The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 6, 1928, Page 4

f we me SSSR t , cluded to get busy and started a) _ dreds of workers stretched out on _ misled by traitorous labor leaders : Page Fotr THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1928 —— Sufferings of Labor Told by Worker Correspondents Thruout United States GALL FOR CLASS PARTY IN LETTER FROM NEW YORK Rank and File Must Aid - Own Political Power FOR A LABOR PARTY. (By a Worker Correspondent) The Central Trades Labor Council called the meeting which was held at Cooper Union Sun- day. The ostensible reason for calling this meeting was to decide haw to dc and mass away with injunction, but the real}, reason was to convince the rank and file of the necessity of combatting | militant trade unionists by terming} them Bolsheviks or un-American. | President Sullivan of the State | Federation of Labor, in an interview, claimed that the big industries are trying to break the trade unions. His suggestions are that the workers counteract these attempts by bring-} ing pressure to bear on their repre-} sentatives. The outstanding absurdity of rallying around old polit- ical parties are: (1) Because they represent and work in behalf of the capitalist class, | which is diametrically opposed to the working class. (2) Because the capitalist repre- sentatives sanction the killing of workers in Nicaragua. (3) Because they allow the big in- dustries to starve, club, and kill workers in Colorado and Pennsylvania without protest. And until the working class forms a united front politically these atro- cities will continue to exist. The only possible way to combat the owning} class effectively is to have a Labor Party that will work solely for the interests of the working class. —HENRY BLOOM. * * # Pennsylvania | Cops Halt Jobless Meet. (By a Worker Correspondent) Philadelphia police refuse to allow the unemployed workers to hold a meeting called to organize a demand for relief. Fully cognizant of the deplorable condition of the workers of Philadel- phia due to widespread unemploy- ment, the Philadelphia Council of Un- employed was organized and a hall secured to hold a meeting. Circulars | were printed and distributed and aj novice of the meeting sent to the superintendent of police. The’ com- | | Victim of Father’s Ax | tion of the Sunday Tran: reasons of the] ¢ jhe is going to do for the city with John Priddy, who was slain to- gether with his mother and brother by his father, Claude E. Priddy, an ex-minister. a splendid s: y, to run their city hall for ‘them. | The industrial and commercial sit- | uation has become terribly acute inj Philadelphia. The newspapers with the excep- | pt, having; ell advertising sp 1 order to} , and knowing few business men| to would be suckers enough to advertize | if they weren’t kidded into thinking | that “1928 was going to be a goo year for business” are handing ou the biggest bunch of bunk ypu ever | read. A big mill man takes a whole page | to tellus that the next five years | are going to be the greatest the| building industry had ever known.! This in face of the fact that <the| sheriff's sales were 827 in Dec., 627 in| Jan., and 786 in Feb. and not over| 2 per cerit of the owners able to re- cover them, and $11 houses renting for $60 a month, the carrying charges on which are o: $80. It’s a cinch builders are’ going to gamble their own money on the erection of more houses under those conditions. Not likely. Mayor Mackey has been mighty busy telling business and professional | men what a wonderful lot of thing: the $40,000,000 the workin ng at the spring primaries, I say working class because if the working class should take a notion to vote against it he won’t have it to spend. There ain’t enough business and pro- fessional men to put it across, And if they don’t get the mazuma god help Mackey’s administration and Mackey’s ambition to be governor. —GEORGE L. EVANS, Secretary Philadelphia Council of Unemployed. UNEMPLOYMENT — AND BRUTALITY IN CALIFORNIA lJobless Men Forced to Take Bitter Charity | @By a Worker Correspondent) | The writer of this article went to | California on the first-of October last }and has already witnessed enough |suffering on the part of the work |to fill a book. | California produces unlimited {quantities of fruit, vegetables, | poultry, beef and dairy products. Here Jare all the things necessary to make |the people corifortable, healthy and | happy. But the workers here, as else- | where, cannot own a thing beyond | their labor power, beanuse the in- |signifieant wages paid them do not even permit them to live, much less save money with which to buy homes or other necessities. Now that all work in the orchards {and fields has finished, now that the crops have been planted and har- vested and stored away in the store- houses and cold storage plants by the hands and brains of the toilers of | California, how do the workers fare? Sacramento alone has between 6,000 nd 7,000 jobless, homeless