The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 4, 1927, Page 4

Page Four THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JUNE 4, lyz7 THE DAILY WORKER Published by tae DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO, Daily, Except Sunday 83 First Street, New York, N. Y. SUBSCRIPTION RATES | By mail (in New York only): By mail (outside of New York): | $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per year 98.50 six months | $2.60 three months $2.00 three months Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 383 First Street, New York, N. Y. 7, LOUIS ENGDAHL WILLIAM F,. DUNNE BERT MILLER........ Phone, Orchard 1680 | . Editors ..-Business Manager ES Entered as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. >. No Reason to Question the Real Issue. If anyone was so gullible as to doubt the real motive behind the persecution of The DAILY WORKER co-editor and manager | that doubt is surely now dispelled by the events in the courtroom | yesterday when the investigator for the court, in presenting what purported to be the records of Comrades Dunne and Miller,. de- voted most of his time to emphasizing the revolutionary character of our publishing house. He even went so far afield as to drag in as evidence the volumes of “Red Cartoons” that we have pub- lished. Comrade Dunne over a long period of time in the West. That it was not the individuals before tthe court who were) § on trial, but The DAILY WORKER as an organ of the revolution ‘was made plain by the sentences imposed. In addition to jailing Comrade Dunne for thirty days on the pretext of publishing a poem that he knew nothing about, the Daily Worker Publishing Company was fined five hundred dollars. The courts know very well our financial condition. They know that five hundred dollars | at this time may mean weal or woe to us—that our financial con- | dition is menacing our very existence—so they hope to hasten what they hope will be our demise. Out of the hard-earned funds} that have been donated at such heroic sacrifice by our comrades and supporters we now have to pay five hundred dollars as a fine. We are also compelled to appeal the verdict which means an added | expense of possibly greater than the fine. This legal defense is| imperative because if we let this verdict stand it is a precedent} that will be usd against us on the slightest pretext. The threat to the life of our paper is still grave and editorial-| ly we appeal to all our supporters to continue their efforts in| order that the enemies of labor will still have to fear the power of our press and the workers will still have an organ of militant | working class expression. , The U. S. Marines in Tientsin. Only a person hopelessly bereft of reasoning power, only al dolt who believes that the United States government is anything} other than an imperialist bandit ravaging every part of the earth where it can gain a foothold will believe that American troops in China have been moved from Shanghai to Tientsin, the great Port | near Peking, for any purpose other than intervention against the} Chinese revolution. American forces everywhere are recognized | as agents of tyranny, of a depraved despotism that has few| equals in the history of the world. | Just as American marines have stifled free government in} Nicaragua and placed at the head of a fraudulent government, | Diaz, a scullion of Wall Street bankers, so they are now in China} with exactly the same purpose in view. While the motive is the | same the methods of achieving its ends are different. China is| not Nicaragua. There are more powers than one involved in} China, which imposes upon the American forces the necessity of | proceeding with caution. In Nicaragua only the imperialism of the United States placed the iron heel upon the necks of the in- habitants. There it is a simple matter of using force and terror to the utmost without fear of coming into conflict with any rival imperialism. The perversion of the principles of the Monroe doc- trine, begun by William Jennings Bryan under the Wilson admin-! istration, continued and further developed by Charles Evans Hughes under Harding and brought to full fruition by the petty | despot, Kellogg, under Coolidge, enables the Wall Street brigands | to claim the exclusive right to exploit the South and Central Amer-| ican republics. In China American imperialism has to reckon with | the power of Great Britain, fighting desperately to maintain ‘its | empire against overwhelming odds and forced to stake its all in a} mad crusade against every threat to its domination at home and abroad. In the first imperialist combination against the Nationalist | liberation movement in China the American diplomatic corps and} the militarist commanders played the game of Great Britain. | Britain took the lead in that drive. But Wall Street would not} permit its agents to play the British game. They have their own special policy, a line that is directed toward dominating China