The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 9, 1926, Page 2

T Marshal Pilsudskt PILSUDSKI IN THREAT UPON GERMAN NATION Also Oppresses Polish Workers with-Army (Specia! to The Dally Worker) WARSAW, July 7.—With the dec- laration by Pilsudski of the slogan— h home a fortress; every r’—comes the outburst Pole a sold ing as Polish territory several n Germany and the statement that while the Versailles treaty did not give Poland these cities, “the} strong Polish army will protect the rights of the country.” The German cities claimed are those of Ermland in the Koenigsberg district, Settin, Oppeln and Breslau. Also Oppresses Polish People. The growing audacity of Pilsudski and his military clique is shown not only externally in the above threat against Germany, but internally in the increasing tyranny by the army over the civilian population and the demand for still more power to the dictator. In the last week two Warsaw taxi drivers have been shot to death in the streets by Polish officers in ar- guments over traffic rules. The press controlled by the Pilsudski govern- ment approves the murder of these workers by the officers, on the ground that the drivers “insulted” an officer of the army and therefore insulted the whole army. It is held that any oft- ficer who would not kill a taxi driver who insulted him ought to be thrown out of the army. Demands Power of Dictatorship. The political crisis in the sejm (parliament) grows more heated, with the left parties criticizing the government for its lack of construc- tive work. The government, thru {b (Continued from page 1) sists the invitations gent. The “freeman” who remains company — because the chains bind him to the job. T takes little imagination to under- stand the blessing of the individual contract as enjoyed by the workers in the 33 locals of the Brotherhood on the I, R. T. What happened in 1925 when the wage “agreement” was ed between the General Comm and the corporation was only a repeti- tion of preceding y . As reported in the New York Times of July 1925 under the headline: ‘Inte borough Defers Wage Raise For a Year,” we read: “No increase in the wages of In- terborough Rapid Transit company employes will be granted for at least another year, An agreement to that effect was reached in a con- ference lasting little more than a half-hour yesterday, between offi- clals of the company and represen- tatives of the employes’ organiza- tion.” It took just 30 minutes for the com- pany union committee to sell out to the company for another 12 months! Company unions are widely praised by employers for their speed and effii- ciency in surrendering the workers’ interests, The story continues: “A renewal for a year of the exist- ing wage scales was voted unani- mously the employes giving as their reason for their acquiescence their recognition of the company’s pres- ent financial condition and the im- probability of its improvement un- der a five-cent fare.” ‘PRY considerate indeed. Workers who are bound by a yellow dog contract had better talk that way or be fired. Moreover it's good propa- ganda for a fare increase when com- pany puppets express themselves that way. Let’s have a fare increase. Then perhaps the company will some day reward us say half cent an hour for our co-operation in selling the fare increase to the subway rats who now pay only a nickel. The story goes on to tell us how the General Committee had gone into solemn session with Mr, Hedley, president and general man- ager of the company, and had agreed that another year of low wages was acceptable. O it had happened year after year. Until 1926. When It happened again. But this time something slipped. One local out of the 33, Local No. 7 of the company Brother- hood composed of subway motormen and switchmen, decided it was thru with this game. The first rumble of discontent came on May 20 when a committee from this local protested against a company order requiring them to do more work for the same pay. The committee called a meeting of the workers and a strike vote was taken. The company promptly can- celled its order and the workers in turn deferred their demands for a wage increase. The fighting spirit of the workers, however, had been stir- red by the effect of their stand. And for the first time some honest words were spoken about the company union. One New York tabloid news- of the loving " to the economic cally usiness Minister of the Interior Nakowski is opening the fight for the constitu- tional changes which practically abolish parliament and give all power to Pilsudski’s puppet [presi- dent. Pilsudski demands: 1. That the president have the power to dissolve the house and senate. 