men and vomen, hungry and in rags. The animals of the fields are at least sheltered from the damp freez- ing nights, for do not think that we have warm sun every day. Yes, the animals have a commercial value and the workers have not, because at this time of year the workers can not be profitably employed. Face Starvation. So, the workers\of California face starvation in the streets. Thousands of men walk aimlessly up and down 2nd Stgeet in Sacramento and stare at the polished black boards where, when times are better, a few jobs are displayed for sale. If a job really comes up, a horde of humanity rushes for it and, before the agent has finished writing, the job is taken. In times of such keen misery no one asks what the wages re, or the hours, or the conditions. It is not “ethical” for a city to have a bread line, instead we have a respectable “community chest.” The funds from this, however, do not go to the starving, they go instead to a cheap mulligan, joint, “Hart’s,” on 2nd Street which feeds the sufferers. Two Crusts and Bitter Coffee. The men and women line up in the alley and are handed two pieces of dry bread and a cup of black unsweet- end coffee. You don’t have to be in prison to be on bread and water in California. intt.ee was then told that the meeting could not be held, to which the com-| uiutee replied that it would be held | cr they would go to jail trying to; nold it. An effort was then made to see! the Director of Public Safety, but he | refused to be seen, passing the buck | to the superintendent of police. The Police Break Up Jobless Demonstration at Passaic (Continued from Page One) Then applauded for five minutes ! fer unemployment relief.” Other speakers at the meeting committee then called at the office of |thereafter; still not satisfied they |which was held under the auspices Mayor Mackey and again the buck | was passed to the superintendent of | police, the committee being refused | an interview even with the mayor’s/ secretary. This was no surprise to} the committee, knowing the contempt | that mayor Mackey must necessarilly | have for the organized labor move-| ment of Philadelphia, after the lead-| ers had pusillanimously sold the ey yote to the republican organization in the mayorality campaign for the | endorsement of a labor feader as) magistrate. Everything was set to take a ride|ugo: Organization. Without organi-| floor. Resi in the patrol wagon when the good lord got busy and spoiled “a perfectly | good par by blowing about ten; inches of snow over the city, and thereby provided an opportunity for| 9000 ‘of the army of unemployed workers to earn a few dollars, which as the Plute sheets had announced | that the meeting had been called off) cheered. Struggles Ahead. “We are here again for struggle,” | Weisbord began. “The workers’ life is one continuous battle. You who | have attained to the consciousness of | the working class, will understand me | when I say that there will be no let- | up in the strugglé as long as the capi- talist system exists.” “The first step in the solution of unemployment,” he went on, “is the | same as that'which faced us two years | zation, the have learned we can do nothing. 2 must aside all help u we so | wrong notions ¢ in this situation. but selves can do anything for us, must m demands upon No one em- | the offi the high s of the goverr laried labor of als, that of the Workers (Communist) Party and the Workers’ International Re- lief, were Emil Gardos, district or- ganizer of Passaic, Tom LaFazio, one of the leaders of the Passaic strike, Mary Alden, a colored worker and representative of the Negro Labor Congress, George Perlman and John Di Santo, two other leaders of the Passaic strike. Di Santo acted as chairman. Action’ Begins. Numerous workers spoke from the lutions were passed affili- ating the body with the New York Council of the Unemployed. An- |nouncement» was made that the Workers’ International Relief was dy at all times to assist the unem- yed. A permanent headquarters v | e would be opened up immediately, it | of course they took advantage of, and|ployers, upon the city officials, upon! was announced. A resolution embody- | nt, upon | ing the substance of the meeting’s | discussion was passed unanimously. and postponed, nobody showed up| they begin definite action for the re- | Considerable enthusiasm greeted the but the Committee and a half dozen} bulls. | Mayor Mackey is a pious critter} and the heavenly gentlemen realizing | what an embarrassing thing it would | be to have a lot of hungry citizens} congregating on the sabboth and de- manding to be fed, with all of the loaves and fishes locked up, con- peach of a snow storm. All of which! not only provided a small part of the | unemployed with a few hours work, but also afforded his honor an op-) portunity to demonstrate his affec- tion for the unemployed workers by permitting them to stretch out their) weary bodies on the nice cool cement} floors of the City Hall to sleep, there- | by