The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 29, 1928, Page 6

| Page Sia THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 29, 1928 THE DAILY WORK ER) Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'’N, Ine. Daily, Except Sunday $3 Ficst Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: ‘ SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per year $3.50 six months Phone, Orchard 1680 | | | | | $2.50 three months. $2.00 three months. i ) | “Daiwork” ne Address and mail out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. ..ROBERT MINOR Qe ..WM. F. DUNNE Eutere¢ as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. ¥., under | the act of March 3, 1879. | Editor... Assista: itor. New Danger for Miners | Let no one imagine that a committee of United States sen-| ators, a part of the state machinery of the capitalist class, are | pretending to conduct an investigation of the situation of the | miners and their families in the Pittsburgh region, because they | are in sympathy with labor. They are there as representatives | of their class because, until now, all other methods have failed to | drive the workers back to the mines under scab conditions. | | The determined fight of the rank and file of the miners | against the vile efforts of the employers and the Lewis machine, | and the growing support of the miners’ struggle on the part of | advanced elements of the American labor movement, has been and | is effective. Throughout the miners’ union there is developing a | powerful “save the union” movement, that has as its central slogan } the elimination of the bureaucracy: “Lewis Must Go!” In many parts of the country the miners are preparing for April 1st, when there will be strikes against mines that have been operating dur- | ing the period of the struggle in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio. | The rank and file is becoming aroused to the menace that threat- | ens the very existence of their organization. They know the} treacherous Lewis policy is to aid the employers crush—district | by district—every vestige of militancy in their ranks, and they | are preparing to fight. The employers also know that the strike | AS WOLF TO WOLF By Fred Ellis “Rotten conditions, ain’t they, Senator?” “Ah! The better for our political purposes, my dear.” BOOKS The Labor Defender has appropria- ted capitalist technique for the pur- pose of showing capitalist terrorism against the working class. Using numerous photographs, excellently reproduced, the current issue of the magazine presents a vivid picture of the class war on an_ international scale. Short pithy articles and action photographs tell the story of the class war in terms which should be clear to the least class conscious reader. Two of the photographs in the current issue show the bodies of Nicaraguan workers Mangled by American bombs at Ocotal. They tell one part of the story of Wall street pohcy in Nicaragua in a way that goes beyond the reach of words, T, J. O’Flaherty’s first hand in- vestigation of -police terror in the coal fields of Pennsylvania is an- other proof that American capitalism is hardly more gentle in treating its rebellious workers at home than in its colonies. “Roaming bands of human vermin,” he says “combed from the alleys of slumdom are shooting up school houses and barracks under the orders of the coal operators and with the connivance of the coal operators’ governor in the executive mansion at Harrisburg. The union miners are always guilty until they are proven innocent, in the eyes of the state governor and the injunction judi- See Peery es a The international capitalist war against labor is described in “Strang- ling Labor in Greece,” by A. Zevgas, “Augusto Sandino Answers & Wall Street Puppet” by General Rafael !de Nogales, and an appeal for aid for the victims of the Chinese white by Sen. Katayama. terror by a oe —_— will be extended to other fields, and the politicians at Washington also know it. Hence they are anxious to pacify the Pittsburgh region by some sort of swindle in the form of conciliation or ar- bitration, with the senators or other politicians acting as repre- sentatives of that metaphysical entity known as “the public.” They hope to break the resistance of the Pennsylvania and Ohio miners before the other districts take up the fight. They fear the rise of militant, effective unionism. The utter dishonesty and class prejudice of the senate com- mittee is evidenced by the fact that, although-in the region a week, faced with overwhelming evidence proving a reign of terror by state police and coal and iron thugs and gunmen, with destitu- tion and poverty taking its toll of human life, they have made no attempt to plare the reSponsibility precisely where it belongs— at the door of the scab-herding, strikebreaking corporations con- trolled by the real boss of the Coolidge administration at Wash- ington, Andrew W. Mellon, and his man Friday; Governor Fischer of Pennsylvania, himself a scab mine owner. A glance at the personnel of the senate committee indicates its qualification for its job. It is eminently fitted to play the role of “arbitrator” or recommend arbitration in order to deceive the strikers into submission to the employers. Burton K. Wheeler, vice presidentia] candidate of the La Follette third party ticket in 1924, and one of Bill Green’s “friends of labor,” who now de- fends the Mellon-Coolidge Wall Street coalition of republicans and democrats in the senate, is the “radical” of the committee. The chairman is Senator Frank R. Gooding, republican, of Idaho, mil- lionaire land holder and sheep magnate; Senator William B. Pine, republican, of Oklahoma, a banker, millionaire oil operator and exploiter of non-union labor. The fourth member is the New York Tammanyite, Robert F. Wagner, a Wall Street lackey. The only effective answer of the miners to this new attempt to destroy their organization is to continue the fight and never accept any compromise proposition. The employers are weaken- ing, otherwise the United States senate committee would not be there. Their presence in the coal region is a new danger, but at the same time it is a tribute to the vitality of the miners and to the left wing of the whole labor movement that is making possible the continuation of the militant struggle. Capitalism Makes Idle Hands “The march of the machine makes idle hands,” says the New York Times. But it is not the machine itself; it is the machine under the capitalist system. The machine, the result of inven- tion, which is esSentially a social phenomenon, under a system of production organized for use and not for profit, would not im- pose idleness upon whole sections of the working class, thereby depriving them of a means of existence, but would shorten the hours of labor for all workers. Today we have widespread unemployment and misery of the working class at a time when the mechanical forces of this country have reached a stage of productivity never before at- tained in the history of the world. Increased productivity hastens unemployment, which in turn decreases the demand of the home market. The foreign market is bitterly fought for by rival im- perialisms that are also increasing their productive forces. In an effort to postpone and in the hope of eventually overcoming crises, the home market is feverishly inflated by installment- selling—mortgages upon future wages of the working class. Un- employment makes impossible the meeting of deferred payments thereby deepening the crisis. The result is that that which was vised to overcome crises only intensifies them. Then the sharp struggle for profits causes “rationalization,” vhich more highly develops mass machine production, speeding up the workers still remaining in industry, thereby rendering other masses of workers jobless. Thus every attempt to solve the problem of crises, and wide- spread unemployment within the confines of the capitalist sys- tem, only turns into its opposite, intensifies the situation and brings out in bold relief the irreconcilable contradictions of the system itself. Only the working class, by destroying the political power of the capitalist class, and proceeding to organize society upon the socialist base, can solve the problem of unemployment, and make the machine the instead of the master of man, pa fedoras crest Role of the Woman Worker in History By OLGA GOLD, The conception that women are in- ferior to men, naturally weaker phy- sically and mentally, is one of the prize illusions with which the master class of the world have drugged the workers, and which they have used as a tool for oppression. Consciously or unconsciously, will- ingly or unwillingly, woman herself has swallowed this “theory.” For ages women bore the burden of double exploitation. The best refu- tation of this “theory” lies in history itself. In the barbaric stone age (primitive Communism) when exploiters and ex- ploited were not yet known, when people lived in communal-groups, the women of that stage of development were on an equal plane with the men, they had the same duties, and respon- sibilities as the men. Let it be noted that, according to the investigations of anthropologists, at the lowest stage of the development of humanity, wom- en did not differ much from men even physically in appearance, form and strength. Early History. There were certain periods, when women were recognized as superior in intelligence. As a matter of fact she was the first to develop intellec- tually. This intellectual superiority caused her to take the lead in the primitive religions of Egypt, Asia and Greece as exemplified by the fact that the first inventions of the arts and trades were attributed to goddesses and not to gods. The sub-division of labor in latter history led to a sharper demarkation of classes and resulted in greater and more intense exploitation, the in- creased merciless oppression of one class by another, and unlimited mis- ery and sufferings for the working class as a whole. The most unbear- able part of the exploitation rested upon the shoulders of the working class women. The domestic duties were the out- come of more or less fixed settlement in communities. The functioning of the kitchen and making ends meet marked her most essential functions. When money value determines the value of respect and consideration of one human being for another, wom- an’s toil, which does not produce com- modities for further profits, becomes practical slavery. Altho the function- ing of the kitchen formerly before the simplification of the technique of pro- tion was a fundamental necessity the women became dependent, op- pressed and helpless. Special laws were made for women, special litera- ture was written with the intention to seek in various ways to ignore women more and more. All fori or excuse of education was denied to women, The richer strata of the ex- ploiting class bought and sold hun- dreds of women and they were faced not only with impossible exploitation but also were compelled to serve as a reserve for constant change for satis- faction of sexual life, - .Women In Industry. The bosses, always vicious and in- terested in more profits, hunted for cheaper labor, and thus forced wom- en’s and children’s entry in‘. indus- try. In England, the first country to develop industrially the parasite classes, in the many cases where par- ents would not permit six and