The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 16, 1927, Page 4

tht lat er ba: vie Wi vit bel wi thi to in Fe ge su} inc en prt lea the tes ‘le the “@ wh out hoe ge No pul pre thi fer bui ion We Vii vel un for un’ nai of of an bar coe an) the bei the go me faj wi we cla ag 0% (s sti bu re th co sy fa wl er un Te ot dr ol is en th at th lit Page Four THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 16, 1927 FOLK BALLADS AND FIGHTING SONGS. AND BALLADS OF THE ANTHRACITE MINERS. By Geo. G./ Published by Frederick H. Hitchcock, New York. $3. SONGS Kerson. i rates one point in the theory of the Materialistic Interpre-| tation of History better than the production of the ballad, and the epic. | All peoples, without exception, during a certain stage of culture develop and later stage take to producing} sagas and epics, and during another, ballad: nd all the ballads, whether by English yeomen, Scotch high-/ lander nts, Mexican peons, or any other, have the same abong) family old feudalism, with its isolation of people from} al influences, had gone, even here in America, where-| or wherever corporation feudalism produced back | n of a machine civilization’s culture, the workers with miraculous swiftness begin to work out true| balla sprang up all the way of the march of | the frontier hians to the Pacifie Ocean, and even now are| coming out o ection of the South. Something vaguely Te-| sembling them rown off the underworld of the Mississippi River cities, | and this book collection of the old songs, written between 1860 and 1902 by the toilers underground of the eastern Pennsylvania mining region.| between which the collector The anthracite songs are of two types, and author of this book does not clearly differentiate. There is the old, true ballad, the everyday work, and the momentuous things that | rictly local in tone, such a one, for example, as “Mackin’s | and there is, sung by the same work-} 1scious, revolutionary song, not always of the ballad type, | which in this book the best example is in the strike songs. | ’ glorifying those who do real work and keep their ising those who do not, says: happen the Porch,” where ers the c tho it may be, of “M. n’s Por mouths shut by cr “Bout half past 6 or 7 o’clock, Then the men begin to flock; And tell of cars they were docked; Of cars lost and found. Of dirty coal and lumps or chunks Firing holes and sackin’ hunks, And the way they have to work and grunt! | For a livin’ underground. The Far Downs and Cannaught men Fight, and then make up again; Dutch and Scotch and English men— All like chickens in a pen. The powder smoke does be so thick, You could cut it with a pick, K The smell of gas would make you sick, In front of Mackin’s store.” And again: “The Prospect and the Conaghan, the Empire and Notingham, At hoisting coal ain’t worth a damn compared to Mackin’s porch. This is harmless happy stuff, which some coal company is going to revive, because, dragged into the heat of the class war raging at present, it will act as a sedative, reactionary influence, cultivating esperit de-corps, for the company. But the boss will never willingly encourage the more sophisticated suc- cessor of the folk ballad, the class war songs now sung by striking worker: “Solidarity Forever” and others of the period since 1902 do not appear in| this book—they are universal, and class wide in their appeals, and were de- do the rest. The United States army is not only actively building the biggest aerial war fleet in the world, but is constructing carrier ships like the U. S. S. Saratoga, pictured above, just completed at Camden, N. J. These ships carry the bombers to Nicaragua—or some other defenseless country, and the aviators A little tropical village makes a good target, and it’s usually pretty safe for the fliers 6 Fu nd |More Contributions to Ruthenberg Daily | Worker Sustaining AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR PROTECTS | PROPOSED REPEAL OF INHERITANCE TAXATION Jack Leventhal, Ny yee John & Ellen Island Wise. Harry Berman, Ne Gust Svanson, St. Mrs. Seger, St. Pai Toarock, |Saima Hissanen, ( Superior, Wi Rem M. Rifkin, Wingdale, N. Y. Staten dee Emil Taratuski, Phila, Pa. . Geo. Dawis, St. Paul, New York, Max C. Zange, Cincinn: | John Strapec, Geo Blosan, (collected) § J. E. Curry, Kansas City, Mo. C. Badagionis, New York, w York, N. Fred Bergere, New York, N. Y. Carl Hanson, St. Paul, Paul Heing, St. Paul, Min. . Minn. . Paul, Minn. Minn. ul, 3 collected) nsen, veloped for the most part by migratory workers, not coal miners. But the|N.p.Z., Chairton, Port. coal miners were touched by the fire of the class wat too, and Mr. Korsor rles Koteck, Omaha, Nebr. has been honest enough to include several of the “On Strike,” “The Long|0, Ranmail, Cooke Park Co., Strike” (of 1875), “The Sliding Scale” (which is now being revived by coal companies), the “Blackleg” (English influence in that title), “Me Johnny Mitchell Man” (this shows the breaking down of race prejudice in the heat of industrial conflict—some of the earlier ballads were written against the Italians and Slavs), “Mollie Maguires,” a half-hearted defense of that band of rebels, and a song against a Mollie Maguire who betrayed the rest and helped the frame-up: “Muff Lawler, the Squealer.” All these songs breathe a spirit of class revolt, even tho some of them express exaggerated hopes and ideals of “American citizenship and its rights.” The Slav miner sings: Me dey never schare. Mont. John Volkman, Wi S. Brenner, Detroi A. Winkler, Detre James R Jones, B John Zuparko, Hil Simon Weiss, New Sure, me strike tomorra night, Dat’s de business, I don’t care, Right-a here, me telling you, Me no scabby feller.” And the Knights of Labor song goes: “Eight hours we’d have for labor, Eight hours we’d have for play, Eight hours we’d have for sleeping, In free Americ-a. One song, “Pat Mullaly,” lesson on the benefits of the short work day: “We'll combine, the union join, And work eight hours a day, And keep the market clear of coal, And then they’ll raise our pay.” —VERN SMITH. URRENT MAGAZINES THE HAMMER. November, 1927. Twenty-five cents. The November issue of The Hammer, Yid dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. holiday number. The issue opens with M. J. Olgin’s panegyric to the mass- hero of the Revolution, that unknown, nameless rank and file that has carried the chief burden of the Revolution, of the civil wars and of the task of building socialism in one-sixth of the earth’s surface. Comrade Olgin is| easily the most inspiring writer and speaker in the Yiddish language. I.use the muchworn word, “inspiring,” designedly; it applies with complete literal- ness to him. * * * Perhaps the most thrilling reading in the entire number are the excerpts (in Comrade Olgin’s translation) from Lenin’s writings immediately prior to the November Revolution, those trenchant despatches to the Central Com- mittee of the Bolshevik Party exposing the betrayals of the Kerensky gov- ernment and urging that the time for insurrection had come. In the per- spective of ten years the correctness of Lenin’s analysis of the objective conditions and his uncanny grasp of all phases of the situation seem even more remarkable, * * * The chief literary features of the November Hammer are L. Feinberg’s long poem, “1917,” and the publication of the first half of “Hirsh Leckert,” | a poetic drama in six seenes, by H. Leivick (whose poem on the same theme J translated in a recent issue of The DAILY WORKER). Feinberg’s poem, , despite its uneven quality and reminiscences of Blok’s “The Twelve,” has a great deal of uncouth vigor and is, on the whole, a vital contribution to revo-| lutionery literature in Yiddish. Leivick’s historical