The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 18, 1926, Page 2

Page Two THE DAILY WORKER WEISBORD OUT OF PRISON ON $30,000 BAL Picketing Is Resumed at Once (Continued from Page 1) now closing the twelfth week of strug- gle, was released on $30,000 bond after a writ of habeas corpus had been obtained for him by attorneys for the United Front Committee which Ig conducting the strike. Weisbord was arrested Saturday and had been held until Thursday in the Hackensack jail. He will immediately resume active leadership of the strike and prepara- tions have already been made to make the fight more aggressive, To Resume Picketing. The strike committee has issued a call for the 16,000 strikers to report for mass picketing at all the mills to- day and it is expected that there will be further sharp struggles to test the right of workers peacefully to picket struck mills. Sheriff Nimmo of Bergen county and the police officials of Passaic and Clifton are quoted in the reptile press as declaring they will use all power at their disposal to break up any picket Une that is established. These lackeys of the mill owners are still laboring under the impression that once the riot’ act is read it prohibits any future demonstrations until they decide the eritical situation has passed, . Armed Camp. Garfield today presents the appear- ance of a town in a state of siege. Some 400 questionable characters who have been sworn in as deputy sheriffs by Nimmo patrol the streets with sawed-off shot guns in their hands, in- timidating the population by dispers- ing even small groups of three and four that congregate on the public thorofares. Norman Thomas Arrested. ‘The Rey. Norman Thomas, former socialist candidate for governor of New York, was arrested Wednesday for addressing a meeting in Garfield and criticizing the authorities for ar- resting Welsbord. He was held over night in one of the foul jails here and when arraigned yesterday before Louis Hergreaves, judge of the police court, was held in $10,000 bail, which was furnished. So anxious were the deputies from the sheriff's office to keep Thomas in jail that one of them insisted upon taking him to the coun- ty jail even after bail was furnished on the pretext that the first bail only covered the arraignment and that additional bail would be required to release him pending action by the grand jury. Energetic action by the attorneys for the defense resulted in hts release on the original bail. Mills Not Operating, If the authorities expected that the launching of a reign of terror would intimidate the strikers and force them back into the mills, they have been badly disappointed as the workers, tho prohibited from meeting, are re- fusing to be driven back and are still continuing the strike. The mills are not operating and only the few office workers, some foremen and other stoolpigeons of the bosses are entering the mills. The police and the mill owners are learning that reading of riot acts and the brutal use of policemen’s clubs will not produce woolens, April Issue of The Mercury Cannot Be Sent Thru the Mails WASHINGTON, D. C., April 16, — Solicitor Donnelly of the postoffice de- Dartment re-iterated the ruling of Postmaster-General New that the April issue of the Aemrican Mercury ‘was to be barred from the mails for carrying an alleged salacious story called “Hatrack.” H. L. Mencken and his counsel tried to prove that the article was not obscene and that it was an effective Uterary work. They pointed out that the barring of the magazine from the mails had placed it in the category, as other magazines dealing exclusive- ly fn racy sex stories. They also asked the solicitor why the newspapers that carried the de- tails of the Rhinelander divorce case Were not barred from the mails. In the Rhinelander case many of the in- timacies of the couple were given first page publicity in the metropol- Atan dailies, The postmaster’s lackey merely declared the department was “carrying out the law.” Besides restraining the Watch and ‘Ward Society from interfering with the circulation of the Mercury in Massachusetts, Judge Morton also re- fused to dismiss Mencken's suit for $50,000 damages against that organt- zation becaue of its interference with dis magazine. Send us items about your class In Worker Correspondence for the Worker Correspondents’ Corner. When does it meet? How many are there? What industries do they en- gage In? How Is the class conducted? hat are you doing about May Day? lin a RD AE tl i I Ti Te a oO ct em A An Sid Pacts Arn i, ie DSi 2 I SE es El Eo ed Move to Oust the Left Wing Leaders in New York Strike Fails (Continued from page 1) job. After the meeting had been dis- solved the workers formed into lines and went marching and singing thru the fur market. They crowded in and around the joint board headquarters in great masses showing in which direction they look for leadership. Another large detachment of etrik- ers moved in the direction of the For- ward building where a demonstration was staged against the paper for its treachery to the strike, The demons- trators were dispersed by the police. Joint Board Victory, The Carnegie Hall meeting was but a ruse of