The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 8, 1926, Page 1

Ui The DAILY WORKER Raises the Standard for a Workers’ and Farmers’ Government Vol. Ill. No. 100, Subscription Rates: LAST STRIKE BULLETINS AS WE GO TO PRESS POLICE ATTACK’ CROWD. LONDON, May 6.—Several times during the day mounted police cleared the East India Dock Road of demonstrators, which included a number of un- employed. - Elght arrest were made. A few were taken to the hospital suffering from minor injuries as the result of clashes with the police. * fi * * * FIRST STRIKE DEATH. LONDON, May 6.—The first death in the strike was announced this after- noon. During a hearing in the magistrates court at London Tower Bridge it was revealed that one man had been killed as the result of a clash in Southwark. * * * * 80 BUSSES WRECKED. LONDON, May 6.—Eigty Busses, which went on the streets today in defiance of the general strike, were so badly damaged that they had to be withdrawn from operation, it was announced this afternoon, * * * * POOR RELIEF STOPS. LONDON, May 6.—The government took a drastic step tonight when the ministry of health ordered all payments for poor law relief suspended this week end. * * * RUSSIAN WORKERS SEND FUNDS. MOSCOW, U., S. S. R., May 6.—The executive committee of the All-Rus- sian Federation of Trades Unions passed a resolution today to appeal to all union members and workers in Soviet institutions to contribute one-quarter of one day's wages to the striking British workers. In this manner 3,500,p00 rubles will be raised. There already has been sent to the general English trade council ‘2,500,000 rubles, * * * * U. S. WOOL MARKET AFFECTED. SAN ANGELO, Texas, May 6.—Contracting of Texas spring wool has virtually ceased here as a result of the British strike. More than a dozen wool buyers with headquarters in San Angelo, known as the leading inland wool market, yesterday discontinued all offers, * * * * JAPANESE WORKERS PLEDGE AID. TOKYO, May 6—The Japan Federation of Labor today pledged its moral and financial support to the British strikers, and cabled its resolutions to England. A epecial-committes was appointed to solicit Tunds. * * * * MEXICANS TO HELP STRIKERS. MEXICO CITY, May 6.—It is reported that the Regional Confederation of Labor is taking steps to curtail or prevent shipments of Mexican foodstuffs, petroleum and other vital products to England, considering financial assistance to the The confederation also is British strikers, The Day in the House of Commons (Special to The Daily WorkerY LONDON, May 6.—Interest was at # fever heat this afternoon when the house of commons convened. Sir William Joynson-Hicks, home secretary, indicated that the govern- ment is still standing upon its policy ef no resumption of negotiations un- til the general strike is called off, when he renewed his motion that par-| liament approve the continuance of the state of emergency regulations for @ perlod of a month. Herbert Smith and other members of the miners’ federation executive were in the galleries to listen to the debate. Jones Answers Hogg Sir Douglas Hogg defended the emergency regulations and declared that the mine owners had the right to operate their mines with strikebreak- ers. “That is the most provocative state- ment made since this dispute started and it is an open challenge to the miners’ federation, and as such we ac- copt it,” intervened Mardy Jones, la- borite M. P., from the Welsh. coal dis- trict. Lansbury’s Criticism. George Lansbury, popular laborite, moved the elimination of the govern- ment regulation making it a criminal offense to commit an act likely to cause mutiny. “The miners are asking for justice and a jiving wage,” said Lansbury, “and all this house can do is spend hours in passing, wretched and coer- cive legislation which is a disgrace to the British parliament.” ’* “I strongly protest against confer ring these powers on this disgraceful, rotten British government,” shouted David Kirkwood, Scotch laborite, “A TWO PAGES O STRIKE PICT | FROM ENGLAND! SATURDAY, MAY 8 | Latest photographs from the it ers—photos of leading figures and of action, RUSH (Wire) YOUR ORDERS! At Regular Price of 3/2 Cents a Copy, The Best Strike Edition of Any Labor Paper in America, man ought to have a trial before he is thrown in jail.. We object to hav- ing these powers placed in the hands of any insignificant creature whom this disreputable government ap- points.” “Forty thousand men in East Lon- don who returned from the war are and fight again,” declared Jack Jones, the stormy laborite