The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 4, 1928, Page 1

he: * * Armored Cars Patrol City. CALCUTTA, Feb. 3.—With four armored cars manned by British troops patrolling the working class Jf f (\ cone nin THE DAILY WORKER FIGHTS: FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNORGANIZED FOR THE 40-HOUR WEEK FOR A LABOR PARTY Vol. V. No. 29. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In New York, by mail, $5.00 per year. Outside New York, by mail, 86,00 per year. HARP CRISIS IN U. S. INDUSTRY, SAY COMMUNISTS | DEAD AND 4 HURT All Industry Idle as| Simon Lands (Special to The Daily Worker.) MADRAS, India, Feb. 3.—The first dead and injured of the general strike which is tying up all India today in protest at the arrival of the Simon Commission, fell this morning when British police fired on a crowd of demonstrators here. One worker was killed and at least five more wounded, some critically, it is believed. Brutally rushing the unarmed crowd and firing as they advanced the police left the five Indians stretched on the street. The massacre resulted in the immediate closing down of the few shops which had remained open. The workers from the textile and jute mills had already refused to go to work and the busses and street ears had ceased running. * section of this city, the police today began their occupation of the work- ers’ quarters for the duration of’ the general strike. Twenty workers were seized by the police in 9 raid in the workers’ sec- tion. The men were brutally ei » and hailed to the police The seizure of the 5 open struggle with the: polite. All tram cars and busses are now being run by the police, the workers having almost unanimously walked out. Virtually: all the shops are closed, factories are unable to oper- ute this morning, and ships are lying idle in the harbor. * * * Thousands Swarm In Streets. BOMBAY, Feb. 3.—When Sir John Simon landed this afternoon he was met by masses of striking workers from the jute and textile mills, crowds of demonstrators with black banners calling on the statutory com- mission to return to England, and by soldiers and police everywhere. The exact numbers of the strikers swarm- ing thru the city is not known but it is estimated there are thousands, TO REACH TOILERS IN “DAILY” DRIVE Members of the Workers (Commu- nist) Party, Young Workers League, and various sympathetic labor organ- izatons will join in the distribution today of 20,000 copies of The DAILY WORKER in workingclass sections of the five boroughs of Greater New | York. j In addition, thousands of papers will be distributed in Passaic, N. J., today where a huge unemployment meeting with Albert Weisbord as the chief. speaker is taking place. California, the land of sunshine and criminal syndicalism laws, yesterday responded to the energetic campaign being waged thruout the United States to build The DAILY WORKER. From Oakland came a score of subscrip- tions, with assurances from P. B. Cowdery, the “Daily” agent there, that more would be forthcoming regu- larly until the termination of the cam- paign with the Ruthenberg Memorial meeting, March 2, A. Ravitch, circulation manager, has addressed a letter to all DAILY WORKER agents regarding the pres- ent drive which is being conducted jointly with the Workers (Commun- ist) Party in its campaign for 5,000 new members. ‘ Outlining the basis for the task of reaching thousands of workers thru- out the country, Ravitch said that three things are essential: 1. Get new subscribers, 2. Renew old subscrib- ers, 8, Arrange with newsdealers to carry the paper. Mine Relief Conference The Women’s Committee for Min- ers’ Relief will hold a conference to- morrow at 2:30 p. m. at Irving Plaza, \ Irving Place and 15th St. t Entered as secomu-ciues aaner as Two thousand unemployed workers from every section and industry in the Metropolitan area took part in a mass meeting at Manhattan Lyceum, 44 E. 4th Street, and organized themselves into the New York Council for the Unemployed. Part of the huge gathering is shown above having a simple meal of sandwiches and coffee. The unemployment sit- uation is becoming more acute daily, and the Council formed at the mass meeting will bring pressure to bear upon city and government officials as well as labor officials to take up the unemployment issue. 38 Penn. Miners, Families Are Arrested on Picket Line | contracts, while planning in fact to By T. J. O7FLAHERTY. PITTSBURGH, Pa., Feb. 3—Two manifestations of a growing crisis in the mine strike were seen today when thirty-eight pickets—men, women and children, were arrested by state troopers at Vesta, No. 4 mine, owned "FIRE ON SCHOOL Mine Company Gunmen Run Amuck PITTSBURGH, Feb. 3.