The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 5, 1928, Page 4

Page Four MEN MILITANT AS MISLEADERS ACT TO STOP WALKOUT == Bosses’ League, Press, ls Wrecked Co THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JULY 5, 1928 ee Aid Treason (By a Worker Correspondent) NEW HAVEN, Conn. (By mail).— The traction workers of the state of im Connecticut, with headquarters New Haven, five days ago voted most unanimously to strike on Tues- day morning, June , unless the | Connecticut company, a huge monop- | oly of the trolle tem in the en-| tire state, and a subsidiary of the N.| Y. N. H. & H.R. R., acceded to the following demands: (1) recognition of the union; (2) reduction of hours of work tc 8; (3) an increase in wages, ard (4) an improvement of the conditions of work. Official Treachery. When the men cast their vote, they did this with unmistakingly militant determination to fight for what they thought was their right. This action of the men was at once met with alarm by the union officials. First by the smaller fry and then by the big ones. They suddenly realized that thes? men meant it all, But would they allow such an embarrassing thing as strike to happen? Oh no. This is the age of “the higher strat- egy of Labor.” Such an undesirable event is not allowed by the officials. And so from the very beginning they prepared to maneuver that turned out to be one of the lowest pieces of treachery ever pulled off. When the workers took the strike vote, it was admitted even by the cap- italist press that it was unanimous. The actual vote was seven to one thru the entire state. Such a power- ful and almost uncontrollable senti- ment in favor of a strike produced a very undesirable effect, not only} among the company officials and the employers generally but also among the socalled labor “leaders,” which culminated in the line-up of three powerful forces, determined to teach the workers a lesson for their “un-| expected” move, namely the labor “Jeaders,” the company officials and | the open shop manufacturers’ asso- ciation. Ss Forced Arbitration. Two of these union officials were Mr. John H. Reardon, international organizer and member of the inter- national executive of the union and John L. Sullivan. member of the state board of the union and chairman of the local union of Middletown. Mr. Sullivan has a very interesting his- tory in connection with his past ac- tivity as an official of his own local of Middletown. In 1926 and again in 1927, this man Sullivan reversed a unanimous decision of the local exec- utive board for a strike for union rec- ognition and forced it to accept ar- bitration, which materialized in a very peculiar silence on the part of the arbitrat In 1925, the entire} crew of officialdom strained every ef-| fort to convince the workers to ac- cept arbitration. The workers accept- ed it. The result was the workers| belonging to the union got nothing and the award was handed down to the non-union bus d » This the arbitrators did pur, y, in order to discourage the wo: rom joining and belonging to ¢ on, | In the present situation the union} leaders, for reason best known to themselves, assumed the attitude of | favoring a strike, Suddenly a pecul- | jar situation was created. The com- pany officials refused to arbitrate al- | together. The union leaders insisted | and “threatened with a strike” unless | the company agreed to arbitrate, | Originally and when the men voted for the strike, the demands were: rec- ognition of the union (the union is not recognized officially by the com- pany): eight-hour day and an increase in wages, the first of these being the outstanding one. But according to a preconceved plan on the part of the union leaders a consistent prop- aganda was began for arbitration and | this the company “refusing” to con- sider, resulted in focusing the entire attention of the workers away from their real demands. This in my opin- ion was a very profound and clever maneuver cn the part of the mislead- ers of the union. They themselves showed to be master Judases and| played their game worthily and will be rewarded generously for it. Up till the very last moment, the company stood its ground, refusing to budge