The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 10, 1928, Page 8

THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YOR@, SATURDAY. a Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'N, Inc. 3 Daily, Except Sunday $3 First Street, New York, N. Y. Toh Cable Address: %, SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): €800 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per year $3.50 six months ng $2.50 three months. $2.00 three’ months. Phone, Orchard 1680 “Daiwork” Address and mail out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. -ROBERT MINOR Assistant Editor... ... WM. F. DUNNE ‘as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. ¥., under the act of March 3, 1879 John L. Lewis---Strikebreaker The statement of John L. Lewis to the senate committee Thursday that thousands of miners in other coal fields are eager to go on strike in support of the struggle of their brothers in Pennsylvania and Ohio fields—and that he, the president of the United Mine Workers, is actively preventing their going out,—is Lewis’ confession that he is engaged in strike-breaking against the United Mine Workers of America. In a strike for the life of the Union—a strike precipitated by the Pennsylvania coal operators’ violation of their contract— Lewis advises that the mine workers under contract in other dis- tricts shall not “repudiate an agreement.” Aside from the con- temptible slavishness in speaking of the “sacredness” of an agree- ment between slaves and slave-holders, it is clear that Lewis’ motives arise not out of questions of contracts, but from the de- sire to keep the strike as small as possible. Lewis’ strike-break- ing activities are not confined to cases where existing contracts are concerned. This was proven when Lewis and Fishwick pulled the key district of Illinois out of the strike when there was no unexpired contract. It is proven again today by the fact that Lewis and Fishwick are sweating blood in the hope to prevent the Illinois miners joining the strike on April 1, when the present contract expires. + Has Lewis called upon the Illinois mine workers to fight against the wage-cut when the District 12 contract expires on April 1? Has he advised them to come out with their brother workers of Pennsylvania and Ohio? No. Lewis’ motives in this ease are not based on “sacredness of contracts.” His bunk about the ‘sacredness of contracts” is based on his motive of preventing a wider strike which would make the mine workers practically in- vincible, which would save and enormously strengthen the U. M. W. of A., but which would weaken the hold of John L. Lewis on the Union. When Lewis prides himself before the senate commission on the fact that he made the miners submit to the government bitu- minous coal commission in March, 1920, when “commanded” to do so by Woodrow Wilson—Lewis throws a light on his policies. His policies are to break down the strength of the mine workers, render them powerless to act for themselves, and to consolidate the institution of “president’s mandates” as the final law over the lives of the mine workers. Why is Lewis inevitably driven to open strikebreaking by his own policies? His policy is class collaboration and the pro- tection of capitalist exploitation by preventing militancy and class struggle on the side of the workers: collaboration between the slave and the slave-owner and the preservation of wage-slav- ery. The traditions of the United Mine Workers’ Union and the objective conditions in the coal industry—all work against Lewis’ policy. In order to put over his policy and to maintain his control of the Union, Lewis must fight against the traditions of the Union and against the immediate life-and-death interests of the mine workers. Today a big revival of the Union, strengthened with the influx of hundreds of thousands of now unorganized slaves—today a spreading of the strike thruout the Illinois, In- diana, Kansas and the smaller districts and the drawing in of the anthracite districts—today the winning of a nation-wide coal styike—would mean the destruction of the policies of Lewis and a wave of militancy in the Miners’ Union which Lewis could not ride. Lewis and all his Fishwicks and Cappelinis would go down under any real victory of the United Mine Workers. This is what Lewis means when he whines to the senate com- mission that the open arrogance of the mine operators “‘has sup- ported the contentions made by every soap-box orator in this country on the oppressions of labor.” * Lewis is not fighting to spread and win the strike. But the strike can be won in spite of Lewis. To win the strike would be to get rid of Lewis, and Lewis sees this writing on the wall. All militant workers everywhere mustmake it their business to see that the mine workers win, by sending them the means to live while they fight. Is the Revolution “Through”? The clash between Egypt and Great Britain over the rejection of the imperialist