The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 21, 1926, Page 3

LAWRENCE AND LOWELL STAND WITH PASSAIC Will Stop Scab Work from Strike Zone (Special to The Dally Worker) LAWRENCE, Mass., April 19.—The United Front Committee is busy in Lawrence and Lowell. and will block any attempt on the part of the Pas salo mill owners to get thelr work done In these centers, They are de- termined that the mill owners of Pas- Salo and adjoining towns be forced to yleld to the demandg of the strikers they have so bestlally fought or face/ ruln by being deprived of their fall orders, , The slogan here is: ., BOSSES FROM TAKING SCAB WORK IN YOUR MILLS!” Trusted workers in the mills here are charged with the task of detect- ing any Passaic orders that may come in and the moment they are discov- ered the Lawrence and Lowell bosses will either refuse to take them or face a strike in their mills, Issue Manifesto, A.manifesto issued by the United Front Committee of Passaic textile strikers to the workers of Lawrence and Lowell has been received with enthusiasm by the workers and they will respond to its demands in case scab work is attempted here, The manifesto follows: PROTEST Police Terror.in Passaic “For three months we, 15,000 tex- ‘tile workers of Passaic, N. J., have been engaged in a life and death struggle with the millionaire mill owners. For three months we have withstood the brutality, trickery and ‘terror of the bosses. Our ranks are just as strong as ever, Our mass picket lines of thousands of strikers are as firm a iron, Police clubs, jails, spies, suckers, poison gas, jets of cold water, and the whole under- world let loose upon us by the mill barons, could not break our soli- darity. “WE ARE DETERMINED TO WIN. AND WE ARE CONFIDENT THAT WE WILL WIN because our cause is just—because we are fight- ing for our human rights: the right to organize—the right of a living wage—the right to bring up our chil- dren decently. “Our fight, fellow-workers, is your fight. We are in the front line of the Textile Workers’ army, We are batting against wage cuts—against starvation wages—against the cruel, inbuman conditions forced upon us by the greedy mill owners, ; “The textile barons have made a “final attempt to break our strike. The most savage brutality is used against us. All our leaders are jailed by the police of the bosses, and are held under criminally ex- cessive bail. WE HAVE BEEN PUT UNDER THE RIOT ACT. The thugs and bosses’ hirelings in the police department of Garfield and Passaic have been let loose like a pack of wolves to kill and murder peaceful strikers. Our halls have been closed. Our strike offices have been raided. We are under martial law without the troops, but with Sheriff Nimmo and his thugs as dictators. _ “The bosses are desperate. This is their last stand. They want to force us back into ghe mills thru violence.and terror. Will you stand by in silence, fellow workers? IF ,WE WIN YOU WIN. IF WE LOSE THERE IS NO HOPE FOR YOU. STAND BY US! Let your’ voices be heard in protest! “Demand the abolition of the state of riot in Passaic and the freedom of our brave leaders! Remeber! It is us today. It may be you tomorrow. Don’t do any, Passaic work. Stop the bosses from doing scab work in your mills. . “WE MUST, WIN. WE WILL WIN. Our spirit is strong. Our union is powerful. Our fight is the fight. of the Textile Workers, » . “Hold Protest Meetings! your solidarity.” Seventeen Workers : Hurt in, in N. J. Blast CAMDEN, N. 4 April _19-+Seven- teen pefsons were injured, one prob- ably fatally, in an explosion late to- day In the plant of the Victor Talking Machine Company, here. About 200 Show employes were working on the third and fourth floors when spontenagous combustion caused the blast in a metal sawdust conveyor. Plumbers ‘Héliooee’ Club of Brooklyn, New York calls on all helpers to join | the club. Meetings every | FRIDAY night, 8:30 p. m., | 7 Thatford Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. SUUTATTUUTTONEQQQAUAUUAARUNVOGGAUUUNOGOGQGQQQQQOGEOOGOQQAURNGOOGQQQQUUUOOOEOGQNUNIDY” Represents the Left Wing ers’ Government. wcgrop sz | MINNMNENUINENIUNENUANENUUUUAEOCUEEE10 0000000080001 0HEGUFHGNEUELUEEEE THIS PAGE Is Devoted to the Activity and Interests of the Trade Union Educational League (T.U. North American Section of the RED INTERNATIONAL OF LABOR UNIONS (R. I, L, U.) The T. U. E. L. Purpose Is to Strengthen the Labor Unions by Amalgamation of Existing Unions, Organization of the Unorganized, and by Replacing Reactionary and Class Collaboration Policies with a Unified Program for the Transformation of the Unions Into Organs of Revolutionary Class Struggle for the Overthrowal of Capitalism and the Establishment of a Workers’ and Farm- B.L.) of the Labor Movement. Its ST. LOUIS CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL IN VIGOROUS PROTEST AGAINST ALIEN REGISTRATION BILLS IN CONGRESS 8T. LOUIS, Apnil 19.