The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 11, 1928, Page 4

Page Four THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, JUNE 11, 1928 THE DAILY WORKER Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'N, Ine Daily, Except Sunday 83 First Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: SUBSCRIPTION RATES E Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): per vear $4.50 six rucaths $6.50 per year $3.50 six months 82.50 three months. $2.00 three months. Phone, Orchard 1680 “Dalwork” | By Address and mail out checks to i THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. | ROBERT MINOR ....WM. F. DUNNE «= second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. ¥., the act of March 3, 1879. e Voice of Red New York under ps Lh The New York State Nominating Convention of the Workers (Communist) Party, in choosing its candidates yesterday for the | 1928 elections, opens the fight on the biggest sector of the national | electoral struggle. The State of New York is called, not without reason, the; “Empire State” of American capitalism. -For it is not only the j heaviest population center, but contains within it the g-ided | metropolis of the most powerful capitalism of the world. New: York C is the modern Babylon of finance-capitalism, the center from which every phase of American life is controlled for the; perpetuation of the system of exploitation, for the extension of | the iron rule of United States capital into all of Latin America, | into Asia and throughout the world. If Washington is the nominal capital of the United States, New York is the source of the orders which Washington executes. i It is no accident that the phenomenon known as Al Smith! originates in New York amidst the filth of Tammany Hall’s or-! ganization of corruption, gambling, prostitution and police graft. Al Smith has been tested by the topmost leaders of American finance-capital in its “home state.” Wall Street knows its Al Smith at least as intimately as it knows its other agent, Herbert Hoover. If in the coming developments of republican politics, it turns out that Hoover is another Taft who cannot preserve the illusions of capitalist “democracy” among the farming population of the West—then the highest lords of American finance-capital have another candidate and another party equally acceptable— as the chief executive of United States imperialism, in the person of Al Smith and the democratic party as led by him. Then the cesspool of Tammany Hall becomes more than ever the mirror in which the capitalist Narcissus admires its image. q New York district of the Workers (Communist) Party, est section of the Party, would in all events be obliged to 1e working class of the entire country and the other districts Party an inspiring example of the revolutionary use of the| ral campaign. And the fact that the fight is clearly dram- a struggle against the Tammany machine when that} y machine is aSsuming national leadership in capitalist polities, adds to the obligation and opportunity of the Communist Party to make a record in this district. The fight of the Communist Party is against the capitalist the capitalist government itself. Being so, it is equally nst all of the capitalist parties. Against the imperialist party give t of the elector atized © id Coolidge and Teapot Dome, against the party of Tammany, the ggle must be directed also against that other party of n—the so-called socialist party. a fight against the socialist party, the agency of the s among the workers, the task of the New York comrades is also especially to be emphasized. In New York the yellow heart of the socialist party beats to send its thin blood to the other parts of the country. Though living on the spoils of office in Milwaukee and in Reading, Pa., the socialist party has its real corporeal center in the yellow daily newspaper in New York City -—the Jewish Daily Forward. This paper, the organizing center ior strik <ing in the needle trades of New York, furnishes br the financial support for most of what is called the socialist party in the United States. In New York City the best fight can and must be fought against the poisonous Hillquitism, which the have learned to understand. vy York workers who have in large masses come under the p of the Communist Party in the trade union struggle, be made by our revolutionary campaign in this state, to e that the class struggle is a political struggle, and that y cannot successfully conduct their splendid fight against the »yers without giving their full political support to the Party they have learned to know as their best champion on the picket ine. In no state in the United States is the trade union bureaucracy more corrupt than in the New York state, and yet the advanced sections ‘of the working class are exceptionally advanced in the state. This ought to give the basis for early tremendous sses‘in the coming election by the New York comrades. ational campaign, with all of its international import- tht to receive a tremendous impetus from the launch- e New York state campaign. worker N leader same succe Our ance, 0 Ing oO; WALKOUT OF 600 WAS” SMASHED BY FAKER (By a Worker Correspondent) , increase. Many other crafts are pre- BOSTON, (By Mail).