the International officers to make a break in the successful ad- ministration of the New York joint board progressive leadership that they are opposing. Frayne was brought in to aid in ‘breaking down the confidence of the members in their strike leader- ship, But the trick was a dismal fail- ure. The tables were completely turn- ed around. From beginning to end the meeting and the ensuing. demonstrations were clearly in favor of the joint board and against Schachtman and Sorkin. It was a tremendous. victory for the strikers and ended in completely dis- crediting the International officers. Council Withdraws Support. It was Hugh Frayne who last Satur- day presented the furriers’ strike situation to the Central Trades Coun- ell of New York in such.a way that that body withdrew its previous en- dorsement of the strike. He said that a referendum of the New York members of the furriers’ union would turn the leadership of the strike over to the International officers, who would then negotiate and settle the strike in a “real A, F. of L. fashion.” He eaid the A. F, of L. gives support to the International and not to the joint board. But today’s demonstra tion. From all around came the de- would win a referendum of the mem- bers, Frayne’s Proposal. Frayne presented the following as a basis for settlement with the fur bosses: 1. Use old agreement as basis for settlement. 2. Eliminate overtime “as far as possible.” 3. A three year agreement, 4. No apprenticeship from February Ist 1926 to February 19, 1928. 5. No eub-contracting. 6. Pres- ent wage minimum increased ten per cent. 7, At the end of two years only one minimum instead of two. 8. Agree to work a forty-two hour, five-day per week with four hours on Saturday. The demands made by the joint board are, among others, 1. A forty- hour week. 2 Equal division of work and no discharge. 3. Unemployment nsurance fund to be paid by the nanufacturers, A comparison of the two easily shows that the latter de- mands of the joint board as against those submitted by Frayne leave the union a strong hand in the affairs of the industry and call for a shorter work day commensurate with the hard labor in the fur shops and the seasonal nature of the trade. It is understood that Samuel N. Samuels, for the fur manufacturers has accepted Hugh Fraynes proposals as a final understanding. But the last word on the settlement or'the strike will be said by the New York mem- bership under the leadership of the Joint board. Forest Fires In Northwest. BRAINERD, Minn. April 16—The contryside was a waste of charred ruin in three townships near here after forest fires swept over an area of several thousand acres, destroying a school, farmhouses, barns, several granaries, and hundreds of tons of hay and straw, Union Drive in the Dress Industry Starts (Continued from Page 1) shops and 75 new cloak shops. In all, luring this campaign, we increased our membership by 4,000. The new system of organization was therefore conclusively vindicated, You here are embarking on a similar campaign. I predict its success and pledge the un- divided support of your New York brothers who will help you in every way they can.” Manager Levine. J. Levine, the new manager of the Chicago Joint Board elected in the re- cent contest in which the progressive forces of the union were victorious, made his first appearance before a large gathering of the membership, He was greeted by vigorous applause, “In the old days,” Levine said, “we used to hire one or two or séveral organizers, pay them salaries and turn them loose with the expectation that they would organize the industry. To- night we are starting a new system. We are installing a committee of 500 rank and file members who will put their shoulders to the wheel and with the support of the entire membership we will organize the entire cloak and dress industry in Chicago,” “I want to say on behalf of myself and my brother officers that we are prepared to go the limit to make this campaign a success, We will give every ounce of our energy and ability to the services of our union.” Ida Rothstein Speaks, Anton Johannsen, chairman of the organization committee of the Chicago Federation of Labor, was scheduled to speak but duo to iliness was unable to appear. In his stead, Ida Rothstein, well known member of the union; for 9 ei LL6.W.UURGES LABOR TO FIGHT ANTE-ALIN LAW Chicago Joint Board Backs Machinists The Chicago joint board of the In ternational Ladies Garment Workers is sending out a letter to all local un- lons In Chicago endorsing the call of Machinists locals 84 and 337 for a oon- ference for the protection of forelgn born workers that wil] be held on Sun- day morning, Room 300, 180 W. Wash- ington St. In this letter the joint board calle on the various unions to send delegates to this conference where ways and means of resisting the bills that have been introduced in congress against alien workers will be discussed. The letter follows: “The local joint board of the Inter- national Ladies’ Garment Workers have had under consideration the mat- ter of the anti-alien bills introduced in the United States congress, and elected a committee authorized to bring this matter before