The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 18, 1928, Page 2

THE DAILY WORKER, NEW. YORK, FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1928 i The eee AS "Centralia Class War Prisoners Appeal for Unity in Fight for Their Release | Fire Trap Tenement WANT ALL LABOR) =" GROUPS TO HELP } _ IN THE CAMPAIGN of Demand Cessation All Controversies The Centralia prisoners. sentences of to 40 frame-up murder Penitentiary at Wal ington, have addre: national Labor Defense, the labor movement eve organize a ma effect their r statement reads in part a “For some time we have been plead- ing with our friend ers for a united cam lease. We want a mover or even broader, than the ment—in short, we n of every man, w loves justice, or hat whether they be laborer llow work- for our re- as broad, labor move- | the support an | the | which will open in New Yo | Temple, May 25. Comrade Owen h'm- STATE DELEGATES PREPARE FOR BiG CONVENTION HERE Negro Leader Endorses Communist Program (Continued 2 Page Gne) tional Nomin: takes place in Convention ew York on May a eee Negro Leader Greets Meet. | LOS ANGELES, May 17.—John H Owens, leading Negro Communist among the poor farmers in California. has sent in his endorsement of the National Nominating Convention of Workers (Communist) Party » Mecca self is*a cotton picker and has done valuable work in organizing the cot-| ton pickers and poor cotton farmers in that section of the country. PE She Virginia Convention Success. | Workers Imperilled At Jersey Pottery Fire ISSUES ACTION CALL (Continued from page one) @ A three alarm fire at the two- story pottery of the J. H. Gautier and Co., at Essex and Greene St., Jersey City endangered the lives of a num- ber of workers. The picture shows the building, an old fire trap. Great clouds of smoke poured from the windows smothering the men and making the work of the fire- men extremely dif- ficult. Sigman clique have reduced to saint or ‘sinner, we their support, but that we have a r , for we! are entirely innocent of any me and are only here because of our efforts to better the lot of the working class. Fought For Workers. “Tt seems now that our pleadings for a united campaign for our release are about to bear fruit and we y to beg all factions of the labor mov ment to forget their factional dif ences and pull to r for Tease. Our case is not factio are here for the w We are being persecuted cause we are worke masters of thi embodiment of th I and sought to make an e 1 that would chi possible to organize t terment of their condi S. Want United Front. | “We want the support and co-op- | eration of all elements in a united | movement for our release. We not} only welcome and appreciate the help | ‘and support of the I. L. D. but we! have begged for it; just as we have begged for, and weleome and appreci- | ate the support of all other elements | of the working class who devote them- | : the fire-trup at here two women h when fire blazed he cross marks the r room where the flames trap- women. All Donors Associated With Traction (Continued from page one) lation of Section 8 Article 10 of the New York State constitution. Further Exposures. Further disclosures yesterday as of the workers are intolerable andj naught. We must take up a militant NORFOLK, Va., May 17.—The Vir- | that they themselves have brought the| struggle against the contracting and ginia State Convention of the Work-| workers to the edge of the abyss which sweat-shop systems which have lers (Communist) Party met here|threatens to engulf them. | spread like an epidemic during the | Sunday, May 13 at Workmen’s Circle! “The responsible union representa- pogrom period. We must fight |Hall to place electors on the ballot|tives, chosen by the rank and file, against the speed-up system and the | for the coming presidential elections realized that the hour for action has/standard of production that reduces {and to perfect arrangements for a(Struck. A conference was called of|us to mere automatons. We must vigorous campaign. Jall elements who want to unite the) re-establish week work in our entire selves to our cause. |to the character of the contributors “We want all to understand that we ‘to the Smith campaign slush fund| who have given the best years of our|and as to their reasons for making} lives for the workers’ cause, have a| “gifts” of such sums as $70,000 re- URGE ATTENDANCE AT BELA KUN MEET | District 2 Issues State- ment (Continued from page one) stone, Juliet Stuart Poyntz, Caric | Tresea, Richard Moore, Bert Miller Martin Abern, D. Benjamin, Nicola} | Napoli, John L. Sherman, Louis} | Koves, Robert W. Dunn, Hugo Gellert,| Emery Balint, Antonie Wechsler, Gus- tav Mayer, S. Biederman, Mailech Ep- stein, P. Pascal Cosgrove, M. A. Taft and Harold Brown. * * * Calling upon all class conscious New York workers to make the Bela Kun protest meeting a mighty mass} demonstration, the Executive Com-| mittee of Distvict 2, of the Workers (Communist) Party yesterday issued the following statement: “The bloody hand of the hangmen of Horthy has reached out in an ef- right to ask unity of effort and a ces- vealed that in practically