The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 24, 1926, Page 6

Page Six fos THE DAILY THE DAILY WORKER Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ml. Phone Monroe 4712 | SUBSCRIPTION RATES | By maii (in Chicago only): By nail (outs'de of Chicago)! | $8.00 per year $4.50 six months | $6.00 per year $3.50 six months $2.50 three monihs $2.00 three months LD Adéress all mail and make out checks to | THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, I!!nols | WILLIAM F, DUN MORITZ J, LOES.. ..Business Manager mail September 21, 1923, at the post-office at cht | cago, lil, under the act of March 3, 1879. | Advertising rates on application. 200 . ° i Unorganized Workers Challenging the ee Official Labor Movement The springing up of unions of’ formerly unorganized workers which immediately demand to be-taken into the dominant American | Federation of Labor unions in their occupation or industry is a new phenomenon in the American trade union movement. Until recently such organizations were either under the in- fluence of the Industrial Workers of the World or, actuated sby :dis trust of the American Federation'of Labor, assumed an independent status that lasted as long as the union did. such organizations is an indication that the ‘unor- The rise of ganized workers developing a more intelligent éstimation of the American trade union movement than is to be found in official labor circles. The hostile attitude towards unorganized workers that is to be found in many unions.can be ascribed in row deliberate attempts on the part of picion of the unorganized, , in the localities where these unions are formed, a large part, not only to the nar- craft consciousness of the sections of the membership, but to the union officials to create sus- magnify the difficulties in the way of organizing them in order to excuse their lack of activity in this important field. Conservative labor officials have so far been able to wriggle away from accusations of lack of sympathy with the struggles of workers unaffiliated to any A. F. of L. union by loud cries of “dual- ism.” There is a powerful institutional tendency in the American Jabor movement (the American trade unionist is probably more reverent of established form and procedure than the bosses are and less able to overcome tradition and devise and use new methods) and this has been used to the limit to evade official support for great struggles like those in McKeesport, Butte, Lawrence, ete. But when 15,000 strikers, as in Passaic, not only announce their desire of becoming part of the trade union movement but insist on being taken in, evasion of dwiy becomes. difficult and the ery of “dualism” begins to lose its punch. Nor is Passaic an isolated instance. In Lowell, Massachusetts, some 300 textile workers al- most as soon as they go on strike make an application for admission to the United Textile Workers. In Perth Amboy, New Jersey, an organization movement begin- ning with a series of strikes and wage demands has occurred and, instead of independent unions being formed, the workers call for A. F. of L. organizers and demand affiliation with recognized trade uinons. Of a somewhat different-character, but perhaps of more sig- nificance because it has developed without a strike, is the organiza- tion of some 1,300 electrical workers in New York City who have banded together for the purpose of securing admission to the local nnion of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers whose job trust character has kept these workers outside of its ranks. The incurable believers in the theory of a revolutionary union- ism, secured by the organization of unions composed only of revolu- tionary workers, will see in the instances cited evidence of the decay of militancy among unorganized workers, But the reverse is true, and as the desire for organization finds broader expression and begins to appear in the big basic industries, labor officialdom either will have to encourage and take part in the movement or step aside and allow organization to proceed and develop whatever structural form is best fitted for the needs of the millions of work- ers outside the ranks of the trade unions and among whom no serious official organizing campaign has been carried on since the steel strike of 1919-20. SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY WORKER! BRITISH ARISTOCRACY BRUTAL E have an aristocracy more cold, more brutal than even you experi- enced strikers are able to imagine. | am an old man and often want to ease up, but when | think of the 2,000,000 children of British miners starving before our eyes, | brace up and renew the struggle.”