The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 4, 1928, Page 6

Page Six Published by National Daily Worker Publishing Ass’n., Inc., Dail: Union Square, Except Sunday, at 26-28 i. Y. Telephone, Address “Daiwork” Stuyvesant 1696 ROBERT MINOR ... Editor WM. F. DUNNE Silk Strikers ; Union The silk strikers in Paterson have left the Associated Silk Workers Union and joined the National Textile Workers Union. That action clarified the struggle. Not only were the strikers forced to fight the bosses, but as long as they remained in the Associated Silk Workers union they were faced, in the very midst of the struggle, with the most vicious opposition on the part of the reaction- ary officials at the head of the union. Con- fronted with a situation where their officials | were merely a sector of the mill owners’ fight against the strike there was no alternative. They Kad to submit to open and flagrant be- trayal or fight the official clique. The present open betrayal of the official- dom was by no means a sudden development. They have always been of a hesitant, ve cilla- ting, right wing character. The Associated Union was composed of two departments—the broadsilk, comprising the great mass of workers, and the hatband and ribbon depart- ment, comprising a small, Avell-paid group which constituted the aristocracy of the in- dustry. The officials were from the second group and in every great strike during t past few years have only half-heartedly sup- ported the broadsilk workers. Under t leadership of Hoelscher they looked upon an vestige of militancy as abhorrent. Their con- ception of unionism was to enter into gent manly discussions with the bosses. They came to consider that they had special in- terests in the industry that were likely to be endangered by the horribly exploited, poorly paid broadsilk workers. The officials deliberately played the better paid group against the masses in the indystry. Characteristic of the attitude of the As- sociated leadership was their recent effort to stampede the membership into the company | unionized United Textile Workers Union. In that conspiracy they were assisted by A. J. Muste, dean of Brookwood Labor College. T1e attempt of these officials to join the treacher- ous United clearly indicates thefr affinity with that strike-breaking outfit. Fortunately they were defeated by the membership, and forced to approve, at least in words, the broadsilk strike. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By Mail (in New York only): $8 a year $4.50 six mos. $2.50 three mos. By Mail (outside of New York): $6 a year $3.50 six mos. $2.00 three mos. Address and mail all checks to The Daily Worker, 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. Y. Join New National|Socialists Say Pirates Have Left Wall Street Quite in keep'ng with the trend of the present day socialist party is a headline in their’ weekly organ, the New Leader, an- nouncing, in reference to the death. of Thomas Fortune Ryan that the “last of the old Wall Street pirates is gone.” Now that in the opinion of Morris Hillquit, Norman Thomas &*Co., the leaders of Wall Street are no longer piratical, there is no reason why the socialist outfit cannot justify, at least to their own satisfaction, the fact that their party has become the little third party of capitalism in this country. The implication in the New Leader is plain. J. P. Morgan, who was active during the hey- day of Ryan is not a pirate, but a financier. | John D. Rockefeller, Jr., is a captain of in- dustry and being a Sunday school teacher is in the fellowship of Jesus with the recent socialist presidential candidate, the Rev. Nor- man Thomas, in spite of the fact that he oc- casionally indulges in baby burning as he did at Ludlow, Colo., on April 20, 1914, Politically the socialists serve the in- terests of Wall Street by denying in their parliamentary platform the class struggle | and sowing pacifist illusions regarding the danger of a new world war. They also aid Wall Street and the imperialist bandits of the whole world by persistently traducing the Soviet Union. In the December 1st issue | of their weekly sheet, adjoining the column which contains the announcement that the | last of the old pirates of Wall Street has gone, But no sooner had the strike been called -| than the officials began a retreat and pro- ceeded to sign fake settlements in an effort | ‘ | many police, gangsters, gunmen and the to weaken and finally liquidate the struggle in favor of the mill owners. Resistance to this policy on the part of the strike com- mittee was met by the officials of the As- sociated with an attempt to dissolve the strike committee and the inauguration of a policy of expulsion. When the broadsilk strikers arranged a meeting to discuss the strike policy and to make the strike more effective, the As- sociated officials came out openly in de- nunciation of the move and aided the mill owners by shouting that the move was “4l- legal.” They even indulged in the work of plain provocateurs by endeavoring to have the hall owner cancel the contract for the meeting. The strikers, convinced of the duplicity of the reactionary officials, and face to face with the employers in bitter struggle, re- sponded quickly to the proposition