The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 2, 1927, Page 9

SPECIAL MAY DAY Support the Chinese Workers and Peasants A May Day—Yesterday and Today By H. M. WICKS. jand May 1, 1898, was selected as a | date on which a demand would be (Continued from Page One) |made for the enforcement of the courageous leadership can never be| eight-hour day. but the Spanish- estimated. | American war Powderly at the head of the|to abandon that half-hearted attempt. Knights of Labor had played the role| The next action favoring inaugur- of an agent of the employers from | ation of the eight-hour day was the | the beginning and at the first blast! endorsement by the Federation of from the infuriated capitalist press the Typographical! Union fight that and pulpit Gompers ran up the white began on January 1, 1906. flag of disgrace and, instead of try- Meanwhile the Federation had of ing to rally labor’s forces to defend ficially endorsed its own Labor Day. the victims of America’s first May/a purely nationalist Labor Day, to Day, he cowardly disowned them in be celebrated the first Monday in the following words: September. “The effect of that homb was a aa that it not only killed the police- UT the European workers have men, but it killed our eight-hour not abjured May First and to this day its approach strikes terror into the hearts of the capitalist class we had absolutely no connection | throughout every part of the world. With those people.” In spite of the fact that offi- These were not the words of a cial labor in the United States does fighting labor leader. but of a mis-| not recognize the day that was first erable poltroon. The loathsome! set aside for its own youthful chal- movement for that year and for a few years after, notwithstanding furnished the excuse | The Mighty Weapon of the Masses WALL St PPLEMENT Page Three gainst Wall Street! The 1318 May Day Terror in Cleveland By T. J. O'FLAHERTY. capitalists to crush this movement and put it out of existence has failed however. Despite the general apathy prevailing among the workers and the treachery of the trade union bureau- crats and their socialist allies the revolutionary movement is virile and hopeful. While in 1919 the Soviet Union was being attacked on all sides and’ reeling under the blows of world capitalism, today it is impregnable, conscious of the lc ty of its millions of workers and peasants, the strength (Continued from Page Onc) would be received by his boss with a fishy eye. And: “Nail everyone in your terri- tory. Pin him down to a subscription. Reach him at home, where he works | or on the street. Sell him a bond.” b Li wages of sin is death according to those who make a living at the sin business. The wages of patriot-| ism is either death and poverty or| cf 5 affluence, It all depends on whether | Of its proletarian armed forces and the patriot is being run or running, | ‘he love of the class-conscious work- The bonds th re puchased in| ef of the world. | 1919 The existence of the Soviet Union a perpetual challenge to the enemies of the workingclass and when they strike at the Communist movement in the various countries they have a vision of what is in store for th §ses when the work- ers of all lands develop their strength to the point where they will be able are now safely deposited in the {banks who have performed the dif- ficult financial feat of having the loaf they had éaten. | purchasers ret is | The concerted attacks on the work- ers on May Day 1919 ushered in a reign of oppression of the left wing socialist movement in the United robber cl. to dot Powderly lamented that “the bomb has set the labor movement back fifty years!” * * . T the American Federation of Labor Convention held at Balti- more in 1887 (the name had been! lenge to the master class, there are thousands upon thousands of work- ers who celebrate it and who meet and take invoice of the struggles of the past in order better to prepare for the conflicts that are coming, The class conscious workers here changed the year previous) no men-, celebrate with their comrades in| tion was made of the eight-hour day | other countries and the master class ‘in official proceedings, but the wide-| even here fears its approach. No spread unemployment due to intense; one ever heard of frantic prepara- industrial depression forced a resolu-|tions being made by the coercive tion on shorter hours that concluded ‘forces of the government because of } with the observation that “so long as| anticipated outbreaks on the first | there is one man who seeks employ-| Monday in September. But on every Ment and cannot obtain it the hours | First of May in this stronghold of| is perhaps somewhat more difficult | of labor are too long.” capitalism the ‘efenders of property But in 1888 at the St. Louis con- | 4nd order are always on the alert. vention the eight-hour question again Who in the vanguard of the labor came up and the First of May, 1890 | movement today in the United States was set as the date for another at-/can ever forget May Day, 1919, when tempt to enforce it. It was at this! the streets of a dozen cities in the convention that the resolution was|counfry ran red with the blood of | ordered sent to the International| the working class as massed demon-/ Conference at Paris in 1899. strators faced the clubs, the guns, The European workers responded and the armoured tanks of the gun- | to the call of the International and | men of capitalism? The workers of on May 1 demonstrations were held | Cleveland remember the bloody scenes in most of the cities of Europe as on the Public Square when the late an expression of solidarity with the | leader of the Workers (Communist) struggle to be initiated by the Amer- | Party, C. E. Ruthenberg, rallied tens ican labor movément. |of thousands to celebrate Internat- * * . UT again the miserable ineffect-| Solidarity with the victorious work- iveness of Gompersism, only then | ¢T8 and peasants of Russia and the in the early stages of its malignancy, | Struggling workers of Continental asserted itself. The carpenters only, Europe who were endeavoring to went on strike. Plans had heen throw off the yoke of despotism that made for the miners to follow them! had made a shambles of that part of and then gradually to spread the|the world. In New York, Boston, movement to all industries. The car- Detroit, the Pacific coast cities and penters succeeded in shortening their! in many other places the terror raged hours, but the miners were so poorly | against militant labor on that day. organized that they could not take’! i giiaalsttass up the fight. O depict the history of May Day Agitation to induce the miners to! in Europe is to review the his- launch an eight-hour drive on the|tory of the European working class next May Day, 1891, was taken up.| for more than a quarter of a cen- but still the miners could not respond.| tury. We can here only relate a few Next it was proposed that the ex-| incidents that must suffice for this! ecutive council select another trade} brief article. to make the attempt on May 1, 1892.!. One European May Day that will Then at the Denver convention in| be remembered as long as there are 1894 a last attempt at a “universal inhabitants upon the earth to read (general) strike” was to be made on| the glorious pages of labors’ strug- May 1, 1896. But at the New Yorle | gles is May Day, 1916, when Karl convention the next year this was} Liebknecht stood in Potsdam Square abandoned because, according to/in Berlin, in the uniform of a Ger- Gompers, it was “decided that the! man res . and hurled defiance at magnitude of the interests involved|the imperialist war-mongers of his made unwise a demand for the eight | own and every other country engaged hour day May 1, 1896, but affiliated| in the world slaughter. The fight unions should individually begin ef-| that should have been taken up by forts to secure the shorter work day | the official socialist parties at the for the members.” very outbreak of the war was car- Thus, ten years after America’s| ried alone by Liebknacht, Luxem- first May Day, the official machine ‘burg, Mehring and their small group of the A. F. of L. surrendered for the | of close co-workers during the dark- last time all efforts toward concert-|est days of the holocaust. d action by all labor. | day the man characterized by Lenin Under pressure of the membership | as the foremost leader of the working a feeble attempt at revival of the|class was thrown into the Kaiser's agitation was made the next year,|dungeon, from whence he was to Two Judases Applaud a Third fat S, Reis ional Labor Day by showing their On that | Unity of M By FRED HARRIS 'O link the First of May, the inter- national labor day of the world’s proletariat, with the marine industry, than with any other trade. This is a fact in the United States. The two outstanding unions repre- senting marine transportation are the | International Seamans Union and the | International Longshoremens Associ- ation of America, both of whom are headed by an officialdom conservative at first but later becoming reaction- in port to bring pressure on the offi- ‘eialdom. Thus the only outstanding historical event in the seamen’s strug- | gle against. the"’shipowners which may | be linked to the International Labor Day is the general seamen’s strike of | 1921, which was, by co-incident, called on May 1. A ND yet, by reason of the very fact, that the average seaman and-long- shoreman is a ‘true internationalist, the First of May should be more ap- plicable to him as a workers’ holiday that among others. The reason that the formation of these unions a con- tinuous state of friction and hostility about jurisdiction of working rights, each claiming that the other was in- fringing upon his territory. Furu- seth, president of the seamen’s union | | would accuse the longshoremen that ; they