The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 25, 1927, Page 5

THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, Organized Labor—Trade Union Activities THE RECENT ELECTION IN THE MACHINISTS’ UNION IN | THE CHICAGO DISTRICT News and Comment Labor Education Labor and Government Trade Union Politics "FRISCO STRIKE ENDS WITH OPEN SHOP STILL IN, Workers Lose Demands But “See the Light” By HOWARD HARLAN (Worker Correspondent) SAN. FRANCISCO, Jan. 20,—Af- ter valiantly fighting for the past nine months, to uphold the principle of the closed shop, the carpenters | BY A MACHINIST (V. Q.) 1 is only by analyzing events, find- |4ing one’s hits and misses, that we | can insure correct tactics for the next situation, For that reason, the writer is putting down his views. on the Dis- trict Elections last .month, of Dis- triet 8 (Chicago) of the International Association of Machinists. The Anderson Johnston Fight HE district election presented this peculiarity, that in the main, the administration and opposi- | tion forces in the district had been on | the same side of the fence the pre- | fight to oust “B. & O. Bill” John. ternational. HE left wing had its own can- didate during the nomination per- | vious year, backing Anderson in his} ston from the Presidency of the In} | || The Trade Union Press || Strikes—Injunctions : Labor and Imperialism | The Machine Camouflages its Attack. | "THE machine, the Frys and ul.| mans attacked madly those ele- ments they had lined up with the pre- vious year and whom they had de- fended from attack. Last yeai the left wingers, including the Commu- nists, were “trades unionists”, This year they were painted as union destroyers. | It must be remembered that the progressives could offer real oppo- sition. GET MADEIROS ANOTHER STAY OF EXECUTION A considerable portion of the | membership was opposed to the back-| Prosecution Would Kill ward policies of the reactionary ma-/| tye 2. chine. And so the reactionaries made | Him to Stop Testimony the. central issue of the election the} ALY |charge that “the Communists were| , BOSTON, Jan, 24. (FP)—Celes- | out to capture and destroy the union”, | tino Madeiros, star witness for Sacco | And in support of this, “half-witted and Vanzetti, gets a stay of execution! | Joe” Daly, a business agent, found | till April g7 to permit his testimony |that ‘the Communists had already |t® be taken at the April sessions of JANUARY 235, 1 927 CARLSTROM SAYS| HE'S STILL LOYAL | Policies and Programs | TO FRANK SMITH | Small Is Silent With Troubles of His Own (Special to the DAILY WORKER.) SPRINGFIELD, Ill, Jan, 24—After his office had issued a statement to recognizes the authority of the sei- ate to sit in judgment on its own members,” Attorney-General Cari- strom of Illinois, newly arrived in Washington, is reported from there as having denied that he deserted the cause of the banned senator-de- signate, Frank L. Smith. Washington reports quote Cars- strom as saying, “I am now contend ing and shall earnestly and vigor- ously continue to contend for the right of the state to have Col. Smith seated in the United States Senate,” Governor Troubled. madé a start in this direction by ap-|the Massachusetts supreme court | In the meantime, Governor Small, the press which said that “Illinois, Lynching Marks Last Day of 1926; Total is Raised to 34 in U.S. | Instead of 33 re ge the total] | of lynchings umber was jraised to 34 on the final day of the year, the Nationa, Association for the | Advancement of Colored People states. A wood chopper named Buddington was the final jthe year. He contracted a. white woman at a ¢ | When she offered him | | pletion of the job, he pr colored worker was sulting” the white woman gument and accordingly by a white mob at Waldo, George NEW YORK JAILS “CRIME SCHOOLS" SAY COMMISSION Prison Page Five PACKINGTOWN IN CHICAGO IS NOW BEING ‘FORDIZED’ Tel ” 1 . “Speed-up” Is Getting T i. ], > Ching Under Workers’ Skins THURBER LEWIS. (Special to The Daily Worker) CHICAGO, Il, Jan. 24.