The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 19, 1928, Page 6

THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1928 Published by National Daily Worker Publishing Ass’n., Inc., Daily, Except Sunday, at 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. Y. Telephone, Stuyvesant 1696-7-8. Cable Address “Daiwork” ROBERT MINOR WM. F. DUNNE Organized Treachery Holds Its hb Convention - T The official leadership of the American Federation of Labor, the most corrupt and vicious trade union bureaucracy in the world, opens its convention in New Orleans. There will be no workers present, nor even any sympathizers with the workers. It will be a hall-full of prosperous professional men whose trade is that of holding offige over and above the trade unions at a profit of “all the traffic will bear.” If there are any dele- gates. who may not precisely meet this description, it will be but a sprinkling of timid retainers long ago bought and paid for by the higher bureaucrats with the small change of patronage. It would not only be futile, but an exhibition of stupidity, to de- mand of these servants of the most powerful and arrogant imperialism that they make any move toward attempting the solution of the burning questions facing the working class today. In reviewing the past year’s activity of the ‘American Federation of Labor it would be incorrect to say that the officialdom re- treated before the assaults of the capitalist class. Such an interpretation would imply that the dfficialdom had opposed the on- slaughts of the open-shoppers upon the work- ers. The facts in the case are that instead of opposing, even in the most puny manner, the wage-cuts, the speed-up, the lengthening of hours and all the impositions upon the workers’ standard of living that is classified under the head of the general term, “rational- ization,” the traitors at the head of the labor movement have actively and in the most vio- lent manner supported the ruling class in its anti-labor offensive. Far from being enemies of the bosses, the American Federation of Labor official leadership are agents of the bosses. The very fact that this year’s convention of the A. F. of L. is held in New Orleans, will force them to pay lip service to the necessity for labor organization in the “New South,” the South of the newest industrialization. But that is as far as it will go. This thoroughly rotten machine will no more or- ganize the Southern industrial workers than it organized the auto workers after its bombast and fake resolutions at the Detroit convention. '~ The only progress that can be registered by the officialdom is a greater servility to the employers, a more depraved fawning be- fore every form of reaction. By trying in every way to deprive the workeys of the use of the strike weapon, through support of such plans for compulsory arbitration as the Watson-Parker bill, through advocacy of the B. & O. plan of class collaboration, the Mitten plan, transformation of labor unions into company unions, and through resorting to open recruiting of strike-breakers in every 4 important industrial struggle of past years, the Green-Woll-Lewis combination has sounded new depths in perfecting an elaborate system of betrayal of the working class. John L. Lewis, before the assembled labor lieutenants of the capitalist class, can boast that, as the agent of the coal operators and Andrew W. Mellon, he has finally succeeded in smashing the once powerful United Mine Workers of America. But his victory is far from complete, for upon the ruins wrought by him and other henchmen of the mine own- ers ‘s arising a new National Miners Union that will carry forward into this period of struggle all the best traditions of the old fighting union and reach new heights to con- form with the new conditions in this stage of development of the class conflict. Lewis will serve his masters by villifying the Commu- nists whose leadership is thwarting the plot to wipe unionism out of the coal fields. Sig- man, the “hero” of the attempts of the New York bosses to revive the worst traditions of the sweat shop with the aid of the Tam- many police, gunmen and courts, will not even be among those present, although his jnstructor and boss in strike-breaking, Matt ~ Woll, will be on the job to boost his fake Jabor insurance proposition which was Jaunched with the full approval of the in- surance companies who consider it a weapon against the demand for social insurance for the working class. The New Orleans convention, if it deals with the question at all, will have to confess that the policy of “rewarding friends and punishing enemies” in the capitalist parties eee Worker SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By Mail (in New York only): $8ayear $4.50 six mos. $2.50 three mos. By Mail (outside of New York): $6 2 year 50 six mos. $2.00 three mos. Address all checks to The Daily Worker, 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. Y. had no effect upon the election this year ex- | .cept insofar as it aided in the illusion that it is to the interest of the workers to support capitalist candidates. The outcome of the elec- tion emphasizes again the fact we have so often repeated, that the so-called non- partisan policy in elections is in reality a partisan policy in favor of the parties of capitalism and a blow against the working class. It is a certainty that all that will come out of this convention in New Orleans is a further grovelling before the ruling class, the attempt to perfect more subtle and poisonous plans for the selling out of the working class. Undoubtedly