The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 4, 1926, Page 6

Page Six THE DAILY WORKER Published by the DAILY WCRKER PUBLISHING CO. i 1118 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Il. Phone Monroe 4712 - Ste se at SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail (in Chicago only): By mall (outside of Chicago): $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per vear $3.50 six months $2.50 three months $2.00 three months Address all mail and make out checks to i THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, Illinois J, LOUIS ENGDAHL { Editors WILLIAM F, DUNNE MORITZ J. LOEB. Entered as second-class mail September 21, 1923, at the post-office at Chi- cago, Ill, unger the act Of March 3, 1879. <r 290 Advertising rates on application. ———. —<—— See The Class Conflict in England Labor thruout the whole world is eagerly watehing the develop- ment of the great struggle that is now convulsing the British Isles. Long awaited, this May Day brought to England the ‘strike of one million miners. For months both labor and capital have been pre- paring for the outbreak of this conflict. Up until the: last moment every device known to tyrannical capitalism, short of yielding to the demands of the miners, was used to thwart the strike. When the government, as the agent of the British imperialists, perceiyed the gathering storm it struck out in desperation at the vanguard of the working class, the Communists, arresting the lead- ers of the party, thereby hoping to smash thru to the main body of workers, In prepa for the drive against the front line: fighters, the master class aided and abetted by J. Ramsey MacDonald, former premier, and his satellites, but the mine strike came in spite of the combined efforts of the government, the employers and the yellow Jeaders. ‘ Now that it is a reality the terrific momentum of the mass move- ment has swept even the reactionary leaders along with it. Much as they deplore the threat to the established order of things that is contained in the present struggle they dare not. oppose it as they know they would be swept aside as derelicts upon the raging seas of class conflict. The walkout of the million miners was the signal for immediate action on the part of the government. Under the emergency act of 1920 a virtual dictatorship was set up by Premier Stanley Baldwin, with himself as political dictator and with the postmaster general as “economic dictator” in command of ten “civil” conimissioners in charge of ten districts. It is significant that most of theseten are} men of experience in military leadership. Troops have already been rushed to the mine strike areas. When the morning of May Day dawned andthe workers started their celebrations the trade union congress met and answered the government’s dictatorial action by a vote for a general strike at mid- night Monday, unless the demands of the miners are met, before that hour. Such a strike will involve four million more workers and will mark the greatest labor upheaval since the series of revolution- ary struggles following the Russian revolution. Regardless of the outcome, one thing is certain and that, is that this May Day is a landmark in the history of the world labor: move- ment. Never again will Britain be as it was before. In case,the gov- ernment and the mine owners yield to the demands of the miners, who are resisting a wage cut of one-third of their former pay, it will tremendously strengthen the power of labor so that the ruling class will long hesitate before they precipitate another such upheaval. If midnight tonight brings the threatened sympathetic strike of five million the very existence of British imperialism is threatened. The army and the fascists will strive to provoke bloodshed, thereby unleashing the elemental power of the. working class, which may culminate in the overthrow of British capitalism. The third possible outcome may be a period of fascism-in Brit- ain. But fascism in that nation will not repeat the history. of fas- cism in Italy and Hungary because of different conditions existing in Britain and the fact that the British workers will be able to bene- fit by the lessons of fascism in other countries and will fight it to the point of extermination. History has placed, upon the leaders of the British trade unions a tremendous role, and the Communists are supporting them to the limit in their struggle against the arrogant despotism of the ex- ploiters of labor in the British Isles. They will be tested as never before and may eyen be forced to bring the movement to the point of revolution, More and more will they be forced to the position of the Com- munist Party; forced into a recognition of the necessity for a de- termined struggle against state power as the blows of the capitalist government fall against the struggling workers. } The class conscious workers of the United States hail the