The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 13, 1928, Page 6

Page Six THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1928 THE DAILY WORKER Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'N, Inc, Daily, Except Sunday $3 First Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: “Daiwork” SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): $€.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per year $3.50 six months $2.50 three months. $2.00 three months. Address and mail out checks to WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. ...ROBERT MINOR 1... WM, F. DUNNE Phone, Orchard 1680 THE DAILY Feditor....s.ee . Assistant Editor.. ed as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. ¥., under the act of March 3, 1879. Coolidge Is Caught in the Crash The campaign which put Calvin Coolidge in the White House as the running mate of Warren Gamaliel Harding was paid for with oil-soaked money, the proceeds of the theft of Teapot Dome. This is the fact which stands out from the mass of evidence given by reluctant witnesses before a senatorial investigation committee equally reluctant to accept it. Under the Coolidge administration, its head elected by the proceeds of a piratical adventure, 600,000 men, women and chil+} dren in the coal fields are persecuted as were heretics under the inquisition. Under the Coolidge administration The DAILY WORKER and members of its staff are indicted and arrested for the pub- lication of a poem which compares American government to a prostitute. It appears, in the light of recent exposures, that we now owe an apology to such victims of capitalism. One thing has been made clear. It is that the union of finan- cial and industrial capital and American government is complete. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., is forced to appear and try to salvage some remnants of the fiction that American government repre- sents “all the people.” Today he repudiates the theft of Teapot Dome and the debauchery of the electorate; in 1913-14 he was repudiating the mass murder of Colorado miners and their wives and children. Murder and theft are the real methods of capital- ism—not the franchise. It is good, however, for Rockefeller to appear—it shows to millions of workers who the real rulers are. As for Coolidge it is now quite clear why he does “not choose to run.” The ghosts of Harding, Jake Hamon and Jess Smith, hovering over Teapot Dome, are in the way. Coolidge, the. sole survivor of Teapot Dome, has been told to step down. Imperialist government must preserve some shreds of respectability and this little puppet whose vice-presidency was purchased from the pro- ceeds of a gigantic robbery must go into the discard. These recent developments are evidence of a deep crisis in ruling class circles—a crisis which corresponds to the industrial depression, the increasing instability of imperialist relationships and the growing mass unemployment. Of this we shall have more to say. At this time we can point out only that the crisis must be used to increase the disillusionment of the masses and to break away great sections of the working class from the political parties of their enemies. It Takes a “Labor” Judas to Do It. So critical is the unemployed situation that not even the most id of the anti-labor press has for the moment mustered suffi- c.ent impudence to sneer openly at this growing army of millions of workers thrown out of industry. The Wall Street press merely centers on trying to put over such a palpable fraud as the investi- gation being conducted by the New York department of labor at the request of Al. Smith as a sincere attempt to meet the crisis. The open sneers were left at this “investigation” to a Judas within the labor movement. Joseph P. Ryan, president of the Central Trades and Labor Council of New York City, became the open spokesman of the capitalist reaction when he belittled the unemployed masses in a cheap tirade before the state department of labor on Friday. Observing the unemployed workers picketing the department of labor “investigation” and demanding unem- ployed relief, Ryan attacked them before the commission, declar- ing that he was absolutely opposed to “the movement of the un- employed” and that he had “every confidence that Al. Smith will do the right thing.” The important point is not that this head of the Tammany- ridden Central Trades and Labor Council, who poses as a repub- lican, plays the political game of Al. Smith, the democratic aspirant for the presidential nomination. The important point is that Ryan, the “labor leader,” under- took in this conclave of reactionaries to lay the psychological basis for a prospective savage repression of the unemployed work- ers in New York. No one else could do it. In all the array of specially invited charity organization frauds, Salvation Army and Y. M. C. A. panhandlers and others who prey upon the misery and suffering of the unemployed workers and their families— professionals whose very existence is based upon the pretense of giving aid to the “worthy poor’—there was none who could “gracefully” sink to the level of the fake “labor leader,” Ryan. Both Ryan and John Sullivan, president of the State Federation of Labor, who also praised Al. Smith at the farcical hearing, smugly listened as another Tammanyite, Edward E. MacMahon, superintendent of the Municipal Lodging House, admitted that last month alone 17,220 were sheltered in the establishments under nis control, that no one person could sleep in the Municipal Lodging House more than five nights in any one month and that those who tried to obtain sleep the sixth night were sent to jail. Had a real representative of labor been permitted to be present at the hearing instead of