—The building} paring to strike. It looks as if a gen- trades agreement expired April 1,| eral strike will be called of the Boston 1928. new agreement w supposed| building workers. to be signed granting an increase of| About five months ago 600 work- wages for almost every craft. At/ers of the building trades returned present, two months after the expira-| J . 9, 1928 back to work after a twe tion of the old agreement, none of| week progressive strike. On the sec-| the crafts have got any increase, nor| ond week of the strike, it was set’!e¢ did thes! renew the old agreement and! yy the general business agent, E. E the old wage scale. The only ones Graves, of the Boston Building Trades that were promised a raise of 6% ‘Zouncil, sending back the men to work cents per hour, going into effect July by selling them out to the L. P. Soule and another 6%4-cents be- & Son Co. The strike was caued Lack of funds again compels the omission of the customary cartoon by Fred Ellis. The contri- butions expected Saturday, although larger than on any previous day, were not sufficient to meet ° the demands of creditors. We hope the workers’ support will enable us to continue Ellis’ splendid cartoons tomorrow. Imperialists Plunder By SCOTT NEARING. “Just see what we have done for the people of Haiti” is an argument run- ning far back into history. Every great empire has done its best to render colonial territory prosperous because of the importance of colonial markets. The Roman world in Western Europe was a case in point. The ter- ritory known’ as Gaul was covered by a network of Roman roads. These roads were extended as rapidly as the Roman conquest pro- ceeded. Immediate- ly, of course, they corresponded to a military necessity. In the last analysis. however, they were intended to provide avenues for commerce. They tapped resources and opened markets. Roman imperial policy in Gaul may be taken as a model even by the most successful imperialists at the present time,—the British. Fe The peoples of Gaul lost ‘heir lib- erty. ‘The Romans inaugurated law which was enforced by the Roman military machine. At the same time Roman citizenship was held out as a prize which the Gauls could win through faithful service to the em- pire. Partnership in the most pow- Scott Nearing erful state of the period was the sub- stitute for lost tribal freedom. The tribes were persuaded by the Romans to abandon their rugged hill fortresses, to move to the valleys and to occupy the new towns which were being build up along the lines of trade. The Roman government offered every encouragement to agri- culture and to industry. Banditry was suppressed. Trade was protected As security increased and capital was amassed, interest rates fell. The more enterprising among the native popu- lation got into the commercial game and within a generation became mem- bers of the rich local business class. Gaul was not only one of the richest districts of the Roman empire. In many respects it rivalled Italy itself. Its great cities, its rich merchants, its mining enterprises were sources of vast profit to the local business class as well as to the business elements in Rome. There were, to be sure, a number of outbreaks after the “Ro- man Peace” had been imposed on Gaul, but on the whole its provinces en- joyed an era of almost continuous business prosperity. As a result of this business pros- perity, the farmers were pushed stead- ily from their farms, the wealth was concentrated in the hands of a small, rich class, The workers who left \their farms and emigrated to the cities were employed there, or helped to make up the unemployed city slum population. The same system of ex- —EDITOR. and Divide ploitation which had been established in Italy was established likewise in Western Europe. With this exception, that in Italy the profits went almost entirely to the Italians, while the profits in the provinces were divided. part going to the local business class} and part to the Roman rulers. What the American empire does for Haiti, Panama and Nicaragua, the British empire has done for India, Egypt and the Straight Settlements and the Roman empire did for Gaul and for Asia Minor. Each imperial ruling class selects the territory where it proposes to carry on exploiting activities, constructs roads, exploits natural resources, builds up trade and utilizes the native labor as the basis for its business prosperity. If the imperial class is foolish it insists on hogging the spoils, and inevitably the colony revolts, If the imperial class is wise it shares the spoils with the local ex- ploiters, using local resources and lo- cal labor as the basis for the mutua! enrichment of the imperial and col- onial capitalists. European imperialists in China like American imperialists in the Carib- bean area are making a huge mistake. They are assuming that it is possible for an imperial ruling class to take everything. They might profitably turn the pages of their Roman histor- ies and discover that the ruling class of the greatest empire of classic times was content to plunder and divide. Militant Miners Rout Fishwick’s Thugs By JOE PETERS. There was a big fight in the Mo- narch restaurant located on Main St. in Belleville, Ill. The gangsters had just been routed. As I looked around, the place appeared: somewhat demol- ished; table cloths, broken chairs, cups and glasses