The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 24, 1928, Page 6

Page Six TE | | | | ess “Daiwork”? ROBERT WM. F. DUNNE MINOR Editor Assistant Editor By Mai $4.50 six mos. $2 By Mail (outside of New York): $3.50 six )0 three mos, (in New York $8 a year 0 three mos, mos, $ Address and mail out checks to Te Daily Worker, 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. Y. $6 a year VOTE COMMUNIST! For President WILLIAM Z. FOSTER Wm. Z. Foster For the Workers! Q | WORKERS (COMMUNIST) PARTY For the Party of the Class Struggle! <a For Vice-President BENJAMIN GITLOW Ben Gitlow Against the Capitalists! Liberals and Tyranny We print below two editorials of capitalist papers, excellent illustrations of the func- tion of “liberal” journalism. One is from the New York Evening Telegram, and reads as follows: “It is not necessary to believe in the princi- ples of the ‘Workers Party’ to disapprove of the action of the police it a number of com- munities in breaking up and forbidding meet- ings of the party. “The American Civil Liberties Union reports that election meetings have been either broken up or otherwise prevented by the police in Kansas, New Je New York, Ohio, Penn- Sylvania and West Virginia. “In Philadelphia repeated arrests have been made and three speakers are still held on a charge of ‘sedition.’ “Scott Nearing, who for years was a pro- fessor of economics at the University of Penn- sylvania, has been several times dragged from the platform and locked up in a cell. “In many instances permits for meetings have been refused by the police and in half a dozen states meetings have been broken up by the police without arrests, “Such happenings are entirely out of place. It is the boast of those who believe in a re- public as a form of government that the citi- zen has his say through the vote. If he does not like one party he can go out and organize a party of his own and put his ticket on the ballot. “This year the Workers Party will be on the ballot in thirty-two states as against fourteen states four years ago. In three states efforts were made to exclude the party from the ballot an@ in Washington state the Supreme Court finally ruled that this could not be done. “What the Workers Party members believe is not our concern. They may believe in revolu- tion. They may believe in Communism. They may believe in Sovietism. The point is they are expressing themselves through the peaceful methods of the ballot, and that is what sane people want them to do. Their arguments are in that case addressed to the reason and can be met with other arguments. The one thing not to do is to answer words with violence. That is tyranny. Also, it is bad tactics.” The other editorial is from the weekly organ of liberalism, The Nation. It reads: “Communists are not entitled to the protec- tion of the Constitution in the opinion of vari- ous local police officers in Kansas, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvanig, and West Vir- ginia where election meetings of the Workers (Communist) Party have been broken up or prohibited. In Nebraska the American Legion is trying to keep the Communist candidates off the ballot; in Pennsylvania many Workers’ Party leaders have been arrested and charged with violation of the sedition act. The most disgraceful destruction of civil liberties has oc- curred in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where police authorities decided to suppress the Com- munist remnant of the great textile strike by sheer force of riot sticks. After the conserva- tive unionists had returned to work, Police Chief Samuel D. McLeod instituted what he de- seribed as ‘a cleaning and sweeping-up process’ by arresting twenty-seven left-wing strikers on charges of vagrancy and rioting. ‘We ar- rested persons,’ he said, ‘who we know have not worked since April 16 (the date when the ~ strike began), and who have not satisfied us ~ as to their visible means of support. Since hen must an American worker on strike have visible means of support? The Communists ave called off their part of the New Bedford strike and the reign of terror is over, but the ~, action of Chief McLeod and the acceptance of syhis policy by the city will leave a permanent "Stain upon the record of New Bedford justice.” "tt is clear that these organs—one a *“liberal” supporter of the candidate of capi- “*talist, reaction, Herbert Hoover, and the _ other a-“liberal” supporter of the other can- must use openly (at certain times) to pre- serve itself? Fortunately both editorials contain their own explanations. First the Nation editorial. A careful reading shows that what the Nation objects | to is a “permanent stain” upon the record of capitalist “justice.’ As the Evening Tele- | gram explains, “it is the boast-of those who | this reaction appear “decent.” didate of capitalist reaction, Al Smith—are | both arguing against the campaign of police ‘derror and suppression of the Communist ie activities. Needless to say, we do | not complain of this. On the contrary we ‘consider that any protest against the capi- talist fightfulness tends to the advantage to | the working class provided that it is really a protest and not a mere means of blinding the working class to the fact that the capitalist, government is a capitalist dictatorship. While welcoming any effort, even in words alone, against the naked tyranny of our “demo- cratic” American government, it is necessary always to explain the protests of “liberal” capitalism against the ruthlesswess of “con- servative” capitalism. ‘How is it possible that organs of the capi- talist system can protest against methods of tyranny which every capitalist state | believe in a republic as a form of govern- ment that the citizen has his say through | the vote. If he does not like one party he can go out and organize a party of his own and put his ticket on the ballot.” The Evening Telegram and the Nation both know that for the billionaire finance- capitalists to continue to rule the country and enjoy their parasitic positions in security it is necessary to maintain the illusion that “the citizen has his say through the vote.” Of course a hundred times it has been proven that this is not true. But the Nation and the Telegram are “liberal” capitalist organs whose function is to impose this illusion upon the masses. They protest apparently against the suppression of the Workers (Communist) Party, but in reality against the fact that the “stain” on capitalist justice may be “permanent” (i.e. that the working masses may continue to see it), and that the work- ing class may learn by these suppressions that it is a lie and an illusion to believe “the citizen has his say through the ballot.” The Evening Telegram says the point is that the Communists “are expressing them- selves through the peaceful methods of the ballot,” and yet it sees with uneasiness that by voicing the real needs of the working class and by using the election campaign to mobilize the workers against the capitalist system in class struggle, the Communists are IE DAILY WORKER, NEW YO! RK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1928 HAS “DEMOCRACY” By Fred Ellis ROTECTORATE Ford, Chevrolet in Sales War By A. GOETZ. The Ford Motor Co. was organ- ized in 1908 for the purpose of pro- ducing a low price car in large quantities. Fairly successful from the start, they went from 195 cars in 1903 to 6,181 in 1908. In that | year, however, Model T was de-| signed and a radical program of | auantity production was initiated. Walter E. Flanders, an expert in machine production teok charge and | was to receive $20,000 in addition to | his salary if the company’s output }in the year ending September 30, 1909, reached 10,000 cars. The actual {amount was 10,660, Fords being the \first motor concern to achieve such a large output. Enormous Growth. In the next fourteen years pro- ‘duction increased by leaps and}| bounds. The huge Highland Park plant was built and later River Rouge. Coal mines, steel mills, rail- |voads and many sources of raw ma- |terial were acquired. A production system was perfected, huge, un- wieldy, ill-adapted to change, all for the production of one article in un- |heard of quantities. Millions were | spent to produce greater and greater |output—almost nothing to improve | the car. | | Tt was at the height of Ford pro- | |duction that Henry was reported to | |have said: “The public can have the | Werkers Bear Burden of Cheap-Car Clash Must Organi ’ ze and Fight provements. Thousands, hundreds of thousands and even millions of cars were thrown on the market without up with the times, when a sudden drop in sales forced Henry to per- mit some changes on the car. But it was too late for small changes. The Ford wouldn’t sell any taore and in 1926 production on the old médel was shut off and the Ford | plant had to undergo a radical change for the first time in history. But how hard that change was and still is! The Chevrolet. In November, 1911, the Chevrolet Motor Company was organized and started production on a car designed by Louis evrolet, a well known racing driver, who has since dis- | appeared from the industry. In 1913 production got under way and by i915 their yearly output was up al- most to a very high figure. This was the same year that Ford set a new high record of 283,161 cars. This company also increased their showing the workers that the working class | Ford car in any cclor it wants; pro. |cutput rapidly, having a production cannot accomplish any effective ‘change through the ballot of capitalist democracy. The Evening Telegram and all “sane” capi- talists “want” thé Communist Party to do nothing but what the discredited socialist party does—that is, to delude the working class with the idea that the liberation of the working class can come through the election laws which the capitalist class so kindly supplies. But the Communists by honest workingclass use of the election period only mobilize the working class through showing them that the capitalist class and its gov- ernment will not permit any injury to the capitalist system “through the ballot.” In the attempted suppression of the Communist campaign, the capitalist government exposes its own game. So the Telegram says: “Also it is bad tactics.” The Evening Telegram supports the most extreme capitalist reaction and does not want this reaction exposed. The Nation supports the other Wall Street candidate, equally reactionary, and can function as a “liberal” organ only by making But we can- not drop the subject without fixing finally the meaning of the last sentence