glorious struggle of the workers of England and proclaim to them that we realize that their struggle today is the struggle of all the workers of the world and that we will do all in our power to aid them and that we have a watchful eye on our capitalist masters here to see that they take no steps that will aid the imperialists of Britain crush the working class revolt that is now being carried out y, so brilliantly. ; et Christian Education and Crime Every fresh outbreak of crime furnishes the ministers of the gospel new opportunities for their stupid sermonising: The sensa- hi . tional murder of the star prosecutor, McSwiggen, and two of his beer running companions, is now the chief topic with the clergy. No matter what new facts may be deduced from criminal annals, the ministers always indulge in the usual banal elap-trap of propa- gandizing their particular superstition, Bishop Thomas Nicholson of Detroit came to Chicago and addressed the” methodist laymen’s annual convention, taking ad- vantage of the recent murders to unburden himself of the following absurd claim: “| believe the best way to meet this outbreak of law violation Is to strengthen the work of christian education, it is a rare thing to find a graduate of one of the church colleges among criminals.” The bishop is eithey ignorant of the facts or a liar, or both. Especially unfortunate is this observation as applied to Chicago. According to the statement of the Rev, George R. Thomas, rector of St. Paul’s church, Kenwood, who cannot be accused of being pre- fy judiced against christian education, forty-five ministers of god were ‘ arrested in Chicago the past year for sundry high crimes and mis- demeanors., The percentage ofserime among the envoys, of ee exceeds that £i most occupations and is rivalled by few. ) eit then no one | ara and to know what Ay ize talking about. new eek oe aie oe THE BAIL MAWORKE R The Fight for Trade Unions in ‘India By THOMAS JOHNSTONE, M. P. (The following article was written by Thomas Johnstone, M. P., editor of the Glasgow Forward and a mem- ber of the delegation sent to investi- gate the conditions of the workers and prospects for unionism in India by the British Trade Union Congress.) NDIA is poverty land. Over three hundred million people, with an average per capita income of £4 per annum; uneducated—all, but a hand- ful of the working class, unable to read or write—with a myriad dialects, languages, castes, and religious, all making for working class disunity; and to crown all, 75 per cent of the workers engaged in the factories and the coal mines are primarily agricul- tural workers who spend only inter- mittent periods of the year in the in- dustrial areas How difficult it is for the™trade union plant to take root in a soil like that. And when a union is inaugurated, it-is not uncommon to find it regard- ed but as a political stunt, or as a milch-cow for some able legal climber in a world where barristers are so numerous that they must needs scramble for jobs like jackals over.a bone. Trade Union Grow. EVERTHELESS trade unionism grows, In Bombay I was present at the inception of one big cotton workers’ union, which in two months has obtained 5,000 members. ‘There is another cotton workers’ union at Ahmedabad, where, under the inspira- tion of Mr, Gandhi, Hindu and Mo- hammedan workers united to secure the return to the local council of a fellow workman who is of the un- touchable caste. In time, perhaps sooner than most people expect, we shall have an amalgamation of these cotton workers’ unions, and one big union for the toduitees displaying the solidarity of the recent great strike in Bombay, when 150,000 workers— Mohammedan and Hindu—stood shoulder to shoulder for eleven hungry weeks in a desperate strike against shameless reductions in their miser- able wages. That strike in the end was successful because of the mone- tary assistance sent by the textile workers of Europe (chiefly English), and I have been asked by mass meet- ings of the Bombay workers to con- vey grateful thanks to their comrades in the West. The Cotton Union of Bombay is in the capable and honest hands of lead- ers such as Mr, Joshi! and Mr. Bak- hale, whose headquanters are at the Servants of India Soeiety offices, Mr. Joshi himself being secretary to the All-India Trades Union Congress. But outside the .¢etton industry there is not, so far, a yery happy story to chronicle, ns Railway Wankers. The railway. workers have a skele- ton organization, which has fight in it, but is badly handicapped by the inability of the white railwaymen to co-operate in the same union with their Indian brethren. Here there are not only grades of. wages in infinite variety for different posts, but there are racial grades in,the wages also, the white men being paid on a very much higher scale, .I was given the following table as an, illuStration in contrasts:— European Indian Rupees Rupees Firemen 90 to 110 15 to 22 Drivers 150 to 210 =. 