were doing work belonging to the seamen, while T. V. O’Connor, | former President of the I. L. A, would | hurl back the charge that the seamen | were scabbing against the longshore- | men. U NDER such condition of antagonism it was of course impossible to ary. Due to the peculiar character of | such is not tle case may be traced | achieve any kind of industrial soli- continuous mobility of their trade, the | therefore directly to the union leader- darity. When in 1919 the longshore- progressive members in the union had | ship. It is an outstanding fact that verr little influence on the conserva-} between the leaders of these two tive policy of their leaders, since | major organizations of marine in- these men would never be long enough dustry there has existed ever since men’s strike was lost, resulting in a partial breakdown of the union, Furu- seth was a happy man. That no class solidarity could grow | tible scoundrels of ineffable apos- |tacy, Schiedemann, Ebert and Noske, {heroes of the Social Democracy and the Second International who went jover to the camp of the imperialists at the first blast of the trumpets of war. | * * * TE events of a year ago today, in England, pl gs | careful study by the working class. {In the heat of the class struggle a jnew eva was forged. The lock-out jot the British miners to enforce | wage-cuts and sectional agreements |that occurred on May Day brought into action in the most dramatic manner within four days more than four million workers who stood face to face with the organized power of the state—and face to face with the jgreat betrayal of May 12, on the part of the Thomasses, Clynes, Mac- donalds on the extreme right and ex- posed the miserable role of the “of- | ficial left,” (Purcell & Co.). The en- | suing thirty weeks exposed to all the workets the true character of the right wing when they lined up with |the Baldwin government in the con- |epiracy to starve into submission the wives and children of the miners {who, through the capitulation of the |General Council, were left to fight | alone. i} *. | S May Day dawns this year in a, the United States we face a rul- | ing class entrenched in the mightiest ever seen. The official leadera of labor, at the head of the same or- ganization that took the initiative in making May First the International to carry out the anti-labor policies ‘of the master class. Some 150,000 |miners ave on strike in various sec- tions of the country, valiantly strug- gling against the steady encroach- ment of the non-union mines while John I. Lewis and his vicious mach- ine refuse to extend and make effec- emerge after the armistace only to( |be foully murdered by the contemp- | are now and for! years to come must be the subject of | | In practically all citadal of imperialism the world has | Labor Day, are inextricably bound | tive the strike. In the needle trades in| union into state and federal courts, so that capitalist judges, and not the membership, control its destinies. industries the unions stagnate under the blight of unprincipled scoundrels who have | swindled or terrorized their way !n- to office where they serve as labor | lieutenants of capitalism. Only the left wing, the militant section of the working class, and the revolutionists, the Communists, car- |ry on a relentless struggle for the ; elementary demands of labor today. | Experiences of the year have ex- | posed to ever increasing masses of | workers the real menace to the labor | movement of the reactionary offi- {cials and in many, even of the most conservative organizations, a deteri |mined opposition is crystallizing {against the policy of treachery and |inaction that has so vitiated the movement in the past. HE immediate major task of this May Day is one|in which the Communists must take the lead—the struggle against the mad policy of American imperialism in China, in Nicaragua and in Mexico; the utter | | disregard for the lives of the millions | of workers; the cynicism with which | | official Washington indulges in plat- itudes of peace while indulging in {frantic preparations for war. In Nicaragua American marines fot this country against China and the | Soviet Union. American warships jon the Yangste river engage in shell- ing Chinese towns and murdering in cold blood uncounted Chinese men, women and children, under the shab- by pretext that they are “defend- jing” American residents who are | there, in spite of the fact that these | med@lesome Americans have to basi- (ness there in the first place and in the second place they have had am- | ple opportunity to get into safety | zones and if they have not done so it is their own fault. | The forces of this country are in {China only because of the fact that | American capital is invested there and because that country is capable of absorbing a fabulous amount of investment capital that must he dis- posed of, for the simple reason that |if new places of investment