The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 16, 1928, Page 6

4 $ a Page Six THE DAILY WORKER Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS’N, Inc. : Daily, Except Sunday 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: SUBSCRIPTION RATES Phone, Orchard 1680 “Daiwork’ By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.50 per year $3.50 six months $2.50 three months. ‘ 09 three months. Address and mail out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. ae Editor... pe Tae ROBERT MINOR Assistant Editor. . ..WM. F. DUNNE | +15 a TE REGRESS Ne SIMRAN ES OS RE ARETE ona kmtered as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N, ¥., under | the act of March 3, Capitalist Justice The conviction of the mine worker, Sam Bonita, for “ slaughter” is a coal operators’ verdict, handed down by. a coal! operators’ court, directed by a coal operators’ judge, through a} jury carefully selected to represent the coal operators influence | Gif nothing more) upon the population of the mining community. 1879. man- The jury in the case was obviously incapable of bringing in any verdict contrary to the interests of the coal companies, as The DAILY WORKER has pointed out from the beginning. A manager of a business concern, a justice of the peace, a wholesale merchant, a superintendent, a brother of the sheriff, a storekeeper, an insurance agent and a clerk, who made up the majority of the | jury—these, in a community where the entire business life is dominated by big coal corporations, could not act independently | of the interests of the coal operators. \ The evidence in the trial showed conclusively that Bonita did! nothing more than defend himself from a gunman who was at the moment attempting to shoot him down. But the evidence of the | defense in the case of a labor prisoner in a capitalist court cannot | affect the verdict, because the function of a capitalist court is to punish the enemies of the capitalists, and not to listen to evidence. The only effect of the conclusive evidence in favor of Bonita, is its effect in helping to show to the masses of workers how cap- italist justice operates against the workers. It can affect the fate of Bonita only to the extent that it stirs up the workers outside | the court and thereby brings pressure to bear upon the court | which aims to electrocute the labor prisoner. | No matter what course of reasoning may be adopted by the | petty dependents of the coal operators, who constituted the bulk | of the jury, to explain their verdict, their real reason for con- | victing Bonita was that he is an enemy of the coal operators. To) this is added the fact that Bonita is‘and was engaged in an in-| ternal fight in the union to save the union from destruction at the} hands of the loathsome agents of the companies, Cappelini, and | Cappelini’s superior, John L. Lewis. And no matter what devious explanations may be given by | Jarymen who recommended “mercy” while they carried out the operators’ merciless will—the recommendation of “mercy” was the admission of the jury that Bonita was not guilty of any crime except opposing the coal operators. The substitution of a long term of prison, instead of the verdict of death, is no act of mercy to Bonita. Its only purpose is to soften the resentment and resistance of the masses. The outrageous verdict is simply an attack of the capitalist coal operators upon the workers of the mines and upon the work- ing class. Mine workers should not make the mistake of looking for any “justice” in the capitalist courts, or of permitting themselves to be fooled by the plea.of the coal operators’ jury for “mercy” to the coal operators’ enemy. “Justice” is class justice, and capital- ist class justice is fully exposed in the verdict by which Sam Bonita is sent to a living death although everybody knows that he is not guilty of manslaughter or murder or any other crime. Mine workers must understand that the biggest thing they ean do to help Sam Bonita is to increase ten times over their Save- the-Union movement of which Bonita is a part- To prepare the Anthracite districts to swing into the big strike movement, to beat the contract system, to effect a national agreement and to save the United Mine Workers’ Union from de- struction by the operators and the operators’ agents, Lewis, Cap- pelini & Co., is the proper answer of the coal miners to the fiendish verdict of living death against our brother mine worker, | Sam Bonita. In most cases the best defensive is an offensive. In this case the best defense of Bonita, Moleski and Mendola is an offensive all down the line of the mine workers against the operators. Build the Bonita-Moleski-Mendola Defense Committee. Pass indignation resolutions, promising solidarity and protesting against the fiend- ish conviction—but to stimulate the mass movement against the operators and their agents, Lewis, Fishwick, Fagan, Cappelini and others, is the real answer to the conviction of Sam Bonita. Build your Save-the-Union Committees wherever coal is dug! Detroit Workers Help Miners DETROIT, April 15.—The Detroit Conference for Relief of striking (©oal Miners which has been organ- its support. The foreign language groups hav also organized conferences which are tHE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, APRIL 16, 1928 GANGWAY! | | The mine workers march forward to win the strike and to save the union. John L. Lewis, usurping head of the ' union, tries to obstruct the movement and will be pushed aside. Exhibit Art of Becker, Painter of Proletariat Editor of The DAILY WORKER: Should the worker in art always be pictured with back bent sweating un- der his load? A very good comrade, known to both of us, almost bought one of my pictures which showed a Mexican charcoal peddler drinking pulque out of a jar, His donkey standing by with the sacks of charcoal tied on his back, was feed on somé corn husks. The scene was reposeful and the char- acters seemingly contented. Our friend finally passed up the picture. True enough he said in effect, “The subjects are sweaty, hard working, worthy characters, but the peaceful- ness is not to my liking. If they were more active and straining I’d like the picture better.” Well, I’m not going to quarrel