The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 17, 1928, Page 6

olf “_#”~ 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. Y. Page Six THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JULY 17, 192: 8 ——__ Daily —S Published by NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'N, Inc., Daily, Except Sunday Cable Address: “Daiwor! ssi Phone, Stuyvesant 1696-7-8 SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail (in By Mail (outside of New York): $8 per year $4.50 six months 0 three months $6.00 per year $3.50 six months $2 three months Address .and mail out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. Y. Le Sey ee ee -.-ROBERT MINOR Assistant Editor -WM. F. DUNNE at the 7 t New York, N, Y. under the act of March 3, 1879. For the Workers! For the Party of the Class Struggle! Against the Capitalists! For Vice-President BENJAMIN GITLOW _. VOTE COMMUNIST! WILLIAM Z. FOSTER 1AM Z. > | WORKERS 1 Fascists Explore the Arctic The wild story of the Arctic also has to do with Bolshevism. All big natio ess to find the the severe test of human s edge and cc e, one nation c systematically outdid all others. Union of Socialist Soviet Reput test in the struggle with the fo of Europe t avia There is deep satisfaction in this. struggle with nature antecedes the struggle be- tween men and will reach its greatest triumphs only after the struggle between classes has ended. That a collect: fitted to conquer nat e place. Nobile, d their prow- der Nobile, aft This was the | to leave them lic, It was a es of nature. Man’s the cowardly commander, is no more than the reflection of a hundred million cowardly bour- | geois—the traditional cowards of the market} the coward blustering as the bravest of them all, is only the reflection of the blustering coward Mussolini. When Zappi and Mariano, fascist officers un- er their leader had run away to die, in turn with a heart- sickening cravenness stole the food supply of their companion, the Swedish scientist Malm- gren, and left him to die on the ice, they too were acting quite naturally as fascist officers, | as smaller Nobiles, as little Mussolinis, as uni- formed mirrors of the bourgeoisie in the im- t society is better | perialist period. forces than the dis-| Then there are Chukhnovsky and his com- eased individualist society of capitalism is a) yrades, flyers for the Socialist Soviet Republic. truth of Communism. One reason the capitalist wise men cannot conceive of the strength and resourcefulness of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republ: their inability to understand that a collectivist society is better fit for such struggles. “Never mind derness with th li ano and Zappi, is | comrade, could The collectivist spirit, the Communist spirit, | dominates the whole of the actions of society in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. his ship rather us, save the others.” The So- viet airmen willingly remained in the icy wil- eir wrecked plane so that Mari- | their bodies kept warm with | the food filched from their crippled and dying be saved. * * ~ Once ita while a sea captain goes down with than save himself while those The individualist spirit, the spirit of capital- under his command must drown. But this is ist acquisition dominates all social acts of other | out of the individualist spirit of the capitalist | society in which we live. Such things attract | nations. In the details of the Arctic epic connected | attention when they happen, because they are | with the Italia expedition, the two spirits are| an anomally in capitalist society. | shown time and again in sharp contrast. A Nobile and Zappi and Mariano are more in| braggart tone pervaded all preparations for the | the spirit of capitalist society. “We left him on| expedition of Italian fascist officers seeking | the ice; we took his food and compass and left} prestige for Mussolini's dictatorship—the dic-| him to die.” Mussolini’s breed. The kind that tatorship which becomes more and more the! obtained financial assistance through the ideal of capitalism. Capitalism lives and American ambassador to organize an army of breathes of the rights of individual, private | cutthroats with which to do battle against the property. The arrogant Nobile is a glorified) working class for the pitalism of Italy—am-| erty. This is in ambitious clerk of the ¢: bitious for superior acquisition of wealth, if not in gold then in the personal glory that is rights of private prop- the spirit of capitalism. | aa ee | later peddled for gold. Fascism in politics finds | fine glimpse of the latest prototype of present | its level in orgies of corruption for the in-| capitalists heroes in the sneaking, lying, desert- | dividual enrichment of fascist politicians, for| ing cowards, Zappi, Mariano and Nobile. the ideal of fascism is the private property sys-| And we are proud that in the struggle with tem, the exploitation of the masses to make a| the wild forces of