The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 21, 1928, Page 1

ad anos SCR RENT SOR EL Nee — - eemneue CTR SAE A: ESSE ETE EET SOI EE A RUN ISG NO ST sac SaraneeroereS HCA a NEW JERSEY OIL STRIKERS MAKE NEW DEMANDS ON BOSSES. ° | tam DAILY worker PicuTs, | DAILY WORKER FIGHTS, FCR THE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNORGANIZED FOR THE 40-HOUR WEEK FOR A LABOR PARTY Vol. V. No. 119. THE DAILY WORKER. cond-clasn matter at the Post Office at New York, N. ¥ Publ ed daily except Sumday by The N Publishing Aseeciation, Inc., 88 First Street, New York, N. ¥. ations: “Dally | ‘Worker NEW YORK, MONDAY, MAY 21, 1928 » Under the act of March 3, 1879. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In New York, by mati, $8.00 per year. Outside New York, by mail, $6.00 per year. [FINAL AL CITY EDITION Price 3 Cents FARMERS BACK COMMUNIST NOMINATING PLANS DAY LABORERS IN| OIL PLANTS SEEK RAISE IN WAGES Tidewater Strikers Tear! Up Boss “Ultimatum” | BAYONNE, N. J., May 20.—So | certain of winning are the 2,500 oil| workers on strike here against the} Tidewater Oil Co. speed-up system} that a demand for increased wages for the laborers at the plant is being considered. This is in addition to the; iemands which the strikers originally | presented. Laborers at the oil plants| in Bayonne get less than $25 a week. Salaried workers have joined the strike, they announced at a_ strike mass meeting yesterday at Hooper-| Cooper Hall on E. 22nd St. / Another “ultimatum” from the} Tidewater bosses was distributed among the strikers at a mass meet- ng yesterday. The strikers promptly | tore the notices up. Sentiment among the 5,000 or more} workers at the Standard Oil plants} here, and several thousand at the| Texas Oil and Gulf Refining Co. yes-! terday indicated that the strike would] soon spread to these plants. | Discontent at the Bayway plant of! ~ the Standard Oil at Elizabeth, and at| he Standard plant in Jersey City has| also become pronounced. | A committee of 100 strikers was) hosen to picket the Tidewater plant yesterday, and three boats were also} obtained to picket the plant, fronting | on New York Bay. Edward Foerst, who is leading the | strike. made an appeal to the workers | to stand solid. He was answered with enthusiastic cheers. He said that the walkout. had i .the....nlant, Poerst was followed by workers in 2very department of the plant, who each stated the grievances of the de- partments. Arthur Herrick, a worker at the Tidewater for over 20 years told how after years of slavery for the Rockefellers, many veteran work- ers of 15 years’ service and more iad been summarily dismissed. Experience with large scale strikes | (Continued on ee ae see Two) WORKING WOMEN HOLD CONFERENCE 700 Meet to Federate; Weisbord Is Speaker Solidarity with the striking miners was the kejnote of the working wom- en’s conference which met Saturday efternoon at Irving Plaza’ Hall, 15th St. and Irving PL, to form a New York Working Women’s Federation. Seven hundred delegates from trade unions, industrial clubs, working wom- on’s fraternal organizations, women’s councils and of representatives of or- ganized and unorganized shops erowded the conference, remarkable for its enthusiastic spirit. The delegates met to lay the basis for a permanent, united federation-of organizations of working women to improve the conditions of working women, protection for working-women and children, to organize unorganized women for trade union activity, better wages and shorter hours, to mobilize working women for participation in the labor struggle on the political and industrial field. Pledge Aid to Miners. Aid from the working women of New York for the miners’ strike was the leading question before the con- feronce. The struggle of the miners against the mine operators and the brutal coal and iron police was vividly presented by George Hawkins, a Ne- gro miner, who has worked in the mines for 35 years, since the age of -sne, and whose father was a slave. Amy Schechter, just returned from the strike area, described the plight of the miners’ wives and children, and the courage of the mine women in the prolonged struggle. Fanny Rudd, of the Miners’ Relief Committee, des- eribed the urgent need of relief, and Pauline Royce, secretary of the