The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 3, 1927, Page 1

The Daily Worker Fights: For the Organization of the Un- organized. For a Labor Party. For the 40-Hour Week. THE ONLY ENGLISH LABOR DAILY IN NEW YORK THE DAILY WORKER. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. ——— FINAL CITY EDITION ———$—$—$_———————— Vol. IV. No. 18. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In New York, by mail, $8.00 per year. Outside New York, by mail, $6.00 pe Brophy Fights Hard For Six-Hour Day Miners’ Convention Ends; Adopts Weak Report Of Lewis’ Wage Scale Committee By WM. F. DUNNE. INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 2.—Adjournment of the UMWA con-; vention came today with progressives on their feet and fighting. John Brophy, in a half hour speech, to which the delégates| paid close attention, urged that the union publicly assure miners in non-union fields that no contract would be signed that did not | | CURRENT EVENTS | By T. J. O'FLAHERTY HE toothless International Fed- eratior of Trade Unions sent out on its press service the story that strong anti-Communist currents have been set in motion in the United States owing to the “striking failures of the cloakmakers and furriers’ strikes under Communist leadership”. This is the bunk. As a matter of fact the furriers’ strike was one of the few victorious strikes in recent years conducted in the United States and the story of the treachery of the right wing leaders in the cloakmakers’ strike does not need repitition. As for the anti-Communist currents now flowing in the trade union movement’ here, we admit of its presence. * * * HERE is an anti-Communist cur- rent running through the whole international labor movement as well as in America. It is not surprising. ‘Labor leaders who demand and insist on getting a salary raise from $8,000 to $12,000 a year while the members of their union are facing a strike and unemployment have nothing in com- mon with the revolutionary self-sacri- ficing spirit of Communism. Those fat boys are quite comfortable under capitalism. What social order, would give them more jn dollars and cents? ra Thee E_haye scen the anti-Commun ists in action in England dur ing the General Strike and after- wards. They called off the general strike thus making a defeat of the miners a certainty. They pulled the guts out of the growing effort of in- ternational labor to come to the aid’ of the miners. They joined with the blackest section of British reaction in attacking the militant leaders of the miners, particularly A. J. Cook. And) they did all this for the sake of the) robber empire. Those fellows have nothing in:common with Communism which aims at the overthrow of the pirate empire and the freeing of all the oppressed peoples now under its iron heel, . oa N the continent of Europe the| leaders of the Amsterdam Inter- national are bootblacks for the capi-| talists. Vandervelde, the socialist! premier of Belgium is on_tea-drink- ing terms with the king and queen ef Belgium and takes an occasional trip to London to confer with Sir Aus- ten Chamberlain on imperial matters, The labor fakers of Italy have been acting in close co-operation with Mus- solini. In Germany they enabled the capitalists to partially recover from the effects of the war and the revo- lution. Of course they are anti-Com- munist and they are wel] paid for their anti-Communist rantings. . * * N the I. F. T. U. press service we find a lively defense of the fascist coup in Lithuania. At first the Am- sterdam secretariat was somewhat! vague about what was taking place, Perhaps the fascists indiscriminately arrested right as well as left trade union leaders. “But it may now be safely asserted that after the first few days the Lithuanian government recognized that its policy towards the ‘free’ trade unions which stand aloof] from politics, was a mistaken one, and that it is now permitting them to resume their normal activities.” So there you are. The fascists are sure of the loyalty of the right wing labor||- leaders and allow them to resume their “normal activities”. They are not so sure of the Communists so} they execute them. * * * T is quite in the natural order of! things that the labor fakers should organize to preserve their positions, They have vested interests in the capi- talist system. Selling the labor pow- er of the union members and selling the union members for a considerable| commission is lucrative employment. (Continued on page 2) Ask Your Newsdealer For The DAILY WORKER include all strikers. Brophy attacked the policy of signing for one or more mines of a single company and allowing its other properties to run non- union. He ended with a demand for the six-hour day and five- day week. Lewis followed with an attack on Brophy. Tony Minorich spoke for organization of the unorgan- ized as the only means for win- ning the union demands. Fagan, president of District 5, made a bitter personal attack on Minorich, and Fagan was booed by many dele- gates. Hindmarsh rose to defend Minorich on a point of order and spoke until ruled off the floor. The wage scale committee has been’ empowered to negotiate an agreement on the basis of “no reduction in wages.” This is accompanied by authorization of a policy committee of three from each district. The recommendations of the scale committee will be submitted to a referendum. The convention, as pre- dicted by The DAILY WORKER, has adjourned without enacting one single measure for the benefit of the rank and file. and without the Lewis ma- chine submitting any program for the main problem facing the union organ- ization of the unorganized. Se ane Convention’s Last Day. INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Feb. 2.