The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 16, 1926, Page 4

Page Four Serr ream eemmncen nn mmennre tte io ASMA Nene RE THE DAILY WORKER Resolutions of the |. L. D. Conference INTERNATIONAL LABOR DEFENSE CONFERENCE SETS FORTH VIEWS ON DEFENDING CLASS FIGHTERS A Call to the Workers of America by the Second Annual Con. ference of International Labor Defense. JN from one end of the country to the prisons of America today, the other, there are close to one hundred workers who are serving long terms for no crime but their economic or political opinions, or for their activities in the interest of the working class. They are the chief victims of the struggle for life and freedom of the workers against the capitalist class. In addition, there are’ several hundred workers involved in cases that are, pending, workers. who are about to come to trial, or whose appeals are pending before higher courts, all of them threatened with prison sentences or with depor- tation, These workers are not crim- inals. In the greatest majority of the cases there is not even an overt act charged against them, They are held | only because they are devoted to the cause of the workers, because of their opinions, their activity in strikes or other work for the movement of labor. | These workers whd languish in ca- pitalist prisons or who are menaced with such imprisonment represent various political and economic opin- ions and organizations. Among them are members and officials of the Amer- ican Federation of Labor and the In- dustrial Workers of the World, social- ists and Communists and anarchists. They are pickets from the strikes of the Passaic textile workers, of the New York fur workers and cloak makers; they are from the miners in Zeigler who have fought militantly against the ku klux klan and the coal opera- tors, as well as the corrupt agents of the operators in the rans of the union; they are members of the I. W. W. in the harvest fields or in Cali- fornia whose: sole crime was member- ship in a labor organization; they are Communists who are charged on the basis ‘of belonging to the Communist Party. These workers are among the most alert and devoted in the labor move- ment. ‘They are the ones who help to inspire and organize the working class to renewed heights of struggle against exploitation and misery and injustices. They are the prisoners of the working class. the already large number of class war prisoners is being added daily from the ranks of the working class. The arrests in the Passaic textile workers’ strike and the strike of the New York cloak makers give daily evidence of this. The conviction of Edward Horacek in Pittsburgh and the threatened imprisonment of his 22 comrades, is followed by the con- viction of George Papcun because of his activities in organizing the Penn- sylvania coal miners. In Fall River, Massachusetts, three Portugese work- ers are threatened with a “sedition” | charge and deportation. The supreme court of the country is soon to rule | jin the case of C. E. Ruthenberg, and this will affect the freedom ‘also ot seventy-four other workers in the ‘famous Michigan “criminal syndical- ism” cases, A California court will \soon decide the fate of Charlotte Anita Whitney, who is charged under the in- famous “criminal syndicalism law” which has been used to strangle the |labor movement in that state as. in ‘the others. Tom Mooney and Warren K. Billings are still imprisoned altho the frame-up against’ them has been universally acknowledged.' The shadow of death ‘looms constantly over the lives of Ni- cola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, despite the protests thruout the world of workers and public men who have adjudged them innocent. Matt Schmidt, J. B. McNamara, Edgar Combs, the Centralia I. W. W. prisoners, the Call- fornia I. W. W., Paul Crouch, and ®eores of others stil] rot in the pris- ons of American capitalism. Pious wishes and obscure representations have not secured their release. Only the united protest and organization of all honest workers and progressives of the country can free these splendid labor fighters from the living death they must endure, —__oOoOCOCOoOCO— For a record of the results of the NEP instituted by LENIN in 1921 read THE INDUSTRIAL REVIVAL IN SOVIET RUSSIA Clothbound $1.00 ‘T’Was the persistent protest of the workers of America and Mexico which really secured the release of Charles Cline, Jose Rangel and their brothers from Texas prisons. Only the mass demonstrations and prompt protest of the workers in every part of the world has prevented the textile {barons and their kept judiciary in Massachusetts from executing their | dastardly plan of death