drama, judging from the portion published in this issue, surpasses in power and Litter eloquence any- thing this significant Yiddish poet and playwright has done. The Nover Hammer also contains an excellent article on Yiddish literature in So Russia by Shachno Epstein, a discussion of “Ten Years of Soviet Economy” by J. Mindel, and poems, short stories and articles by |) other well-known writers living both here and abroad. —A. B. MAGIL. The December issue of the Labor Defender, official organ of Interna- tional Labor Defense, will contain the following feature articles: Special stories on the great Colorado miners’ strike against the Rockefeller corporation, with new pictures of the mass picketing, speaking, etc. Review of the Third National Conference of the International Labor Defense by James P. Cannon, National Secretary, I. L. D. Articles on the Greco-Carrillo frame-up in New York, another Sacco-Vanzetti case in the making, New developments in the Cheswick, Pa., Zeigler miners’ and other cases with profuse and graphic illustrations, and the many other features of the Labor Defender. It is a real! 4 Imington, Del. t, Mich. . it, Mich. rooklyn, } Iside, N. J. . York City.. Grace Humpkin, New York City Justin Swartz, Dorchester, Mass. 3. | Paneleymonoff, Haverhill, Mass. Nick G. KE. Wilson, Oak ' ; C has a verse which contains a whole economic | Victor Vacearo, Oakdale, Calif. |W. W. Gray, Oak Warley Beckel, Oa E. Nelson, Clevelai Minn. J. K. Chaplik, Berl Ti. | Calif. Rapids, Mich. EN Os ss 1ac 4F p Nees c Mr. Friend, Dayton, United Counci Housew United Counc Housewives N Liter, New York C . Platt, lJ. Zaladal, Czechslovak Club, H. Brin! Mr. F. ,N. B. ee: ae sey Ci N. J. Fannie Davidoff, Zollinger, Chicago, Il. nry Sarling, Dover, Ohio Steven Hornik, Naffs, | frank Hrdlicka, Naffs, Ohio . Neder, Chicago, Ill. Desmond, Oakdale, - . Brinkley, Oakdale, Calif. 1.00 . 1.00 -1.00 Margafet Aclander, % ..|Jobn Veen, San Francisco, sh Communist monthly, is) john Tuomi, Grand Rapids, Mich. 1.00 L. D. F. Branch 66, Grand Begricee saieey 5.00 | F per Com. Reider, Gorman, Detr Tain, New York Cily Freiman, New York Patterson, Buffalo, Mr. . Baldasar, Corona, N. V. M. Johnson, Riverside, Calif. 1.00 R, C. Mahoney, F. Ohio Cali: dale, Calif. dale, Cali: kdale, Calif. nd, Ohio ... 0. City . Buffalo, ity, N. J, Mr. M. Baldosar, Coroni Mr. Tusan, Corona, N. Mr. Boro, Corona, N. Y Mr. Geo. Mintrick, Corona, N Mr. John Baldasar, Jersey City, The Labor Defender, portraying the struggle of the workers and their|J. Votkman, Wilmington, Del. persecutions by the capitalist class in America and throughout the world, is|L. Plotkin, New York, N. Y. in great demand by militant workers. ’ C. Shapiro, New “York | Kalama, Wn. Naisjaosto, Kalama, 3. - 10.00 | fortunes, Street Nuc. No. 1, Detroit, Mich 1 Y. 1.00 | jority of the American labor move- | M. Vincent, W. Ohio, Chicago .. | Frank Baumholtz, Midvale, Ohio 1.00 | the _tax-dodgers’ A. W. Yachary, Midvale, Ohio L. Bryan, Cleveland, Ohio .. - 10.01 M inheapolis, Sa cseweesiener ces 04, 5.80! the American public, the partner in | justice by appealing to the courts. ‘keley, Calif. . Frank A. Pellegrino, Chicago, ie sea tier esers feed Theo. Mueller, San Francisco, alif, ‘1.00 ..2.00 | mand that this tax be levied to pre- ..2.00| and further aceumulation of immense Miadinick, Garden City, -1.00 00 | 00 |. 3.00!is nothing more dangerous to the{ But Still Conservative. oo | country than accumulation of enor- | It has this conservative after- 0 | mous wealth in the hands of the few,” | thought, however: “Organized labor was.the keynote of the protest against | has no quarrel with those who honest- oo an of the federal inheritance tax | ly acquire great wealth, but it does “00 | Means Committee of the house, Oct.