The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 31, 1928, Page 6

Page Six THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1928 as THE DAILY WORKER) Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'N, Inc. Daily, Except Sunday 88 First Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: SUBSCRIPTION RATES ‘ By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): i $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per year $3.50 six months $2.50 three months. $2.00 three months. ; a Lome Address and mail out checks to TBE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. Proasay RAUOr.. 0.20000 eee -ROBERT MINOR 4 Assistant Editor... .. WM. F. DUNNE mail at the post-office at New York, N. ¥. under the act of March 3, 1879. Phone, Orchard 1680 “Dalwork” — Entered as second-class The Enemies of the Coal Miners Are the Most Powerful Enemies of the Whole Working Class—-Solidarity Is the Answer The United Mine Workers, in a statement submitted to the Interstate Commerce Commission, to which was likewise referred senate resolution Number 105 calling for an investigation of the | bituminous coal industry in connection particularly with the pres- ent strike, make some accusations, substantiated by evidence, that. should focus the entire attention of the labor movement on the great struggle of the miners. The statement now before the Interstate Commerce Commis- sion shows clearly that arrayed against the United Mine Workers is a force far greater than that of the individual coal companies and their union-hating associations. x Steel, coal and automobile capitalists, liriked together and dominated by Wall Street, are using every available method to smash unionism in the coal fields. One paragraph of the statement reads: It is well known that the Pennsylvania Railroad has been co-operating with the Pittsburgh Coal Company, the Hillman Coal and Coke Company, the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, the Inland Steel Company, the Wheeling Steel Company, the Bethlehem Mines Corporation and oth- ers in the policy of eliminating the union and sustaining the action of the Pittsburgh Coal Company in repudiating its contract with the United Mine Workers of America. It is public knowledge that the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Cor- poration, which refused to make an agreement with its em- ployes after April 1, 1927, enjoyed the sustaining counsel and assistance of the Pennsylvania Railroad in this de- cision. Here are three great groups of capitalists in heavy industry— steel, coal and railways—in open alliance to smash unionism and fe-establish serfdom in the coal mines. The General Motors corporation, a creature of the house of Morgan, also appears in the battle line. Another section of the U.M. W. A. statement relates how one John H. Jones, head of the Bertha Consumers Company producing 8,500,000 tons of coal annually, 600,000 tons of which are sold to General Motors, was whipped into line for the open shop after dealing with the union for 37 years. Jones is quoted as telling union officials last June I am prepared to sign the Jacksonville agreement. . . . I can pay the wages provided in that agreement. I would like to open my mines and go ahead and pay that wage. . . » Yesterday I was told by the purchasing agent of Gen- eral Motors that I cannot sign the contract on any basis at all, and that I must conform myself to the policies of the Pittsburgh Coal Company or they propose to ruin me. It is further related in the U. M. W. A. statement that Phila- delphia bankers, holding securities of the Bertha Consumers Com- pany, called Jones on the telephone, said they understood he was going to sign up with the union, and that they forbade him to do THE SNEAK THIEF’S SLOGAN BY WILLIAM F. DUNNE. “6[JEADS of the American Federation of Labor and big business execu- tives are working hand in hand,” said Vice President Matthew Woll to a re- porter of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, on his way home from the Los Angeles convention in October. As Woll made this statement, Col- »rado miners were on strike and a governor, elected on the democratic icket as a “friend of labor,” had or- dered the miners to stop picketing and sent a squad of national guard sfficers to enforce the order. Air- planes manned by national guardsmen were hovering over the miners’ picket tines as Woll spoke. Officialdom Apart from Class Struggle. This is only one glaring instance of the remarkable and witening gulf vetween the actual facts of the strug- gle of American labor and the acts, avterances and policy of American la- or. officialdom. It could be dupli- ated a thousand times. Reporting to the Forty-Seventh an- .ual convention in Los Angeles, the so “under penalty of surrendering his company to the