The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 22, 1926, Page 4

~ 9 \Page Four THE DAILY WORKER Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. 1113 W. Washington Blvd. Chicago, Il). SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mall (In Chicago only): By mail (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 Phone Monroe 4712 Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ilinols J, LOUIS ENGDAHL \ WILLIAM F. DUNNE MORITZ J. LOE! —_—_— Entered as second-class mail September 21, 1923, at the post-office at Chi- cago, Ill, under the act of March 3, 1879. . Advertising rates on application, What Is Politics to Catholics? A Catholic prelate from Mexico visiting the Eucharistic Con- _ &ress announces that, as against the Mexican republic’s law against priests mixing in politics: “We cannot take up arms, and we will not enter politics.” At the same time the holy man, who prefers not to allow his name to, be used, but who obviously speaks for the “sacred college” of Rome, declares that the Catholic church is the “only one agency” which can prevent “radicalism” in Mexico. He adds that “from the * beginning, the church has done everything in its power to combat Bolshevism.” We do not know the Catholic definition of words,, but ours is that “combating Bolshevism” or even “preventing radicalism” is “politics.” The prelate’s disclaimer of “entering politics” is there- fore seen as lacking truth about 100 per cent. The same goes for his declaration against “taking up arms.” Everyone knows, who knows anything, that the Catholic church backed the armed rebellion of De la Huerta. Why? Because the Mexican government was giving back some of the lands to the poor peasants that had been seized by force and held in enormous tracts by great agrarian capitalists. This is both entering politics and taking up arms. What is the purposé of this great congress being held in America? By admission of the secretary of the Eucharistic Con- gress, Count D’Yanville, when he landed in New York, the holding of the congress here has “very much to do with the Mexican Bitua- tion.” ’ Is it not “politics” when the powers of the church is urged upon the United States government to intimidate a neighboring and weaker republic? We think it is. Is it not “politics” when the princes of the church covertly or openly incite Americans against Mexicans in the interests of great landlords and Yankee concession- aires in Mexico? We think so. Also, we think that the American workers, who may be asked to invade Mexico and destroy its remnants of national indepedence for the benefit of imperialist looters, should know why they may be asked to don khaki and shoot their Mexican fellow workers. We aim to keep on telling them. s What’s the Matter with America? The fight of the British miners is the fight of all labor unions of the world. It should get a response of assistance in every way from the labor unions of the world. When the British government protested to the Soviet government because the labor unions of the Soviet Republics sent $1,300,000 to the British strikers and pledged to send $500,000 more, the central council of the labor unions of the U. 8. S. R. replied: “We helped, are helping and will continue to help the striking workers of England because their cause is our cause.” Nor are the Russian workers permitting any coal exports to go to Great Britain. What, by comparison, is the response by American labor to the call for help by the British miners? We are sorry to say that it has not been what it should have been, considering the boast that the A. F .of L. makes, a boast that it is the richest and most powerful body of organized labor in the world. The United Mine Workers have pledged $50,000. The Amalgamated Clothing Workers have sent $10,000, which is all very well as far as it goes, but not enough. What’s the matter with American labor? The workers of the labor unions in Soviet Russia donated a half or a quarter day’s pay. Are we to understand, William Green, that American labor is un- ( able to do as much as Soviet labor? Green, meanwhile is touring the west, making speeches against general strikes and ignores the appeal sent from British miners to the A. F. of L. There is no move from the bureaucracy of the A. F. of L. to stop coal shipments to Great Britain or to mobilize American unionists, whom’ we believe as sympathetic as any for their British brothers, for large relief funds. The.rank and file must take the << 290 initiative to do both these urgent tasks. Let the slogan be: “No coal to England! A relief fund to equal that of the Soviet workers to the British miners!” ON THE JO HERE'S A CONTEST: NEW JERSEY vs. CONNECTICUT. New York, District No. 2 in the sub campaign, has already won the prize | | of sending one candidate ty Moscow. They are now a good ways over forty _) thousand points. But this district is not satisfied. Not by a jug-full! “Not | one but Two” is the battle cry, now they are thinking of making it | | “Make It Three.” L, 1, Katterfield, eastern represenattive of The DAILY j WORKER writes: “We'll change it to three IF New Jersey and Connecticut