Nature in the Arctic, the wealthy few. What, then, was more natural| Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, father- than for the exalted commander of the expedi-| land of the world’s working class, shows that tion to save his own hide, when it came to dis- aster, and to leave “his men” to death? Nobile, There is Bols t hevism. BILL HAYWOOD’S LAST DAYS By SAM DARCY. as is being written about a w: after Bill Haywood died. Look: back on the last moments that J. Louis Engdahl, Haywood’s wife, and the writer spent with him we must express our admiration for him, a real revolutionist, who even on his death bed thought only in terms of leading the proletariat along cor- rect revolutionary struggle. For those who know him, it is unnecessary to characterize Hay- wood. It was fitting that the most militant section of the working class Should have produced him. At nine years of age he joined his father in the mines. At thirty he led his first strike (a miners’ strike in Idaho.). There followed thirty year: of struggle so intensive in char- acter, and filled with heroism as only the best revolutionaries in any country and very few in the United States can show. He had no clear and correct theory to guide him. But he had unlimited courage, unyielding ‘loyal- ty to his class, a keen intelligence and tremendous dynamic energy This won him his place among the workers. It is not exdggerating to say that during the period 1891 to the time he left the states, workers followed him more trustingly and ht more militantly under his ship than they did under that ny other leader. a His Last Hours. - This powerful man was lying on, 8 white-sheeted bed as we came in. knowing full well that his hours ‘were counted. Three or four times during the previous two weeks we were told that he would be gone in a few hours. But he held on. Now, however, he lay calmly, awaiting the end. Part of him was paralyzed he could speak only with great ef- fort, and he could digest no food. ‘He answered our first few ques- tions very briefly. He felt no pain | ally he wanted news. We told him of the latest devel- opments in the strike of the coal miners, and of ,the textile strike in New England. Occasionally he in- terrupted and asked questions. We told him that Lewis had is- sued an expulsion order. He looked scorn and hate. “Now the miners can get some-| where. They’ve got to kick Lewis | out. The Save-the-Union movement has big mass support. It must use| it and not be afraid to go forward. | It will have difficulty getting) enough good organizers. We always| have that difficulty. But they can! do it if they stick together. The| Party is doing good work. In this respect the miners are better off| than they have ever been. In the old days we never had any Com- munist Party; to help us.” He was by this time panting for breath. His nurse looked angrily at us. A clumsy silence ensued. He turned his head towards the win- dow. “It’s summer-time, eh?” We nodded. Another silence. A Big Job. “Too bad the New England strik. ers didn’t go out while Passaic w: tied up. They weakened their chances by separating. They got to get the unorganized out. This is the biggest job they face, and it won’t be easy. But it’s the only way they jean win,” Again silence. We showed him a Pittsburgh paper with his picture | next to a story on the coal strug- gles. “That picture is from Kuzbas.” We said we knew it. We showed the picture to his nurse and his wife who had just come in. Also a batch of other newspapers containing stories of his illness. Soon our visiting time was at an end and we had to leave. Much of the discussion we have He was however, -very tired. He|not set down here. But the above had received everything he wanted | gives a glimpse of the man and Was he coming home soon? He | somewhat explains why the workers wiped a tear that forced its way | always trusted him. His mind and out but did not answer. He heard heart were always completely occu- that the Central Committee of the} pied with the class struggle. There American Communist Party had|are few miners, lumber-jacks, or telegraphed asking after his health. | _ This pleased him immensely. Fin-| | textile workers who do not know of his work. The South, which even up to the present, has hardly been penetrated by labor organiations, has felt his hand. He was one of the | few who succeeded in bringing white jand black workers together. Whe that knows the South does not ap- preeiate the struggle that this alone must have involved? Many Stories to Tell. We knew stories of his work that we picked up among the workers in various parts of the country. But once in a discussion with him we asked him to tell us about them. He embarrassedly laughed, “there is nothing to tell—you simply fight and let your proletarian conscience be your guide.” But there are many stories to tell. He went through the stormy |days of the Western Federation of | Miners, of which he was secretary-| treasurer, and