad, why don’t you some to me and tell me con- ditions are bad in the shop and you are dissatisfied with the work? I asked him what he meant, and he replied: ‘Oh, you know very well. Why did you write in a social paper that things are bad in this firm?’ I was much surprised at his ridiculous charge and told him that I did not know anything about any article writ- ten in any paper. I also said that J do not read anything in the Jewish Forwards, the socialist daily. At this his sn is, half-grin disappeared from his face (the same grin as Lon Chaney, the actor, is known for) and he handed me a check with the re- mark: ‘Well, then, we can’t bother with agitators here, Take your money and go.’ I went up to him and told him that I would like to know just what the article said and in what paper it was written in, if not the at ward, He refused to give me a det nite answer, which convinced me that he did not know himself, So I said to him: ‘Mr, Belson, why don’t you|as you fight! yt, % ‘ |tell me that you wish to discharge me because business is slack, instead of firing me on somé*framed-up charge.’ | He kept silent and I then went home. His charge is untrue as I am an American boy who attended the citi- zen’s military training camps and in high school was a member of the R. 0. T. C. However, from this day on I am going to acquaint Myself with so- cialism and Communism and learn just why bosses like Belson hate these ideas.” ® The writer then left, after hearing this amazing frame-up. When things like this can happen to a 100 per cent American young worker matters have reached a very bad state of affairs. Nothing will now do except to show slave-driver Belson that he must stop discharging workers without any rea- son. We must make him do away with the nine-hour day, the dusty, old-fash- ioned sweatshop and the miserable wages. He must be forced to supply us with clean towels and soap, better ventilation and to keep the filth and papers off the floor to avoid fire haz- ards. Only the closed shop, with each worker a member of a union will im- prove our conditions. The unions of this industry must start a drive on this open-shop firm until all the work- ers are in their ranks. Then, and then only, will we enjoy the 44-hour week, good pay and better conditions of work. Young Workers Help Boston Labor Parade The Boston American Federation of Labor in this city is arranging a pa- rade in connection with the organiza- tion drive now being conducted. The paraders will form at their meetings , and march to Faneull Hall, where a mass meeting will be held with promi- nent speakers. Thousands of young workers along the line of march will witness the parade and will be called upon to join.the rank of organized labor, The Young Workers (Communist) League of Boston must take a promi-, nent part in this demonstration. We mist be in the forefront of this affair to prove that we are with the workers in their efforts to unite. We must be there in full force, with banners and slogans to compell attention and sup- ply inspiration to the workers. The Y. W. L. and the workers’ party have organized a special distribution of lit- erature during the demonstration, Why Not Become a Worker Correspondent? Open your eyes! Look arounar There are the stories of the workers’ struggles around you begging to be written up. Do it! Send It inl Weite eae 1}