every in- fort to snuff out the life of our com- jranks of the workers and rebuild the] union. The conference met with im- mediate response. Even these ele-| ments, who hitherto had believed in| the possibility of a settlement with| the Sigman machine, were finally con-| vinced that the only way to build the] union is to unite all the active and! constructive forces, and they were drawn into the work. “On. Wednesday, May the 9, 1928, the foundation was laid for the re- building of their union. A wave of enthusiasm gripped the conference, as well as the mass of the membership who have followed its proceedings. A resolute decision, as firm and unyield- ing as steel, rose in'the hearts of all. We can and. will rebuild our union. We ean and will curb the domination | of the bosses in the shops. We can and will improve our daily lives and cease to be slaves. We can make sacrifices. We are accustomed to sacrifice. But the union will live and flourish! Begin At Bottom. “In the name of this conference, we | call to you, brothers and sisters! The | time has come when we alone, all of us, shall take up the struggle. We must begin from the very foundation, from the shops. In every shop the workers must organize themselves im- mediately and choose shop repréesenta- | We say that the unemployment of the stance these donors are connected ith the Morgan interests which are g to put over the so-called unification” plan on the city. In addition to William F. Kenny sation of all controversies, and that all Labor show solidarity in a glori- ous and triumphant campaign for our release. | (Signed) Eugene Barnett, No. 9414, | James McInerney, No. 9410, 0. C.|who admitted that he owns thous- Bland, No. 9409; Bert Bland, No. 9411, | ands of shares of Third Avenue trac- John Lamb, No. 9412, Loren Roberts, | tion stock, it was disclosed that Her- No. 9100. | be t Lehman, a banker who contri-| MILLINERS FORCE suted $12,000 is likewise connected | jstand Lehman testified that he was not an owner of traction stock. This if not a deliberate act of perjury is |ing to murder Bela Kun in order to tives, shop chairmen and shop com- mittees. Get to work at once! Ar- range shop meetings—elect shop chairmen—and wherever you have no strike a blow at the rising workers’}shop representatives or where the and peasants’ movement of Hungary. , clique has forced its supporters on rade, Bela Kun, The Horthy govern- ment, in collusion with the bourgeois Seipel government of Ausiria, is seek- “Bela Kun signifies to the bour- |you, act like organized warriors. Es- ; geoisie the spirit of the Soviet Union |tablish everywhere the motto: “One of Hungary, of unflinching and |for all and all for one,” dogged struggle for the overthrow of| The shop chairmen of every city industry, We must re-establish the unemployment insurance fund on a basis where the funds will be under the control of the workers themselves. “The industry must once more be placed under union control. We must see to it that every cloak and dress- maker should earn a decent livelihood in the industry: Sigman, like the steel king, Mr. Schwab, the Abe Cahns and the Lewises, declares that there are too many workers. Urge Industrial Union. Sigman says that we must get rid of a large number of cloakmakers. cloak and dressmakers comes primar- ily from the fact that the workers are compelled to slave 70 and 80 hours per week under a hurry-up system. “We must unite with all unions in the needle trades in order to build a mighty industrial union. that will stand up against the united power of the bosses and lead the workers from victory to victory. We must go hand in hand with the heroic striking min- ers, the heroic striking textile work- ers and all others that are fighting in an open struggle against the ex- ploitation of the capitalists and their servants—these agents of the capi- talists who break our strikes and bring misery and starvation to the workers and their families who are \fighting in the class war against capi- talism. We must remember that the struggle on the economic field is not enough; that the workers must have their own labor party to defend their interests on the political field. Victory Certain. “It is years and years since the strenuous, struggle of the militant, constructive elements in our union the rule of the bourgeoisie. Bela Kun |will be united in a shop chairman’s signifies to fascist Hungary every-|council, which will serve as our di- jthing that means its doom. To the rect contact with the workers in the working class he expresses the spirit shops. The shop chairmen’s councils of the struggle for the establish- elected and controlled by the workers ment of the labor movement of Hun- |themselves must be the foundation on against the traitors and agents of the ‘bosses has been on. It is 19 months ‘that the pogrom carried on by the Sigman regime with the help of the | police, spies, provocators, courts, prisons and guerillas, has been on, |with the traction interests. On the| | Local 43 Gains in Fight | on Zaritsky Another one of the mi facturers who lent as attempt of the right Hat, Cap and destroy Wom of its