in accepting arbitration. At the same time all preparations were made—and this was officially and openly announced in order to scare the workers into submission, about which the union leaders kept silent— to bring in strikebreakers to replace the men in case of a walkout. Mean- while the open shop manufacturers’ association publicly declared that a strike of the trolleymen at this time would not be tolerated, that in case of its actually occurring, it would lend the Connecticut company experienced men, now employed in the factories, who formally worked on the street ar lines. Bosses United. This sounded like a solid front of the bosses against the workers, but again the labor officials, in the face of this direct challenge to labor, kept silent, did nothing and said nothing. Instead of mobilizing the entire strength of the union and put up a real fight to remlize the demands of the workers, they dilly-dally, only too willing to yield to the company’s least resistance. | One of them, a readheaded fellow, During the sham battle which tarists euvers. and prominent politicians and business men, society girls were on hand to smile at the thirsty soldiers as they offered them drinks. Smiles come easy when one stands in the shade and watches war man- was staged for a number of mili. PIONEERS AID IN WALL ST. DEMONSTRATION | (By a Pioneer Correspondent.) The demonstration reached Broad and Wall St. at about 12:20 P. M. The first line consisted of a group of members of the Young Workers (Com- munist) League and of the Young Pioneers. away our signs. In the meanwhile® about 300 people had gathered about the demonstrators. The same thing happened to the other groups that arrived. Then about 2,000 people gathered there. A meeting was opened by some of our comrades. A hundred or so work- ers grouped about us. Two policemen and severa! detectives broke up the meeting, There were some German seamen from the Int’l Seamen Club. They protected our group of Pioneers.! When the “dicks” took away our} signs we went over to the debris on} Broad St. and started to hold a meet- ing. A whole lot of “dicks” came | over, big tall fellows, and started to | chase the little people away from the | meetings, they didn’t go near the big} people. These seamen came over and | | they wanted to protect the meeting. | went over to the detective, the big- gest one, and gave him such a sock in the jaw and another in his nose, that he lost a couple of teeth and his nose started to bleed. After that the dicks didn’t bother our meeting any The people listened with much attention. All the office boys were laughing at the dicks and he said he would arrest them. More meetings were begun and similarly broken up by the police and | the detectives. The Pioneers were the | most harassed because the brave po- lice thought they were more danger- ous than the grown-ups! And the| seamen were always on the job; al- | ways ready to protect us. One huge seaman punched the big- gest detective in the jaw and nose so that the latter lost a few teeth and bled at his nose. But the representa- tives of “law and order” didn’t bother us any more. When the cops took away our signs we went over and or- ganized meetings on the rails that] were lying in the street. They thot} we were just a bunch of kids and they | didn’t bother us much. We had about | 4 meetings. The dicks didn’t bother us after the seamen beat them up. [he pioneers gave out the Party leaf-| lets in the meanwhile. —CHARLES WILSON. united front and prepared for a well aimed and crushing blow to labor. At exactly 7 hours before the time set for the walkout the final link of the chain of betrayals was forged. Mysteriously, a delegation of the Hartford local claiming to represent the majority sentiment of the local, suddenly appeared before the head- quarters in New Haven, and notified the international officials, who were evidently waiting for such a delega- tion, that the Hartford local, the big- gest in the state, would not strike! They claimed that the men did not know what they were voting for at the time, and that the whole business was misunderstood! This was evi-| dently a very clever trick. But it was | a bombshell for the rank and file