— The convention had been adjourned yesterday to meet at nine o’clock this morning’ for the last most important act of discussing the report of the wage scale committee. Speculation among the progressives verged from a belief that John L. Lewis, Interna- tional president, would, for grand- stand purposes, have his committee strongly defend the Jacksonville scale, and rely on a losing strike to break down the miners’ resistance of lower wages, to the theory that he would brazenly demand the right be given his committee to bargain away the future labor of union members at any rate he might see fit to agree upon with the companies. For Present Scale. The report itself, was a compromise between the two possible plans Lewis might have adopted. It declares for the present scale of wages. But it also insists on the scale committee be- ing given bargaining power to “trade demands” with the operators, thus opening the way to concessions. No mention was made of the six hour day or the five day week, though progressive resolutions were brought before the convention demanding these be included in the next contract as the only method by which wide- spread unemployment can be avoided. Whereas the progressives had de- manded in resolutions adopted by a large number of local unions one con- tract for the entire coal fields, the Wage Scale Committee brought in a recommendation for a contract for the soft coal fields, alone. Lewis, and Cappellini, president of District 1, of the anthracite, have already tied the eastern Pennsylvania miners up with a five year agreement to prevent their striking with the bituminous (Continued on page 5). Tr year. Senate Committee Told No More “Baking King” But Trust Still Lives WASHINGTON, Feb. 2.—The con- sent decree entered in the bread mer- ger cases last year killed the ambi-} tions of William B. Ward, New York | baking magnate, to become the “bak- | ing king of America,” A. F. Myers, former special assistant attorney gen- jeral, today told the Senate Judiciary | Committee investigating the “bread trust.” The action also stopped the “com- | bination mania which existed early last year,” Myers said. Senator Walsh (D) of Montana de- jelared the government should have | prosecuted the bread mergers in court. |. The decision does not prevent the continued existence of the Ward Bak- |ing Co., itself a corporation of large | proportions. It merely stops the fur- ther acquisition of subsidiary com- | panies, in the way familiar under |other anti-trust decisions. SIGMAN'S CLAIM OF BlG REGISTRY LIE, SAYS HYMAN Bureaucrat’s Trickery And ; Violence Fail NEW YORK, Feb. 2. — Exposing the terrorist methods that have been used by the International to force wokers to register, Louis Hyman, manager of the Joint Board of Cloak and Dressmakers’ Unions, today de- nied that 26,000 workers have regis- tered with the International, as Mor- ris Sigman, president has stated to the press. Very Few Register. “No such number have gone to reg- ister at the International in spite of \the ‘terrorist methods that have been used against the workers to force registration,” he said. “The best proof of this is that the International, while claiming this large majority, still fears. to allow ‘elections to~ be held in the locals, and has further extended the time for registering in spite of frequent statements that the time would expire on the first of the month. There would be no need to coax workers in at the last moment by an extension of time, if they had been rushing to the International to register as Sigman has claimed. NEW YORK, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1927 <a> U. 8. Backing British War on China Receives England’s Support In Latin Americas in Return By LAURENCE TODD (Federated Press.) WASHINGTON, (FP).— Through the dust and fog of state department statements that say nothing, and White House utterances that obscure the facts, all the power of American finance and the. American navy is emerging as an™'ly of British im- perialism iv-* \ gSistance to the Chi- nese working class revolution. That is the meaning 6f the shipment of 1,200 American marines across the Pacific. Congress has given no sanction to this Anglo-Mellon alliance, which seems to have divided the world into two spheres for exploitation of sub- ject peoples. But President Coolidge, directed by Secretary Mellon, has as- sisted Secretary Kellogg to make American policy in China subordinate to that of Britain, while Britain has made her policy in‘Latin America one of sympathy with any coercion which the Washington government may use against Mexico, Nicaragua or any other republic which may get out of hand. a Here are some pwints in the recent development of this»pact of allotment of loot: The New Alignment. In December the state department aligned its forces to combat the en- forcement of Mexico’s oil land law, and discovered that the Aguila Oil Co., owned by Royal Dutch . Shell, which in turn is 51 per cent owned by the British admiralty, was preparing to accept the Mexican law. The Doheny, Mellon and Sinclair interests had agreed with the department to resist the law. Their claims covered jonly 850,000 to 900,000 acres out of the 28,000,000 acres to which the law applied.’ On Dec. 27 the Aguila changed its mind pnd joined the Dehen}-Melién-Shiclalr “group, there: |by making the resistants appear as speaking for the British as well as |the United States government. | In December, also, the British con- sul in Managua, aided -by the Italian consul (Britain and Mussolini are in close harmony now) gave aid to Sec- retary Kellogg’s Nicaraguas interven- tion by asking the American minister Sigman’s Boss Friends. \for protection for their nationals in “Sigman has attempted to force this registration by every sort of ter- rorist device. Workers have been dis- charged for refusing to register and the International has promised special rewards to employers who will threa- ten their workers with discharge. | Only today a firm informed me that | Sigman had agreed not to exact the| usual security if the firm would dis- charge workers sympathetic to the Joint Board. “Business agents of the Interna- tional have been posing as jobbers, | and haye informed sub-contractors by | telephone that no more work would be given them unless they forced their workers to register. Guerillas Tour District. “Guerillas hired by the Internation- al have been touring the garment dis- trict in automobiles, attacking work- ers sympathetic to the Joint Board, beating up pickets, protecting scabs in shops on strike, and spreading gen- eral terror. “Even with all those strong-arm methods, the International registra- tion has been a failure. Many work- ers who have been threatened into registering have come to the Joint Board to pay their dues, and tell us that they are loyal to the officers of the Joif: Board, and that their reg- istration means nothing. Even if Mr. Sigman has secured the 26,000 regis- trations he claims, he would find it (Continued on page 8). SOVIET UNION WILL BUILD HUGE POWER PLANT ON DNIEPER RIVER; NO FOREIGN CONTRACTOR MOSCOW, Feb, 2—The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics has de- cided to build its own power plant on the Dnieper. The question of con- tracting for the work to be done by German or American experts w: thoroughly gone into, and finally the government decided that there was nothing either in the way of engineering not be done just as well directly by ment. or of workmanship that could the workers’ and péasants’ govern- The Dnieper River project is a vast enterprise, including the building of an electrical generating plant of 600,000 horsepower, locks and canals to make the river navigable below Ekaterinoslav, railroads to connect the iron ore of Krivoy Rog, the manganese of Nikopol, and the Donetz coal basin all together, and a high power line to carry. electricity all over the Ukraine. ‘It will cost about $60,000,000. Col. Cooper, an American, may be engaged as a consulting engineer, but not as a contractor. Nicaragua. Hearst Changes Front. At about that time W. R. Hearst, who for 30 years had been anti-Brit- ish in his policy as a newspaper and magazine publisher, began a cam- paign to advertise the idea of a league of English-speaking nations: or an Anglo-American imperial alliance. He began to attack the Mexican govern- ment, to support the Kellogg policy toward Nicaragua, and to emphasize the “bolshevist peril” in China. He began also the publication of a series of editorials and cartoons ridiculing the independence ideal of the Filipi- nos, and lauding General Leonard Wood. Britain’s Fishy Offer. China’s revolution endangered Brit- ish commercial interests and imperial prestige not merely in China but in India and the mohammedan world in Asia and Africa. Especially did it threaten to bring about, after the fi- nal triumph of the Cantonese in China, a revolt in India that would ruin British industries at home and British trade in the East. Britain is- sued a vague offer of compromise with China’s demands. Secretary Kel- logg waited a month and then made a similarly vague statement. Mean- while the British were compelled to negotiate with Canton and to promise surrender of their concessions in China. Secretary Kellogg failed to negotiate with Canton, so far as the American people could learn. When the house committee on foreign af- fairs urged him to become more ex- plicit in his friendly talk with the Chinese, Kellogg became irritated. The White House also intimated that the administration wanted no advice and no questioning. So Washington trails Britain in the Orient, but it sends armed men to- ward China while the British are send- ing an army there. And the British assist in the resistance of Mellon to a Mexican examination of the titles of his oil lands. . Rio Has Traffic Problem. RIO DE JANIERO, Feb, 2.