banks that hold his paper.” f There are innumerable other instances of this kind specified but we will give but one more here. A coal operator named Gil- more is quoted as telling the United Mine Worker officials: I have a sufficient amount of business at my disposal now to sell coal in Youngstown, Ohio, at a contract price of $6 a ton delivered, and I can pay your wages, but my mine is located on the Montour Railroad, which is owned by the Pittsburgh Coal Company. The policies of the Pittsburgh. Coal Company are dominated and controlled, directly and indirectly, by the Mellon banking interests of Pittsburgh, and if I recognize your union and pay: the wage I am ready to pay they will ruin me. ah The statement tells what followed: “The Bertha Consumers Company and Mr. Gilmore went non- * union, and they have been operating on that basis ever since. They have evicted union miners from their homes, employed armed guards and gunmen, and adopted all of the other tactics of the Pittsburgh Coal Company.” The first and obvious conclusion is that the entire strength of the labor movement has to be thrown into the struggle to save the miners’ union and defeat the gigantic combination of capital- ists and their government. The second conclusion is that the amalgamation of the unions into industrial unions, organization of the steel and automobile workers and the unorganized miners, alliances between the work- ers’ organizations in a!! these heavy industries and a labor party te centralize the struggle against Wall Street government, are primary necessitiey for the working class. In the meantime, the labor movement has the immediate task of pouring relief into the strike districts where the Wall Street combination of capitalists are spending millions to starve the miners and their families and crush all semblance of organization. The Czarist Postoffice ; The action of the United States Postoffice department in con- ) fiscating,all mail on which is pasted the stamp of the All-America Anti-Imperialist League and threatening in the tones of a ezarist police-minister to have the leaders of that league thrown into a federal penitentiary for five years---marks one more consistent step in the passage of the government of the United States into the form of the most highly centralized, bureaucratized and po- liced autocracy on earth. To become the imperialist oligarchy of the Western world (not to speak of the entire world) it is necessary for the Wall Street bankers’ government at Washington to lunge forward at a much more rapid rate in establishing complete bureaucratic and police control of all actions of citizens or colonial subjects which may affect the “empire.” ‘The struggle of Wall Streét autocracy against Sandino’s little joes thus extended from the mountain jungles of Nicaragua ‘ (MOLEC BEALE eee ' i the territory of the United States. st Against Marine Rule in Nicaragua!” say the con- working class. These were the xecutive council of the American ‘ederation of Labor was compelled to .dmit that, in 1924; Representatives vi the A. F. of L, appeared before the xesolutions Committee of both con- ventions (republican and democracic parties—W. F. D.) and urged that certain declarations be made in their platform, Both parties ignored the plea of labor.” A. F. of L. and LaFollette Campaign. In 1924, labor officialdom, for the most part, supported the candidacy oi LaFollette. But this movement was forced by the mass resentment aroused by the open action of the gov- ernment against the railway unions in che shop craft strike of 1922, the open shop drive on the labor movement as a whole, the impoverishment of hun- dreds of thousands of farmers and the widespread unemployment which were che concrete results for the masses of the Harding program of “back to nor- malcy.” sureaucracy and Labor Party Move- ment. The A. F. of L. Executive Council itself never had any intention of al- .owing a labor party or even a third party movement to develop. Imme- diately after the LaFollette campaign, at its next convention, it went back co the old non-partisan program—sup- port of the candidates on the tickets of the big capitalist parties, How Officials View Class Struggle. That is its program today. Labor officialdom is tied with a thousand strings to the democratic and republi- can parties. It finds in this alliance the logical expression of its theory that there are no classes in the United States—only people, some of whom are rich and some of whom are poor, some of whom must labor at’ various trades, some of whom “perform use- ful service” by being businessmen, lawyers, etc., but all of whom are members with equal privileges of the great American family. Strength of Labor Movement Decreases. In the three years that have elapsed since the last presidential election, the strength of the labor movement has been decreasing—relatively compared to that of American capitalism, and absolutely as compared with its pre- vious position. No Labor Representative in Congress. In not a single legislature, in con- gress or in the senate, is there a rep- resentative of labor, a man or woman whose first allegiance is to the labor movement. If we except Victor Ber- ger, socialist party congressman, and the still more doubtful exception of Henrik Shipstead, senator from Min- nesota, elected on the farmer-labor ticket, there is in these bodies no one whose first allegiance is not to the parties of capitalism. Injunctions Against Labor. In the last three years, the state and federal courts have worked over- time to hamstring the labor move- ment. Injunction has followed in- junction and supreme court decision has followed supreme court decision until what was formerly the most powerful union.in the American Fed- eration of Labor and one of the most sowerful in the world—the United Mine Workers—finds itself outlawed by injunction in the state of West Virginia, « In Pennsylvania, the injunction se- cured by the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Company as does the supreme court decision in the West Virginia | case, establishes a precedent for the jutlawing of all strikes which affect | articles of interstate c c—a de- cision so sweeping and sinister in its significance that the official labor leadership has not yet dared to tell the membership what it actually neans. The Bedford Cut Stone Company decision outlaws action by unions against unfair corporations and makes it a criminal offense to refuse to work on or with products pro- duced under non-union conditions. trade Union Movement Has No Party The American trade union move- mént has no political party of its own. It cannot, therefore, mobilize its forces in elections to make the most of its strength against the bosses nor can it carry on a consistent political struggle the year round. The labor movement is at the mercy of Wall Street’s parties. It is hard to find a better description of the reac- tionary futility of the presgnt policy than is contained in the report of the Executive Council of the recent friends to support the candidate ON THE MOST ACCEPTABLE PLAT: FORM.” The spectacle of labor leaders, no matter how earnest, trying to get the two parties of Ameriean imperialism to adopt platforms favorable to labor, is a farce to arouse Homeric laugh- ter, but one that has the most tragic consequences for the American work- ing class. Labor Suffers, Bureaucracy Benefits. Every struggle of labor furnishes more evidences of the demoralization in labor’s ranks brought about by this reactionary policy from which only labor officialdom and the upper crust of the labor aristocracy benefit; that is, they share in the savings made by the bosses because of this weakness of the labor movement. In other words, they are bribed to continue this betrayal. This being the case, we can under- stand why such a statement as the following is made in the Executive Council’s report: “The successes of the non-parti- san political campaign of the Amer- ican Federation of Labor have been gradually becoming greater. A larger number of wage-earners every year sees the benefit of non- partisan action.” Capitalist Parties Bring Workers Nothing. If by “seeing the benefit” is meant voting the tickets of the capitalist parties, it is possible that the execu- tive council is at least partially cor- rect—that is, it has succeeded in de- ceiving a large number of workers. But if by successes is meant actual \conerete results for the workers or a’ | strengthening of the labor movement, |\the statement is completely false on the face of it. Why Bureaucrats Fight Labor Party. Why does the labor officialdom cling so desperately to its non-parti- san policy—a policy which is any- thing but non-partisan, since it means support of the bosses’ parties and candidates? Principally for the reason that la- bor officialdom does not want to By Fred Ellis “The United States does not seek any post of eminence”.