against Sacco and Vanzettl. The fraternal aid of our brothers in !other. countries, in the campaign of protest against thé threatened execu- tion of Sacco and Vanzetti has dem- onstrated to us the value and need of international solidarity for the cause of labor defense in all lands. Just as in America, so in the capitalist coun- tries throughout the world, the war against the workers and the peasants grows sharper and more bitter. Thous- ands of the best fighters for freedom in Europe have been cruelly murdered. Other thousands have been tortured and imprisoned under the most hor- jrible circumstances, In some parts of |the world whole nations have become a great prison for the workers and peasants. The workers of America who have stretched out the hand of fraternal solidarity with the cause of fhe Hun- garian, Polish, British and Lithuanian workers threatened with death or im, prisonment in the last year, must con- tinue their splendid work of aid and protest in behalf of the flower of the European fighters for liberation. In China and South America, and in the colonies and semi-colonies of Amer- ican imperialism like Haiti, Cuba, the Philippine Islands, Hawaii, San Do- mingo, the prisoners of imperialism cal] upon us to aid them in their battle for liberty. HIS condition calls for generous aid and swift action. Our imprisoned brothers and comrades must be re- dependents must be relieved of their sufferings. The workers who are threatefled with imprisonment or death must be snatched from the hands of their persecutors and saved for the great struggle of the working class. To-the class war prisoners and |those who are menaced with prison we must show a great solidarity. This is a time when every worker | must join his voice and strength in a mighty movement for the defense of \labor. The signs which point to re- newéd attacks upon the workers and | their conditions of life, against their unions and their political organiza- tions, against theif right to strike and to organize, make it imperative that such a movement be built into a great weapon for the working class. Such a movement was formed at the first conference of International The primary lesson for black and be permitted to tie the hands of the profiteers in their dealings with the laborers. A millionaire who affects a mania about “color” in his own social ranks will use any color whatsoever in the interests of his business if he regards it as being in the interest of his busi- ness; he will break the strikes of any color by the use of any other color; in a war on laborers he will break the heads of any color by the strong arms of any other color; he is interested in color prejudice among the workers only because it keeps them divided into a majority and a large minority camp, hostile to each other—with the black and resentful minority always ready to undercut the white majority when the latter demands too much or refuses to be submissive. Must Unite Forces, There can be no real emancipation tor black people, nearly all of whom are in the working class, and no per- manent security for white workers un- til these two groups understand their mutual interests, form one camp and work together in harmony, For the blacks this division in the ranks of the workers is a desperate situation in- deed, for they become a mere tool of the employers, who use them to beat down the status of all workers, includ- ing the black workers. And to the white workers these blacks become a great menace. Thus the blacks have friction on the very plane where it would profit them most to have’agéord, for they must live and compete on the economic plane of these poorer, whites, of the working whites. As rs and consumers the laboring white: their sroup—aot the employer! Whites | leased from capitalist captivity. Their | |need of fighting for the lives and free- Labor Defense a year ago. It was the object of I. L. D. to fraternally unite all elements and sections of the labor movement into a powerful non-parti- san movement for labor defense. Now, after a year of its activity, the Sec- ond Annual Conference of Internation- al Labor Defense has been a fore- most champion of the cause of the class war prisoners. It has shown and will continue to show its united and non-partisan character in every field of its work. In its campaigns for the Passaic strikers, for Sacco and Vanzetti, for the Pittsburgh Commu- nists, for the Fall River anarchists, for the Zeigler miners, and the numer- ous other workers whose defense it has led, it has shown not only the need of a working class defense or-| ganization but also its advantage to workers engaged in a struggle for bet- tér conditions. NLY swift and united