enabling them to keep their clothes dry which they could not have done had they been obliged to sleep in the snow outside. I wonder if pious Harry would allow his dog to sleep on a cold cement floor? Hundreds Sleep on Cold Concrete When I walked through that corri- dor last night and noticed the hun- the cold cement floor there arose in my mind the picture of the com- fortably heated, luxurious office that some of these same workers had been into providing for Harry Mackeys use when they voted to hire him, at | by the knife-thrusts of the enemy la- lief of the unemployed.” | Enemies to be Faced. After reviewing the events in the | bitter struggle lasting for over a year, and showing in detail the part played by the city officials, the Pas- saic Citizens’ Committee, the labor officials of the A. F. of L., Weisbord continued. “Thus we see that we are faced by the fire of the employers and their government before us and bor fakers in the rear. But the time kas come to make them act. Let us make demands upon them. The bosses said that if you would only go back to the mills, good times would come. Let us hold them responsible for these ‘good times.’ The city officials claim to represent all the people. Let us demand that they open kitchens for the hungry. “Our Demands.” “We say to them: ‘No evictions for the unemployed; begin construction so that we can obtain work; throw open the schools and public buildings for lodging the unemployed. We demand that the government provide a sub- stantial sum for relief from the ex- cess profits of the rich, millions of dollars of which are now being re- turned to them; we demand from the labor fakers that they take a cut in sections advocating the formation. of a labor party and the recognition of the Soviet Union. Moose Home, Matthew Woll, acting president of the open shop National Civie Federation, stated in his speech that the “employers of the country that unemployment was a common problem.” “The problem has been shifted from the workers to the em- ployers,” he announced. He did not say whether the suffering and star- vation had ‘shifted.’ “A thorough knowledge of facts” was the “action” proposed by the re- actionary Thomas MeMahon, presi- dent of the United Textile Workers. More Propaganda. | Mary Van Kleeck, director of the department of industrial studies, of the Russell Sage Foundation, which has been conducting a country-wide propaganda for anti-strike legislation announced that the “first step in the solution of unemployment is the get- ting together of the leaders in man- agement with the representatives of the workers.” Miss Kleeck omitted to menticn the bitter antagonism with which the honest leadership among some of the Canadian labor unions are meeting the anti-strike law in force salary, that they put up a real fight in that country. At the A. F. of L. conference at | were being ‘impressed’ with the fact’ VIOLET HEMING. | | | | \ Will play the title role in “Mrs. Dane’s Defense,” which is being re- vived this evening at the Cosmopoli- |tan Theatre. The writer talked with one victim of greed and lust today. He stood in line at Hart’s last evening but was so weak from days of hunger that he was forced to leave the line. There were about 400 others to partake of the “nourishing” repast. The Holy Union Mission on 5th Street feeds the workers every other day four pieces of bread and a half bowl of soup. I attended the Mission today and found that 175 workers were receiving “god’s” blessings and soup, but countless others arrived to | find that the eleventh hour had passed and the doors were locked. If you steal here, you go to jail. If you beg, you go to jail. If you sell from house to house and have no license, you go to jail. If you step inside a place to get warm, you are given a one-hour floater, which means that you must leave the city at once. Only one thing is legitimate, you can go to church on Sunday and thank “god,” if you ean walk. Houses of Tin and Rags. Shelter from the cold winter rams consists of ragged huts, shacks con- structed from grocery boxes, pieces of tin and rags gathered at the city dumping grounds. Men live under the butements of bridges. The better off live in muddy auto camps where they pay fifteen or twenty cents a day for the privilege of pitching their tents. Whole families live in this way while in-all parts of the city hundreds of houses are vacant. Four men were arrested yesterday because they lacked a few cents on the price of their breakfast. : This picture of misery is framed in luxury, for California is the home of many millionaires and of the wealthy in general. : FRANCES M. DICKEY. New York Seamen’s Institute Exposed. (By a Worker Correspondent) Last night I saw a worker beaten into insensibility by policemen at the Seamen’s Institute, 25 South Street, near the East River water- front. Three teeth were knocked out of the worker’s mouth. I myself was barred from the Seamen’s Institute this morning. I was coming for my mail when a