of the Na- tion editorial: “The Communists have called off their part of the New Bedford strike,” etc. The Nation neglected to say that the strike of the 28,000 textile workers was broken by the socialist party “reformists” and A. F. of L. officials with the help of The Nation. It is necessary to show that the organs of “liberalism,” though they may cry against the nakedness of the methods of the reaction, nevertheless always support the cruellest reaction when it can merely cover up itself with a liberal fig-leaf. For instance The Nation is now cheering on the American im- perialist government to make use of the bloody Kuomintang to strangle the Chinese workers and peasants. The liberal organs of capitalism are the shrewdest organs for preserving the system of slavery. Workers, vote against capitalism. Vote Communist. | viding it’s black.” | Shut Down in 1926. | The Ford Motor Corporation pro-| |duced the Model T for 16 years| of 1 66 in 1917, 149,540 cars in 1920, and over a half million in 1925. On September 4, 1928, the millionth Chevrolet was run off the produc- zny attempts to change and keep | |million for their entire production a few weeks later. | Chevrolet Policy. The policy of the Chevrolet was guite different from that of Ford. Instead of throwing all resources into the creation cf a gigantic pro- cuction machine, improvements were made on body, motor and chassis and new models were put out each year more and more in ac- cord with the latest developments in technical motor equipment and body styles, One change swiftly followed an- other and the company became ex- perienced in rapidiy changing pro- duction from model to another, thus developing the car and the product- tion apparatus at an even rate. In this way Chevrolet was able to rise to a point where in a re- latively short period the 20-year old Tord domination of the cheap car field could be effectively challenged. |The following table shows the suc- cess of the Chevrolet over the Ford | Pe licy: | Percentage of total cars produced: Car 1922 1925 1928 PORdG es. 2. + 3.8 46.0 13.3 Chevrolet .. 14.1 20.1 26.8 For the past year Ford has made desperate struggle to increase | with hardly any changes or im- tion line for this year and the fifth production to 10,000 cars a day. But |it is slow work and according to the latest registration figures available, « | Chevrolet sold 84,503 in July against | | 43,094 Fords. The new Ford policy is a partial jadaptation to. present conditions, producing a car that is up to the minute both in st}te and in mechan- ical yequirements which is produced in a series of color schemes. How- ever the old policy of a continued a Carpenters’ Misleader (Continued.) Local 376 was the leading and |most militant Local exposing many |of the things which were not being |properly done in our organization. |I say in many sections of our ¢oun- |try there was corruption existing to ja great extent, and we were per- istently exposing these things. This | is not the first time Local Union 376 |was persecuted with the revocation jof the charter. Its officers were repeatedly discriminated against. It | was put on trial when it issued the | Progressive program, and later on |it was put on trial on the pretext | which was brought forth by the Ap- | peals Committee. | Now for those of you who insist that the case must only be decided from a technical interpretation of the Constitution I want you to es- | pecially listen to me. I say that even if Local 376 did violate the Constitution, which we deny, the \charter could not be revoked unless it was done wilfully and deliberately, as provided for in Section 10, Para- graph F. Now a few words on how? in- terested President Hutcheson was in |examining our books. Some five |years ago when officers in control Be Raps | | | — “| of the Local never gave any finan- cial revorts and did not care how the | reports of the Local were conducted, a group of members, myself in- |cluded, sent a letter to the General President stating to him that the of- ficers of the Local gave no reports to the Loca] Union, that funds were persistently misappropriated and were being spent illegally. At that time, when this letter was sent to Hutcheson he answered that he was going to investigate the matter, he was going to look into it, but as far as we knew the matter was never looked into. Hutcheson at that time of course |did not examine the books. About two years later the membership of the local ousted the old officials, | with the exception of one officer. | This official was the financial sec- |retary, the one whom we had put charges against and expelled. The newly elected administration began |an honest administration that fought in the interests of the rank and file. | mass-production of the same car for |!" about two years’ time that the ja long period of. time continues. It | impossible for the Ford organ- | \ization to turn out new models with jnew requirements from time to time |in eecord with the changes of other jautomohile concerns. | And it is precisely this immobility jof prodtetion which spells the ulti- |mate doom of the Ford Motor Co. | While Ford is still trying to increase \the sales of his new car, Chevrolet is already working on a new six-cylin- | der car which will probably sell at |the same price