of the early militant) |. W. W. of which he was one of | the founders. He went through the Cripple Creek struggle, the famous Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone | trials, the Lawrence, Lowell, Pater-| son and many other textile strikes. He went through the anti-war agita- |tion and was one of the few who did not compromise with the bour- geoisie. He was the leader and or- ganizer of dozens of small strikes. The story of the most militant struggles 1890-1919 is the story of | the location of his activity. | He represents the best traditions of the American class struggle of his time. It is a sign of strength of our Party that a working class lead- ler of his mettle, experience, and ability should himself come and | bring many of his best followers to| the banner of the Communist In- | ternational. Reveal Big Drop In | Textile Employment BOSTON, July 16 (FP).—But 46 per cent of the number of workers employed in Massachusetts cotton mills in 1919-23 are at work in that industry now. Although the New Bedford strike of 27,000 workers ac- counts for part of the drop, only 64 per cent of the 1919-23 number was employed before the big strike. ya | BOLSHEVIK! Courtesy of N. Y. Evening World L By Clive Weed By B. K. GEBERT. Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania The working class of the world gets a/is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the massacre of soldiers and the white settlers in this region in 1778. | All patriotic societies, city boards and villages in the mining region from Pittston to Kingston and in the surrounding territories are going wild with partiotism. The old strug- gles between the whites and Indians |of this region are retold, and the science and human courage are thriving there. | old fable repeated that the Indians were murderers while the whites were the victims. | But while they go back 150 years | to eulogize struggles, we shall not go so far. We shall mention a few outstanding facts in the present day industrial history of the anthracite | region: | Miners Hanged. About 52 years ago in the city of | Pottsville, 19 miners were hanged |for organizing workers in this re- gion. In 1897 in Lattimore, 13 miners were massacred by the state troopers under the sheriff Martin. | Of these pioneers and martyrs in the | cause of labor in the anthracite, not {only the “public,” but even the bureaucracy of the union have “for- goften.” These officials of the union “remember” their connections only with the American legion, the chambers of commerce, the coal operators, and the government. In celebrating the battle of Wyoming. not a word naturally, is said of those who lost their lives in fighting and building a union of the coal diggers in this region. It will also be interesting to know | that in the month of May according to the U. S. Bureau of Mines, 873 men lost their lives in the mines, By THURBER LEWIS, (Special To DAILY WORKER.) CHICAGO, Ill, July 15 (By Mail).—Norman Thomas, nominee of the socialist party, came within one vote of being the nominee of the farmer-labor party for presi- dent of the United States. He was braska who had already declined the honor. | Thirty delegates, with almost as many different ideas about what the party should do, wrangled for three days over a platform that will probably never be presented to the electorate and then nominated for president a man who may not run, If Thomas had gone over, Maurer would have been chosen running mate. But with the nomination of garment factory and cotton mill owner of Moultrie, Georgia, was elected for vice presidential nom- inee. He is an old Watson sup- porter in the south, a dry (although the Georgia delegate confided he liked Wis corn liquor) and is said beaten by Senator Norris of Ne- | Norris, Will Vereene, a wealthy | ber. Mine Disasters Take 373 Coal Diggers Killed In May; Bosses’ Negligence to Blame but miners are not worthy of con-) sideration to the greedy coal opera-| that during the first five months of | exclusively on these figures for| tors and officials of the union. Out 1928 accidents in coal mines caused | major disasters were 1.25 and 0.51) of these 373 miners 50 of them came) from the anthracite. Death Rate’ Doubles. The death rate per million tons of coal mined during the month was 8.34 based on a production of 44,- 748,000 tons as compared with 4.29 for May 1927, based on an output of 48,397,000 tons and 186 deaths. The unusually high rate for the) month of May was due to 230 deaths caused by four explosions. Without these deaths the rate per million tons of coal produced would have been 3.20 which is a normal figure and comparable with other months} and years. The fatality rate for) May, 1928 for bituminous coal alone based on a production of 36,624,000) tons and 328 fatalities, was 8.82 per| million tons, which is also much above normal. Excluding 220 deaths which oc- cured in three major disasters in| bituminous mines, the rate would haverbeen 