The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 30, 1928, Page 4

Page Four THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1928 “Organize Us”, Plea of New Hampshire Textile Workers, Correspondent Says MEN SLAVE IN 12-HOUR NIGHT FOR S19 A WEEK Progressives Organize for Action Woman M! JHE H., (By Mail).} —Back in 1 twenty swung oper h working morning to permit 17,000 textile workers to} enter the 1 t cotton mill in the world, known as the Amoskea: facturing Co., but commonly r to by the we “the poor Its 50 buildings cover 130 acres and they say it takes one hour and a half to encircle t n foot. a few of these ng open and Ali Baba, magic words, couldn’t open any of the gates on three days a week. $8 to $10 a Week. The company now employs 6,000 workers. As they never get a full week the pay of the cotton workers} averages from $8 to $10. The plant also manufactures wo tho to a less degree. Here wo’ work 12 hours a night, week for $19. Cotton weave: from 36 to 90 looms. At le French-Canadian textile workers have returned to their former homes in Canada in the past two years. " Opportunities for organization are good, with proper leadership and a practical militant program. ame The workers here are disgusted with the reactionary leadership of the United Textile Workers Union (U. T. W.) which nducted the strike of 1922. The following is a brief outline of the Amoskeag Mill strike of 1922 and the final betrayal by the above leadership. 54 Hour Week. In Feb. 1919, as a war measure, the bosses adopted the 48 hour week. After the war they were looking for a chance to rescind this and in Feb announced the return to the 54 hour week along with a 20 per cent cut in wages The we rs struck on Feb. 13,} y and joined the only textile or- anization in the city, the United Textile Workers. The leadership of this organization put up no militant struggle but, on the contrary, blocked effor file’ for active expression. Vice-president Starr of the United Textile Workers is a mason and so is police chief Michael J. Healy. By some subterranean method these pals would meet and discuss plans and how to conduct a nice peaceable strike. Betrayal. Chief Healy could not get the 10,000 strikers to leave the picket line one morning, so brotker Starr volunteered his services and cleared the grounds in a couple of winks. Further evidence on the quietness of the strike-is given by a Mr. Jump in the “Outlook” for April 26, 1922. Jump wrote: “All in all, this strike is a specimen of the species so unique as almost to takes one’s breath away. It really reminds one of the poet’s lines, “as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean.” One wonders whether it is anything but a dream strike. Vague Misleadership. But the rank and file wouldnt stand for the betrayal, so an injunc- tion was secured by the bosses which permitted only eight pickets at a gate. The vague misleadership did no urge mass violation of the injunc- tion, but continues to caution the strikers to be ni cable and obey the bosses In line with the of the other sections where re in pro- gress, I ete., the Amoskeag ‘bo stored the 20 per cent cut on Sept. 11, 1922. But th strikers voted to carry on the str to win the 48 hours. The following is a paragraph ta‘ from the Monthly May 1923: “A committee of strikers the company on November and enquired upon what the strikers would be re-ew 1 Labor Review for] that if the strikers wished to r fo work at 54 hours per we the wage schedule then in ef; stored wages) all would be ¢ re-employment except those guilty of violence or intimidation or those whose conduct during the strike had been such as to destroy the pi i of maintaining the relation ployer and employe with mutual re- spect and confidence.” 99 Per Cent For Strike. A vore was taken by the union on the terms submitted by the com- pany, and on Nov. 20, 1922, it was announced that the terms had been rejected by a- 99 per cent vote of the strikers. On Nov. 1922, just five days | ‘later, vice-president Starr of the "United Textile Workers, recommended to the nine locals of the Central La- bor Union of Manchester that the: - strike be declared off, stating: “That the real and permanent vic- | tory for the 48 hour week is not to| 60 hours aj s on the part of the rank and} | | | } || | en gates | | England mills. | | | | be won in the offices of the textile, a oration, but in the legislative ‘fal of the statehouse.” ‘> Sunday evening, Nov. 26. 