The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 11, 1928, Page 8

pote > } 4 | Page Fight THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, PEBRUARY 11, 1928 THE DAILY WORKER | ON HIS LAST LEGS! Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS’N, Ine. Daily, Except Sunday #3 Fiest Street, New York, N. Y. — Cable Address: “Daiwork” Phone, Orchard 1680 SUBSCRIPT By Mail (in New York only): $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $2.50 three months. {ION RATES By Mail (outside of New York): $6.00 per year $8.50 six months $2.00 three months. Address and mail out checks to ; THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. ¥. .-ROBERT MINOR .. WM. F. DUNNE Entered as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. ¥. under the act of March 3, 1879. Important Developments in Mine Following the line of development predicted by The DAILY | WORKER the Illinois coal operators 1 he agreement signed by President Lewis and district officials nears | the Struggle in the Ilinois Camps association, as the separate its end, refuses to renew the agreement except on the basis of a wage cut of $1.50 per day and coal. The operators further propo set. up, and composed now of mi 24 cents in the tonnage rate for | se to turn the special commission ne union officials and operators, into an arbitration commission by adding a “neutral” member to be appointed by Chief Justice Taft. This the union has so far refused to accept. Having taken care of their markets during the period of the heaviest demand the coal operators now threaten to close their mines—declare a lockout in other words—unless the union agrees to the proposed wage cut. These developments show in policy of the Lewis machine. sharp relief the criminally futile The sole result of the separate agreement signed in Illinois has been to open a gap in the fighting front of the miners, weaken the of the union in District 12. strike and demoralize the forces The operators have taken advantage of the temporary truce to install labor-saving machinery the surrender of the Lewis machi wherever possible. Neither did ne result in all the Illinois miners getting work. Recent estimates of the number of unemployed place it at 35,000. The union in Illinois has been greatly weakened by the sep- arate agreement. The policy which should have been followed, not only in con- nection with the Illinois struggle but thruout the union, is indi- cated by the demands of the operat the operators’ statement were availa s. If no other evidence than able the policy would still be clear since their demand for a wage cut is based on the low rates paid in the non-union mines of Kentucky and West Virginia. The conclusion is obvious. That the way to fight the coal barons is by organizing the non-union fields and raising wages there to the level of the union fields. The essential treachery of the Lewis machine consists in the fact that it has refused to orga all force against the militant me nize these fields while throwing mbership of the union which de- manded and still demands genuine organizing campaigns in these territories. The breakdown of the Illinois negotiations puts the issues in that district squarely before the coming progressive conference in connection with the whole struggle of the union. Fishwick machine stands ready The Lewis- to make further surrenders and there is little doubt that it will put out a referendum vote on the question of a wage cut and use every available corrupt method to get approval for it—thus taking the responsibility from the Lewis administration. This scheme must be fought Tilinois are correct, the coming Mass support from the members! Wage cut and the Lewis machine to the death and if reports from progressive conference will get hip in the campaign against the and for 100 per cent support of the Pennsylvania-Ohio strike which the conference is intended to stimulate. Developments in Illinois, both among the operator _ union, are of first importance in and in the e and should the national strugs be watched closely by the union membership in all other districts. The Illinois conference may in all probability mark a turning point in the great struggle of the miners for their union, their living standards and for the whole working class. Dr. Frank Bohn a Leya Typical of the ignorance anc societies is the action of small Jersey, in trying to prevent the Frank Bohn speaking at a forum ] Servant of Capitalism } 1 y of the frenzied patriotic busine men of Cranford, New respectable and very yellow Dr. in that community. The Cranford heresy hunting society charged Bohn with being in sympathy with the I. W shevik. Mr. Bohn indignantly d that he was going to speak. /, W., and claimed he was a Bol- enied the charge and announced His denial contains the boast that he was “the first American to expose the Bolshevist movement following its success in Russia in While it is true that Bohn h 1917.” as devoted his talents to reviling the workers’ and peasants’ government of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, he