action of the workers can prevent the capital- ist class from achieving their ambi- tion to railroad to prison every active fighter for labor’s cause. The pene- trating and informing light of public- ity must be continually thrown upon the attempts of the bosses and their judges to frame up workers because of political or economic opinions or af- filiations. Unjust sentences and inhu- man and brutal treatment of class war prisoners must be bared to the eyes of the whole working class. Le- gal aid must be ‘provided for those workers who fall into the hands of capitalist injustice. Prison relief must be provided for them and relief for their departments. Campaigns must be conducted for the release of those workers who are already imprisoned. Work must be carried on persistently for the elimination of the vicious “anti-sedition” laws on the statute books, which are used to break up the solidarity and organizations of la- bor. Aid must be extended to our class brothers on other sides of the ocean who are being imprisoned and persecuted for their class solidarity. International Labor Defense has already begun this work. It has mar- shalled the forces of big sections of the labor movement for the fight for labor defense. It has proved many times over the need of the American workers of a mighty shield to protect themselves from the ever-present men- ace of prison and death for labor ac- tivity. More aid is needed and greater sol- idarity. Every worker must unite fra- ternally on the basis of unified, non- partisan labor defense which recog- nizes no basis other than that of the dom of workers who have been seized by the capitalist enemy. E must build a strong shield of the working class of America. We must defend the men and wo- men of labor who are fighting for the cause of labor. Our Second Annual Conference is: sues a call to all workers, without re- gard to their opinions or affiliations, to unite in the International Labor De- fense, Fight against the continued impris- onment of active labor fighters! Demand the freedom of all class war prisoners! Fight against the antilabor laws that are used to strangle the labor movement! Unite for the Defense of Labor! International Labor Defense. “COLOR LINE” AIDS THE BOSS TO DETRIMENT OF THE WORKERS By WILLIAM PICKENS, white workers to learn in the United States is that a “color line” is of no use to them. Color lines and other mere racial lines are institutions for the classes, not for the masses. A color line may bring some distinction to plutocrats, but can bring only division and weakness to the ranks of those who labor. primary aim is profits, color will never+ In a society where the Having great faith in heaven and other vast and unseen powers, the Ne- gro has been expecting either God or these rich white people to settle his affairs and do him justice or see that justice is done him. He has even been in the habit of thinking and charging all his woes to the opposition of the “po’ whites.” It seems seldom to occur to him or to the poorer whites that there is but one real interest in this country for poor people, for work- ing people, of any color, and that they must pursue, defend and sustain that interest together, with no thought of color, Every one of the so-called “in- terracial” movements in this country recognizes this truth in fact if not in creed, They go on the assumption that white and colored people, of the various classes even, have the same interests regardless of race and color. Surely, then, the poor who suffer the same lack and are pinched by the same need ought to see the community of their interests, Colored workers in America need not expect white employers to defend black workers against white workers, except when the employers are at war with the white workers. When the war is over the blacks are to be the chief losers every time, Do Away With Color Line, But in any and all cases a division of labor on a@ “color line,” or any other irrelevant line, is a loss to all the la- borers every time, The common cement of workers should be their labor, and neither polli- ties nor religion nor the ancient super- stitions about “race” mitted te Aide hind f BISHOP BROWN SPENDS HIS 71ST BIRTHDAY PUSHING OVER STATE GALION, Ohio, Sept. 14. — Bishop William Montgomery Brown, when asked how he intended to celebrate his 71st birthday, said that he thought he would spend it pushing over the gov- ernment. I want to be tried for something, he said. I do not suppose it makes much difference what it is. I was almost dead when the church first brought me to trial for heresy, and look at me now. I have lived more in the past five years than I did in the previous 66. If I could