— Ben Tillett, representing the British Trade Union Congress, in address- ing 1,500 New York cloakmakers in Arlington Hall. on. behalf. of the British coal miners. The Issues In Mexico Wall Street’s Position | HE oil and mining concession- aires in Mexico, generally. re- ferred to under the collective desig- nation of “Wall Street,” have waged a struggle for the revocation of the Mexican law which lodges title to all property in the state. The gov- ernment retains control over the oll and mining concessions. Most of the revolts that have torn Mexico to piec since the Madero revolu- tlon have been instigated and financed by those interests. Wall Street, when not directly implicated in a counter-revolution in Mexico, hac taken advantage of the govern- ment's dilemma to demand conces- sions. President Cgolidge, Wall’ shington has in- been successful in forcing the Calles administration to make concessions to the Ameri- can oll and mining exploiters in the present crisis. Calles’ Administration ARLY in fast July Catles promul- gated decrees enforcing the arti- cle of the constitution- which pro- hibits alien clergymen from tunc- tioning in Mexico. This action was precipitated by the discovery of a widespread conspiracy on the part of the church to overthrow the Mex- ican institutions. The church once owned two-thirds of all the land in Mexico and 60 little concern did It show for the people that at the time of the Madero revolution only 1 per cent of the population could read and write. In carrying out Wee gov- ernment’s educational program Calles has encountered the bitter hostility of the church. He deported the papal envoy who entered the country illegally, Call bases his administration on the support of the trade union movement. His policy is opposed to American imperialism and in favor of developing Mexico industrially. He is nominally a so- cialist, ~~ Life and By Anise. ULY 20. Nijni Novgorod.—As soon as I reached the dock in Nijni Nov- gorod from which my steamer was to take me down the Volga, I was tak- en in charge by a smiling blond giant of a-porter, in linen trousers and jack- et. His nickel badge announced that he was No. Twelve, of the Collective of Unemployed. I noted this for fur- ther question, gave him my hand bag- gage and the order for my ticket and went out to see the town. Disentangiing myself from the warehouses that always front on docks. and steamers, I found myself on a long cobblestoned street with a store on the corner selling ikons and religious emblems, Dull ancient brass and colored semi-precious stones, or possibly old glass—some of them looked old enough to ‘be interesting. I half decided to buy one as souvenir ot Nijni, but I-was distracted by the shop next door—a tiny branch of the Government Publishing House with booklets in its windows. Here, side by side, were the’ two faiths fighting each other, Soviet Books Plenty and Cheap. | ENTERED the book shop intent on reading material for my journey. Again those gay little Soviet primers, telling all details about government and the industry and agriculture of the Jand in simple language for the peasants. Across thé paper cover red peasants and soldiers were marching. I selected a pile of ten booklets: one on Marriage, Family and Divorce, evi- dently a discussion of the new propos- ed marriage code; another on “The Fireside Demon,” the tale of a su- perstitious peasant who was so over- whelmed by a bad dream that he brought upon himself all the evils he expected. Others on the recent de- cisions on the Communist Party con- gress: The Methods of the Party in The Village; How the Workers’ In- spection Operates; The work of trade ynions in town and country.” Ten books—and the total cost was 55 cents. No wonder. these booklets are put out in -editions of 10,000 at LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION Work in a time and that you find them’ every- where in the Soviet Union, Then I went further down street, "hunting. a place to eat lunch’ and discovered “The Restaurant of the Bourse” where | had an excellent but rather expen- sive lunch for a dollar and a quar- ter. I asked just what was this “Bourse” of Nijni Nevgorod, for be- sides the restaurants there seemed to be social halls and office rooms. “It is our local organization of business men,” I was told. Ah, yes, the chamber of commerce of Nijni, I thought. So I asked, “Pri- vate businessmen?” \“Oh, no,” came the answer in shocked tones. “Offi- cials of government and cooperative business institutions.” In such tones might the worthy secretary of the New York or Seattle chamber of com- merce have answered if I had asked if his membership consisted of. sa- toon keepers. Private business exists —but not in respectable circles. Steep from the water's: edge- rises the height on which ‘Nijni was found- ed in those old days whén a fortified hill was the’ only safe place for a town. So for another hour I rambled, climb- ing thru the city park, and’ past an- cient walls and towers sixty to eighty feet thick; stopping briefly at a most modern little drug store where every- thing came in ready-made packages and where in order to get iodine for John Reed colony I had to buy ten small bottles at four and a half cents each, Bargain prices, reminiscent of Owl drug stores! The Collective of, Unemployed T last I came downsto the dock and No. Twelve weleomed me smil- ing. “I thought you were lost” he said. “Please wait five minutes’ while I put another! passenger ‘aboard. Every- thing’s in order”. ....;A few minutes later, as we went to the check-room for my baggage I pointed to his