—Ch ‘o's world famous Packingtown is being “Fordized” by the Big Four—Swift, Wilson, Cudahy, Armour. The ramb- ling 'y: and packing houses of the South de, where 60,000 men and women drive, slaughter and slice mil- lions of cattle, hogs and sheep yearly is being turned into a “laboratory” for experts in speed-up and time-cut- ting. The « By mplete abandon with which these are — cutting ore work into fewer minutes to cut down over-head is getting under the skins of ‘the packinghouse* Workers. There are Overcrowding Makes Inmates Worse still thousands of men in the yards propriating the name of the district] when the new trial appeals for the| who appointed the slush fund candi- who remember that the whole district af; San: Mebncined were forced. $0 sut-|iod, but these failed to get either firs of the I. A. of M. He had looked up| tWo radicals will be heard. {date to fill the place of the deceased cumb to the inevitable, and go back} or second place, thus failing to ap- 4 t to work on conditions that were vir-| pear on the election ballot. The left | the phone book, and had seen that the ls Msca ton Kile Madeiros, convicted | yarn: re nosanen hs Tie teenie a} was once ere oy : tually dictated by the Industrial As-| wing had an elaborate program deal-| Workers (Communist) Party was i Se ameeeaeeres wae ‘Origin: | Cieaeeen ‘avenes. He has toabies Of) arpany, N. ¥., Jan. 24—-New No Union Now. sociation. |ing with amalgamation, development! calling itself District 8 (the same| ‘lly set for early Inst summer. He | his own. He is worried about impeach-| you." City's’ pri are branded as} Save the company union there oa | of who coenmitioen, séateration of] number. as the Moachininta Chicano) 0%* been respited three times as a/ ment proceedings that threaten him] op cote for crime” in rs 1 PRBe ees 48 Bee a Conferences Fail. jor ip my es, jt eM ‘, BO! Sacco-Vanzetti witness in th tty } faili schools for crime” in the annual re-| isn’t a shadow of an organization : | strike benefits, organize the unorgan-| district organization). Crime fj * eb sere ; in the state legislature for failing to port of the state prison commission,|left, The men are at the entire After a number of rovnd table} 44, independent working class poli-| crimes! What if the Chicago Dis- From Sacco and Vanzetti peerogise id eae we ee made by John S. Kennedy, president. | mercy of the bosses. The bosses are conferences were held between the) tia} action, against racial discrim-| trict of the Workers Party had been| Sacco and Vanzetti, in a warm ‘tate treasurer. Kennedy attacks the prisons for in-| driving them harder every week. contending factions during the past) ination, against worker-employer co-| called District 8 for the last 5 yea timessage from their prison cells,| There is sone talk of the governot! cTitation and for the syetem of|The butchers, drovers and lehotere few weeks, at which fruitless discus- operation as the Baltimore and Ohio| How could Daly know a thing like) thank the friends who have been | Tetreating and appointing Fred Lun- grouping together indiscriminately | are showing open signs of resent- sion ended in suspending negotia- tions for the time being, economic pressure was brought to beat, and a hurried up half-hour meeting re- sulted in the strike being “called off.” At this conference represen- tatives of the unions, the builders, the international unions, and the In- dustrial Association were present, No discussion was permitted on the chief bone of contention—the open shop. Both sides had to concede the premise that the so-called American Plan must prevail for the present. From the builders’ side, optimistic statements emanate anent “industrial harmony,” “return to normalcy,” and “an era of greater prosperity,” ete. They are naturally jubilant over the outeome and declare that mutual satisfaction for all parties concernea has been achieved. From the carpenters’ standpoint, there is no ground for exultation. The résult has been-the direct oppo- site of what they fought for since the beginning of the strike. They now go back to work on similar com ditf$ns to those they denounced nine months ago. So far as determina- tion and sdlidarity is concerned they did well. A real fight..was .waged from beginning to end and no doubt the compaign has resulted in :flany of the men becoming acquainted with a social situation they understood but dimly before. Leaders Rapped. On every hand one hears expres- sions of disapproval concerning the ending of the strike on terms that palpably favor the contractors, They accuse their leaders of being tov tame and conciliatory in their de- mands. This is a healthy condition. ft opens the way for left wing propa- ganda that will serve to awaken the men to a realization of their fune- tions and power. So the strike has not been entirely lost, Private Owners Get U.S. Vessels Cheap WASHINGTON, Jan, 