The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 8, 1926, Page 6

Page Six THE DAILY WORKER THE DAILY WORKER’ Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. | Washington Blvd., Chicago, Il. Phone Monroe 4712 | 113 W. SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail (in Chicago only): $8.00 pe $4 months By mail (outside of Chicago): } $6.00 por year $3.50 six months $2.00 three months ) three s Address all mail and make out ch THE DAILY WORKER, cks to 1113 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, Ill, i een it September 21, 1 , under the act of Mare Editors -Business Manager “at the post-office at Chi 1879. Adve rates on application, | Scie anal Facet ‘the Straggle in the Needle Trades ft is not surprising that The New York Times is acting as the mouthpiece of the reactionary forces massed against the, militant} majority in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union; and | the other needle trades unions | The Times has turned its columns into propaganda agencies | for the Sigman forces and their program and why should it not give | them all the support of which it is capable? rot The program of The Times for the needle trades is—arbitration. The program of Sigmargand his followers, the program of Hill- man and Beckerman for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, is—ar- bitration. The program of the-Daily Forward, the Jewish language organ of the socialist party in the needle trades, is—arbitration. The program of the New York Leader, weekly organ of the so- cialist party, for the needle trades, is—arbitration. The program of the trade union officialdom of America for the} trade union movement of America, as expressed in the Watson: | Parker bill, is—compulsory arbitration. The program of the capitalist class of America for the working class is also compulsory arbitration, as expressed in the Watson- Parker bill, and in the message of President Coolidge to congress | with the further curtailment—amounting to abolition in important ases—of the right to strike as expressed in the recent decision of the United States supreme court in the case of August Dorchy. This decision, of a sweeping character, giving courts the right to de- termine what strikes are “justified,” has not even been commented on by the heads of the trade union movement. The present struggle in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, altho pictured by the right wing and the capitalist | press simply as a struggle against Communist theory-and practice, and against Communists, in the light of the above facts, is in reality a struggle to preserve the trade unions as WEAPONS of the work- ing cle against an attempt to make of them spiritless and inef- fective organizations in which all will to struggle has been killed ind which depend upon the good intentions and “desire for fair play” upon the part of the capitalists, to maintain and improve the living standards of the membership. This latter policy, the history of labor in every land shows to he fatal to the trade anion movement and the whole working class. He is one case where clear understanding of the issues in- yolved and of the form the struggle takes is necessary for every A Sincere worker. The drive against the Communists first and the left wing second is not made this time just because the “red menace” is a good issue in the demagogic sense. Communists have tremendous influence in the needle trades, especially in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers and needle trades workers are not to be stampeded by the ery of “Communism. 4 The fight on the Communists is made this time because the Com- munist Party membership and its sympathizers in the International Ladies’ Gatment Workers stand squarely in the path the right wing would have the needle trades unions tread—the path to arbitration, worker-employer co-operation and impotence. The Communists are the hardest fighters for a militant policy und their devotion and organizational ability make it impossible for the right wing in the I. L. G. W. to turn the union over to Tam- many Hall thru the medium of the “governor’s commission.” Fighting side by side with the Communists is the left wing in the union which saved it from destruction at the hands of Sigman and the socialist party cohorts represented by the Forward and the New Leader. e Against these workers are aligned the bosses, the national of- fieialdom of the Amalgamated and the I. L. G. W. U., the A. F. of \.. leaders, the right wing and capitalist press and police powers of the government. There are still broader aspects of the struggle than those out- jined here and we will deal with them later. It is enough to say now that the drive against the Communists and the left wing in the I. L.| G, W. U. is nothing accidental but is essentially a clash between the agents of imperialism in the labor movement, whose policy would make “efficiency” organs of the unions, and the correct policy of the Communists, adapted to the needs of the mass of the workers, which would make of the unions fighting instruments of an op- pressed class, unions in which the capitalists will search in vain for aid in carrying out their schemes for further enslaving the work- ing class. No honest worker will be in doubt as to which side he will sup- port in a struggle centering around such basic issues. BROOKHART, LIKE WOODROW WILSON, CONFESSES TO ONE-TRACK MIND, SO HE WON'T DISCUSS RUSSIA “The McNary-Haugen bill is good,” said Senator Smith W. Brookhart of lowa, who is in Chicago making a few addresses, “tho it does not fully meet my ideas, “I favor legislation to keep up the prices of all farm products of which there is an exportable surplus, not merely the five staples for which iteis suggested to form pools. Ag it is now one-tenth of the farm products must be exported and sold at a low price, which seems to set the price of that portion sold for domestic consump- tion, Farmers are entitled to a price eqtal to the cost of production, plus 5 per cent on their capital investment. Labor would not consider that too much to pay for what it consumes of farm stuff. The tariff now gives the farmer no real protection, becauge.of this exportable surplus, 4 “The government should set up an os export corporation on lines similar to those of the federal land bank, which is co-operatively owned by the farmer and has already paid back every cent that the government originally put in to start it. “The farm relief question is the vital issue in Iowa. In fact, it is the only issue, and labor stands squarely with the farmer in the matter, They are perfectly united.” Brookhart, in response to questions, refused to discuss the matter of recog- nition of Soviet Russia, on the ground that he confined himself, in interviews at least, to one question at a time. “T will today talk only on farm re- Nef,” he said. “No use to ask me about Russia now,” Neither would he Mscuss Coolidge or Lowden’s chances | of the presidency. “I'll not talk of personalitior—not at this time,” he added, Helped: W Secretary of the United Councll of | and most of them are mar | Children and the |ter and know how best to fight in | order to do away with this suffering, q Working Class & q in tans a they are organized. These Neighbor- hood Councils have formed themslves into committees and visited women’s Workingclass Housewives. | organizations, in varlous neighbor- its | hoods, and talked to them about the = Pas strike first of its | * Ani rier aa al ae labor | *7ussle of the textile workers in = i e Sikes Passaic and vicinity, telling them eee ene eae, ates: itty | what the United Council of Working- Beant obi sieen eee ang have | ‘88s Housewives is doing to help win children. The Jot of the women ‘textile | mi ea me Westy fin rice uP workers, before the strike, was even This wane of. thé Neighborhood harder than that of the men. During | gt . the day, they had to take care of the | Councils helped to brddden the scope yatapdl aha household, did the | 0! the relief, and to acduaint the dit. bila ail |ferent working class ‘women's organ- | izations, as fraternal, benevolent, char- table and religious organizations with the struggle in Passaic, Open air mass meefings and social affairs were held; subScription lists | were circulated, and house to house collections were madé. Food and clothing wre also collected. All funds Lenin’s Widow 1 7 eo s y 1 , By KATE GITLOw, cooking, scrubbing, and mending, and tried hard to make ends meet. Dur-| ing the night, instead of resting, they | had to work long hours in the mills. | That was the life provided for the women textile workers of Passaic by the mill owners in their greed for profits. Endured Much, Since women by nature are patient, | the women textile workers suffered patiently for a long time, until they could stand it no longer. Husband | and wife working together could not earn enough to support the family.’ Then came the wage cut, and this was the direct cause of the strike. The wage cut awakened the men and wom- en textile workers and made them | think, and act together. After the wage cut, the textile work- ers organized themselves into the United Front Committee of Passaic and vicinity. On Jan. 25, 1926, the textile strike was declared. Be-; cause they had ng union before the strike, and because of the low wages they received, the strikers found themselves immediately in need. Then the -Passaic General Relief | Committee was organized and an ap) peal for funds was issued. Out to Win or Die. Y are these striking women and men in the eighth month of the strike as determined as in the be-| ginning? Why did all the clubbing by the police, the arrests and jailings not frighten the strikers back into! the mills? Why are sixteen thousand | men and women of many nationalities | like one family? The striking men | Madame Krupskayai ‘the widow of and women are determined because | ‘ |Lenin, is one of the outstanding lead- Fe ee te mills and the) ry of te Russian @Mehition’atd has ee ig A made great contributions to problems able. All the strikers, especially the | o¢ dcclal wellase ities Mavtek Gnlak women, know what it would mean to = t go back into the mills under the old conditions. It would mean misery for | themselves and their children and life without hope. That is why the beat-| ings by the Passaic