can hardly eause for one reason, he is inca only perceives in Bolshevism the tical capitalist system that fore the war. Before the first b this poseur scurrying into the ra: imperialism, Bohn made an cz try delivering lectures before groups for the sum of $50 per e once tr a revolutionary in the ranks of the soc “exposed” it, be- standing it. Bohn of that iden- p hile posing as st party in the days be- lare of the trumpets of war sent claim to hav able of mo: ng travelling about the coun- vialist and other working class ure, when many of his betters were doing tlw: essential but less spectacular work of trying to build up a revolutionary movemeut. ‘came into the socialist movement from the intelligentsia and im- mediately assumed the pose of a self-appointed leader. short experience in the socialist labor party he was given the bum’s rush by Daniel DeLeon, and landed in the socialist party, ‘from whence he migrated to the I. W. W. section of that party, where he declared that only dolts would indulge in organization », for political action and that the Bohn was one of those who After a road to working class emancipa- tion was through industrial unions that would lock out the capi- talist class and place industry in ing the capitalist state unscathed). the hands of the workers (leay- Bohn adopted a purely anarcho-syndicalist position, ignoring completely the role of the i] | | s of the apologists of American |s ET By Fred Ellis Tory Britain, on its last legs, is leading the imperialist attack on the Soviet Union. The Working Class Woman as a Factor in National Politics By REBECCA GRECHT. HE Third National Conference on the Cause and Cure for War has come and gone. Nine women’s organizations, in- cluding the National League of Women Voters, the General Kedera- tion of Women’s Clubs, the National Women’s Trade Union League, etc., and claiming a membership running into the millions, sent their repre- sentatives to Washington, D, C., to see, it was said, what the women of America could do to stop war. At the time the conference met, congress was considering a naval building program involving the ex- penditure of over seven hundred mill- ion dollars, and the capitalist press was flooding the nation with propa- ganda for the “biggest navy in the world.” Marine reinforcements were being sent to Nicaragua to carry out Wall Street’s imperialist designs in its ‘unofficial” war of aggression. The two most powerful oil trusts in the world—the Standard Oil of New York, and the Royal Dutch Shell Combine of Great Britain, had de- clared a “war to the finish” in their competitive struggle for markets and raw materials. In short, the political atmosphere was charged with mili- tarism, and the possibilities of new international conflicts appeared as menacing realities. Yet, confronted by such a situation, the conference met, talked, disbanded, with the same net result as the first vwo conferences held—the strengthen- ing of democratic pacifist illusions, the further tightening of the grip of capitalist imperialism upon the minds of the women of America. The keynote of the conference was struck by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, a leader of the National League oi Women Voters, who quite definitely declared that the conference opposed scrapping armies and navies, that there must be no opposition to full preparations for “defense.” Interven- tion in Nicaragua was brushed aside with platitudes about the establish- ment of good will be.ween the United States and Latin America. The | economic basis of wars, which the{ staune advocates of American| mperialism to-day admit, was com- pletely hidden beneath corrupting talk of men’s “war minds,” and of “rock-ribbed treaties” to outlaw war. | Not a single working-ciass note was struck, not even by representa- vives of the Women’s Trade Union | League, which obviously follows the; official American Federation of Labor| policy of supporting Wall Street.{ From first to last the conference ex- hibited its complete subservience to \merican imperialism, adéing its share to the insidious influences of capitalist propaganda, Certainly the working women of! America, upon whom falls heavily! the burdens of war, had nothing to expect from a ga:hering almost, en- tirely representative of bourgeoir and petty-bourgecis women’s organi vations. But the conference was jificant in again demonstrating the political methods by which capitalism in this coun ry seeks to mobilize the vomen in support of its institutions and policies, * With the passage of the women’s suffrage amendment to the constitu- tion in 1919, enfranchising about twenty million women, they became a 1 factor which could no longer ignored. The granting of this be But he soon completed the democratic “privilege” came as the result of the tremendous influx of women into American industry. The development of capitalism has drawn millions of women into the vortex of industria] exploitation. There are eight and a half million women en- gaged in gainful occupations, of