the Chicago labor organizations with a view of pro posing @ conference of delegates se- lected from the various unions to dis- cuss ways and means of effectively op- posing the passage of these bills. Raps Aswell Bill, “The most vicious of these bills is the one introduced by. Representative Aswell, proposing to finger-print, reg- ister and photograph all foreign-born residents of the United States. The aim is clearly to prevent such work- ers from joining unions and from par- ticipating in strikes. The bills have been condemned by the last American Federation of Labor convention, “A committee selected by the Ma chinists Locals Nos. 84 and 337 ap peared before our joint board, stating that they had been selected by their untons authorized to act in a similar manner, We have since been in- formed by this joint committee that they have already issued a call to all Chicago local trade unions and work- ers’ organizations inviting them to participate in a conference called for Sunday, April 18, at 10 a. m. to take place at 180 W. Washington St., room 300, Send Delegates to Conference. “We assume that this joint commit- tee representing the two Machinists’ Local Unions mentioned have already communicated with your organization asking you to select delegates for this conference, In view of the fact that these anti-foreign-born bills are now being considered in committee and apt to be reported for action to congress at any time, we urge that your local union takes action upon the invita- tion of the Machinists’ Local Unions toward selecting delegates for this conference, “If you have not received the com- munication from the Machinists’ Lo- cals we urge that you consider this an invitation to send delegates. If this letter does not reach your local union until April 18 we urge that you never- theless select your delegates and no- tify our joint board, which will then take care that your delegates are in- formed of future meetings of this con- ference. “Fraternally yours, “1, L. Davidson, Secy. “B. Soll, Chairman.’ merly of New York and now a mem- ber of Local 100, Chicago, spoke, “Chi- cago is going to set an example to the rest of the country in this present drive,” she said, “There are 8,000 or 9,000 workers in the dress industry alone that we must and that with the right spirit we will organize,” “Tonight's meeting shows that the workers present did not come here only to listen to the speakers. It is plain that every one here is imbued : with determination, that each came | here to pledge himself to be one of the organizers in the drive we are initiating tonight.” “We have our differences of opinion, politically and otherwise, but the un fon is not a political party. It is a common protector and champion of all exploited workers. When it comes to fighting the bos: we must drop our differences and fight as one man, We must march unitedly into the mar- ket place and show the bosses that we mean business and that we will stand together.” Itallan Speaker, J, Candela spoke in Italian. He ex- tended greetings to the members pres- ent and their campaign of organization from the Italian workers’ newspaper, Il Lavoratore, He appealed for con- solidated ranks in the present strug- gle and warned the members of the dangers that capitalism will attempt to set in their path, Fascism is spread. ing to America and has as its purpose only the crushing of the work movement, The workers must organize not only industrially but, in order to cope with the enormous power of the bosses, must unite under the banner of a powerful labor party, SE at TE i A ca a a ete WILL TEST RIGHT OF GITLOW TO SPEAK IN PHILADELPHIA MONDAY PHILADELPHIA, Pa, April 16, A free speech meeting will be held In Philadelphia on Monday night, April 19, at the Labor Insti- tute, Eighth and Locust St. This meeting will test the right of the polloe to prohibit Benjamin Gitiow from apeaking. Benjamin Gitlow will ak for the Workers (Com- munist) Party, Forest Bailey for the Civil Liberties Union; J, O, Bentall for the Internatonal Labor Defense. Admission free, Sorkin and His Aids Launch Attack on the Furrier Strike Leaders (Continued from Page 1) reactionary forces {n'the union, ther arose and began to tell of “many com- plaints* he had recefivéd from mem- bers of New York ‘locals who said they were dissatisfied with the man- ner in which the strike was being conducted. New York delegates chal- lenged Sorkin to give the names of these members, Sorkin refused. He then went on to question the use of strike funds by the New York joint board. This caused great indignation among the New York ‘delegates but was far surpassed by Sorkin’s trai- torous charge that the New York joint board was using hired’ gangsters in the strike—the same charge being made by the bosses and the New York district attorney. This was too much. The New York members arose in a body and walked out of the hall. Outside they were greeted by a large number of rank and file members of New York who had not been permitted into the meet- ing. After the New. York representatives had left, A. Schachtman, the president of the union and chairman of the meeting, took the floor and definitely aligned himself