34 to 64 Stationmasters 350 to 500 52 to 150 (All monthly wages.) A Rupee is About 32 Cents at Par. The railway authorities on being challenged denied the existence of any racial discrimination, declaring that the posts. were graded according to importance and responsibility. und What Is Behind the Indian Riots? By M. G. DESAI. HE serious outbreak last week of Hindu-Muslim riots in Calcutta is one more result of the sinister activi- ties of upper-class Indian politicians in the legislative councils. After having effectively sidetracked the mass movement of workers and peasants of 1919-20 along the utopian Gandhist program, our bourgeois poli- ticians have been seriously devoting themselves to strengthening the two communal organizations—the Hindu Maha Sdbha and the Muslim League. In order to divert and dissipate the revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses, these friends of the landlords and capitalists have been deliberately fanning the flames of wornout reli- gious superstitions thru the vernacu- lar press and the bazaar propaganda, The consequence has been these pe- riodic “religious” conflicts from Kohat on the northern frontier to Gulburga in the south. Horror of Class Struggle. T is a significant fact that the lead- ing strings of both these sectarian movements are not in the hands of religious fanatics, but slim and astute “nationalists.” In the name of na- tional unity they have always affected a pious horror'at the mention of class struggle, as it would endanger the material” interests of their friends and patrons—the propertied classes. But they are only too willing to create divisions among the workers along Unity for the Railroad Workers in America (Continued from page 1). of the various railroad trades and under the leadership of the militant and progressive element lead the workers out of their present predica- ment, The rank and file workers are demanding that a halt be called to any further retreats and a general forward movement begun, What Is the Present Situation? The “open shop” drive of the Amer- iean capitalists was centered princi- pally on the basic ihdustries of the country. In the railroad industry sev- eral of our unions were compelled to meet almost single handed vicious frontal attacks of the solidly united companies. Having been singled out and failing to get the support of their brother trades, deadly blows were de livered to many of them. ‘This is par- ticularly true of the seven shopmen’s unions involved in the great railroad strike of 1922-23. Due to the divided condition of the unions and the anci- ent policy of craft organization, the workers in these trades were compel- led to fight alone against the compan- jes. The resultant loss of member- ship in these trades was tremendous, This applies also to other organiza- tions not directly engaged in strikes. Over Million to Be Organized. The Workers in the railroad indus- try are now reaping the fruit of the folly of craft division in their ranks. The loss in membership has gone on to the extent that at the present time, of a total number of nearly 2,000,000 workers employed on the American railways, far less than half are organ- ized into the bona fide trade unions. Other. than the four transportation brotherhood§ and possibly one or two more organ ations, the vast majority of workers of the different trades are outside orth regular unions, Of the wore than @ million unorganized 7 “spiritual” lines. The peasants and craftsmen, the mill hands and petty traders who are made cat’s paws in, these conflicts have nothing to gain, by these pseudo- religious and pseudo-racial dissen- sions. “What had the wretched Mo- hammedan dinghi-wallas (boatmen) of the Hoogly to gain by breaking the heads of Hindu menials engaged in the public gardens of Calcutta? Their economic demands, and even cultural interests, as, for instance, universal primary education, are identical irre- spective of fecria differences. a He Not Really Religious. O fundamental religious question is at issue. The immediate quar- rel is over the allocation of seats in the legislatures and the jobs in the public services—things with which the overwhelming bulk of the unrepresent- ed and illiterate population has no concern. (Three per,cent of the pop- ulation has votes, and 7 per cent is literate.) Even the, apparently reli- gious question of conversion and re- conversion to Islam and back to Hin- duism has assumed importance be- cause of its possible effect on the numerical strength of the future elec- torates. " Neo-Hinduism and Pan-Islamism are different manifestations of the sup- pressed jingoism of the Indian upper classes. Neither have any benefits— material or cultural—to confer on the toilers in the fields and factories. the industry, great numbers of them are in company unions and the bal- ance are in no unions at all. This