whom two-fifths are under 25 years of age, and two million are married. Women Make Munitions. Not alone in those industries which have been regarded as traditionaiiy hers—such as textile and clothimg— because they were the first .o utilize ber Jabor-power, but in many ditter- ent industries that have been con- sidered as man’s monopoly, have ‘women come to stay. During the lasv war, hundreds of thousands of women contributed their labor power in the manufaciure of munitions and other implements of warfare, finding their place also on railroads, in foundries, electrical establishments, shipbuild- ing companies, automobile factories, glass plants, etc. Capitalist industry draws no distinction of sex where hands are able to manipulate machines and. otherwise carry on the work oi men, especially when woman labor is adaptable and cheap. The use of women in industry dur- ing the war opened for capitalism new and tremendous possibilities foi industrial mobilization in the next great conflict, Her continuation in these industries after the war, the steady growth of the number of women engaged in industry, has created a tremendous industrial army leading to her recognition as an es- sential and significant element in in- dustry and labor. This, toge.her with her entrance directly upon the political arena through the suffrage amendment, ha: gradually established her as a factor not alone in industry, but in politic: as well. Capitalism has been quicl. to recognize women’s political po- tentialities, quick to devise means to harness her in its class interests. Try to Preserve Reaction. Numerous bourgeois women’s or- ganizations have sprung up all over the country, aiming to bind women closely to the capitalist system through the medium of the capitalist political parties, and striving to utilize this vast reserve of politica! power for the buttressing and strengthening of the capitalist state and capitalist political institutions. There is the National League of Women Voters, formed after the pas sage of the women suffrage amend- ment, Branches have been es.ablished in more than three-fourths of the 43 congressional districts in the United States. Their aim is, to train women in citizenship from a non-partisan viewpoint—which from the workers point of view means to bind them tc capitalist politics, In fact, the League urges wa through the existing :apitalist parties, in no way operate: against them, and leading women of the democratic and republican partic: are prominent members of ic While it proposes to pay specia) attention to the “human welfare” side of gov- ernment, especially as concerns women, a review of its convention proceedings — 1923 and 1925— and satements of its leaders, shows a complete disregard of women’s posi- tion in industry, the bitter exploita- tion to which she is subjected, and problems of legal’ protection such as minimum wage laws, ete: easy transition from anarcho- syndicalism to downright imperialist patriotism, and for more than ten years now, he has devoted his talents to trying +o live down his past in the labor movement. He is now devoti) g his talents to rendering the same service to the capitalist class in their own camp, that James Oneal and the socialist party are rendering inside the movement. other. of his former comrades in It is a capitalist government ag an instrument for holding the working | sight to evoke laughter from the gods of irony when one eminent ¢ " class in subjection. ; 4 aa patriot attacks a renegade on the basis of his past. ‘ Ignore Women’s Needs. A typical illustration of the char- acter of this organization was given by the Pennsyivania League oi Women Voters at its state conierence held several months ago. Meeting at a time when thousands of miners’ wives and calldren were suilering un- told hardship and misery in the strike region of Western Pennsylvania, bear- ing the terrible burdens of evictions, hunger, attacks by coal and tron police; when the entire labor move- ment was feeling itselt shaken by the combined at.ack of the coal operators and state and local political forces against the miners and their union, this league practically ignored the strike. Instead, it spent the time dis- cussing how to prevent election frauds and make polling places sate for the ‘women voter. The “human welfare” sides of government becomes, then, merely a phrase behind which the League of Women Voters spreads all kinds of democratic illusions. iuillionaires’ Wives Lead. Then there is tne Nauonal Women’s a‘arvy, ied by wives of millionaires, with a program of “equal mgnts” tor Capitalist expiloi.ation of the woman worser as weil as the men. It is en- gaged in a campaign of sharp opposi- tion to all special legisiation provec- ung the working woman, planning to cali its fight directly into congress. 