Wom- en’s Miners’ Relief Committee, out- lined the program of action by wom- en’s organizations in New York for miners’ relief. Emphasis was laid upon the importance of drawing in wider groups of working women into _ the relief movement, particularly the shop workers. Amid great enthusiasm a resolu was carried pledging ths “aiter “Haiti’s H : ; known as Santo Domingo. Textile Mill Committees Call for Picketing In spite of the} : dilatory tactics of the officials of the! textile unions, the| striking textile workers have re-| sponded enthusias-| tically to the ap- peal of the Textile Mill Committees for pickets at the closed mills. The picture shows strikers’ children picketing the mills. | Photo is by ti New Bedford Sara ning Standard. HAI TIAN LIBERA TOR S BIRTH IS OBSERVED The birthday of the great black liberator, Toussaint L’Ouverture, will the American Negro Labor Congress W. 30th Street. © This movement was’ started two years ago, and its growth is signifi- cant of the renewed interest whith is being taken in the outstanding figures of the movement for the emancipa- tion of the Negro race. The speakers announced for the meeting are Richard B. Moore, of the | American Negro Labor Congress, who. | will act as chairman; William Pick- ens, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Henry Rosemond, of the Haitian Pa- triotic Union; August V. Bernier of |the Knights of Toussaint L’Ouver- |ture; J. J. Adam, Haitian representa- tive at the Geneva Conference, and others. “A little more than a hundred years triumphant” struggle} against Napoleon for her comrezte independence, this island of the West Indies finds itself under the steel heels of American imperialism; a foreign control far more crushing and deadening than ever attended the political control of one state over an- other, Moore said last night. sts L’Ouverture was born a slave in the French colony of Haiti, then When the revolution came in France at the close of the 18th century the revolutionary ideas of Danton and Robespierre found ready recruits among the toil-|. ing slaves and discontented ‘mulatoes of the island. L’Ouverture was the foremost of the Santo Domincan leaders. He not only overthrew slavery throughout the island but carried on a_ successful struggle against Napoleon’s Themidoran policy of reaction and made way for the birth of the Republic of Haiti. WORKERS DEMAND FREEDOM FOR KUN Thousands Protest Union Square in (A lowering sky and intermittent drizzling rain failed to dampen the ardor of 5,000 New York workers, who gathered in Union Square Satur- day afternoon and shouted a lusty “Aye” to a resolution demanding the |be commemorated in a memorial meeting to be held under the auspices of Sunday, May 28, at 3 p m. at 170 DENTAL STRIKE CLOSES 488 SHOPS Leaders Say Success Is Certain The dental laboratory workers who have called a general strike in New York announce 488 laboratories out and the few remaining ones to be closed tonigat.. Shop after shop has gone out on ‘strike, demanding better conditions. and wages. Every strike meeting brings. hundreds of new mem- bers and a strong union of all dental mechanics will be the outcome, strike leaders say. Hudson Co., N. Ji, is out 100 per cent and Newark, Jersey City, Long Island and Mt. Vernon are all follow- ing suit. Strike meetings are held twice daily at 10 a. m. and 7 p. m. at La- bor Temple, 14th St., at Second Ave. MILL STRIKERS PARALYZE TRADE Conciliation Committee Formed by Merchants NEW BEDFORD, Mass., May 20.— As the great strike of the 30,000 tex- tile workers here enters the sixth week of struggle against the attempt at a 10 per cent wage reduction, the merchants and other small business interests are beginning frantic efforts to organize conciliation committees, which will be powerless to terminate | the strike, judging from the deter- mination to win expressed by the} workers. Not only are the Textile Mill Com- }mittees intrenching their leadership in the struggle in New Bedford, but work for spreading the strike to Fall River where 25,000 textile workers suffered a similar wage slash, is get- ting into full swing. Despite the con- immediate and unconditional release of Bela Kun, Hungarian Communist leader, now held prisoner by i Aus- trian government. Speaker after speaker, adateasing