only manage to be brought to trial for my Communism, I think I might live to be as old as Methusaleh, When the church bronght me to trial for heresy, he went on, it dis- covered that every churchman was a heretic; and if America were to bring me to trial for my Communism, I think it might discover that everynAmerican is a Communist, Not many Americans will agree to that, he was told. New Book, They will, he chuckled, they will when they read this. He held up a copy of his new book, “My Heresies,” just off the presses of the: John Day company, New York. Of course, I do not advocate Com- munism, he said, any more than I ad- vocate evolution or the sunrise, or the BISHOP BROWN.. fact that it is warmer in summer than it is in winter. Life is too short to advocate anything. The truth does not need to be advocated; and when we advocate lies, we only find our- selves going to war or trying other folks of heresy. All the truth needs is to be noticed; and I cannot help noticing that America is the most Communistic civilization that ever was. The only trouble with America is |that she has not noticed this. She is trying to be individualistic In & Com- munist order, just as the church tried to be orthodox long after orthodoxy was impossible. Nobody can be individualistic in America. It takes the labor of mil- lions now to keep each one of us alive; and if anything goes wrong with any- body, something goes wrong with everybody. People may still have in- dividualistic theories, but they cannot live by them. The church tried it and died. The government is Still trying it and is failing fast. : Getting Into Mess. The government imagines that American interests thruout the world can somehow be distinguished from human interests; and just look at the mess that we are getting into. We are trying to be great and we are be- coming a great nuisance., We are en- couraging everybody to fear us; which, of course, means that they will hate us. We are doing about every- thing we can to manufacture ill-will and war. Just now, for instance, in company with the other little-minded big na- tions, we are trying to assert American interests in China—putting it up to the Chinese to look out for Chinese in- should be per- | thinking that the biggest, terests. It is an utterly wrong point of view. America has no business in China except to look out for Chinese interests, nor in Europe except to ad- vance European interests. If we were to follow that policy, we would make friends instead of enemies; and that is the only way, in a Communistic or- der, that one’s own interest can be served. For human nature is Cosamimiatic, It wants to serve; and when it is freed from the theory of individualism, it devotes itself to the service of the other fellow. Service begets service and love begets love. The teachings wt Jesus, as given in thelgospel, the world’s greatest human drama, are not lofty sentiments and noble notions as to how life ought to belived. They are straight-forward statements of the truth about human life, dhowing the only possible way that it can be fully lived; and anyone who pursues the policy of individualism’ “instead is sadly misinformed. Opinion on War. National government, as we know it today, inevitably leads to international war, just as our motions of domestic government inevitably lead to social war. We are making war, for instance, upon the so-called criminal element in all our American cities; and the harder we wage this war, the more crime there is. As a matter of fact, there 4s no criminal element. A erimi- nal is merely a little brother with an individualistic outlook, He is not bad, He is not inhuman, Hi js quite as human as a preacher; and the chances are that he got his individualistic ont: look in the first place from the church. The church may have, got him to siness io" ornlg spaege fay wae | $ha|palention his own little individualistic soul; and not getting any satisfactory self-ex- pression out of the method the church laid out for him,to use, he set out to save it with a gun. This does not mean that he changed his point of view. He simply changed his methods. If he knew anything, he would know better than to try to express life in any such individualistic way. But we | can hardly expect him to know any more than the church and the govern- ment do. Crime Question. These gunmen are dear fellows, and we ought to find a way to do some- thing for them. I am sure they would respond all right. The trouble is that we want them to quit being gunmen, while we are unwilling to quit being gunmen ourselves. We go after them with guns. We actually imprison and hang them, by way of showing our fine, fraternal feeling, and then seem