The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 28, 1928, Page 2

sHE DAILT WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, MAY 28, 1928 EULALIE MENDES, GIRL TEXTILE STRIKER, COMES TO THE COMMUNIST PARTY CONVENTION runs a speeder in the City Mill at New Bedfor Mass. At least she did until Weeks ago, when nearly 30,000 textile Workers walked out of the mills in reply to a ten per cent wage cut. lalie was in New York Friday,| Saturday and Sunday a) She came to} stood the National Nominating Convention| Temple last Friday night. Only 18 years old, president of the New Bedford Textile Workers’ Union, which is affiliated) with the National Textile Mill Com-| mittee. She is also a member of the| ive committee of the strike mittee. She looked a little frightened as she on the platform at Mecca Four thou- ec Wor! Party listened intently to] the dark-eyed young Portugese girl. “The workers of New Bedford sent me here,” she d, “to tell you of the big fight we ar rrying on against the textile boss I understand Mr. Butler is going to run for senator in) Massachusetts. But many of the workers think he is not a good can-| Eulalia is vice-| tional Nominating Convention of the} | rahi big mills. “We all think a better candidate for us would be Albert Weisbord,” she | | said as thunderous applause "broke | jover the huge auditerium. “The | Workers sent me here,” she con- | cluded, “because they are convinced | that the Workers’ Party is fighting for them.” Eulalie was eager, alert and en- of the Workers (Communist) Party| sand New York workers who came} didate for them because he is friendly| thustastic during the Saturday ses- to tell of the fight in New Bedford.| to greet the opening of the first Na-| to all the bosses and himself owns| sion of the convention at Central Opera House, She was asked about conditions in the New Bedford mills before the strike. “More than half of the workers in the mills are young girls and.women,” she said in response to a question, “How much do they earn, ‘Well, many get as little as $7.90 a week for a 44-hour wek, Thousands of men earn about $16 a wee! “What is the highest pay ‘anybody gets?” “Sixteen dollars.” “Many of them have five or six kids, don’t they?” she was asked. “Sure, some have nine, ten and many of them have twelve children.” Eulalie spoke of her chum Diana Susa, who is 22 years old. “She only makes $9.40 a week for 44 hours,” Eulalie said, “How much does she pay for board and room?” “She has to pay $7 a week for food and $1 a week for a room.” “That doesn’t leave her much for other things, does it?” Bulalie explained that her friend washed her own clothes and made her own dresses. “We are fighting for a 40-hour week,” she explained, “a 20 per cent increase, no speed-up and the recog- nition of our union. We will fight until we win no matter how long it takes us.” Workers Party Convention Lauds Smashing of Donetz Basin Conspiracy FOSTER, GITLOW CHOSEN BY BIG | COMMUNIST MEET. A Militant Platform Is Adopted (Continued from Page One) municipal fixing of low rents other advances for the workers. The thoro working class base of the convention was clearly in evidence thruout its sessions. Reports were delivered by mine delegations from Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Illinois. Representatives from the New Bedford textile mills, head- ed by Eulalia Mendez, from the Beth- Iehem steel mills, from the Detroit automobile factories and from Akron rubber factories analyzed the prob- lems of workers in the basic indus tries. A good deal of the work of the convention was carried out by the following committees: Press, Alexander Bittelman, chair- man; Ways and Means, Alexander Trachtenburg, chairman; Resolutions, James Cannon, chairman; CATDSHEH | and Propaganda, Bertram D, Wolfe, / chairman; Platform, Jay Lovestone,}! chairman, William W. Weinstone, sec- retary; Credentials, Jack Stachel. Re-! becca Grecht was elected secretary of the convention with Tom Foley as an assistant. In his acceptance speech Foster and / emphasized the necessity of mobiliz- * ing the masses for the overthrow of capitalism thru the struggle for im- nediate needs. \ Communist Government. “When a Communist heads the gov- ernment of the U. S., and that day will come as sure as the sun rises, sooner perhaps than any of us think that government will be a Soviet government and behind that govern- ment will be a Red Army,” he said. ‘In the meantime we must organize around immediate demands in prepa- tation for the final revolutionary struggle which will abolish capitalism altogether. Referring to the danger of ¢: talist war, Foster declared that ‘ are entering this political campaign to wage a battle on every front. We must arouse the workers to the dan- ger of a world war, the antagonism of the capitalist powers, the attacks on the Soviet Union, the camouflage so-called peace treaties—all prove