fight it out: THIS WAY— i “New Jersey has over ninteen hundred points. Connecticut has around ' two thousand points. That's even and fair. If they step on it from now on i and raise a total of forty thousand points we'll send three to Moscow and we will spread a banquet for them to which we will invite every worker from Frisco to Shanghai, . . and couple extra.” WHAT SAY: JERSEY? CONNECTICUT? The speed of this contest will throw the dust into the bosses’ faces. | Until July fourth every reader ot The DAILY WORKER from either state | cal help to add to the glory of working class accomplishment in their terri- hae by sending in subs. Get one—send it in—push your state a few points H | of the other. On to Moscow! ‘ i ‘ THE DAILY WORKER By ROBERT DUNN. HE need for a labor party to unite the workers must be apparent to anyone Who ‘has observed the work- ings of the Tammany machine in New York City and its relation to the lead- ers of certain labor unions, The ob- ject of this article is merely to sketch some of the incidents in this relation- ship. The reader can judge for him- self what the effects of it must be upon the trade union leaders and upon the general problem of trade union political unity, To barter the “labor yote” for polit- ical preference has “been one of the favorite parlor tricks of the trade union leadership almost since the days when unions were first organized in this state. The labor leaders have ralways taken part in politics of the most partisan character, tho, of course, professing publicly that ghey were in- terested in the game only as “non- partisans.” And the labor leaders have for decades been more of less strenuously opposed by the socialists and socialist-laborites, who have claimed that the trading of votes for personal jobs was not the way to get labor ahead in the political field. One of the most militant and articulate ex- posers of the labor leader in this role was DanieleDe Leon, who declared in Season and out of season that the trade union leadership was betraying the workers at every election. In the national, state and local councils of labor the socialists carried on the same constant attack upon the “fat boys” who were feathering their nests by trading the labor vote for business and political jobs. Political Rewards. ° UN down the lists of the important officers of the New York State Federation of Labor, for example, and you find a goodly number of them who, found their way into happy politicAl positions thru these methods. Even before the days of the State Federation, when the state body was known as the Workingmen’s Assembly, we find the first president, Jim Con- nolly of the Practical Painters’ Union, ending up as a state factory inspector. He was followed by W. N. Thayer of the Typographical Union, who was later president of the common council of Troy and the warden of Dannemora prison, The next president, Tom Dow- ling, a blacksmith’s official, was re- warded by the position of state com- missioner of labor statistics. After | nim came Bill O’Brien of the granite cutters, who was later the sheriff of New York county. Then with the for mation of the State Federation of La- bor, we find Jim Lavery, a typograph- {cal man, the first president. He was later appointed to the state civil ser- vice commission. Martin Murphy of the molders followed Lavery. He, in turn, became a civil service commis- sioner in Buffalo and then went into business. The next executive was John Pallas of the pattern makers, who became park commissioner of Greater New York, while the next in line, W. O. Jones, graduated into the job of building \inspector at Utica. Finally we come to Jim Holland, the Present incumbent, who has held sev- eral appointive, tho apparently not so lucrative, offices from the state while still in labor office. He is now on the board of standards and appeals. The press on February 4 announced Holland’s appointment by Mayor Walker as a “lay member” of this board at a salary of $7,500. The New ; York Times says: “He formerly held the same position at a per diem rate of $10 for each session . .. but was dropped by Mayor Hylan after he came out in favor of Walker for mayor in the last campaign. If Mr. Holland retains his $5,000 position as head of the New York State Federation of La- bor, the two jobs will together net him a tidy income of $12,500 from sal- aries alone. The average factory worker in the state, it may be well to remember, earns annually, if em- ployed full time, approximately $1,250, or one-tenth of this amount. The same evolution of labor leaders could be followed thru all the other offices of the state federation. Among the secretaries and treasurers, vice- presidents and legislative agents who later held public offices were Alexan- ler Troup, later a collector of federal customs .under President Cleveland; Rhard Curran, now a member of the state industrial board; Edward Bates, later deputy secretary of state; John Williams, later a state labor commis- sioner; Patrick Doyle, later with the state railroad commission; Jim Lynch, now the head of the International Typographical Union and once the head of the state industrial