seven- year-old children to go to factory- prisons where they would become stunted and crippled before maturity, these bosses who always pave the state apparatus on their side, secured |the labor movement. Not at all. children from the orphan asylums. When she becomes awakened, she is The great majority of the working the most determined, inspired, and people did’ not understand nor chai- ;courageous of fighters. These are a lenge women and child labor as a/few citations of women’s participa- natural development of capitalist so- |tion in labor struggles. ciety, but believed it to be an epi- | Participate in Struggle. demic which would soon pass away. | In the 18th century, a working With the evolution of machinery |women’s movement arose during the and the simplification of the téchnique | period of the French Revolution. of production a new era was born. The Women played an outstanding role, value of the skilled worker (the hand- fought on the -barricades under the tool worker) decreased to a very low leadership of Rose Lakomb, Endien, degree. Squadrons of men are dis- Chabrie, Reni, Odei. A march on Ver- charged daily, and replaced by women sailles was made. Several important and children. The low wages of the organizations of women were created, men forces the women into industry. as the Club of Women Revolutionists, The exploiter delights in exploiting During the American Revolution, the weakness of women; not only her When America fought for independ- wages are less, but she does not be- ence from British oppression, women come aware so rapidly of the actual were active participants. Mercy Wep- conditions prevailing, which fact may per symbolized the spirit of these interfere with his tyrannical method women who made striking liberal de- of exploitation. “ mands, demands more radical than The question arises whether the those of George Washington. working woman is lost or useless to| In European revolutionary strug- gles, women have written glorious pages of heroism. Splendid figures are those of Vera Zasulich, Vera Figner and Rosa Luxembourg, who was mur- dered by the bloody agents of imper- ialism while raising her voice of pro- test and challenging the working class to unite their forges against im- perialist war. Clara Zetkin too, whose name is dear and beloved to the class conscious proletariat the world over, is a grand old daughter of revo- lution, and an internationally known leader of the working class. As far back as 1910, convinced of the vital necessity for the organization of women, she directed the formation of the Socialist Women’s Conference which was held in March of that year. The main slogans of this conference were: “Organization of the working class as a whole,” “Fight against pre- paration for capitalist war,” “Equal pay for equal work,” “No sex discrim- ination.” Again, in March 1915, in Berne, Switzerland, she led the sec- and to set up a practical programme moralization. toe hee By A. LOZOVSKY. (Continued from Last Issue.) Among the numerous items on the agenda, there is also one which re- fers to the fight against Fascism and the Fascist trade unions. This ques- tion is of all the more importance, seeing that under our very eyes there is in some countries a political and in other countries an organizatory fusion of Fascism and Reformism. The Reformists are very fond of put- ting Bolshevism on the same level as Fascism, on the grounds that both of them are inclined to resort to force in fighting their opponents. This! demagogic comparison must not dis- courage us. For us the main question is against whom this force is em- ployed. Fascism employs force against che workers. Bolshevism against the bourgeoisie. Meanwhile the — co- operation between the Reformists and the Fascists become daily more apparent. Apart from the fact that the American trade unions are in no way to be distinguished from the Fascist ones, we see this cooperation in Italy, where some of the most prominent Reformists simply placed themselves at the service of the Fascists. In quite a number of other countries we see the reactionary Fascist Governments making use of the Social Democrats and Reformists for the purpose of fighting the Com- munists and the revolutionary tradc unions is not only a general politicu The fight against the Fascist trad unions is not only a gneral politics fight, it is a serious, organizator, and .daily struggle. In those cou tries in which the Fascists have suc ceeded by force in embodying «© small percentage of unenlightene: workers in their organizations, oui organizatory work must be in- creased, special attention being paid to the object of saving these workers from the demoralizing influence of the Fascist trade unions. Very fre- quently backward workers who arc disappointed in the Reformist and Social Democratic leaders, go over to the Fascist trade unions. Such de- velopments are to be observed in Germany, and it is therefore our duty | to pay serious attention to this poin' | of measures for the purpose of fighi- ing against the permeation of the This Congress will also have to work out a serious programme in lation. None of the promises were kept, which had been given im- mediately after the war by the Re- formists and the intimidated bour- geois governments. There is hardly a trace of all the achievements of the reformist-bourgeois bloc in re- gard to social legislation. The last by the robbery of a series of elemen- tary achievements cf the working class. In many countries the eight- hour day has become little more than a matter of fiction. It will be neces- sary, moreover, to work out a de- tailed programme in regard to the protection of women, the protection of the youth, night labor, unemploy- ment, relief