littered the floor. The frightened customers, who had fled to the rear, again came forward. The waiter telephoned for the police. After the Battle. There nearest to the door stood Freeman Thompson with a gashing wound on his forehead, his scalp split from the blow of a stump instrument, face and shirt front covered with blood. But there was blood in his eyes too. Next to the wall stood George Voy- zey, his hands yet clasping the re- mains of a chair. Further back stood John Watt. He had just hurled a sugar bovl through the glass door as the gangsters fled. I felt just a slight pain in the left knee. It must have been struck by a chair. Outside amongst the gangsters was Walter Nesbit, then yet secretary of the Illinois Miners’ Fishwick adminis- tration. They were waiting for the police to rescue them. Nesbit sported a beautiful black eye. Some of the gangsters carried bruises. They had felt the heavy paws of the coal min- ers, made strong by heaving big lumps of coal. That night the cells of the basement of Belleville city hall were filled. g April 1, 1929, provided any ) the crafts from now until April, get an inerease from the em- were the painters. Two ere no agreement has been signed yet, and the chances to sign a new agreement are slim. The Master Painters’ Association is cleverly fool- ing the painters’ district council 41, delaying the meeting date from one week to another. Strike in the Air. Things have been in the air unti) now. Some two weeks ago, the iron workers went out on strike for an jnerease. On May 27, about 8,000 car- s after the promise to the paint-) when the company refused to pay the cement workers the 12%-cents per | hour increase their agreement called for. The cement workers then struck on the Keith-Albee Theatres and John | Hancock’s Building. The chief agent of the building trades council, Mr. Graves, who, by the way, has a very! bad record as a betrayer of the Upholsterers’ Union, Local 87, Boston, when called to court with all the other agents got seared for reasons best known to himself. He called on lawyer Marberry, the build- ing trades’ council lawyer and tol¢é him.to. settle the matter of libel be- foré it came to°court. So the lawyer, Although the whole affair was obvi- ously framed by Walter Nesbit, he was not there, There was political significance in that battle. It happened after the 'first day session of the Illin is Min- ers Speci. Convention about 1.80 in the morning. I had just met these coal miners, old friends of mine. George Voyzey of athletic built. He enjoys a good scrap. Freeman Thompson, tall and wiry, carrying the scars of many bat- tles of the past. John Watt, slender built but quick in action and with some experience in the ring. With John Watt, I went that eve- penters voted to strike. On May 31) together with the agents, settled the|ning to the Save-tha-Union head- at an overflow meeting, the Bricklay-| case with the Soule & Son Co. satis-|quarters of Main street. He wanted ers’ Union 3, almost ed to strike for a) per hour ~~ —_—— ly yot-| factory to both of them but bad for|to get some material. We noticed a gang across the ps? je 3 us names. When we again left the head- quarters and made for the restaurant, the gang followed hollering after us. In the front of the restaurant an- other gang was loitering around. It was apparent they were all working together. Coming inside the restaurant, we met Freeman Thompson and George Voyzey sitting by the counter. They joined us at our table as we told the story of what had happened. Voyzey seemed to be in fine shape and feeling good in anticipation of a scrap. Need- less to say, having met them we felt better too, Gang Attacks. Walter Nesbit then came into the restaurant, calling Watt aside, telling him to leave as a gang was outside waiting to beat him up. We then un- derstood the whole situation, Walter Nesbit was the one who had organized the gang to frame up these coal min- ers. After a minute he came back in once more, telling John Watt that the gang was now coming, and then as a cyclone they busted in on us from all sid s; some of them having previ- ously been placed at the counter and some of them coming from the out- side. The gangsters ~vere of the type ac- customed to quicx work, but they counted without the heavy blows of the miners. Freeman Thompson and John Watt had obviously been pointed jout to them in advance as they partic- ularly ganged-up on these two. As I am not a coal miner and apparently not picked for a victim, altho kept busy, I could get a better view of the battle. Walter Nesbit tried his hand in helping his gang arid on top of three or four others tried to land on Watt. George Voyzey had meantime kept himself busy hitting right and left and hitting heavy. I just saw him swing at Nesbit and later wit- nessed the result—a swollen black who stands well over six feet high jeye. Chairs, eups, glasses and sugar bowls were flying in all directions. ‘Such a reception was much hotter than the gangsters expected. Rayidly they made for the door and kept outside until the police arrived. The police appearing on the scene, Walter Nesbit stepped forward, pointed the four of us out to be arrest- ed and we were marched off to jail. Two of the gangsters were| taken along so as to give an appearance of impartiality. They were