surprised when they develop some- thing of the same attitude toward us. Do you not believe in a police force? the white haired heretic was asked. Oh, yes, he answered, and I believe the police should be well armed. Not with guns and clubs, however. They should be armed with understanding. They should be men and women whom nobody could possibly fear. They should inspire friendship and con- fidence and courage. They should un- derstand that every human being is trying to realize a human life, and they should be passionately interested in helping him. Punishment, of course, would be out of the question. Jails should be abol- ished altogether. There should be compulsory education, of course, and compulsory work, but not by the pres- ent method, Instead of compelling the prisoner to go to an uninteresting school, or to take an uninteresting job, the school and the job should be compelled to become so interesting that could not possibly break away from them. Pushing Our Government. That is the human way to fight crime, and it is the way the average American employs, in so far as he is able to, in dealing with his own chil- dren. It is effective, too. Children who are given that sort of attention seldom become criminals. When we realize that we are all one family after all, we shall try the same method on everybody’s children; only, of course, by pooling our knowledge and our resources, we can look for incal- culably greater results. The main thing that seems to stand in the way is our notion of government. As a patriotic American, I should like to do something to help overthrow, or un- dermine that notion, and push it out of our way. Do you suppose that I could get myself tried for pushing over the government? WORKERS PARTY ENTERS CANDIDATES IN STATE ELECTIONS THIS YEAR In a number of states nominations have been filed by petition while in others the petition campaign is still in progress to place Workers (Com- munist) Party candidates officially on the ballots, Nominations officially filed: . Michigan. Michigan—The following candl- dates will appear officially on the ballot in the primary elections to be held Tuesday, September 14: Governor, William Reynolds. Congress, 13th District, William Mollenhauer, Congress, ist Dist., Harry Kish- ner. Congress, 9th District, Daniel C. Holder, : Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania—The following were the candidates nominated: Governor, H. M. Wicks, Lieutenant-Governor, Hill: Secretary of Internal Affairs, Max Jenkins. United State. nator, E, J. Cary. State Legislature, first district, Ernest Careathers and Anna Weis- man, Second District, Mike Blaskovitz and Celia Paransky, Seventh District, Margaret Yeager. Eighth District, Susie Kendra and Peter Skrtic. Ninth District, William P, Mikades and Sam Shore. State Senator, William Schmidt, Colorado. Governor, William Dietrich, United States Senator, James A, Ayers. Secretary of State, Nelson Dewey. A State Treasurer, Leonard Forsch- jer, Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion, Helena Dietrich, State Auditor, O. McSwain, Parthenla Philadelphia Fur Workers Stick. PHILADELPHIA—(FP)— Philadel- phia fur workers are following the New York lead by refusing to work Saturdays. The New York agreement hag been accepted by the Philadelphia market, including the 40-hour week provision, The workers will seek back pay for Sesurdays worked since June 19, when the New York agree- mont was signed, * One of the teams of the Red Mass. Students Out to Organize League NORWOOD, Mass.—On Sunday, Sept. 5, 1926, representatives of the various Young Workers Leagues in District 1 met’ here. Norwood, Maynard, Gardner, Milford, N. H. and Worcester “were among the units represented, with the addition of a few party representatives from ‘different locals. Comrade Ray, district organizer, called the meeting together, after which all representatives reported on the activities of the different Young Workers Leagues. Judging from most of the reports, the units have not been quite as active as could be expected, but this is, in a large measure, due to the summer lull in the movement activity. This, however, will be remedied by more intensive educational and organ- izational work. The organizational end of this work ‘will be taken care of, in part, by a committee of five, select- ed from the students of the Y. W. L. Summer School, these students being Paul Marttila (Worcester), Eero Laakso (Fitchburg), Jorma Kangas (Keene, N. H.), Vellamo Johnson (Concord) and Sirkka Loija (May- nard). Their five weeks’ training at summer school has fitted them for this work, and they are more interested in the movement than ever, and if they are successful, and we are sure they ‘will be, in instilling some. of this enthusiasm in some of the other young comrades, all Young Workers Leagues will be on the upward grade. The expenses incurred by this or- ganizational committee will be de- frayed by a series of exchange enter- tainments between the different leagues, and it is hoped that these en- tertainments will be beneficial, inas- much as they will create an interest in the work. We will send sample copies of The send us name and address, WCFL Radio Program Chicago Federation of Labor radio broadcasting station WCFL is on the air with regular programs. It is broadcasting on a 491.5 wave length from the Municipal Pier. ‘TONIGHT. 