with the Sorkin group by saying he had made the mistake of his life by associating himself with the New York joint’ board but that now he was thru with them. With nothing but the picked repre- sentatives of the small eastern locals left in the conference it was not at all dificult for Sorkin'to get a mo- tion passed turning the’ leadership of the New York strike over to the In- ternational Union “at such a time as may be necessary,” ’ But passing a motion and taking the leadership out of the hands of the New York joint board are two entirely different thirts. The fur strikers of New York have demon- strated on more than one occasion their confidence in thé leaders of the New York joint board. Now in the midst of one of their worst struggles and at a time when the yellow reac- tionary leaders of the international attempt to stab the New York joint board—and the strike—in the back, the fighting fur workéts of New York will once again declare their loyalty to and confidence in the militant lead- ership of Gold and his associates, Herrin Riot Inquest Starts Today, But Is Postponed for Funeral HERRIN, Ul, April 16—Only two witnesses were heard today at the in- quest into the death of six men dur- ing the klan and anti-klan shooting last Tuesday. The inquest was post- poned to allow some of the witnesses to attend the funeral which is being held today for the three dead klans- men, A member of the Polish local, 104, spoke in Polish, He pointed to the buge number of Polish workers in Chi- cago and said that his local was pre- pared to take the lead during the present campaign to organize this great section of Chicago’s workers. Union Difficuities, Zimmerman, in his speech, told of some of the difficulties confronting the New York union. “The bosses are. building large structures called cloth- ing centers with 20,or more floors. There are guards on each floor and the doormen and elevator starters act as lookouts. You can see how difficult it would be, for example, to organize a shop on the nineteenth floor. As soon as union organizers get busy they are immediately surrounded by thugs and police,” Building Committees, “But we got around this by organ- izing building committees and shop committees that have strict control of every union shop in their sections and have a constant watch over the non-union shops. This method has allowed us to organize many shops that under the old system were un- touchable.” Amalgamation, “We have taken a lesson also from the present strike of the furriers in New York which we are supporting. We have been talking amalgamation for years, We were told that it was good in theory but’ that it wouldn't work in practice, But recent happen- ings have shown that Amalgamation is no longer a theory--it 1s an absolute necessity for the needle trades indus- ” ? Soviet Union Gives the! League of Nations Slap in Face in Disarmanent By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL. Ca ECRORS TCHICHERIN, commissar of foreign affairs for the Union of Soviet Republics, has replied to the invita- tion of the league of nations asking that the Workers’ and Peasants’ Government send delegates to the proposed Pre- paratory Disarmament Commission, . Imperialist diplomacy got such a stinging slap in the face that the smarting will be kept alive for some time. ° * . It is necessary for American workers and farmers to fully acquaint themselves with European militarism, since it is with wealth stolen from labor in this country that the in- | ternational bankers make huge loans to European govern- ments, most of this money being spent to maintain increas- ingly large armaments. The fraudulent efforts of the league of nations to hold disarmament gatherings are mere attempts to drug the peo- ples of the world into believing that the governments that plunged the world into the last war are sincerely seeking the path toward peace. Thus Tchicherin declares: “From the start it (the league of nations) deliberately almed to prevent participation of the Union of Soviet Republics in the work of the disarmament commission and all the formal declaration® on the averred enormous importance of the Soviet Union's collaboration in the task of disarmament were devoid of sincerity and real value.” That is the answer of the Soviet Union to the effort of the league's jackals to place the blame for the failure to dis- arm on the shoulders of the Russian workers and peasants, ° * * . The Soviet Union was the first to present in full the question of general disarmament at the Genoa Conference in 1922, The Soviet Union had already called a conference of bordering states with the purpose of examining the question of disarmament. To this conference it presented a concrete and quite realizable program. he Workers’ and Peasants’ Government voluntarily re- duced its own military forces to the absolute minimum pos- sible in view of the refusal of the capitalist states to reduce their armaments. Yet the Soviet Government has never concealed its skepticism regarding the alleged efforts being put. forth by the league for the supposed purpose of reducing armaments. ° . « . In spite of the protests of the Soviet Union, the league officials