1 \Textile Mill Workers, Send Us Letters The New E in- | dustry is seething with unrest. | From one end of New England to the other, starving and exploited | textile workers are preparing to fight against the continuous wage |slashing, lengthening of hourd, speed-up and union smashing which |the bosses are using to break the back of the workers’ resistance, to/ |complete exploitation in the New Letters appearing in the Worker | Correspondence page of The} DAILY WORKER for weeks past | have revealed the unrest of the} New England textile workers. The workers are preparing to resist the | bosses, the progressives are or- ganizing, great events are looming up in the textile industry. Thousands of reader thruout the textile industry, \thruout the whole American work- ing class are eager to read the a counts of the struggle in New | England. Worker Correspondents in the ; textile mills and centers, write The | DAILY WORKER the story of the |New England textile unrest. So | that thousands may follow and [prepare to aid you in your fight. not only | | 1] || 1] | but | | NEEDLE TRADES | FAKERS REIGN | IN QUAKER CITY Continual (By a Worker Correspondent.) PHILADELPHIA, Pa., (By Mail). -The present situation in the Phila- delphia locals of the Cloak and Dress- | makers’ Union is a reflection of the “achievements” of the bureaucr the I. L. G. W. U. The union ing campaigns waged by | with the purpose of driving the m: | tants out of the orga ion resulted jin a general chaos in the Philadel- phia locals. The main part of the hee industry is unorganized. W: ages | are cut so low that the standard lpeacnes 50% of two years ago. The| |few bosses controlled by the union} j being sure ngt to find any resi ance | on the part of the union officials | take advantage of the situation and| |depress conditions so far that there | is not much difference between a junion and open shop. The clique in control of the locals —°| being a prominent link in the Sig- Ne cnnune Safety Cars | man machine, are engaged in a quiet For R. R. Mail Clerks WASHINGTON, ite ¢ master General New h —Pos' ut intensive campaign to aid the achine in its struggle, at the same {time to create the impression that |they are willing to fight for the in- ned with | terest of the workers. The clique con- the railroad companies of the country} ducted a so-called organization cam- in opposing the bill backed by the or. ganized railv mail cler1 to pr vide steel cars for the ca: mail. The National Ré Association has for ye: lIway |paign last year. | have been an answer to the urgent | ng of the}and general It was supposed to demand for organiza- Mail! tional work. For the purpose of. this ars been seek-| organization campaign $10,000 was ing from Congress this measure of | borrowed from the Hosiery Workers’ protection for the lives of its mem- bers. H. E. Mack, testifying on March 26 before the Senate committee on postoffices and post roads as spokes- man for the Missouri Pacific Rail- |road Co., said that the replacing of wooden cars by steel cars in the mail service would cost $60,000,000. He considered this highly extrava- gant. He also denied that the safety of the railway mail clerks would be assured by the discontinuance of | wooden cars. The Post Office Department’s letter stating that steel cars are not now necessary was read into the record by Senator Moses of New Hampshire. BUFFALO COMMUNE MEETING. BUFFALO, March 29.—A meeting in commemoration of the Paris Com- mune of 1871 was held here in the club rooms of the “Vale” by the In- ternational Labor Defense with James Saunders, district organizer of the Workers (Communist) Party, R. Goetz, and a member of the Young Workers League as the speakers. ee een nn eee SnenUIEUEE! 7b per cent of the workers voted to return to work. The “battle” was then carried to the statehouse. The “offices of the textile corporation” were simply transferred from the Amoskeag Co., Manchester, to the statehouse in Con- cord. The only difference “fight” at the Capital was that the workers had no representation, only } a few bamboozlers (accent on the booze) who knew the negative result, but were politicians enough to win the misled workers’ votes. ‘= The results have been that the workers of New Hampshire are still on the 54 hour schedule. The workers of Manchester coming out of their “dream” under the leadership of the progres- sive workers in the Amoskeag mill are | joining the Textile Mill Committees. are The national headquarters