| those fortunes should go to the peo- |9, by the American Federation of La-| ple who helped to accumulate them, | bor. 00 |W. ©. Roberts, chairman of the Fed-| from growing larger and larger and eration’s legislative committee. | becoming too dangerous to the’ public “Those who accumulate fortunes | Welfare: 0\ great enough so that their estates Argument was also advanced by pay the federal tax,” said Roberts, | the federation that if estate taxation .00 | “obtain their wealth through the good | were left to the states alone, the will of the whole American. public. | states would compete in eliminating And good will has been declared by | these taxes, in order to attract rich supreme court to be property. ..|men to hold their property in their the forces of governmen4 are jurisdiction. It demands that federal freely given to the protection of these | taxes be made a permanent feature both before the death of | of the tax system. It suggests that 0 |the owners and after they have been | prosperity is very limited, since only 0 | passed on to the heirs. ‘The es-/| 2.2 per cent of the people pay income tate tax results in the distribution of The other 111,000,000 people, 2.00} this wealth for the benefit of the i “must have accumulated very 1.00 | whole people.” 00 3} 00 | 5 Poor Pay Anyway. . (0 In these terms the conservative ma- ‘Negro Labor Meeting Discusses Class Courts (00 | ment threw itself across the path of lobby which has; 1.00} brought scores cf state officials to By THOMAS L. DABNEY .00 | Washington to secure repeal of the; PHILADELPHIA, Pa. Nov. 15.— .00 | federal tax on dead men’s fortunes. |The American courts were severely .00| “You have been told by Mr. Mellon | criticized at last Sunday’s Forum of 00} that 97.8 per cent of the population |the Philadelphia Council, American 00 | |pay no federal income taxes what- | Negro Labor Congress by Miss Char- jever,” the protest went on. “Never | lotte Jones of West Chester, Pennsyl- 00 | theless, the 2.2 per cent who pay fed- vania. Speaking on the subject: Is eral taxes had previously passed them | there Justice in the Courts?” Miss on to the 97.8 per cent, in whole or | Jones asserted that “justice in our in great part, But the estate tax|courts is based on class interests,” {eannot be passed on. and cited all history to prove it. During the discussion speakers ex- | posed the courts as guardians of the ‘rights of the ruling class. Our courts jare directed as much in the interest | of our corporations and bankers as ‘the executive and legislative branches Quote Andy’s Confession. jof the government. It quotes Andrew Carnegie's con- fact speakers pointed out that the sion that his fortune “came from | Workers can never expect to get 0) 0 1.00 -1.00 -1.01 - i ‘ I “Legacies received by heirs of great estates have justly been called un- learned income, for few of the heirs | had anything to do with their accumu- lation.” 1.00 | vevery large enterprise where money | A glaring example of court pre- ing class was exhibited by sudge- PaEEvee in Saececo-Vanzetti case. The me Court of the United States i egarded every principle of decency and justice by killing the Child Labor Amendment. | While opposing courts and capi- | talist government, A. J. Carey warned the .audience against developing op- | declaration that “the growing dispo- | ‘sition to tax more and more heavily -00 large estates left at death is a cheer- | \ing indication of the growth of a | salutary change in public opinion. By | taxing estates heavily at death the state marks its condemnation of the | selfish millionaire’s unworthy life.” | The federation asks, in unwonted 1,00 | meod, ‘00 share in such fortunes than the peo- | .1,00 | Ple who made them possible?. . .It |should be the American policy to de- sarily bad. It depends upon who con- trols the government and what is the purpose of those who have political power. In Russia where the workers | conirol the government political | power is being used to promote the interests of the masses. went in the future the perpetuation | jfontines in the hands of those who The New Playwrights Theatre 49 Commerce Street, near Sheridan Square Greenwich TELEPHONE WALKER 5786. {THE ONLY HOME FOR LABOR PLAYS IN AMERICA Village Presents Paul Sifton’s play ane BELT The first modern labor play to debunk company unionism and the i so-called prosperity in the Ford factories. 