conclusively that a capitalist war is in preparation. In fact, it is here now.” Attack on Unions, Touching on the trade union situa- tion, Foster declared that “the trade union movement thru the attack of the capitalist c supported by the labor misleaders is being destroyed. The socialists have united with labor bureaucrats and are in ny cases leading this reaction. The cen- ter of the struggle against the at- tack against the trade union move- ment has been the miners’ union in which the Communist Party has in- spired the leadership of th “Th logar n be of the Americ: Party is not vo getters Expose Capitalism. “We wage the political struggie in order to utilize this means to expose the capitalist system on every field.” Foster also laid special emphasis on the campaign for the rights of the Negro workers. “We will go down south,” he said. “In the land of lynchings and Jim wism, we will fight against lynchings and Jim- Crowism.” “The democratic party,” he de- elared, “no less than the republican party, is the party of big business— “Great,” Says Anita Whitney as ©. WHITNEY journeyed * 5,400 mules from Oakland, Cali- f to attend the National Nom- inating Convention of the Workers (Communist) Party. She comes from the land of sun- shine and criminal syndicalism laws, where she was convicted in 1919 of “subversive revolutionary activities.” She was sentenced to serve an indetermimate term of one to fourteen years but public pres- sure forced her release after she had served but 11 days in the county jail, “This campaign will be used to spread the message of Conimunism thruout the United States,” she said, “and this convention is a glor- ious achievement.” ra f | | | Quota Law To Separate Mother and Children Another example of the great hardships suffered by the foreign- born workers in the United States as a result of capitalist laws aimed at them is the case of Mrs. Emma Gallanti (shown above with three of her children). Deportation orders will allow some of the children to remain here with their father, a worker in Hermine, Pa., while Mrs. Gallanti and the other children mus: t return to Italy. THERE’S NOTHING. DOING FOR THE OLD MINERS By ED FALKOWSKI, (Federated Press). HAZLETON, Pa., May 27.—Econ the anthracite mines. Al Smith no less than Herbert) Hoover. Nor is the socialist party any less the party of the capitalist) class. The record of the socialist | party has been best seen in the events that followed the world war in} | Europe, capitalism would have been| destroyed.” Gitlow in accepting the nomination| as vice-president declared: “It is indeed a great honor to be nominated as one of the standard bearers of the Workers (Communist) | Party of America. This convention brings out a note of defiance and| challenge to the whole bloody cenitsls) ist class of America. We clare to the Ohio gang which put in- o power the Harding and Coolidge) udministrations, to the pirates of Tammany Hall, that the Communist] ty in the’ coming campaign will] pose in letters of crimson the lurid} record of these parties of expolita-| tion.’ | Pointing to the danger of an im- perialist attack against the Soviet} Union, Gitlow declared: “We understand the full meaning | f ts now being planned by the an imperialist government in| cooperation with the imperialist gov-| ernments of Europes “The so-called peace treaties which are now being prepared are the sig- nals to us of the coming war. It is no accident that provision in these treaties specifically excludes the So- viet Union. The war danger involves an attack on the Soviet Union. “The. capitalist press tomorrow will say that this is a ‘Red’ convention. We are proud of this fact, for there a country over which the red flag s which has captured for the workers one-sixth of the globe. he capitalist government of tl United States persists in its refusal 0 recognize the government of the Soviet Union, a time will soon come when a Soviet government in the U.S. will recognize the Soviet Union.” Political Prisoners, Referring to the question of politi- eal prisoners, Gitlow pointed out that he coming campaign of the Workers (Communist) Party must be directed | towards freeing these workers. “We | have at this convention,” Gitlow de- clared, “the victims and the relatives of victims beginning with Lucy Par- sons—1886—and bring up to the pre- sent day when Mooney and Billings are still in prison. “We ‘shall not forget that Sacco and Vanzetti were murdered; we} must not forget the millions of vic-| tims of unemployment; our campaign is also an industrial campaign.” In coneluding, Gitlow stated: “We declare that in the event of an attack on the Soviet Union we | ure on the company’s part, If | omy is throwing the old men out of One colliery has established a record by laying off ® three in one day. The cycle of the miner’s life is from the breaker through the mine back to |the breaker. Breaker work means