are not always open the surplus wealth pro- duced by the workers will lie fallow, will stagnate and wreck the ‘whole ‘system of capitalist. economy. Against the sanguinary designs of | American imperialism the vanguard of the working class must exert every ounce of its energy to awaken the workers to a realization of what the | capitalist class has in store for them, | and must endeavor to mobilize in a | determined struggle against Ameri- {can imperialism the masses of work- ers and poor farmers of this nation. | This May Day should be utilized for the purpose of ripping from the faces of the lackeys of imperialism at | Washington their hypocritical paci- | monstrous criminals who are gambl- ing with the lives of the youth and young manhood of the nation. | We must demand that this govern- | ment withdraw’ its gunmen of imper- |ialism from Nicaragua; that Kellogg | get out of office and quit his prepos- | terous buffonery about “forged doc- | uments” that his own agents are re- sponsible for and which were exposed when Calles refused to be browbeaten | by being threatened with the gran- |doise military preparations of the | United States government agains’ | Mexico in the interests of the oil, mineral and land owners; that the }fist masks and exposing them as/| New York the socialist right wingers | and native mercenaries, armed with/ government get its gunboats and sol- States (afterwards transformed into {the Communist movement) and has continued ever since with more or \less intensity, The efforts of the arine Transport Workers a May Day Slo {under such destructive leadership is obvious. ee ND yet, no trade is more in need of it, than the seamen. Wages, working and living conditions are on par with those of twenty years ago. The difference being that at that time a strong organization was being builded, whereas at the present time jonly a shadow, a weak, vacillating remnant of a fighting union remains. There is hope, however for a change; the spirit of revolt is growing, and the near future may show us a new, reorganized, industrial union of mar- ine transport workers. ge Be ‘O much for the local situation. In other countries we find that the shipowners have been busy with their own open shop plans and are contin- uously encroaching upon the organi- zation rights of the sailor. Vividly |does thig writer remember a labor |day parade'on May 1, 1914, in Mel- | bourne, Australia, in which it was his good fortune to participate. Labor was out in full force with huge, pic- | turesque floats and flying colors. No }one wage worker, whose service was dispensable, failed to march in line, Policemen jand other “law and order” 'elements were conspicuous by their | absence, It was labor’s own day, and labor took it and celebrated. However |the workers of the antipodes were careless with their possession and | didn’t guard their treasury like they , Should have done, and so, during the war, this enthusiasm fell victim to jthe patriotism for their country. It was a bad fall, and Australia’s work- ers are now paying a price which will teach them to organize in the future on the basis of the class-struggle, and instead of dabbling with a lot of sentimental ideals to build a class | conscious proletariat which will know | how to keep clear of capitalistic. pit- | falls. i a ae | RNGLAND, the classic land of trade unions, is now going through the | mecessary ordeal of burying its dead. Havelock Wilson, president of the National Seamens Union of Great Britain, must go. He has committed the most unpardonable crimes, has | become the intimate friend and pro- tege of Sir Walter Runcilman, large shipowner and the greatest enemy of | the Briitsh seamans union; he refused to obey the command of the general | participate with his union in the gen- jeral strike last year, and like his pro-| | totype, Thomas, even refused to at- |tend the Trade Union Congress at | Bournemouth, to defend his treachery before that body. The British seamen | | must not tolerate his leadership any jlonger. There is already an opposi- tion union, led by Shinwell, former minister of mines in the MacDonald cabinet, which, tho weak and yacillat- {lenged Wilson and his traitorous leadership, council of the trade union council to, |ing, has nevertheless already chal-| the globe with Soviet Re- | publics. !Read The Daily Worker Every Day N the meantime, half of the marine workers in Britain are still unor- gani It will be the task of the International Transport Workers Union, sponsored by the Minority Movement, to organize the men into ful industrial union. This n is already calling upon all to refuse work on any boat carrying troops, ammunition and other war material. * ed. * N Germany and France the organi- zation work, under the leadership of the Amsterdam International, is lack- ing. Seamen in these countries work under intolerable conditions, The wages of the German seamen were raised during January, yet with