1.00 | 1.00 | This is the last week. Get your tickets now. 1.00 UPTON SINCLAIR SAYS OF “THE BELT”: “You have produced one of the most vivid and exciting labor pays 1.00 ; uve ever Seen in my life. If the workers knew how-much fun you 1.00 to offer, your little theatre couldn't hold the crowds, 1 wish 1 ¥ e twenty years younger, to start writing for your theatre all over in,” 1.00 fr aa -1.00 Liverpool, O, 1.00 | Bronx, N. Y. Roy Mraz, Lorain, Ohio ....... 1.00 1.00 HELP SUPPORT this theatre and The DAILY WORKER by buying tickets at The DAILY WORKER office. 108 East 14th Street. 1.00 | .00 | 5 »| WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 There did little if anything to create them. | ake syelded. co. the, emonuanan by ides | which was made to the Way and|insist that at death a just portion of | This protest was presented by|and to the states to prevent them | In view of this | wore x | position to all government. He pointed | “Who is more entitled to a! out that political power is not neces- | pee who have the courage—and honesty and originality—to live their own lives in their own way are championed in the new A. H. Woods’ production, “The Fanatics,” by Miles | |Mallison, which opened the other | night at the Forty-ninth Street The- | atre. Mr. Malleson, in spite of some par- tion, makes out a strong ease for himself. He argues that love is a mat- ter of personal responsibility, pleads for freedom he does so in so a manner that one hesitates to chal- lenge him. For some of us, suacLean unhampered by sup- erstitions, treacherous traditions, and outworn conventions, love is not so |much a problem as an experience. | Courage, however, is required to | throw off those lecherous, traditions, | superstitions, conventions. When they voan ae of propaganda, by years of im- | pressionable fabrications, by the sub- tle arts of priest and politician, it takes courage, and plenty of it, to |tear these paper-mache wings from our shoulders, square off, and dare the world with a balanced chip. But this is what the rebellious young peo- | ple of Mr. Malleson’s do, with an air of intellectual ruthlessness that must {have had its beginnings far from Greenwich Village. The story, which isn’t overburdened with ideas, is this: John Freeman has cee. Quite pold'y, he announces |he has found his mate elsewhere. A round-table conference follows before the fire, in his attack, in which his sister, his fiancee, a modern young woman, and a successful young play- wright take part. And they discuss, of course, the problem of marriage; (but they attack this old-fashioned | bug-aboo as though it were the new- est thing. They have an_honest-to-goodness revivalist struggle with the devil, | with sweetness and light to pep up |the bout, and Old Nick, the saints be | praised, wins out. John gets his lady | love, the dilemma is solved, and down jcomes the curtain. Love has not only caused most of the litigation of the world, and most of its misery, but, more’s the pity, much of the world’s literature. But, though Mr. Malleson does not succeed in solving the riddle to the satisfac- tion of the die-hards, at least he man- ages to correlate the opinions of pre- sent-day youth on marriage, love, and | kindr topics. |ficient, to employ a well-worn theme. —S. A. P. “IOLANTHE” BACK IN REPERTOIRE AT ROYALE | | “Tolanthe” returned to the Gilbert |_ ‘and Sullivan repertoire at the Royale | Theatre, Monday night. Fred