policeman grabbed me and took me up to the third floor of the Institute, where they have a po- lice department. They asked me all sorts of silly questions, and treated me as if I was a criminal. Seamen are almost daily beaten up { Neighborhood Play- house to Produce Again in May The Neighborhood Playhouse, un- der the direction of Alice and Irene Lewisohn, will make its next produc- tion sometime in May, or one year |from the date of its closing. These | performances, however, will be given {not at the Theatre on Grand Street but in a larger uptown theatre. The early experiments out of which the | Neighborhood Playhouse grew con- leeraed the combination of choral | movement, speech and songs and were |termed festivals. These as well as the | ballet pantomime were always included in the yearly reportoire and came to be termed The Lyric Bill. Under this: designation were such various produc- tions as “Salut au Monde,” “White Peucock,” “The Arab Fantasie,” “A Burmese Pwe,” and the “Ritornelle.” In all these productions, because of was placed upon musical expression than was desired. This year sym- phonic music will be the basis of the production. The Neighborhood Play- house is co-operating with The Cleve- land Orchestra under the direction of Nikolai Sokoloff. at .the Seamen’s Church Institute. They have beds there from 35 cents to. $1.00 a night. If you are not in by midnight they close the doors on you even if you have purchased a ticket for a bed. This is further striking proof of the brutal treatment of seamen by the Seamen’s Church Institute, which ‘was exposed in your paper on Jan. 17. This institution, backed by Standard Oil and other large exploiters of la- bor, is a strikbreaking center run uncer the guise of a religious and charitable institution. —P. R: COVT. Colorado Successful Meetings (By a Worker Correspondent) Two successful meetings have been held in Denver during the past week. A well-attended meeting at Windsor Hall on Saturday and a large Lenin Memorial Meeting at the Labor Ly- ceum Sunday. Comrade Gitlow’s splendid exposi- tion of the principles of the Com- munist Party created a marked im- pression and: showed practical results in many new applications for mem- bership. The meeting for the unemployed was attended by more than three hundred jobless. Relief work for the Colorado miners goes steadily forward. —H. A. ZEITLIN. WORKRR’S LIFE WORTH $6,121. JERSEY CITY, N. J., Feb. 5.—The life of a worket, who left a wife and several dependent children was val- ued at $6,121 in Compensation Court here, Mrs. Smanuel Domico of this city has been awarded that amount for the death of her husband, who was killed last December in the con- struction of a theatre. What part of that amount she will actually receive is not known. JOIN IN A REAL FIGHT! LENIN RUTHENBERG FOR | 1. Organization of the unorgan- | ized, 2. “Miners” Relief): = | 3. Recognition and Defense of the Soviet. Union. 4. A Labor Party. | 5. A Workers’ and Farmers’ Government. AGAINST | 1. Injunctions. 2. Company Unions. 3. Unemployment. 4 . Persecution of the Foreign | Born. 5. War. | | ADDRESS | OCCUPATION . | please check this box. o — Join a Fighting Party! Join the Workers (Communist) Party of America | Application for Membership in Workers (Communist) Party (Fill out this blank and mail to Workers Party, 48 E. 125 St. N.Y. C.) If you are on strike or unemployed and cannot pay initiation fee | UNEMPLOYED AND STRIKERS ADMITTED WITHOUT INITIATION | and receive dues exempt stamps until employed, ia 5 (Enclosed find $1.00 for initiation fee and one month’s dues.) | | i} \the Serlany Troupe. the size of the theatre, less emphasis@Marie Goodwin; and Five De Cardos | | | tS || Broadway Briefs | l tema e | Four openings are scheduled for} this evening. They are: a revival of | “Mrs. Dane’s Defense” at the Cos- mopolitan; “Atlas and Evay’ at the Mansfield; “Meek Mose,” Princess | Theatre and “Parisiana” at the| Edyth Totten. Waring’s Pennsylvanians, with Fred Waring, director, are the head- liners at the Palace this week. Mar-} jorie Moss and Georges Fontana re-| main a second week at the big play-| house. Others on the bill include: | Edith Meiser; ‘Tom McLeod, with! Marjorie Tiller; Medley and Dupree; Maz Gruber; La Van and Doris, and Ruiz and Bonita, with Gel-Mann| and His Quartette are at the Hippo- drome this week, Sylvia Clark; Eddie Alexandria and Ole Olsen; Del Chain | and Lou Archer; Marion Mills and | are other acts. The photoplay is Patsy Ruth Miller in “South Sea Love.” “And So To Bed,” James B. Fa- gan’s comedy about Samuel Pepys, reachéd its one hundredth perform- ance at the Bijou Theatre. While “The International,” by John oward Lawson is playing nightly at the New Playwrights’ Theatre, the next production, “Hoboken Blues,” by Michael Gold, is rehearsing under the direction of Edward Massey. Overwork Is Fatal JERSEY CITY, N. J., Feb. 5.—The labor of operating a one-man trolley car was blamed by his widow for the death of Victor Braun, 43, from a paralytic stroke. The Public Service Corp. for which Braun worked as a motorman laid off hundreds of work- ers in New Jersey when the one man cars were adopted several years ago. New Defense Bulletin The latest bulletin of the New Eng- land District-ef-the- International La- bor Defense, just issued, contains a report of the third annual district conference, a report of the executive committee, and a financial report. There is also a list of the existing branches and a statement of the gen- eral rules of the organization. Jobless After Fire BAYONNE, N. J., Feb. 5.—About 80 girls were made jobless by a fire which destroyed a dress plant anda hotel. Many of the girls ‘ost per- sonal belongings. SOUTHERN UNION DELEGATES MEET AT CONFERENCE Discuss Organization to Fight Open Shop GREENSBORO, N. C., Feb. 5 (FP).— Renewed impetus to the unionization of southern workers is being given by the Piedmont Organ- izing Council. The second meeting of the council brought to Greensboro 15 delegates from 16 trade unions in Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, High Point and Winston Salem. The Feb- ruary meeting of the council at Wins- ton-Salem is expected to draw nearly 150. unionists from the nine leading Piedmont Carolina cities. Organization of a new. union at Durham resulted from the first meet- ing of the council and organization of jone in Greensboro will result from this second session. Labor legislation will be the main topic for the third council meeting. Urge Organization. Necessity for organizing workers in the machine and auto industries of © the south was stressed by George W. Marshall of Washington, D. C., rep- resenting the Intl. Machinists’ Assn. Ed. Crouch, vice-president of the To- bacco Workers’ Intl. Union talked on organization of cigarette makers and other tobaceo workers in Winston- Salem and Durham. Alfred Hoffman, southern repre- sentative of the American Federation of Full Fashioned Hosiery Workers and organizer of the Council, talked on immediate plans for consummating unionization of groups in several cit- ies of North Carolina. He discussed the southern hosiery situation in some detail, Most of southern hosiery is seamless and not directly under the jurisdiction of the full fashioned un- ion. But more and more full fash- joned plants are coming south. The United Textile Workers, of which the full fashioned federation is an au- tonomous part, has jurisdiction over seamless workers. < John A. Peel, president of Durham central labor union, was renamed president of the organizing council. Marcus F. Sauls, Greensboro typo- graphical union, was renamed secre- tary. Ed L. Crouch, tobacco workers of Winston Salem, is vice-president. Alfred Hoffman, of Durham, is ad- visory director. Representatives of these unions attended the second con- ference: typographical, marble setters, barbers, carpenters, bricklayers, plum- bers, molders, machinists, auto me- chanics, stage employes and motion picture operators, electricians, railway clerks, painters, hosiery and struc- tural ironworkers. eal i Byes. Mats, Winter Garden trite. Sn. 2:30 WORLD'S LAUGH SENSATION! Artists * Models Poses ' WI'VTHROP AMES presents JOH™ GaLSWORTHY’S with LESLIE HOWARD 4 cvorceE A RL I SS in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE eee RACUA Bway, 46 St. Bys. 8.30 FULTON mats. Wed.&Sat. 2.30 “BELTER THAN THE BAT” JRLANGER’S Thea. W.44 St.ovs,8.30 ERLANGER’S Mats. Wed. & Sat. | THE MERRY MALONES. with GEORGE M. COHAN National pysaiv, sue Wena tae “The Trial of Mary Dugan” By Bayard Veiller, with Ann Harding-Ret Cherryman — The Theatre Guild presents — PORGY Republic Th., W. 42d. Evs. 0 Mats. Wed.&S: 0 EUGENE O'NEILL'S Feb. 13, “The Doctor’s Dilemma” area ose's Strange Interlude John Golden 'Thea,, 58th, E. of B'way Evenings Only at 6 ‘MUSIC AND CONCERTS _ AMERICAN OPERA COMPANY ist N. Y. S SON, 3 IN _ EN GALLO TH. raglio. e. fly. Sat. Mat., Sunset ‘Trail & Pagliacel. Wed. Mat. & Thurs. Eve., Marriage of Figaro, Anna Robénne with Anatole Vila- zah will be assisted by a ballet and an instrumental ensemble at their sec- ond dance recital at the 48th Street Theatre, Sunday evening, February 12th. far has been strictly taboo in the ’ “Mr, Lawson has picked out a the beaten track of the triangle a 3 Blocks South on 7th Ave. Tickets on Sale Now at Daily Worker, 108 E. 14th St.—10” Discount. THE INTERNATIONAL BY JOHN HOWARD LAWSON Author of “Processional” “An honest and courageous attempt to treat a subject which thus Lawson is one of the most vital and advanced of the younger play- wrights of this country. The play is worth secing.” bigwest that a playwright could choose.” “Deserves the attention of those interested in good plays well off DON’T MISS IT—GET TICKETS NOW! The New Playwrights Theatre 86: COMMERCE ST.—PHONE WALKER 5851. CLOSING FEBRUARY 11. American bourgeois theatre. . .. —DAILY WORKER. big theme—in fact just about the WEEKLY PEOPLE. nd its possibilities.” ‘ “ —TELEGRAPH. Subway from Sheridan Sq. 3 i