police, or cos-| sacks, as the strikers call them, have failed to break their spirit. The wom-)| en strikers are out to win or die. The strikers speak several languages, but they understand each other well. Those who have suffered under the same conditions, no matter in what mill or under what boss, can under stand each other and fight for the same cause. Proves Women’s Power. OULD the strike have lasted so long if the women were not di- rectly involved? Could it have last- ed so long if.the women at home did not know what was happening in the mills? Of course, it could not. If; the women did not have first hand} knowledge of the conditions, instead of fighting shoulder to shoulder with | the men in the front ranks of the | j | for the maintenance.of the kitchens and the feeding of the children on the and from women: No. cireular letter of appeal has been sent out up to the time this article is written to labor unions. Many working women's or- ganizations that did not understand before, now are, helping and co-oper- ating to maintain the kitchens. The following organizations that are help- }ing and actually co-operating in the work of feeding the children are the Lithuanian Working" Women’s liance of America, a national organiz- ation; Community Welfare League, Women’s Educational’@lub of Passaic and numerous working women’s or- ganizations of all malities and creeds who sent in col uations, Women’s Conférence, N June 19, a confefence of wom- en’s organizationg’ was ‘held in Passaic to devise means for feeding the Passaic strikers’ ¢hildren. This conference was called by the United Council of Workingclass Housewives and here a beginning was made to bring women’s organizations together to help with the feeding of the strik- ers’ children. At the conference, a committee was elected which consist- ed of one representative from each unit represeftited and the name United Women's Conference was adopted.. The delegates to United Women’s Conference meet month, Leona Smith, the secretary of the conference is very able and has been responsible for much of the good work which has been accom- plished in Passaic. It is hoped that this conference will broaden its scope and there will be established a per- manent delegated ‘women’s confer- ence where problems of the working- class women and of the-working class as a whole may be ussed, and plans devised and carfled out for the protection of the interests of the workingclass women and the working- class as a whole. Already a joint provisional commit- tee is in existence to further such a conference. To this é6nference will be invited labor unions and fraternal organizations, In the beginning, thé Housewives’ Council of Passaic thri’ their commit- tee managed the kitchens. They had committees for buyi ning, cook- ing, and for feeding thé’children. The good management of the women of the Housewives’ Council of Passaic made it possible from the beginning to feed so many children. These wom- en in Pasgaic, in addition to doing this work, also collected food and money. Most of the money was rais- ed by the New York councils, What the Workingclass Housewives Have Done. A MASS meeting was held under the auspices of the United Coun- cil of Workingclass Housewives on March 9, ip the biggest hall in Pas- salc, the purpose of which was to ac- quaint the outside workingclass wom- en with the striking women and so engaged them in the relief work, The ‘all was packed early in/the evening. At this meeting, a ing wes strike, they would blame the men and, unconsciously, do all in their power | to break the strike. The Passaic strike proves conclusively that the women can and will fight with the men for better conditions, a strong union when they understand. The same is good for the men workers. When they understand why they suf- they fight with determination. The Important Role of the Working- class Women in the Passaic Textile Strike, HE United Council of Working» class Housewives, an organization of proletarian housewives with branch- es in New York, Passaic and New- ark, whose aim ts to organize the un- organized housewives and wives of the workers and to unite with existing working women’s organizations thru permanent delegated conferences, and to unite their struggles with those of the men workers, and recognize that they have no struggle apart from the workingman, at their regular delegat- ed central body meeting, Feb. 26, 1926, passed a resolution endorsing and of- tering to open kitchens immediately to feed the strikers and their families, Open Kitchen, On March 12, the United Counei) of Housewives opened a kitchen where over four hundred children were fed with wholesome food every day. Enemies of the strike, tried hard to find fault with the kitchens and with the food. They sent investigators. But to their horror, they found that some of the children had gained as much as ten pounds within a short time. In April a second kitchen was opened where from four to five hun- dred children were fed during the months of July and August. At the Victory, Playground, which was open- ed for the children by the Strike Com- mittee, 1,000 children were fed with the help of the United Women’s