considerable attention will be paid to that other agency of yankee im- perialism in which the officialdom partici- pates—the Pan-American Federation of La- bor. Now that Hoover, the new white hope of imperialist butchery, is turning his atten- tion toward Latin-America because of its im- portance to the general scheme of world dom- ination that is now the open and avowed policy of the government of the ruling class | of this country, it is certain that the labor agents of capitalism at the head of the Amer- ican Federation of Labor will increase their activity in the Pan-American Federation of Labor in behalf of their masters. Like mas- ter, like man! This convention of traitors to and swind- | lers of the working class now in session at New Orleans is of interest to the working class only to the extent that it is important for the workers to know everything about the conspiracies of their mortal class enemies. We will watch every step in its infamous progress and will unmask its motives before the masses. Now, more than ever, is it possible to ex- pose the real role of the Greens, the Wolls, the Lewises and to convince ever wider num- bers of workers of the correctness of Com- munist criticism of these traitors and to prove in action, as we have proved during the past few years, that the one organization that at all times and on all fronts fights relent- lessly for the class interests of the workers against the employers and all their agents is the Workers (Communist) Party. |The One Answer to the Betrayal of leon the Michelin Tire Strike No sooner had 1,200 rubber workers in the Michelin Tire Company at Milltown, N. J., « |part they express the disproportion gone on strilfe than the American Federa- | tion of Labor, in the person of its New Jersey representative, Henry Hilfers, got on the job—not in behalf of the workers, but in be- half of the tire company. The first days of the struggle brought most of the strikers to the picket lines where they made it unpleasant for the scabs who were hired to take their places. Hilfers be- gan his work of treachery by preaching pacifism to the strikers and advocating that they return to work and settle their griev- ances through conciliation, Many workers listened to such deceptive talk and soon the strike was broken, without even the semblance of organization remain- ing to indicate that there had ever been a struggle. Since returning to work the wage cuts that caused the walk-out are enforced and more than 100 workers whom the Michelin concern wanted to get rid of are forced out of the shops. The strike of the Michelin tire workers is one of the many sporadic outbursts against the terrific speed-up, the wage-cuts the lengthening of hours and the whole “rational- ization” process of the auto industry. These strikes are indicative of a widespread dis- content pervaaing the whole industry. They indicate the necessity for effective organiza- tion of the hundreds of thousands of workers in the auto and aircraft industry. The only reason the American Federation of Labor fakers ever make a gesture toward organ- izing these workers is so that they may be in a position to betray them. to the auto mag- nates. There is but one answer to such shameful betrayals as that of Hiifers and the bureau- cratic clique of agents of capitalism that he represents and that is the building of a powerful industrial union in the auto and air- craft industry. Such an organization exists in the Auto and Aircraft Union which is not affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and every worker engaged in any branch of the motor industry should join that union. Company will undertake man- with the Ford rubber|p, 471), now being developed ETROIT, Nov. 18—The Ford|there, Henry Ford announced today.|plantation »project would succeed Ford said he did not know where ‘ the Brazilian factories would be ure of automobile tires and|puiit, but that in any event manu- bs hast bber prod: in Braz'l in|facture of finished products from ie aang Brazilian rubber should be located :n He expressed confidence that the ord to Exploit Cheap Brazil Labor to MakeTires on Rubber Grant |and said he intends to visit Para, near the plantation base. In addition to rubber trees, Ford said it is planned to cultivate oil nut trees, cotton and “whatever the soil and climate may indicate as profit- able.” CLASS STRUGGLE ON THE SEA By MAXIM GORKI. Translate by Thaddeus Radwanski. J the past two or three years the writer has with imereasing fre- quency heard remarks from the rank and file workers scattered over the immense territory of the Soviet Union, the general sense of which can be summed up in the following phrase: “We are toiling in vain. rushing around. . .and accomplish- ing nothing.” In my judgment, statements of this character are the result of a |meagre and limited knowledge of} the realities of the situation; the re- sult of an insufficiently broad, and therefore, an incorrect estimation of the whole stream of creative work which has been done and is being done by those very rank and file) workers who complain that they are “accomplishing nothing.” mly on rare occasions can these plaints be understood as an ex- |pression of weariness; for the most |between what an active human being wants to do, and the little, compara- tively speaking, he actually accom- hes. Few understand that the little” accomplished * during the| Ishort period of six years, appears | “little” only in comparison with the| |colossal tasks which the workers | |and peasants government has set for litself; but essentially, as the first) suring one