progres that militant tions are a v against lockouts, Hat Co., 29 W. to take back to work the girls it hac locked out for refusing to obey the bosses’ order to abandon their own Organization and register in the right wing Local 24. The attempted dissolution of the local was made by the’ clique con- trolled general executive board under ‘the slogan of a fake amalgamation schem 2. While the struggle against the jr union wreckers is going on in full force on the picket lines, the militant leadership has by no means ne- 1 to carry on a similar fight Ww the frame-work of the union, Blockers To Hear Local 42 Case. A committee from Local 43, after presenting their case in a visit to the executive board of Blockers’ Local 42, ueceeded in gaining the permission that local to appeal to a blockers’ rship meeting for backing in their fight against the Zaritsky ique. The Local 42 board did this express instructions to the cont telegraphed by Zaritsky. The Local 42 executive board de- cided to allow the appeal to its mem- bership, and at the same time told _WZaritsky that he could also come to the meeting and defend his viewpoint. The committee from the women’s lo- eal gladly accepted this opportunity to face Zaritsky. The committee to appear before the meeting is com- posed of Gladys Schechter, leader of the local, Frieda Fraidis, organizer, . Kreichmal and Gussie Rosen, executive board members, ) Inery manu- at least next to it. The firm of bank- jers of which Lehman is a partner jat 16 iams St. and his brother | Rober Al ill Corporation which owns He is also a director of < and Coach Manu- ‘ompany of Chicago which controlled fi an, another of the to the Smith slush lirector of the U. § ion, a Morgan cc ; a time ern in held the posi- man of the board of irector of the Other direct- ise controlled d to now a d County Trust ompan ors of this bank, li | by the an inter are Vincent | Astor large owner of Interborough |stock and John J. Raskob, a director of the General Motors and the Du- pont firm, both “Morgan controlled. | When kob returned from Europe ently, Al Smith found it necessary jto meet him at the pier for reasons jnot yet definitely revealed. Another director of this Morgan bank is the |same Herbert Lehman who testified |that he had’ no interests in the trac- jtion issue. Lehman ‘was also the manager of the 1926 Smith campaign, a fact which connects Smith directly with the Morgan interests. Van Namee, now manager of the Smith campaign and who according to his own admissions received the money in cash from the other contri- butors is chairman of the up state public service commission. The law from having such connections with utilities or directors of utilities, In 1916 four public service commission- ers were removed for similar activi- ties. Al Smith knows this, of course, because he was in the Albany as- sembly at the time. He is now play- ing the’ game of the traction interests entirely in the open, confident that the plans are well laid. Thus far he has said nothing against the plan to put over an increased fare and a huge unification deal. |gary as a Soviet country. “In demanding the release of Bela Jin the United States. In demanding |struggling against the spirit of im- jail, denies them the right to ae | injanctions against tthem, establishes a reign of terror such as is now soing on in the stru; e of the mi and which is an jeveryday occurrence in the attempts jof the working class to maintain their ‘unions, to or ize the unorganized, Jand to establish better working con. \ditions, “Workers of New York: Come out on Saturday, in masses, to Union Square to demand immediaté and un- jconditional release of your fellow |worker, Bela Kun! “Let the masses of New York de- |mand an end to the reign of terror against the militant champions of the jinterests of the working class! “Let us demand the right of free speech and assemblage and the end to rule by injunctions police ter- ror! “All as one! Make Union ‘Square ring out with the demand for the im- mediate unconditional release of Bela Kun!” and 4 ba fat boys love Al and they make no bones about it. Al has a sweet disposition. He’s always treated them right. Yesterday four of the fat boys, worth in aggregate more than $100,- 000,000, gave the Senate Fund Com- mittee touching deseriptions of their affection for Al. “T love him,” said William H, Todd, millionaire shipbuilder, sup- pressing a sob, “and I'd give all I |The pogrom, however, has not ob- jwhich our organization will rest. In jevery city we will organize a special a member of the firm is the|Kun, we fight against the fascism |organization committee that will take r of such stocks. Robert Leh- | of Hungary, of Italy, of Poland, the|in the largest a director of the New York)terror in Germany and England and active rank and filers. The organ- possible number of ization committees will work hand in ble of the New York sur-|the freedom of Bela Kun, we are|hand with the National Organization |Committee. The object of the organ- ation committee will be to imme- jdiately get to work in organizing the Jopen cloak and dress shops, and to jestablish union conditions everywhere, | “Workers! Brothers and sisters! = up the work. Enough disin- ion — enough helplessness — h freedom for the exploiters. e must rebuild our union every- where, in the large as well as the |}small centers, in the large as well as \small shops. . Thru. our. organized |Power we can accomplish amazing re- jSults. Single-handed we are helpless. “We must re-establish the 40-hour week which we have won thru our |sacrifices in the strike of 1926. The Sigman pogrom has made it impos- sible for us to enjoy the fruits of our victory, and so long as either Sigman, Schlesinger or any other representa- tive of the clique will be in power, they will sabotage our struggle for the 40-hour week. Only we, the work- ers alone, thru our organized power can regain this victory, We must re- Vda lege the minimum seale of wages which the bosses together with the could to help him.” Todd who ex- pressed his affection in the form of a $5,000 check to the Smith slush fund, admitted that he had re- ceived a number of contracts from the city. ¥ bes. more touching was the testi- mony of William F’, Kenny, con- tractor. Kenny admitted that he had been touched for a total of $70,000 all “out of love and affec- tion” for Al—and was willing to contribute more. He admitted, |Seured the class consciousness of the jrank and file. The terror has been jof no avail to the clique. It is now weaker, more insignificant, more 'pitiable than ever before. The work- ers are not with them. It has lost the last vestige of respect from every de- cent union man. Such pillars of the machine as Ninfo, Breslau and Du- binsky have openly confessed the \bankruptey of the clique. They have jadmitted on the floor of the conven- tion that they have broken the union! and wiped out union conditions. Fake Manifesto. “They hoped, however, thru a fake manifesto to make their last desper- ! ate effort to fool and mislead the workers. This plan of the Interna- tional cliques to cajole the expelled | members into their ranks is the best demonstration that the cliques have till now failed to get the adherence of the workers and that they are forced to devise new methods. Their fake manifestos, however, will fail them just as they have failed with their reign of terrorism which they employed in order to drive the work- ers into their ‘company union.’ “Together, with united ranks we will go forward to the building of a better union, to union control, im- proved conditions, to more freedom and a better life. “Brothers and sisters! Registered THE FAT BOYS LOVE “AL’— NATURALLY Four Millionaires Sob in forbids publie service commissioners | Senate as Tale of Passion is Bared incidentally, that he had received contracts amounting to half a million dollars from the city and that he owned two thousand shares of the Third Avenue Railway Cor- poration. Other confessions of love for Al were made by James J. Riordian of the New York County Trust Com- pany and Herbert Lehman of the Casualty and Fidelity Company and the investment firm of Lehman Brothers. UNION OFFICIALS ISSUE WHISTLES Delegates At Cincinnati Muzzled (Continued from page one) problems is characteristic of the en- | tire convention. No delegate dares to speak on vital questions. present not a single delegate has taken the floor. The delegates are surrounded by | so-called guests who are managers and | other paid officials from every local- ity. The “guests” speak and rule the | convention while the delegates look on. | Apathy and fear predominate, the | delegates fearing to take the flowr. To Create Spirit. The convention drags without any | enthusiasm, Attempts artificially | to create spirit thru distribution of tin | whistles, gavels, bells and automobile horns do not help greatly, altho the delegates dutifully follow instructions | and create noise. Joseph Schlossberg, general secre- | tary of the union, reporting for the) general executive board, made his} usual type of talk. He claimed credit ; for establishing one joint board in New York and said that the workers | are delighted with the administration } of the union, there being no faction- alism. The union, he continued, has successfully combatted its inside and outside enemies and has successfully signed agreements in Chicago and Ro- chester. As to the 40 hour week, Schlossberg said that it could wait, there being no hurry. Up to the A telegram from the Montreal of- ficialdom read at the convention ad- mits the terrorism policy practised there is ruining the organization. The feature of yesterday’s session was the real estate business of the union, Hillman, Schlossberg and Ab- raham Kasin, manager of the Amal- gamated Cooperatives, thanked the Jewish Daily Forward, who, he said, invested $350,000 in the Amalgamated houses. Most of yesterday afternoon’s ses- sion was taken up by the arrival of the workers from the Nash shop who were marshalled into a demonstration. Everything was prearranged, includ- ing music, flowers and artificial en- thusiasm. Speeches were made by several shop chairmen. Sam Levin, boss of the Chicago Joint Board, spoke of “tolerance” and “unselfishness.” MILL STRIKERS HEAR WEISBORD NEW BEDFORD, Mass., May 17.— Many’ thousands of textile strikers are expected today to attend one of the biggest mass meetings held since the beginning of the walk-out of 30,- 000 mill operatives against the 10 per eent wage slash attempted by 58 New Bedford fine cotton goods manufac- turing mills here, Several large lots have been hired by the Textile Mill Committees to accommodate the turnout of strikers who will come to hear the leader of the Passaic textile strike of 1926, Albert Weisbord. The meetings will be held this afternoon about 2 o’clock. From the original day of the walk- out that caused the immediate silenc- ing of 70,000 looms, strikers have (Continued on Page Five) and non-registered! The National Organization Committees calls on you! Take up the work! The fate of the union and your future lies in your own hands! i “Forward to unity! “Forward to new victories! “Long live the National Organiza- tion Committee! “Long live a powerful, united union, controlled by the rank and file! “Long live the united struggle of the workers! . “National Organization Committee of the I. L, G. W. U. For The Re- establishment of Our Union. “L. HYMAN, Chairman; R. WOR- TIS, Secretary; W. BERLIN, Vice Chairman; J. BORUCHO- WITZ, Vice Chairman.” WORKERS CENTER BEING PREPARED FOR OCCUPANCY | Restaurant to Move in New Building Soon Work has been started to make the ground floor of the Workers Center, 26-28 Union Square, ready for occu- pancy. Within a few weeks the Pro- leteos Cooperative Restaurant, which is now at 80 Union Square, will move into its new home on this floor, where it will have two and a half times as much space as in its present quar- ters. The front part of the ground floor will also be occupied by the Workers Bookshop, which is tempor- arily located on the second floor. Painters are now painting the ceil- ing and walls on this floor and soon work will be begun on the great sym- bolistie frieze that will stretch around the walls of.the new restaurant, This frieze, which has been designed by Hugo Gellert, will symbolize the food process from its origin until it is ready to be served. All plans at the Workers Center are now directed towards the great jconcert and dance which will be held Saturday evening, June 2. At this time William W. Weinstone, district organizer of the Workers (Commu- (nist) Party and secretary of the board of directors of the Workers Center, will present a red, revolutionary ban- ner to the unit that makes the high- est totals in the drive for $30,000 to establish the Center, To End Campaign. The time remaining until the con- cert will serve as the wind-up of the drive. Many units have not yet raised their quotas and it will be necessary for them to work hard in jorder to do so by June 2. All pledges should be collected immediately and the sale of Worker Center “bricks” should continue with greater energy than ever before. SIGMAN LAYS NEW 1.000800 TAX Fake Convention Wants Workers’ 3 Days’ Pay BOSTON, Mass., May 17.—While thousands of the rank and file of the cloak and dressmakers in New. York were demonstrating their determina- tion to. follow the leadership of the National Conference of the militant delegates in their renewed struggle to rebuild the union, the Sigman-con- trolled convention here was complet- ing its convention sessions by voting taxes on the membership to the exten? of 3 days’ pay from each worker. Vote Tax. While the cloak and dressmakers in several large halls in New York, were enthusiastically adopting the resolution outlining the plans to re- gain union eonditions in the shops, and were unanimously voting’ for a voluntary $10 tax to carry out this program, not the membership, but Sigman’s and Schlesinger’s fake dele- gates were voting to tax the members a total of more than one million dol- lars with which to continue thetr destructive war against the last ves- tige of unionism in the national cloak trade nationally, Another development. at the so- called convention of the right wing was the hourly expectation of a patching up of the difference between the Sigman and Schlesinger-Breslau cliques. Although this “agreement” is ex- pected, the latest reports stated that it has not yet been concluded despite the recalling from New York of Mog- ris Hillquit, boss of the socialist party. Hillquit had abandoned Bostem after conferences conducted for sev- eral days had proved fruitless, Schles- inger still demanded more than a mere membership on the general exe- cutive board, as was the offer made him by the Sigman gang. ‘Stories and F Reviews in Sat. Feature Page The first instalment of a short! story of militant labor by Stirling Bowen, “Foreign Investments and Foreign Policy” by Robert W. Dunn, and a poem of the Pennsyl- vania mine struggie by A. B. Magil are the outstanding contributions i the Saturday feature page of The DAILY WORKER. There is also a sprightly reviev of “Machine-Gun Diplomacy” by Harry Freeman end a_ powerful drawing, “Law and Order in the Coal Fields,” by John Sloan.. Order two copies of tomorrow’s issue in advance from your news- stand. Give one to your shopmate| f ‘ f ~cgneprarccomarse