of Silvertown, in a dramatic moment. Jones, who was yesterday admon- ished by the speaker for referring to Lord Hugh Cecil ag “the noble hum- bug” was again in a truculent mood today ang the former dock worker broke loose with bitter invective, ad- dressing Sir Douglas Hogg, attorney- general, who had been defending the government's policy. “You may discover soon that we have bigger cards to play,” shouted Jones,, shaking his fist at the minis- terial benches, “If it is going to be a fight, do your damndest, We are out to fight.” Soviets Cancel Food Shipments to England During General Strike RIGA, May 6—The Engish steamer Dago was disappointed when it moor- ed to a Riga dock with orders to load a large shipment of butter for Eng- land, The captain was told by a local official of the Soviet Trade delegation that the consignment had been can- celled in Moscow. It is reported: here that all shipments of food-stuff to England during the general strike have been stopped by the soviets. F URES strike of five million English work the latest pictures from the scene In Chicago, by mail, $8.00 per year, Outside Chicago, by mall, $6.00 per year. UwiN’§ ready to put their back to the wall; Entered at Second-class matter September 21, 1928, at the Post Office at Chicago, Wlinols, under the Act of March 3, 1879, GREEN REFUTES STORY THAT HE CONSULTED CAL Machinist Heads Sup- port British Strike (By Federated Press.) WASHINGTON, May 6. — Due to the fact that a telegraphic press agency had suggested that President Green, of the American Federation of Labor, might consult President Coo- lidge before making a statement, the head of the A. F. of L. vigorously denied having had any communication with Coolidge or with anyone near to him, He had not even seen John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers of America, who has reported as consulting Coolidge on American coal legislation, President Green issued the following statement on the British general strike, immediately after his return to the capital, May 4, from his home in Ohio: “Press dispatches convey the infor- mation that peace negotiations have broken down and the general strike which was threatened in Great Britain has become an established fact. Natur- ally, this has created a most grave situation and one which causes a feel- ing of deep concern in the minds of all thinking people. This is the first time a general strike has been resort- ed to in Great Britain. The working people in the United States will ob- serve with keen interest this experi- mentation. in the use of the sympa- thetic strike as a means of bringing about the settlement of a wage con- troversy in a single industry, Danger Involved. “The great danger ihvolved in a general or sympathetic strike is the possibility that the original grievances which are the primary causes of the strike and which are, in this case, meritorious may be ‘lost sight of be- cause of the charge that the general strike is a challenge to government and to the existence of government. The issues of the strike become ob- scured and the public mind becomes confused. Public opinion, in Great Britain, might support the workers in their demand for the redress of just grievances whereas it would solidly support the government in its efforts to maintain control of the government. “The American Federation of Labor is strongly committed to the policies of collective bargaining, of wage con- tracts and the observance of wage agreements. It will not depart from this well established policy. It has made its greatest progress thru a reli- gious observance of contract obliga- tions. In my opinion the organizations (Continued on page 2.) FUR BOSSES CLASH OVER STRIKE TERMS Hot Meeting R ejects Samuel’s Leadership NEW YORK, May 6—Reports have reached the Furriers’ union headquar- ters from the meeting of manufactur- ers held in Hotel Pennsylvania and it is stated that Samuel N. Samuels, president of the Associated Fur Manu- facturers, Inc, has acknowledged at last that the . proposed compromise eight points are dead. Mr. Samuels told ,reporters that he had taken a vote at the meeting by secret ballot,.and, the majority favor- ed abandoning any attempt to recon- sider them, " Mr. Samuels, resented the sugges- tion that a large number of the manu- facturers did not support his stand against giving in to the union's de- mand for a 40-hour week; and he also strongly resented the question as to whether the manufacturers’ meeting had been quiet and orderly, Rumors were that the employers had engaged in a battle royal as