this new raise the wages amount to only 100 marks ($25) a month. A long- shoremen’s strike which was called in Hamburg in September, 1926, had to be called off after two weeks, be- cause of utter futility. The condi- tions in France are just as bad. . * * 'HE brightest spot is Soviet Russia. Here there has been real progress. The wages are nominally high and places a seaman within the same standard as men working on shore. Shiv committees are elected to look after the affairs on the ship, such'as to observe that the working rules are enforced, to look after provision reg- ulations, cleanliness of the living quarters, and to arrange for an edu- cational program of reading and speaking. Union meetings are held right on board of the ship during working hours. Each year, when the sailor is in the home port, he gets one month’s vacation with pay, during which time he is treated on shore like a guest. r is also of great significance to ob- serve the building of a strong sea- men’s union in China, which country is now undergoing such tremendous historical change. It is noteworthy, that during the Chinese seamen’s strike in 1923, the marine traffic was completely tied up, so mueh so, that some of the superior white races came to the rescue and scabbed on the Chinese seamen, thus setting our historical precedent as to the white man’s ethical concept in his treatment of colored races, Marine workers in capitalistic countries have therefore all reasons to look forward to a time when they also will be organized industrially | and when, by the virtue of their econ- jomic strength, they will enjoy the working conditions of a free race, and when their status as working men will cause the respect of all those who now sneer at him. The First of May is a symbol of workers’ solidarity, when the labor forces rally together and make their demands known, Labor must celebrate the day of the proletariat, the first token of ) World Trade Union Unity. . . . The Power Behind “Banditry” supported by the Green-Woll bur-| instruments of destruction supplied |diers out of China and keep them erensKxy with the employers, the police and the courts in order to maintain them- selves at the head of the unions they once dominated, so that they may continue as leeches upon and betray- ers of the workers in that industry. They are proving by their actions that they have so little regard for the welfare of the labor movement that they will endeavor to wreck it, just as pirates scuttle a ship they are compelled to abandon before per- mitting it to fall into the hands of those to whom it rightfully belongs, The printing trades unions are in hands of agents of the employers and in the oldest union of them all, the International Typographical Un- ion, two sets of politicians—both equally reactionary, striveing to foist themselves upon the Sapinrapiy, in order that they may be able to hold their jobs as agents of the employ- erechave thrown the affairs of the | based acts of provocation.on the. part | | hysterical diatribes against Bolshev- | | ist influence, in a puerfle attempt to | justify its own infamy. In Mexico |agents of the United States are |caught resorting to the old Ameri- |ean game of bluff and buncombe by | first permitting the Calles govern- partment plans for military action in that country and then, when Cal- les, instead of becoming terrorized into submission, exposes the military Preparations, the doddering old im- becile in the state department tries to conceal his blundering by circulat- ing the ridiculous yarn that state documents have nm stolen and tampered with in order to arouse an- tagonism against the sadly wronged, benevolent and innocent United States government, But most infamous of all the im- perialist ventures is the utterly de- ment to obtain possession of war de- | eaueracy have shown that there is|/hy the United States, are crushing | out. no depth of depravity to which they|the duly constituted government | We must in no uncertain terms in- will not sink in forming alliances| while the state department issues | sist that the Back Bay codfish aris- tocracy of Massachusetts and its puppet judge, Thayer, who have con- spired to send Sacco dnd Vanzetti to the electric chair, be prevented from murdering these two champions of the exploited textile slaves of that state. Here in New York a mighty pro- | holy alliance of the A. F. of L, au- tocracy, the employers and the police, the prosecutors and the courts who have paved the way to send to the penitentiary the nine members of the Furriers’ union convicted on per- jured testimony of stool pigeons for the crime of leading a militant and successful strike against the bosses of that industry. at hand, the workers of the United States must struggle during the next can. go forward to. grgats victories, ’ | teat must ring forth against the un-| On every front, with every weapon | year to clear the ground so that we/ MEXICAN WworKeR