The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 2, 1926, Page 6

owen + Meditér: Page Six fme VAILY WORKER THE DAILY WORKER Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. 1113 W, Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ill. Phone Monroe 4712 SUBSCRIPTION RATES ‘ By mail (in Chicago only): ! By mall (outside of Chicago): $8.00 per year $4.50 six months | $6.00 per year $3.50 six months $2.50 three months 00 three months Address all mail and make out checks to : THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ill, -OUIS ENGDAHL WILLIAM F, DUNNE MORITZ J. LO +-Eiditors Business »Manager Entered as second $ mail September 21, 1923, at the post-office at Chi- | cago, Ill., under the act of March 3, 1879. > 290 eS ~~. Advertising rates on ap European Intrigue—The Menace of Imperialist War Hard on the heels $f the Briand-Stresemann love feast eomes | the meeting aboard an Italian warship of Sir Austen Chamberlain ant Mussolini. While nominally maintaining friendly relations with France, the menace of the proposed Franto-German pact forces Great Britain to make a counter-move which the recent activity of Ttaly in the anean area also make necessary. British imperialism finds its lines of communication to India and China endangered by the Spanish-Italian alliance which de- mands Ttalian participation in governing Tangier, from which Gibraltar can be made impotent as a British base controlling the western entrance to the Mediterranean and by the development of air and submarine methods of warfare which place Cyprus and Malta, its intermediate naval bases, at the mercy of a powerful centrally situated Mediterranean power such as Italy is. To play Italy against France and France against Italy without breaking with either is the present problem of British diplomacy. Great Britain already has agreed to a division of Abyssinia with Italy to placate the latter power, but Italian imperialists am- bitions do not end there. They contemplate expansion eastward and the Balkan question likewise will be one of the major topics of con- versation between Chamberlain and Mussolini. The Italian minister to Albania and the foreign minister of Bulgaria are coming to Rome to consult with Mussolini after his conference with Chamberlain. Herein lies the greatest immediate danger for the Soviet Union. If Great Britain can engineer an Italian offensive against Turkey, in which Bulgaria and other Balkan nations would take part, the Soviet Union frontiers would be endangered. “In addition, the Soviet Union could not remain passive in the event of an offensive against Turkey by western imperialist powers. In all probability Great Britain will also try to get Italy’s endorsement of her activities in*Poland where both French and British diplomacy has suffered a defeat with the signing of the new Soviet Union-Lithuanian treaty which sustains the right of Lithuania to Vilna and is thus‘a challenge to the league of nations. Not since the early days of 1914 has there been such feverish activity in the European foreign offices, The alignments for the next world war are being made. Only the Communist International and the Red International of Labor.Unions point out to the world’s working class the im- minent danger of a new war, call upon the labor movement to or- ganize to prevent imperialist war and point out the only way it can be prevented—by the unity of the world labor movement and mili- tant struggle on all fronts. Henry Ford—the A. F. of L.’s Messiah Trade union leaders, according to interviews secured by the Federated Press, hail the fiveday week announcement of Henry Ford as a victory for organized labor. This, of course, means that Henry Ford is regarded by these leaders as a friend of workers—“a good employer.” Secretary Davison of the International Association of Machin- ts hails the Ford five-day week as “taking up of the’slack in em- ploythent in the industry.” Nothing could be farther from the truth. As a matter of fact, the Ford plants have been running on a five-day basis for a long time during which every conceivable device for increasing produc- tion has been tried out on the working force. The experiments have been successful—altho -many of the patients have died from the operation—and for months before the recent announcement Ford’s plants have been getting a six-day out- put in five days. More than that, it is stated by Ford’s technicians that it will he possible to get with the five-day week a full six-day production with