—Charles Evans Hughes to the Pan American Union. THE LABOR BUREAUCRACY and the FORMATION OF A LABOR PARTY break with its capitalist friends. Why does labor officialdom fight so hard against the attempts to es- tablish a labor party? ‘ For the reason that a labor party capfies with it the idea of class strug- gle, would bring the labor movement on to the political fields as the rep- resentative of the whole working class and necessitate open struggle on class lines against the government of American capitalism. It would no longer be easy to main- tain the fiction that the working class has no special interests for which it must fight and that it serves its in- cerests best by being the tail to the isite of the political parties of the class it has to (fight for better wages, better working conditions, and even the freedom to organize and keep unions. Labor officials like Matthew Woll would not be able to say that “the heads of the A, F. of L. and big busi- ness executives are working hand in hand” without running the risk of being driven out of the labor move- ment—quickly. Labor Party Is Big Stride Forward. The establishment of a labor party, contesting the field against the capi- talist parties in all campaigns, would mark a big step forward in the de- velopment of the labor movement—a step that has been necessary for many, many years, a step which must be taken but which the agents of the capitalist class in leading positions in the labor movement do not want the movement to take. £ Without its-mass party, the labor movement of the United States can make no effective resistance to the onslaught of American imperialism. With the labor party as a beginning, it can start at once to prepare to break the whole working class away from the cult of American capitalist democracy which at present poisons the labor movement to the very depth of its being, and makes possible the existence of such outright apologists of capitalism as Matthew Woll in the role of labor leader. Editor, The DAILY WORKER: Harry Myers, in exposing the sanctimonious liberals and would-be Moseses of the working class in con- convention under the head of “Non- Partisan Political Policy.” It says: Non-Partisan Policy. « “While the American Federation of Labor may regard one or more candidates for the presidency as ac- ceptable, it does not advocate the nomination of any particular per- son. Its first concern is in the adoption of platforms that. will pledge the parties to enact legisla- tion that will be of benefit to labor and the people. It is then the duty of the -wage-earners and their words on the stamp suppressed by the U.S. Postoffice. And the oligarchy, with the blood of Nicaraguans dripping from its hands while it plans to spread the conquering process over an entire hemisphere, is compelled to attempt to suppress that voice. All conscious workers in America must treat this as a call to fight. Manuel Gomez and the other leaders of the Anti-Imperial- ist League at New York have challenged the Washington czars with a frank declaration of willingness to go to prison fighting for the rights of Latin-America and the right of American work- ers to fight in aid of the liberation of the colonies of Wall Street. They must be backed up to the hilt. On with the fight! Make the Washington Wall Street gov- ernment regret the passage of the struggle to a higher stage! nection with the coal strike in Colo- rado, is doing a great service to the advanced section of the labor move- ment, Let me add a bit of informa- tion in order to demonstrate the treachery of these down-from-Mount- Sinai “leaders” of the socialist party. At the midwinter League for In- dustrial Democracy Iniercollegiate conference a group of working class students and other students sym- pathetic to the struggles of the work- ing class demanded that the L, I. D. put itself down on record as support- ing the Youth Conference for Miners’ Relief. Many of the students present were willing to do this and to go further—to actively support the Youth Conference. ‘But this was stopped by the efforts of none other than that well-known liberal and Christ of the working class—the ex- Reverend Norman Thomas, He raised the demagogiec argument that it was “a mere duplication of overhead ex- pense” and was totally. unnecessary “if the only purpose is to have the title ‘Youth’ before the name of the committee,” Let us examine these arguments of the late bible-walloper. Im the first ABOUT REV. THOMAS Reader Gives More Facts About Sabotage place the word “duplication” is in- correct there. The Youth Confevence for Miners’ Relief “duplicates” no work of Rev. Norman Thomas’ “lib- eral and non-partisan” committee for the very good reason that the Emer- gency Committee for Miners’ Relief pays no particular attention to youth organizations. On the other hand the Youth Conference pays sole attention to the youth clubs, schools, churches, unions, ete., where the youth will be found. In the second place the’ expense of the Youth Conference is compara- tively small since most of the mem- bers of that conference contribute their time and work free. Finally, how “unnecessary” the Youth Conference is can be estab- lished by the miners themselves. The very fact that a young miner, who is on a number of other relief commit- tees, can see the necessity of heading this committee should prove to doubt- ing Norman Thomases that the com- mittee is both necessary and useful. But the real reasons why our Moses in disguise fought against