2.81. The rate for an- thracite mines, with a production, of 8,124,009 tons and 50 fatalities was 6.15 per million tons. In May, 1927 the fatality rate for bituminous mines was 3.76 that for anthracite was 6.62 and for the industry as a whole it was 4.29. The rates for May, 1928, compared on a normal basis with April of the present year are lower for bituminous mines and The bureau of mines records show the loss of 998 lives. The produc- 230,128,000 tons, showing a death rate of 4.29 per million tons as | of accidents from January to May against 3.85 for the same five months of 1927, based on 1,053 deaths and 273,642,000 tons of coal. The record for bituminous coal alone | from January to May, 1928, was 979 fatalities dhd 198,326,000 tons, with a fatality wate of 4.02; while that for anthracite showed 191 deaths, 81,802,000 tons and a death rate of 6.01. showed 829 deaths in bituminous mines and 240,002,000 tons pro- duced, wth a rate per million tons of 3.45, for anthracite, 224 deaths ad 33,640,000, tons produced, with a death rave of 6.666; while for both bituminous and anthracite 1,053 deaths were reported, wth a pro- duction of 273,643,000 tons and a fatality rate of 3.85. Four Major Disasters. Four major disasters, that is dis- asters in which five or more lives are lost, occurred during the month of May, 1928. All of these disasters were explosions. One at Mather, Pa., on May 19, killed 195 men. On May 22, an explosion at Harlan, Ky., caused the death of eight men and | another at Yukon, W. Va., on May 22, killed 17 men. An explosion at an anthracite mine at Parsons, Pa., slightly higher for anthracite mines. Fake “Farmer-Labor on May 25, killed 10 men. These Politicians, Lawyers. Bankers, In Aimless Talkfest to be willing to finance his own) the socialist party, represented campaign with a bigger fund than that state. the socialists have. Futile Convention. Futility marked the convention throughout. While there were dele- gates from 11 states and the Dis- trict of Columbia, it is certain they represented practically no one. Illinois had the strongest delega- tion, eight, representing a. paper organization. The next largest dele- gation, Colorado with five, came by | car as a sort of family group and were probably mandated by not many more than their own num- One or two each came from Minnesota, South Dakota, Oklaho- ma, Missouri, Iowa, Georgia and Nebraska. The ubiquitous William V. Mahoney,.realtor of Washington, D. C., was there. And a former} resident of New Mexico, Karl Jur- | side-kick of Murray King of, to the Hoover ki The party, if such it may be called, almost split on the nomina- tion of Norris, Thomas’ support was strong. The slate makers for Thomas and Maurer were led by David McVey of the plasterers, a delegate to the Chicago Federation of Labor. He placed Thomas in nomination. William V. Mahoney, representing the Lincoln-Jefferson League of Washington, D. C., is given credit for unwittingly wreck- ing the hopes of the socialist can- didates. He made the mistake of rising to second the nomination of Thomas. This peeved the Color- ado delegates. Petty Bickering. William Penn Collins, a lawyer of that state, rose to begin a speech with, “We will refuse to be a tail ” making refer- The same period for 1927) ” Convention Ends Big Toll | four accidents bring the total num- | ber of such disasters to eight, with la resulting loss of 284 lives during | the first five months of the present | year, as compared with seven for | the same period of 1927, with a loss | of '140 lives. Fatality rates based | per million tons for 1928 and 1927, | tion of coal for this period was/| respectively. Comparing the record as to causes of the present year with that for the | same period of 1927, a reduction is) | noted for haulage, explosives and| electricity. No material change oc- curred in the rates for falls of roof and coal. Because of the unusual number of deaths caused by explo- sions, that rate was much higher for-the 1928 period than for 1927. Miners’ Lives Cheap. | | This report of the government office shows that the miners’ lives |are cheap. In no instance have the) | coal operators, who are responsible for these deaths been brought under charges of murder. Every coal dig- ger knows that accidents in the mines can be reduced to a minimum, but this would cost money; so the operators let the miners die. They let miners cover the black coal with their blood; and out fo this coal and blood the gold is produced for the capitalists. Only the miners themselves can stop this butchery; the miners -must take control of the union, they must unite with other workers and farmers, to form a labor party and challenge the capitalist govern- ment, which at present puts the rubber stamp of “O. K.” on the massacres of the coal diggers. ence to a speech Mahoney had made to his league earlier in the week about the chances of defeating Smith in a number of southern states with a strong third party