2. That the diet be called into session in September each year and be compelled to pass the govern- ment’s budget within four months, failing to do which, the government is to have the right to execute the budget itself. 3. The right of the president to veto amy bill passed by the diet, such veto to stand unless overrid- den by alarge majority. 4. Power for the president to rule by decree when the diet Is not in session, 5. Blanket power for the presi- dent to rule by decree as a dictator until Dec, 31, 1927. Chicago Bakers’ Local Boosts Union Label The members of the bakers’ local union have awakened to the fact that the advertising of their union label is essenital to the continued welfare of their union and to the improving of their working conditions. Therefore the following letter has been sent: To Organized Labor and Friends: Greetings: Bakers Union No, 224 of Racine, W! desires to bring to your attention t Union Made Bakery Goods, especially bread bearing the Union Label of the Bakery & Confec- tionery Workers Intl, Union of Amer- ica, can be obtained from Odders Bak- ery, 1814 16th Street. At present this is the only Union Bakery in Ra cine. We appeal to you to advise your wives and children to ask your grocer for Union Made Bread and thereby assist us in maintenance of decent working conditions, Buy Union Bak- ery Goods made in Racine, Ward's Schulze Baking Co. and Kappus Bread are nonunion products Odders Bakery can supply any de- mand for Union Made Bread and Cakes. Fraternally yours, Bakers’ Unido No, 224, paper reported that: “Some of the speeches reflected an ugly mood toward President Hedley who was accused of trying to con- trol his “personally conducted” com- mittee whose activities are supposed to be in behalf of the men. Several speakers pointed out that this com- mittee would no longer be permitted to function toward delay in meeting just demands of Interborough work- ers.” S$ usual the company union acted as a postponing process for the company, and an instrument with which to delay and dissipate the de- mand for better conditions on the part of the workers, Apparently the eyes of the workers, at least in Local No. 7, were opening rapidly, For now we find them at the beginning of July sending in wage de- mands to the management, refusing to accept another wage sell-out by the general committee, withdrawing in a body from the company union, form- ing an independent union—The Con- solidated Railway Workers of Greater New York—and threatening to strike unless their demands are considered by the company. 'HATEVER happens to the de- mands, the strike, or the new union (and the reader will probably know before this fs printed) we have here a chance to learn something about company unions, Mr, Hedley in hig statement to the workers, begging them to be good boys and to remain ‘loyal” to the company (July 3rd) refers to the new union as an “outlaw organization.” Certainly, To the com pany union employer all real labor unions not under the thumb of the ycompany are “outlaw.” Indeed Mr. Hedley’s idea of an “outlaw” union is any union affiliated with the A. F, of L, or any sort of independent union not controlled by the corporation, R. Hedley ‘goes farther and talks in a stern voice about “terminat- ing” the employment of those workers who dare to leave the company union, organize a union of their own, and ask for increased wages. Nothing could be simpler—or more constitutional, Mr. Hedley wallows in constitutionalism as he orders his disobedient serfs to get back into the company union or leave the “service.” This is precisely what the company union means and the yellow dog contract enforces. Hedley 1s only carrying out “law and order” as it is understood by the com- Robi. W. Dunn Exposes Yellow Dog Union pany union which the traction slaves have accepted under their “obliga- tion.” The motormen and switchmen are rebels and outlaws, just as to the A. F. of L., a Communist is a rebel and an outlaw. Mr. Frank Hedley is taking a “firm stand” against the out- laws just as Mr. William Green took a “firm stand” against them last Oc- tober, Only its a different set of out- laws. HE company union and the yellow dog contract are not confined to the I. R, T. The lines of the Brook- unhattan Transit corporation so use both to keep their 9,500 work- ers in bondage. After the strike of three divisions of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Workers on the B. M. T. had been beaten in 1920, the company union or plan of “employee repres- entation” was introduced. It was call- ed “collective bargaining” and the rules provided that “no employee shall be entitled to vote at any primary election (of the company union) un- less he or she has signed the agree- ment” which reads as follows: “Lam not a member of the Amal- gamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America, and | will not become a member while in the employment of the above companies (this refers to the B. M. T. and all of its sub- sidiary companies) and | agree that while | am so employed | will not make any efforts amongst the other employees to becomes members of said Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Em- ployees of America.” O much for the company union yellow dog contract. As for the company union itself it is typical of others on similiar public utilities. After the company’s hand-picked com- mittees have played around with a grievance as long as they care to, the final appeal is to the management and its decision is final. Concerning this company union, which is no worse than the company union of the I. R. T., Mr, Edward J. Allen, instructor in economics at Columbia University, writes: “The workers have no economic power, nor do they have collective bargaining power... They have no treasury of their own... nor do they meet together to discuss ways and means of bettering their condi- tions.... The plan has not had Its genesis in the needs of the em- ployees but rather in the needs of the employers. The company de- prived the men of their effective bargaining power, and gave them this plan.” \ HE same writer, who is a special- ist on the labor relations of trac- tion companies, commenting further on the B. M. T. plans writes: “The men affected by the provi- SUBWAY STRIKERS DECLARATION and leader of the strike, said: “The employes of the |. R. T. up to July 5, 1926, pleading poverty all thru this period. years of the war when employers of “The return which they receive: Transit Employes, which was used to were in fear of this choking thing un’ The present Interborough strike is the fourth strike the company has had, the three others taking place in 1905, 1916 and 1919. Particularly in 1905, when strikebreakers, as at pres- ent, tried to run subway trains, there were many collisions in the under- ground tubes and as at present, the public were shy of riding in subway trains. But the men were poorly or- ganized and dribbled back in about a week. 1916, after an organizing drive by ‘the Amalgamated Association of Elec- tric and Street Railway Employes of the A. F, of L., the whole -traction system of New York was tied up for practicaly three weeks, the surface line men also striking, There were battles in the streets between com- pany gunmen and strike sympa- thizers. Five hundred strikers battled police forces from behind the wall of Central Park, Needed a General Strike. For some time there was an at- tempt to get all A. F. of L. unions in New York to declare a general strike in aid of the traction workers, but the other unions failed to show this solidarity with these workers and they had to go back to work, The strike in 1919 was hardly a strike, it being a walkout by the com- pany union at the company's instiga- tion, it was alleged, to get higher fares, The men got nothing out of it, If you want to thoroughly un- HE DAILY WORKER sions of this plan are entirely iso- lated from any similiar groups, In the so-called collective bargaining Process they cannot possibly forget the immense financial resources of the company with which they are dealing, They have only to think of the strike of 1920 to get a suffi- cient reminder, At the same time the company is associated with the other railway companies of Amer lca, but refuses to permit their em- ployees to enjoy the privileges and benefits of similar membership.” This is putting it rather mildly, but it indicates with sufficient clarity the economic servitude in which the work- ers find themselves under this ingen- ious company scheme of “collective barganing.” 3 OTH the I. R. T. and the B. M. T. make generous use of strike- breakers, gunmen, sluggers and spies. Mr. Hedley was taking on strikebreak- ers and building barracks to house them 72 hours before the threatened strike of motormen and switchmen. And in his letter to the Brotherhood workers urging them to scab he point- ed out how the company had broken every previous strike and how It would not hesitate to smash this one in the same terms and with the same means, And, as Allen remarks in the statement above quoted, the workers on the B. M. T. have only to remember the broken strike of 1920 to remind themselves of the financial strength of the company and its extravagance in the business of strikebreaking. It will be recalled that the total ex- penditure for breaking the 1920 strike on the B. M. T. amounted to $2,483,- 483.48, A large part of this amount went for bonuses to the men who deserted the real union and “stood by” the company, for meals furnished strike- breakers, for cots and blankets, emer- gency automobiles and uniforms for emergency employees. It must not be forgotten, however, that half a dozen professional strikebreaking agencies received substantial pay- ments for smashing this strike, and thus paving the way for the company. union, ‘3 Bergoff and Waddell re- ceived $712,602.36 Washington Detective Bu- reau received 306,718.76 Thornton and Logan .. 251,205.93 William A. Jones Corp. 62,090.00 Ascher Detect. Agency,,.... 175,000.00 Pinkerton’s Agency. 4,371.73 All in the name of “peace, concilia- tion, industrial harmony,” “dealing with our men in our own way,” the “newer methods of collective bargain- ing,” “mutual trust and confidence be- tween men and management,” and the other slogans now so common among the up and coi advocates of the company union, ISSUE THEIR OF INDEPENDENCE EDWARD P. LAVIN, | head of the Consolidated Railroad Workers have been submissiv patient ser- vants since the entrance of the United States into the World War right They have listened to the Interboro: jh managers They stood by the company in the other corporations were transferring themselves to other occupations where war wages were in force, which were double what the |. R. T. paid at that time. d for this loyalty was girdled by a reptile company union, known as the Brotherhood of Interborough Rapid intimidate them for ten years. They itil July 4, 1926, when, unable to bear it longer, the motormen and switchmen determined to destroy it and announced their declaration of independence.” PRESENT STRIKE |GOVERNMENT OF INN. Y, FOURTH | MEXICO REPLIES IN 22 YEARS) TO THE CHURCH Enforcing Separation of Church and State MEXICO CITY, July 7.—The Mexi- can government yesterday issued a statément in reply to the outcry of Catholics that they and their church particularly were “persecuted” by the government's application of the con- stitutional provisions against priests or preachers of any denomination mix- ing in politics, f “The regulations apply to all relig- ions,” says the government, “but the Catholic church is most affected be- cause it is the purpose of the Mexi- can government to keep religion out of politics, Prohibition of religious teaching in official schools and private, seminary, and high schols has been enforced for a long time. We now merely add penalties for priests and teachers who violate this ruling.” Old Laws, Only Enforcing Them. Mexico has been closing or attempt- ing to close convents and monasteries for 60 years. But as it has always been possible to evade these efforts at closure, the present regulations endeavor to make evasions and viola- tions impossible by strict punish- ment of individual violators. “Religious publications after July 31 should limit themselves to news not related to governmental acts or na- tional political affairs and are denied the right to criticize the authorities or comment upon laws. The regula: tions have nothing whatever to do derstand Communism—study it, \with non-religious publications,” a aE Sk ARE in TEST SR Ns EO Pe Al i ss Se E ie nS SRN ASO ne eS acto eh ABR ET eo On ee a TI A A ht nh cen AE A wel cet Let the Nation Get in Step with the New York Daily Worker Builders By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL, — (Special to The Daily Worker) NEW YORK CITY, (By Mail.)— Five hundred New York DAILY WORKER builders, gathered in celebration of the progress they are making in the nation’s metropolis, made history for the American Communist press during the July Fourth holidays. The merry-mak- ing took place at the three-day en- campment at Eaton’s Neck, far out on Long Island Sound, and its suc- cessful ending is the forerunner of greater attempts for the immediate future. Building The DAILY WORKER in New York City is punctuated with these inspiring affairs of “Tho Builders.” Last year it. was an excursion up the Hudson River. In mid-winter it was The DAILY WORKER Builders’ concent and banquet. And now the most am- bitious of all, an escape for hun- dreds of workers from the confines of the great city, and a jollification over the fact that they are steadily drresistibly advancing their press ‘against the most powerful battal- ions of the kept organs of enemy capitalism. see More than ever this DAILY WORKER Builders’ affair took on ‘the nature of an expression of the growing left wing in the labor move- ment. There were large delegations among the Builders from the Fur- riers’ Union, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, The Capmakers’ Union, the Food Workers’ Union and the Amalga- mated Clothing Workers’ Union, with ,the Passaic Textile strikers well represented, and a scattering from a score of trades and indus- tries. Workers were present from neighboring Connecticut, and as far distant as Boston, Mass. Everywhere