and caused a great convulsion. This also made it obvious that there would be no strike, and the interna- tional officials perfected the way out of this situation by hastening to an- nounce that the strike was called off | and that there would be another vote taken on the question the following week, In the meantime the propa- ganda against the strike was inten- sified thruout the entire capitalist press, strongly emphasizing the fact that the men misunderstood the whole procedure of the vote and, anyhow, this, that or the other local was not in favor of a walkout. This propa- ganda resulted into a confusion of the worst kind. Locals were pitched against each other, each blaming the cther for causing the calling off of the strike. Besides this, there was ac- tually a terror prevail'tg and the sit- uation created as the result was not the best for a vote in favor of a strike. And no sooner were the ballots dis- tributed and long before the vote was completed, the press thruout the state carried the story to the effect that the men had voted almost two-thirds against the strike. The leaders, of course, welcomed it and without any announcement of any kind went away, leaving the workers to the mercy of the company officials. And so ended another tragic episode The bosses here presented a solid} of the American Labor movement! {ning with a yearly production of Immediately the cops took CHILE FASCISTS EXILE 40 MORE Over 300 Now on Mas _Afuera Islands LIMA, Peru, July. 4.—Forty more men have been deported by order of the Chilean dictator Ibanez to the Mas Afuera islands, where 800 Com- munists and anarchists were deported after the coup d’etat by which Ibanez established his dictatorship of Chile. Repeatedly news comes from Chile that the deportees have been allowed to return, but actually permission to return has been granted only to those renegades among the labor leaders who promised to support Ibanez. USSR to Make Clocks MOSCOW, U. S. S. R., July 4. — The Supreme Council of National Economy cf the USSR has recognizéd it necessary to establish a new fac- tory for the manufacture of time- pieces in the Moscow district. The production of this new plant is cal- culated at first to reach 1.5 million ordinary clocks, 400,000 alarm-clocks, 45,000 electric clocks, 25,000 regula- tors, etc, per year. Besides, these works will, for the first time in the USSR, manufacture watches, begin- about one million pieces. A special commission is being de- | tailed to Germany, Switzerland and America to study the latest methods of production and as¢ertain the pos- | sibility of entering into an agreement with the respective foreign firms con- cerning technical aid in establishing! the production of watches in the} USSR. USSRGrowsMoreCotton MOSCOW, U.S. S. R., July 4. — The Ekonomitcheskaia Jizn publishes information on the contracts for cot- ton purchases, according to which on May 1ith there was contracted throughout the USSR 995,809 hectares of cotton area, as against 978,400 hectares provided for by the plan. Last year’s plan of contracts, which was by 12 percent smaller than this year, had been executed by May 11th, 1927, only in the limits of 90 percent. WINDOW CLEANER KILLED Maurice Nelson, of Brooklyn, a window cleaner, fell to his death while cleaning a window on the fourth floor of a building when his safety strap broke. LAKEHURST, N. J., July 4 (UP). —tThe navy dirigible Los Angeles left today for a training flight off the Atlantic Coast. Lieut.-Commander Charles E. Rosenthal said he expected to return by sunset. ® Progressive Miners Thank Daily Worker (By a Worker Correspondent) YORKVILLE, O. (By mail).