24. — One hundred and one ships were sold by the Emergency Fleet corporation of the U. S. government during 1926 for a total of $14,786,994, according to the report of the shipping board. In the sale there were ninety-two cargo ships, five passenger cargo vessels, and five drydocks. The sales were made in accordanco with the policy of transferring the government-owned ships to private companies. The sale price is only a fraction of what the ships cost the government. SCHOOL OPENED IN PASSAIC TO CONTINUE CLASS Plan, for biennial conventions, and | against expulsions. The left wing was unalterably opposed to Johnston; it sought to enlist Anderson and his fellowers for the left wing program. | Anderson came out for amalgamation | and declared against Johnston’s ex- | pulsion polity, Several other mem- bers of the Anderson slate endorsed some demands of the left wing. The} left wing theréfore endorsed Ander- | son. | HE history of that fight, of John- | ston’s steal of the election, of his | expulsion of Anderson, ‘of Johnston’s | subsequent withdrawal from the pres- | idency, and the acceptance of Whar- ton as the new president by both Johnston and Anderson—all this is ancient. history, The Andersoh Forces in the Chicago District. ND what of Chicago? - Fry and Ullman led the fight for the Anderson forces, seeing a method of getting full control of the district, and using the elections for that pur- pose. They united with the left wing,| accepting the supporti of the left | wing. including the Conmmunists. But) the fight of the left wing had one | fatal defect. It did not establish re- |of the District Council, were called that? { Fry Forced Out in the Open. } HARLES FRY, business agent of | Local Lodge 126, has had the Dis-} trict Council in his pocket for the last | year. He planned the administration) slate, candidates being known as “Charles Fry’s men.”. He intended te stay behind the scenes and manage the campaign. But when Wm. Water- worth, progressive candidate for dis- trict president, secured the nomina- tion from 337 and 390, the first two ledges to nominate, Fry came out of his den, and announced hintself as a candidate for that office, when he knew that under the union rules, he was not eligible for the office. Fry openly bellowed that he went into the race to keep the “Communists , from destroying the organization.” Old timers like John Reed, Secretary dupes of the Communists, because they supported a program for the bet- terment of the union. The entire progressive slate was smeared with red by Fry and Ullman. Reactionaries Fear Publicity. keep the progressives from ef- ectively reaching the workers, |Workers to Join Fake | printed election material was pro- | gular meetings of the rank and file | of followers of the left wing toge- | ther with those of Fry and Ullman. This would have made a solid bloc of the membership, around certain issues. But this was not done. Fry and Ullman were thus allowed to make use of the left wing for their own purposes, of intrenching themselves in power, without being compelled to come out for’ progressive measures. The left wing made no organizational gain for the development of a pro- gressive bloc. It was unable to make the “election alliance” a permanent bloc. An Ideological Struggle. (wie this defect in mind, the pro- gressive forces drew up a pro- hibited. For the progressives to have printed election leaflets would have rendered them liable to whatever punishment the district council wish- ed to inflict. Fry also introduced in} the district council a resolution call- ing upon “the group around the Daily Worker,” meaning by that anyone active in the election fight, to sus- pend their activities within 80 days. If the local lodges did not take the necesary action (possible expulsion), the district council would. And to cap it all, Fry announced in his speech: “If you can’t handle them, my local 126 boys will take care of them”. A threat of gangsterism. was in such an atmosphere of hreatened violence and official per- secution that the progressives carried {of the company told the representa: gram for the district, which called for| on their campaign for office on the 1.) a militant organization campaign| basis of a program. Most of the througheut the metal trades, with] progressive candidates were present particular attention to the specialist.