—The Central Trades and Labor ,Union at its regu- lar meeting here went on record unanimously condemning house bills Nos. 5583, 8848, 6523 and 4489 which propose to register, fingerprint and photo- graph all aliens, The resolution which met with the approval of the entire body points out the vicious class nature of the bills. It shows clearly that the bills are being supported by the most militant representatives of the capitalist class and if allowed to become laws will be used to destroy the Anferican labor follows: ‘Whereas, Representatives Aswell, Johnson, McClintic and others sub- mitted in the house bills Nos, 5583, 3748, 6528 and 4489, proposing to regis- ter, photograph and finger-print all foreign-born workers, and to deport them in case they fail to have them- selves registered, photographed and finger-printed, thus threatening to sep- arate them from their families, and in many cases sending them to their di- rect death in their former home coun- tries, and Whereas, the purpose of these pro- posed laws is to create a reserve army of foreign-born workers, prevented un- der threat of deportation from organ- izing and going on strike to secure higher wages and to better working conditions, thus tending to lower*the standard of living of the entire work- ing class in this country, and Whereas, the committee on legisla- tion of the executive council of the American Federation of Labor in its report to the 54th annual convention of the American Federation of Labor made the following declarations re- garding the above mentioned mills, as “This highly obnoxious measure, which would, if enacted into law, mean the adoption by our government of the spying practices of private detective agents. “The potential danger of the prin- ciple embodied in these bills is very great, It has all the elements of a strike-crushing, union-breaking pro- posal.” movement, The resolution reads as eee “Bills of this kind are potentially dangerous, because they can be fre- quently used by hostile interests to the injury and disadvantage of the labor movement.” Now be it there- fore Resolved, that we delegates to the Central Trades and Labor Union of St. Louis, Mo., assembled at our reg- ular meetings on Sunday, April 11, at 2228 Olive street, do hereby earnestly protest and emphatically declare our opposition to the passage of bills Nos. 5583, 3748, 6523 and 4489, or to any other legislation having for its pur- pose the outlawing of the foreign-born workers in this country, and be it fur- ther Resolved, that we call upon the ex- ecutive council of the A. F. of L. to carry on an energetic struggle against the above mentioned bills, and to use all of its resources in its efforts to de- feat them, and be it further Resolved, that copies of this resolu- tion be sent to the representatives of this state in congress with the demand that they shall cast their votes against this discriminatory legislation against the‘foreign-born workers and that cop- ies also be sent to the press. The above resolution was passed without dissenting vote. In accord- ance with the standing custom it will be spread on the minutes of the Cen- tral Trades and Labor Union and also be sent to the press and various indi- viduals and organizations mentioned in the resolution. LIVES OF COALDIGGERS ARE SACRIFICED TO GET DIVIDENDS By LELAND OLDS, Federated Press. How the lives of coal diggers are sacrificed to the demand’ of stcok- holders for dividends is told in a letter to Black Diamond, the leading jour- nal of the industry. Many recent mine explosions, according to George Wolfe, the writer, are the direct result of low prices produced by the compe- tition for profits. The letter is of especial interest because it comes from a man with experience in West Virginia¢————____________________ mine operation, Explosions Due to Skimping. “I do not hestitate to say,” Wolfe “that many of our mine ex- plosions are directly traceable to the intense competition that mow exists and which has existed in the bitum- inous mining industry in the past sev- eral years, Competition in the selling of coal has so reduced the returns of the mining companies that in many instances these companies are run at a loss.” Wolfe recalls Hoover's statement that one-third of the mines must be eliminated and continues: “People who have their money invested in the min- ing industry have been constantly fighting to escape this elimination and have in competition forced the price of coal down to a point where in a num- ber of cases it does not yteld the min- ing cost to the operator, let alone the depreciation to his property thru the withdrawal of the mineral from his land.” From practical knowledge acquired in the running of these mines Wolfe then goes on to describe how “the stockholders are on the back of the president of the company for divi- dends; in turn the president goes after the general manager for lower op- erating costs; the general manager goes after the superintendent for lower costs, and when it gets down to this point, the superintendent is gen- erally ‘told that if he cannot produce coal cheaper he will have to ‘get out.” So the pressure of the stockholders finally reaches the foremen, supplies are skimped, necessary dead work is left undone, and supervision, so im- portant a factor in safety, is elimin- ated, “It takes a brave and weg mining official,” says | demands made upon ag Me pA officers in the matter of costs and to at all times preserve inside conditions of his mine at a high degree of safety. There are such mining officials and there are some companies that place the general safety of their property and the lives of their employes above every other consideration, but the tendency is pretty general to do every- thing possible to meet the continued lower sales price of coal by reducing the operating cost and in reducing “|this cost long chances are sometimes taken, Accidents on Increase. “There is no one connected with the state mining department ‘of West Vir- ginia who would openly admit that as the price of coal goes down the num- ber of mining accidents increase, They would not dare to make such an ad- mission. But these very men will tell you privately that such is the case,” Mill Shutdown Throws 2,300 Out of Job PROVIDENCE, R. I, April 19 — Twenty-three hundred operatives were thrown out of work when the Natick and Arctic mills of Knight Borthers, Inc, in| the Pawtucket Valley, and the Grant mill of that concern in this city, closed today, for an indefinite period. The Royal mill at Riverpoint also suspended operations with the excep- tion of about 900 looms. Unfavorable market conditions were given as the cause for the suspension of work, _ A bust. of Lenin with each five hundred points. Get the point! A book of cartoons with every Get the point! GET THE POINT! wit THE DAILY WORKER BOSTON A. F. OF L, ORGANIZES DRIVE IN 3 INDUSTRIES Card System | Makes All Organizers BOSTON, April 19—The American Federation of Labor organizing con- ference committee for Metropolitan Boston, at a meeting in Wells Me- morial building last night, selected three industries of this city for the first organized drive in the local cam- paign, The, names were not an- nounced, byt,will be given the im- mediate atention of members of the committee assigned by the confer- ence, i Gard System, Last night's meeting unanimously approved the,card system campaign suggested by'the executive commit- tee. By this dystem every member of a union ins entire organized labor movement fF as an organizer and can pick hf$‘own field for his work. More than 500,000 of these cards, bear- ing the ca) » “Declaration in Favor of Union M: bership,” with designat- ed places for filling in name, address, the name of dndustry and employer, will be. dis! ited among the various afillated unlohs and will in turn be given in blocks of 10 to each member of a union by an officer of the local to whom the filled fn cards must be returned. Enrollment. According to the plan worked out by the body, the cards when filled will be turned back to the conference for classification, after which they will be turned over to the unions of crafts of occupations of the signers. When there are no unions of crafts or indus- tries mentioned by the signers, these applicants will be enrolled into organ izations by the conference and appli cations made to the A. F. of L. fo: charters for these particular groups. BRITISH CRISIS CONSIDERED BY INTERNATIONAL World Mine Unions to . eae Support British BRUSS! April 19.—At a meeting of the executive committee of the In- tefnational Miners’ Federation to hear an outline of the British coal crisis by A. J. Cook, Frank Hodges and other British miners’ leaders, the following action was taken: “The international committee is pre- pared to take action, if necessary, to prevent coal being exported to Great Britain in the event of a stoppage.” International Strike. “In the event of an international strike being called by competent na- tional organizations, the international committee adjures the national organi- zations not to.terminate the strike be- fore a satisfactory basis for the re- sumption of work has been found in all countries.” On to Moscow—get the point! Page Three sci The British Workers Prepare for Struggle The following ate the first of three articles on the impending industrial crisis in Great Britain written by Earl Browder. The writer is at present abroad and has made a spe- cial study of the English crisis, se I, The Minority Conference. By EARL BROWDER. [EN the Extraordinary Confer- ence of Action was called by the British Minority Movement, to meet on Sunday, March 21, in Battersea, London, it was already quite well known that a great crisis was impend- ing in Great Britain. What remained to be seen was, to what extent the British workerg realized the gravity of the struggles ahead of them, and whether they are ready in sufficent numbers to follow the fighting lead of the British Minority Movement, The conference was large beyond expecta- tions, and the spirit of the delegates there makes it certain, that in the impending struggles the outcome will not be left in the hands of the right- wing leaders. Almost 2,400 workers crowded into the great hall of the Latchmere Baths, where the conference met, Of these, 883 were delegates, elected by 547 or- ganizations, representing 950,000 mem- bers of the trade union movement. About 1,500 were individual trade unionist supporters in the capacity of guests. This compares well with the last Minority Movement Conference at which 638 delegates attended, repre- senting 406 organizations with 750,000 members. It is quite clear that there has been a great increase in the fol- lowing of the Minority Movement in the last months, The extraordinary conference of action takes on all the more impor- ance, because there have been a vhole series of developments in Great Britain during February and March, hich intensify the crisis, call for a trong lead for the labor movement, nd raise grave dangers before the working class. The most important of these developments swing around he points of (a) the coal commisison report; (b) the threatening national lockout in the engineering industry; and (c) the danger of betrayal of the trade union movement by the right- wing elements in the leadership, Report of the Coal Commission, FTER “Red Friday,” in the sum- mer of 1925, when the splendid solidarity of the British trade unions forced the withdrawal of the proposed wage-cuts for 1,100,000 miners, there were no illusions as to.the nature of he truce then set up. The employers certainly had not abandoned their at tacks against the workers. By grant- ing the governmental subsidy to the mine-owners, the Baldwin government had purchased a breathing-space for the purpose of better preparing a new blow. This was quickly made clear when the coal commission was ap- pointed by Baldwin, consisting as it did entirely of members of the upper classes, with not a single worker or even @ person who could be suspected of having the remotest sympathy for the miners. It was not for nothing that A. J, Cook, the fighting left-wing secretary of the Miners Federation, de- clared at that time that the miners should hope for nothing from such a commission. It report, made public eatly in March, fully justified Cook’s prediction, This document proves that the commigsion was only a cloak be- hind which to prepare another attack against the miners, The key to the policy laid down in the report is—that wages must be re- duced. All the rest is trimmings, de- signed to confuse the workers and dis- turb their solidarity. The government and mine owners are determined that the bankrupt capitalist industry’ shall be “stabalized” at the cost of the workers—and that in the process, the trade unions shall be broken, The ex- tent of the wage-cut proposed is set at an average of 10 per cent, The ex- tent of this blow can only be realized when it is remembered that even pres- ent wages are already below pre-war by 30 per cent, and that pre-war wages provided a bare subsistence, Other features of the report of im- portance may be summarized as fol- lows: 1. Immediate discontinuance of gov- ernmental subsidy, 2, Establishment of variable dis- trict minimum wages, while retaining the principle of a national agreement. 3, Rejection of nationalization, put- ting forward in its place acquiring by the state of royalties with compensa- tion, 4, State aid for reorganization of the industry by the employers, 5. Compulsory “profit sharing,” “eo-partnership,” While this is being written, neither the government and employers nor the Miners Federation has made public their attitude toward the report. Al- or ready, however, the strategy of Bald- win is becoming clear. On March 17, the Scottish miners’ executive official ly took note of rumors that the report originally called for a continuance of the subsidy, but that this was with: drawn on the request of Baldwin. on March 18, the London Times printed ” an inspired story which said: “It is understood that the cabinet feel that the continuance of a modi- fied form of subsidy should be ac companied by an agreement to @O. cept the main proposals of the re Port in their entirity, coupled with an assurance that there shall be no upheavals in the industry for a defi- nite period of, say, five years.” ROM all the foregoing, it is cleat what are the against the miners. As it is well lines of attack — known that only the continuance of | the subsidy will prevent the closing down of innumerable mines and mas# unemployment of miners, the threat of this is held over the heads of the work+ ers in order to force them to agree to the wage-cut. Further provision for completely destroying the Miners’ Fed- eration of Great Britain is contained in the proposal for tying its hands for five years (taking a leaf from the book of the American mine operators, who have used precisely such a scheme to break the union in the United States); in the proposal of variable district minimi (setting one district against another, and destroying the basis of national solidarity, while keeping the workers tied up with a “national agree- ment” which means nothing except na- tional control to revent strikes); and especially in the proposal for obliga- tory profit sharing and pit commit tees, (another item inspired by the success of similar methods used by the capitalists of America—the infamous “company unionism,” and the corrup- tion of special groups and leaders by “profits,” bonuses, etc., at the expense of the workers as a whole). Accom panying this is generous assistance to the private capitalists, already rolling in wealth, for the necessary reorgan- ization of the industry. The so-calied “nationalization of the minerals” is rierely the consolidation of the present royalties in the form of government securities, a measure in the interests of the exploiters. Altogether, it is a vicious and cun- ningly prepared attack, which will re- quire intelligence and iron determina- tion, and fearless leadership on the part of the trade unions to repulse, (Another article tomorrow) What American Labor Thinks of Passaic Strike HE International Molders’ Journal, edited by John P. Frey, takes an entirely different attitude toward the strike of the 16,000 textile workers in Passaic than William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, and McMahon, head of the United Tex- tile Workers. Green refuses to: organize these striking textile workers, despite their numerous appeals that he come to Pas- saic and organize them. NcMahon of the United Textile Workers also re- fuses to go to Passaic to organize these workers. Both of them declare that they will go to Passaic only after the “strike is settled” and has become ancient history. Points Out Miserable Conditions, | Frey, in his editorial entitled “Sup- plying Radical Ammunition,” points out the miserable conditions the work- ers were forced to work under and the unreasonable attitude of the employ- ers in trying to slash the starvation wages 10 per cent. He points out the Police brutality, showing that Passaic Dolice, by the use of their clubs and teargas bombs, are doing more to make revolutionists than all of the agitation of the Communists could do. The DAILY WORKER agrees with Frey that the police thugs, by beat- ing and throwing gas bombs at the strikers, are making Communists and opponents of the capitalist system and ESPIONAGE SYSTEM TERRORIZES THE PASSAIC TEXTILE WORKERS (Special to The Dally Worker) PASSAIC, N. J., April 19—In the following affidavit, Justine Wise points out the low wages, the long hours, the terrible working conditions in the mills and the espionage system that is employed by the Passaic textile barons to terrorize tie workers in the shops and keep them from organizing into trade unions “And fighting for better conditions: “State of New York, “County of New York. “Justine terman Wise, being duly sworn, ses and says, as fol- lows: “I have lived in Passaic for over four months during the winter of 1924-1925. During that time I worked on the evening shift of the Passaic Cotton Mills,’for day at Forstmann- Huffmann'’s when I was discharged and threatened with arrest by the head of the personnel department, Mr. Rheinhold, [was then aboslutely blacklisted, my card entitling me to apply for ‘k being confiscated by the Centr ployment Bureau, the agency of the, Wool Council of Pas- saic, and wag, forced to work in a small knitting. mill in Passaic Park where I earned $8 a week to begin with. Segregate Foreign-Born, “While living and working in Pas- saic with three other friends, we found that the different foreign groups were segregated and were in no way touched by any worth-while American- ization work, We found that, when we suggested classes in workers’ edu- cation, the workers at once’ asked if it would be safe for the textile workers, fearing that those workers. who at- tended would upon being reported to the employers be discharged, “We found that women still worked all night. We,found that the night- law which wag supposed to go into effect Jan 1, 1925 was ignored, Low Wages. “We found wages so low that moth- ers and grandmothers were into the mills, no men, with the ex- ers receiving anything near what has been determined by the United States department of labor to be a minimum wage. “In the Passaic Cotton Mills I stood eight hours at a time, there being no fixed lunch period, the workers being expected to either eat a sanwich or go to an adjacent building to get lunch at a cafeteria, eat it and be back with- in 15 minutes. The law makes a half- hour lunch period compulsory, There were no seats either near the machine or in the dressing room. “We found that the workers were suspicious not only of new-comers but of neighbors because they did not know who might be a labor spy. I never heard the words ‘trade union’ or ‘labor movement’ menitoned in a shop. After the mills thru their espionage system discovered that my friends and [ were college graduates, they not only blacklisted us but we went to the head of the Y. W. C, A, and asked that we be excluded from the privil- eges thereof, Discharge Workers. “On being asked how they knew that we had been there and at the in- stitute, we had visited the latter only once, Mr, Andres said that had been seen going in and coming out, Bertha Paret, one of our group was dis- charged from Forstmann-Huffmann, they at the time declaring that they had found that she was a college grad- uate thru a friend and not thru any spy system. Later wo discovered that they had a paid detective work next to her for three weeks to learn coption of a few highly skilled work-| about Miss Paret and that this young HOUSTON, Texas, April 19—Saw- mill hands work 9 hours a day for $2.25 in Wiergate, Texas. The workers, majority of whom are white, live in company houses and buy all supplies from a company store. These houses are built from old lum- ber and a few months rent pays the cost of building. A brother-in-law of John Kirby, lum- ber king, is the owner of the whole country. This boss and owner, Myers of the Wier-Longleaf Lumber Co, and the W. R. Wier Lumber Co. is judge and lawmaker. When an “undesirable” moves in he is soon found out and run out, An “undesirable” is one who disputes conditions. Mr. Myers is “very considerate” of his men. When they are sick he in- quires about them and sees that their religious needs are administered to. As yet the whole industry is un- organized. In fact, a union man is not permitted on the vast holding’s of this “king.” ees woman had been forced to report that ‘she seemed perfectly all right.’ Terrorized by Spy System. “We found the workers terrorized by the espionage system, which was doing more than any other single fac- tor with the possible exception of the starvation wages, to prevent the workers from becoming Americans in anything but their physical press in “Justine Waterman Wise, “Sworn to before me this 31st day of March, 1926, Kate V. Slovin, Notary Public, Kinks County Clerk’s N. 573. New York County Clerk's No. 131, N. Y, County Register’s No. 7296. Term expires March 30, 1927.” If you send a sub you will build The DAILY WORKER, and The DAILY WORKER will help to bulld Timberworkers Badly Exploited in Texas MEOW Siero as on aa ONY FL em tet its institutions among the textile workers of Passaic. Tomorrow the DAILY WORKER will print another comment from some other union journal to show the atti- tude the greater section of the Ameri- can trade union movement is taking toward the Passaic strike. Frey’s editorial follows: Supplying Radical Ammunition “It is rather difficult to secure a complete, well-balanced statement of what has been taking place in Passaic, N. J. Wages in the textile mills in Passaic have been reduced. So have wages in most of the other textile mills, The reduction was unjustifia- ble for no industry has been more thoroly protected by the tariff, Police Beat Strikers, “The textile operatives in Passaic, smarting under low wages which were being reduced to a still lower level, or- ganized and went on strike. Some authorities claim that this strike was seized upon by Communists as an op- portunity to educate the workers, to drill and discipline them in prepara- tion of an armed overthrow of the goy- ernment. If this is true, then the po- lice force, under Chief of Police Zober, iid everything possible to assist these revolutionary eleménts in training the liscontented for the day at the barri- cades and the revolution. “What alleged revolutionists endeay- ored to stir up by words the police ‘orce endeavored to stir up by direct action, While many details are lack- ing, there was something in the nature of unusual excitement at least. The police used tear-gas bombs, mounted policemen rode down strikers, firemen turned the hose upon them, and police- men’s clubs were freely used. Not only did the strikers get the benefit of this display of force, but the news paper reporters and photographers came in for a plentiful share of view lence, among the casualties being some three thousand, five hundred dol- lars worth of newspaper cameras which were smashed, “There have been, and there still are, some men who preach fhe gospel of revolution, They teach the work men that their only salvation is to overthrow the government, and seize the power themselves. They tell wage- earners that the authorities are noth- ing but the tools of‘ employers, pre- pared to shoot down the workers upon the slightest provocation, Attacks Police Force. “What the police force did in Pas saic, N. J., a few weeks ago supplies at least as much ammunition for the flery-tongued revolutionists as that supplied by the most pig-headed arbi- trary employers. Of the two, the un- necessary use of force against strikers is much more dangerous to good gov- ernment than the doctrines taught by those who believe that European revo- lutionary theories should be by America wage-earners,” — } i | i 1 —