in the case of invalidity, sickness, old age, etc. All these questions appear to be perfectly lucid. But the actual task before us does not consist in the recognition by the leaders of the trade union movement of the useful- ness of social legislation, but rather in the fact that a sys- ‘workers’ organizations by Fascist de- regard to the fight for social legis-} few years have been characierized; The World Red Labor Congress tem of social legislation be made the centre of the attention of the broad masses, that a decisive fight be started, the masses mobilized to fight for concrete demands, and thou- sands and millions of workers united for the purpose of wresting from the bourgeoisie a real improvement in their position. Social legislation is a matter that ought to attract the at- tention of all.revolutionary workers and all adherents of the Red Inter- national of Labor Unions. We must put up a fight for the daily interests of the working class, a fight for par- tial demands, without of course for a moment forgetting our final aim. The Congress will open in March 19°8, So that this Congress may treat all quesiions exhaustively and so that all organizations affiliated to the Red International of Labor Unions may benefit by the approach- ing Congress, it is requisite that all organizations should discuss the agenda in detail at their district and provincial sessions and submit their suggestions to the Congress. We must not come to the Congress empty-handed, nor improvise our suggestions on the spot. We must approach the Congress with a collec- tive expression of opinion; we must collect and study the experiences of the last few years and inform the others both of the good and of the bad side of our activity, of our suc- | zesses and of our failures. It is only oy such a serious preparatory work ‘or the Congress that serious and ‘seful results can be attained. We must not follow the example of the Amsterdamities, whose con- sresses make such a lamentable and ‘idiculous impression. I need but re- mind you of the Paris Congress and of the squabble that resulted in the matter of the secretarial mppoint- ments. Every organization affiliated co the Red International of Labor Unions and every revolutionary min- ority ought to employ the time which has still to elapse before the Con- gress for the purpose of a serious and: considerate preparation for the Fourth Congress of the R.L.L.U., so that all problems facing the inter- national Labor movement may be comprehensively discussed and the Be ioes of the broad proletarian masses may be pramoted. . ond International Working Women’s Conference. This conference held during the war under the most diffi- cult conditions and due to its illegal- ity participated in by the represen- tatives of only eight nations, was re- latively small but of the utmost his- torical significance. It adopted reso~ lutions against the needless, terrible destruction of the working class in the imperialist war. It issued a call for working women to unite and ex- press their solidarity with revolution- ary workers the world over. Even in America, where the work- ing class is the least class-conscious, the most extremely backward, the working women can show untold ex- amples of self-sacrifice and unyield- ing militancy. The courageous front of the women in the miners’ strike, in Pennsylvania and Colorado, of which “Flaming Milka” Sablich is a significant symbol. The left wing of the labor movement shows innumer- able examples of struggles in which women have given of themselves without stint, many of them at an early age sacrificing home, parental approval, security and comfort for their ideals and ideas. All this sig- nifies that in the struggles ahead, working women will be a decisive fac- tor of immeasurable significance. Solidarity Necessary. The capitalists are fully aware of the effective weapon women can be- come in the struggles of labor. The bosses systematically mobilize all their forces to win over working wo-~ men. The National Women’s Party, the direct agency of the capitalist class, is intensifying its campaign against the special legislation against night work and for the 48-hour week for women. These women steeped in luxury base their arguments against this protective legislation on the slo- gan of equality. Our challenge to these wives and other mistresses of the parasite bosses is that night work for women means greater un- employment, more wage cuts, sharper misery for the working class, that women shall and must heve suffi- cient care and, protection, esnecially the protection of motherhood. Tnless the workers can have the protection of a party of their own, they will meet with more intensive and greater evils of exploitation and oppression. American women must realize that the liberation of women can only be achieved by following the example of the Russian masses, The International Women’s Day celebration must be turned into a huge protest demonstration against imperialist wars, and preparation fe wars, against the White Terror of the forces of reaction, against the planned attack of the allied forces of imperialism upon the Soviet Union, the only country on the surface of the globe where workers and peasants rule, for the building of a strong La- bor Party to defend the interests of the working class. A united front of all workers against the growing of- fensive of the capitalist class, SWITCHMAN HURT, MAY DIE. JERSEY CITY, N. J., Feb. 28— Michael Lesink, 32, a switch tender in the Pennsylvania Railroad yards here may die as a result of injuries received yesterday when he struck by a freight train while 2 work. He received a compound frac- ture of the left leg, which will prob- J A