and sabotaged the Youth Conference were three—none of which he frankly gave out: First: He hated to see any suc- cessful conference in which that mili- tant leader of the working class youth would take part, the Young Workers " BOOKS LATIN AMERICA: MEN AND MARKETS. By Clayton Sedgwick Cooper. Ginn and Co. RADE and investments are the two methods used by American imper- ialism to gain control of the wealth of South America. In the field of in- vestments the United States, as the grea, creditor nation, has no rival. But there is still trade competition, particularly from Germany and Eng- land who were there before America got in. The present volume is a handbook for the American manufacturer who wants to capture some of the trade of Souckh America. It furnishes him with a variety of information rang- ing from the history and geography of each of the South American coun- tries to the correct way to tie a par- cel-post package. The proper forms of social etiquette to be used in ap- proaching a Latin business man are gone into in considerable detail. The breaking down of his sales resistance is facilitated by choice passages on the mass psychology of each country, its culture, and the sports that iis peo- ple engage in. Suggestions as to cheap raw materials produced by each country and the kind of manufactured goods that it could use are also in- cluded. Various facilities open Americans are mentioned such as thé credit facilities of the National City Bank which has over a hundred branches in South America. We recommend this book to any as- piring American business man who wants to get some of the gravy of American imperialism in South Amer- ica. We can also add what he may not know since it is no. mentioned in the book—that his trade will be back- ed up by a lot of South American capitalists and politicians who are tied hand and foot to the North American credit sys.em; and if they don’t be- have, by a few nice regiments of ma- rines who are just finishing up a little job in Nicaragua and will soon be ready for service elsewhere. CY OGDEN. Fee, eee, BY arrangement with Ralph Chaplin, noted I. W. W. poet, his collection of verse “Bars and Shadows” is being re-issued by the International Labor Defense in two new large editions. Lhis stirring proletarian verse was wrivten by Chaplin while he himself was a Class-war prisoner in Leaven- worth penitentiary. The ngw edition * includes the introductionsby Scott Nearing. or s * Te January-February issue of “The Party Organizer” is just off the press. It is a special 24-page issue and contains material of great inter- est to the work of every Party func- tionary and every active Communist. The leading article is by Jay Love- stone, executive secretary of the Workers (Communist) Party, outlin- ing the political and economic situa- tion of the Party and the immediate tasks before it; an article dealing with the Lenin-Ruthenberg Memorial Drive, giving in detail the plans and methods of activity of the drive and the duties of all the various depart- ments, district Party sub-divisions, and individual members. A very important section is devoted to the report from the field, includ- ing a report of Field Organizer Pat Devine, on his tour in ‘he anthracite mining region and a very detailed questionnaire giving the report of ac- tivity of the last four months of the Kansas-Colorado district. Also ar- ticles dealing with mass activity and problems of the Party by Bedacht and Oehler, the latter active in the Colorado strike and district organizer” of the Kansas-Colorado district. There is also’ an important announcement dealing with the Party activities. District committees are urged to order immediately from the National Office. All members are urged to secure a copy. —J.R. (Communst) League. Second: knew that this conference would a appeals to the youth not only on the basis of sentiment, but emphatically on the danger to the United Mine Workers and the need for the work- ingelass Youth and its sympathizers to rally to the support of this great industrial union, (Contrast the ap- peals of the Youth Conference with those of Rev. Thomas’ committee which sent out letters based purely on sentiment and resigned to hit some wealthy humanitarian “citizen” in the region of the wallet. Theirs were “classless appeals,” “above cl 3””,) Third: He knew that the Youth Con- ference would appeal directly to large masses of young workers and young students in mass meetings, etc. This is against his mass-fearing nature T hope this has added something to Myers’ letter. Surely, these plous frauds, whether well-meaning or not, must be exposed. They who try to be “moderate,” who are always trying to find the Communist nigger in the woodpile, generally find that they are anti-labor. —A WORKINGCLASS STUDENT. New York City. i