another with inadmissible! tirely buried in his everyday work| A Trial in Washington |steps in the direction of the great |goal, this “little” represents a solid \foundation for the new state—a | foundation laid so deep that it is | difficult to conceive of any force| jcapable of blasting it. This stupend- jous, although still sketchy achieve-| | ment, ought not to cause an attitude! |of depression, Such a feeling does |exist, however, and seems to be | growing. | |demonstration for the release - of | | It is quite evident that its growth} |is fostered by a whole series of very) |important éauses, which nainper the! | greater success, of creative work. | |For example, the base hatred of the) | international bourgeoisie against the | »eyent the purposes of the demon-|the public the situation, ang that we nation that refuses to slave for them | also contributes to the growth of) |this depression; the general condi- |tions of life and work of an, active| Soviet worker, all the trash and rub-) |bish, all the dust, unavoidable at| \the destruction of the things of the past, familiar and beloved to many,| the muddiness of, the social soil cre-| ated through ages by. the petty-bour- | geoisie of the world that was. * * 8 | HIS enormous mass of age-old dust, hanging over life like a gray cloud, prevents many of the bui' jers of the new state from seeing} |clearly their own virile and heroic work. Moreover, there are quite a |number of people whom I may call | “professional spectators”; they ap- prehend life exclusively with their | eyes, it represents for them merely a spectacle and not a creative proc- |ess. Among this class of humanity I reckon those “generé-writers” who write more or less lovingly and zeal- |ously of the invincibility of the old | standards, and how man is sucked down into their muddy depths. For them the trivial dust of life appears cosmic, and they are unable to pierce through its veil and see the new man or the work that he is accom- plishing. There are also those peo- ple who are eager to enjoy the feast days of life without sharing in the hard drudgery of its week days, Such people, among whom there are quite a number of the petty-bourgeoisie \tomporarily masquerading as “Com- | munists,” such people, eagerly point- ing out the untidiness and disordér of the stormy torrent: of life, obscure the clear working day with the trash of their critical maunderings, with their alarmist clamor and panicky “Solid Foundation for the New State, So Deep, Cannot Be Blasted” | Our Achievements in U.S.S.R S_ SicaeSPare clouds of the petty dust of life blind- ing the builders of the New. Here must also be added the deaf- ening din of self-criticism. derstood that self-criticism is neces- sary,’ but not to the point of hys- the intelligentsia of the seventies of the last century. Sometimes it seems that this “self-criticism” is indulged in not for the sake of the successful carrying through of the work, not because of a feeling of the) immensity of the work to be done, | but out of* doubt in regard to the essential rightness of the work it- self,—for the sake of milord the) emigre and the other enemies of the} Soviet Union. The tone of this “self-criticism” | oftentimes completely converges with |the criticism of our worst enemies. | While practicing self-criticism, it is mind that all the youth of the Soviet Union listens to it, and not only listens but sedulously imitates the sharpness of its tone; adopting the tone of their older comrades, they | carry it into their own ranks, cen- It is un-| not the penitential dirges of} | necessary, in my opinion, to keep in! harshness, and, by arousing a sense of injury, add to the bulk of petty squabbles, thickening the dusty cloud of trivalities. ee Spaplne I AGAIN repeat in order to avoid misunderstanding: practical self- criticism is unavoidable, but it must | be borne in mind that it is extreme- | ly difficult to unite critic and creator | in one person, harmoniously, the} acting and the counteracting force.| The brains of Vladimir Lenin alone} were capable of harmoniously unit-| | ing both these forces in the direction | of the desired goal. From him} should be learned the art of violat-| ing the laws of physics, as well as other laws of old in general. Its achievements are incontest- able; the first and foremost of them is the will-inflaming atmosphere of daring, sometimes of almost mad daring which embodies itself in the |life of -the Soviet land, rapidly | | changing its face and the character} of its peoples. Every active, co-worker in the) colossal creative process of revolu-| | tion and cultural development is en-| In this issue, the Daily Worker| mediate release, I mean the release publishes the first of several install- ments of the stenographic record of the trial in Washington, D. C. of 29 workers for participating in the John Porter and against imperialist war. The technical charge of passing on one side of the War Department | subject to Park Regulations was made and the authorities tried to stration and the reasons for the ar- rests from being brought out in the trial. Taking the stand, Karl Reeve, editor of Labor Defender, and Paul Crouch, secretary of the All-Ameri- ca Anti-Imperialist League, pro- ceeded to expose capitalist justice and defied the authorities. In fol- lowing installments, the speeches of Karl Jones, militant Negro leader, Clarence Miller, district organizer of the Young Workers (Communist) League of Philadelphia, and Ben Thomas, machinist and representa- tive of the Workers Party, will be published, as well as the speeches of the prosecuting attorney.