badge. “What is this Collectiye of Unemploy- ed,” I asked him: ay “Wait till we get to. your room, then I'll have time to tell you,all about it,” he answered pleasantly, And after he had installed me in the cozy one-berth cabin in which I was to, journey down- stream for three days at $4 a day, he By ERNEST HAECKEL z CHAPTER II. THE STRUGGLE OVER OUR GEN. EALOGICAL TREE. Our Ape-Relatives and the Vertebrate- Stem. i the previous. chapter I tried to give you a general-idea of the pres- ent, state of the controversy in regard to evolution. Comparing the various branches of thought, we found that the older mythological ideas of the creation of the world were driven long ago out of the province of inorganic science, but that they did not yield to the rational conception of natural de- velopment until a much later date in the field of organje nature, Here the idea of evolution did not prove com- pletely victorious “until the beginning of the twentieth century, when its most sealous and dangerous opponent, The Church HE Roman: ¢atholic church. al- ways fights for, the retention of temporal power "wher er the oppor- tunity seems favorable. The revo- lution robbed the church of its land- ed property valued at ‘$600,000,000. It wants that ‘put it knows that its hope of a restoration is thin un- less the revolutionary government is overthrown, That is what is be- hind the present struggle. With the spread of education the church is fast losing its grip on the formerly superstitious m: Hence the desperate mean: employed to bring about chaos, hoping to weaken the government so that its reaction- arty militarists like Huerta would have a chance of staging a come- back, The episcopate instructed the clergy not to obey the government decree which ordered every priest to register. It Kolt@ethat the clergy are above the law and take their orders only from Rome, it the church, was forced to admit . it. Hence, the open acknowledgement of the Jesuit, Father Wasmann, deserves careful attention, and. we may look forward to a further development. If his force of conviction and his moral courage are strong enough, he will go on to draw the normal conclusions from-his high scientific attainments and leave the catholic church, as the prominent Jesuits, Count Hoensbroech and the able geologist, Professor Re- nard of Ghent, one of, the workers on the deep-sea deposits in the Chal langer expedition, have lately done. But even if this does not happen, his recognition of Darwinism, in the name of christian belief, will remain a land- mark in the history of evolution. His ingenious and very Je: initial attempt to bring together the opposite poles will have no very mischievous effect; it will rather tend to hasten the vic- tory of the scientific conception. of evolution over the stic beliefs of the churches, ? 4 You will see this mére clearly if we &o on to consider the important spe- cial problem of the descent of man from the ape,” and itd irreconcilability with the conventional: belief that God made man according to his own image. That this ape or meres theory is an irresistible deduction from, the gen- eral principle of evoliition was clearly recognized forty-five rs ago, when Darwin’s work a red, by the shrewd and vigilant theologians; it was precisely in this. fact that they found their strongest motive for yig- orous resistance, . It is guite clear, Either man was brought {nto exist- ence, like the other animals, special creative act, as Mos Linne taught (an “embodied id the Creator,” as the famous Agassiz, put it so late as 1858); or he has been developed naturally from a series of mammal ancestors, as is claimed by the systems of Lamarck and Darwin. Qe Read it today Gn page 6. | “he Detroit WORKER —" ~ = the Soviet Union ensconced himself on the foot of the bed and began to talk chattily, while I reflected that’ only,in thesSoviet Un- ion do baggage porters se unconscious- ly sit on your bed for,a,talk about social affairs. “Unemployment is very.bad in Nijni. There are thousands:out of work. We ate all registeredat the Labor Ex- change. They try many.ways to help us, Of course in any event we get our unemployment pension but that’s only enough for bread, So mostly, we form collectives of unemployed and get special jobs of casual labor, We are sent out for special cleanings of factories, or waste land, or for loading goods. It is easier for a collective to find such jobs than for a single man. “The Collective I belong to has 300 members and has secured from the government river boats the right. to handle passengers and baggage. Of course there is not work for all of us at once, if there were, we should no longer be unemployed. This porter’s job gets passed around. I have it for a month and then it is the turn of someone else.”' So we (manage to get a little extra for the whole three hun- dred.” “What happens to the money you get?” I ask, “Does each man keep his own?” How It Works. “N2: answered Number Twelve. “It goes into a common pot. Twenty per cent of all goes to the general collective and the rest is divided equally among all who are porters for the month. I myself usual- ly