with the same undisputed tyranny that is now exercised in Nica-| ragua and other countries groaning under the oppression of | Yankee imperialism. Today it is the American forces that take} the lead. Brigadier General Smedley Butler has been given com- mand of the marines not only in China but in the whole Far East. | He shifted the Shanghai forces to Tientsin to be ready to strike a/ blow against further Nationalist advances on Peking, and has} ordered to Shanghai marines from the Philippine Islands. This maneuver, to release Philippine forces for service in China, also accounts for the recent ferocious attacks against the trade unions and the Nationalists of the Islands, so they can be terrorized into submission during the Chinese drive. The American forces are the first to move to Tientsin—yesterday the sixth regiment of | marines, 1,600 strong, was dispatched thence on the transport Henderson, while the tenth regiment artillery force, 400 strong, accompanied them. The Americans are followed by the British forces under command of Major General John Duncan. Japanese forces are headed for the same point. In face of the Nationalist threat to imperialism the predatory powers hold in abeyance their own inner conflicts and unite against the common enemy. No amount of sophistry from Washington can conceal the fact that the occupation of Tientsin is an act of aggression, of inter- vention and war. Like all imperialist depredations against coloni- als and semi-colonials, war is actively conducted, but without the formality of an official declaration. More than ever it is essential for the working class of this and other imperialist countries to insist that the governments of their countries get out of China and permit the Nationalist libera- tion movement to dispose of its own counter-revolutionary ene- mies, thereby paving the way for a stable government. Although the differences between the imperialists are tem- Advertising rates on application. | He especially emphasized the working class activities of | | zation” or “rationalization of national | Party of the Soviet Union issued a strong statement against Trotsky and his group for openly assailing the policies of the tivities. | The attack of the Tory government on the working class comes at a time when the British imperialists are engaged in one of the most |} far-reaching imperialist adventures in their history. It comes at a time || | when scores of thousands of troops have been landed in China for the purpose of shattering the Chinese revolution and the partitioning of || China as a colony of the imperialist powers, It comes at a time when || war is actually being waged without a declaration of war... the treachery and cowardice of the labor leaders . . . and their open sup- port of this imperial brigandage present .. . a situation wherein the British government has been . . . left free to pursue its offensive in all directions unhindered. . . . The government . . . therefore launched its trade union legislation with a twofold object in view. It calculated that it would act as a means of diverting the labor movement from attend- ing to the issues of the Chinese Revolution on the one hand, and on the other, it could fetter the unions against mass action of any kind before it would be possible for sweeping changes to be made in the leadership of the trade unions. (J. T. Murphy, member of the Central Committee || of the Communist Party of Great Britain, International Press Corre- spondence, May 12.) By WILLIAM F. DUNNE. ARTICLE I HE Trade Union Bill, the latest weapon which British imperialism is trying to forge for use against the workingclass, has been treated so far in the American press as a purely British problem. It is exactly the reverse. It is the latest manifestation of the world of- fensive against the trade unions which is a necessary part of the capitalist program for repairing the damages of the world war—called variously “reconstruction,” or “stabili- ology of friendliess but have neverthe- [less a deadly purpose which coincides | with the fact that American capital- ism has never acknowledged that trade unions have a legal right to exist. It ;must be remembered however that there is also a powerful subjective factor at work here—the fact that! | American capitlism has opserved and drawn serious lessons for its future | conduct from the extension of the trade union movement in Europe fol-! lowing the war and the revolutionary struggles which have arisen there as {the working class realised its in- |ereased power.) ic is the political activity of the |“ unions which is under attack and the extension of this activity into direct conflict with capitalist govern- ment which the British bill is de- signed to suppress. There is the additional motive of| crippling any widespread action of the whole trade union movement, or joint action by its various sections in securing better wagés and working conditions or resisting wage cuts, etc. An examination of the bill itself |shows its undisguised hostile and suppressive character. It is’ divided into eight parts, seven of which de- tail the offences under the act and the penalties established and one part which interprets the other seven. Te seven provisions of the bill are as follows: (1) All strikes, except those deal- The Perennial Revolt. We have with us again “Ladees and Gentilmin” that most remarkable phenomenon of this misinformed age, the never-dead, economy.” It has as its first ob- jective the weakening of working- class organization to the point where it can no longer resist effectively the offensive of the capitalists and their | government and prevention of trade union participation in working class political activity. 