44l present it is preparing to fignt tor the abolition of the law in New York State prohibiting night work for women. Atl tMis 1s dove in the name of women’s “economic freedom.” actually, the aim of the Woman's sary is to assist big business in its aitack upon the working class otf America. Both the democratic and republican sarties have established women’s ciubs to agitate for women’s votes. an New York State, the last conier- ence of the democratic party decided vn the election in the primaries of a state committee of 80 instead ot 4ov, to make provision for women. ln lilinois, a s.ate convention of repub- jican women’s clubs was held ias year, led by the wives of prominent illinois millionaires, such as Ruth tianna McCormack. Ail the clubs established are becoming increasingly active in political campaigns as bovn parties turn their atten.ion to in- fluencing women politically. Perhaps most outspoken in thei anti-working-class and super-patriotic character are such organizations as vhe American Legion Auxiliary, whose name is self-explanatory, and the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, with branches in the principle , founded “to foster and promote Patriotism, to keep alive a deep and abiding love for our couniry and its institutions”—and, it may be added, to attack every movement, every ac- tion that tends towards progressivism in polities or indus.ry. These and other similar organiza- tions have just held in Washington, D. C., the Woman’s Patriotic Conter- ence on National Defense. Here we found the most outspoken expression of American chauvinism among women. Organizations openly ap- plauding American imperialism, with an army and navy slrong enough to effectively make the world safe for Wall Street; openly allying themselves with all the forces of reaction in their attacks upon the workingclass of America, and the proletarian diciator- ship of the Soviet Union. This Conference differed from the earlier conference on the cause and cure of war only in method, not in fundamental principles. The ligerent 100 per cent Americans who composed the patriotic gathering may accept enthusiastically American war preparations, and fall into ecstacy when they see a soldier or sailor in uniform, while the more gentle ladies Pretend to adopt a more who came together before them may, critical at~| )titude and agitate for peace. But it is significant that at both, the prin- cipal speakers represented the army and navy departments, and the De- partment of State. No working class voice was heard. And in the end, both conferences rallied strongly to the support of American imperialism, showing their unmistakable characte: }as capitalist agencies. Other organizations and conferences jcould be named of a similar type— the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, the conference of the Councii of Women held in New York, etc. On all, sides we find the formation ot special women’s political organiza- tions as part of the machinery de- signed to manufacture a reactionary psychology among women, to line them up for the interests of capitalis: imperialism. And it is important to note that all of these organizations have been receiving an wunusua. amount of publicity in the capitalisi press. We may expect them to take an active part in the presidential elec- tions this: year. Working Women Must See. The working class women must un- derstand the character of these capi- talist political agencies, and organize to counteract their influence. Bitterly exploited as they are industrially, hundreds. of thousands bearing the double burden of slaving in factories and taking care of a home, with prac- tically no political protection, they must rally to the militant section o1 the American working class that is fighting for a labor party, agains imperialism, and for a policy of or- ganization and struggle against the attacks of the employing class ana their government. The working woman needs a labo: party. To cite merely a few facis —the action of the New York State legislature in abolishing the 48-hour week for women, the present cam- paign in Massachusetts against thc state protective laws for women in jindustry, the general onslaught | against labor which includes women 'as well as men, the attempt to mobil- ze women for a halleluja campaign American militarism and im- | perialism—all this points to the neces- |si:y of working class political action for women. The left wing generally must recog- nize that it must not only pay more attention to the woman worker in all its programs and campaigns on the jindustrial field, but also that it must ifully appreciate her significance Politically. Women has long been a vital in- dustrial factor. Today she is also a political factor. The coming presidential campaign provides an excellent opportunity for raising slogans of a local, state and jnational political character of especial interest to women. minimum wage laws, ‘he eight hour day, maternity benefit laws for the working mother—around these and similar issues women can be mobilized and organized. ¢ To win the working class women for class political action, and against imperilism is an important task of the left wing. . Serious effort must be bent towards “hat end, CHICAGO, Feb. plastic operations, indignation aroused at the case