the workers from two platforms, pointed out to the steady increasing crowd the significance of the arrest tinued opposition of the reactionary leaders of the Textile Council of Fall River, who several months ago suc- ceeded in preventing a successful -strike vote, sentiment for a walkout is growing by leaps and bounds. Relief work, both the collection and the distribution of aid. to the families of thousands of strikers, is assuming of Kun, the possibility of his extradi- tion to Hungary, where his murder is inevitable, the connection. between American imperialism and the fascist rulers of Hungary, and ealled-upon the workers to use the only wéapon at their command to save Kun—mass protest and solidarity with the work- ingelass of the world. The implications of the world-wide movement to save Kun were aptly sun.marized by Jay Lovestone, exec- utive secretary of the Workers (Com- munist) Party, when he declared that not the life of an individual was at stake, but that the case involved the entire struggle of the workers against world capitalism, Lovestone received a tremendous ovation when he was introduced. Denunciations of Hungarian fascism were greeted with applause, while loud boos, catcalls and hisses drowned out the names of Horthy, Mussolini and Herbert Hoover. The mention of the Soviet Union was invariably | (Continued on Page T' more and more the form of a smooth running machine. Larger crews of strikers go out on fishing expeditions. Last week over 8,000 pounds of fish were brought i in for strike relief. Workers’ Cs 400 Locked 1 im Burning Pennsylvania Mine NEGLIGENCE BY BOSSES BLAMED FGR EXPLOSION | Fierce Fire sie ‘Still Blaz-' ing in Pits pile eess | {Special to The Daily Worker) | WAYNESBURG, Pa., May 20.—} | Four hundred miners. may have lost| | their lives as a result of the fire and | explosion which occurred in the scab] Mather Collieries Company mine} about nine miles northeast of this ex-| treme southwest Pennsylvania bet Saturday. Failure by the scab coal company} to take any of the necessary precau- " | tions to prevent accident is given as) the cayse of. the explosion. A tre- \mendous explosion, followed immedi- {ately by a fierce fire which is still | blazing, resulted in the trapping of the | miners and preventing rescue work A number of the men are reported to have escaped, although this report re- mains unverified. Hundreds of miners and the wives of those entombed have gathered Physicians -and surgeons from here cue work. about the burning pit awaiting rescue. | have been rushed to the scene, but! there appears very little hope for res- | Thirty thousand textile workers uman heroic fight for a union organization. Mass picketing is growing daily. Miserably underpaid and working under a terrific speed-up sys- tem, the operatives walked out when in New Bedford, Mass., are putting a 10 per cent wage cut was ordered. Photo shows a group of children of the striking workers. THOUSANDS Practically all scab mines which are operating violate all safety laws. “LABOR” BANK FIRES UNIONIST Protest Gusher of Shop Chairman Tonight The bank of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers’ Union, boasted of by B. C. Vladeck of the Jewish For- ward, as “more valuable than all the writings of Marx and Lenin” at the union’s convention just ended in Cin- cinnati, has discharged the shop chairman in the bank for his union activities. The latter was elected by the employes in the bank, who are members of the Office Workers’ League, A protest meeting will be held at the Labor Temple, 14th St. and Sec- ond Ave., tonight at 7 o’clock by the Office Workers’ League. “For the second time in recent months,” a statement issued by the League last night stated, “a depart- ment head has been dismissed from the Amalgamated Bank for union ac- tivities. The shop chairman of the bank was discharged because of the defense he put up in behalf ef a worker who was recently discharged |for union activities. The Office League, of which the dis- missed worker is a member, protests this ‘action on the part of the Amal- gamated Bank and will hold’a meet- ing at the Labor Temple tonight to voice its objection to this discrimina- tion against union members by a la- bor bank, “Prominent speakers will address the meeting. Admission