with | anyone’s taste in pictures. I do think, however, that some comrades might enjoy seeing pictures of the workers on a holiday. There are canvasses and water-colors of mine showing Negroes and whites disporting them- selves by the sea and on the grass and always in the sunshine. Most of them are semi-naked too. But for the people who, like our comrade, must have the bent back in proletarian art there is a canvas full of old overalls, sledges, paving bricks, a Ford, sun- shine, and sweat. The exhibition is at the New Art Circle, 85 West 57th Street, until April 21st. It is open from 10)to 6 daily, Sundays closed. Yours for an unbent back, MAURICE BECKER. Station Scaffold Falls One worker was injured and a young woman suffered a_ possible fracture of the skull, a fractured right arm and other injuries when a scaffold 8n which three painters were working in the Pennsylvania Railroad station fell, A wooden beam, four by six inches thick and several feet long was the sole support of the scaffold. It gave way, carrying the three workers to the floor, fifteen feet below. One end of the beam felled Anna Fox of Sharon Hill, Pa. The injured worker was James Mack of 262 W. 81st St. May Day, Inspiration of World’s Workers “Right hours we’d have for labor, “Eight hours we'd have for play, “Eight hours we’d have for sleeping, “In free Americ—a.” This is the song of the old Knigitts of Labor, the first trade union moye- ment in the United States, and the initiators of the May First General Strike for the eight-hour day in 1886, which inspired the working class of the whole world to adopt the First of May as their own holiday—to strive harder for both economic and political aims, and to express their in- ternational solidarity. A Milestone in Labor History. Under what circumstances did this historic event, which ended_so tragic- ally four days later, take place? De- pression had gripped the country in the early eighties. By 1884 unem- ployment had grown to proportions which the country had hardly ever witnessed before. Wages were low, hours were long, the trade unions of the time, including the Knights of Labor, were weak and reached only the highly skilled workers. On Thanksgiving Day, 1884, an event took place in Chicagg which can probably be considered a mile- stone in the history of the American working class. Albert Parsons, who was later to become one of the vic- tims of the Haymarket frame-up, had begun organizing the unemployed. On Thanksgiving Day 5,000 unemployed workers paraded through the streets of Chicago—the first time that un- skilled workers took an organized part in the struggle of the working class of America. The Arbeiter Zeitung of Chicago, commenting on this unemployment parade, said: “Yesterday took place the birth of a new phase in the social struggle. Hitherto the revolutionary movement has been restricted to the better situ- ated and the more intelligent Ger- man, Bohemian and Danish working- men. Since yesterday this is no long- er. the case. Yesterday the typically Ameriean working class carried the red flag through the streets and thereby proclaimed its solidarity with the international proletariat.” From that time on the agitation, which culminated on May 1, 1886, steadily increased. The following year saw a rush of trade union or- }ganization. During a period of a |few months 600,000 workers joined the various unions. Strikes began to |break out, led mostly by the Knights |of Labor. The demand for eight-hour |day grew stronger and stronger. | Fight for Eight-Hour Day. | By March, 1886 a special Eight- {hour Association was formed in Chi- cago to organize and guide this mass movement, which was crying for leadership. This Association was a united front organization in which representatives of practically all the currents of the labor movement of the time participated—the trade unions, the socialist labor party, the socialists, the “internationalists,” and the Knights of Labor. This united front committee organized a monster demonstration for the Sunday pre- ceding May 1, to agitate for the eigth-hour day and to prepare for the event which it was hoped would bring it about. 25,000 workers took part in this demonstration. The demand for the eight-hour day had grown, but the practical reason given for putting it into affect, was to shorten the day of those who had work, in order to give work to the unemployed. The program was to hold a general strike on May First and from that day on to work no more than eight Lours. Thus unem- ployment then, just as now, played an important role on May Day! General Strike. On May First 360,000 workers had |struck all over the United States. In Chicago alone, the centre of the agita- tion, and the leader of the national \strike, over 40,000 workers struck on May 1, and before the four days were over which ended in the Haymarket tragedy, this number had increased “to 80,000. As a result, hundreds of thousands, of workers gained the eight-hour day through striking, and at least 150,000 who took no part whatever in the demonstration, benefitted similarly by the atmosphere which this unheard of mass movement created. But these successes’ were short- lived, primarily due to the death blow which the Haymarket frame-up dealt the entire organized labor movement. The Knights of Labor, however, gained prestige as a result of the excellent guidance they had given the mass movement—a prestige ~ which even the collapse of the movement it- self could not hurt. Organization of the workers continued. It seems as though the working class of America today is facing an- other sieh period as the pioneers of the movement faced in the early eighties. We are also toiling long hours—the eight-hour day is lost. We are also earning low wages—the myth of American prosperity has been shattered, just as it was shattered over and over again in those dark days for the proletarian immigrants who had expected so much from the land of wealth and freedom. The un- employed are again increasing in number, are parading as a demonstra- tion of protest and demand for a relief of the situation—and their banding together into organization is the herald for the organization of all the unskilled workers of the country. May Day Tradition. We must keep