of Miss Sadie Holland, whose life was barely saved thru the amputation of both her legs after an operation tiiok ‘was intended to straighten em. \ Even the journal of the American Association says: “Each of our large Social insurance, | N.Y. Labor Goes to the Theatre By WALT_CARMON. I HAVE a most interesting list be- fore me. It should tell us whether workers would go to a distinctly labor theatre. They do in Russia. Every night the theatres of Moscow are packed to the doors with workers. Perform ances of new plays are fi:.t presented to members of trade unions, and at all performances, special low rates are made for trade union members and workers in the factories. These workers want something new. Some- thing closer to their own lives. A new viewpoint, a new presentation—a new theatre. In Germany, also, the work- ers’ theatre is no longer an experi- ment. But the labor movement is com- paratively small in the Unived States. It is unjust to expect of it the devel- opment of labor theatres as they ex- ist in Russia or in Germany. The American labor movement still lacks more imporiant things than a labor theatre. Yet in New York, a group of talented and courageous people are striving to establish a distinctly labor theatre, convinced that it could be done even now. They believe that workers will come to see their plays; that a stage presenting the workers’ viewpoint would secure workingclass support—even in the face of competi- tion from Broadway and the movies, * * 6 The New Playwrights have written their own plays, brought a new orig- inal presentation to their stage, and made iheir appeal to the workers of New York. They made special in- ducements to labor groups to bring them to cheir performances, Did they come to the theatre? Three plays have been presented for a month each. The fourth is now ready. The facts are in this interesting list I have be- fore me, Only the Teachers’ Union and the Joint Board of the Furriers and Cloakmakers reserved the theatre for special performances of “The Belt,” the first play. Individual workers came to the theatre, many of them, they came, they saw and they talked about it. It was, they said, a little “arty.” But labor is a generous cri- tic. They sensed in this play of the Ford factories the feel of a life that was their own. They liked it, When “The Centuries” was pre- sented, the Window Cleaners Union, the Colorado Miners’ Relief, Working Class Housewives and other labor or- ganizations came in body. Before the third play, “The International” com- pleved its arranged run of four weeks, the three plays were reserved for spe- cial performances of 27 different trade unions, fraternal and political organizations of labor. Miners’ Re- lief, Brookwood College, Plumbers’ Helpers, DAILY WORKER, ‘“Week- ly People,” League For Mutual Aid— all sections of labor found the stage of the New Playwrights sincere and worthwhile. They criticized pleniy, they debated more, but they came in increasing numbers, . * *. * And now a fourth play about to be presented. Michael Gold’s “Hobo- ken Blues” begins on February 17. following plays of the Ford factory, Jewish life on the East Side of New York, and che broader theme of the international struggle for oil, the Negro worker comes to the stage of the New Playwrights. This is sub- ject matter for a workers’ theatre. Let’s look again ac this list. At each of the first three plays present- ed, increasingly more labor organiza- tions came. ‘loday, several days be- fore the presentation of ‘Hoboken Blues” also to be presented for only four weeks, 15 nights have already been reserved for labor organizations, hey still come: the In-ernational Seaman’s Club, the Workers School, Lower. Bronx Labor Center, Jewish Workers’ University. Some organi- zations are coming for the second time. *_ * «© ‘os Here’s sunshine in the gloom of all the worries of the New Playwrights. Labor organizations are coming back for more. Every night they are not turning crowds away from the doors. Not yet. But the directors are leok- ing at the list of “sold out” nights for “Hoboken Biues” and they are aiready ge.ting busy on.the play that is to follow. They look at the list again and they are even laying plans for next season. Will workers come to their theatre instead of the propaganda and hokum- filled stage of Broadway? The New Playwrights were not sure of this chemselves only a short while ago. You may recall some of their cem- plaints in The DAILY WORKER, Just now they are busy rehearsi in; “Hoboken Blues.” They are slugiap: 10.—Women are warned against seeking false beauty in by Health Commissioner Kegel and other physicians. The bel- | warning was virtually forced from the commissioner by the strength of public acting and painting scenery. Even Health Commissioner Warns Against Quackery cities maintains from one to ten practitioners, all regularly licensed, but beyond the best repute, wavering on the shadowy borderland of quack- ery, who limit their practise to facial and body reconstruction.” This estimate is kn to be ridic- Hatake: