The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 14, 1928, Page 2

Page Two THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1928 BRIDGE WORKER PLUNGES bh D x ey EATH AS THOUSANDS WATCH MOVING ( OF 325 TON Sr Ae The death of Elmer Collins, 29, a bridge worker, brought to a crowd of thousands of fellow workers a sudden realization of the dangers undergone by the bridge workers. Collins was drowned when he fell 29 from the 3 the left being floated 200 feet south. 5-ton draw span over Newton creek which was being removed to a point 200 feet to make way for a new bridge. Before reaching the water, Collins struck against one of the masonry supports of the bridge, which stunned him, and made him unable to save himself in the water. In vain attempt to rescue his fellow worker, George Mains was made unconscious by the icy water, and barely escaped with his life. At right, Mains is shown being taken aboard a police launch for medical treatment following attempt to save the drowned worker. The bridge is shown at Minnesota Unions Lead Rising Sentiment Favoring a Labor Party ‘ OTHER SECTIONS SHOW SIGNS AS GRISIS DEEPENS Prepare for | Conference March 3( ST. PAUL, Feb. wards a national L lieved to have considerably as preparations re for the meeting of Farmer-Labor cor n furthered of .the a national presidential March 30. Organized labor of Mi playing an active part in the mo ment. Recently “Minne Union Advo cial organ of| the Minnesota ion of Labor| and the St. Paul Trades and Labor} Council, ried a cor ation of} the official A. F. of L. policy of “re- warding friends and pun ng en- emies.” Old Policy, a Failure. “No big economic problem has been solved by the American Federation of Labor’s political policy,” the paper states editorially. nearly half a century the labor move- ment has been dabbling in politics try- ing to get alleged friends elected and then lobbying to get these friends to carry out their pledges. ... ~ “If organized labor had proceeded 25 years ago to build a political party composed of workers, farmers and progressive elements on a platform that really touched the fundamentals of our economic system, today it would have a powerful movement like the British labor party, which would be ready to take over the government, | A half century of observation, ex- perience and study convinces us that the present political policies are fatal and futile. nowhere.” Other Sections Active. Other sections of the labor move- ment have in the past month or two They get the workers |f shown, if not as definit te, at least as keen an interest in a labor party. In-| dications in Pennsylvania, in Indiana, | Messiahs. and among large m: and file of the New Y have become esp the economic crisis as deepened. | STRIKING COAL MINERS ARE SCEPTICAL OF SENATE INQUIRY; (Continued from Page One) without provocation and withou warning, endangering the lives oi women and children. they like, the members of the senate committee can get exercise and experience by carrying water from the only well which supplies to a whole community after the anies have shut off the reg- supply. They will see ole towns lighted only by kerosene nps after the coal companies have shut off the eleciricity. The committee will see signs pro- hibiting miners picking coal from the from the coal com- ohibting them from using fuel they have brought up from s, the only supply of fuel avail- ble to heat the flimsy houses hastily thrown together to shelter the vic- tims of evictions. Injunctions and Assaults. The long list of injunctions with their clause prohibiting under penalty of a jail sentence all acts which the coal companies consider prejudicial to their interests will be laid before the committee together with record of almost numberless arrests and prose- cution of strikers and their wives and children by the coal and iron police and the state constabulary. The assaults upon the strikers and members of their families by coal company thugs, the list of raids upon individual homes and entire mining camps is being compiled. It is a record of depredation showing that the drive to smash the union has been organized on a military basis. Miners Are Skeptical. Contrary to the opinion prevailing here before the conference of labor officials last November the miners are expecting nothing in the form of tance from the senate committee. if there is a working class section in the United States where utter skep- ticism prevails in reference to the riendly or impartial character of government agencies it is in the min- ing camps in this territory. No Illusion, The senate committee will be treated courtecusly, but it will not be looked upon as a collection of The coal miners do not es of the rank |warm up to anybody whom it has rk City unions, !taken ten and one-half months to y pronounced as |find out that a war is being carried on {against them to force them back into WILL TELL MISERY the mines on the terms of the coal barons. A committee of the Pennsylvania- Ohio Relief will get a far more en- thusiastie reception in any coal camp in this section than the senate com- mittee any day in the week. No Surrender. Should the senate committee sug- gest a cessation of the struggle on he part of the miners it will be met by demonstrations of such size that it will be able to take back to Washing- ton the conviction that ten and one- half months of hunger, cold and persecution .have served only to heighten the fighting spirit here and caused the miners to lump coal barons and government together as their enemies. “If these senators want to know} what the coal and iron police did to| me I'll show them my scars. If they want to know what I think about it let them read “The Coal vigger,” said one of the most trustea local leaders. This about expresses the general opinion. SUPPORTS STEAL FROM SOVIET U. Frederick R. Coudert,; attorney for the “State of Russia,” has refused to offer an accounting of the payment of $984,000 by the Lehigh Valley Rail- road Company to Serge Ughet, for- mer Kerensky aide, for the loss of munitions in the Black Tom (N. J.) fire twelve years ago. The Soviet Union has officially protested against the award and also against the pay- ment of the money to the United States Treasury as interest on the Kerensky debt to this country. The State Department is support- ing the steal, offering the excuse that the Soviet government is now recog- nized here, the State Department evi- dently prefering to recognize the Kerensky regime which has been out of existence for ten years. The demand for an accounting was made by Charles Recht, 110 W. 40th Street. COOLIDGE DRAWN DEEPER INTO OIL DEBAUCH OF 1920 Senate Committee Puts Fingers in Ears (Continued from Page One) these bonds over to T. Coleman du Pont, republican senator from Dela- ware and head of the Empire Trust Company, to pay the balance on a campaign debt of $1,800,000. Senator du Pont is barricaded in his home supposedly recovering from a |throat operation which his doctors | | say, picturesquely, has resulted in the | “loss of his voice,” the hesitation in calling Hays is considered especially | significant. Since | Involves Coolidge. Since Hays testified in March 1924 before the senate committee inves- tigating the Teapot Dome lease, that | he had received $75,000 from Sinclair | which he “believed” had been used to | pay off the notes covering part of | the 1920 campaign debt, and held by the Empire Trust Co., the questioning of either Hays or du Pont would un- doubtedly openly involve Coolidge and the entire, Party administration. This is even more greatly. feared since one of the notes for $100,000 paid off with Sinclair’s money is dated just three weeks after the lease of Teapot Dome to Sinclair in 1922, thus proving that Coolidge and all the others involved in the 1920 campaign were just as much a part of the Teapot Dome steal as Albert B. Fall on whom the scandal was unloaded. Hays Oil Man. Will H. Hays, who after directing the Harding-Coolidge campaign in 1920, was postmaster-general in the | Harding cabinet, and is now czar of | the movies, before becoming an of- ficial part of the government con- ducted a law firm of Hays & Hays in Indiana. This firm, to which he re- turned after leaving Harding’s cab- inet, has acted as Indiana attorneys for Sinclair for years, according to He admission when testifying in 1924, LABOR WILL FIGHT ANTI-STRIKE LAW; OFFICIALS AND UNION BUSTERS FAVOR IT New York will witness one of the most interesting sessions in its his- tory if present indications are borne out in the case of the anti-strike law hearing which will begin under the {auspices of the American Bar Asso- ciation on Thursday. Information that numbers of labor leaders and rank file unionists will appear to protest against the pro- posal at the headauarters of the Bar Association, 42 West 44th St., where the hearing will take place, has been | received throughcut the past week. Join With Labor’s Enemies. Wm. Green, president of the Amer- jican Federation of Labor, who has been widely quoted as a supporter of the proposed move regarded as a blow against labor, is scheduled to be the first speaker at the hearing. Matthew. Woll, vice president of the |A. F. of L., and acting president of the open shop National Civie Feder- ation; is also scheduled to appear. In support of the measure and work- ing together with the labor officials in secking to put it over, will be the | representatives of the anti-union Na- tional Association of Manufacturers, the union busting United Typothetae, \the open shop organization of the employing printers, the National In- dustrial Conference Board and other such organizations. Vicious Propaganda. Propaganda by the committee of the Bar Association sponsoring the hill which has been thick and fast during the last year is: now being speeded up even more intensely. An- nouncement was made yesterday by Julius Henry Cohen, chairman of the committee that an attempt will be made to secure such prominent in- dividuals as Jett Lauck, labor econ- |pmist, to appear. Thus far no rank and file labor leader, immediately responsible to his | membership has dared to come out in support of the bill. In spite of all the propagarida issued by the Bar ‘Association Committee no denial of this fact has been made although Mr. Cohen has many times sought to give the impression of labor support A huge mass meeting is being called |by the Trade Union Educational | Workers League for Wednesday night at 8 p. m. at the Manhattan Lyceum, 44 Fast 4th St. to protest against the bill. Wm..Z. Foster, national sec- retary of the League and leader of 'the 1919 steel strike will be the chief speaker; Ben Gitlow, member of the Central Executive Committee of the (Communist) Party, will also speak. John J. Ballam, local sec- retary of the League, will preside, New England Textile Bosses Reap Profits | (Continued from Page One) yesterday that they will not restore the wages of the textile workers to the amount they were prior to the wage cut instituted on January 30. This statement was made to the of- ficials of the Fall River Textile Coun- cil after they had been instructed by the membership to ask the employers for the elimination of the wage reduc- tion. Most of the union membership de- clare that even when they had agreed to demand the return of the higher wages, they had not acted determin- edly enough at the conferences with the bosses to succeed in having the employers consider the request seri- ously. As proof of this contention, the workers point to the statement of William Harwood, secretary of the Textile Council. In a manner quite apparently unconcerned, Harwood made the following statement after the demand had been refused: “The members of the manufacturers’ asso- ciation declared they were forced to refuse this request, but promised to consider it in the future if present conditions were changed,” he said. The above answer is to be consid- ered as the official report of the dele- gates to the conference with the em- ployers, when the members of the Textile Council meet tomorrow at their regular membership meeting. It is believed that the council leadership will again attempt to prevent the workers from taking any strike ac- tion. Cleveland Youth Dance CLEVELAND, Feb. 13,—The West Side Branch of the Young Workers (Communist) League is arranging a spring dance for Sunday, March 4, at the Finnish Association Hall, 1900 West 25th St. Watch for further anouncements! PUSH AIR LINES TO S, AMERICA TO AID WALL ST. MacCr acken F Fears Bus opean Competition WASHINGTON, Feb. 13—Empha- sizing the fact that “European na- tions are actively engaged in estab- lishing air transportation service in South and Central America,” William P. MacCracken, Jr., asst. secretary of commerce for aeronautics, issued pub- licity yesterday urging the immediate extension of additional air lines to the south in response to an* appeal by Lindbergh on the eve of his return flight. Past Year Busy. Pointing out in his article that sev- eral new air lines were inaugurated during the past year, and still others are in various stages of development, he stated that most of these lines had been confined within a single country or between important cities of two countries, such as the Key West-Ha- vana line. This, MacCracken writes, is not sufficient, since “transportation is indispensable to commerce and in- dustry as they exist today,” referring to “vast areas rich in natural resour- ces awaiting further development” to the South. After stating that many of the rea- sons for our temporary advantages over Europe in Central and South America were rapidly disappearing, the asst. secretary of commerce stated that the administration officials have long recognized the truth of these statements, and taken action prelim- inary to the establishment of foreign mail air lines. He called upon the business men to avoid losing their favorable advantages in the Western Hemisphere by improving the “car- riage of mail, express and passengers —essentials of commerce.” Immediate action on_ legislation pending in congress which would au- thorize the postmaster general to con- tract for foreign air mail service on terms that should make it possible to establish commercial air lines on the order of those suggested by Mac- Cracken, is expected as a follow-up on Lindbergh’s flight. 1927 Was a Year of Warfare Against Workers --- Report of Jay Lovestone SIXTH INST! ALLMENT. (Continued from Satu rday’s DAILY ) “Let us t merely enu events in the year. We will the corrupt bur: munists and the needle trades. e war of s on the Com- wing in the | the same war| left Second: | in the UMWA and the robbing of the| progressives who were elected to the| | Teading offices in the union. Third:} the new wage policy and union-man- ment co - operation schemes. Fourthy, the U. S. supreme court de- cision in the Redford stone cutters’ case. “5, The sweeping injunction wave. “6. The crushing blows dealt the United Mine Workers of America. “7, The increasing signs of resist- ance to attack shown by the workers | in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, in the needle trades, in Colorado. “Now the significance of these de- feats is inestimable for us and for the working class. We had here, par- ticularly in the United Mine Workers of America, a crass example of what the treacherous policies of the bureau- eracy will bring any labor organiza- tion. We have been having in the inited Mine Workers disruption, crises, yes almost collapse of the Uni- Mine Workers, the removal of e proletarian backbone of the labor vement, the removal of the great- reservoir of militancy in the A. F, L. The defeat of the miners, if it mes final and decisive, will be a ior disaster for the whole labor yement. Here we have the key to the acute crisis in the trade unions, “The severe economic recession, the inereasing challenge to American im- perialism are the basic factors caus- ing the bourgeoisie to bring greater These forces sharpen the attack of the bourgeoisie, Add to these the rav- ages, wrought in the ranks of the la-) bor movement by the disastrous reac- tionary policies of the bureaucracy and you will be able to understand why it is that in 1919 the United Mine | Workers’ Union was able to tie-up a) minimum of 70 per cent of coal pro- duction and today is able to tie-up a maximum of 17 per cent. “The American capitalists have al- ways been hostile to trade unionism. The bigger the capital the greater the hostility. General Motors would consider it a huge concession to give its workers even a company union. The bourgeoisie today, as a class, are out to destroy the trade unions as determinant force in wage standards and working conditions, “In the present period of imperial- ism all workers’ organizations, especi- ally those of a mass character, are! picked for destruction by the bour- geoisie. But we should keep in mind the fact that the swing of the official labor movement to the right does not mean that the whole labor movement is a labor movement of the aristocracy and is hopelessly reactionary. That would be wrong. The relative import- anee of the labor aristocracy today is decreasing. “A few words about class collab- oration. Class collaboration’ has not disappeared and will probably be with us for some time. But class collab- oration has been shaken to its founda- tions by recent developments. The very increasing challenge to American imperialism bringing in its wake more competition, decreasing the capacity of the American bourgeoisie to bribe the labor aristocracy, the economic de- pression, are undermining class col- laboration. Besides it is not necessary for the bourgeoisie to resort to class The workers’ organizations have been! considerably undermined. Then there) are subjective factors, like the collapse | of the class collaboration schemes, the} labor banking in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, This is a pow- erful force making for the disillusion-| ment of the masses with class collab-| oration on an increasing scale. But though weakened class collaboration may even in this very period of de- pression assume new forms, we must, therefore, be on guard to fight it as energetically as ever. “What effect does the economic re- cession have on the labor movement? Insofar as the bureaucracy is con- cerned they are going to continue their role of being agents for the biggest bourgeois group. Green’s New Year the bureaucracy does for imperialism. However, the further down we go in the ranks of the bureaucracy the, deeper will be the differences. These differences the Party must utilize, but we must not base our policies on these differences. Our policies are based on the masses and on the objective conditions in the country. “Insofar as the socialist party is may be slightly critical of the pro- posed Woll anti-strike law, as the New Leader editorial today indicates, still they will not fight it, and if given certain half-hearted promises and ‘guarantees’ the outlook is that they will endorse it, “The progressive elements. We should not have a static concept of progressives. We must distinguish between progressive leaders and their followers, the progressive masses, “But the progressive elements are letter is a classic specimen of what concerned, though some of the leaders |* | pressure to bear on the working class.| collaboration methods of a certain | of vital importance to us in the devel-| character at this time because the job| opment of the left wing thru serving of weakening the labor unions has|as one of the important factors for been done already to a large extent.| the development of the left wing. “Our Party must base its policies |on the masses and the objective con- ditions. The smashing of the unions, the smashing of the workers’ stand- | | ards of living, the increasing speed-/| |up and wage-cuts, the lengthened | hours, give our Party an opportunity to engage actively and im a leading § capacity in the mass struggles. The more the bureaucracy g@es to the right; the more the sti s of the working class are for the very basic, fundamental rights; the more the masses will be thrown into struggles; the greater the masses participating in such battles; the greater the oppor- tunities for our Party to lead in these struggles. Imper‘alism and the American try do not earn annually an average weekly wage of $25. “The workers’ savings have in-| creased, but these are not necessarily capital for the workers. In the hands | of the powerful finance capitalists | dominating the whole economic sys-| tem these savings become forces of | inereasing power for the bourgeoisie. “It is true also that in America we do not have the extensive system of social insurance that is to be found in some of the European countries. This system is paid for largely by the employers. and government. Conse- quently a portion of the savings of the workers goes towards the payment of social insurance, “Let us admit even that the stand- ard of living of the American work- ing class is higher than the standard of living in any other working class in the world. But it is not enough for Working Class, “I don’! want to go into the details involving the basic effects of Ame: | ican-imperialism on the working class. | | Suffice it. to say that the capitalist propaganda that the American work- jing class as a class is bourgeoisified materially, doesn’t stand up as much as. many of us might suspect on the basis of insufficient evidence. The Aact of the matter is that there are no more than about 2% million stock- holders. The bourgeoisie have told us there are fifteen million stockholders in this country. 96 per cent of the stock dividends go to those stockhold- us to compare it with the standard of another working class, say one in war-torn European capitalist coun- ies, We must compare the trend of the standard of living within this | country itself. We further find that in speaking of standards of living we should not speak of it as one common standard for the working class as a whole. The labor aristocracy has primarily benefited from the standard of living rise. Examine the wages of the miners and you will find a con- sistent decline, “Furthermore, we must admit that the American labor aristocracy is the labor aristocracy within the labor ers who are not members of the work- ing class. “Insofar as wages are concerned, the myth of high wages has recently been exploded by the department of labor findings ond the findings of other experts indicating that at least sixteen million workers in this coun- aristocracy of the world’s labor move- ment. But in no country in the world is the gap betweeen the labor aristo- cracy and the great mass of semi- skilled and unskilled workers so big. In no other country in the world is exploitation so intense; in no country in the world do the workers get used up so quickly. Accepting the fact that there are tremendous forces making for the material bourgeoisification of large sections of the working class we must also view the counter-tendency forces making for the proletarianiza- | tion of increasing sections of the working class, the continued expro- | priation of the great mass of the | population of the country. | The ex- | propriation of the farmers, the draw- ing of women and youth into industry, \the proletarianization of the Negroes, ithe expropriation of the petty-bour- |geoisie—these are among the forces imarkedly counteracting the trend to- wards the bourgeoisification of the American working class.” (To Be Continued). A Reb Book of el Poems “MINOR MUSIC” By Henry Reich, Jr. MANY OF THESE POEMS HAVE APPEARED IN THE DAILY WORKER AND OTHER RADICAL PAPERS. An Excellent Gift From One Rebel to Another Order from: LARGE-SIZE BOOK, Co- BALT BLUE COVBR, STAMPED IN GOLD. REG- ULAR EDITION—$1.00 PER COPY, | WORKERS LIBRARY PUB- LISHERS, 39 East 125 St, NEW YORK, = |