The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 5, 1927, Page 4

a “Sit the executive council of the American Federation of Labor Page Four THE DAILY WORK ER, NEW YORK, V EDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1927 THE DAILY WORKER = [ abor Officialdom Lists Its Year’s “Achievements” Sacco-Vanzetti, Miners’ Strike Disregarded in A. F, of L.-Report—‘Shifting the Issue From Prob- lems of Defense or Aggression”—Progr Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. Daily, Except Sunday 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: Phone, Orchard 1680 “Daiwork” ae SUBSCRIPTION RATES Been By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New y ore $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per years —_ $3.50 six mon! $2.50 three months $2.00 three months Adare und ke c s to THE DAILY WORLER, t Street, N York, N.Y. eee UIS ENGDAHL } Editors WILLIAM F. DUNNE § BERT MILLER.... . Business Manager _ York, at New ¥., under | Lenin Attacks Bourgeoisie HE SAID: Up to now (Sept. 27, a power in Russia has remained in actual fact with| the bourgeoisie, and this is only obliged to make occasional partial concessions (w hich are withdrawn against next day) to give promises (which are not kept), to seek every kind of cloak for its rule Gn} order to persuade the people of the existence of an “honorable coalition”) and so forth. In words: a democratic and revolutionary people's government; in deeds; a government hostile to the people, anti- democra counter-revolutionary, and bourgeois. | The contradiction here existing is the source of the “ vs complete indecision and yacillation in the exercise | of power, and of all the “ministerial antics,” promoted by the social-revolu- tionaries and the Mensheviki with such regrettable (for the people) zeal.— RABOTSCHI PUT. | Investigate the Labor Banking Fraud | Such a dirty, ill-smelling mess as that unearthed bx the con- vention of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers in connec- tion with the chain of Brotherhood banks and affiliated institu- tions could not help but force itself upon the executive council of | the American Federation of Labor. In the annual report to the Los Angeles convention the members of organized labor were |y4g BECOME MORE GENERALLY | Workers, belatedly warned against further ventures along the labor bank- | jle the adventurers and blue-sky artists were busy organ-| izing the labor banks and involving the unions and their funds in) the labor movement opposed them. We pointed out nists alone in p ¢ absurdity of sueh things as labor banks, proving | the economic sla that any bank in order to exist in an imperialist country must be- come a part of the banking combine or go under. The Brother- | hood banks did both—they first became a part of the Wall Street | pirate gang in order to exist for even a short time and finally hit | the rocks. The Brotherhood banks’ debacle more than justified everything we had said about such institutions. The present con- ition of the Brotherhood banks only show to other labor banks | the picture of their own future. | This fact is plain to everyone but the most pathetic dolt. | does not specifically condemn such ventures but suggests that | such banks should have the “advice of banking experts.” | ; The Brotherhood banks had the advice of a former head of | one of the federal reserve banks who later organized Peter J.) Brady’s federation bank in New York City. Perhaps the execu- tive counci! did not want to alienate the pack of fakirs who oper- ate such thinly veiled confidence games against the members of | the organized labor movement. | Just as at first we warned the unions ‘against such ventures, | so again we warn the workers that there is not a single existing | institution of that calibre that is sound and for the most part they rest on such shaky foundations that the unions having money in them stand not only to lose their capital investments but, accord- ing to banking laws, will be liable for much more than their in-| vestments. Labor cannot beat the capitalist class by playing the game of | its enemies. Only an imbecile believes that labor can match its pitiful stipend against the colossal surplus the capitalists steal from us and eventually buy them out. Communism and the Passaic Workers Among the numerous slanders hurled against the Commun- ists by William Green in his report before the Los Angeles con- vention of the American Federation of Labor was the statement that the Workers Education Bureau was responsible for winning the Passaic strikers away from Communism and for trade union- ism. Such shameless deception may be practiced with effect