large mass of total, unorganized, to- gether with the company unions, are a standing menace in the railroad in- dustry, and present a condition that is fraught with the most serious dan- gers to the organized section of the workers. Ane Wage Reductions. So effective has: been the union smashing campaign ot the companies that many of the poorly organized trades today find that they have prac- tically nothing whatever to say about their wages and Working conditions. Not only was the wational agreement abolished in 1922, which meant great wage losses, but- with it has gone since then long established rules gov- erning working conditions and rates of pay. The companies are using every means to reduce wages and block increases, amd they have been all too successful their efforts. Ac- cording to wage Statistics issued by the interstate commerce commission a large percentage of the railroad workers are not only receiving in wages an amount recognized as the minimum for a decent standard of living, but over 300,000 of them are receiving the miserable sum of 40 cents per hour or less. Company Unions, At the same time company unions on the railroads have developed at an alarming pace, Tens of thousands of workers on scores of railroads thruout the country have been cor- ralled under threat of discharge into these boss-controlled o1 izations, In these so-called ‘ " the workers find themselves lutely powerless to defend their “interests. The com- pany unions are Abg-cancer that is eat- ing at the very heart of railroad union- that they would cheerfully appoint Indians to the higher waged posts when capacity to fill them was shown. Anyhow, as the facts stand today, there is no union co-operation between European and Indian workers. Docker’s Union. There is a dockers’ union at Cal- cutta with a large membership; but there were considerable complaints regarding its structure and operations, whether well founded or not I cannot say, There is a strong seamen’s union on the Hoogly, but the Bengal Jute Workers’ Union is today only a small affair. Here, however, there is great promise, if Mr. Kali Das, who ‘struck me as an able, conscientious, and courageous organizer, can get finan- cial assistance from Britain. I Mave appealed publicly thru the Forward for subscriptions to the amount of £100, which sum he and Mr. Joshi believe is all that is necessary to give the necessary impetus to the organiza- tion. Women Work Underground. On the Jheria coalfield, where there are 100,000 workers—60,000 women still work underground in India—and where wages are miserably low, there is a small attempt at a Colliers’ Union. With the intermittent Santhal labor engaged on the minefield, it will be a difficult business organizing an effect- ive union, as conditions are today, but I believe that if the Jute Workers’ Union in Bengal is successful, it could send speakers and organizers into the coalfield and act as a prop to the mine workers in at least the initial stages of union activity. Of one thing I am certain. We on this side in our own interests, if from no other motive, will require to take an active and sustained part in the guiding up of workers’ organizations in India, Our standards are being menaced and undermined by the gross, savage, ruthless exploitation of our defenceless Indian brethren. BUFFALO CENTRAL LABOR UNION AIDS PASSAIC STRIKERS Calls Upen Lvesl Unions to Donate Funds (Special to The Daily Worker) BUFFALO, N. ¥., May 2.—The Buf- falo Central Labor Council, at its reg- ular meeting, went on recoré in favor of aiding in every way within its power the strike of the 16,000 striking textile workers of Passaic. It adopted a resolution strongly con- demning the vicious tactics of the po- lice and courts in trying to break the strike and advises all local unions and other labor bodies to come to the aid of the strikers. Buffalo on the Job. The workers in this city are show- ing a deep interest in the Passaic strike, as is evidenced by the fact that many local unions and fraternal organizations have “Sent sums of money to the strikers and a house-to- house collection staged under the auspices of the International Workers’ Aid resulted in contributions of $183. Open your eyes! Look around! There are the stories of the workers’ struggles around you begging to be written up. Do it! Send It in! Write as vou fight! ism and must be smashed before they further undermine the structure of the bona fide organizations, More Work Per Man. Hand in hand with the weakening of the regular unions has gone on an unparallelled exploitation of the worffers, Steady increases in the amount of transportation service ren- dered by the average railroad worker are shown in a U. S. department of labor analysis of railroad ‘statistics, from 1922 up to the present time, During this period we find an in- crease of 11.3 per cent in the amount of traffic handled per man-hour of work. The