commis- sion; Jim Hooley, appointed as state factory inspector; Jim McManus, a mediator in the state department of labor; Tom Fitzgerald, deputy com- pensation law commissioner in the Albany district; Jim Bogart, license commissioner of Greater New York; and Herman Robinson, also a license | commissioner following Bogart. The above list is only a hint of the graduations which take taken place of labor officials stepping out into sub- stantial state and city offices. As John O'Hanlon, the present secretary of the State Federation of Labor, says: “The long. list of vice-presidents and associate officers, accumulated during the past sixty years, contain many of the most notable names in trade union annals and of many now occupy- ing prominent places in business, pro- fessional and governmental cifcles.” (Emphasis ours.) The above are but a few examples out of the historical records of this state, rT'O come down to more recent days, @ look at the current shakings of eee The Tammany Machine and the Unions the plum tree will convince the most skeptical that the labor officials have not been slighted in return, for their services in the field of “non-partisan politics.” Take first the state depart- ment of labor, where labor men would most naturally be found. Some 28 are now on the roll and six of these belong to the class exempt from the civil service exdminations. These six are Mr. Curran, referred to above; Mr. Gernon, Mr. Deering, Mr. Gompers and Mr. Jackson. Mr. Donahue, who is a director of the bureau of workmen's compensation, probably achieved office because as an ffiocial of the Brother- hood of Locomotive Engineers, he had organized and acted as chairman of the “Railroadmen’s Non-Partisan League of Greater New York,” sup- porting Governor Smith. The other five appoinfees were apparently equally deserving democrats, ° Then we must not forget some of the present day luminaries ix the local and state labor movement, mentioning first Mr. Peter J. Brady, a former of- ficial of the photo engravers and the Allied Printing Trade Council.'He was for many years the supervisor of the City Record, the daily official publi- cation of the City of New York. The modest salary accompany this office is $6,500. Mr. Brady within the last year turned over this office fo a friend and now devotes his time to banking, being the president of the Federation Bank of New York. . Mr. Stephen Kelley, former presi- dent of the Allied Printing Trades Council, was very glad to pick up Mr. Brady’s job with the City Record. It is understood that in addition to the $6,500 the job carries with it a small amount of patronage. Double Salaries. TT\HEN we have Mr. John Sullivan, president of the New York Trades and Labor Council, a former official of the Brewery Workers’ Union. Since 1921 Mr. Sullivan has Held a $5,000 position as director of the industrial ald bureau of the city. Mr. James F. Costello of the executive council of the Central Trades and Labor Council, is assistant director of the same bu- reau, receiving $3,000 per;+annum in addition to his income front the Metal Polishers’ and Buffers’ Union,; Other labor officials whovnow hold honorary, or $10-a-session, positions in the city or state government,are such well-known ‘figures as Hugi Frayne, Jerome B. Keating, John Mubholland, John K. Hallett and several others. Alderman Kenneally, pal: of Brindell and a power in Tammany ‘circles, is still an official of the Steamfitters’ Union. After considering this list one can- not but be astonished at the eleventh hour developments in the presidential campaign of 1924, when the executive council of the Central Trades'and La- bor Couneil of New York City swung from LaFollette to Davis, accompanied by the officials of the Allied Printing Trades Council of the city?'and the state federation itself in the person of Jim Holland. The Tammany Tiger had only to swish its tail and these gentlemen walked away from their LaFollette pledges and delivered in a body to the Tammany candidate. One must remember alsoi that the “Al Smith Socialists” in the needle trades deserted their candidate, Dr. Thomas, and lined up witly Al. Just what the considerations wére is not known to this writer. Dro Thomas opines it was “rum, race and religion” that provided the issues on, which Al could amble away with the socialist vote. Whatever there may be in this, one cannot overlook the close political relations of the needle trades leaders and certain democratic politicians who had performed substantial favors for ‘e» trade union bureaucrats in their struggles against the left wing and the Communists. Support Smith’s Game. F course the labor leaders have been systematically “sold” to Smith for a good many terms, Al's platforms have reeked with civic righteousness and social reform. On the vital issues, however, and in the critical moments, he has not delivered. Take, for example, two of «the hardy perennials among the resolutions passed yearly by the New York State Federation of Labor-—child labor and The Strug By EARL R. BROWDER. (Part V.) ae The Cleavage Within the Labor Party, the Unions, and the General Council. R a week after the betrayal of the the British general strike Mr. Thomas and his friends had’ their way with the General Council.’ The so- called left wing appeared to be para- lyzed, without intelligence, energy, or initiative. Then resulting catastro- phis situation has shocked the entire labor movement, A terriffic reaction has set in, at first among the rank and file, and quickly reflecting itself among the leaders. It is yet too soon to prophesy exactly the lines along which this will develop. Important facts may, however, already be registered. First, beginning with the extreme left, the Communist Party has been incalculably strengthened. The most vicious government persecution has been directed against it and its mem- bers. At such a moment as this, in- evitably this creates a bond of sym- pathy between the Commuhist Party and the masses. This has been inten- sified by the very active part played by the Communists in e strike district; they have been present on ‘ ain the injunction. Al was, of course, pledged to smite them both. But the first he evaded when he saw that the Catholic church was anti-labor, So he forgot his pledge, knowing that labor, as usual, would forget his forgetting when it came time for another elec- tion! Then the injunction evil. Labor had always come out strongly against it, But the state democratic platform in 1924 slid over the issue and a few months later a labor-supported Justice Churchill was handing out injunctions against labor’on behalf of the Inter- national Tailoring Company. These are but typical examples of “labor's reward” in the way of protective leg- islation for dancing to the tune of the Tammany gangsters. But the labor leaders should worry. They get some- thing more tangible and personal than legislation. So they go on endorsing capitalist party candidates year after year, In 1925, with both a Workers’ Party and a socialist candidate on the ballot, the non-partisan political committee of the Central Trades and Labor Council, annex of Tammany Hall, endorsed democratic candidates for mayor, pres- ident of the Borough of Manhattan, judges, aldermen and on down the line. Of course, in the primaries the labor leaders sometimes make mis- takes. Witness Jim Holland, who came out for Hylan. But the Building Trades Council made him write a let- ter repudiating his action and telling Tammany his followers would back Walker, Tammany’s choice. Witness also Hylan trying to discipline his for- mer labor friends by taking a quarter of a million dollars of the city’s money from deposit at the Federation Bank. And Jimmie Walker putting it right back in again the minute he becomes mayor thru the support of the labor bankers. The workers’ rank and file should also take note of the mutual compli- ments and back slaps exchanged be- tween the “big” labor boys and the politicians around election time. The spectacle is interesting and informing. Says Senator Walker, for example, ad- dressing a Labor Day audience on Governors Island, 1925: “ .. « my congratulations to you (he was talking to the masses), for the great leaders you have picked out who come into official bodies with sober mind and strong hearts, with great intelligence and with a manifested understanding of what they were doing . . .” et cetera, et cetera—ad nauseum. And finally Calvin Coolidge himself addressing Peter Brady on the celebra- tion of the second anniversary of the Federation Bank in 1925: “We are now at the dawn of a new day for labor, and we firmly believe as a result of our experience and influence, also the dawn of a new era between the wage earners and their employers, between capital and labor.” Strikebreaker Cal's idea of the dawn, new era and the millenium will Geetha se i SiR Eek Be ROTA LS NOG A A NE, Rc AR St Ae A SN ET have been fully reached when every labor skate and every worker eats out of the bipartisan pot. The purpose of a Labor Party is to keep this dawn from ever breaking. Birth Control Gains Foothold in New York ALBANY, N. Y., June 18.—Steady increase of birth control in this state, despite the law against it, is indi- cated by figures just given out by the state department of health. The birth rate in April, 19.9 per 1,000, marked for the fourth successive month of this year the lowest point ever re- corded, the department declares. Since 1917, when the rate was 24.3, there has been a gradual downpull. The health department’s statement that 19.9 is “the lowest level ever recorded” in this state conflicts with figures given in the New York World Almanac, which shows a birth rate of 19.2 in 1902, 18.8 in 1901, and 19.7 in 1900. By ALEXANDE HE defenders and protectors of the present capitalist order of society are fond of speaking of the founders of the American republic as “our colonial fathers.” By this it is in- tended to call forth and’to cultivate among the masses a feeling of rever- ence and respect for Washington, Mar- shall, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton and all those statesmen and politicians who helped to shape events in the colonial period. a It would be easy to show that those who try to cultivate this tradition have themselves