of the |Textile Mill Committees is at Olneyville - Square, Providence, R. I ~ FRED baa * AL. night. deposit as you wish . OPEN 'TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS 9 TO 2 SAVINGS in the] now andj OPEN TONIGHT ... until 8 o'clock! HIS should be good news to you! Now, at last, you have a bank on the East Side that open for your convenience THREE NIGHTS A WEEK: Mondays, Fridays from 9 in the morning until 8 at Open a new account, withdraw or This Is Just Another Way in Which We Serve the People Who Save! CITIZENS Union and shipped to New York to help in the struggle against the mem- bers of the New York organization. And as a result of the campaign came the organization of the Manu facturers’ Association, and an agree- ment was reached between the union and the association. Now the fake nature of this agreement is obvious to all. The clique decided to call it a “gain.” This “gain” is now referred to as a platonic relationship between | the union and the association. But} this platonic relationship neverthe- less robbed the union of the right to strike in any of the association shops | And in spite of the fact that the| bosses never had in mind to comply with any decision in the agreement. |the union officials were “true” to the |agreement to the last minute it ex: | pired. Another organization campaign was started this year. With the ex- perience of the last year’s betrayal which is still fresh in the memory of the workers, with general chaos pre. vailing in the industry, having a big unorganized field and being tied up with the famous agreement of last year, the unions started a campaign to tackle single shops and organized them one by one. | It is more than two months since this campaign was started. What are the results of the organization com- mittee? They succeeded in getting two shops out on strike. The Pioneer Waist Co., having about 35 workers and the Queen with 7 workers. The strike in the Pioneer Co. was ended with an agreement reached which was nothing more than a new edition of the existing meaningless agree- ment with the association. And two days later discharge of active union workers took place, and again the workers in this company went on} strike until the boss agreed to rein state the discharged ones. And with the Queen Company, which is an in- | |dependent shop, after a day’s strike| an. agreement was reached, but there is no union representative in the shop and the boss does not hire his workers thru the union. The organizatic onal campaign still | Wednesdays and . whenever you wish! OPEN ie an U ade s BAN Ko Betrayer of of Workers Is} 6a. m. to 9 p.m. Are Hours in Eddystone Co. CHESTER, Pa., (By Mail)—The Eddystone Print Works, a very old established concern, manufacturers of printed’ dress goods, and known for | their ability to hire cheap labor, have jresorted to a method of installing a }16 hour shift. The employees are groaning under the added burden but have continued | to stick and not organize as they fear }and dread the spectre of unemploy- | ment. A worker says that he would show his resentment openly, but he. knows the unemployment situation. The workers in the dye-room arc vorking three days from.6 a.m, t 9 p,..:am.,. Monday, Tuesday anc | Wednesday; Thursday from 6:00 a.m..to.6 p. m. and Friday 6:30 a. m j until 12. p..m. The workers are paid 35 cents per hour: and time and one-quarter for overtime. In the print-room the hours are, | three nights until 12 p. m. at the above mentioned rate. Workers have been applying for jebs only to be refused work. A worker is hired when someone gets tired of the terrible grind, and during the cold wedther the unemployed were kept outside until 8:30 a. m. The town: of Eddystone borders Chester on the North and was put on the map during the World War. The munition works and rifle plant | were built here. The daily output of | guns was 6000 per day. —Ss. goes on. The 1st of March the agree- ment with the association and the contracting association expired. What is the answer of the union? Go on with the campaigns of tackling single shops, and this is in the face of an organized resistance on the part of the bosses. In an article in the Jew- ish Forward, the manager makes an open appeal to the manufacturers to come to an understanding with the union, since only through the coop- eration of the bosses and the union will the trade be safe from the chaos in which it finds itself now. The re- sult of the organizational