a re- sult of thelir heated discusions, but Mr. Samuels emphatically denied that this was true, He acknowledged that one speaker has been booed and hissed, but he declared he quelled this noise immediatelly. Nothing so undignified is permitted at gatherings of manufacturers, Whether the manufacturers have decided to re-open conferences for settlement on the union’s terms is not known. It will probably be aunounced in a few days, \ SATURDAY, MAY 8, 1926 PUBLIS. aE 290 S. SAKLATVALA, Communist member of parliament who was sentenced to two months in prison for violating the powers act. ENGDAHE AND JAKIRA JAILED ON FRAMED UP CHARGE IN PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH, Pa. May 6—Ab- ram Jakira and J. Louis Engdahl were locked up in the Allegheny county jail at 3 o'clock yesterday under pretense of violating ordin- ance 57 of Pittsburgh. After sen- tence was pronounced of $10 fine or 5 days in jail, Comrades Jakira and Engdah! refused to pay the fine. They were then sentenced to jail for 5 days. Engdah! and Jakira will not get a hearing on a writ of habeas corpus until Saturday, May 8, at 9:30, ac- cording to “statement of George J. Shaeffer, attorney for defense, thru deliberate quibbling of the court on trying to keep them in to serve full sentence. MILITANCY OF MINERS SPURS T. U, CONGRESS Rank and File Rallied for Struggle emergency William F. Dunne, whose articles describing the background of the great struggle of British labor began yesterday, has just returned from England where he spent a month in the closest contact with the move- ment, men and conditions of which he writes. sees By WILLIAM F. DUNNE, Third Article. A. J. Cook, secretary of the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain, is an hon- est and militant official. He was elect- ed because he supported the program of the left wing in the union for na- tionalization of the mines and a na- tional minimum wage. Cook had con- fidence in the rank and file. He felt that they were fed up with unkept promises and were prepared to fight) the basic program of the Coal Com-! mission report—wage reductions, in- creases in hours and the break-up of the miners’ union thru a system of district agreements. He was sure, moreover, that the miners understood that back of the mine owners and the coal commission stood the British gov-| ernment and that they should also un- derstand that in rejecting the com- mission report and deciding for strike action they must engage in an open struggle with ‘the state power. The official leadership of the labor party was more concerned with eject- ing the Communists and warring on the left ,wing. than with the troubles of the miners. Nationalization of the mines and a minimum wage based on the cost of (Continued on page 3) LECTURE BY WICKS IN CHICAGO TONIGHT AT MARQUETTE HALL The Young Workers’ League has arranged for an educational lecture on the question of “Communism and Religion” tonight, with H. M. Wicks, editor writer for The DAILY WORKER, as lecturer, The lecture will be delivered at eight o'clock this evening, at Mar- quette Hall, 1910 West Roosevelt Road. ‘ Admission ‘is free and there will be questions at the close of the leo- ture, Published Daily except Sunday by THE DAILY WORKER NEW YORK EDITION Price 3 Cents HING CO., 1113 W, Washington Blvd., Chicago, UL 0. M.S. IS FAILURE ENTHUSIASM OF \Saklatvala Is Arrested : BRITISH LABOR IS UNBOUNDED Harder to Keep Them in |Than to Call Them Out By W. N. EWER, Special Cable to Federated Press. W. N. Ewer is the foreign editor of the London Daily Herald, official or- gan of the Trade Union Congress and the British labor party, whose paper has been stopped by the government. LONDON, May 6. — “The stoppage is complete,” said the official announ- | cement of the British Trade Union Congress yesterday. That summarizes the situation. From one end of the country to the other the call of the trades union general council was answered with a unanimity and enthusiasm surpassing even the most confident expectations of the trade unions. All the railroads, all other transport including docks ex- cept for food delivery, all the iron and steel industry, all building except housing and all printing work is shut | down almost universally. Not 20 Trains. Yesterday morning not 20 trains were running except those with per- mitted goods. All docks are idle with similar exceptions. The street car and bus services in every town are at a standstill except for a few busses run by the so-called volunteers or} strikebreakers. The “British Worker.” Except