the Taggert brothers, one of whom the year before stole milk and eggs at the Lyric hotel. The Beans Are Spilled. After being securely locked up, one of the Taggert brothers, the younger one who was not quite such a hardened sinner, spilled the beans. Obviously he had not expected to land in jail. He cursed Nesbit and hollered, “Tell that s——__—_—— to come down and get me out.” His brother, fearing that he would give the whole story, jaway attempted to quiet him down, but that further aroused his anger and he said, “What the hell. It is easy for you to talk. You raceived $100 from Nesbit.” Next morning our friends on the MILITANT COAL_MINER TELLS OF RELIEF WORK * To the Editor of The DAILY fore they are eager to assist them | WORKER. i Dear Mr. Editor: I wish to say a few words in refer- ence to the National Miners’ Relief, formerly the Pennsylvania & Ohio Miners’ Relief, how it was formed and what benefit it has been to the miners and their families. at was on-er about the 15th day of August 1927, that the question of forming a Sub-District Relief Com- mittee was taken up in Local Union 971 of Yorkville, Ohio and of which I am president. > I niyself called a mass meeting for the purpose of forming a Relief Com- mittee. To this meeting I invited our} Sub-District Officers. Vice-president Pacifico, and some members of the sub-district board came to the meeting. There it was| } decided to wait until after the A. F. of L. Convention was held for the purpose of giving relief to the strik- ing miners and families. Call Second Meeting. After the convention was held and we did not get relief, we called an- other mass meeting in Yorkville as our sub-district officers had never taken any action in forming a relief committee. At that meeting York- ville Local Union No. 971 and Local Union No. 397 decided to work to- gether for the formation of a relief committee of both locals. At that time the Pennsylvania miners had already formed their relief committee and learned that we in Ohio were also forming a committee. They sent representatives to Ohio to ask us to unite with them and form one com- mittee. This we decided to do, and the coming together of these two com- mittees was the means of forming the Pennsylvania and Ohio M‘ners’ Relief Committee. This committee was the means of bringing the miners closer together. Learn of Each Other. We in Ohio began to learn the true conditions of our brothers and sisters in Pennsylvania and they also at the same time began to get to know what their striking brothers and sisters in Ohio were suffering. This was the means of bringing a higher and bet- ter understanding among our people. And even in the non-union field there arose a better feeling. In that field! there are many men who were at one time some of the best fighting men that our organization has ever known, but who were driven out by the clique that were in the office, because’ the gang could not break the noble fight- ing spirit of these men. On the ist day of April 1928, in Pittsburg, these same men who had been driven from our union came to the Save-the-Union Convention to fight for the principles which they believe in. And when this convention was held in Pittsburgh, a high and noble feeling existed there as the men were all in harmony with one another, and all believed in the action that was taken there. And since that con- ference was held, the Save-the-Union Committee has been doing all it pos- sibly can to aid the Pennsylvania and Ohio Miners Relief Committee. Broaden Work. Since our convention we have had to broaden the scope of its operations, as we have taken in every state in the union and Canada where miners are on strike. We have changed the name of our committee to the Na- tional Miners’ Relief Committee. Our committee has had stiff opposition from all reactionary organizations. But we are glad to know that there are more progressive workers in the country than reactionaries, and we are glad to see our progressive brothers and sisters of other crafts and unions and many good friends come t@ our aid. \They feel that the Save-the- Unionists are the most active, and are because they are altogether progres- sive and class conscious. i The National Miners’ Relief Com- | mittee have done and are doing won- | derful things in aiding the miners | families and it has all been brought about by the generous assistance of || the good and conscious workers of |/ of the miners is their own fight, and our many supporters can rest assured that when this warfare is over, and the miners of the progressive United Mine Workers of America have the means we promise to help to repay a | little of the kindness that has been | shown to us in our time of need. —JACK BELL, Tiltonville, Ohio. HANdOuTS, An extremely entertaining exercise in naivete is noted in the latest issue of the Nation where its policy of “ap- plauding” and “deploring” reaches newer heights of humor. This week it lauds: Mr. Rocke- feller’s action in calling for the resig- nation of Robert W. Stewart as chair- man of the board of the Standard Oil company ‘ef Indiana. Also: The en- dorsement by the German electorate of Premier Stresemann’s peace poli- cies. Only political lethargy could ac- count for its oversight in not prais- ing Coolidge’s superb Gettysburg ad- dress, Kellogg’s home-made