very little genuine reverence and respect for our colonial fathers. No more, at any rate, than they have for statesmen and poli- ticlans of recent periods, such as Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding and Coolidge. The purpose of those who cultivate this tradition |among the American masses is an economic and political purpose. It is good capitalist politics to have the masses believe that the founders of this republic were the fathers of the “people” and that the masses revere their memory. What is the reason for that? The Colonial Fathers Are the Founders of the Capitalist Government. Those who are spoken of as our colonial fathers were the fathers of the Constitution of the United States. They were the founders and makers of the American government. As in- dividuals they were neither better nor worse than any of the present day cap- italist politicians, Economically, s0- cially and politically they were, sub- ject to the same laws, pressures and influences as any statesman is. _ In the first place, they were by no means the united and harmonious fam- ily of supermen that they are pic- tufed to be in the traditional capitalist literature. Far from it. Our colonial fathers were as quarrelsome a bunch of capitalist politicans as any to be found in present day America. Nor were their political methods any dif- ferent or “cleaner” than those of a genuine politician of Tammany Hall. The only basic thing upon which our colonial fathers were united was their loyalty to the wealthy and powerful and in their opposition to the poor and exploited. The colonial fathers are the makers of our constitution and the founders of the government of the United States. Now, what kind of a consti- tution is it? And what kind of a gov- ernment is it? The Plight of the By WILLIAM SCHNEIDERMAN. a recent report made by the state labor commisisoner of California, the difficult position of the farmers and the agricultural laborers was re- vealed. There is a steadily increasing percentage of foreclosure of mort- gages, and even the most prosperous of the fruit growers in former years are now heavily indebted to the banks without the slightest hope of relief. It is well known that such powerful or- ganizations as the Raisin Growers’ Association are in difficult straits. The most typical example of the poverty of the farmer is that of the small hold- ers in Fresno county, the “vineyard of America.” Lose Wages. Here we find laborers working on a ranch for several months and after the harvest find themselves deprived of their hard-earned wages by the simple fact that the banks appropriate the entire crop and sometimes the prop- erty also in order to pay the debt which the farmer or ranch-owner finds himself buried under, Protect Bankers. According to the laws which pro- tect the “sacred” institution of private property, the banker's claim takes precedence over the claims of an or- dinary wage-slave. There is no legis- lation whatever in this state to sdfe- guard or guarantee a laborer that at the end of a season's work he will get paid. Even when there is legislation pass- ed to throw a sop to the poorer gle in Great Britain and inspiring and leading the less ac- tive members. 'URTHER, the Communist Party is now recognized to have been the first to give practical leadership in the organization of the work class forces ‘or battle. In dozens of places, after rejecting the Communist plans, the lo- cal committees found themselves forced to reconsider, and call back the Communists, because their proposals were the most practical, Finally, the Communist criticism of the misleader- ship and program for the struggle are being taken up in circles far wider than the Party, and the masses see clearly that the Communist Party, far, from being a disruptive factor, as charged by the right wing, contains the most reliable leadership and most loyal fighting element in the labor movement, ECOND, the minority movement has been the very heart and soul of the strike, and the greatest factor in creat- ing that magnificent solidarity which has won the admiration of the workers of the world, From the great Confer- ence of Action held by the minority movement in March went for the slo- gans and plans of the organization, Mi Woh ‘ ilmost every local strike committee, which put power into the great strike. performing the most thankless tasks,; The Councils of Action, the depart- mentalization of the strike work, the control of food supplies, the organiza- tion of defense corps, the organization of couriers and information machinery —all of these were inspired and car- ried thru by the energy of the minority movement. The Sunday Worker, or- gan of the minority movement, has be- come the most influential labor paper in the country, its circulation growing by leaps and bounds, IT HTED, within the Labor Party and the General Council the surge of sentiment among the rank and file to- wards the left is exerting pressure upon the leaders, The shock of the surrender of the val strike is crys- tallizing a more definite alignment. The logical result must come, of a strong, fighting left wing which wili finally