was voiced the need, for an English-language daily in New York City, to voice the strug- gle of the workers that rages with a growing intensification. The Fur- riers’ strike comes to an end but the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union takes up the cud- gel of battle, with the subway work- ers of the Interboro Rapid Transit Co. also entering the arena of com- bat against their bosses. But the vision of these workers, who sang “The International” and “The Red Flag,” so lustily every night about the roaring campfires, spreads far beyond the industries lo- cated on Manhattan Island and its adjacent territory. Not far away are the great an- thracite coal fields and overnight is Pittsburgh, the capital city of steel, and these workers who are build- ing their own power in New York City see the steel mills and the pit mouths of the coal mines beyond their own sewing machines. That is the realization that grows on one thru mingling with and talking to them. That ts the basis on which they drive on for the building of The DAILY WORKER, in the English language in addition to support giv- en the foreign-language labor dailies the (Jewish) Fretheit, the (Ukrain- ian) Daily News, the (Hungarian) Elore, the (Russian) Novy Mir, the Lithuanian) Laisve, among others. ee ae Thus The DAILY WORKER Builder who leads on the “On to ' Moscow!” subscription drive is Ar- thur Smith, a Hungarian worker, who gdes to workers of all nation- alities to get the “subs.” When the speeches were being made by the leading “Builders” before the en- campment throng, relating how the speakers were able to do it, Smith ‘was down on the waterfront taking care of the rowboats. Builders” know of more ways than one to en- list sentiment for their “Daily.” Oth- er'leaders in the “sub” drive, who quit their encampment work long enough to tell the 500 of their sub- getting activities were Leo Kling, H. F, Mins and Louis Hirschman, ‘whose names have already become familiar to the “Builders” of the nation, Samuel Lebowitz was caught in hig bathing suit, but he had to mount the platform just the Mexican Floods Tie Up Traffic and Ma: Cause Food Famine (Special to The Dally Worker) MEXICO CITY, July 7.—Cloud- ‘bursts and floods have surrounded the city with water, all rail Mnes and roads for miles around the capital are under water, and famine or at least shortage of food faces the city. Railways to the United States bor- der are suspending operations until floods recede and the damage to the lines is repaired. The Mnes to Vera Cruz are alos out of commission. The most serious damage is to the crops on the entire Mexican plateau, the loss being estimated at from ten to fifteen million pesos, e + et tte aeesttii ne aaTt | same and add his bit of pep to the gathering. It was estimated that only the minority of those attending the en- campment were members of the Workers (Communist) Party, Thus one of the great achievements regis- tered was the drawing in of a large non-party element. Some of these heard the word “comrade” for the first time. The crowd that came was also much larger than expected. The ‘smaller tents ran short. The big circus tent that had been se- cured were not large enough. The party comrades, in the crisis, as new non-party arrivals came on July 4 and 5, surrendered their places and slept under the stars. The weather helped by holding off the rain until the last contingents were started on their way homeward. From the start of the task, with the clearing away of the underbrush and the opening up of this attrac- tive camping spot in the Long Island wilderness, to the departure of the last “Builder” for the city, everything moved with a develop- ing precision that prompted many to demand that The DAILY WORK- ER establish a permanent camp as an outing place for workers of all nationalities interested in the build- ing of an English-language working class press. The three-day period of the outing was altogether too short. There was no time for races and games that had been planned. The time moved too swiftly for the ambi- tious program that had been laid down by the genius of it all, who happens to be L. BE. Katterfeld, the New York DAILY WORKER agent, who comes out of the west, but has frequently taten the breath out of the most ambitious workers in the New York labor movement, thru the many plans that he initiates and carries thru successfully. o* « This is only a fleeting glimpse of an event that should be and can be emulated by DAILY WORKER Builders in all sections of the coun- try. Perhaps on not as large a scale, but in proportion to the develop- ment of the working class struggle everywhere. The New York DAILY WORKER *‘Builders' have again shown that they are carrying the standards in the