| at the nomination, nights of the vari- 2.) a struggle to increase wages andj ous lodges to present their views. to get better shop conditions, and op-! And almost without exception, the position to the B. & O. Plan. 3.) a| progressives confined themselves to fight against injunctions. 4.) absolute| the issues before the union. | States were gainfully employed during. freedom of expression. 5.) bringing closer together the wages of special- ists and machinists, and 6.) separa- tion of the union from the bosses par- ties and for support to the movement for a labor party. Candidates were se- lected who agreed with that pro-| gram. «To be cortinued) Company Union Helps: The Speed-up System By SIDNEY TEPPER (Worker Correspondent.) “Those who think they are working | too hard, should report to my office ‘that year. The others either lived on writing. them letters of encourage- ment and support. “We wish to tell those who spoke that we understand the whole value of your words,” says the message, “and we appreciate your gifts, moral | and material, beyond expression. | “We are convinced that our would- | be murderers‘are determined to burn | us within this year, 1927, and that it is most probable that they will succeed. And our hearts’ wish is | that the new year may give us lib-| erty or death—but meanwhile we} are ready to bear our cross to the! last.” Western Union Forcing | Union for Wage Raise (By a Worker Correspondent) | NEW YORK, Jan. 24.—The vice-! president of the Western Union Tele- graph Co. has notified all plant super- intendents not to grant any wage in-| creases to their workers unless they agreed to the company union. This ruling was; made in order to} tie all workers of jhe Siripany to the company union, The company wants} the employers’ association to function to prevent fhe workers from organiz- ing a real union, Another Method. On another occasion the president tives of the company union that he would take no appeals from workers unless they have been taken up first ‘by the association (company union). The company claims it does not force anybody to belong to the com- pany union, but the officials say: “If you want to have your case heard, you must belong to the asso- ciation.” Industrial Body Says Four-Tenths of People Support All the Rest WASHINGTON, Jan, 24.—The re- port of the national industrial con-| ference for 1925 states that only four | persons in every ten in the United their rent, interest and profit or they existed in public institutions, hospitals | din, a former Thompson republican side-kick, who has been lately running his own political show. A Chicage newspaper has unearthed what it claims is a deal between Small and the legislature to keep the Small im- peachment charges off the floor, Small on his part is to do favors for Lundin on the gtate controlled Chi- cago park boards, a rich source of booty. ig Pressed Small. Present gossip about Lundin going to Washington in McKinley's shoes would indicate that he is pressing the governor for more concessions to stop the impeachment, Caristrom is a Frank L. Smith man and this accounts for his being in Washington putting up a fight for the Colonel’s seat. The statement from his office is inexplicable in view of this. Carlstrom, as attorney-general, is convicted Gov. Small for his $2,- 000,000: defalcation. Naturaily, the relations between the two are strained, din, or for that matter anyone else besides. Smith, would be like explod- ing dynamite in Springfield, But the governor is desperate, that he has been convicted of a crime. Corrupt Polities, This is but a small side-light on the very complicated and more cor- rupt web of bought-and-sold politics that operates in this state. Not the least personage in the mosaic is Samuel L, Insull, traction magnate, who bought the Colonel’s seat in Washington for him. N. Y. School Board Announces Classes For Garment Workers NEW YORK, Jan, 24, — An eve- ning school for workers in the gar- ment industry has been announced by the board of education. Courses will be given in men’s garment work and in women’s and children’s work. The first course will include men’s gar- jment cutting and designing, pattern making and grading, alteration on block patterns, men’s tailoring. power machine operating. Classes meet Monday, Tuesday, and prisons, supported by the labor | of the other four. Wednesday and Thursday, from 7 tu 19 o'clock, at 128 West 3ist Street, the gentleman who prosecuted and! The appointment of Lun-!