insisted on holding their preparato:™ conference at Geneva, Switzerland. It was the Swiss government that not only failed to protect M. Vorovsky, the Soviet delegate, when threats were made against his life at the Lausanne Confer- ence in 1922, but later did everything possible to absolve the murderer. The Soviet Union does not intend to-send any more of its spokesmen into this murderers’ nest to become the target of imperialist assassins. It would be very easy for the league's gathering to be held in some. other country. But no! It must stew in Geneva, pot of boiling imperialist intrigue. So it hypocritically seizes on the Soviet Union's refusal to come to Geneva as an open- ing for another attack on the Workers’ Republics. But Tchicherin rips off the mask of this double-dealing diploma- ps ae, its hideous face to the whole world, when he leclares: “,.. the preliminary disarmament conference will meet In Geneva, if it ever meets, to examine proposals on which an agreement is neither desired nor anticipated, and which have been formulated for the specific Purpose of ensuring the failure of the enterprise, “The attitude of the directors of the league of nations .... has definitely convinced the Soviet Government of the lack of seriousness and insincerity .... of the league of nations as well as the latter’s incapacity and inaptitude to carry out so important a task as calling a universal disarmament conference.” ee eae yee These charges will be fully substantiated by developing events. Last Tuesday’s elections in Illinois indicate that the workers and farmers of this state are quite aware of at least some of the repulsive characteristics of the league. That knowledge must grow into a class opposition, not only against the league, but also against the Wall Street govern- ment at Washington that gives it aid and comfort. them the third degree about the charges made by the “Forward.” “But they are fighting us too. The new progressive leadership in New York has been too successful to suit the Forward, former officers whom. we displaced. “For example in one shop In New York, Stein & Bleim, the furriers It is supporting the’ were not able to pull out all the fur workers, They came to us. Our or- ganizers went to the shop and pulled out our 60 cloak makers in sympathy. This was not enough so we went back and brought out the 200 dress makers. The shop was tied up. The furriers won, Furriers work with our people and with members of the Amalgamat- ed Clothing Workers in hundreds of shops. Only amalgamation will take care of this situation to the best ad- vantage of the needle trades work- ers.” “We in New York are facing a great struggle, A general strike of the cloak- makers will probably occur in June. We have many obstacles to overcome. We have police, detectives, and gang- sters to contend with. These are our open enemies and we know how to fight them. But we must also beware of our so-called friends. Ther re the most dangerous enemies. I don’t like to talk of this but I am forced to, I must say that the Jewish Daily For- ward is the most dangerous enemy the the cloakmakers have.” “At the time when the furriers were in the thickest of one of their worst fights, the Forward, that pretends to be the friend of the workers, prints provocations, That paper charged that the Furriers’ Joint board was resorting to the use of gangsters that were being used to beat up workers. The Forward charged that in a room in Beethoven hall the furriers were beat- ing up workers. Right after this de- tectives raided the furriers’ headquar- ters and arrested 18 strikers, giving mere iie | When we took office these gentlemen turned everything over’té us with the hope and the words, ‘Wait and see, you will break your ‘necks.’ But we didn’t We have made a’ success’ of our organizaton drive: We are begin- ning to build a much Jatger and sounder organization.’ Now they are jealous, They had hoped to come back after we broke ofr necks. But now the New York membership has confidence only in the new leader- ship.” “You here in this present campaign must be soldiers every one—diseipiied and willing to perform your every assigned task. New York will give Chicago every support. Every clothing center must be organized 100 per cent. That is our common aim. After our present struggles are over, we will call a convention 6f all needle trades unfons and build one united union for all needle trades workers.” The chairman of the meeting was B, Soll, also chairman of the Chicago Joint board, The Fretheit Singing So- clety gave four excollent numbers dur- ing one of which, The International, overyono remained standing. The Fre!- heit Mandolin Orchestra and the Pol- ish Man's Chorus rounded out the program, An organization meeting of the com- mittee of 600 will be held next Thurs- day night. The spirit of the members present was. enthusiastic, They res- ponded well to the addresses and a succesful organization campaign in the cloak and dress industry in Chicago seems assured when these hundreds wet busy in the market place, In the Third Annual National Builders’ Campaign , of The Daily Worker GET THE POINT! 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