up- on workers who do not know the facts in the Passaic struggle and that the so-called Workers’ Education Bureau played no part whatsoever in determining the strikers to affiliate with the United Textile Workers Union, a part of the American Federa- tion of Labor. It was the Communists and the Communists alone who first brought the slaves of Passaic into the trade union move- ment by organizing them under the name of the United Front Committee, conducting the strike effectively in spite of the op-| position of the venal officialdom of the New Jersey State Fed- eration of Labor and the sabotage of the rest of the bureaucracy Then again, Green is guilty of deliberate mendacity when he tries to create the impression that Communism is antagonistic to trade unionism and that it is necessary to “win workers from Communism to trade unionism.” The history of the world labor movement proves that the best trades unionists are Communists because they not only know how to fight for the pressing de- mands of today, but they know the direction in which the labor movement must travel to its ultimate goal. Communists also know the calibre of the traitors to labor at the head of the A. F, of L. machine, but in spite of that we urged the Passaic strik- ers to join the United Textile Workers. Communists had the} power to prevent this step being taken and had they desired to do so the Green-Woll bureaucracy would have been powerless. But the policy of the international Communist movement is to per- suade the workers to get into the trade unions, no matter how reactionary such unions are, because they are rallying points for the masses of labor. After the workers of Passaic were in the A. F. of L. the propaganda machines of the A. F. of L. got busy, but thus far they have not changed the minds of the masses regarding the effectiveness of Communist leadership of strikes. They know that| activities compiled by the A. F, of L. | of Gar the Communists came into a bad situation and accomplished re- sults that ought to have been accomplished years ago by those paid to do sucih wantt.. j / | seventh 1917—Ten Years Ago) state| T |FROM PROBLEMS OF DEFENS +|OR AGGRESSION TO THOSE OF} | committees. method is the full page devoted to! the sterling efforts of Matthew Woll| By WILLIAM F. DUNNE. tT HE best index to the character of | the report submitted to the forty-| annual convention of the American Federation of Labor by its executive council is the fact that in its 94 pages there is not one word er line in connection with the strike of the United Mine Workers of America —the largest union in the Federation (according to Secretary Morrison’s figures) and engaged in a struggle for its life. HE explanation for this otherwise incomprehensible omission is to be found in the policy of the executive council which is set forth on Page 16 under the head of “Outstanding Achievements — Progress Toward | Mutual Understanding.” Taken in con- nection with failure to even mention | the nationwide strike of its largest union in its official report, the follow- | ing statements are of the greatest | significance: | “| Formerly Labor allowed spec- tacular incidents of strife to over- shadow the more important events of constructive development and service ... BY SHIFTING ATTENTION CONSTRUCTIVE BUILDING, the relative importance of the sustained work of the union becomes more ob- vious. ... With the extension of this policy, thruout the whole labor movement is coming more general and keener appreciation of the value of the unions. THE BUSINESS AD- VANTAGE OF UNIONIZATION ACCEPTED.” Hee in a few words is contained the whole policy of abandonment of struggle and of surrender to Amer- ican capitalism. official leadership of the American|the slums of the Passaic East Side, union decided to put up a labor tigket labor movement does not consider it} they settled down in this suburb, for the coming city elections, headed history of American labor—a_ strug- gle whose outcome will be decisive for the American working class for long period. The report itself is a strange doeument. In its introduction, | as already indicated, all the emphasis is on peace and coopera- tion “with other social groups’— meaning of course those social groups, beginning with the bosses, which accept American capitalism as the best of all possible social sys- tems. But the body of the report, especially those sections dealing with attitude of government and capital- ists, is a complete refutation of the theory on which the introduction anti the repert as a whole is based.g 1heS as they will, the members of the executive council cannot find facts to prove their contention that the labor