is free.” Painter Killed When Staging Collapses CASTINE, Me., May 20, — Frank Grindle, 52, was. instantly killed this morning while painting the Castine Inn, when the staging collapsed. He fell about 25 feet. Another worker saved himself by clinging to a rope. \labor movement. Among the speakers were George Hardy, for the Red International of Trade Unions, Tzichon for the Cen- tral and Moscow committeeS of the All Union Communist Party, Sen Kata- yama for the Japanese Communist Party and the revolutionary workers jof the Far East, R. Page Arnot for | the Communist Party of Great Britain and the Anglo-American secretariat of the Comintern. William F. Dunne spoke for the American Communist (Continued on Page Five) CLOAK WORKERS SPREADING FIGHT Mass Meetings in Phila, Cleveland, Chicago From the headquarters of the Na- tional Organizing Committee of the Cloakmakers’ Union comes the an- nouncement that mass meetings are to be held this week in Chicago, Cleveland and Philadelphia to ac- quaint the cloak and dressmakers with the results of the convention held by the reactionary officialdom of the In- ternational Union and with the de- cisions of the National Conference of the progressive delegates locked out of the fake convention. The mass meeting in Chicago will be held tomorrow evening 7 o’clock in Peoples House, 2783 Hirsch -Boule- yard. Louis Hyman, chairman of the National Organizing Committee, will be the principal speaker. Other speakers will be the delegates elected by the Chicago union membership to the convention, but locked out by the Sigman and Schlesinger cliques. Hyman Main Speaker. Louis Hyman will also be the main speaker at the mass meeting to be held Saturday evening, May 26, in Cleveland. Leaders of the cloak and dressmakers here wifil also speak. The (Continued on Page Two) THE PROFESSOR “DEVOURS ANYTHING” Letter Shows Shows Ohio State Dean on Power Lobby Pc Payroll Cee, May 20.—Prof. C. 0. Ruggles, dean of the school of commerce at Ohio State University, is exposed in a letter as one of the many public school and university teachers who are on the payroll of the national power trust lobby. A letter naming Ruggles and placed in evidence in a federal trade commission’s investigation at Wash- ‘ington, written to a callab- BSehg in by Benjamin E. | , director of the Ohio Commit- mt ie tee on Public Utility Information, of this city, a link in the national propaganda chain of the trust. Cancelled checks also were intro- duced showing the professor was paid $1,250 a month by the lobby. . * * | a letter follows in part: “Our friend Ruggles at the Ohio State University is one of the most diligent little letter writers you ever came acress, but inasmuch as his ideas coincide with our own, I have been striving to help him as much as possible and should very much like to have you do what you can for him too. 47! you can do so, I should like’ to have you bundle up as much of the material you have sent out in the last year, particularly the matter that appeared in the Illi- nois Journal of Commerce or any special pamphlets, to be sent on to Ruggles, because he devours any- thing utility matters.” AT BIER OF WILLIAM HAYWOOD MOSCOW, U. S. S. R., May 20.—A glowing tribute was paid by the in-| |ternational revolutionary movement at the bier of William D. Haywood |when leader after leader in the first workers’ and peasants’ republic lauded | \his fighting record in the American® CANTON HARBOR STRIKE GROWS Fail to Recognize Jap| Manchuria Influence CANTON, May 20.—The strike of| the longshoremen and _ lightermen here has gained new impetus as scores more workers continue to join the movement. It is reported that the strike which began two days ago in protest against the Japanese asser- tion of special rights in Manchuria may spread to other ports. At pres- ent all Japanese vessels are tied up)» in Canton harbor unable to load or unload their caroges. Announcement by the Japanese government that it intended to in- crease its influence in Manchuria has (Continued on Page Two) GORDON TO READ AT “RED POETS” Prominent Writers on} Annual Program David Gordon, ber of the Young Workers League. who has just been released from the New York County reformatory, will read from his prison poems at the second annual international Red Poets