Wright, the English comedian, made his ap-| lis made honorably,” and his pious | Jud’ ce against the cause of the work-|pearance, playing the abate Law- | Brooklyn Last ee. Oe donable crudeness in plot construc-| and{ of individual action: | frank, honest, blunt | confessed he no longer loves his, fian- | that | Which is license suf- Freedom in Sex Miles Malleson’s “The Fanatics” Pleads for | Liberty of Individual Action ) JANET GAYNOR. | | i Star of the Hermann Sudermann movie “Sunrise” now showing at the Times Square Theatre. | ford role of last season, as the Lord Chancellor, while Bettina Hall and Virginia Fox were heard in the roles of Iolanthe and Celia for the first |time. Otherwise the cast was the same as that which presented “Tio- lanthe” here last season, with Lois Bennett, Vera Ross, Suissabell Sterl- ing, William Williams, John Barclay, J. Humbird Duffey, William C. Gor- don and George C. Lehrian in their former roles. “Iolanthe” will be sung every Monday night throughout the engagement, with “The Mikado” at all other performances. Broadway Briefs \\ Saturday Morning Theatre open§ its new season at the Booth Theatre Saturday morning. “The King of the Golden River’ is the first bill. This is a dramatiza- tion of Ruskin’s story of the same The play will be given Nov. Ve The Children name. 19, Nov. 26 and Dee. 3, at 10:30 a.m. The Irish Players will begin their New York engagement at the Hudson Theatre, Monday evening, November 28, with “The Plough artd the Stars.” This is Sean O’Casey’s tragedy of the Dublin tenements, against the back- ground of the Easter Riots of 1916. A. L. Erlanger is building another theatre. This will be in Cincinnati, and it will be known as Erlanger’s Grand Opera House. George Alison has been engaged for an important role in “Bless You Sis- ter,” the play by John Meehan and R. R. Riskin, which A. E. and R. R. Riskin have placed in rehearsal. The Shubert revue “Artists and Models” will have its premiere at the Winter Garden this evening. “Tia Juana” a melodrama by Chester De- | Vonde and Kilburn Gordon is sched- ued to open tonight at the Bijou The- atre. “People Don’t Do Such Things,” a comedy by Lyon Mearson and Edgar M. Schoenberg, had its first perfor- mance at Teller’s Shubert Theatre in NN 07 peed US CT] | The Theatre Guild Presents _ PORGY Th., W. 524 8:40 Guild {yiis Thurs. ( . Theatre, 41 St. V [National Hivs.8:30, Mts. We Extra Met. (Blection Day} icy Trial of Mary Dugan” By Bayard Veiller, with \N HARDING. ‘The Desert Song with Robt. Hetiday & nd IMPERIAL ah Mats. Wed. and 8: ue sddie Busxzell | The LADDER LYRIC THE W. of B'wa Mats. Wed. \GARRICK jin‘ ASIL £¥D ba with Gar ‘ers in the Modes TAMING of the SHREW RACU ve way, 46 St. Evs. 8.36 & Sat. 2:30 iwm, Fox presenta the Motion Picture | Directed by SUNRISE ». W'strnau By HERMANN SUDERMANN Symphonic Movietone Accompaniment Thea. 420 St. W. of Bwa Times Sq. ‘pwite DAILY, 2:30-8:30 iH —REX CHERRYMAN | oEPU WEST | Evenings 8:30 | REPUBLIC 42 ST. | Mats, Wed.tSat. The Mulberry Bush With James Rennie & Claudette Colbert AM w SD DE N in MP comedy “AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE” | Hampden’ ig Thea. Bway at 62d St nings at 8:30. | Matinees ‘Wednesda and Saturday 2:3¢ | Saget w. juilhert 3 3 Upera Co, Mon. . ves. 8:40 tinees Wed, & ‘sat, at 2:40 ESCAPE with Leslie Howard ‘DAV EN PORT THEATRE E. 27th St, near Lexingto: meninges 8 Mat. iat, 2 Fy 3 Phone Madison Sq. “HAMLET” with RUTLE DAVENPORT. and an pellent Cast. Fes CIVIC. REPERTORY THEA. @ 14 St. & 6 Ave, Prices 50c to $1.56 “eo HVA LE GALLIENNE This Att—“THE GOOD HOPE" ; Tonight—“LA LOCANDIBRA” | ST. THEATRE, West of B'wa: jaa MATINEES WED, & SAT. zat « FANATICS MUSIC AND CONCERTS GRAND OPERA ss St..W.ofB'y,Evg. 8.11 AL WEEK Thurs. CAVATn lives. $1 to Toe to $2.50° (Plus Tax) c SRLO LLO ‘Thea., Tonight, cane Qi LERTA and PAGLIACCL $3. Mats.