movement increases in power in proportion as it abandons | the control of the bosses, their make- ‘campaign in every ward. Funds are struggle and accepts the role of ad-|up presents a different picture from! raised by the membership and meet- junct to the machinery of capitalist | govern- | production and capitalist ment. This, of course, is what the exec- utive council means when it says “the | business advantage of unionization has become more generally accepted.” It would like to say that the “ad- vantage of BUSINESS UNIONIZA-| TION has become more generally ac- cepted” but this perhaps would be ad- | | vocating a little too boldly the united front with the bosses which is the es- | sence of its policy. IT is a dreary record we encounter when the executive council report lists the “achievements” since the De- troit convention. In practically every field of labor activity the executive council fails to conceal the fact that the labor movement has suffered de~ feat. Its report tries to overcome this obvious truth by recording as successes minor and meaningless ac- tivities of its various members and A fair sample of this is establishing “cooperative relation- ships” with the American Bar Asso- ciation. HE Sacco-Vanzetti case, arousing the greatest protest against the frame-up of workers that the world| \Vayor Burke is the secretary of the}sive with the least shady strike rec-| has ever seen, is not considered i portant enough by the executive coun- cil to be listed in the index to its re- port tho it lists as one item “Gom-| pers, Samuel Memorial,” a project whit has secured such mass sup- port that the magnificent sum of $98.50 is given as the total contribu- tion made by mourning admirers of President Green’s predecessor. Thus the two great labor struggles of the past year—-that for o and Vanzetti, and the stri f the miners’ union--are wiped m the records of the executive council. One can say that the amount of attention in its report given to these | two labor battles corresponds exactly to the services rendered to the work- ing class in these struggles by the | executive council. (0 much by way of introduction to} the review of the executive coun- cil’s report, We propose now to take the major issues confronting the American labor movement, one by one, and, by the record of its officialdom itself, show that it has gained nothing for the labor move- ment, but on the contrary has been unable and unwilling to solve a single } i = So deeply has this} the most dangerous form of speculative enterprise the Commw-| poisonous policy taken root that the | of textile workers. Tr Toward Mu Successes Versus Failures. } one of the problems the development of capitalist industry and the rapid centralization of government puts on the order of business of the working| HE chief task, to which all others take second place, is of course to find and apply ways and means of strengthening the power of the labor movement—in indust and_ politic in relation to the capitalists as ex-/} ploiters of labor and in relation to! the government of the capitalists) without which exploitation could not} be carried out, to link up the in-| dustrial struggles of the working| class with the political struggles so that the labor movement is a rounded | whole, conscious of its role as the | leader of all the struggles of its class. itual Understanding” — Cae immediate issues have} thrust themselves forward by rea-| son of the pressing necessity for a} program which will meet them. They can be listed as follows: 1. The injunction menace. | 2. Organization of the unorganized. | 8. Social legislation. 4, Resistance to the program of merican imperialism which is marked by aggression abroad and an} attack on the labor movement at}: = 3 home. We will take the report of the exec- utive council on these—and other— questions and by its own words prove |* the entire absence of anything that by any stretch of the imagination can be called progress. (Second Article to Follow) The Garfield’ By EMIL GARDOS. a small industrial town offers certain | problems which we do not face in the} larger cities. The lack of working |class organizations, a militant spirit | | manifesting itself in spite of the polit- jieal backwardness of the workers, ;the linking up of the Labor Party |with the organization of the unor- \g ed, necessi a study of this qu 2 Wort reason the Labor |Party ticket in Garfield, N. J., holds ja special interest for all of us. | | Dur the last Passaic strike, | | which was a splendid school for rais- ing the political consciousriess of the | | Garfield, a city with a popu- jlation of 27,000 was in the center of | |the struggle. This was due