6:00 p. Bere Federation of Labor talks tne bulletins. 6:15 to 6:30—Fable Lady—Stories for children. 6:30 to 8:15—The Florentino String Trio, dinner music; Little Joe Warner, character songs; Arthur Biliquist, ‘one. 10 to 8:30—Alamo Cafe Orchestra. 8:30 to 10:00—Hickey and Johnson, Hawalians; tla Shanabrook, contralto; James Mulvany and Monte Wilhite, popu- lar bet ot ret Ensemble. 10:00 t: ‘Alamo Cafe Orches- $2.00 Per Day-—-Southern Wage, NEW ORLEANS—(FP)—Owners of cotton plantations in Mississippi are flooding New Orleans with circulars calling for cotton pickers at $1 per 100 pounds. An average man work- ing from sunup to sunset can average $2 a day at that rate, providing he does not loaf on the job, Put on the Badge of a Communist! SOMETHING NEW AND BEAUTIFULLY UN- USUAL. ome The Emblem of > The Young Workers %/} (Communist) League. A striking closed fist— the Communist salute— (reproduction actual size) in gold and silver, Limited Supply Only! All orders filled in order received, GOLD, 40 cents; SILVER, 25 cents. In quantities of a dozen or more, gold $3.60 a doz., silver $2.25 a doz, Rush Your Order to The Young Workers League of Ameri DAILY WORKER to your friends—| Star Sports Club, New York. Youth Appeal in ‘» «Labor Day Paper By LOUIS BLUME, Young Worker Correspondent. BOSTON, Mass.—A_ grand old custom was resusciated here this year when 6,000 union members paraded on Labor Day while a cold drizzle fell. 600 striking milk wagon drivers, against whom an injunction is in force, marched in front, clad in jumpers and overalls. President John Kearny of the Boston Central Labor Union upset precedent by walking naturally, The Workers Party are not those who would let the revival pass unnoticed. So the Boston Worker was set up and printed for Labor Day distribution. The platform of the Workers Party of Massachusetts occupied a promi- nent place in the make-up. An ex- position on our millowning senator, Wm. Butler, and an appeal to the young workers of Boston were fea- tured. And very important, the labor history of the notorious democrat, David F, Walsh, was laid open. The distribution of these papers were expertly handled and 5,000 of them were gone in an hour. It was good to see workers so eager to get the paper. One sympathizer into whose hands a copy chanced to come, cried: “Souvenir of Labor Day—some Souvenir!” Lively Youth Ball at Boston; Oct. 15th BOSTON, Mass.—To the hundreds of lively young boys and girls who will attend the first youth ball of the season, | Friday, Oct. 15, 1926, will be a day of |joy and happiness. The famous Chateau Dansant (next to the Boston Opera House) is one of |the most known dance halls in Boston | and will be packed to the doors, |. Get your tickets now! Make it sure that you get in and havea good time! Arranged by the Y. W. L. of Boston. Two Illinois Miners Die, One Injured as Mine Car Runs Wild WEST FRANKFORT, IIL, Sept. 14. —Charles Strutzman and Lawrence Rendleman are dead and Joe Yesallis is i na critical condition as the result of an accident at Chicago, Wilming- ton and Franklin (New Orient) mine No, 2 here last night. The men were crushed when a car of steel rails ran wild on an underground track, collid- ing with a motor on which the men were riding, GLOVERSVILLE, N. Y. — (FP) — Gloveworkers have accepted the man- ufacturs’ proposals of wage increas- es of 20 cents a dozen with extras for special types of gloves, The work- ers are organized in the Intl. Glove Workers’ Union of America, affiliated with the American Federation of La- bor since 1902. THE INTERNATIONAL OF YOUTH Official organ of the Young Com- munist International HAS JUST ARRIVED! The issue is just full of the most interesting and valuable material. No active member of the Communist movement can afford to miss this issue. Single Copy 15 Cents Bundles of 6 or more at 10 a copy. ORDER NOW! Send cash and order to ‘The Young Workers (Communist) League, 1113 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, III. Pe ee Nera a } ne eae