ticket. Collins accused Mahoney of want- ing a combination of socialists and farmer-laborites to go: south and take democratic votes from Al Smith. He thereupon threw Col- orado’s five votes to a farmer dele- gate, Plageman of Iowa, on the first ballot. This made a majority impossible. On the second ballot, a Thomas supporter, evidently thinking the vote to be on vice pres- ident, threw a marker for Maurer into the hat and left Thomas with fifteen votes against Norris’ like number. That ballot would have made Thomas the candidate. The third ballot stood, Thomas 14, Nor- ris 16. But the issue is still unsettled. Norris won’t run although many delegates think Vereene’s thou- sands will be an inducement, The newly elected executive is, at this writing, still trying to find a suc- 2 CAMPAIGN CORNER AT DEVINE, Minnesota district organizer, ventures to predict that after this election we will be a legal political party in Minnesota, All that is necessary is to get eleven thousand votes counted for us in the entire state. So say we. It seems that Pat is not very venture- some. aE gene One book of the beautiful new Vote Communist Stamps or twenty Vote Communist buttons will be sent free of charge to anyone who can write a political fairy tale as good as the story about Al Smith and the poor little crippled boy’s spotted fawn. We believe that this ‘story will prove a far better vote catcher than the best yet produced by Norman Thomas. This contest closes Thursday, July 19, at noon, The Campaign Corner Editor will judge all contributions and publish the best. Re i. The Election Program is now on sale by the Workers Library Pub- lishers. Price 10 cents, 30 per cent discount in quantity lots, ee ety Our Ohio comrades have alreagp gathered 4,000 signatures to gut the party on the ballot in that state. They need 20,000. Watch their to- tal grow! * otis ee Lithuanian Working Women’s Alliance is the first women’s or- ganization heard from with a dona- tion of five dollars to the $100,000 Communist Campaign Fund. Cao aie | * » On being asked how many votes the Communists expect to get, a cer- tain young Pioneer replied: “Too busy to count now. The more we count now, the less we'll count on election day.” We must put the party on the ballot. Buy a book of Vote Communist stamps and help Loost the campaign. ie seals Who will be the first to make a House Party collection for the $100,- 000 Communist Campaign Fund and send it in to Alexander Trachten- berg, Treasurer, 43 East 125th St. New York City? eam ener We have a question. Campaign Corner Editor: Dear | Comrade: Do you think our party will be on the ballot in thirty states |this year? A. H., Hartford, Conn. | Answer: Yes, if we work very |hard and more if we work harder. |It depends on the comrades in each | state. | ae ae Philadelphia has issued a special |eard for use at open-air meetings. | This card is used to register sym- pathizers. Bd eae ae | We note that Albert Gerling of Madrid, Iowa, has bettered an | earlier contribution of $5 to the $100,000 Communist Campaign Fund, This time he sends $10. cee Gales | August 19 to 26 will be National Tag Day Week to help build the $100,000 Communist Campaign | Fund. Barbusse Edits New French Weekly ‘Monde’ Hike appearance of the first two numbers of “Le Monde,” a new weekly in Paris under the direction of Henri Barbusse, noted Commun- ist author and editor, has attracted universal attention. Writers contributing to the first two numbers include Panait Istrati, young Rumanian writer who tells of the last days of Christian Ra- kovsky, former Soviet ambassador to France and his friend for years; Rene Marau, Negro author of “Ba- touala,” who begins a new novel; an article by Tagore, Hindu writer, and poems by Luc Durtain, outstanding literary figure in France. Prof. Einstein and Maxim Gorki are col- laborators. Miguel de Unamuno, exiled Spanish philosopher, is on the directory which includes Upton Sin- clair. In the first two issues Henri Bar- busse himself begins a serial of his trip to Soviet Russia. His most re- cent contribution to the American press was an article on the fascist terror in one of the last issues of the “Labor Defender.” Philadelphia Barbers Picketing All Shops PHILADELPHIA, Pa., July 16.— The journeymen barbers who. went on strike here recently are today picketing the hundreds of barber shops in the city and holding meet- ings for the purpose of further or- ganization among the barbers of the city. and vicinity. The spirit of the strikers is re- ported to be as strong as ever. The unanimous decision is that no one will return to work until the new hour and wage scale is granted by the bosses. SS cessor to Norris in the probable event of his flat refusal, The fight- ing in committee went on all day and continued into the next. Ru- mor has it that the big scrap was over whether to have a candidate or not. What few level heads there are realize the whole business has been for nothing. (To Be Continued.) «