—Editor. * ‘* * THE COURT: Before passing on this ‘matter have any of the five persons representing themselves anyything to say? REEVES: I would like to say a word. THE COURT: Take the stand. Whereupon KARL REEVES a witness appearing in his own be- half, after having been first duly sworn, testified and stated as fol- lows: DIRECT STATEMENT. Your Honor, I would like to state that we were arrested while we were, I believe, on Pennsylvania Avenue, and we were charged with parading. Your Honor, I would like to state what we were doing there. We were endeavoring to present a petition to Secretary of War Davis, for a re- dress of a wrofig which was perpe- trated upon a union worker who was active in leading a strike and who is in the federal prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; and we were |of John Porter, on the grounds that | |be was persecuted because he was a worker. Now, I just have one moore thing to say, your honor, and that is this: We feel that this is a technical regulation that we are being charged with violating, a park regulation, but that the real charge against us is that we are workers calling to the attention of |were demonstrating for oppressed workers; that we wege demonstrat- ing against oppression of trade union leaders, against those who hold views which are not in line with the views of the government and with the views of the capitalist class. Will Continue to Demonstrate. And we will state to your honor that whether the fine is—well, I will state it for myself, but I can’t can state it for themselves—that | Whether the fine is $50 or $200, we jintend to reserve to ourselves the right to come back to Washington and appear before the war depart- ment or on the sidewalks or streets of Washington, and again demon- strate for our organizations, our seven national organizations, which represent more than 200,000 work- ers. Charge is Smoke Screen. As I say, we feel that this is a technical charge and is merely a smoke screen thrown out around us in order to prevent us from demon- strating in behalf of the workers’ organizations, (To Be Continued). Confiscate Every Other Edition of Newspaper (Red Aid Press Service) ZAGREB, (By Mail).—The work- ers’ and peasants’ newspaper “Bor- ba,” which appears in Zagreb, was banned 35 times in 1928. Since the and his horizon is confined to the limits of the work in which he im- mediately participates. In relation to the total amount of work being carried on in the Soviet Union, the individual worker finds himself in| the position of the bricklayer does not altogether understand the time- liness, the progress and the signifi- cance of the laborers, carpenters, joiners and other groups of workers who shoulder to shoulder, with him are working at the same class task. Out of the articles scattered thru the columns of the daily press it is not physically possible, there is no time,gto form an altogether clear idea of the course of the work, and of the total accomplished in the past months of the year in all spheres of toil and creative activity. solutely necessary for these active workers to know the minutest de- tail of everything that has been done, that is being done, and that has to be done in the future, in or- der that he may have before him a vivid picture of his struggle, his work, and of what he has achieved. It is necessary that he feel himself one of those living forces which are building the new state and that this state cannot be strongest, most comradely union of all individual force iyto a_ single stream of collective creative energy. It is necessary for him to see that the “holy vessel” of this energy is borne not by “devils” but by him- self and his comrades, ry E must strengthen him, awaken his pride, add to his confidence in himself, show him the full sig- nificance of his so-called petty everyyday work, show him that in this our land there is no more “pet- ty” activity, that everything that is done is done for the sake of the universal emagcipation of mankind from everythirfg that held them back —internal as well as external—from becoming free creaters of their own fate and their own history. . Our present reality 1s painful, contradictory, confused—all this is true. But the whole reality must be rendered heroic, and our reality al- ready deserves it in full. How is reality being rendered heroic? Exclusively by the exploits of toil, only by the work purifying life of its ignominies, only by fight- ing evil, fighting against slavery and for freedom. On this principle, on the exploits of toil are built all those wonderful Herculean legends and tales about the heroes of all na- |state it for anyone else, and they | tions and all ages. Even the “saints” (so far as their “lives” passed into the sphere of folk-lore) — even among the “saints” the people honors with its love not those who deserted the world and life for the sake of their private “salvation” but only those who fought the evils of life in the world, in the midst of mankind. Reality can be changed only by the revolutionary force of labor, and the more intelligent labor is the more revolutionary it is. That which is being done in the Soviet Union surpasses the fantastic exploits of all fabulous heroes. The work of plain people from the bench and the plow, of people who live under pain- ful conditions, is truly heroic, but the heroes themselves do not realize it, They see themselves in a bad light and therefore they estimate each other low. In our activity there has been born and is growing a real hero, and he) must know that. He will know that when we put a looking glass