railroads in 1925, thru their sweating and speeding-up pro- cesses, were getting 11.3 per cent more service in return for each hour’s work, Since 1922, and while the unions were being crushed, wages reduced, efficiency systems inaugurated, and large numbers of workers were thrown out of employment, the railway com- panies have been piling up record- breaking profits, New Forces Developing, Obviously this situation could not continue indefinitely, On the one haiid, the intense struggle between the workers and the companies deepens; increasing exploitation and by driving down the standards of the workers, they are forced forward by the strug: gle to a realization of their interests and the necessity for rebuilding th unions and increasing their industrial power in their own defense, On the other hand, by the same process, the old methods of combatting the com- panies are compelled to reveal their ineffectiveness and the impossibility of defending or adv: inter. ests of the workers. and the logic of the situation are breaking CHARGE ROCKEFELLER INTERESTS RAN CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE, ST. PAUL RAILROAD INTO A RECEIVERSHIP | ane zis eT By LELAND OLDS, Federated Press. Facts developed from the testimony of the directors before the inten- state commerce commission investigation of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul receivership indicate that the wreck of the road was due in considerable measure to Rockefeller control thru dummy directors. Some of these directors apparently had no qualifying interest in the road and paid scant attention to its conduct, ~ Waste Millions, Millions of dollars of St. Paul money were wasted in buying the Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern and the Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary. Tens of millions were poured into electrifying the “Puget Sound extension, to the enormous profit, of the Rockefeller An- aconda copper interests. Percy Rockefeller, formerly a St. Paul director, admitted that he con- tinued to sit in. at board meetings after he had resigned to meet the re- quirements of the, Clayton act. He ad- mitted family control of at least 60,000 shares of St. Paul stock and could recollect no. important instance in which the board of directors had ever opposed his wishes. ‘In 1923-24 he was director of 39 corporations, including Anaconda Copper, “Bethlehem Steel, National City Bank;Remington Arms, and the United’ Electric Light & Power Co., thé ~Anavonda-controlled company from*which “ag St. Paul pur- chases power. ""' Rockefeller Admits Control. Rockefeller, as the climax of six hours’ questioning, admitted that thru the Owenoke Corp., a private finance company, he received $50,000 of bonds as his share of the commission to Sam- uel Pryor for selling the Gary road to the St. Paul. He had previously de- nied profiting in any way from the purchase of this road by the St. Paul, altho admitting that he favored it. He had not told President Byram of the St. Paul to buy the Gary road, but merely to look into it, he said. Apparently Byram understood, for altho the Gary securities were selling below par they were taken over and guaranteed ab:par. The result of the purchase has;)begn a loss to the St. Paul estimated by the interstate com- merce commission at more ‘than $3,- 300,000. Combine with the Terre Haute this meant an added burden to the St. Paul of more than $10,000,000 and $22,000,000/added to its liabilities. Samuel Pryor, partner in the Owen- oke corporation; presented a long statement to'éxonerate Rockefeller on the $50,000*ommission. The state- ment had been corrected by Rocke- feller. Pryor admitted it looked rather queer. Pryor is a Rockefeller director of 23 corporations, including Ameri- can Brake Shoe & Foundry, Baldwin Locomotive, Mechanies & Metals Na- tional Bank, Nash Motors and Rem- ington Arms, . His testitmony revealed the private finance corporation as merely a Rockefeller tool for masking control of industry. Electrification Aids Rockefeller. John D. Ryait;'copper king, testified that while he was a director of the St. Paul and ‘at the same time chair- man of the Anaconda Copper Co., the St. Paul had purchased from the Ana- conda $5,500,000 of copper thru the United Metals:,Co., selling agency for the Anaconda. ‘Rockefeller, a director of United “Metals, had previously tes- tified that/:St.: Paul purchases from Anaconda ‘had. been comparatively small. Ryan admitted that as a di- rector of the Montana Power Co, and the Great Falls Power Co. he had fa- vored electrifying the St. Paul as a great thing for his power interests. This is said to have cost the St. Paul about $200,000,000, Lesser directors admitted they had little or no financial interest in the railroad. President McHugh of the Rockefeller Mechanics & Metals Na- _ tional Bank testified he wes made “| director when he owned no share of its stock, altho this is contrary to law, The statement of the St. Paul's attor- ney indicated that this director's qual- ifying shares had been purchased for him by the company without his knowledge. E. S, Harkness, one of the largest bond and shareholders; ad- mitted very limited knowledge of''the* management. He knew the ‘Terre Haute was not a paying proposition when the St. Paul leased it and that its acquisition was due probably ‘to bad judgment.