not only to the picket lines of the Forstmann- Huffmann and other mills in Gar- | field, but also to the fact that it is! the residence of the great number ying to escape |necessary to so much as mention one| many of. them living in their own, by Gus Deak, the president of the |of the greatest labor struggles in the | }ittle family houses secured thru heavy mortgages. Of the 5,000 citi- ns entitled to vote, 80 percent at ast are factory workers who are | mostly engaged the textile mills lof Passaic and v ity. Interested In Politics. | The interest of these small-town {workers in politics is much keener than in the larger cities. While the| | y worker, living in the tenement | s does not feel directly the {burden of taxation, to the small-town | worker who owns his own house, | politics expresses itself in taxes, |street paving, city improvements and | ‘other loeal issues, which become a! | part’ of his bread and butter prob- | ‘lems. He is trying to find his polit- | lical expression thru the participation {in the republican and democratic | |parties where the different class in-| rests | sues. manifest themselves in like; Altho these parties are under | that of the same parties in the great | cities. The membership of the Sec-| |ond Ward Hungarian republican elub | or the Italian democratic club con-| sists of a great majority of workers | with a few business men and fore- |men in the leadership. Most of these | politicians are agents of the mill- owners, but there are some who un-| consciously are trying to represent the interests of the workers. ' Defeat Workers. This. is especially true during the | | primaries when there are sometimes | |-workers fighting for nomination | Naturally, big business, with the help | | | of the press and the party machine always puts up its own man. If worker gets in by accident he is soow corrupted. This is known to many workers, but instead of their polit- jeal passivity, as is the case in the larger cities, they remain within the folds of the capitalist parties in an | effort to sway them in the interests |of the poor people. Such expressions within the old parties must not be ignored, but to the contrary, we must utilize them when laying ‘the basis |for a Labor Party. | The present republican mayor of | | Garfield and the majority of the) |eouncilmen are directly or indirectly | n the payroll of the mill-owners. Botany mills and we have a few) The building of a Labor Party in| 2 ‘for the organization Labor Ticket four similar lackeys for councilmen. | ¥ machine is so powerful that Councilman Quinlivan, who might be considered as a “progressive” repub- lican, did not dare to oppose him at the primaries but nominated himself as an independent republican. The democratic candidate, Councilman Parrapato is more “friendly” to la- bor, due to the weakness of his party, but he’ offered no resistance to the present’ administration in the course of the strike. Learned From Strike. Under normal circumstances the election of Burke wouid be assured. | But the workers have learned a great deal during the strike. This politicai education, and the successful cam- paign of the Passaic Communist ticket last May, convinced them of the necessity of organizing their class party. é eS ee | Leading members of the textile union, Felix Panerisi, John Di Santo and others. The putting up of a la- bor ticket presented several difficult- ies. One was the lack of organiza- tions and labor unions necessary to support such a ticket. The trade unions and the central body all meet in Passaic, and their active partici- pation ima conference to put up the labor candidates was an impossibil- ity. The few societies and clubs of Garfield are mostly vote catching organizations controlled by the cap- italist politicians. The only move left was, first to get on the ballot, and then build up the necessary elec- tion machinery. Organize Labor Clubs. Utilizing the support of the most active union members and sympathiz- ers, labor clubs were organized in every ward, These clubs’ with head- quarters and regularly elected of- ficials, form the backbone of the ings are held’ under their auspices. They are also trying to get the en- dorsement of other Societies and thereby winning them away from the existing capitalist parties. The labor clubs are not just elec- tion organizations. They will con- tinue to e: after November 1, car- rying on social and educational work, serving as a basis for a Labor Party, of the unor- ganized, and similars labor activities. This procedure, the building of labor clubs, will have to be followed in ther cities as well. Question of Candidate. Another problem was the question of a