political sychophants of the employing class, MacMahon would have been roundly denounced and the whole question of the cruel and indecent conditions existing in’ the Municipal Lodging House opened up. The traitorous action of the official heads of the city and state labor bodies imposes upon the unemployed workers and the working class generally the necessity of building up and supporting powerful unemployed councils in order that mags unemployment may have a directing center that will at all times put forth demands that will give relief to the millions now out of work. It is the obvious duty of labor leaders representing the interests of the membership to take organizational steps within the unions to give employment to more workers by shortening }hours of labor with no reductions in pay. i Such a program was formulated by the Workers (Com- _ tnunist) Party demanding the opening up of public works at union ages, the creation of a special fund for public kitchens to be we administered by unemployed committees and labor unions, open- rcs public buildings for lodgings to house and shelter the unem- loyed, prohibition of landlords evicting unemployed tenants, feed- L. the children of the unemployed at the public schools and the recognition of and trade relations with the Soviet Union that “COME THRU!” y By Fred Ellis | ot By BILL DUNNE. Injunctions and “yellow dog” con- tracts—these are two main methods by which lords of finance and indus- try are fighting the labor movement. The use of injunctions to cripple and smash strikes is not new but the increase in their numbers and the sweeping nature of their provisions, broadened now to include protection and legalization of the “yellow dog” contract, is a new feature of the pres- ent offensive against the working class. This feature of the capitalist offen- sive is directed straight at the mill- ions of unorganized workers in basic industry. The intention of the capi- talists is clear: Taken in connection with the joint advocacy of an anti-strike law by of- ficials of the American Federation of Labor and the legalization of arbitra- tion agreements and the American Bar Association, it is obvious that the “yellow dog” contract for which an injunction ean be issued to prohibit or- ganization of the workers affected, means at the best limiting the base of the unions to their present mem- bership of less than three million. Actually it means the continued scal- ing down of the most militant sec- tions of the labor movement by the actual destruction of unions like the United Mine Workers as in West Vir- ginia, and by such attacks as are now in progress in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Use “Yellow Dog” Contracts. By the injunction granted the coal barons in West Virginia the United Mine Workers are ordered to refrain from organizing miners who have been forced to sign “yellow dog” con- tracts. These slave!contracts are not only recognized as legal agreements voluntarily entered into by workers but attempts to organize these work- ers are interpreted by the courts as “interference with the production of an article of interstate commerce” and therefore illegal under the anti- rust laws. (It is not with this latter point that we deal with now, however. By itself this ruling establishes the precedent for outlawing all important strikes.) The ruling upholding the.legality of the “yellow dog” contract is based up- on the English common law and a number of decisions made by British courts to bulwark the doctrines of the Manchester school. and give legal standing to the horrible practice which accompanied the herding of the English working class into the fac- tories during the rise of English capi- talism, “Capitalist Freedom.” With cruel irony the courts explain that these decisions in the present period are for the purpose of protect- ing the right of workers to dispose of their labor under whatever conditions they choose and to whom they choose, (The Marxian term “labor power” is of eourse unknown to the learned jur- ists.) Workers who are forced to sign “yellow dog” contracts will be glad to know that these slave instruments are in reality expressions of the com- plete freedom they enjoy under capi- talism. Anatole France characterized this by saying that rich and poor alike enjoy the inalienable right to sleep under bridges, There is now before the senate com- mittee a bill introduced by Senator Shipstead of Minnesota which is de- signed to limit the use of injunctions —to confine their use to cases involv- ing property and property rights. We intend to discuss here the futile ef- forts of labor union officialdom to liquidate the class struggle by such legislation as the Clayton anti-trust law which declared that labor was not a commodity but which in no way prevented the use of anti-trust legis- lation for throttling strikes and or- ganization campaigns. Legislation Unsuccessful. Neither has legislation directed against the “yellow dog” contract been svecessful in abolishing this slave practice. Official labor leadership never based its policy upon mass resistance to injunctions and open violation of court decisions upholding “yellow dog” contracts, Always the official leadership, as it is doing now, has discouraged mass struggles’ and pinned its faith upon capitalist courts and legislators. An examination of the history of. the struggle against the “yellow dog” contract proves to the hilt the Com- munist contention that only defeat for the labor movement can result from respect for the legality of anti-labor legislation and court rulings and a policy of fighting these measures only in legislatures, congress and the courts. There have been many laws enacted to prohibit the forcing of workers to sign individual contracts of employ- ment and also much legislation de- signed to prevent the discharge of will revive a number of industries to meet the demand for goods in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. These demands, in spite of the Al. Smiths and their servants, the Ryans and Sullivans, will become the conscious demands of the masses of unemployed as they are of the advanced section of the labor movement. The unemployed workers of today will be a factor in the labor movement tomorrow and will aid in the house cleaning that must put representatives of the rank and file in the places of these agents of employers who assail the unemployed at the hearings before the labor department. j Legislation and the “Yellow Dog” Contract --- The Shipstead Bill and Anti-Labor Injunctions workers for membership in a union. New York passed such a law in 1887; Ohio in 1892; Missouri in 1893; Minnesota in 1895; Pennsylvania and Kansas in 1897; Wisconsin and Illin- ois in 1899; Nevada in 1903; Califor- nia in 1906; Oklahoma in 1907. Passed by Congress. Congress itself in 1898 passed a measure prohibiting the use of the individual contract and the discharge of workers for union membership by railway companies and other freight and passenger carrying concerns do- ing an interstate business, (Erdman Act.) State and federal courts were mer- ciless in their treatment of this legis- lation arising out of the popular struggle against the trusts. The Il- linois law was declared unconstitu- tional by the state supreme court in 1900, the Wisconsin law in 1902 and the New York law in 1906, Other state laws of this character were ruled unconstitutional by the United States supreme court. Congress was denied the power to pass anti-yellow dog contract legisla- tion, the supreme court declaring the Erdman Act unconstitutional because it interfered with the right of the railroad companies to secure anti- union contracts from its employes or to fire them for membership in a la- bor organization. Declared Unconstitutional. In two decisions dealing with the right of state legislatures to pass this kind of legislation the supreme court likewise declaréd these measures un- constitu! tonal. In 1915 the supreme court in de- claring the Kansas law invalid de- clared it to be: “In short an inter- ference with the normal exercise of personal liberty and property rights in the primary object of the statute, and not an incident to the advance- ment of the general welfare.” The second U. S. supreme court de- cision declaring unconstitutional an- other attempt to make “yellow dog” contracts illegal was handed down in the Hitchman Coal and Coke Com- pany case involving directly the right of the United Mine Workers to or- ganize the workers in the employ of. this concern, The supreme court held in 1917 that workers employed by this company who had been forced to sign individual contracts could not become members of the union without the consent of the company, that the “yel- low dog” contracts were legal and binding and could be enforced by the courts against a third party—in this case, as in all cases, the union. Does Not Learn. The official labor leadership has | learned nothing from this sad record —nor does it want to learn. To ac- quaint the union membership and the working class as a whole with the hopelessness of such legislation se- cured by support of capitalist politi- cal parties and compromises with their candidates and for the enforce- ment of which workers are advised to depend upon the good will of the agents of their class enemies, is to lay the basis for open mass struggles against the injunction and the “yel- low dog” contract, This is the last thing past and present labor official- dom wants to do. Testifying before the senate inter- state commerce committee in refer- ence to the Shipstead bill, President Green of the A. F, of L. and other union heads stated that their chief objection to the use of the injunction was that it “destroyed confidence in the courts.” This is their main argu- ment: Workers victimized by injunc- tions and “yellow dog” contracts are losing faith in the impartiality of the capitalist courts. As staunch uphold- ers of the capitalist order, based on the robbery and oppression of the working class, Green, Woll, Lewis, ete., are interested mainly in pre- venting the development of class con- sciousness among workers with its inevitable swing from reform within capitalism to revolution against it. Continue to Antagonize. These labor agents of imperialism have what from their standpoint is a just grievance. In spite of their ad- vice the capitalists and their courts and lawmakers continue to antagonize great masses of workers whom labor officialdom feels could be placated ai small cost if the capitalists would on- ly trust them to maintain unions which abhor all thought of anything more revolutionary than wages and working conditions. Faith in the im- partiality of courts and elected bodies is one of the cornerstones of the Anglo-Saxon system of government. But as Marx pointed out the unions are centers of resistance to capitalist | aggression and since the struggle of the working class for their living standards has far wider implications, especially in this period of imperial- ‘ism, with Communist parties active in the labor movement, the unions cannot be kept within strangling cir- cle of the official policy. ‘This is the basic reason for the wide -doption of the “yellow dog” contract and the use of union-smashing injunc- | sions by the capitalists, As an excep- tionally frank lawyer stated in refer- ence to the anti-strike arbitration leg- ‘slation proposed jointly by the Bar Association and A. F. of L, official- | dom “the control of their own mem- bers” is a great problem for the A. F. of