The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 20, 1928, Page 6

j singe a ca Ae THE DAILY WORKER ————— — ts 3 Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER 2 Daily, Except Sunday 88 Ficst Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): .00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per year $3.50 six months $2.50 three months. $2.00 three months. Addrest and mail out checks to f THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. 31 Hdttor.....+.006 S -ROBERT MINOR Assistant Editor.. .WM. F. DUNNE Bnt ‘as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. ¥., under ot the act of March 8, 1879. PUBLISHING ASS'N, Ine, Phone, Orchard 1680 “Dalwork” —_—, The A. F. of L. Executive Council Surrenders Again— This Time to the Traction Barons The executive council of the American Federation of Labor has delivered the traction workers to the traction barons for an indefinite period by its decision just made in Miami. This decision is to call no strike on the Interborough Rapid Transit Company lines while the injunction hearing is pending and then only if the I. R. T. refuse arbitration of all issues arising out of the struggle of the workers to organize. In reality this means the abandonment of attempts to organ- ize these traction workers since the I. R. T., knowing in advance that no strike will be called, will systematically discharge and discriminate against all workers who join the Amalgamated Asso- ciation of Street and Electric Railway Employees. Organization under such conditions, and with the methods used by the Amalgamated, is impossible. If there is a pretense of continuing this work, following the decision of the executive council, it can be nothing else than a cruel farce conducted at the expense of the traction workers. Nothing better illustrates the systematic policy of surrender followed by the official labor leadership than its actions in this situation where the right of the labor movement to exist and | function as an organizing instrument and weapon for the workers | has been challenged by the I. R. T. acting in behalf of the traction barons. : | The hopes of the traction workers have been dashed time and again. When the traction barons would profit from delay, the | union officials were always ready to delay action. | When a strike against the I. R. T. could have been called last summer and would have met with a tremendous response from the | traction workers on all lines, it was sabotaged and finally called | off thru the medium of the most brazen deception carried on in| conjunction with Tammany Hall officials, notably Mayor Walker. | When the application for the new injunction, hearings on which are now pending, was made, the Greens, Wolls and Mahons | talked loudly but did nothing except hire high-priced lawyers, | make shady deals with republican and democrat leaders and prac- tically discontinue organization work. ; : | At that time, and it is not yet too late, a strike against the | injunction, the company union it is designed to protect and for organization and recognition of the union, would have dramatized the whole injunction issue, secured wide mass support and might | have changed the whole current in the labor movement from a} -sluggish stream to a torrent sweeping away all anti-labor injunc- tions by mass violation of them. The whole issue now has been submerged in a deluge of law- yers’ talk and blatant optimism emanating from official labor deaders who are unwilling to discredit the courts—“one of our “great American institutions.” “Faith in the courts must be preserved.” This is the slogan under which labor officialdom plays the game of the enemies of the labor movement and leaves the traction workers in the largest city in the United States to the mercies of “yellow dog” contracts, ‘company unionism and the traction barons. The executive council 6f the A. F. of L. will not smash in- junctions by organizing the workers for mass violation of them. Rather than engage in such open and decisive conflict with the €apitalists, these officials will see the labor movement strangled. They prefer a dead movement whose corpse they can watch over, to.a live fighting movement which would challenge their lead- ership. The surrender to the I. R. T. injunction deepens the crisis in the labor movement. Here, as in the mine fields, officialdom sounds not a single note of militant struggle. It is clear that the New York traction workers will never be organized by such a leadership. Among the traction workers themselves is the leadership that will build a fighting union. Careful and energetic work among the masses of traction workers by militant shop committees, the setting up of a skeleton organization of militants whom the workers trust, constant agi- tation on the vital issues affecting workers in the industry and a strike at an opportune moment—this is the way the traction workers will organize. ® ; In this work they will encounter the opposition of the official labor leaders who will not fight themselves and who do every- thing possible to crush the will to struggle among the rank and file. The traction workers must expect this opposition and treat it as part of the capitalist system which must be broken and defeated. Wall Street Arrogance and Latin American Vacillation in Havana For sheer cynicism the following from the Havana corre- spondent of The New York Times must be awarded the croix de fruerre with two palms: ', . . enere is strong opinion that the delegations from Cuba, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Nicaragua will join in opposing any movement to put the United States in a bad light over its so-called intervention policy.” P : This is the same as saying that the American delegation, re-resenting Wall Street government, would oppose any such “ovement since the delegations