Con- ference, How Funds Were Raised, HE United Council of Working- is organized on , called Meighbor- are numbered as hood Counciis, Women Passaic Strike playground were collected mostly ‘by ; Al} regularly once a! Have made in organizing fhe women for the relief work. The mothers of the children who were fed in the kitch- ens, some of the striking women and. others like the cigar, handkerchief shop workers and housewives were osganized into Working Women’s Councils. These Working Women's Councils, at this time, number ten with a membership of trom thirty to fifty in each, and they are of several nationalities, These women had no previous training in They did not know how to conduct a meeting, or how to act as secretary or chairman. From the beginning, these women were made to serve on language. Business meetings were conducted in English, and those who could. understand this language ex- plained to those who could not under- stand all that was transacted at the meeting. A class for all Council Ex- ecutive Committees was ofganized in order to train the women how to con- duct meetings. In a short time the women had learned, and. now the meett, are becoming very lively. Lectures are being held jointly for all the councils. Outline of lectures follows: Why the Workers are Poor. The Workingclass Mother and her Children, What the Unions do for the Work- ers, Workingwomen’s Movements, The Workingclass Woman and her Home Life. Sanitation. Maternity, On Ali Committees. Ly eat women in the Working Wom- en’s Councils are serving on all committees, committees in the kitch- ens, on the playgrounds, committees visiting organizations, collecting food, arranging affairs, and committees for raising funds to feed the children. They have learned by this time that the strikers are helped not as charity but as solidarity in order to help win the strike, and that it is expected that the Passaic textile workers will do likewise when other workers shall be engaged in a struggle with their boss- es to better their conditions. Tho the women in the councils are mostly strikers themselves or the wives of ikers, who have been engaged in a ‘bitter struggle for eight months and | are in need themselves, they are now | raising a little money for the British miners, The Lesson of the Passaic Strike FO Dee wives have often been con- sidered of no use except to re- main at home and attend to house- hold duties. These housewives have proven, during the Passaic strike what a great help they can be in all labor struggles when they are organ- ized and made to understand. It should be remembered that due to the 1igh cost of living the Workingclass Housewives are leaving home more and more to work in the different in- dustries. It is now almost impossible | for a worker to support his family. It should be understood by organized labor that there is already a great | mass of working women in the differ- {ent industries and that more are com- | ing in and that these women are to a great extent unorganized. | Now Important Factor. tg aes working women as well as the | working class housewives are fast becoming an important factor in the economical and political life of the workers. The master class has learn- ed this long before the workers, This class is doing all it can to use the workingclass women to its advantage, The railroad workers’ wives are being organized into an auxiliary of the company union, This Passaic strike proves that the Sreat mass of workingclass women in the factories, shops, and homes can be made to serve, economically and politically the interests of the work- ers. It must be understood by all those interested in the labor move- ment and by the working men and women, that all the struggles of the workers to better their conditions, no matter whether they are fighting for a union, against low wages, for better homes, cheaper rents, better Schools, against child labor or for maternity protection, that these strug- sles must be carried on unitedly by the women and men class, of the ‘working. organizations,‘ committees and to talk in their own| } Gh ANEW NOVEL Gloa Siaclair (Copyright, 1926, by Upton Sinclair) The great man sat at his flat ma- hogany desk, as clear of papers as the prevailing superstition required. It appeared ag if a captain of indus- try had not a thing to do but grin at a college boy, and gossip about the boy's mistress and his own. But when Bunny remarked, “Mr, Ros- coe, I came to see you here because I want to talk to you about the new wage scale.” And in a flash the smile went off the’ magnate’s face, and {it seemed “as if even the fat went off his jaws. If you have thought of him as a mixture of gen- iality and buffoonery, this is the time for you to set yourself straight, along with: Bunny, and. all other rebels against the American system. Bunny started to tell about the way the men’ felt; and the trouble that was brewing; but Mr. Roscoe stopped him.».