picking the rock out of coal as it rushes down chutes from the rollers where it has been crushed to required jsizes after being dumped from the |mine cars. Minus the rock, it flows down to the carloading pocket, ~ Usu- Jally this work is very light and is done by boys. Formerly miners start- ed their careers at the age of 8 as |breaker boys and frequently worked lin breakers so far from home that they had to start walking before day- li apey, and returned home’ again in the | roa labor laws and machinery have left the breakers largely as the final workhouses for old men too weak to perform heavier jobs. After a life- time of exhausting work in the mines, the miner always made the last lap of his run at the slate pickers’ table, Laying off old men, even wi.cn they can do the work, is an economy meas- They have often had to pay compensation for old men who died while at work. Laying off old men amounts to kill- ing them. Few miners live long after they have lost connection with the |mine. They linger for a few years | withering away, until one day they are found dead on the street or in a eellar or in bed. KILLED IN BOAT CRASH. MADISON, Ind., May 27.—An as- sistant engineer was killed and two others were injured when the tow- boat Belfont rammed the steamer Cin- cinnati if the Ohio River near Car- rollton, Ky. UR job is not to ‘Americanize’ the Communist Party; it is to to communize the American labor movement,” snapped Jim Reed, vet- eran fighter from Rhode Island, in his speech before the convention. * * * Fuil of all kinds of proletarian pep, Mother Bloor came to the con- vention fresh from the coal fields of Indiana. She has lost much of her maidenly shyness but never- theless kissed only about half of the 800 delegates. ‘In Terre Haute, the home town of the late Eugene V. Debs,” said Bloor, “a socialist | party member asked me: ‘Are you still trying to organize the work- ing class?’ And I said, ‘You poor boob, we’re just beginning,’” * ° . will defend our own true country, the} Soviet Union.” fe “Two policemen,” said the New \ York Times in its report of the \ FA Hew LABOR FIGHTERS IN GLASS. WAR Standard Bearers for Workers Party | {Continued from page one) i |pelled 1909. Joined I. W. W. Dele gate to Budapest meeting of Trade | Union Secretariat, 1910. Took part | in Syndicalist League of North Amer- ica, 1911. Helped organize Interna- jtional Trade Union Educational League, 1916. Was secretary of com- | mittee which organized 200,000 pack- ing house workers in 1917. Secretary of the committee which organized | 250,000 steel workers in 1918. Con- jducted the strike of 400,000 steel | workers following organization drive. | Went to Soviet Russia in 1921, at- tending congresses of Communist In- ternational and Red International of | Labor Unions, Joined the Communist | Party same year. Communist candi-| |date for president of U. S. in the) first national Communist campaign, 1924. Secretary-treasurer of the} Trade Union Educational League. | Member Central Executive Commit- tee of the Workers (Communist) Par- ty; member Secretariat and Political Committee of the Party; for several years national chairman of the Par- ty. , Author of: “Syndicalism”; “Trade Unionism—the Road to Freedom”; “The Revolutionary Crisis 1918-1920 in Germany, Italy, England, France”; “The Railroader’s Next Step—Amal- gamation”; “The Bankruptcy of the |American Labor Movement”; “The Russian Revolution”; “Russian Work- ers and Workshops”; “The Great Steel Strike of 1919”; ‘Strike Strategy”; “Wrecking the Labor Banks”; “Misleaders of Labor,” BENJAMIN GITLOW. Born Elizabethport, N. J., Dec. 22, 1891. Father and mother both revo- lutionary socialists. Public school education. High school 8 years. Has worked in tin foil factory, clothing shops, millinery factories and depart- ment stores. Joined socialist party, 1907. Pres- jident of Retail Clerks’ Union of New | York, an organization of department store workers, 1913-14. Blacklisted iby Department Store Retail Mer- \chants’ Association, Member of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America since 1918. Elected to New | York legislature on socialist ticket. Elected as socialist assemblyman to the New York legislature on anti- war platform of 1917—the only one of the ten socialist assemblymen who remained consistently anti-war. Ac- |tively fought against the last imper- jalist war, Manager of the New York Commu- nist, Revolutionary Age, and Voice of | Labor, 1918-19. Member of the na- tional council of the Jeft wing of the socialist party in 1918-19. Helped to organize the Communist Labor Party of America, 1919. Convicted as a Communist under jthe New York criminal syndicalist ‘law in 1919 and went to Sing Sing |prison to serve a term of five years. |While in jail was a candidate for jmayor of New York in 1921 on the ticket of the Workers League and was jruled off the ballot by the Board of Elections. Whi! . still in prison be- came vice pre Jential candidate of the Workers t ‘ty in 1924, Pardoned by Gov. Smith 1 1925. Member of he Central Executive Committee of the Workers Party of America; member of ‘its Political Committee and Secretariat. Member ‘of the General Council of the Red In- i Mecca Temple demonstration, “stood guard without.’ Bither an unfortunate typographical error or the Times was too shy to report that at least a dozen kept the | workers moving with their night sticks. Stanley Clark of Oklahoma may look like a dageure type of Henry Clay, but he talks the unmistakable language of the revolutionary work- ers, Cheerleader Nessin, someone ob- served, ought to use his energy for activities of L bie social useful- ness. * ‘AL, COOLIDGE, Herb Hoover and Norman Thomas looked rather shabby after Jay Lovestone finished his report on the nomin- ating convention platform. | * * eee * No contributions from Harry F OSTER, GITLOW | Family Of Five Are Starving, Father Hunts Job | The picture shows the family of Max Greenhause, who has been vainly hunting a job for months together with thousands of other men and women thruout the United States. neighbors for support. The family have been entirely dependant on TOOHEY ACCOUNTS FOR TWO CHICKEN DINNERS More than 300 regular and fraternal delegates to the National Nominat- ing Convention of the Workers (Communist) Party here were guests Sat- urday night at the most mirth-provoking and spontaneous gathering ever RAILROAD MAN OF IOWA A DELEGATE (Continued from page one) other delegates — two from Kan- sas, one from Nebraska, and an- other from Towa. Patton, who was born in Missouri, went to work at the age of 16. He worked at all branches of rail- roading and when he was mustered out of service by the company ‘was working as a waymaster. * * * “NFOSTLY farming and railroad- ing around my country,” Pat- ton told a DAILY WORKER re- porter, “Tenant farmers? They are increasing by the hundreds every month, The bankers met in Des Moines a few days ago and served notice that they’d foreclose their mortgages as rapidly as sher- iffs of the different counties could perform the service. “You know they want to eliminate 40-80 acre farm. They can’t make money fast enough out of that. What they want is the 640-acre minimum. That’s the only way they can make use of the tractor profitably.” ternational of Trade Unions. Has been active in numerous strikes and labor struggles all over the United States. Was delegate to plenary ses- Ision of the Executive Committee of jthe Communist International in Mos- cow in 1927 and to the World Con- gress of the Red Intgrnational of Trade Unions in 1928. NOMINATING CONVENTION HIGHLIGHTS In Which Mother Bloor, Cal Coolidge, and Many Others Figure Sinclair, Edward L. Doheny, et al, had been received from the Com- munist campaign when the nomin- ating convention had adjourned, it was officially reported. * * * Alexander Trachtenberg rose from a sick bed to attend the con- vention. if’ * * “We are grateful to Mr. Wilbur dec teaching the sons of the work- ‘ers in the American imperialist army and navy how to shoot. We, however, shall tell them whom to hoot.”—From the speech to the _¢onvention by Herbert Zam, nation- ‘al secretary of the Young Work- ers (Communist) League. ‘ * “ Can Many of the delegates were dis- inclined to take off their nice, red badges when the conyention ad- journed. Equally batinbied were “held in the history of the Communist jand left wing movement, William W, Weinstone, organ- izer of the New York district of the Workers (Communist) Party turned the meeting over to Scott Nearing as permanent chairman. Nearing called first upon Pat Toohey for an accounting. “This banquet is indeed unique,” were the opening words of Toohey, who is secretary of the National Min- ers’ Save-the-Union Committee, “‘be- cause this is the first banquet at which I have been able to swipe two orders of chicken.” Encouraged by Toohey’s example, others in the hall were seen to do likewise. Towards the end of the eve- ning, while Richard B. Moore of the Negro Labor Congress was delivering his more than ordinarily eloquet har- rangue on the north meeting the south, Scott Nearing was seen to have slipped down in his chair in the act of devouring, it is said, his third portion of chicken at the same time exchang- ing signals with Jay Lovestone, execu- tive secretary of the Party, who was putting away his own fourth order. Throughout the proceedings two dark horses for the ,presidential and vice-presidential offices on the Com- munist ticket were held in complete leash. On several occasions William Z, Foster and Benjamin Gitlow, the two suspected ones, made frantic at- tempts to speak, but were kept in check by Comrade Polbureau. Chairman Nearing, who announced himself as a member of the Stump- speakers’ Union, with credentials to use a bottle in one of three