a SMALLER force of workers. . What becomes of the theory that the five-day week as estab- lished in Ford’s plants reduces unemployment? The Federated Press correspondent falls into the same error when he characterizes Ford's plan as a “decision to pass employ- ment around by establishing the five-day working week.” Even Ford himself does not pretend that he is trying to reduce unemployment. The “good employer” theory ag it affects the viewpoint of A. F. of L. officialdom is well illustrated by the following paragraph from a Washington dispatch dealing with the Ford announcement: ; At headquarters of the American Federation of Labor the Ford unnouncement was hailed with pleasure. It gave Presi- dent Green the opportunity to open the annual convention October 4 in Detroit with the assertion that in that citadel of non-unionism one of the vital reforms advocated ‘thruout its history by The Federation had just been triumphant, The bankrupt character of the Federation leadership, when we recall that it decided against undertaking an organization cam- paign in the automobile industry. Yet now it calls Ford’s plan a victory for organized labor. i Mi The contrary is true and in making these statements the lead- ers of the trade unions are playing directly into the hands of Ford’s modified company union and others more pronouncedly inimical to the trade union movement. There are at least 19,000 Ford workers—readers of the shop bulletin issued by the Communist nucleus in the Ford plant—who will curse when they read the truckling tributes to Ford by A. F. of LL. officials. | parliament of American Amer American workingclass. | gram of American labor. the possibilities for our immediate period. se ARTICLE THREB, By WM. F. DUNNE. HAT is the situation in the trade union movement and how far has the non-strike worker-cooperation pol- icy of officialdom had its reflection in the rank and file of the trade union movement? One of the indications of the mill- tancy of the trade union membership is the number of strikes and the num- ber of strikes particularly in a per- fod of industrial activity such has been noticeable inthe United States from the latter part of 1922 until. to- day (with certain minor fluctuations). The record of strikes for this period is as follows: 1922 1923 1924 1925 Building 309 Clothing 215 357 223 191 Furniture 12° 34-37 100 8 17 5 2 19 6 6 111. «57. 42 Mining .... 92 Paper Mfg. 4 Printing & Pub- lishing 199 12 «10 Shipbuilding ., 6 1_— Slaughtering ,. 1 4 Stone Work. . 15. 15. 10 Textiles 184 79 «114 Tobacco 16 12 8 Transportation 3so.6Uw OU (Figures taken from the Amerigan Labor Year Book for 1926). f banzice are some facts that must be considered when estimating the significance of these figures. In gen- eral there is a progressive decline in the number of strikes and this is strong evidence of a decrease in the militancy of the masses—organized and unorganized—because these fig- ures cover both. The building trades are not decisive because it is a decentralized and fluc- tuating industry but even here there has been a great decrease as compared with 1919-20-21 when there were 473, 521, 588 strikes respectively, pe clothing trades, where there is great dislocation of the industry due to increase in contracting and a shift to small towns outside the big centers, and where the workers are the most class conscious, shows a big progressive decrease. The same is true of mining. In the soft coal industry the southern non- union fields now are producing the greater amount of coal, there has been a big shift of the industry, constant violations of the Jacksonville agree- ment by the mine owners, but the number of strikes is the lowest (with the sole exception of 1922) since 1916. (The anthracite strike will be dealt with later). By N. BUCHARIN, (Continued from previous isstle) farce are the super-clever theoreti- cal arguments with which Com- rade Ossovsky seeks to justify the de- mand for freedom to form fractions. '{ you want one party only in the country, he says, and there are various interests to be considered, then strive to give “freedom” to those who pro- tect the interests of the rich peasantry and the capitalists. It is dificult to defend the interests of the rich peas- antry and the capitalists within the confines of our party constitution, Let us open the door, and you will have a fraction of NEP-men, a fraction of the petty bourgeoisie, and all this together will be called the C. P. S, U. Then the dictatorship will flourish