“Listen here, » Jim Junior, and-save a lot of breath. I know everything the men are say- ing, and everything that Bolshevik bunch up there js teaching them. I get a confidential report every week. I know about your friend, Tom Ax- ton, and -your.Paul Watkins, and your Eddie. Piatt, and your Bud Stoner, and your Jick Duggan—I could tell: you all you know, anda lot that would surprise you. Bunny was taken aback, as the other had intended. “Jim Junior,” he continued, “you're a bright boy, and you'll get over this nonsense, and I want to help you over it—I might save you a lot of suffering, and also your father, that’s the salt of the earth. I've been in this world thirty or forty years longer than you, and I've learned a lot that you don’t know, but some day you will. Your father and the rest of us are running the ofl industry, we got here because we know how, and | that’s @ real thing, by Jees, and not just a lot of words. But some other fellers want to kick us out, and think all they got to do is to make speeches to oil workers and set them to raising hell—but let me tell you, kiddo, it’s going to take a lot more than that.” . Yes, Mr. Roscoe, but that’s not the point—” “Pardon me, but it is. Let's cut out the hokum-—just say to your- self that I've been sitting in at the arguments of that Bolshevik bunch of yours. Do they mean to take the industry away from me and your old man, or don’t they?” “Well, they may think that ulti- mately—” “Yes, exactly. And so far as I'm concerned, the time to stop the ulti- mately is now. And I tell you that if any sons-of-b>—— imagine.they're going to live off’ my wages while they're getting ready to rob me, they’re mistaken; and if they find themselves in the Jute mill at San Quentin, they’re not going to get my money to bail them out.” . That was a center shot, and Ver- non «Roecoe was looking Bunny , straight in the eye. “Jim, Junior, I know all.the fine idealistic phrases them fellers use on you. It’s all lovely and sweet and for the good of humanity—but they know that’s all bait for suckers, and \{ you could hear them laughing at you behind your back, you'd realize how you're being used. What I tell you is, you better get-on your own side of the fence before the shooting begins, “Is there going to be shooting, Mr. Roecoe?” “That's up to your Bolshevik friends. We've got what we want, and they’re going to take it away from ‘us.”* “We needed the oil workers dur- ing the war, Mr. Roscoe, and we made them promises—” /; “Pardon’ me, kiddo—we didn’t make any promises at all! A god- damn long-faced, snivelling college professor made them for us, and we're done with that bunk for good! We've got'a business man for presi- dent, and we're ‘going to run this country on business lines. And: Jet me tell yourfor one, I'm god-damn sick of having to buy labor leaders, and I can think of cheaper ways to manage it.” (Continued tomorrow.) , Books for the Worker’s Shelf NEWS FROM NOWHE Morris, 266 pa; Vanguard Press, Inc,, 80 Fifth Ave., New York City, 50 cents, ‘The author goes to sleep one winter night toward the end of the nineteenth century at Hammersmith, and, appar- ently, wakens in the middle of the twenty-first century, to find himself in @ leisurely country, geographically familiar, but socially incredible, Ali the women are fair, all the men strap- ping; all the buildings, shops, halls and houses intellectually and lovingly built; the flowers, birds, the ery sky speak gratefully to his sondbal Every- thing he has ever loved is his eyes, frescoed walls, . draperies rather than dre ine. val bridges instead of modern » by William Published by ones. Buxom girls’in~peautiful gowns kiss him for morfiing greeting, hold his hand as they talk, and lean on his shoulder ag they Serve him at table. Broad-shouldered youths act as his guides and grooms, Mankind at large is an extension of these types. So deep-seated is this sense of brother. hood that all the watchdogs of society, parliaments, police, soldiers, priests, and newspapers, have vanished, or are relegated to museums ag curioug rel- ics. There is no organization for pro- tection or defense, Mr, Morris’ inquiries into this state of things elicit the explanation that it has been brought about by & massacre at Trafalgar Square; a universal strike, and a capitulation of employers 80 wholesale that thereafter there have been no “employed” in the mod- ern sense. As hired Inbor ceased, so ended forced labor, and commercial- ism, WRITE AS YOU FIGHT: Spite mn This attractive offer is made to get you acquainted with The Communist International IN ITS NEW FORM since it has appeared twice a month Pi No.1 No.2 No.3 Isswe of October 1 October 15 November 1 For 25 Cents Fi Take advantage of this opportunity to get ac- quainted with the official organ of the Executive Committee of the Com- munist. International. Leading Articles of the Last Issue (No. 3): LEADERS IN OPPOSITION An account of the “erlses” inside the Russian Commurtisi Party. NOTES OF A TRADE UNIONIST By A. Lozovsky THE GERMAN ULTRA-LEFT By Clara Zetkin STABILIZING THE FRANC AN ILLEGAL PERIODICAL The leaders of the world Communist movement in articles on the theory and practice of Commu- nism make this an indis- pensable publication for every thinking worker. A COMMUNIST should not be without it. Send for the special offer of the last three numbers for 25 cents. 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