Night. The affair, which will be held Thursday evening at 8 p. m., at La- bor Temple, Second Ave., and 14th St., will bring together revolutionary poets writing in various languages, who will read from their own work. Gordon was released from the re- formatory on parole last Tuesday, after being sentenced to serve three years for writing a poem, “America,” which referred irreverently to capital- ist America. The poem was printed in The DAILY WORKER and was used as a pretext for efforts to crush that paper. In addition to Gordon, a number of other well-known poets will read. These include Michael Gold, editor of the New Masses, Joseph Freeman, James Rorty, Genevieve Taggard, A. B. Magil, Henry Reich, Jr., Robert Wolf, Adolf Wolff, Edwin Rolfe, the (Continued on Page Two) Finnish Carpenters Will Hold Affair Thursday An entertainment given by the Tin- nish carpenters of Harlem will be held on Thursday, May 24, 7:30 p. m., at the Finnish Hall, 15 W. 126th St. The program will include the film, “Alias The Deacon.” 19 year-old mem-} | Their Parents Are a the Textile Barons INTEREST BROWS IN ALL SECTIONS, ORGANIZERS SAY ‘Michigan Holds State Meet at Flint j | Details of the interest which the | National Nominating Convention of |the Workers (Communist) Party, to | | be held here beginning next Friday, May 25, is evoking among workers and farmers thruout the United States are being daily received at the head- quarters of the Party as news of the State Conventions and arrangements for the sending of delegates arrives. Many on Their Way. Many of the delegates, especially from the far western states, are al- |ready on their way to the convention jand the major activity in the districts ,/is now being concentrated on placing |the Workers (Communist) Party on |the ballot in November. In many of the western and jsouthern states this can only be ef- fected by the securing of a large number of signatures. Organizers thruout the country are busily en- gaged in collecting these lists at | present. From all sections where this listing is going on the organizers report the most lively interest in the convention and the ensuing campaign. This interest is by no means limited to the industrial sections of the work- ing class, the organizers assert, but includes large masses ‘of. destitute and semi-destitute farmers thruout the rural districts. From points as far apart as Dela- ware and California, Paul Crouch, |who is organizing for Party in the |south, and John Owens, in the Im- perial Valley in California, state that the poor farmers of both sections are enthusiastic in their reception of the convention and the Party program. From North Dakota, Knutson an- (Continued on Page Two) REPORT SUCCESS IN MINE RELIEF $8,000 Collected in Two Tag Days With several stations in Browns- ville still to be heard from, the office of the National Miners’ Relief Com- mittee yesterday issued an itemized statement of the tag day collection, listing the amounting each station col- lected. This does not include the young workers who, collected for the Youth Committee for Miners’ Relief jand the children who worked with Children’s Committee boxes, | The best work of the drive, for an individual station, was done by the | Workers Club at 101 West 27th St, | Manhattan, the amount taken in be- ing $1,394,95. The station at 143 East 103rd St. came second with $605.17, and 2700 Bronx Park East followed closely with $580.28, The Youth Conference for Miners’ | Relief, with some stations as yet un- tabulated, has already collected over $1,100, and the Children’s Committee for Miner's’ Relief has already counted $1,200, with several boxes as yet un- opened... The list of adult stations follows. All the stations in the Bronx worked under the supervision of the Bronx Miners’ Relief Committee, whose fine organizational work prior (Continued on Page Five) Senate Wonders About _ Oil Slush Fund Taxes WASHINGTON, May 20—The senate has called upon the t department to tell what steps have been taken to collect taxes and what: penalties for non-payment have been imposed on the four oil men who pro- fited from the Continental Company’s $3,000,000 liberty slush fund. Testimony before the Teapot Di Committee revealed that Harry Sinclair, Col. Robert W. Stewart, the Standard Oil Company of I