'T is only in method: that the British Trade Union Bill differs from the | outright fascist control of the trade junions as in Italy, the control of the unions thru the activities of parliamentary reformist leaders as in France and Germany, or the worker- employer cooperation schemes, legal- ized in the Watson-Parker bill as in the United States. (In the United States, where the process of decay of the capitalist system is present only in subdued form, the methods of at- tack are distinguished under a phrase- Union. This strange phenomenon rarely deserts its favorite haunts on the Polish and Lithuanian border, Tt usually crawls forth from its lair whenever Leon Trotsky or Zinoviev or any other individual or group in opposition to the veneral policy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union come in for criticism at the hands of the central body. This happens quite frequently but not more frequently than the yarns of a revolt, As usual the capitalist correspondents stationed in Riga and London have the G. P. U. (they still call the Soviet political police | the Cheka) arresting “followers of Trotsky.” Of course this is /a lie made out of whole cloth. A few days ago the Central Committee of the Communist party on the Chinese and British questions. At a time when IT | real estate men. ONE ASPECT OF THE BRITISH “NO STRIKE” BILL During the great coal strike and short general strike that preceded it the British Parliament illegally suppressed strike ac- But the Englishman loves his laws, and parliament is busy trying to make such action legal in the future, The Trades Union Bill, now before the house of commons, makes most strikes illegal, and general strikes positively the next thing to treason. ing with simple questions of wages, hours, ete., are outlawed. These also become illegal if thev take the form of sympathetic strikes affecting other workers than those originally in- volved, (2) Scabs are given additional protection. (3) Picketing is outlawed. (4) Severe rules governing the use of union funds for political pur- | poses are set up. (5 Government employes are prohibited from joining any but civil service unions or engaging in political activity. (6) Provisions for union labor in municipal contracts, ete. are declared illegal and municipal employes and other public service workers are severely penalized for stopping work without due notice. (7) The attorney-general is given wide powers in enforcing the provi- sions of the bill. gies first provision of the bill prac- tically abolishes the right to strike. It first states clearly that if a strike has any other object that that of ad- vancing the economic interests of the workers in one trade or industry, | that it is by virtue of this fact illegal. ‘ Second, if the strike is “designed or calculated” to bring pressure to bear upon the government or upon the community “or any substantial see- tion of it,” it likewise becomes il- legal. But this is not all. The decision as to the legality or illegality of a strike rests with the courts. HE declarations of the strikers as to their intentions have no weight. A judge or jury (composed of prop- erty-holders, “ratepayers” is the Eng- lish term) decides first the object of the strike and second if it is “coer- cive” or not. It is easily seen that, under the bill as proposed, the only guarantee that a strike has of not being declared illegal is that it is ineffective. In other words, strikes which the capi- talists feel certain will be defeated be- cause of their small size and lack of militancy are the only kind of strikes which will be tolerated. STRIKE to free political prisoners would be illegal. A strike of trans- port workers to aid coal miners—or vice versa—would be illegal. A strike to force consideration of unemploy- ment relief, a strike against war—all protest and sympathetic strikes are never-alive “revolution” against the government of thé Soviet|‘? be made illegal. Likewise a strike in the coal min- ing industry, the transport industry, the electric light and power industry, in telephone and telegraph, ete. be- comes illegal because the courts will (Continued from Page One) cash in on it. Al St. John, nephew of the ponderous and much-abused “Fatty” Arbuckle, is reported to be the 110th