lead of the strug- gle for an American revolutionary press. Let the rest of the nation get into step and keep going. Pennsylvania Atty. General ‘Slush’ Witness eee George W. Woodruff, attorney gen- eral of the state of Pennsylvania has been subpoenaed and is waiting to ex- in the $3,000,000 pri- mary election, among other matters. There is not to be found in the whole state of Pennsylvania a politician, big ns plain his pa or small, who is not in one way other Involved in the “slush fund.” Every Worker Correspondent must be a subscriber to the American Worker Correspondent. Are you one? SEATTLE LABOR | OUT FOR SACCO AND VANZETTI All Groups Join United Defense Conference (Special to The Daily Worker) SEATTLE, Wash., July 7.—The la bor movement of Seattle is for Sacco’ and Vanzetti like one man, A. F. of L, and I. W. W., Communists and liberals all joined hands here in a united Sacco-Vanzetti conference under the chairmanship of Ben Mottleson of the Seattle Central Labor Council, with Jean Stovel of International Labor De« fense, which initiated the conference, assisting. Rey. T. T, Edmunds told the story of the case and it was brought up to date by Carl Brannin of the Federated Press, who gave the present status of the case. James P. Thompson of the I, W. W. spoke on the need for united action by the workers to free the two Italians in Massachusetts. Central Body Joins, The Central Labor Council sent a delegation of three to work with the United Front Committee. Delegates were sent also from the laundry driv- ers, the laundry workers, International Association of Machinists, mill work- ers, Card and Label League, bakery salesmen, hodcarriers and building la- borers, mafl carriers, boilermakera, Fellowship for Peace and the Civil Liberties Union, Western Women’s Educational League, Young Pioneers of the Labor Circle, the labor college,' the Workmen’s Circle, the Finnish Workers’ Circle, Lettish Workers’' Club, English branch of the Workers” Party, Esthonian branch and Interna tional Labor Defense. The I. W. W. sent three delegates, Even the university students were there to the number of three, but were not official delegates. \ Plans for a big campaign were laid at the conference. A Sacco-Vanzetti day was arranged for signatures on the petitions furnished by the Central Labor Council. Delegations were elected to visit the conventions of the State Federation of Labor at Everett and the Farmer-Labor Party of Seat- tle. PASSAIC RELIEF CONCLAVE OPENS UP HERE TONIGHT Numerous Unions Elect Delegations The Chicago Conference for the re lief of the textile strikers of Passaic and vicinity, which has been called by the General Relief Committee of Tex- tile Strikers, will be held tonight, July 8th, 8 p. m., at Machinists’ Halt, 118 S. Ashland Blvd. Unions Sending Delegates. It is expected that this conference, to which all labor and fraternal or- ganizations have been invited to send delegates, will be very successful, and will initiate an extensive relief drive in this city. Among the organizations that have already elected delegates are the United Hebrew Trades, the Metal Trades Council of Chicago rep- Tesenting 25,000 workers, the Bakers joint board, and many locals of the carpenters, printers, bakers, ladies garment workers, men’s clothing work- ers, cap makers, shoe repairers, win- dow cleaners, machinists, and millin- ers. Workmen’s Circle branches, Lithuanian and other fraternal organ- izations will also be well represented. © Donations Being Made. Many locals have already donated money to the Passaic relief fund in advance of the conference. Among them are the Metal Trades Council, locals of the pattern-makers, machin- ists, lithographers, metal polishers, carpenters, painters, bakers, locomo- tive engineers, clothing workers, and typographical union. Branches of the Workmen's. Circle, the Workmen's Sick and Death Benefit Fund, and Croatian fraternal organizations have also contributed, The general relief committee has headquarters in Room 303, 166 West Washington, to which all requests for information should be made. The Jur sue of the American Worker C pondent Is out! Get a bundle to sell at the picnic! CHICAGO WORKERS WILL RALLY 10 PROTEST FOR SACCO-VANZETTI TONIGHT Ralp Chaplin, F. G, Biedenkapp and Ida Rottstein will be the speak- ers at the Sacco-Vanzetti protest ing tonight at Northwest Hall, corner North Ave, and Western, A stage picture “Sacco and Van- zettl in Prison,” will be an added attraction. It is expected that the workers of the North and North. west side of Chicago will make thie a real mass demonstration. Admis» sion is free, The third meeting of the Sacco. Vanzetti Confere of Chicago will be held Friday night, July 9th, 8 p.m, at 90 .N. Welle Sty Hall — No, 305,