take in three or four roubles a day, (up to $2.) But others take in only a few kopeks; I don’t know why,. but they don’t haye the knack of getting work. So actually, after all deduc- tions, I get about a rouble and a half a day, (75 cents). . . Of course a man could cheat and keep out some of what he got. But sooner or later, they would catch him, and then he would be expelled from the collective.” “Then you have no advantage” I asked him, “from your extra ability?” “Why, yes, I haye an advantage. Be- cause now. they are letting me work the second month, contrary to custom. That is because I learn so much for the collective. So I have almést a steady job, which is good for me and for the others. also,” He weft on to talk ‘of Nijni, “A dirty city” he said. “Only the nature around it is beautiful. Such a little city with such a lovely river, it ought to be a little jéwel of beauty and’clean- liness. “But' the city ‘administration is lazy. They ‘do better in ‘the town up north where I come from.”.. . He mentioned ‘the great ‘flood of the spring. “The biggest for’ ‘a “hundred years,” he told me. “It made great ruin, Of ¢oursée it gave work also ‘to the building workers, but all the same it was loss, for the government had to pay for it, and had that mueh Jess for new prodtiction:” Spreading Education, P.HE- whistle blew, and Number Twelve left me, considering how intelligently this. casual. specimen of the city’s unemployed discoursed on public, matters, how little bitterness he felt, except towards laziness, and how unconsciously he identified his own ‘inifepests with that of the govern- ment. Then I picked up the pile of booklets: I had bought and discovered WITH THE STAFF Being Things From Here and ' There Which Have Inspired Us to Folly or Frenzy MAKE IT SNAPPY! «4 geven-word prayer, Jesus called a good one. A sixty-eight word prayer, he said, contained: all that men-needed to say or God to hear.’—From Bruce Barton's “Scriptures Made Easy for Seia- sorsbills, 5708 “THE TRIUMPH OF. THE EGG.” The. speakers were not only struck by eggs, but were even stoned. —From a description of the ex- periences of some members of the Fellowship for Peace while Peace while trying to propagandize the war- like citizenry 67 Massachusetts. The writer of the above seems to be of the opinion that stoning jis worse than egging. We disagree with him, A stone is an honest enemy. When he strikes you he considers that his work is done and falls to the ground, there to rest until: called for duty again. A stone is strong, knows that he is capable of striking more than one blow and a strong enemy is never cruel, But consider an egg. His very weakness conspires to make him a slimy foe. As another wit has well said: “An.egg hits and runs.” An egg knows that with one blow he has exhausted his possibilities as one of-the reasons. No one, however far afield he may be, escapes the reach of those little pamphlets, telling every- thing of latest interest about govern- ment plans. Of the back cover was an advertise- ment, telling plainly how to subscribe for*more books. Inside was another advertisement asking all citizens to please write in “without even the need of ‘putting a stamp on the envelope,” and ‘tell the Government Publishing House'“what books you like and why, what: books you don’t like and why, what: new subjects you would like to have ‘books written on, .. We need this ‘knowledge in ‘order to. print books that are acually needed, useful and interesting” concludes the appeal. . . Surely, nowhere, any time or in any land, has there been such widespread conscious and intensive education of the ‘masses in. civic affairs as today in the Soviet Union, “Tomorrow “Communist work” ona river<boat.) a missile and*immediately has re- course to other methods of war- fare. He first splashes, then drips and finally oozes. We speak here only of healthy eggs. We reserve the question of sick eggs for rebut- tal. We call upon all who have been oozed upon by eggs and struck by stones—the whole army of soap- boxers and actors—to rise in de- fense of stoning as against egging. see THEY'LL BE LOOKED AFTER, “T believe that if sufficient probation is not furnished in this world to infants, idiots, ante- diluvians, heathens and some chil- dren who have no. moral chance, God witl provide some probation in hades.” —Rev. Newman Smythe, Hartford, Conn, Federation of Labor’s Unhappy Marriage—The Predictions of the Poor Relation—The Illegitimate Child and Other Interesting Matters, By Cc. L. » ih short years ago the great la- bor family of Detroit celebrated with great gusto the political mar- riage between the Detroit Federation of Labor and John W. Smith, post- master and regular. republican poli- tician. It was a sensation, . The then mayor, Frank Doremus, had been com- pelled to resign because of serious illness, and Smith among others cov- eted the mayoralty: plum. Hardly had the rumor of Smith's candidacy taken flight from the post office when some 8,000 trade unionists made a pilgrim: age to the steps of the post office and there begged him;to run. The annals of the Detroit labor movement contain