in our country, for then the party will cor- respond to a workers’ and peasants’ state. Strictly speaking, we could go even further in the same direction. Presently he will be" saying: “Work- ers’, Peasants’ and NEP-men’s State.” Then everything will be tn the best of order. Workers'-Peasants'-NEP-men's State, Wor '; Reasants’-NEP-men’s Party, one a in the whole country, and e¥er¥thing in perfect order, (Laughter.) You will now un- HAT Samuel Gompers always referred to as “that great labor’—the convention of the can Federation of Labor—opens its forty-sinth an- nual session on October 4 in Detroit. It will be dominated by the most reactionary officialdom of the most reactionary labor movement in the world. The con- | vention will reflect only in a distorted form the needs of the It will make its own review of its own activities, its own estimate of the status of the American labor movement, draw | its own conclusions, put forward its own program as the pro- | [® the last year large sections of the officialdom ‘of the Ameri- can Federation of Labor have made a long step fowards agree- ment with American capitalism, abandoned even purely trade wnion struggles almost entirely. “Worker-employer co-operation” opposition to this policy is developing slowly bat surely. There has been @ certain continuity in the policy of A. F. of L. officialdom for the last four years. Its causes and its ef- fects on the mass of the American workingclass must be deter- mined in order that they may be counteracted effectively. The official movement has has been ever onvits lips. Mass HESE articles are an attempt to describe the American la- bor movement ag it is wnder the leaderships officialdom, to determine the strength of the tio currents— to the right from above, to the left from below—and to estimate party Porae the left wing in the neat A. F. of DL. The C, P. S., Opposition Block es 3a ca show an increase in strikes over 1924 and this ix to be accounted for by the shift in the in- dustry to the south,-the terrible con- ditions of the workers in the industry and the wage-cut policy of the textile capitalists. In the metal trades strikes have shown a sharp decline, In Iron and steel and transporta- tion, printing and publishing, meat packing and shipbuilding, strikes have either ceased entirely or drop- Ped to a negligible number. [5 ttdition to the huge decrease in the number of strikes the number of workers involved has shown a pro- gressive decline as follows: 1922—1,608,321 1923— 744,948 1924— 664,453 1925— 406,996 M we remember that the strike of 150,000 anthracite miners began in September” and is included in the above figures we will better appreciate the lack of mass ¢haracter of the other 828 strikes which make up the 1925 total. The American working class, espe- cially its organized ‘section, the trade union movement, in the last four years has practically abandoned the strike weapon, at Nor is the cessation of strike activi- cy the only sign thé official peace policy of the trade*union leadership has placed its dead bund on thé labor movement. The trade Unions essential- ly are organsvof stmiggle and if for one reason or another this. function is atrophied the interest of great masses of workers in their’ organigations ceases, Lied N the July number f “Current His- tory” is an articlé entitled “Indus- trial Welfare Move ent Sapping American Trade Unit by Abraham Epstein, Research rector of the Pennsylvania Old Age Commission. The article, on the Whole of a tone sympathetic to the labor. movement, has, in my opinion, mn given insuf- ficient attention by “the labor and re- volutionary press. In sets forth facts of fundamental importance to the working class and “the conclusions reached relative to“the” reasons for the failure of the tra@é'untons to rally any large numbers of the workers for struggle are formulated shrewdly. HE author’s premise is that the trade union movement with its present policy and leadership has entered a period of decay and submits a number of important facts to prove his case. Quoting the bulletin issued by the Pennsylvania State Federation of La- bor on the “The Present Situation of the Labor Movement,” which was based upon replies-received in answer derstand what lies at the bottom of all this. The fractional groups in our party are naturally” d upon various social currents, and if we permit the formation of fratt{onal groups, if we permit the existencé of fractions, then the next stage will bé nothing more nor less than