treaty giving British imperialism the right to garrison Egypt with troops and to police the country with its Spies and bureaucrats—fits together with the blazing of civil war in Arabia against the same British imperialism. _ It is the position of the social-democratic agents of the cap- italist system that the period of world revolution has passed. But the careerist leaders always look upon the “revolution” as @ respectable thing that never passes the borders of highly de- veloped European and American capitalist countries. ° Lenin tore the mask off of the hypocrites who help suppress revolutions of colonial and semi-colonial peoples under the excuse lat such peoples “are not ripe for socialism.” The Communist International broke down for the workers of the world the illusion reated by imperialism in the minds of “its own’ workers, that ‘ revolution ‘has nothing to do with so-called “inferior” peoples. -enin pointed out anew to the workers of the world the great Marxian truth that Asia, with its population of more than half the inhabitants of the world, is now breaking into world-history ‘to play a big role in the overthrow of imperialism. 5 Those who try to lull the working class to sleep with pretenses of the possibility of peace under a capitalism that is feverishly reparing for another world-war, depend for the success of their lying upon keeping the eyes of the masses blinded to the revolu- ms and national wars which are in course or in prospect in the st continents of Asia, Africa and Latin-America. In the world as a whole there has been no peace since the reaty of Versailles. There will be and can be no peace in this iod; it is the period of the decline of capitalism and of the letarian revolution which must and will be joined with the re- Its of the colonial slaves of imperialism. The revolution which began in the victorious establishment the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics is not “through”—it is ing, and peace will come only in its world-wide victory. $ | | By Fred Ellis The coal operators twist John L. Lewis around their fingers. Why not? Don’t they own him? Score Lewis for Murder of Campbell (Special to The Daily Worker.) PHILADELPHIA, March 9. — The Young Workers (Communist) League of District 3 yesterday issued the following statement: “The murder of the two leaders of the miners, Campbell and Reilly by the murder machine of Lewis and Cappelini is a challenge to the whole working class. These two martyred heroes were a symbol of the struggle that is raging inside of the Miners’ Union against the lackeys of the coal barons—the Lewises and Cappelinis. “The young coal miners are taking their place in this struggle to regain the Miners’ Union its role as a mili- tant union in the class struggle. The young miners who are in the fore- front of the struggle both in the an- thracite and in the strike region will now redouble their efforts to carry on the work of Campbell, Reilly and * Lillis who were murdered a few weeks back by the same murder ma- chine. Support Urged. “The Young Workers (Communist) League calls upon the young coal miners to join the building of rank and file committees to save the union and fight for the liberation of Bonita. “The Young Workers (Communist) League pledges itself to rally the young workers in all trades and in- dustries to come to the support of the mine workers in their struggle against both the coal barons and thelr stool-pigeon in the ranks of the United Mine Workers’ Union. “CG, MILLER, district organizer.” Agencies Fleece Jobless Food Workers Recently a New York City em- ployment agency sent a jobless cook to a cafeteria on Greenwich St., for a job. The agency forced the cook to put up $10 in advance. When the cook reached the ad- dress given him by the agency he found not a cafeteria, but an empty lot. He walked around the neigh- borhood, thinking the employment agency might have made a mistake in the address. But the cafeteria which the agency had named did not exist. John C., another cook, was sent out by another employment agency to a $200-a-month job. He was forced to pay $40 in advance before he could even see what the job was like or learn whether the job ex- isted. This was 20 percent of the month’s wage—twice as much as the law allows. John went down to the restaurant, looked the place over, and decided he did not care to work un- der the foul conditions he saw there. He returned to the agency for his $40. He had a reteipt for the money. The agency told him-to return the next day. He returned the next day only to be put off again. After this had oceurred several days in succes- sion, he placed the case in the hands of the Amalgamated Food Workers’ Union in whose lawyer’s hands it now is. This worker had been forced to give his last cent to the agency and suffered severe hardships as a result. Send Another Worker Another cook was sent out by the same agency on the same day for the same job. The agency