—Mayor Antonio Prado Jr. has invited five prominent city engineers to visit Rio and make suggestions for relieving’ the traffic. Published Editor of American Nationalist Paper Held By Chuan Fang General SHANGHAI, Feb. 2—Francis Zia, editor of an English language nation- alist newspaper, issued under a South American registry, has been forcibly abducted by Sun-Chang-Tang. This move is believed to be in re- prisal for the arrest of Kent Wells, who is connected with another Chin- ese newspaper, which is understood to be American owned. Wells was ar- rested on a British warrant for re- fusing to pay taxes and failed to prove Chinese naturalization. Zia is held at the headquarters of Sun-Chuan-Fang, defender of Shang- hai, and is threatened with trial for ! Get Your Fellow Workers To Buy It! sedition and possible execution. Representations by the American consul have thus far failed to bring results, STRIKERS MARCH IN STRIKE ZONE DESPITE POLICE Workers Hear Engdahl Before Picketing Several hundred paper box strikers participated in a mass picketing de- monstration last night after their regular daily meeting at the Church of All Nations, 9 Second avenue. Starting at Bleecker street, they marched for one hour through the entire district in which the strike is taking place. As they went along po- lice tried to stop them on several oc- casions but without success. As théy passed the shops where scabs were working, they sang “Solidarity For- ever,” and other working “class songs that became famous during the Pas- saic textile strike. Wolf Once More. As the workers, marching two by two, headed by George E. Powers organizer of the Paper Box Makers Union, ‘reached the corner of. Bleeck- er and Greene streets, they were stopped by mourited policeman Wolf, who tried to make the gfrikers dis- perse. This is the same policeman who injured. Bonchi Friedman, a striker, | several days ago by riding him down. “Have you a permit for this pa- rade?” Wolf asked Powers. He was informed that it was not a parade, but a picket demonstration. After some hesitation, he allowed the strikers to proceed. Engdah! Speaks. At their meeting at the Church of All Nations, the box strikers were ad- dressed by J. Louis Engdahl, Editor of The DAILY WORKER; James Wycker, a student at the Union Theo- logical Seminary and George EF. Pow- ers. Johseph Mordkowitz a striker, presided. Engdahl pointed out that the strike of the paper box makers is not an isolated struggle, that it is part of the movement to organize the millions of unorganized workers in this coun- | try, that at the present time only four million workers are organized out of a total of over forty million workers in this country. He urged them to (Continued. on page 3). See ‘Breaking Chains’, Picture of Leninism, At Waldorf, Sunday New York workers will have an opportunity of seeing “Breaking Chains,” the much talked about Rus- sian motion picture this coming Sun- day, February 6. It is a tale of the Russian revo- lution from 1917 to 1923. In it one sees this epoch making event which has stirred millions of workers of all lands. One of its most touching scenes is the announcement of Lenins’ death. It will be shown at the Waldorf Theatre, 59 Street, East of Broadway. Tickets can be bought in advance for seventy five cents at the Box Office, Jimmie Higgins Bookstore, 127 Uni- versity Place and the DAILY WORK- ER office, 108 East 14th St. At the door the admission will be ninety nine cents. It is an International Workers’ Aid production. Notice. --Every Daily Worker agent is requested to report immediately to Room 82, 108 East 14 St. PUBLISHING CO., 33 Daily except Sunday by THE DAILY WORKER First Street, New York, N. ¥,. Price 3 Cents British War Lords RefuseChen’s Terms Cabinet Decides to Ignore Demands of Canton That Invading Troops Be Withdrawn (Special To The [ y Worker) LONDON, Feb. 2.—War with China which England apparently loomed nearer than ever as the British cabinet late today decided to ignore the demands of both Eugene Chen, foreign minister of the Cantonese govern- ment, and of Wellington Koo, of the Peking government, that the Shanghai defense force now en route be turned and brought home. The cabinet decision was “not to suspend or to modify in any way” the military preparations the government is making to make a stand in Shanghai. The cabinet decision is understood to have been unanimous. The Charge d’Affaires of the Soviet Emba in London stated today that “in view of the reports that Mr. Borodin represents the Soviet gov- ernment in China or has some connection with he wanted it understood that Borodin is not and never has been in the service of the Soviet govern- ment and that a few years ago Sun Yat Sen invited Borodin, in his private eapacity, to act as his adviser at Canton. Nationalist Troops Now Closing In on Shanghai; City’s Fall Expected Soon (Special to The Daily Worker.) SHANGHAI, Feb. 2.