L, leaders. Fool the Workers. But a contradiction intrudes. After all, “labor leaders” have to make some pretense, from time to time, of fighting for the interests of workers they are supposed to represent. In- variably, as they have in the present period, they seck the most innocuous and least effective method. It is cer- tain that a decade or two ago the courts were more liberal, in the sense in which the term is generally used, towards the working class and its or- ganizations than they are today. ‘Yet’ it was in that period that the prece- dents were established, as we have seen, for declaring anti-yellow dog] Official Labor Leadership Learns Nothing contract and anti-injunction legisla~ tion illegal. It is also certain that it was far easier to secure the passage of such legislation then than it is today. But in the face of these historical facts labor officialdom again stakes all on the procedure proved which has re~ sulted only in the capitalists and their government being strengthened and the labor movement weakened, The entire series of acts and utter- ances with which labor officialdom, pretends to fight the “yellow dog” |contract and the injunction menace are a gigantic fraud upon the masses. Beginning with Gompers, labor offi- cialdom has been carrying on essen- tially the same kind of a fake fight. | But in this period of imperialism this fakery has become an integral part of the machinery of Wall Street govern- ment and the most deadly menace to the labor movement and the whole working class. ~ The Shipstead bill makes no chal- lenge to capitalism. On the contrary it aecepts the basic theory on which injunctions are based—whether they arise out of the violation of “yellow dog” contracts or other phases of the struggle—the theory that the protec- tion of property is the first task of the courts. This is a correct theory and we would be the last to dispute it but the acceptance of it as a basis for anti-injunction legislation involves also in this case the acceptance of capitalism and all its works, Won't Prevent Injunctions. The Shipstead bill, which has one chance in a thousand of being enact- ed into law, will not, even though it is declared constitutional after passage, prevent the use of injunctions against strikes or the use of the “yellow dog” contract to prevent organization of unions. All the Shipstead bill will do is to create false hope among the masses and tend, if not counter-acted by militant tactics, to paralyse resis- tance to injunctions and open strug- gle against the “yellow dog” contract, Will Support Bill. We are not against the passage of the Shipstead bill. We will do all wa can to aid its passage. If there were Communists in congress they would vote for it when their own bills were defeated. But to create the slightest hope among workers that this bill if made law will stop the use of in- junctions against workers and their organizations is to create the illusion that capitalist government, that dic- tatorship camouflaged as democracy, will abandon its union-smashing ac- tivities and cease to be the instrument of the capitalists in struggles between them and the working class simply because a certain formula has had to be placed on the statute books for the reason that the relationship of class forces at a given moment — made it advisable to appear to make certain concessions to the working class thru the medium of capitalist’ agents in the labor movement. The history of the class struggle in the United States itself gives the lie to these traitorous pretensions. Danger of War. Nothing is more dangerous in this period when the war clouds hang low and the barometer of Leninism points to an imminent precipitation of im- perialist conflict, than illusions con- cerning the nature and role of capi- talist government. To believe that legislation to curb injunctions will be nassed and enforced at a time when the working class in the United States does not even have a labor party, at a time when the labor move- ment is tied through its reactionary officialdom to the parties of its ene- mies, is to be the perfect listener to the tales of a Munchausen. It is only by the organization of the unoreanized millions of workers in basic industry carried on in the face’ of “yellow dog” contracts, and mass violation of injunctions that these two wannons of the canitalists can be dulled and bent into shapeless use- lessness. The organization of a labor party to broaden the struggle and carry it into city, county, state and national government will give far greater pow- er to the labor movement but this is exactly what labor officialdom, in spite of the acute crisis in the labor movement, refuses to Go. Drive Against Communists. Their sharpest attack is directed, not against the capitalists, but meainst the Communists and their proeram for organization of the un- organized, mass violations of injune- tions and a labor party. This strateev of labor officialdom jand their allies, the socialist party bureaucracy, furnishes us with a cor- rect estimate of the sincerity which such measures as the Shipstead Lill are brought forward. Ever around such inadequate measures a struggle could be organized, but this would de- feat the purposes of the misleaders of labor whose desire it is, in accord with that of theit imperialist mas- ters, to keep the working class pas- sive while its effective organizations are cut to pieces. The defeat of this reactionary lead- ership, the breaking of the paralyzing grip on the labor movement, is a pre- requisite for the defeat of injunctions, the yellow-dog contract and the build- ing of a powerful labor movement. The struggle is two-sided and to successful must be waged on fronts with equal vigor—agaii their capitalists, and, inst { a | \| » J i \ \ \