before him. Such a looking glass will show to the active worker of the revolu- tion and of culture all his achieve- ments in all fields of science, tech- “Borba” appears only twice a weck. it means that more than half of the whigperings, All this thickens the|petitioning and demanding his im- editions were confiscated. l. | 4 | nique, the arts and customs, (Courtesy Labor Defender) U.M. W. A. It is ‘ab-| built without the| ‘Misleaders in the American Labor Unions BY WILLIAM Z. FOSTER. Pat Dolan, former president of the Pittsburgh district, was a crook- ed tool of Al, Hamilton. Hamilton, |once a newspaper man, was a slip- pery agent of the employers, and a well-known center of labor corrup- ; tion in Western Pennsylvania. He was a sinister figure there in the | life“of the’ union, a sort of Mulhall of the mining industry, and he de- |bauched many of the miners’ lead- | ers. Hamilton died recently and | John L, Lewis travelled 1,000 miles to attend his funeral. Van A. Bittner, another tool of Al. Hamilton’s, was once president of the Pittsburgh district and was driven out for crookedness. One of the most degenerate fakers in the entire history of the Miners’ Union, and a favorite agent of John L. Lewis, he has betrayed strikes in Kentucky, Alabama, West Virginia Kansas, Nova iia, ete. He stands first as the most contemptible reac- tionary now on the payroll of the Complete List. Typical of the traitors in every mining district is the following list of former Indiana U, M. W. A. lead- ers, as furnished us by a union of- ficial. Phila. Penna is now head of a big Indiana coal operators’ asso- |ciation and leads its fight bitterly against the union. J. Boyle and W. O’Conner, former district presidents, are now coal company superintend- jents. P. H. Donnie, board member is also a coal company superintend- jent. Typical also is a list from Washington: M. J. Flyzik, former president of the district, now has a | good state government job. R. Har- land, former president, is in the coal business, J. Wallace, former district |secretary, became a commissioner |for the Washington Coal Operators’ |Association, J. Hutchinson, J. Mor- |gan, E. Newsham went into the coal |business after getting out of their junion positions. Every district |shows numbers of similar fakers re- warded. | All the foregoing gentlemen |thoroughly “feathered their nests” at the expense of the miners. Most of them have become wealthy. It is whole groups of such traitors that have‘ reduced the U. M. W. A. to its present weakened condition. To the above names could be added scores of other betrayers of the miners, the Cappellinis, Phil Murrays, i'a- gans, Goldens, etc., who still hold oificial positions in the union. They are enriching themselves now and |by doing the work of the coal oper- | ators are preparing to graduate into | business and political sinecures. Farrington. Frank Farrington was until a few months ago czar of the 90,000 bi- |tuminous miners of District 12, Tlli- nois. With the full support of the companies, he ruled With an iron hand. He was a willing tool in every treason in his own district or in the country at large. He is a prominent 1aember of the republican party. His ¥hole administration was an assault on the miners’ organization and their standards of living. In 1919 a widespread revolt took | place among District 12 miners who refused to suffer further his tyranny jend treachery. Farrington crushed this upheaval with fire and sword, appointing hundreds of “organizers” to terrorize the men and entering into agteement with the employers to blacklist the “outlaws.” Farring- |ton was the darling of the Illinois operators. When he got married the | Peabody Coal Co. gave him a big |mahogany chest filled with table | silver. Farrington, grown rich from graft of all kinds, has one beautiful mansion in Springfield and another in Indianapolis. One Traitor Succeeds Another. In the great national strike of the miners in 1922, in which the very Farrington, undoubtedly in’ collusion with the operators, tried to destroy the movement by proposing to sign a separate agreement for the IIli- ncis miners. Had he succeeded in all likelihood it-would have broken the strike and crippled the Miners’ Union nationally. But the Progres- sive Miners’ Committee, following the lead of the T. U. E. L., rallied the miners so strongly against him in mass meetings and-otherwise that Farrington had to abandon his treacherous scheme. John L. Lewis and Frank Farring- ton, jealous rivals, are bitter ene- mies. In a famous exchange of let- ters they accused each other of ac- cepting bribes from the employers. Both were doubtless correct. Under pressure of the left wing in the union, however, they eventually patched up their differences and uni- ted their forces. But the vindictive Lewis was merely awaiting a favor- able opportunity to knife Farring- ton. He got the chance when proof came to him of what the left wing had been saying for years, that Far- rington was secretly on the payroll of the operators. Lewis, to get rid of his powerful enemy, denounced Farrington, then in Europe as A. F. of L. delegate to the British Trade Union Congress, as being paid $25,- 000 per year by the Peabody Coal Co. Farrington admitted it. Result, exist this faker, to be succeeded by another equally as bad if not as clever, Harry Fishwick. JOBLESS ARMY INCREASES. fruit and-hop picking seasons have come to an end in Oregon, making A ak. winter fens Orage See ea! r ers, who are rioting tr cite a vain attempt to find raiis sife of the organization was at stake, “ EUGENE, Ore., (By Mail).—The —