sharks col- lected $40 from him also, by the fol- lowing means. Instead of giving the second worker a receipt for the en- tire’ $40 the agency gave him two receipts, each for $20. One look at the so-called restaurant the agency had sent him to was enough to drive him away. He too returned, like the first cook, to the ageney to get his $40 back. “What $40?”, shouted the employ- ment agent. “You didn’t give me $40, you gave me $20!” A policemen was called. The work- er showed his two $20 receipts. “One of them’s a duplicate’, said the agent. The policeman pushed the protesting cook out of the agency after he had been given $20 of his $40. He too went away with no more job than he had before. Slaves Totter Off Duty These are everyday occurrences in the lives of the hotel, cafeteria and restaurant workers in New York City, and, in fact, all over the coun- try. Forced to slave 12 hours a day under the foulest :conditions for meager wages when _ fortunate enough to have a job, and the prey of dishonest employment agencies when unemployed, no worker is ex- ploited more thoroughly. It is a com- mon sight to see a restaurant or hotel crew totter off duty after 12 hours of drudgery in a hot kitchen and almost fall to the ground in front of the restaurant with ex- haustion from the hard work in in- tense heat. $15 for 84 Hour Week Wages paid these workers are: busboys, average, $15 a week; dish- washers, average, $15 a week; coun- termen, average, $25 a week; cooks, average, $30 a week. Little or no wages is the lot of the waiters and waitresses. Forced to depend for a living on the whims of the customers to tip them, the wait- ers and waitresses are paid less than $5 a week on the average, many of them receiving no wage at all. Ex- ploitation cannot descend to a lower level than in the case of the dining room workers. In many of the re- staurants, cafeterias and hotels, the head waiter takes the tip returning only a percentage to the waiter or waitress. There are no laws to pro- tect the food workers. February 24, the 60 workers of the huge Knickerbocker Grill, Broad- way and 42nd St., found the doors closed with the sheriff in charge. The workers had slaved a week, were due to be paid the following day, and had received no word that the place would not be opeh. Many of them had worked in the Knickerbocker for years, The total amount these ‘work- ers were cheated out of by the Globe Catering Co., owners of the Knicker- boeker, approximated $2,000. The workers in the Clayton Cafe- teria, 303 W. 125th St., owned by B. Goldberg, recently found themselves in the same boat as the Knicker- bocker workers, Wages in both these places averaged about $15 to $20. Thousand Unemployed ~ The hotel, restaurant, and cafe- teria workers have been among the hardest hit by unemployment in re- cent months. Many thousands of food workers are out of work in this city alone and the number increases rapidly. Every employment agency on Sixth Ave., Third Ave. Seventh Ave., and the Bowery where most of them are located, are jammed to the doors. The majority of the food workers now working have part-time jobs only. One practice of the employ- ment sharks is to send a half dozen or more workers to one job, collect- ing a large fee from each in advance. The law allows the agency to col- lect 10 per cent of a month’s wages. The agency sharks find it easy to circumvent the law. Another trick is to merely clip want ads out of the papers, and send several workers to these jobs. Of course a fee is col- lected in advance from each. Agency Takes Last Cent A trick which inflicts severe hard- ship on the unemployed hotel and restaurant worker is played on hun- dreds of jobless men every Saturday. The worker is sent by the employ- ment agency early Saturday morn- ing to a job which the agency knows has been filled. The worker finds no vacancy and returns to the agency for a refund. He finds the agency closed, being after 12 by this time. This often means no food and suffering in the streets for the work- er over the weekend. Thé agency is protected by law, which allows it to hold the deposit three days. A Progressive Union. Altho the restaurant, cafeteria and hotel workers are poorly organized, the Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ branch of the Amalgamated Food Workers’ Union is making rapid strides, according to Pascal P. Cos- grove, its secretary. Among services it has rendered the hotel and restau- rant workers are, free employment service and free legal aid in such cases as those just described. The LW.W. Leadership and the The strike of Colorado miners, last- ing some four months, has been called off under conditions unfavorable for the miners. This is true in spite of the fact that the strike must be given credit for the $1 wage raise and the efficient preliminary organization work done by Embree and others, Organized and led by the I. W. W., the Colorado miners fought militantly. the national left wing