candidate for mayor. The danger of electing Burke, who thanks to the machine, would certainly get enough votes to get himself elected while the four other candidates would split the rest of the votes hetween them- selves, was a vital factor, The labor candidates therefore decided to enter into an alliance with the independent republican candidate for mayor, .Mr. Quinlivan, on the condition that he drops the word republican and ac- cepts a labor program. Mr. Quin- livan, a typical small town _ polit- ician, is a worker himself, and com- ing from a purely workingclass dis- | Cohanesque “The Merry Malones” Is Ushered in at the Erlanger Theatre OW that that institution of the American theatre, the Ziegfield Follies, has been safely launched, it only remained for that other institu- tion of the American theatre, George M. Cohan, to ap- pear on the scene; 4 in person to: make many, many _theatre-| goers happy} again, i While Ziegfield| glorifies the} American _ girl, Cohan glorifies | the American} everything— sen- timental songs, jazz songs, clas- sie dancing, jazz dancing, homely pathos; in short, everything but the prurient sally that distinguishes some of the other song and dance shows now on Broadway, Cohan himself redivivus! True it is that the one George M. only plays a secondary part in the production, but from the rise of the curtain to the fall of same the opus bears the strong imprint of the hand, of this unique personification of | Yankee Doodle-ism. i Why worry about a plot when the author takes every opportunity to kid the public, the actors and even him- self about the remnants and wisps of | this! Suffice it to say that the theme | is the age-old one of the rich boy and} the poor girl and the ensuing compli- cations that has been used time and) again by the writer of every sort for) generations. Through it all runs aj cheery patter of humor, character-| istic music and dancing to suit} every taste. | Cohan dominates the production, but his efforts are charmingly abetted | by Mary Jane in a character part, | Sarah Edwards as Mother Malone,' Dorothy Whitmore as Delia Malone, | and in particular by Polly Walker as| Molly Malone, whose name supplies | one of the song hits of the show, be-| sides adding to the wholesome merri- | ness of “The Merry Malones.” If you like typical Cohan musical | comedy, which, incidentally, fills an-| other theatrical gap that many of the | musical revues do not, you will enjoy | “The Merry Malones,” It is a good) evening’s entertainment. In writing | about this production one must not neglect to state that the new Er-| langer’s Theatre makes a perfect se’ a Dorothy Whitmore ting, and adds to the list of attractive | : new theatres on Broadway. | Congress Gives Federa | Reserve Board Power to. . : Juggle Prices, Is Claim WASHINGTON, Oct. 4. — Rep.| Strong of Kansas, author of a bill to | direct the Federal Reserve Board as | to policy to be followed in stabilizing | the purchasing power of the dollar, | has issued a statement defending the | recent action of the board in forcing | the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank to lower its rate for money. trong points out that congress de- | liberately gave the board power to | raise or lower the general level of | prices, | Times Sq. Plays Dr. Stockmann in his revival of Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the Peo- ple,” which opened at Hampden’s Theatre Monday night. “Send No Money” is now in re- hearsal. Gertrude Kearney, Charlotte Geraud and Arléen Ault are new members of the cast. Pauline Lord will be starred in |“Surmise,” by Frank Vosper, which will be seen here this season under the direction of George C. Tyler. O. P. Heggie will also be in the cast. The new “Chauve-Souris” ‘will open at the Cosmopolitan Theatre on Octo- ber 10. Balieff, of course, will be on hand when the show opens. Charles Dillingham and A. H. Woods’ production of Edward Knob- lock’s “The Mulberry Bush” is now in rehearsal with James Rennie, . Clau- dette Colbert, Isobel Elson, Edwin Nieander and Mary Murray in the cast. Mrs. Fiske and Otis Skinner will tour again this season in “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” The LADDER $2.20. CORT THE E. of B'way. E 30. Mati- nees Wed. and Sat. ; her Wed. &Sat.2:30 ” of Mary Dugan rd Veiller, with af CHERRYMAN 0, Mts “The Trial By Ba ANN HARE The Desert Song with Robt. Halliday & Eddie Buzrelt llth Month CASINO 39 St. & B'way. Evs. 8.30 2.30 Wed. and Sat. LITTLE West 44th St., & Eve's 8:30 Wed. & Sat. “ > Romancing ’Round with W. Fox, presents the Motion Picture SUNRISE , Sum. By HERMA! N SUDERMANN Symphonic M tone Accompaniment Thea., 42d TWICE