the legalization of other parties, apes % N example: There is. a. Medved- yev fraction, whose standpoint has been made known to you in an. ar- ticle published in the Pravda, (See Inprecorr, Vol, 6, Nr. 54, July 29, 1926, p, 904, he Right Danger in our Party.”) Comrade Medvedyev de- mands that our state Industry be placed in the hands of the concession capitalists, and that the Comintern and the R. I, L, U. be liquidated; he demands immediate affiliation to the Amsterdam International; he demands the cessation of all discussion on the peasantry, for the peasantry is—the “dredry village.” ‘This is’ a wellde- veloped Menshevist program, : Ww" are told that we should grant freedom to this legitimate view, to this fraction. Do they not call , the “Workers’ ‘ ‘ Opposition”? 1 not matter that they want to the Comintern and perform revolutionary won- BRE? 3 U. and the ‘From Portland to Detroit. to @ questionnaire sent to “labor of- floials of high rank” the leading quety being: “Does your experience reveal a Tather general state of indifference onthe part of the rank and file) of organized workers?” Epstein says: Twenty-two of the twenty-six an- swers received unequivocally de- clared that their experience revea a general state of Indifference at the Present time more pronounced than eVer before. HE reasons given by these union officials for the apathy they en- countered are in themselves proof of the charges made by the Communists, i, 6, that the present labor leadership has no understanding of the problems of the labor movement, that it has nothing but the most superficial view of the period and that. where it is not merely superficial it is reactionary and without any program except that of dependence upon the capitalist class. I quote again: N explaining the causes of this inertia, the labor leaders blamed the present stagnation upon them- selves, upon the war, business condi- tions, on the agfomobile, the radio, the desire for’ pleasure, jazz, the movies, games, good times, the bad times, President Coolidge, the ignorance of the workers, the Com- munists, the autocratic and corrupt management of the unions, the gross materialism of the labor movement, the capitalist press, the lack of a labor press, the Church, the general’ disil- lusionment and the like. N other words there were just as many reasons given as there were labor leaders questioned and with one or two exceptions which we may be sure represented a negligibly small minority of the labor officials replying to the questionaire, the answers are a complete confession of bankruptcy. The replies reads like a symposium on “What's Wrong With the World” written by a collection of hell-fire evangelists. But the lack of interest in union ac- tivities on the part of the rank and file noted by these officials is a fact— a dangerous but obvious fact which demands the most serious attention and a remedy. FEW concrete illustrations will show that union attendance is at what is probably the lowest ebb reach- ed in years. The Chicago two local unions of the Amalgamated Associa- tion of Street and Electric Railway Employes have a total membership of 20,000. Yet it is om’ rare ‘occasions that the attendance at’ a ‘meeting is in excess of 100, A local union of machinists helpers whose members are employed in the largest and worst paid shops in the city of Chicago, and which has a total membership of around’'600, has an average attendance of 15-or 20. 'N the building trades the loca] union meetings are little *more than com- mittee sessions unless there is some matter of unusual importance. Even in the local meetings of the United Mine Workers of America, where attendance has always been on a far higher average than in the rest of the trade unions, reliable reports state that attendance: is now at a minimum in spite of the bad external conditions and the interest in the struggle now going on inside the union. This is especially: true in the anthracite district. HE conventions of important state federations of labor held this year —Illinois, New York, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan—have wit- nessed triumphs of reaction and as a consequence have been as dead as the proverbial herring. Almost all of them have been greet- ed by the chamber of commerce in the convention city and as a correspond- ent who attended the Illinois conven- tion writes, quoting a reporter work- ing for a capitalist sheet, “It is almost impossible to tell this gathering from a meeting of the Chamber of