as the old four-cylin- der model. The “Unknown Soldiers.” The burden of the war between |Ford and Chevrolet will be borne by the workers who will suffer as ja result from wage cuts, speed-ups | jand unempleyment. However, a} | time when the masters are fighting | jeach other is the best time for the | workers to organize their resistance. | |Let us take advantage of this favor- |able situation and organize into one {big industrial union of auto workers. and prepare to defend ourselves against the rotten conditions im- | Posed on us by the lords of the auto industry. | Young Wo | By PHIL BART. | The organization of new unions |in the mining, textile and needle} industries has shown to the work- jers that only the left wing in the |trade unions with the active par-| | ticipation of the Communists can | conduct the campaign to orgiunize| | the unorganized workers. The reso-} | lution of the American Federation of | | Labor at the Detroit convention to) organize th® automobile industry | was only an attempt to stifle the militants and discourage the inde- | pendent development of an indus- trial union that will organize the| workers in this industry. | “One of the most important facts at the conventions of the new unions | was that for the first time in the} history of the trade union movement in this country, the youth question) was given a prominent place on the) agenda. Not only were these prob-) | lems discussed generally, but youth) jconferences were held where these |questions were discussed in detail! and a definite program outlined. Young Workers Increase. rkers Exploited in Auto Plants Wages Below Those of Adults; Trade Schools Used to Train Scabs Rationalization and Speed-up. The rationalization in the auto in- |dustry far surpasses many others. | Although the speed-ups and effi- ency schemes have reached the ex- developed daily. Recently Packard’s displaced its stripers, who were skilled workers receiving as much at $1.25 per hour, and replaced them with girls who do the same work with a small striping machine at wages that are one-fourth of those previously given these skilled mechanics. Another important problem facing us in this industry .is the trade schools. The Ford Trade School is | lems with those of the young auto workers generally. The major problems before us are: |1. The building up of Young Work- ers League shop nuclei in the auto | lent where each operation is figured | factories. 2. A systematic campaign \So the ten-thousandth of an hour, \nevertheless we find new inventions | with the demands of the Young |to acquaint the young auto workers | Workers League. It is very difficult |to get leading comrades to go to work at certain plants (L. A. Young, Briggs, ete.) and carry on work there. These plants, where condi- tions are worse than many others | must be utilized by us. The forma- | tion of nuclei in these plants and the |publishing of shop bulletins regu- ilarly will give us a possibility of | drawing many of these young work- |ers into the League. Youth columns | an outstanding example of this. Boys|in the Workers (Communist) Party ‘ranging from 12 to 16 years of age| shop papers are a very good means | The number of young workers in are admitted to the school. They) of reaching the youth. More effort the automobile industry has in-| are hired at 18 cents per hour and | must be made to get material deal- \creased tremendously in the past few | are supposed to be increased every | ing directly with the youth for these years. Altho there are very few) ‘figures regarding this phenomenal | rise, we notice that certain sections |of the industry employ primarily young boys and girls. In the spring) and wire factories (L. A. Young,) Jenks & Muir, etc.), the making of} spark plugs (A. C. Spark Plug Co.), the body factories (Briggs, Murray, Hayes-Ionia, ete.) mostly young workers are employed, | The wages of the young workers jin these factories are below those of the adult workers. The work it- | self is of course detrimental to their health. Many times young girls are |compelled to work all night in gas- jfilled rooms that are the cause of various industrial diseases. In the oil sanding department the work affects the skin and causes various diseases which at times bring per- manent disability. six months, according to the degree of their development. The school is |organized for two purposes. Firstly | it serves the purposes of developing a cadre of skilled mechanics. These mechanics trained at the school can later be employed at lower wages than those they displace. Secondly, they can be employed at the factory at lower wages, on the pretense of being “students.” Trained to Become Scabs. Only recently many boys were taken from the school and placed directly on production. We must also emphasize here that the school is utilized for the purpose of de- veloping a group of young workers that receive certain privileges and can therefore be utilized against the rest of the workers in the factory. We must point this out to the “students” and link up their prob- columns. Shop Committees. Simultaneously with the building |of shop nuclei comes the establish- | ment of shop committees. We have |seen from the experience of the Flint strike the role of the shop |committee. If we had had contacts in many