—I | wish you would publish these few | lines in our wonderful newspaper, |The DAILY WORKER. I want to thank our many good and kind friends in Canton, especially Broth- er Carl Guillod, members of the Fleet Foot Tribe of Red Men, the Lodge of Engineers, the ladies of the Loo Moose, and our many oth- er friends in Canton, and also Cleveland, Akron, Ohio, New Bos- ton, Ironton, Cincinnati, Beech Bottom, Baltimore, Md., for their generous assistance to the cause of the progressive striking United Mine Workers of America. [ We surely appreciate everything they have given and are still send- ing to us, and may they still con- tinue with their untiring efforts to send and give aid to the needy miners’ wives and families till we win our strike. We must win. We must fight on. —TROLLEY WORKER, y 4 BOSSES VIOLATE MINIMUM PAY LAW IN LOS ANGELES $1.50 Per Day for Best Paid Workers (By a Worker Correspondent) LOS ANGELES, Cal. (By mail). — California has a minimum wage law for women. And like many other so- called labor laws, it was made to be broken by the employers, it seems. The document prohibits the “weaker sex” in the manufacturing industry to work for less than $16 a week—after they have passed the 6 months ap- prenticeship period. Piece-work in the home is not al- lowed without special permission of the state industrial welfare commis- sion, The state standard of the local commissien requires that at least 33% cents per hour be paid for all home work done by women. $1.50 a Day. The following letter was published by a local liberal daily recently. “I understand there is a minimum wage scale for women here which pro- hibits less than $16 per week pay. There are hundreds of garment work- ers who work piece-work at their homes, and the price per piece of goods is so low that the best of them make no more than $1.50 per day. My wife, born and raised in Mexico, is an expert in the work and was em- ployed before our marriage in a fine shop here at $24 a week. Recently she found some spare time and took work from a shop on Los Angeles street. “The owner gave her a complicated piece of work to do at home, but would not tell her the price, as he wanted to sample her work. She spent a good four hours on it and they allowed hez 80 cents. The manager was not in when she called to get the money, and she waited two hours be- fore they said they would send it by | mail. “My wife does not have to work, but there are dozens of refined girls (mostly Spanish) who do, and because of lack of the English language are handicapped, and these employers put things over. “Some are poor and must keep themselves. and children alive, and must accept anything, almost, for their work, sometimes 25 or 30 cents for two hours’ work. What can be done to remedy these situations and sweatshop practices?” Mrs. Edsen’s answer, for the state, follows: “Tt has been impossible to apply this $16 a week wage for home work- ers who are working by piece. Order 11-A, “The industrial welfare commission has ruled (see order No. 11-a in the manufacturing industry, section 11) that ‘No employer shall give work to women or minors to be performed outside the plate of business of said employer except upon permit issued by the industrial welfare commission.’ “It has been most difficult for this department to find the employers of womer for home work who do not have regular shops in which women are employed within the shop. “In fact, the only way that we get the names of the employers giving | out home work, who do not have reg- ular shops, is when a complaint comes to this department, which we are always glad to get and investi- gate. “T assure you that we will immedi- ately look into the question of home work referred to by the Trentway resident.” “Honor” Instead of Bread. This commission has done a lot of “investigations” in the last few years. The benefit to the workers, however, has always been. next to nothing. About 8 years ago; female movie extras were granted a hearing con- No Tip--Center Barber Shop NEW WORKERS CENTER 26-28 Union Sq. 1 Flight Up NEW YORK CITY Individual Sanitary Service by Ex- perts, — LADIES’ HAIR BOBBING SPECIALISTS. Patronize a Comradely Barber Shop. Unity Co-operators Patronize SAM LESSER Ladies’ and Gents’ Tailor 1818— 7th Ave.’ New York Between 110th and 111th Sts. Next to Unity Co-operative House. “For Any Kind of Insurance” CARL BRODSKY 7 E. 42d St. New York City Telephone Murray Hill 5550. Patronize LERMAN BROS. . Stationers & Printers t9 EAST 14th STREET N.Y. Corner Union Square Tel. Algonquin 3356, 8843, MARY WOLFE STUDENT OF THE DAMROSCH CONSERVATORY © PIANO LESSONS Moved to 2420 BRONX PARK EAST Near Co-operative Colony. Apt. 6H. Telehone ESTABROOK 2459. Special rates to students from the —JACK BELL. rn Co-operative House. | 22 NT Arrangements are now being made to give New York another season of free opera, to be presented every Thursday evening at Starlight Park Stadium. The season will start tonight with a presentation of the opera “La Gio- conda” and will continue with the fol- lowing repertoire: July 12, “Rigo- letto”; July 19, “Cavalleria Rusty cana” and ‘Pagliacci’; July 26, “Faust”; August 2, “Aida”; August 9, “Lucia di Lammermoor”; August 16, “Il Trovatore”; August 23, “La Traviata”; August 80, “Carmen”; September 6, gala night, with acts from different operas. Among the young singers with whom Captain Whitwell is now nego- tiating are: sopranos, Marguerite cerning the miserable conditions un- der which they worked (or, rather, starved) in the picture industry— ruled over by Will Hays who, as a flunky of Wall Street, helped to make Harding president and Daugherty and Fall cabinet members. Some of the girl were very militant at that time and started a near riot in the cham- ber of commerce building. But all they got out of it was the “honor” of being called “artists” instead of “ex- tras”—something they neither de- manded nor cared for. In the opinion of most empty stomacks, fake honor is a poor substitute for bread, any- how. Loop-Hole in Law. The apprenticeship clause in the minimum wage law is the loop-hole through which many employers escape the responsibility of paying the mini- mum wage, $16 a week, to women and girls. They do it by discharging the workers as soon as their apprentice- ship period of 6 months is up. Then! they hire “green” hands to take their | places. This has been done in laun-} dries and other lines of work in this city and state. Mrs, Edsen says “that it has been most difficult” for her department to locate violators of this law. Why? It it because they are employers? Work- ers, who are wanted, are generally easily caught by the authorities, Jewish Girls Not Wanted. Jewish women and girls are not popular in the eyes of wage-cutting slave drivers of this city. Employment sharks have orders to turn them down, according to an article in a morning paper, not so long ago, by a Jewish girl in behalf of a number of female workers of her own race and class. Why do the open-shoppers of this burg act that way? Is it because the Jewish women generally are more radical than the rest of their sex? It is suggested that Mrs. Edsen hire a few militant workers to catch vio- Jators of the minimum wage law. —L, P. RINDAL. PHILADELPHIA The work we make is good. Organ- work—our specialty. izations’ Spruce Printing Co. 152 N. SEVENTH ST., PHILA., PA. Bell—Market 6383. Union Keystone—Main 7040. Printers, Camp Huliet Lumberville, Pa. Spend Your Vacation at a Workers’ Camp. Register at Our Office: 317 South 5th St. Philadelphia, Pa. Directions for reaching Camp: Take bus from our office direct to Camp. Take the DAILY WORKER With You on Your Vacation Keep in touch with the strug- gles of the workers while you are away on your vaca- tion, This summer the Elec- tion Campaign will be in full swing. The DAILY WORK- ER will carry up-to-the-min- ute news conderning the campaign of the Workers (Communist) Party in the various states, Daily cable news service from the World Congress of the Communist International which opens soon in Moscow. Vacation Rates 2 weeks 65¢ 2 months $1.50 1 month $1 3 months $2 Enclosed find $.......e0006 for ..... months subscription weeks to The DAILY WORKER, Name Street City State DAILY WORKER 26-28 UNION SQUARE NEW YORK, N. Y. o——D RA MA-~——~ “Gioconda” to Inaugurate Free Opera Season at Starlight Park Cobbey, Ora Hyde, Yolanda Renaldi, Julia Benson, Olga Muscat, Mar- guerite Speaks, Agnes Hennessy and Pauline Kittner; contraltos, Martha Melis, Zara Jay, Ada Paggi and Euine Harper; tenors, Vincent Carelli, S. Sciaretti, Julian Oliver, F. Bertini, F. D’Angelos and G. Cavadore; bari- tones, Guiseppe Interrante, Giuseppe Maero, L. Dalle Molle; bassos, Mar- tin Horodas, Miguel Sdntacana and E. Palazzi. “ROSALIE” Doris May who is. appearing in “Rosalie” at the New Amsterdam Theatre. NEW WAGE SCALE FOR STAGE HANDS AND MUSICIANS The International Theatrical Asso- ciation through its Labor Committee is about to begin negotiations with the local stage hands’ union for a new wage scale. The present scale ex- pires September 1. So far no definite plans or demands have been made by the local union body. Negotiations are also going on with the American Federation of Musi- cians for a new wage scale for the road musicians. Both the musicians union and the stage hands’ organization are strongly organized in this part of the country. THREATEN TO CUT WAGES OF 40,000 IN COKE MINES Progressives Forming Strong Union (By a Worker Correspondent) UNIONTOWN, Pa., July 4.