no parallel to.such ardent wooing. IRUE, the charms of Smith were F hot so captivating 4 emselves. But in contrast to Thsons of the other. candidate, fy Martin, the acting mayor, they looked rather good to politically inexpérietiééd workers. Martin both as acting mayor and pre- viously as head ofithe department of public works like the a chamber of commerce man t he was, took a determined stand against the union- dzation of the city employes, refused to pay the union scalé torgertain class- es of workers despite.a@* mandatory provision to that, effect in the city charter, and particularly harassed the local union of the street carmen, composed almost entirely of men working on the street car system own- ed by the city. i" Ross Schram, the secretary of the street railway commission under Mar- tin, cancelled the leave of absence of the officers of the union, a leave taken for the purpose of working for the union, and he attempted vigorous- ly. to organize a company union. Smith, who, it was said, had labor connections some years ago, promis: ad a policy of co-operation and tacit recognition of the unions, FXVPRYBODY in the, ,tnbor. tamity approved the match, except one poor relation, the Workers’ Party. In . ‘ vain did the Workers Party point out flaws in the charms of the bride. It was of no avail to show that the bride ‘was not intiocent, that as a mat- ter of fact she was the mistress ‘of labor's enemy. ‘Unifortunately the groom was the innocent’ party, in- nocent as a babe. Besides,’ who list- ens to a poor relation? The family scoffed at the ‘admonitions of the Workers’ Party and predicted ever- lasting happiness for the newlyweds. The dehouncement came sooner even than the Workers Party expect- ed. And it all happened as a result of an illegitimate child. S has been stated the street ear system is owned by the city,. The city purchased it’ several years ago from a priva' company at a fancy price, Now it is necessary to make payments on the principal as well as interest on the bonds. These pay- ments take. @ ee deal of money. Not much “is ‘for improving the service, Of , no politician dares demand an ase in the rate of fare which is cents, with 1 cent extra for/a’ “transfer * The poor serv- ice afforded ‘an, opportunity to some 500 jitney men\to make a Mving by operating jit The jitneymen f, had clever ni them, These men recognized anes ‘that the situ- ation required political allies. And so while the city officials were fighting in the courts to drive the jitneymen off the streets, the jitneymen organ- ized themselves, secured a charter from the A. F, of L. and joined the Detroit Federation of Labor, which they correctly concluded would be their best, if not their only alley. ‘ERE the Detroit Federation far- sighted politically it should have understood that. such an organization was not a legitimate union, The men own theif own cars and are real- ly busihessmen.» Moreover, the fed- eration should also have foreseen the possibility of conflict’ with the street carmen’s union which has between three and four thousand members. But per capita is an effective vamp and the Detroit Federation’ fell victim’ Ae beginning the street carmen could not afford to withdraw from the federation. 'HEN the legal fight carried on by the city against the jitneymen ended recently with a decision grant- ing the city the right to order the jitneys off the streets, the city offi- cials took action immediately to make the decision effective, and the jitney- men took their complaint to the De- troit Federation of Labor. The Fed- eration took up its cudgels in behalf of the jitneymen. The representatives of the Street Carmen's Union attacked the poliey of the federation, pointing out lay- offs, of union conductors and motor- men onsaccount of competition from the jitneys.. It was not an agreeable spectacle to watch the conflict be- tween the street carmen’s union and the federation, The federation off- cials carried their point. against the opposition of the street carmen, But the problem is not solved. However, this family quarrel is, not the only consequence. With Mayor Smith supporting his street. rail: commission it was inevitable marital happiness of the fed and Smith would be underimini 80 it was, Reeve another element ot dis. cord entered the situation: ‘Smith supports for governor the candidacy of Fred Green, a manufacturer, who is the candidate of the regulars, against the present governor, ,Groes- beck, who has his personal machine, Largely, perhaps, because Green was a prison labor ‘contractor, but not least because the federation expects Groesbeck to be elected it has en- dorsed Groesbeck’s candidacy, Thus the prediction of the poor relation, — the Workers Party, came true, 'T remains to be seen how soon De- troit labor will learn the proper les- son from this experience and a num- ber of others of a like character, In the meantime to bring this lesson daily before the workers during (he campaign the Workers Party has nominated its own candidate for gor. ernor; William Reynolds, president of to its lure, It knew very well tha'| Carpenters’ Union; Local No, 2140.