mentioned are from countries con- «wuered by American imperialism, countries ruled by hand-picked ‘puppets who sold their country and its people into slavery to “the Colossus of the North.” President Machado of Cuba, for instance, has his hands wet with the blood of dozens of union leaders and members whose "assassinations he has been procuring over a two-year period. He ‘remains in office only by the power of Wall Street which finances his murderous onslaughts on the workers and farmers and their leaders. Haiti is occupied by U. 5. marines. Leaders of the popular opposition to President Borno were not allowed to land in Cuba. Santo Domingo was conquered the same way as Haiti. Nicaragua has its presidential chair filled by a Wall Street marionette held in office by the bayonets of the American marines. Sandino, the “ (FP | THE WH Western Beet Workers Face Same Conditions as Miners By HUGO OEHLER. DENVER, Jan. 19.—The beet work- ers of the western states are mainly composed of Spanish-American work- ers, hand laborers, who constitute one of the most exploited sections of the} American working class. In Colorado, | sugar beets are the most important | forced to use his whole family, all the agriculture product. In Wyoming, | children and the wife, and to work Nebraska and Montana the beet in-|/from sun up to sun down. Child la- dustry has made great strides in this | bor dominates the fields. The work in century. These four western states | the field lasts only a few months and have thousands of beet workers and | these few months whole families of scores of factories located near the |the Spanish-American workers make best beet fields. out an existence this way. The largest of the companies is the Stand With Strikers. Great Western Sugar Company, in- eorporated under the laws of New| For the rest of the year a few fol- bunching and thining they receive $11 per acre; for hoeing, $2 per acre; for weeding, $1 per acre; for pulling and topping, $10 per acre. Nature demands quick action and in order to keep up with contract and to make any money the hand laborer is |Jersey, with 21 plants in these four western states. Last year’s produc- tion was the largest recorded, with over a billion pounds of beet sugar. $11,000,000 Profit. Profits for this company ere enor- mous, In one of its peak years the net profit, in 1921, was over $11,000,- 000. The companies have a direct in- terest in this industry from the plant- ing of the seed to the bagging of the sugar. All of the small town cham- bers of commerce in sections of these states where beets are raised give spe- cial attention to this industry. The Great Western is to the beet worker what the Colorado Fuel and There are great profits and prosperity for the operators and exploitation and subjection for the workers. Bound for Season. The C. F. and I. has its company union, its Rockefeller plan, and the Great Western Sugar Company has eh ed contract. These contracts bind the Spanish-American workers they pay one dollar when they start to work. The hand laborer signs a con and agrees to take care of a certain number of acres of heets. For Iron Company is to the mine worker. | for the season and for this privilege | low the beets to the factory where they are given the hardest labor. A few hire out to rich farmers at $2 a day. A few obtain work in the mines for the winter months (this year they are standing with the strikers). A few work for the railroads. But the great majority just starve through till next spring. Some go to the big- ger cities like Denver and do what is possible, These beet workers are paid in the fall of the year and again when they complete the work. If it passes the inspection of the superintendent they receive what is left after the deduc- tions are taken for necessities bought up to the first payday. Most of the workers are lucky at the end if they |do not owe more than they would re- ceive, Children Toil Too. Over 7000 of these workers are liv- ing near Billings, north of Denver. In |three beet counties there are over 15,000, counting the families, who are |all ‘workers if they are big enough to walk. New fields are being opened {this year in the San Lucas Valley. | Thousands of these workers face the same condition that the miners do un- der the C. F. and I. revolutionary leader, is hunted armed forces. like a wild animal by American There is not a delegate to the Havana conference who does not know these facts. There is plenty of opposition to the mailed fist of Wall Street but it is poorly organized and has not yet found voice, Its weakness is the weakness of the official elements of which it is composed. No one in Havana really speaks for the workers and farmers of Latin América and because the upper class elements fear these masses just about as much as they fear Wall Street, their opposition is marked by the cowardice which faith in the power of the toilers offheir own countries as the only stable basis for the anti-imperi ruggle, The statements of the League Against Colonial-Oppression and those of the Latin American section of the All-America Anti- Imperialist League, which have a mass base, are in sharp contrast to the murmured criticisms of the official delegates. The Com- munist Party of Cuba puts the issue squarely and clearly-~sur- render to American imperialism or open struggle against it, re- sistance to inttrvention by all means. The proceedings of the Havana conference so far have shown the vital need for the strengthening of the mass anti-imperialist movement in all Latin American countries to the point where it can force the governments into open resistance or failing this take the lead in the struggle against American imperialism and organize the labor unions and peasant organizations into uncon- querable weapons of defense. The mass anti-imperialist movement in Latin America must receive the unstinted support of the American working class, sup- port which must be carried to the point of open struggle against imperialism in every field of its activity. A powerful anti-imperialist movement throughout the Amer- icas should be the answer to the arrogance of the Wall Street dele- gation and the vacillations and compromises of the official Latin American delegations at the Havana conference. ‘| passes for caution and a itr opt 0 can be cured only by t THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1928 ITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN AT HAVANA By Wm. Hernandez a, ie eee? on He ; 1 Negro Labor Congress Head Scores Yielding in Gary GARY, Ind, Jan. 18.—The Gary Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo- ple held a mass meeting Friday, Jan. 18, at the 19th and Adams St. Bap- tist Church, Gary, Ind. About 500 were present to protest against a new development in the Emerson High School segregation. The superintendent of schools, Wirt, has summarily called the eight color- ed students of Emerson High School into his office and sent them to the Virginia St. School which is unsan- itary, having no adequate school fa- cillties for high school students. It appears that this move is a re- sult of the ultimatum of the white students several months ago in which they gave the superintendent 90 days to find another school for the colored students. The city coun- cil recently withdrew the order call- ing for a $15,000 high school for colored students. The superintendent Aeing in a delemma summarily called the colored students into his office two at a time and sent them to the poorly equipped Virginia St. School. Four parents of thé students have entered suits against the city re- straining the city from segregeting their children. Colored Ass’n. Takes Queer Stand The Gary branch of the National Association for Advancement of Col- ored People took the stand in the mass meeting that it was not fight- ing segregation, since an act of 1877 vrovides for the segregating of stu- dents provided that the same accom- modations are given as for other schools; but that they were fighting discrimination. (This they mede very clear and definite for’ fear some would be mistaken that they were fighting segregation.) This is 2 move to support a Jin. Crow high school for the henefit of a few Negro teachers. The sp men for the National ciation further stated that what was needed was for the voters to send a repre- sentative to the state legis! rescind the act of 1877. (This is s move to support the republican party | in the next elections.) re to} At the meeting the preachers and professional men spoke and supported this point of view. Several of them came to deny their alliance with the Worker Stri Better Note. The district organizer of the American Negro Labor Congress was present and was given 5 minutes to speak. He pointed out that recently a resolution was introduced in the Chicago Federation of Labor de- nouncing the U. S. Steel Corporation as being the guiding hand behind the whole situation thru the republican party and calling upon all labor bod- ies to do likewise. He further placed the blame where it belonged and de- nounced all forms of segregation and Jim Crowism. He stated that the republican party, the K. K. K. and the democratic party were all tools of the steel interests. He called for the unity of all laboring groups thru a labor conference. He called for the unity of the students thru inter- racial student councils in the high schools. At the conclusion of his talk the audience unanimously endorsed the following resolution, which was reed. by raising their hands: “We denounce the republican par- ty, the K. K. K., the democratic par- ty—a twin brother of the republican party—all tools and instruments of the U. S. Steel Corp., who are trying thru this vicious system of segrega- tion and Jim Crewism, to block the progress of the colored race; and to keep up hatreds and jealousies and suspicion between colored and white workers, “We see in this situation the pos- sibilities of an uncalled for race riot similar to the race riot in Chicago in 1919. Therefore we call for the unity of all races. We issue a call to all sbor bodies, workers’ organizations and all colored organizations in Gary for a conference on this situation and ;also to lay plans for the calling of ja Labor Party. | “We say to the youth, colored and white, do not let them warp your nm nds with old prejudices and jeal- ousie: free yourselves. Organize inter-racial student councils.” LOOKING FOR A JOB By ISRAEL ERENBERG, I woke up earlier on that day tha eny other day. When you don’t wor! frd you are looking for a job, yo' have to wake up much earlier than when you go to work because you try to be the first one—so that no- hody else gets the job. I bought a newspaper, looked over the “Help Wanted” section and found that an electrician’s helper was need- ed in. one vlace. I took the subway and went right there. I thought this time I would surely be the first one there. But how astonished I was when T found ten young workers al- ready waiting outside in that terribly frosty morning air for the great “fortune” that one of us would get. (Fach éne of us thinks he is going to he the “fortunate” one.) By eight o’clock there were already about fifty boys waiting. We all stood in a big line, just as we came, one after the other. My feet were freezing, and I noticed it was the same with the other boys because many of them started dancing and jumping to keep warm. Everybody was careful not to lose the place in line—afraid to lose the “chance.” We all waited patiently and watch- ee y j ed each second to see if the boss was lecming. But it seemed that the hoss s not in a hurry. He took his time. t last, however, he came. It was | already after nine o’clock. (Some of the boys had been waiting in line since six o’elock.) With a smile on his lips, the boss passed by the big line, open- ed the door, and went right into the office. He seemed to be glad that so many slaves had come to him: there | would be an opportunity to select the best and cheanest slave. One by one he called everybody in. Ne found out from each how long he was in the trade, how much he knew, and how much he wanted to get. Then jhe sent each one back gnd told him to wait in line again. The more in- dependent ones he sent right away, tut those that were willing to work for any money he told to wait. He kept this up until he selected, from the whole long line, one big strone boy who said that he was already three years at the trade and was willing to work for three dollars a day. As to the rest of us, he pointed to the door and told us to move. | For a while we all stood there, we cid not*move. We all looked at the “fortunate” young worker, and many of us even envied him. No Privileges By CHARLES YALE HARRISON. The air-shaft of a New York apart- ment house is. a curious and terrify-~ ing taing. From its depths come a juindie of sounds, the waiing of an ear-splilung soprano floa.ing in over the rauio, the ciavter of supper pots being! \wasaed and bangea round, the clanging syncopauuon of a per- sistent automatic piano and the ever- jasung raucous argumen.auon of an embacuied couple Gown on the second fioor. Up the air-shaft they well—the smear of street noises, the grinding of gears going from second into high, the booming L, kids paying robpers and police and the piaintive wail of a mo.ner caling her son—Jimmie-e-e Jimmie: At night the windows across the shaft liga’ up revealing a panto- mime of shaduws which dance gro- tesquely, hi clad on the fiy-blown window shades. * * * Tonight, however, not all the shades are down. It is a greasy night. A night of siill and evil odors, vs oppressive, panting, a siow, silent sweating night. Across the air-shaft facing my window she sits, bind up, fanning herself with a Coney island souvenir fan. She is half-clad, her fleshy arms gleaming in the light of her tang- sten. I sit in the darkness of room enjoying the role of eavesdropper. She wipes the small beads of sweat from her face with a soiled hand- kerchief. From the nadir of the air-shaft the wail of the soprano bursts into a cressendo: “Come, come, I love you only——” The second floor domestic belliger- ents are shou.ing. The male voice suddenly dominates: & and if you don’t like it, you lousy b...., get the hell outa here.” The argument subsides. From the front of the house the mother’s voice calls anxiously—Jim- mie-e-e-e, Jimmie-e-e-e! . * . I know that she rents her room because she is the fifth harried oc- cupant in the past few months, and I know that she is a stranger in the city because she stays in her room night afier night. Every night she sits at her table and reads a lurid newspaper. Sometimes she reads a comic line or passes her eyes over a comic strip and laughs an incre- dibly tragic laugh. When I get up in the morning she is gone and when I return she sits at the eternal table sometimes sewing a run in her pulp-wood silk stock- ings, but mostly she reads the lurid paper and occasionally laughs at the funnies. She is Polish or Finnish or some other sort of Slav and when she laughs her small beady eyes al- most bury themselves somewhere be- hind her high cheek bones. Two weeks ago the unutterable loneliness of her room must have driven her out into the garish streets. She put her paper down with a ges- ture of despair and returned a few hours later with a man with oil- plastered black hair. The air-shaft was quiet and they sat at her table and talked in low- pitched voices. Her small eyes glis- tened with pleasure and small beads of perspiration stood out on her fore- head. The man—the man was her male counterpart. They talked for a while and then put the lights out. os 8 8 There were other hot nights and other men, but some evenings she sat alone and read the “Lonely Heart’s” column in the lurid newspaper. “Young man, German descent, re- fined, musieal, wishes to meet Ameri- can lady, must be a good pal. No gold- diggers need apply.” At other times she sewed her shabby clothes or hung washed wet stockings out to dry. There are some who say that radi- cal propaganda undermines the home, but I have yet to see anything more lemoralizing that a furnished room. Millions of them all through the city. The same bieary electric globes, the ne multi-colored pictures on the ous wall, the same cynical, worn carpets. It was good to see my Slav friend smiling under ‘her anaemic electric light. She had never heard that lack of religious training is the cause of girls going wrong. She had never heard that the movies, sex-novels, Commu- nism are the cause of immorality. But the Reverand Startford should see a furnished room. * * * A few nights ago another man came home with her. Again the same pantomime. Talk. Beads of pers- piration. A liitle nervous laughter and then the lights go out. Her new young man differed in no gveat degree from her other lovers. Phere was a sameness about them all; cheap store clothes, meticulously vressed, glittering shoes, oiled hair— dance hall Don Juans. Last night I missed her. Her room was dark during the early part of the evening. Later on the high-boskomed ‘andlady showed the room to another girl. The landlady talked earnestly ind the prospective roomer nodded her head understandingly. Under her arm she carried the peach-colored ‘urid newspapers. It is another hot greasy night. From the air-shaft comes the jangle of gregarious sounds so peculiar to it alone, The second floor couple are still at it, and the radio coon-shouter sings: “Love, I hear you calling me, Love I hear you calling, Like a dove up above... .” 7