departments of the Fisher | Body plant at Flint at the time, we could have tied up that plant com- pletely. The condition in the industry is such that similar strikes as that in Flint will develop, These strikes are only the rehearsals for the big struggle to organize the workers in the auto Industry. This task, like | many others in all unorganized in- dustries thruout thé ‘country, will not be solved by the labor fakers, It is the task of thegWorkers (Com- -munist) Party and (¥ Y. ung Work- ers League to build up the machin- |ery that will make it possible to carry on the campaign and organize the workers in the auto industry. | One cannot write about this indus- | try without emphasizing its import-| ance in the prepaartions for war | by the capitalists. The automobile | industry can be turned at short no-| |tice completely into a war industry. The development of the aeroplane | industry in Detroit must be watched | by us closely. Instead of producing tractors for farms these machines can produce tanks, heavy guns, ete.: Our nuclei in this industry are therefore destined to play a very important role in the fight against | \eapitalism in the next imperialist war. | | _ | ‘Pioneers Will Protest Boss Education in Big Mass Meet and Rally Boss education and the use of the schools to spread capitalist propa. ganda will be protested by thou- sands of working class children at the mass meeting and rally to be held by the Young Pioneers at Web- ster Manor, 11th St. and Fourth Ave., next Sunday at 2 p. m. “Children of working class parents just as well as adult workers are subject to exploitation and discrim- ination in the shops and also in the schools,” said Charles Wilson, one of the leaders of the Young Pio- neers, last night. “Children are as much a part of the class struggle as their patents. Working class chillren are organizing. Not only are we active in workers’ struggles, but also politically we are organ- izing into ‘Vote Communist’ clubs.” The Pioneers’ Red Rally, which is expected to be the biggest of jts kind, will be addressed by Robert Minor, Communist candidate for U. 8. senate; Herbert Zam, Red can- didate in the Fourteenth Assembly District, and Jessie Taft, represent- | interested. newly elected administration was in power we had saved close to $5,000. just in about two years’ time, and formerly the treasury had never had one cent. We instituted under the advice of our accountant—he had audited the books—a system of re- ceipts which,I have right here, that a member who would pay his dues would get his receipt and the dupli- cate remain with the financial sec- retary, so whenever the matter would have to be looked into we would not have to run after the book, but he would immediately have the duplicate in his possession and we would look up if his accounts are kept properly. Yet despite all this that we had done to clean out corruption and sys- | tematize our work, a campaign of persecution was carried on against Local 376 because of its fight, as I say, against this corruption ex- isting within the local union. On numerous occasions the officers and delegates to higher bodies were not seated and recognized. Twice the local was put on trial by Hutcheson and oncé warned if it did not cease advocating the progressive program the charter would be revoked, This was in a decision dated April 18, 1925. The local union, however, re- fused to be intimidated and con- tinued to advocate the program and the progressive principles which it thought were in the interests of our organization .. . If you remember, I said that the financial secretary was the only of- ficer remaining of the old gang that was loyal to Hutcheson and that remained in office. % Therefore, when that worthy was expelled he appealed to Hutcheson, which he considered his friend, and this was done after he agreed to settle the shortage with the bonding company where he was bonded. Then it was that Hutcheson sud- denly became interested to examine the books. Until then, he was never Not only that, but he was anxious to take all the books and papers away from our posses- sion. Here was a ticklish situation. If we gave him everything we would have no evidence, an unscrupulous general president seeking to get rid of opposition could frame his op- ponents. We then had plenty of reasons to suspect that he was look~ ing for this opportunity. We there- fore offered the books for examina« tins but refused to let him take the . evidence away from us. In this I will read you the statement of the local given to the trial committee that came down to try us on June 8, 1926. (Reads statement) ... “+ Local Union 376 and its of= ficers did not refuse to submit the books of the local union for examina~ tion, but simply stated that the books shall remain in the possession of the local officers while audited and examined by a certified public accountant in the presence of rep- resentatives of the general president and the local union. Local Union 376 and its officers strictly and faith- fully complied with every provision of the constitution and declares that it did not violate paragraph B, sec- tion 10 of our constitution, as it. specifically declared and informed - the general president of its willing- ness to comply with his de: to. allow an examination, “(Ta Be