well- known methods on the author of any political speech, managed to have the rule fairly well observed with the ex- ception of Rebecea Grecht, who re- cited the Imprecorr, only more so, One of the outstanding events of the evening was the account by David A. Griffin, a Negro delegate from Seattle, of his trip deluxe over the country to New York. The account of how he “beat his way” will be writ- ten up by Bert Wolfe, in a sort of Communist poetic epic, it is believed, and should not be told here in too great detail. the neat portfolios distributed gra- tis by the arrangement committee. * * * It was difficult to tell whether Julius Codkind was busy or just generally unhappy. * * * ¥ AMTER brought his corduroy vutfit from Cleveland. His famous pipe also never left him for a min- unte. By the way, he delivered a damn good speech. * * * Jim Cannon’s professional-look- ing spectacles didn’t dampen his fiery eloquence, . * * Bert Wolfe hiked at least 55 miles during the two and a half days of the convention. RECOGNITION OF U,S.S.2, DEMANDED AT MONSTER MEET Resolution A dopted Unanimously The following resolution condemn- ing the imperialist sabotage plot in the Donetz Basin of Soviet Russia and demanding the recognition of the Soviet Union was unanimously adopt- ed at the opening session of the Workers (Communist) Party Conven- tion at Mecca Temple, 133 W. 55th St., Friday evening: Resolution on the Shaktinsk Trial in Moscow. Whereas, the Soviet Government has put on trial before the Court in Moscow. a group of engineers and technical experts formerly occupying important positions in the socialized ee industry of the Donetz Basin, an Whereas, it has also been estab- lished that these technical experts have carried on their treacherous and counter-revolutionary activities on the industrial field at the direction and with the financial support of the for- mer owners of the Donetz mines which are now part of the socialized industries of the Soviet Union owned by the workers and peasants; and Whereas, it has also been estab- lished that several powerful capital- ist groups in Germany, France, Eng- land and Poland were backing finan- cially and. directing the criminal sabo- tage of the technical experts now on trial and that the latter have been cooperating with secrét service agents of several capitalist governments; and Whereas, these facts clearly indi- cate the existence of an extended con- spiracy of world capitalism in alliance with the Russian White Guard to dis- rupt the building of Socialism in the Soviet Union, to weaken it econom- ically and politically in preparation for open imperialist war upon the Workers Republic; and Whereas, the crime of these tech- nical experts becomes even blacker in the face of the great consideration. high salaries and other privileges ac- corded them by the Soviet Govern- ment and the toiling masses of the Soviet Union for the purpose of en- couraging these experts to work free- ly and in an atmosphere of trust for the economie pbuilding of the country; Therefore, we, the workers of New York and vicinity, assembled in Mecca Temple to greet the Workers (Com- munist) Party Nominating Conven- tion, do hereby resolve: 1. That the safety, security, well- being and success of socialist con- struction in the Soviet Union is the greatest concern of the workers of the entire world. 2. That we condemn this newest capitalist conspiracy against the Sov- iet Union, as inimical to the vital in- terests of the toilers throughout the world and that we express. our deep- est satisfaction with the success of the Soviet authorities in uncovering this conspiracy and bringing the cul- prits to trial before the toiling masses of the world. 3. That we call upon the court of the Soviet Union to mercilessly crush and stamp out this conspiracy, meting out adequate punishment to those proved guilty, and that we also call upon the working class of America and the entire world to redouble its vigilance and to intensify its prepara- tions for the defense of the Soviet Union against the threatening war of the imperialist powers. Further, that we demand of the United States government the im- mediate recognition of .the Soviet Union. Texas Delegate Tells of Farms “THE farmers in the south and west will follow the crimson banner of the Communist Party just as soon as they understand our program,” said B. H. Lauderdale, deelgates from Texas, attending the nominating convention of the Work- ers (Communist) Party, Lauderdale has been a farmer in his state for many years and is a member of the Farmer-Labor Un- ion. A member of the Communist Party since 1919, Lauderdale was for many years a left winger in the old socialist party. For some time he was state secretary of the party in Texas. “Tenant farmers in my state are progressively increasing,” Lauder- dale said, “and they can hope for little from the old capitalist par- ties.” *