—The pistol fire of strikebreakers, hired by the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Co. to shoot up the barracks of striking miners, has so endangered the lives of pupils of the Broughton School, near here, that the school has been ordered closed indefinitely. One strikebreaker now under arrest admitted that he and a companion had been paid $25 each by the coal eompany’s police to “shoot » ap the barracks where the striking miners and their families are living on meagre relief funds. Windows Shattered. A gang of strikebreakers last night left the coal company’s compound near Horning, marched down the Broughton Road and fired volleys at the strikers’ barracks and private homes, according to members of the United Mine Workers of America and Albert Baker, principal of the Broughten School. Hundreds of win- dows in the Broughton School were shattered by bullets. Teachers and pupils were forced to flee for pro- tection. In a telegram to Gov. Fisher, Broughton School authorities said no effort was made by the police to stop the attack of the strike-breakers, which was unprovoked. Members of the school board in announcing the closing of the school said they could no longer assume responsibility for the safety of the children. They are asking \Protec- tion from the governor. Yonkers Meet Sunday to Protest Alien Bills YONKERS, Feb. 3—A mass meet- ing to protest against the bills now before congress for the deportation and registration of foreign-born workers will be held Sunday at 8 p. m. at Holy Trinity Auditorium, 15 Franklin St. Dunn at School Forum Jack Lever and Robert W. Dunn will speak at the Workers’ School open forum tomorrow at 8 p. m. on “What I Saw in the Soviet Union.” Young Workers Dance The Young Workers (Communist) League, District 2, will hold a dance next Saturday evening at Harlem Casino, Lenox Ave. and 116th St. —®by the Jones and McLaughlin Steel Co., charged with violation of the mass picketing nes At the iFiran police of toe Pitinrgn Ten. the ord Ter- minal Coal IN bombarded the miners’ barracks and school house at Brough- ton with rifle fire. At Daisytown union organizers were advised by troopers that fur- ther mass picketing would bring ar- rests under the Schoonmaker injunc- tion. But the organizer replied that the miners do not recognize the in- junction, and picketing would con- tinue. State police wanted to take the arrested pickets before the com- pany squire, but on the objection of the organizer, they were taken to the county seat. Mass picketing is continuing with- out further arrests. Two strikers were arrested at Neffs, Ohio, when 300 strikers picketed the scab mine. Mass picketing is spreading like prairie fire thru the strike region. HUNDREDS ATTEND LIEBKNECHT MEET More than a thousand young work- ers were present last night at the Labor Temple, 14th St. and Second Ave. to commemorate the 8th anni- versary of the death of Karl Lieb- knecht and Rosa Luxemburg. The meeting, held under the auspices of the Young Workers (Communist) League, of District 2, was opened by John Williamson, district organizer of the League, who stressed the sig- nificance of this year’s meeting in view of the growing war danger. The first speaker was Leon Plott, of the Young Workers (Communist) League, who dealt with the life of Liebknecht. Other speakers were Karl Weissberg, of the League, who dealt with the relation between Lieb- knecht’s anti-war struggle and the present period; and Wiliam W. Wein- stone, district organizer of the Work- ers (Communist) Party. Features of the program included a graduation of 40 members of the Young Pioneers into the League. Pioneer dances and a_ special anti- militarist play, “The R. O. T. C.,” were given. tue cuss villee at New York, N. 1. NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1928 ASK REAL SMASH! AT INJUNCTIONS; NO TAMMANY LIES Rank and File to Fight Yellow-Dog Contracts That the mass meeting called by the State Federation of Labor for 2 o’clock tomorrow afternoon at Coop- er Union, 9th St. and Third Ave., may turn out to be a very different affair from what was intended by re- actionary officials who called it is the strong indication of telephone calls too numerous to be handled at The DAILY WORKER office all of yes- terday afternoon, The messages and inquiries were mostly from labor or- ganizations and individual trade unionists. That John Syllivan, president of the State Federation of Labor and Jo- seph P. Ryan, president of the Cen- tral Trades and Labor Council an- nounced the purpose of finding ways and means of securing legislation against injunctions and yellow dog turn the whole thing into a reaction- ary drive in favor of support of Al Smith and the corrupt Tammany ma- chine and entirely to side-track all effective measures and yellow-dog contracts, was the view prevailing thruout the New York labor move- ent yesterday. It aroused many ex- ssions of ination to-attend the meeting and to insist on carrying (Continued on Page Five) [R. T, FARE GRAB IS NOW CERTAIN Tammany Understood To Be Behind Move Following the announcement of Thursday that the company will in- “| crease the subway fare to seven cents beginning March 3, the Interborough Rapid Transit Co. yesterday prom- ised to grant a 15 per cent increase to its employes on that day. The wage promise followed imme- diately upon their previous informa- tion that neither the city authorities nor the transit commission had made any attempt to devise means of halt- ing the threatened fare grab. It is now clear that the I. R. T., in order to ensure definitely its increase in its Will Distribute 20,000 Copies of “Daily Worker” Today in “Builder” Drive THE DAILY WORKER. under the act vf March 3, 1579. Letter Reveals manne warcos 129 eee No 12640 A Afflited with the New York cate 3 West 16th Street Greeting. The regular meeting of Bank. President Held and Mr. charge is justified. “Joint Board of (1 Enclosed find copy of pomparisoh, BeLaD (12646 This letter came she tate the possession of The DAILY WORKER just at a time when Morris Sigman, president of the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union is trying so hard to convince the world that the dual “Joint Board” he has established in an effort to depose the left wing leaders, is not only successfully in power, but is carrying on “organiza- tion” campaigns. Sigman’s lax henchman, the secre- tary of the bookkeepers’ union, will certainly come in for a severe con- demnation for being so careless with such uncomfortable facts, even though the condition of his fake union has been well known to all the needle trades workers. “Of what earthly use are the loud announcements in the Jewish For- ward that expensive organization campaigns are being carried on, that the International is paying off the debts of the union, that the left wing union is out of existence, while the new “Joint Board” has plenty of money.” All this will be asked of Earnest Bohm, of the bookkeepers’ union. Money Gone. fare will soon apply to a supreme court justice for an injunction pre- venting the city authorities from in- terfering. Union Is Silent. This move, competent observers state, indicates the complete recon- ciliation between the Morgan inter- ests and the Chase National Bank group which until recently had been opposing each other, The way for this had been paved by the Unter- myer investigation, Officials of the Amalgamated trac- tion union refused yesterday to indi- cate any sort of action in the situa- tion, Big Loot. Even assuming that the I. R. T. will make good its promise of a wage raise, it will nevertheless leave the corporation 90 per cent of the $23,- 000,000 which it intends obtaining as a result of the arbitrary fare increase. WEISBORD TO The Sigman announcements that he still has plenty of money is quite definitely exploded by this letter, despite the huge sums of money he obtained from the funds held in trust for the cloakmakers’ unemployment (Continued on Page Two) Arrange Banquet for Greco and Carrillo A banquet in honor of Calogero Greco and Donato Carrillo, anti- fascists recently acquitted of murder in a blackshirt frame-up in the Bronx will be held Sunday, Feb. 19, at the Irving Plaza, Irving Place and 15th St., at 3 p. m. The banquet is arranged by the Greco-Carrillo Defense Committee and the International Labor Defense. The banquet was at first incorrectly announced for tomorrow, SPEAK FOR JOBLESS Passaic Meeting to Demand Relief for 20,000 Unemployed PASSAIC, N. J., Feb. 3. — A de- mand for immediate relief for the 20.000 jobless workers in this district will be made at a mass meeting here te be addressed by Albert Weisbord, leador of the 1926-27 Passaic strike, at the Workers Home, 27 Dayton Ave., at 2:30 p. m. today. Ten thousand are out of work in Passaic alone, many of whom are ex- pected to attend today’s big meet- ing. In addition to Weisbord, who r is now the Workers Party district organizer at Detroit, E. Gardos will speak in Hungarian, F. Coco in Ital- ian and Ben Levanski in Polish, Unemployment is increasing daily. Botany, Forstman-Huffman and Gera mills are running from 45 te 55. per cent capacity. One-half of the build- ing trades workers are out of jobs. A. F. of L. to “Confer.” This meeting, to be held under the auspices of the Workers (Commun- ist) Party, will be held simultane- ously with the opening of a confer- ence on the general subject of un- employment at Moose Hall by the Central Labor Union and the Passaic Bulding Trades Council. This Moose Hall meeting is announced as the first of a national series which it is claimed will be organized by offi- cials of the American Federation of Labor. Unemployed workers are ex- (Continued on Page Two) wooks pte Contes with Manager | Sigman. ‘They ha’ They propose to et the staff. Sigman Fakery Booxxeerers, Srexocraruers aND ACCOUNTANTS Unaon Ref “A UNION FOR ALL OFFICE, WORKERS” Federation of Labor; Cena ‘Teades and Labor Council of Grealt! New York and Vicniry New York City the Executive Board will be held on Monda} January Ninth 1926, Six Thirty P.H.-at Three- ¥, Sixteenth St. N.¥.City. _ Two cases of importance, Bro, Harry Rubin has been discharged by the Amalgamated A committee appointed by the office staff meeting, has been acting with the representative and conferred with Puoy. Both contend, that the dis- In abeyance, ers. Still owe the staff six revisedand present constitution for « Merry Christzas and Rappy Rew Tear. Fraternally, Seoretary. Show Sigman Spent Relief Cash’ for Wrecking Union ANTI-STRIKE LAW “Experts” to Take Over Members’ Powers Disclosure yesterday of the details of the proposed nation-wide anti- strike law, sponsored by the Amer- ican Bar Association with the coop- eration of the American Federation of Labor and the open shop employ- double purpose of stifling the labor movement and setting up a wall against the influence of the left wing in the unions. Among ten conclusions announced by Julius Henry Cohen, heading the Bar Association Committee, are one advocating that “law should give en- forcibility to contracts for the set- tlement of industrial disputes,” and | another which states that “where the | urganization of employes is more or less Communistic in its tendencies there is strong opposition on the part | of management to the attempts of the organization to gain a foothold in industry.” Would Eliminate Union Members. Another “conclusion” arrived at by the reactionary Bar Association is that “great care should be taken not to drive too fast but to make use of the experience of men who have spe- cial knowledge of the subject.” This provision is interpreted to. advocate the handing over of certain union problems to “experts” for solution. thus paving the way for the final elimination of the union members as u factor in working out their prob- lems. Other so-called conclusions would provide for collective arbitration agreements, labelled “voluntary” and a form of union-management coop- eration which is designated as “a sort of self government in industry.” Freiheit Singers’ Ball Will Be Held Tonight The annual ball of the Freiheit Singing Society will be held tonight at Tammany Hall, 14th St. and Third Ave. An elaborate program of entertain- ment has been arranged by the com- mittee in charge of the ball. The Pat terson division of the Freiheit Sing ing Society is algo participating. LABOR STIFLING Published daily except Sunday by The National Daily Worker Publishing Association, Inc., 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. | FINAL city | AL CITY | EDITION Price 3 Cents “Unwanted” Workers to Go to Cooper Un Union CAPITAL SHIFTS LOSS TO LABOR; UNIONS IN PERIL | See Wave of of Strikes and Organization Workers: Party Plenum Plans Against War That a sharp industrial crisis faces the United States, with growing unemployment and ef- forts of American capital to | shift the burden of the crisis onto the shoulders of labor with increasing slashes of wages, lock-outs, more attempts to de- stroy trade unions, and consequently a wave of strikes and organization of new forces into the labor movement, is the opinion which the Political Com- mittee of the Workers (Communist) Party will present to the full meeting | of the Central Committee of the Party beginning today at Irving Plaza hall, 15th St. and Irving Place, New York City at 1 p, m Most Important Event. This plenary session of the leading committee of the working class party. is rated as one of the most important events in American political life of recent years. The sitting occurs at the opening of a period considered by the Com- munist leadership as a turning point in American economic and political life, and consequently in the life of the labor movement. That the organized labor movement now faces a crisis of the gravest sort is an opinion of the Communist lead- ers which is now more or less openly admitted by a growing number of conservative and even reactionary trade union leaders. The opening ses- |sion of the Central Committee this afternoon will be presented with some thoroly worked-out plans for facing |the crisis in the trade unions with |coneerted action of the party member- ers, confirmed the charge that the} “formula” has for its purpose the| |strikes in various parts of the coun- |try very definitely indicate a condi- ship in the unions, It is well known that sporadic tion which lays the basis for a coming wave of strikes. That a corre¢t lead- ership of the militant elements in the unions can bring hundreds of thou- sands of unorganized workers into the unions, making for a new vitalization of the labor movement, is an opinion which underlies measures which will be proposed for the vigorous tackling | | | lof the problem of organizing the un- | organized. Labor Party Drive, Extensive plans will be offered for the work of hastening the breaking away of the masses of workers and (Continued on Page Two) 8,000 JOBLESS IN FALL RIVER FIRE Workers’ ‘Houses Burn, Fear Wage Cuts FALL RIVER, Mass., Feb. 3. — Over 8,000 workers were thrown out of work as a result of a fire which destroyed 20 city blocks here last night. Severe hardships are expected following this huge increase in un- employment. The fire started in the Pocasset Mill No. 2 and spread rapidly. Mills, newspaper buildings and many plants were consumed. The workers’ quar- ters in the neighborhood of the tex- tile mills were directly in the path of the blaze, and many dwellings oc- cupied by workingclass families were wiped out. At least 300 were injured, including 10 firemen. Fire apparatus had to be summoned from Boston, Providence and other cities in the vicinity. All telephone and telegraph communications were shut off. Tex- ile workers fear that the mill oper- a ators will use the fire as a pretext ‘or further wage pecuotions, ol ah