campaign is not hard to foresee, In the cloakmakers’ local the situa- tion is not much better. Although there are only a few open shops and in general the union has the job con- trol, there is keen unemployment and the two little “ezars” who reign in the local use the job control against the lefts and progressives Thus some of them had to leave the trade altogether. In the election of the executive board, which took place recently, every one who was under the suspicion of being a progressive was taken off without any reason at all. A great discontent will arouse the workers when piece-work is going to be forced upon them. In spite of the job control the two little “czars” have no control of the membership. The convention of the I. L. G. W U. is approaching. The machine wil) try by all means possible to pull through as delegates e of the faithful boys. The uni ill have to raise its voice at this convention, stheir demand is to stop the union- mashing policy, to stop the fight in ‘the, :union~ and the alliance of the bosses at the expense of the workers. This Convention must be a conven. tion for unity and organization of the unorganized in the garment in- dusty. —-L L. BOSSES INSTALL PIECE-WORK IN DETROIT SHOPS Use Unemployment to Carry Out System (By a Worker Correspondent.) A friend of mine was out of work for some time in this town, so he went to try his luck at getting a job} in Detroit, Michigan. After an ab- sence of four weeks, he is again back in.town since he got no job in De- troit. He said that there are many job- |less there. About half the men at | Ford’s factory are unemployed. The em of piece-work is being in- Ned in all automobile factories. The building trades in Detroit is at a standstill. One plumber that for the last nine months there was hardly any work at all. they do not expect any work for a long time to come. The increase in employment which a whole lot of applesauce. —OAKUM. NEWARK, N. J., (FP) March 29. —Declaring that suppression of free speech “tends to produce revolution rather than prevent it,” the Newark Methodist conference has reprimanded police and government officials in | northern New Jersey for in'erfering with radical and union strike meet- lings. | A mass meeting to raise funds for j miners ’relief in Newark was called off by police recently because at a former meeting speeches has been| made “attacking the government.” Veterans of Foreign Wars are prom- inent among organizations throttling free assemblage. BRITISH FIRM RUNS SCAB. MANCHESTER, Eng., March 29 (FP).—All English labor is watching the attempt of the Livingstone Spin- ning Co. to operate its mill with non- union labor on the 55% hour basis. Union mills work 48% hours. SAFNAT ASKAROVA MAY ACT IN AMERICAN MOVIES A guest at the recent midnight showing of “Czar Ivan the Terrible” at the Cameo Theatre ;was Brent Dow Allinson who has just returned from a five month trip to Soviet Russia where he studied the country’s cinema conditions. Mr. Allinson rec- ognized in the film several of the stars with whom he had “talked shon” during his stay abroad. One of these, Miss Safnt Askarova (who plays the ezarina in the picture) re- vealed as interesting a life as any ever evolved for publicity purposes by a Hollywood press agent. She is a Tartar girl, having been born in Dagistan, Caucasus. She ran away from home, to avoid being sold inte matrimony. She made her way to Moscow where someone told her she could get a job in the movies be- cause she was pretty. It was good advice. From extra parts she rose rapidly to become a leading player fand eventually married the director of a Russian studio, Her characterization in “Czar Ivan the Terrible” undoubtedly contributes to the success of the film which wil} begin its fourth week at the Cameo this Saturday. There is no doubt but Hollywood may seek to add the Tar- tar girl to the ranks of imported movie favorites. and Folk Songs Theodore Cella Greatest American Harpist of _ N.Y. Philharmonic Symphony | Orchestra. Speakers: : GINA MEDEM ao ye | Famous Jewish journalist, member of the worker in the Jewish colonization movement in Soviet Russia, just arrived from the Soviet Union, will report at the “ICOR?’ CONCERT TONIGHT, 8:30 P.M. TAMMANY HALL, 145 E. 1th St., N. Y. C. SERGEY RADOMSKY Tenor of the Moscow Opera House, in Operatic Airs | PROF, CHARLES KUNTZ | DR. J. GLASSMAN, Chairman. “Freiheit” staff, active told h'm; And | was reported in some newspapers is | METHODISTS ASK FREE SPEECH) “THE TRIAL f Rasshe is so ee unusually tine! movie material in this new film| at the Astor Theatre: photography. acting, thrills, rich humor—mixed up with so much un- usually ordinary} movie drivel. How- ever, the virtues a4 the film are many, they make E | | | worth seeing. “The Trail of 98” is well photo- graphed and well di- rected. Technically |Dolores Del Rio it is even beautiful | in spots. The cast | includes Dolores Del Rio, and such| noted movie names as Karl Dane of “Big Parade” deserved fame, Tully| |Marshall of the “Covered Wagon,” | Harry Carey, Ralph Forbes and aj long list of others. Comparisons of this picture with |the “Covered Wagon” are justifiable. Despite an impossible story (you'll jremember the “Covered Wagon” also had one of those things) the vivid- ness of the picture of those mad} |pioneer days of the Yukon gold rush| |is authentic. The gold craze that thousands thru indescribable suffering, bitter cold and hardshi often death—it is all here paraded in all of its stark reality. These things make “The Trail of 98” | worthwhile, whatever failure it pre- sents in other ways. The lavishness of production and | technical wizardry bring thrills | aplenty. A huge snowslide literally | brings a mountain-side down upon ant-like hordes of humans. A mad raging river, after a spring break- up, tosses them like shavings upon white foaming rapids. A city is burned, a man runs down the street in flames—one thrill is heaped upon another. Yet all this spectacle, worth) seeing surely, is not enough to bring this picture to movie greatness, even such as we have had, whatever that may mean. Karl Dane, as a big dumb Swede caught in the craze that swept the country like wild-fire, contributes some refreshing humor and splendid acting to the picture. There is some- thing so. low-down, ordinary human about this cuss, one is unable to get away from his character and you | drove misery, OF ’9 8’ B THRILLING Pr CTURE ARTURO TOSCANINI Will conduct the final concert of the Philharmonic at the Metro- politan Opera House this Sunday afternoon. |soon find yourself waiting more |anxiously for his droll adventures than you do even for snowslides. The picture ends happily, tho the lady, surprisingly for our movies, ac- tually does lose her virtue before the picture is ended. The opening flashes picturing the craze that swept the whole country on the news of the fabulous gold discoveries in the Klon- |dike are vividly put over. They sweep one quickly into the atmos- BRE of the gold rush and the Yu- "The story should not be told. The picture should be seen, if only for a very good many fine things, as fine as in any movie we have seen in many moons, —wW. C. Prohibits Child Labor ALBANY, March 29.—Under the Dick bill signed by Governor Smith it is unlawful to employ a minor un- der 14 in “any business or service.” “No boy under 12,” the law reads, “and no girl under 18 shall be en- gaged in a street trade; and no boy from 12 to 17 shall be so engaged un- less a street trade badge has been lawfully issued to him.” TOR Re Sea SOARES ad CAMEO! ‘4299 ST. & BWAY — The Theatre Guild presents — gaeite Strange Interlude O'Neill's Play, John Golden Thea,, 58th, E. of B'way Evenings Only at 5:30, LAST WEEK Bernard Shaw’s Comedy = DOCTOR'S DILEMMA | Th, W,,624 St, Evs. 8:20 ‘Guild Mats. Thurs, & Sat. Week of Apr. 2: “Marco Militons” | | LAST 2 WEEKS | PORGY| fe Th, W. 42d. Bys.8:40 Republic yuts Wweaasat qoee NEE eee Fri, Sat. & Sun., Mar. 29-30-31 Apr. 1 ZEZ CONFREY & BAND Hunter and Percival—Other Acts Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton in “WIFE SAVERS” Kage oo a POTEMKIN fe oath 28th WEEK RACUA way, 46 St. Eva, FULTON “sluts! Weaesut 208 The Greatest Thriller of Them All? Theatre, West 48 St. Evs. MATS. WED. and SAT. 2: “WRECKER “pheroughly Entertaining Shocker.” —World, ear ©, 41 St. W. of Biwi National O. Mts. Wed.&Sat.s:36 “The Trial of Mary Dugan” By Bayard Veiller, with Ann Harding-Rex Cherrymas ie HARRIS Thea. 424, W. Bway. Eys. 8:30, Mats. Wed. & Sat. LOVELY LADY with Wilda Bennett & Guy Robertson, The: Evi of Soviet Russia. Scipione Guidi First Violinist of New York Symphony Orchestra. DR. E. WATTENBERG TICKETS 50 cents and 75 cents. Steinway Piano Used. WORLD TOURISTS Announce Summer Tours Soviet Inquire Russia First group leaving the end of May. Other groups following July and August. at the WORLD TOURISTS, Inc. 69 Fifth Ave., New York Telephone Algonquin 6900.