~ He also testified: that had he known certain facts about elec- trifying the road, particularly figures upon which comparative costs of. op- eration had been based, he might AOeP formed different opinions, Los Angeles Unions Aid Passaic Strikers J LOS ANGELES, May 2. — Nearly $1,000 has already been collected and sent to the textile strikers from unions and other workers’ organiza- tions. An organized drive will be started in May to raise more funds, The joint May Day labor committee will donate 50% of the proceeds of the May Day mass meeting to this fund. Among the first organizations to send in contributions to Passaic were the Painters’ Union No, 1348, $104; Workers (Communist)* Party, $67; Office Employes’ Union, $15; Women’s \ Consumers’ Educational League, $75. — f The Musicians’ Union, one of largest in the city, taxed each mem- ber $1 for this purpose. The Women’s Consumers’ Li ie announces that in a few days several fhundred dollars will be sent in. as.a result of their banquet and concert benefit. The Young Pioneers of Los Angeles have also started a relief campaign for the strikers’ children, to sell 150 books of 10-cent meal tickets, Several local labor papers are run- ning weekly news items on the drive to raise funds, which is bringing the truth of the Passaié strike to the labor movement, despite the con- spiracy of silence on the part of most of the press. RUSSIAN TRADE UNIONS INVITE BRITISH LABOR TO ATTEND CONGRESS \ eine MOSCOW, U.S. S. R., May 2— The presidium of the All-Russian Trade Union Council of the Soviet Union has invited representatives of «+ the general council of the British. Trade Union Congress to attend the Seventh Trade Union Congress which will be opened in ‘November | in Moscow. (mt ‘ conquest of working class power, The solution of the wage and or ganization questions in the railroad industry lies in joint campaigns par- ticipated in and supported by -all trades. To make a dent on the com- panies, the entire strength of all unions must be mobilized. Every live member of the different trades must be utilized and drawn into the work of organizing everybody in the industry. This is the paramount issue which confronts all sincere railroad unton- ists who would be constructive and recover the ground lost during the last four years. The A BC of the present situation, and the hard’ facts of past experience still fresh in our minds, is {inevitably convincing the * workers of the correctness of» the united front policy. Be, The Left Wing 4 ne meray path tn tos and let matters rest at that, as when confronted ‘ith, realities, posed by. certain Leacge will. never Unions Are won. et of Struggle. do. There must new life, new Railroad unionism has no meaning| methods, a new hope and inspiration save as a weapon of esas of the workers against the companies. Rail- road unionism, when it is preached as an “ideal” apart from the struggles of the workers, or as an intrument with which to co-operate with the com- panies, becomes only a duping and enslaving of the workers. Railroad unionism as an ideal only has mean- ing when its whole propaganda and bjective 18 concentrated on the de- struction of the power of the compan- jes and the developing of industrial power by the workers to enhance their own 1 In the light alternative utopias, but on the basis « unionism and’ making way for the new. Old Policy Bankrupt. Have the old leaders learned a les- son from past experiences? Appar- ently not. When we listen to the host of new formulas that are being poured out to the membership as panaceas for the presént shortcomings of the unions, we ‘ffhd’’that we are still on the old and ‘familiar, ground. The “new” policies are the time-worn old methods comealedin new phrases. The fashionable eatchword for the mo- ment is “coOperation” between the companies ahd’ thé unions. Yet the division in the fanks of the workers is allowed to, at dictional “AoE Mente between the unions. is still. the order of the day. “Pure and simple craft unions,” “co- operation” and. the . ‘whole mess of class coll truly the prac- tical expressions. of a bankrupt policy tions in the industry and holds out the only hope for the future, It is built upon the firm foundation of the eco- nomic needs and interests of the workers. : < ce As Me yet Policy of the old school to al " in the air which only strangle unions and bata cape d! their the program of the left wing A 100 per cent union industry! Joint action by all sixteen sae