DAILY, Mats. acKellar & Ralph Morgan The NewPlaywrights Theatre “The Theatre Insurgent” THE ONLY HOME FOR LABOR PLAYS IN. AMERICA Announces a season of producti THE by PAUL SINGING JAILBIRDS, b THE CENT CENTURIES, by im 4 38, trict, seemed to be the most progres- | ord. A supporter of LaFollette in! |foremen in the council, not speaking | 1924, he also has the support of the jof the business men whose existence | Passaic Central Labor Union and the} depends on the good will of the| organized workers in general. Mr. | mighty corporations. During the! Quinlivan publicly accepted. the labor | .strike they naturally rushed to the | program, endorsed Deak, Di Santo and | i help of the millsowners. In spite of|Panerisi, who in turn did not nom- the fact that the vast majority of | inate anybody for mayor and support} ‘the voters were with the strikers,|/the candidacy of Quinlivan. This | | Burke imme ely hived extra police- | labor ticket was endorsed by the | |men, ying even the expense of the | Central Labor Union, through its mill Owners of hiring their own gun- | “nonpartisan political expression”, the | imen, This s ing of the strik-| Good Government Association. |ers’ m r the strike was! Mild Program, |done without practically any dis- | The Platform of the United Labor jSenting voice in the council. !Ticket is a very mild one. We can Verge of Bankruptcy. \eriticize them for their moderate im- y at the present time is on mediate demands, which could be ac- ¢ of bankruptey. Taxes are| cepted even by many capitalist polit- than: anywhere else. A loan | icians, the insufficient emphasis on of $114,000 raised for building pur-\the Labor Party and many other s grafted by these strike-|points. But in spite of these short- | e The payroll of the city [comings, it is a real labor ticket, with | hempl s was not paid this week!three militant union men, Having a ‘because of lack of funds. Mass un-/broad popular support and the en- employment, pressing. mortgages,’ dorsement of the CLU which last high taxation — this is the picture | May did not want to support any la- eld today. ; | bor ticket and endorsed the manufac- | This indigyment, however, did not|turer Cabell and the detective-chief prevent the republican party, con-|Turner for commissioner. Vice-presi- trolling the majority of votes, from!dent Starr of the United Textile ‘renominating Burke for mayor, and Workers who was campaigning last 1 1 a 0 isc eee ee ca ht An industrial play with an acetylene flame Other plays to be selected from Upton Sinclair y Jo Basshe By hh ions dramatizing the class warl OPENING OCTOBER 19 with BELT SIFTON. year for the Democrat Senator Waish) in Massachusetts, also spoke at their rally. It is the first step towards a labor party, towards splitting away the workers from capitalist political leadership and for this reason it must be supported by the Workers’ (Com- munist) Party. i Support With Criticism. This means a qualified support with | criticism. While helping these can-| didates, we have to show the workers | that their program will never save them from capitalist exploitation. The sharp condemnation of the mill- owners and the capitalist parties, the constant advocating of a Labor Party. must be demanded from these candi- dates. We must also not forget tnat beside the three union men, whose political record is clean, Joseph F. Quinlivan is just coming over from the republican party (maybe because he was not nominated on its ticket) bringing over a past which is clean) He may even turn nto the folds of the republican party. Will this happen, will Quinlivan stick to the program all the time? Will he carry it out if he is elected? Here we cannot answer these questions. We have no guarantee that Mr. Quin- livan or any other labor man will re- main true to his class. There have been many betrayals in the past and we Communists know it. Yor A Labor Party. Our aim is to help every honest at- tempt to organize a Labor Party to tear the workers away from the capitalist parties, educating them at the same time so that even if some of the leaders may turn traitor, the political class organization remains. This organization must be strong enough to give instructions to its representatives, to exert pressure upon them, to expose and not re-elect them if they become renegades. The Garfield labor ,campaign therefore deserves all our attention and sup- port. The lessons of this campaign, the correct estimation of capitalist parties ‘their-followers in the small towns, peculiar organizational methods, such as the building of labor clubs can - be utilized elsewhere, when working towards the establishment of a Labor Party in the United States. oh