com- merce.” (To Be Continued) ders; all this signifies nothing if only they call themselves the ‘Workers’ Opposition.” " ET us assume that we permit the existence of these fractions, and that our party includes a legally rec- ognized Medvedyev fraction. Then the Menshevists would not come to us and We ask for nothing more, at present we only want what Medv- eyev wants: close the Comintern, de- stroy the Red International of Labor Unions, pursue a policy of extensive concessions, and ignore the peasant, for why should you bother with him. They would say to us: “Why, will you not legalize ince there is al- ready one such legal fraction in your party?” It is obvious that we should then have to legalize the Menshevists, If we legalize such a fraction as this in the party, we legalize by this an- other y, and if we legalize another party, then we are truly slipping down from the line of proletarian dic- tatorship to the line of political de- mocracy, That is, to the line so long advocated by the Menshevists, by Kautsky, by the 8, R. and by many others of our po! enemies, (To ued) | BUILD THE DAILY WITH A 8UB, a oe WORKMEN’S SICK AND DEATH FUND IS PROTECTION AGAINST RED TAPE | AND CAPITALIST INSURANCE F AKERS The irony, of history pursues the reformer of today like it did King Midas of old—whatever he touches turns into gold; but into gold for the ruling. class, and into gall and wormwood for the workers, The prohibition (of the democratic party), the trade unionism (of Have- lock Wilson), the socialism (of Marshal Pilsudski) no matter what their origin, today they belong to the most valuéd assets of capitalism, worth more to its bullioned and minted gold in the world. Likewise with workmen's compensation and: insurance, Since the em- ployer needn’t fear a suit for damages to pay out of his own pocket he cares still less, about the loss of life, and limb. of “his workers (observe the fn- creasing) disasters: in coal mines,’ oil prodiiction, Tailroad, steel etc.), And how many workers pass successfully the: miles and mazes of red tape that are wound about these state depart-¢———-————____________ ments! . And .how~many millions of dollars do the workers —pay‘every year in legal and illegal graft! No Red Tape, In the Worknien's Sick and Death Benefit Fund there’8'nd red tape. It is conducted all the way thru by work- ing men who know what’ delay means to a suffering fellow worker; and there is no graft. ‘The*highest paid officer of this organization of 58,000 members receives aweeltly wage of $50 for 44 hours’ work's Weel, i Be Prepared. Workers!’ Bé prepared! . Steadily growing tho it is—as the table points out—this, the only mutual aid society which is open to class con- scious workers, ts not ‘growing fast enough to ‘fight against the two fronts of fake state.insurance and fraudulent trade union..insurance, * » Workers! Join! Protect yourselves! Meet some of the class conscious fel- low workers in your town! - There is probably’one of the many English speaking branches of this or| ganization right near where you live. Write to the main office for informa- tion, or to The DAILY ‘WORKER, or ask your friend who is,a member. The Workmen’s Sick and Death Benefit Fund is an organ of self-pro- tection of the working class. Founded if the year 1884, it has.now more than/ 57,000 members in. 346 branches ih 28 states of this country. It paid till December 31, 1925, to its members: For. sick. benefit, $8,469,- 781.81; for death benefit, $3,481,371.10; together, $11,951,152.91. Total assets on Dec. 31, 1925, $2,530,- 781.96. The'soclety organ, “Solidarity,” is free for every member. Rules for Initiation. Men ‘and women of the working class, who. are in good health, not un- der 16 nor. over 45 years of age, may join the organization, Women can be insured for death benefit only. * Initiation-Fee, # : Age 16 to 20 years, $3.00; age 20 to 30 years, $4.00; age 30 to 40 years, 35.00;. age to 45 years, $7.00, Assessments for the NatloHal FlHd, Class IA, per month $1.65; Class_I, ber month $1.15; Class II, per month 90. cents; Class III, per month 40 cts. Each branch: decides -wpon its local assessments which pay for the ad- ministration of the branch and for “SOME OF THE BRANCHES INN, Y, AND N. J. OF THE W. Sy AND D, B. SOCIETY | NEW JERSEY. | J 162 West New York—Sec., Wm, Scholz, 543 10th Street, Phys., Sig- mund C. Braunstein, 424 13th St. Every fourth Saturday, 575 17th. St. NEW YORK. $3 .Gloverville—Sec., Albert Jung, _ 18 North»McNab Ave. Phys., R. J. Palmer, 