for two or three provincial sheets of local circulation not a single newspaper was printed yesterday. This morning the government pub- lished The British Gazette, printed by strikebreaking volunteers in the plant of The Morning Post. The London Times appeared as a small litho- graphed sheet. This afternoon the general council of the Trades Union Congress replied with The British Worker, a strike bulletin printed at the London Daily Herald plant. Hard to Keep Them In. The enthusiasm for the strike is amazing. The trouble is not to bring the workers out but to keep on their jobs those not yet ordered on strike. Complete order prevails except for a few trivial disorderly incidents. P Troops. Nevertheless the government is al- ready sending troops into the mining and other working class areas. This and the enrollment of volunteers who are nothing but strikebreakers, usual- ly from the middle and upper classes, may lead to trouble unless very care- fully handled, as their actions become | provocative. | London streets these mornings pres- | ent the most extraordinary spectacle. From all the bourgeeis suburbs thous- ands of small cars are streaming in such numbers that they effectively choke all, roads. Car owners coming four or five miles often require two hours for the trip and are hopelessly | left behind by the workers striding | in on’ foot. | 4,000 American Firms | Tied Up in England “(Special to The Daily Worker) LONDON, May 6—Four thousand American firms doing business in Great Britain have been severely af- fected by the general strike. “Ameri- can business is standing side by side with British business in the strike thus far,” said C, D. Lyon, commercial attache of the American embassy. “The General Motors Corporation, Armotir Packing Co. and the General Electric Co, are the biggest branches ot American business in Englandsand all of them are hard hit by the strike,” Lyon said. Biedenkapp Wins Out in Free Speech Fight The appellate court reversed the lower court yesterday in deciding that street corner speaking is legal in the case of Fred G. Biedenkapp who was arrested while making a speech at the corner of Milwaukee Ave and Dickin- son streets last July. The police arrested Biedenkapp and charged him with disorderly conduct for saying in his speech that “The United States government was send- ing troops abroad to protect Wall Street interests in foreign countries and is right now sending troops to China to protect the interests of J. P. Morgan there.” The court ruled that free speech must not be interfered with unless the speaker preaches revo- lution, {newspapers that have been at-+ Labor Grows Firmer; London Printers Out BULLETIN. LONDON, May 6.—The widely advertised O. M. S. Maintenance of Supplies) established by the Baldwin government and for which it enlisted the support of the fascist elements, giving them official recognition in return for their support of this strikebreaking department, has proven a colossal failure. The extent of the failure of any large section of the British population to respond to the invitation to take the places of strikers is seen in the gov- (Organization for | ernment figures on the enrollment in the O. M.S. since the calling of the strike. In England, Scotland and Wales only 63,000 persons have answered the call for strikebreakers. In London only 13,000 have responded. lm London alone more than 100,000 men are required to maintain a minimum of transportation. The government figures show that during the first days of the strike when the morale of its supporters is naturally at its highest point the only response was from the ranks of government officials and their families—recipients of tory patronage. hae ie ee (Special to The Dally Worker) LONDON, May 6.—The third day of the strike finds the forces of labor growing stronger and more united while the efforts of the government to release itself and the nation from the ter- rific tie-up effected by the strike have not met with success. Volunteers are much scarcer than had been predicted by the government and their inexperience adds to the extreme difficulty the government confronts in operating the most skeleton trans- portation services. Troops have had to be relied upon for moving food to relieve the shortage already beginning to make itself evident. The Trade Union Congress backed up its statement that it has no thought of being intimidated by the government ultimatum to cease the general strike by calling out 15,000 London com- positors. This also serves the purpose of stopping the makeshift BRITISH EMPIRE IS ON DECLINE, SAYS ROME FASCIST PUBLICATION tacking the strike and calling! for support of the government. Saklatvala, the Communist mem- | ber of parliament who was arrested yesterday and released on bonds, | was arraigned before a magistrate today and given a two-month jail sentence for “sedition.” Government Works Stop. The general strike struck at the! heart of the government today when 800 employes of the office of works, ROME, Italy May 6. — L’impero, a fascist newspaper, says the British strike is the beginning of the decline of the British empire. “We are watching with emotion and with literate their satisfaction with the un- which has responsibility for maint: ing light and power to all public buildings as well as Buckingham} = Palace, went on sirike. |Lloyd George and Sir John Simon, Troop Movements Continue. jleaders of the liberal party, were in Altho the government is careful not| conference attempting to reach e@ to flaunt too large contingents Of) pasis for aysettlement. It is also re troops in the strike centers, martial) ported that J. H. Thomas has held movements continue thruout the king:| conversations with members of the dom. Warships swing at anchor in|government. But the view of the the Thames, the Mersey, the Clyde | strike leaders’ and government min- and in all important British harbors. | igters is-that a deadlock has been T. U. C. Satisfied. . {reached and that neither side is pre- Trade union officials continue their| pared to talk peace. busy direction of the strike and re-} | Stmclade Lewis! Relects the Pulitzer Prize Profound interest this tragedy of history.” precedented show of solidarity among; the workers. A brief communique is- | sued from thelr Eccleston Square headquarters said, “The situation con-} NW YORK, May 6. — Sinclair tinues satisfactory.” A. J. Cook, sec: Lewis has informed the Pulitzer retary of the miners, was emphatic) award committee that he refuses the in his denial that the trade union of-| award of a prize of $1,000 granted him ficials have any thought of making| because of their decision that “Ar- any move for peace, rowsmith,” his latest novel is consi- On the government side, spokesmen| dered as the best novel of the year. in the house restated the government | Lewis says that all prizes, like all ultimatum for the discontinuation of| titles, are dangerous and the Pulitzer the strike before negotiations could be| Prize is peculiarly objectionable and resumed and the session this after-| he considers every compulsion is put noon was marked by the bitterest at-| "Pon writers to become “safe, sane, tacks from the labor benches yet ex-| Polite, obedient, and sterile.” perienced by any government. The| He denies that the prize is given for Britsih Gazette, official organ of the| the greatest literary merit, but that it government, declared in today’s is-| is actually leading to a supreme court, sue: “There can be compromise of | * coliege of cardinals, so rooted and any kind. Either the government will| °° sacred that to challenge them will break the general strike or the general be to commit blasphemy. He asks strike will break the country.” ; other Packet to oe baton ; . jany prize “is worth such subserv- Strikers Active. fence.” Clashes continue to occur as strikers refuse to allow scabs and O. Mm M. S. volunteers to operate trans- Lublin Lawyers portation services, Strikers are active | especially in the working class quar: | Refuse to Defend Communist Workers ters of London, Poplar, Brixton and India Docks, along the Clydeside and, a in Edinburgh in Scotland and in all) LUBLIN, Poland, May 6.—The law- the great industrial centers in the! yers’ association of the Lublin dis north and west, where they refuse to} trict has prohibited lawyers of Lub- allow busses, trams or trains to oper-| lin from defending Communists, ate, This action of the Lublin lawyers’ association has met with a protest today that! from many newspapers, No Peace. Reports were current A Message from Haywood Wm. D. Haywood, famous American class war exile, now residing in the Soviet Union, has addressed the fol- lowing spirited cable to the labor movement of this coun- try thru the Workers (Communist) Party asking full sup- port of all workers in America to the present great struggle of the British proletariat: Workers of America! General:strike in Great Britain demands your wholehearted support. Each and all should exert individual and united effort on behalf of workers struggling for better conditions. now. : It is your fight, help WILLIAM D. HAYWOOD,