movie comedian that has purchased land in Beverly Hills, where the clown, Will Rogers, poses as mayor to the greater glory of Will and to the profit of Beverly’s “AY” paid $90,000 for a residence. . That’s too much even for a comedian, the U. S. S. R. was being attacked by the British empire and that government was engaged trying to organize a world war against the Soviet Union and a united front against the Chinese revolution, the Central Committee decided quite correctly that discipline in opening an unauthorized discussion over questions already settled. is about the explanation of the latest “revolt.” “It will have the usual run in the papers—about forty-eight hours. Then it will pass away, as all things do sooner or later. upon the sanguinary field of battle. Even now, while professing porarily laid aside the moment they again feel that the liberation movement is arrested, they will resume the old conflict between themselves that can end only by endeavoring to decide the issues i \ noe M own advantages, Force the butchers to withdraw all forces from China! Fight against the vat of another world war! t * . . We learn as the result of an investi- gation that our local transit barons have been paying tremendous divi- dends to their stockholders during Trotsky and his followers were guilty of a serious breach of;the past years, while they were threatening to pass the hat to the public in the form of an increased fare. In fact quite a number of No sooner did this news get out than the capitalist corre-| skeptical people were on the point of spondents had a revolution clicking off their typewriters. This| believing them so consistent was their cry. In four years the Inter- borough paid 187% per cent. This will put a damper on the move for a fare increase, but unless it gives the transit employes encouragement to jump and get some of this surplus to co-operate, they each endeavor to use the situation for their| coin, the greater part of its value will be missing. * * . ‘ALVIN Coolidge is not saying much nowadays but he is allowing Mrs. inevitably decide that it is designed or calculated “to intimidate the com- munity” or “a substantial section of it.” ahs penalties provided for taking part in an illegal strike range from a fine of ten pounds ($50) to three months imprisonment after convic- tion in a magistrate’s court to two years imprisonment after conviction following an indictment. The language of the bill is that any person who “declares, instigates, furthers, or takes part” in an illegal strike is subject to the penalties of the law, It follows that those who speak in favor of such a strike, or who write in favor of it are equally liable with strikers. : anbalge can a union, whose strike has been declared illegal, claim immunity from suits for damages as was formerly stipulated in the Trades Disputes Act of 1906. The next portion of the bill deal- ing with thi ight of scabs supple- ments the” provisions outlawing strikes. It follows logically that if a strike is illegal that a_ strike- breaker is a person who is perform- ing a great service for the “com- munity” and must be accorded the full protection of the law. Under the proposed law the unions are therefore prohibited from expell- ing or in any way disciplining a- strikebreaker—no matter what the ordinary rules and procedure of the union may be. If in spite of the law, a scab is expelled, the courts can order him reinstated and tte union to pay him damages. Higa third provision, that dealing with picketing, is one of the most {drastic features of the bill, Any pick- eting that is carried out, to use the language of the bill, “in such a manner as to be calculated to intimi- date,” is illegal and punishable by fine or imprisonment or both. Not satisfied with the ironclad character of the phrase quoted the bill interpets the word “intimidation” to mean: “To cause in the mind of a per- son a reasonable apprehension of injury to him or to any other mem- ber of the family, or of violence or damage to any person or property, and the expression ‘injury’ includes injury other than physical or ma- terial injury, and according the ex-. pression ‘app’ nsion of injury’ in- cludes an apprehension of boycott, of loss of any kind, or of exposure to hatred, ridicule or contempt.” (Emphasis Mine.) Er is manifestly impossible under such conditions to picket legally CURRENT EVENTS B73. ortanerty | Coolidge to say less and look her best. A recent portrait of Mrs. Cool- idge that appeared in a soaked-in- the-oil republican sheet was cap- tioned: “The lady that runs the white house efficiently.” Thousands of women who: were supposed to revolutionize things when they got the vote will say: “Isn’t she a dear,” pone re their votes for her husband. 