26 Elm St. Every second Monday, Concordia Hall, cor. West and Fulton St. 3 Yonkers—Sec,, Charles F. Cas- sens, 43 Curran’s Lane. Phys., Abra- ham, My. Skern, 36 So. Broadway. Every last Monday, Hungarian Hall, 15 Warburton Ave. MANHATTAN, 24 Harlem—Sec., Michael Prechtl, 320° E, 89th st, Phys., Hyman Cohen, 112 E. 85th St, Every fourth Monday; quarterly, fourth Sunday, 9 a. m., 248-247 E. 84th St. ¢ 187 East River—Sec., L. Graf, 509 E. 79th St. Phys. Oscar Rotter, 1078 Madison Ave, Every second Tuesday, 1407 Second Ave., Kaemp- fer’s Hall. QUEENS, 28 Astoria—Sec., Christ Vaupel, 3152 45th St., 30.50 35th St., Brook. lyn, N.Y, Phys., M. Sternberg, 1010 Seneca Ave. Every fourth Sunday, at 9 a.m. Queens County Labor Lyceum, 785 Forest Ave., corner Putnam Ave. « the services, of the branch physician free of charge. Benefits, 1. Sick and accident benefits Payable as ‘follows: a) To members of Class IA, $15.00 per week for 40 weeks, and $7.50 for another,40 weeks. i b) To members of the First Class, $9.00 per. week for 40 weeks, and $4.50 for another 40 weeks, ¢) To members of the Second Class, $6.00 ner week for 40 weeks, and $3.00 for another 40 weeks. 2. A death benefit of $250.00, uni- form, regardless of class, sex, @ccupa- tion, or age at entry, is Payable to the legally entitled relatives, or to th appointed beneficiaries, after the _———_ileath of a member. The. following table shows the status and growth of membership, benefits Paid, and assets, on December 31 of the years listed therein. At the Number = Number Paid for Funds Invested a 3 Tomer maces - Maabers hee. Cae 1890 41 3,171 $35,014.00 $6,062.00 1900 179 25,739 “1,002,398.00 89,773.00 1910 271 45,267 3,236,004.00 438,501.00 1920 345 53,741 6,518,985.00 1,500,000.00 1925 346 57,115 11,951,152,91 2,530,781.96 Further information may be obtained from the main office: Workme: ‘ i ‘ otad Sick and Death Benefit Fund; No. 9 Seventh Street, Corner Third Avenue, New York, City, as well ag from the financfal secretaries of the b whose territory the information is required, io Dramehes tn AVERAGE RAILROAD WAGE DURING JUNE $136.00; A SLIGHT INCREASE ALSO IN NUMBER OF MEN WORKING . By LELAND OLDS, Federated Pr 8. A gain of 1.4 per cent in railroad employment between May and June brings the total number of rail. workers at the half year mark to 1,833,621 ah syessned of Jane, 1925, according to the interstate commerce com- mission,. This June the railroads distributed $249,055,495 wi $9,000,000 more than in°1925,° 5° enw bist fh During the first “half of 1926 the carriers employed an average of 1,772,375 workers, ‘Thiv’ means thé railroad furnished about 27,274 more steady jobs than in the same period of 1925. Rai} a ‘oad wages for the half year total, $1,456,069,658 of $37,996,117 more than the first six months last year. The employes so far this year received about 48.1 per cetit/of the railroad dol- lar, compared with 48.4 per tent the first half of 4 cide Dollar.a° Month More.” ‘The average wage of all’ railroad workers, including high-salaried exec- utives, was $136 in June, 1926, com- pared with $185°a year previous. This slight gain the commission attributes to an increase imthe average number of hours worked peremploye. In the half year period the average employe earned $822, compared. with $813 the first half of 1925. The gain is 1-per cent. a be How typical railroad employes made out in the half year, compared with the first six months of 1925, appears in the following table: ‘ 6-Month Rall W: over 1926 appreciable, These émployes show gains.of about 3 per cent, Wages of shop mechanics and of train ser- vice-employes show gains of between 1 and 2 per cent. Gains by other sroups are, hardly worth recording, ‘The improvement in employment af- fects all classes of employes except Compared with June, 1925, there dre 3,566 more clerical workers, 85,988 more maintenance of way employes, 1,263 more workers in the various termina groups and 11,775 more age th and engine service em- number of shopmen is down 1,250. . Maintenance Workers Badly. Pald. The pauper wage paid the quarter ot a million adult male workers Mm the maintenance of way department remains the sorest spot in the indus try. Ip the first half of 1926 these track workers averaged only $438, which would give them less than $900 561 | for the full year's work. No man can + 438 | support a family on that wage. Such 941, minimum wage tends to pull down all other wages in the industry, 1925 . 1926 9775 Panay Nonne R jare | by a