—The H. C. Frick Coke Co. threatens to cut the wages of almost 40,000 unorgan- ized coke miners in Fayette and West- moreland counties. Notices have al- ready been posted at the mouths of each of their mines. Almost every | day miners are killed or permanently \erippled in coke mines: Elmer Wil- |son was burned from his neck to the soles of his feet in a coke oven at a mine near here, only a few days ago. Rank and file progressive miners are secretly organizing coke workers in all four unorganized counties of Pennsylvania. Miners from Pennsyl- vania, Ohio and Illinois are organiz- ing the coal diggers of West Virginia, Kentucky, Kansas, and other unor- ganized mine fields into a strong un- ion which will not only fight wage cuts but demand better wages. The National Miners’ Relief Committee is doing its share by supplying relief to the families of thousands of miners who are striking for union working | conditions end a living wage. All funds sent to their headquarters at 611 Penn avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., are used for this purpose. \ —EDGE. More Jewish Settlers Colonized in U.S.S.R. KHABAROVSK, U. S. S. R., July 4.—Up to 35,000 Jewish families are to be settled in the vacant area of the Birsk-Bidjany district in the Amur zone, according to the plan approved by the Soviet government. This meas- ure will make it possible to establish in this region a Jewish national ad- ministrative community. From the beginning of spring, there have arrived to the Birsk-Bidjany dis- trict about 600 Jewish settlers who have been settled, partly, in the Birsk test field and, partly, in the rice fields of the Ekaterino-Nikolsk district. ——Theatre Guild Production: PORGY By Dubose & Dorothy Heyward REPUBLIC yiats wen. Sart Eugene sus" Strange Interlude Johu Golden Thea., 58th, E. of B’way Evenings Only at 5:30, VOLPONE jlq Th; W. 52d St. Evs. 3:30 Guild Mais “inure & Sat 2:30 BOOTH 1 svemten ago Mats, Wednesday & Saturda: 330 Grand St. Follie CHANIN’S46th St,W. of Broadway MUSICAL SMASH Goob NEW Mats. Wed. & Sat. with GEO. OLSEN and HIS MUSIC SCHWAB and MANDEL'S END or 91. PETERSBURG in’s Thea., B'way & 53 St. mearianeeatas) 36 Phone Col, 8380. ‘wice Daily, 2:40-8:40, Prices, Mat 50c to $1.00. 50c to ‘stco” All Seats Reserved. The Heart of Coney Island Battle of Chateau-Thierry MILE SKY CHASER TILT-A- {| Free Circus, Con- WHIRL | certs and Dancing Luna’s Great Swimming Pool LUNA PARK KEITH: ALonE. CAMEO & Bway; Now Greatest Screen Program Ever Assembled ARMORED 4nwoneD PO TEM KIN Russian Film Classic i i in “THE Emil Jannings Len cAcen* CHARLIE CHAPLIN in “SHOULDER ARMS” MOSCOW, July 4.—In 1926-27 the port of Vludivostok had a turnover of 1,989,000 metric tons, Novorossisk 1,- 806,000 tons, Leningrad 1,720,000 tons and Batum 1,610,000 tons. Workers OPEN DAILY HO FOO OOO> > OHO OH OPPO O OOOO OOOO SOOO OOOO OOOOOOOOOO ODODE NOW OPEN Temporary Headquarters: 26-28 UNION SQUARE 1 Flight Up Books, Pamphlets, Magazines, on all subjects. CXXXXXXUXKKELA EEK KALE AK KA AX EXEL XXIII Book Shop UNTIL 9 P. Me exe xXXXXXXXXXXXEEEEEES! | artists in America, including: ($6.00) to the THE DAILY WORKER, 33 Enclosed RATES $6.00 a year $3.50 6 months $2.00 3 months sub), NAME STREET . crry .. Red Cartoons 1928 Sixty-four pages of the wnoice work of the best proletarian FRED ELLIS WM. GROPPER HUGO GELLERT M. BECKER JACOB BURCK DON BROWN HAY BALES K. A. SUVANTO WM. SIEGEL Introduction by Robert Minor FREE WITH A YEAR’S SUBSCRIPTION ee to the Daily Worker. Send me the premium “Red Cartoons of 1928” (only with a year’s ee Daily Worker * First St., New York, N. Y, Bereccecceee £08 ceccocee oth eccceccceeee STATE teen teees