| considering | The second course ineludes: pat-| tern making, grading and draping, | trade millinery, trade dressmaking, | convicted persons of all types. Institutions are Disgrace “The penal institutions of Ne' York City are a disgrace to the ci says the report. “Men and boys, ffenders and recidivists, mentally normal and feeble-minded, sane and insane, enebriates, pilferers, thieves, bandits, yeggs, drug addicts, thugs, | moral degenerates, sex perverts are duf{ped together into insanitary cells and dormitories, doubled up in cells, the bad with the hopeful, two-thirds without any employment, no educ: tional facilities—simply time servers until they go out, many worse than when they come in. “Tf there are any places that can merit the designation of school for crime and vice it is the penitentia and allied institutions on the island. |Kennedy blames the churches and | parents for some of the conditions |which make criminals of youths. \Textile Trade Editor | Testifies His Paper | Modulates the Truth the public are not stated the same | way, according to the testimony on | cross-examination of Howard | Bennett, editor of a textile rtade pa-/ per. Bennett had been recalled to| the industrial survey commission by | labor’s representative, Emanual Koveleski, when contradictions be-| tween the editor’s previous testimony to the commission and writings in his paper had been discovered. Bennett had blamed the closing of | Massachusetts mills almost entirely | on the 48-hour law in his earlier ap- pearance. This time, with the aid of anti-labor members of the commis: sion, Bennett hedged and said tha the 48-hour law was the one condi-| tion which the mill men could not/| change to improve the situation.} Mismanagement, | R. over - production, | chinery, etc., were factors stressed by his publication as causes of the mills’ decline more particularly than the shorter hour law. | Passaic Picture in Kansas Cx:y KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Organized| labor and its friends in greater Kan-! strike | film Wednesday, January 26, at the | sas City will see the Passa‘ “will be held. Truth for the trade. and truth for southern competition, graft, old ma-| Carpenters’ Hill, 3114 Pasco Blvd. An afternoon and evening showing) then, ment according to workers on the | killing floors. | As an example, there is the Omaha Packing Co., a Swift subsidiary em- pl g eight hundred men. In the past seven days 90 of these have been let out. The same killing sched- ule is being maintained, however, | and more are soon to be let go with- jout reducing production. 4 Experts to 800 Workers. | In this little plant of 800 men an@ | women (women, mostly Negroes, clean and pack guts) four experts have been at work for several jmonths. It is the same story that lis being told in all big production units thruout the country: ‘work xty minutes of every hour, “bonys- es” given for back-breaking co-oy- dination and don’t dare miss a stroke. Loses Hand. A Negro was working on a gut- machine (a grappler for stripping guts out of the carcass). He was ‘speeded up, His han@ slipped. The flesh was torn off his entire hand, leaving a white skeleton, bare and ghastly. A stockyards’ worker who saw the tragedy told me of it, A Polish worker was sent on the ma- chine ten minutes later. He told the | floor forman that he thot he should have at least 75c an hour considering the hazard. The foreman told him that plenty of men could be gotten for less, The Polish worker was discharged. Such is the toll that “Fordization” takes in the stockyards. Cheated of Pension, One of the best hog cleavers and splitters in the Swift plant with 28 years of continuous service whose sure and steady hand has, of late years, become less trustworthy from the ravages of rheumatism contract- ed from the wet and Bloody floors, was due for his pension in two more years. The new “system” came in. His |splitting machine was speeded up te an inhuman rate. He couldn’t keep up. He was discharged by the kill- ing foreman at the ggestion of an expert. He loses his pension of some seventy a month. Once Well Crganized. In the period from the close of the war until the winter of 1921-22, these {things may not have happened. The |butcher workmen were organized They were not docked ‘an }hour’s pay for a minute's tardiness jin those days. They were making a | wage it was possible to live on, They jhad shop stewards to thresh out {complaints with the foremen, | 15,000 Struck. FRONT C0 STAR persnnyi and I will take care ot! PASSAIC STRIKE STILL ON! ; On Dee, 5, 1921, in the dautoah UNITED MMITTEE TED them. ie | ry |winter, 45,000 stockyards workers So replied the chief of the Eastern | marched out on strike. It was dur- By VERA BUCH (Secretary of Passaic Workers’ School) . PASSAIC, N. J. Jan. 24.