movement and’ that this would happen did not antici- the fight’ against reaction in the, pate to the full extent the terror United Mine Workers. | campaign that would be organized by This at once gave the strike a nar-!the Rockefeller interests and their row base and deprived it of support) state government. it would otherwise have obtained. | Proceeding on the theory that the Even on the issue of organizing re-| governor was “neutral” the I. W. W. lief the I. W. W. insisted at the be-| leadership even entered into an agree- |ginning in making the collection of! ment with the military representa- \strike relief for Colorado separate! tives of the governor to stop picket- \from that of relief for the strikers of|ing. At other times dependence was Colorado Mine Strike icy makes it impossible to conduct a Jorganization, support of their own struggle of the workers on all fronts. | wrong social theories and organiza- Another illusion of the I. W. W., tional forms from workers who are which has had consequences for work- | bound together only by the expression ers under their leadership is the fal-'of a common enemy. They do not see lacy that having been defeated or |that the union is only a means to an having made little progress in an ‘end, that it is the mass weapon of all open strike the strikers can return to (Workers regardless of political, social work and continue the strike “on the or religious theories and that only in job.” “ \a working class political party which The impossibility of “slowing down | Workers join because they subscribe to Pennsylvania and Ohio. placed in the “fairness” of the state Of equal immediate importance, and | industrial commission. So did a’section of the I. W. W. lead-|far more important potentially, were ership. The strike was marked by | the illusions spread by a ‘section of mass murder of strikers at the Colum-|the I. W. W. leadership among the bine mine, by mass arrests and wide-| rank and file miners as to the rule spread brutality on the part of the|of the state government. state authorities. The Colorado strike, especially be- cause of the Rockefeller ownership of the state and the militant traditions of the miners, aroused nationwide sympathy and support, The miners fought with the greatest militancy and determination and the Mexican miners, something like 60 per cent of the strikers, covered themselves with glory. So did the Negro miners. But the calling off of the strike after four months while the Pennsyl- vania and Ohio miners are showing increased determination and militancy after 11 months of persecution and semi-starvation, as well as the fact that only minor gains were made, cer- tain fundamental mistakes committed by the leadership in Colorado require some comment, The chief weakness of the Colorado strike was the inability and unwilling- ness of the I. W. W. leadership to make the struggle an brace part of It was apparent from the very out- set that the full force of the state government was to be thrown against the miners. But even those who know Their contempt for “politics” and their belief that the “new society can be built up within the shell of the old” and combat with the state power of the capitalists thus avoided is ex- pressed in denunciation of all political activity. They make no distinction between working class political par- ties and capitalist parties. This pol- on the job” effectively for any length of time in highly organized machine its program, can there be complete agreement on theory, industry, or even in coal mining, | The I. W. W. has never been able which is backward industrially com- to build permanent mass organization pared to other industries, is apparent | because of its theoretical and tactical to every miner. In addition such slo- errors. It can not lead workers ex- ‘gans tend to,confuse workers, tend to ‘make them depend upon individual ac- ‘tion rather than’ upon centralized, militant and disciplined organization. The I. W. W. require as a basis for (cept to defeat and in spite of its mili- .tant struggles and the undoubted courage of its membership, the I. W. W. must be considered as an organt- In. spite of the militant spirit of the rank and file shown in demonstrations such as that pictured above, the I. W. W. leadership gave up the Colorado strike at a critical mo- ment in the national mine struggle. zation whose activities, especially in this period of great conce1 of capital, huge combinations of capital- ists and centralization of govern- mental power, the main weapon of the capitalists, create confusion and divi- sion in the ranks of the working class. The militant labor movement in the United States is in process of being built but the I. W. W. is not building it. The I. W. W. learns nothing and forgets nothing. ‘ * Only the program of the Save-the- Union committee will save and build the miners’ union into a powerful in- strument of the 800,000 coal miners. —Reprinted , March 3, — a |