peace pro- posal, and the destruction of workers in the Mather collieries. . * * All Ready for Fame “Oh Mama, who is the man in the funny pictures?” “That is Mayor Walker, my child.” “Well why does he look so solemn?” “He’s having his statute made far posterity.” “Who's he?” “Posterity is all the people that come after us when we are gone for- ever and ever.” “How does he know they will be interested in having his statute?” “He doesn’t. But he’s going to be on the safe side. He'll have his statue already ‘for them in everlasting mar- ble.” “Well, Mama, im the picture which one is the marble?” “Why, they’re both....Adolph, eat the rest of your oatmeal or: I won't let you lick the candy pan.” * * * It can be learned by a perusal of capitalist newspapers that Chang Tso- lin, dictator of Peking, is dead and that he is not dead. The capitalist correspondents find it difficult to reach a compromise on which fake despatch to send out. * * * Impartiality of the purest sort is shown by the American retiring col- lector-general in Nicaragua who re- joices in the name of Col. Clifford D. Ham. Urging that the U. S. Mar- ines remain in Nicaragua to continue the first that they can depend upon for assistance should they in turn need assistance themselves, and there- their slaughter, Ham says: “I am wholly neutral and do not care who wins.” outside got busy and demanded our release. The police commissioner ap- peared in front of the cells telling us in a manner of lecture that they wanted law and order to prevail in the city; he had no objection to free speech and to the convention continu- ing with its work. He added: “Mr. Nesbit has not filed any charges against you.” This brought a hearty laugh from the four of us. We asked him to please to go to the restaurant where he could get the whole story from the owner, and from the people there of how the gangsters had as- saulted us and how the whole thing was clearly organized by Nesbit. At this report the poiice commissioner did not scem to care to enter into further arguments, but quyietly un- locked the doors and we were again free. ¥ f Arriving at the convention hall where the next day’s session just started the coal miners told their story, challenging Nesbit to prove that they did not hire gangsters to make a deadly assault upon them, admon- ishing the delegates that this was not merely an assault upon the three min- ers mentioned but upon the movement which was now struggling to free the union of all the corrupt influence, to free it from the control of the tools of the operators. The convention spirit rose to tre.nendous heights. The delegates pledged that there would be no let-up until this battle was fin- complete control of the miners’ union, not only in Illinois but throughout the Jeountry, ) ished, until the rank and file had taken | THREATENS MINERS LAUGH AS CHIEF EXPULSION (By a Worker Correspondent) PITTSTON, Pa. (By Mail).—I want.to write and tell you about a meeting which was held in my Local Union 1376, of the United Mine Work- ers at the Roseland Hall, Hazelton, on Friday, June Ist. Two organizers, district. and inter- national, were present and demanded that we expel two of our brothers who were delegated by our local union to attend the’ Pittsburgh National Save-the-Union Conference. The or- ganizers threatened that they would revoke our charters and made all kinds of other threats. We refused to take these threats seriously and told them to go ahead. Then our district president, Andrew Mattey, “arrived. Everybody was so surprised to see him that the whole membership began hollering and ask- ing him, “Andro are you drunk to- day?” as a greeting. Mattey, of course, told them that he was not drunk and that he merely came to take his transfer from the local union. We, naturally wanting to see him go, gave him his transfer. This, of course, is a preparation to expel our local union, but we should worry. We are going to take away the union from Mattey, Kennedy and the whole bunch. Then, also, the district officials sent a letter to the local union at [Eckley that they must expel from their union two very acti because they dared to collect money from the rank and file in our dis« trict for relief of the rank and file in the soft coal and send it to the rank and file direct in the striking dis- tricts. I just want to add that Friday at Local Union 1876, when Mattey was leaving the hall, he made the follows ing statement: “I will be elected na matter what you do.” Meaning that he would be elected: president no mat« ter if the rank and file is against him or not.. Well, he is making a big mistake because we are going to kick out the whole machine and elect our brothers who are running on a pro- gram and a slate, —Ti Yacht Injures Sailor Machinist’s Mate Floyd»Plutter, 28, of Elizabeth, N. J., was still in a cris tical condition yesterday as a result of a blast on the Admiral, yacht of Capt. Frank Lyon, acting command: ant at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Wed, nesday. The yacht was an old lef but three sailors had been ordered tq condition it for the enhancement of the commandant’s pleasure and fee: metals bape Is ‘0 conceal the seriousness of Plutter’s — injuries, Two others narrowly es: ‘caped. (Blast on Commandant’s | the land, who realize that the fight |‘)