00) may not be a great man, but he is a good judge of the great American sap, * * * rs is the kind of thing that makes many workers pessimistic, “Aw, you can never do anything with them,” they will rave. But we should not forget that over in Russia, if you will pardon us for taking note of a country that comprises one of workers and peasants took off sixth of the earth’s surface, millions their hats to the Czar up until right close to the Revolution. They are not doing it now because there is no Czar, Some day the American workers will not be voting for a G. 0. P. or “donkey” candidate. There won't be any. SACCO and VANZETTI SHALL NOT DIE! The British Trade Union Bill and Its Place in the Framework of World Imperialism NOTE—These articles were be- gun before the writer was sent to jail and were finished in the Tombs prison. Some of the quotations had to be made from memory and therefore may not be entirely correct as to context but are nevertheless substantially ac- curate.—W, F. D. and picketing is therefore abolished, To strengthen this provision of the bill another clause makes it illegal even to watch a house for the purpose of persuading any person not to scab, A fine of $100 or three months im- prisonment is the penalty for such an “offense.” 1 is when the bill begins to deal with the funds for political pur- poses collected by unions that thd British rulingclass shows where the shoe pinches most. It is evident from the language employed that this see- tion of the bill, which is a direct blow at the Labor Party, is framed to lay the basis for a deal with the reformist elements who are undoubt- edly willing to accept other features restricting the strike powers of unions in order to ‘preserve as much as possible of the trade union elec- tion machinery. At present any member of a trade “union is free to apply for exemp- tion from assessments for Political purposes. But under the new pro- visions every member of a union must signify in writing his willingness to contribute to the Political fund—on a blank form provided for in the bill, a clause of which kindly informs the member that he can withdraw his con- sent at any time, No political assessment can be col- lected from a member of a trade union who has not given his consent in the manner stipulated. Whereas the previous procedure was for a member to notify the union that he did not wish to contribute, now he must notify his union that he IS will- ing to contribute. A funds for political purposes must be kept separate from other money, and the minutest details of all transactions filed with the Regis- trar of Friendly Societies. The gov- ernment thus has a check on all phases of workingclass Political actiy- ity involving financial expenditures, Here the reformists will probably accept a compromise. That is they would be willing to define “political funds” as those which are used only in elections and thus agree with the government that the wider political activities of the labor movement such as demonstrations, relief for political prisoners, agitation against imperial- ist adventures, aid to colonial labor and revolutionary movements, ete. should be banned. d igs section of the bill dealing with civil servants, i.e., government em- ployes, makes workers in this cate- gory virtual slaves of the British oligarchy. They are prohibited from membership in any union which is in any way, directly or indirectly, affiliated with any political organi- zation. They are allowed to belong only to unions whose membership—or affiliated membership—is composed of government employes. What the Daily Worker Means to the Workers A Few Encouraging Contributions to Our Emergency Fund, A coal miner from Illinois sends $5.00 to The DAILY WORKER fund. “I would not feel loyal to the labor movement or to the working class,” he says, “if this contribution were not made, I wish I could give more. As a coal miner, I realize the truth that comes to the workers through the Workers Press is very dangerous to the capitalist’ oligarchy and their system. Let’s have more truth.” . * * At the annual meeting of share- holders of the Lithuanian Communist Daily, “VILNIS,” “a resolution was passed pledging full support to our , only English daily, The DAIL WORKER, in its fight against extreme reactionaries, and as a bie- ginnig, a collection of $68.55, was taken up to aa in the fight.” , * * / A “sympathizer” from; Detroit, Michigan, sends a contribution of $90.00 to the sustaining fund of The DAILY WORKER, and Gustav Tuch- elski, of the same city, adds $10.00 to make an even $100. * * . Ernst Wagenknecht, of Clevelana, Ohio, sends a money-order for $20.00, “to help save the only paper that really fights for the workingclass.” $5.00 of this amount comes from an oldtime sympathizer. * * At a special meeting of Street Nucleus No. 2 of Section 2, Detroit, to discuss the dangerous situation in which The DAILY WORKER finds it- self, a collection of $25.00 was taken up, and the Nucleus pledged itself to raise an additional $200 “for the sup- port of our daily organ, which we will never allow to be smashed by the united front ot the Fongube.” Irving Steinberg, Brooklyn, N. Y., sends a contribution of $20.00 for The DAILY WORKER sustaining fund.