up the tradition of May First which was started in those dark days of 1886. We must learn all over again to Cown tools on May First and to make our demands as workers heard. But one thing we have learned from those pioneers of the American labor .movement—no longer do we restrict our May Day demands to hours and wages only— we have become politically conscious. We realize that the cause of the colonial workers is our cause; the battle of the Nicaraguan peoplé against Yankee imperialism is our battle; the defense of Soviet Union is a matter of life and death not only for the workers of that revolutionary land, but for us in America as well, and for the workers of the whole world; that the struggle of the min- ers is not one for bread alone, but is the fore-runner of the struggle for smashing the bosses offensive against all unions—in short that every strug- gle of the workers taking place any- where in the world affects all other sections of the working class, Let us, therefore, show our solida- rity with international labor by dem- onstrating in Madison Square Garden on May First! Let us uphold the tra- dition of the Chicago martyrs by downing tools on May First! German Transatlantic Flyers Are Monarchist Tools By W. W. The German Junkers plane “Brem: en’,” with Baron von Huenefeld and pt. Herman Kochl aboard, has suc- eded in crossing the Atlantic. House of Morgan, has made of the flight of Lindbergh across the At- lanti¢c and cf his flight to Mexico and Latin America has been to disguise jits efforts to suppress Mexico and jthe Latin-American countries under the cover of “good-will” ambassadors jand under the camouflage of aiding ized since last December, has already accomplished a great deal and ex- pects to do much more. Its two of est affairs so far were a mass «eeting with Milka Sablich, S. Em- bree, and Mother Bloor, and the In- ternational Concert at Orchestra Hall. -They were very successful, not only for the amounts of money sent, but also for the number of people reached. Many organizations also have been visited by members of this conference, thus widening the field for relief. Tag Days Help. There have been numerous tag days which have netted almost $700 so far. The big tag day which is under the leadership of the Federation of Work- ing Class Women, will be held on April 21st, and 22nd. These women are determined to raise a great deal, of money and to let Detroit know that there is a coal strike which needs doing work among the workers of their nationality. The Poles have raised $3,300; the Hungarians $1,500; the South Slavs $2,000; and with a total of $4,600 collected by the gen- eral conference, make 11,400 already collected. New conferences are being organized. One in Wyandotte prom- ises well, and an Italian conference will bring the work among the Italians. For the future, besides the Tag Day by the women, an affair with many novelities at the Graystone Ballroom $2,000 and thus show the miners that Detroit. is behind them in this fight. The Detroit workers are fully re- alizing the significance of the miners struggle and are new more deter- mined: than ever to show their soli- darity to the miners in the valiant struggle which they are carrying on. on May, 21st, ought to yield about! td el These fliers are the German mon-|the deyelopment of science, Lind- archists and tools of the Hindenberg- |bergh is a creature of the big busi- Stresemann government that is sup- |css interests of the country and his pressing the German working class flights have not been to cement any and that is keeping over 300 militant workers in prison, refusing to grant them their freedom, and which con- spires against the bravest section of the German working class, the Com- ; munist Party, and seeks to drive them underground and to throw the | members of their Central Committee into the German dungeons. For Imperialist Prestige. The German imperialists, like th American imperialists, will exploit this event and seek to whip up the German masses in behalf of the plans of Hindenberg and Stresemann to strengthen their imperialist power. The use which the Coolidge adminis- tration, following the dictates of the | I friendship between peoples but to aid in subjecting still further the peoples of the world under the iron heel of American imperialism. hatred of the German workers for the Dawes Plan and of the European workers for oppressive Yankee im~ perialism.’ The mayor’s conimittee The American imperialists will pre- | will undoubtedly do everything in its tend that this flight of the German }power to carry out the real purpose aviators will draw. closer “together |of the reception to the German fliers. America with the German masses, The American imperialists will indeed be thankful for this opportunity to befuddle the minds of the American masses and to try to overcome the Science For Capitalist Aims. All pretense of impartially aiding the development of science is so much hypocrisy onthe part of the Ameri- Photo shows the “Bremen,” the Junkers plane in which Baron Huenefeld and Capt. Herman Koehl, German monarchists and imperialists, and Capt. Fitzmaurice, of the anti-worker Irish Free State have crossed the Atlantic, can capitalist class. Science is a tool in their hands for more destructive warfare, for more extensive speed-up systems, and for crushing the lives of the workers in the factories. Only when the working class’ overthrows the capitalist system and establishes its own government will science be utilized for the benefit of the toiling masses of the world, Until such time science is an instrument in the hands of the ruling class for greater oppres- sion of the workers and the poisonous capitalist press is utilized to deceive the masses as to the real purposes of \the imperialists, Beware of the preparations of the imperialists for a new world war! Do not be misled by these decoys. Do not allow your admiration for physi- eal exploits to blind you to the im- perialist trip for which they are used. At this moment of popular interest it is necessary to demand the freedom of the 800 political prisoners in the German dungeons and to figh against the danger of world which lurks in these trans-Ath trips and in the fake “good will” | cursions of the Lindberg! i