break with MacDonald, Thomas, Henderson, Clynes and Company, and definitely set its face towards revolu- tonary struggle. / As yet this” crystallization is far from definite; it is still obstructed by all sorts of relics of reformism, pacit- ism and timidity. But in spite of all this even its first manifestations are of great importance. (To be continued.) OUR COLONIAL FATHERS. R BITTELMAN. Judging by its everyday workings, the constitution and government of the United States is an excellent in- strument in the hands of the capital- ists to rob and exploit the toiling masses. Between themselves the colonial fathers were struggling bit- terly. Some of them were striving to secure the maximum of influence in the government for the rising capital- Ist class. Others were fighting des- perately to establish domination in the government for the landlords and the old aristocracy. But all of them were unalterably opposed to granting polit- feal rights and any kind of influence in the government to the workers, to the artisans and to the poor farmer. The colonial fathers have deserved the eternal gratitude of every capital- Ist, of every exploiter and enemy of the toiling masses of the United States, But what shall the workérs and poor farmers be grateful for to “our” colonial fathers? The Fathers Were Experts In “Polit- ical” Methods. And as to so-called corrupt methods in politics, the fathers were experts also in that. History relates a great many facts bearing on thts subject. There is, for instance, a famous liquor bill of George Washington dat- ing back to the time when he was candidate for the Virginia House of Burgesses in Frederick county in 1758. This Uquor bill played a substantial part in the Victory of George Washing- ton in that election. Professor McMaster is quite positive in saying that: A very little study of long forgot- ten politics will suffice to show that in filibustering and gerrymandering, in stealing governorships and legis- latures, in using force at the polls, in colonizing and in distributing patronage to whom patronage is due, in all the frauds and tricks that go to make up practical politics (one should say, capitalist politics—A. B.) the men who founded our state and national governments were always our equals, and often our masters. In this period of our political his- tory, when the existing capitalist par- ties have become thoroly rotten and degenerate, it is well to remember that our colonial fathers, the saints and supermen of the foundation period of the American republic, have contrib- uted their share also to the ethics of present-day capitalist politics. California Farmer classes, the law authorities them- selves violate it in favor of the bank- ers and the rich land-owners and ranch-owners, 3 ik Import Mexican Laborers, The commissioner's report de- scribes the situation on the «rapidly- growing cotton plantations of South- ern California. Twenty thousand Mexican laborers are working in the Imperial Valley picking cotton. Whole families work in the cotton fields im- ported from Mexico in direct violation of the immigration laws. The big cot- ton-growers undoubtedly pay the im- migration authorities well to wink at this procedure. Once they are brought in they are mercilessly exploited at the lowest imaginable wages by the plantation owners. They receive but 1% cents a pound for cotton, Child Labor. In spite of the child labor~law, which prohibits child labor under 18 years of age, thousands work in the fields. When the San Joaquin Valley grow- jers, further north, offer 2 cents a pound for cotton, these Mexican work- ers pack up their meager belongings and-hit the trail. Some unscrupulous individual call- ing himself a contractor undertakes to supply so many workers at a regular rate to the grower. He then goes across the Mexican border, gets a number of workers and brings them to the American side. He fleeces the workers when he offers to give them a job, | Periodically, the immigration offic- ers round up a number of them and tur them back across the border. Jately they have found a more prof- itable means of exploiting these Mex- ican workers. They are rounded up, taken to Calexico or some near-by point and their entry “legalized” for the payment of an $18 fee under threat of deportation. ‘The state labor bureau takes no steps to prevent this. On the other hand they are engaged in handling the claims of the ranch-owners against those who violate their contracts, What makes the situation more dis- couraging is that the reactionary of- ficials of the labor movement do not see the necessity of organizing the Mexican workers to protect their rights and fight for better working conditions and a better standard of living. Need FarmerLabor Party. Two things must be done if we ever expect to eliminate the evils that now exist In California, The poor farmers and farm laborers must unite their forces in a union against the wealthy land-owners and the bankers. They must also join hands with the city workers in organizing a Farmer-Labor party to fight for the class interests of the farmers and workers, If you want to thorou, derstand Comm Brg —