—The workers’ of Passaic and vicinity cele- brated the opening of the Workers’ School. J. 0. Bentall, old friend of the textile strikers, gave a talk on “The Meaning, of Workers’ eduex- tion.” He showed how a union mas or woman canno{ do his work ot building up the union unless educa- tion, the “loom-fixer of the mind,” trains him to @ real understanding of labor problems. _A year ago, an English class was started in Passaic by the United Front Committee, in connection with its efforts to organize the. textile workers, Only a few lessons were , held, when the strike broke out. The / great volcano of pent-up rebellion ex- ploded. Ordinary life was thrown into the air. Period of Settlement Over. Now the great year of struggle is passing. During the present period. the period of settlement, the workers see themselves once more approach- ing a settled way of living. They are able to take stock of themselves, of the strike, and of the time ahead. They become conscious of their needs. The opening of the Workers School demonstrates that the workers have broken forever with the past or exploitation and dumb suffering. They have become conscious of the class struggle. They know that the period ahead of them is one of slow and patient struggle to build up » strong union. It is a period during which the workers will forge weapons for the struggles to come. In order to do this, they must understand the struggle and prepare themselves by study, English Classes. The Workers’ Schoot offers tirst of all classes in English. Never be- fore has there been such a wide- spread desire among the foreign born workers to learn English. Also, there added, and the Workers’ School in arse dh grow a 4 school in New ‘orl grown, every need of the workers, ‘ An open forum will be held every second Sunday night, where the best speakers will lecture and the workers may discuss from the floor: Division of the Western Union Tele- graph Co. to a protest against the speed-up system, made by a group of workers thru their spokesman. The representative of the workers was a company union official, so he accepted the answer of the boss in good faith, The workers, while being angry, could not go any further, as they know well that the fake company union will not fight % them in case they are in trouble. Having no real union to fight for them, they sub- mitted to the nerve-wrecking speed- up system, (To be concluded tomorrow.) Nearing to Lecture At Pittsburgh, Feb. 1 WILKESBARRE, Pa.,, Jan, 24, — lieved to have resulted from an elec- Alden Coal company, here today. national Labor Defense. ~ the Ukrainian Russian Club of Endi- was the first to get over the top in patent esha Buy an extra copy every day at some news stand. WE'VE WON IN FOUR MILLS! HELP US BEAT THE REST! GIVE MONEY PLEASE! For Coal for the Strikers’ Homes! They have made a hard fight! Now they are winning! Now you must help more than ever! MAKE VICTORY COMPLETE! For Bread for their families! Give all you can! 799 BROADWAY Strikers’ Children. Make all contributions by check or money order to Room 225 Get 10¢ Coupons and sell them TO HELP US FEED the NEW YORK CITY jing the open shop drive when the big employers decided to wipe out unionism in all large industry. They | put up a brave fight but in the end | they were beaten, Instead‘ of the | raise that they struck for, they got |} a vicious wage-cut and went back | piecemeal, the known leaders being blacklisted. | Since then, wages have | ther down, they are still | The fake company ynion came. In- |surance schemes ¥ intreduced. | House organs were issued—and now | the “system.” | Low Wages. The best hog-butchers in Swift's and Armour’s, skilled workmen, can jmake no more than 62 and a half cents an hour. Most of them get 47, Laborers work for 42 and a half, The highest skilled men in the yards, | the cattle-butchers, can make no | more than 82 and a half. They get Jovertime, But it doesn’t begin un- til after 55 hours. The bosses see that they don’t work more. than | fifty-five, | Another article will tell how the |e Cy speed-up, known to the gone fur- ing cut. bosses as the Bordeaux or B system, works. wish teagan ae