—Decisively defeated by the Cantonese in a major battle, the army of Sun Chuan-Fang is fleeing in disorder along their entire front in Chekiang province. Sun’s troops were charged. with the defense of Shanghai. It is now be- lieved that this prize city will fall to the Nationalist government troops be- fore the arrival of a sufficient body of British troops to hold it for the imperialists. The Cantonese were reinforced by Chekiang troops that deserted the imperialist cause. ts ASOT 05 4 The Cantonese forces are com-|Qytline of Britain’s mandeering foreign vessels for the} | Proposals to Cantonese transportation of nationalist troops. French, Swedish and Japanese steamers at various points have been taken over by the nationalists for carrying their troops to Hankow, where the nationalists are being con- centrated for a counter-move against the southward advance of the Man- churian forces of Marshal Chang Tso- Lin. H A report from Mukden, Chang’s| Great Britain agrees to “share” headquarters, said Chang’s officers | with the Chinese the administration have declared that if a single Chinese | o¢ areas where Great Britain has con- is killed at Shanghai as a result of the | cessions. influx of foreign troops, his officers Poa i will force Chang Tso-Lin to join the |,, Great Britain agrees to recognize Cantonese forces against the British,' ™dern” Chinese law courts. an gail ‘ as ‘Tt is said that Chang tears 4 revolt | Gret* rivain agrees ‘that its stib- at his base in Manchuria at the first ‘jects shall pay all taxes levied which sign of defeat. (Continued on page 2) COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL ASSAILS INVASION OF NICARAGUA; CALLS ON WORKERS TO PROTEST MOSCOW, Feb. 2.—The naval blocade of Nicaragua and the military occupation of that country by United States forces are but episodes in the process of the consecutive colonization of Latin-America by North American imperialism, which having enriched itself on the world war by enslaving all peoples now throws off the democratic mask and treads the open road to the enslavement of the small countries of Central America, turning them into colonies of Central America. oes —— ? <1 This {s ‘the gist of ‘the opening Central America and has always sup- Rls piesa “6 mens lnined by ported reactionary and subservient the Communist International ; sotent= (Se ee those counters, Eile ing against the invasion of Nicesagua at the same Sime trying to preserve by the United States imperialist gov- the esr no bo Bercadiene: A ernment and calling on the workers of and formal political “freedom” ‘of {the United States to protest against ig eager ney pipe ot enthtn | this action. : perialist forces to support the Nic- Wall Street Colonies, araguan people. This duty devolves The manifesto declares that the|chiefly on the workers of the United United States is turning the Central | States of America. American states into Wall Street} The manifesto urges the workers of colonies. American imperialism, it all countries to prove their solidarity continues, is gradually ousting Eng-|with the oppressed people of Nicara- land in the countries of South and gua. CLOAK AND DRESSMAKERS’ ELECTIONS ROUSE WIDE INTEREST AND PROMISE RECORD VOTE FOR LOCAL OFFICERS AT POLLS TODAY “1, We pledge ourselves to sup- port the Joint Board in every way LONDON, Feb. 2.—Great Britain's {proposals to China are being pub- lished tonight. The high lights of the proposals are as follows: Great Britain agrees to “revision” of the present treaties. A vigoroug campaign in preparation for Thursday’s elections for officers of locals affiliated with the cloak and | possible, and we condemn the Inter- dressmakers’ Joint Board, is being| national for trying by blackjacks and carried on by members of Locals 2, daggers to gain the support of the 9 and 35 of the I. L. G. W. U. | members. In accordance with the plans out-| “2.. We ask the Shop Chairmen’s lined by the Shop Chairmen’s Council| Council to take up the question of at the Monday»night mass meetings, | rousing the entire labor movement in all active cloakmakers are distribut-| behalf of our arrested and convicted ing leaflets urging the workers to | brothers. help make Thursday’s elections a tre-| “3. We protest and condemn the mendous vote of confidence for the! actions of the International in trying Joint Board and an answer: to Sig-| to prejudice public opinion against man’s claims that he represents the|the cloakmakers by their statement union. : | made to the capitalist press that the Elections begin on Thursday morn- | Joint Board engaged gangsters. We ing at 7 A. M. and voting will con-| consider this the meanest sort of tinue all day until 9 o’clock at night.| provocation that the workers’ move- The voting will be carried on under| ment has ever known. the auspices of the Shop Chairmen’s} “4. We approve the plan of the Council. Shop Chairmen’s Council for carry- The resolution passed by the cloak-|ing thru the elections and we pled makers at the meetings-held in prepa-|ourselves to stimulate interest in ration for these elections says: these elections so that thousands of “We, the Cloakmakers, assembled)our members will participate. We January 31st at the call of the Shop|call upon all the cloakmakers to take Chairmen’s Council for discussion, of | part in this election which will be a the situation in our union resolved] vote of confidence to the Joint Board that: administration,”