for affilia- tion with the new National Textile Workers Union. This decision is a repudiation by the strikers of the attempt of the re- is an article by one Louis Stanley which in the most scurrilous but withal stupid and ignorant, manner villifies the Soviet Union, the Communist International and Comrade Stalin, the secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as devotees of “white terror,” and in addition repeats, the slanders of the Trotskyites. Such vile de- famation of the workers and peasants gov- ernment and the Party of the revolution only serves to try to weaken and disarm the work- ing class in the capitalist countries, thereby paving the way for an imperialist drive against the revolution and is openly counter- revolutionary. The political alliance of the socialist party with capitalism extends far beyond the sphere of mere propaganda and_parlia- mentary action to complete unity with Tam- bosses in the garment industry as was com- pletely revealed in the campaign of union- | wrecking carried on against the rank and file | of the International Ladies Garment Workers actionary officials to divide and defeat the | workers in the Paterson silk mills. The better paid workers in the hatband and ribbon section of the industry should also rise in revolt against the dastardly attempt to separate them from the great mass of poorly paid workers and should join the ranks of the new national union and help build it into a weapon that will defeat the wage cuts and the speed-up. All authorities on the economic condition of the silk industry are unanimously of the opinion that the mills must run full blast for the next few months in order to supply the spring demand. Of particular interest to broadsilk workers is the announcement in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal that: “Interest in the silk market has now en- tirely switched to spring and mills on the whole are running full on goods for the com- ing season. Most orders are being placed for delivery after January 1. The outlook is good for a large volume next spring, particularly in printed dress goods on which the whole in- dustry now seems to be concentrating.” It is further emphasized by all observers that buying over the past few months has pretty well cleaned out the jobbers’ supplies and that the coming months will see heavy demands upon the whole silk industry in order to be able to supply the spring market the early part of the year. Under such con- ditions a drive can be made in all silk centers in order to establish the union generally throughout the industry,’ Union, the Furriers and other needle trades organizations. Certainly one cannot expect the depraved strike-breakers, masquerading as socialists, to consider the ruling class they serve as a group of pirates. A Helping Hand to Trusts The merging of government with business is no better exemplified than in the annual report of the department of justice submitted by the attorney general of the United States, which says*in part: “It has been the aim of the department to meet at their inception business projects in- volving possible violations of the anti-trust law. It is believed that this method insured not only more effective enforcement, but by an- ticipating and having determined the questions involved enables industry to be guided by the decisions of the supreme court.” In plain words the report establishes the fact that it has been and is the policy of the department of justice to advise bankers ana industrialists how to form trusts. The department of justice, as the so-called law enforcement branch of the government, becomes the attorney for the trust magnates and guarantees them against litigation for violation of the anti-trust laws. The policy enunciated by the attorney general has deeper meaning than is here im- plied. It indicates that not only will the government aid those who want to form trusts, but that it will also bring about trusti- fication in those branches of industry not up to the “efficiency” standard of Hooverism. It is a part of the preparation by the ruling class of this country, of which the govern- ment is executive committee, for the impend- ing imperialist war. As a counter blast against the announce- ment of the attorney general the masses of workers in the great industries of the country should organize into powerful unions. One of the most effective weapons in a struggle against imperialist war is the organization, of workers so that they can cripple the war in- | dustries. Not pacifist phrases, and pious wishes will avert war. Only the organized might of the working class in the basic industries and in the armed forces of the nation will enable the workers to wage a revolutionary struggle against the war-mongers, | CAMOUFLAGE THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1928 By Fred Ellis OTS AES The Right The Communist Party of Canada | has issued the following statement | eoncerning the danger of right er- |rors and Trotskyism within its ranks: | “It is the duty of the revolution- ary party of the working class to wage the class struggle not only on the political and economical fronts, but also upon the theoretical and ideological front to maintain the clarity of proletarian, revolutionary | ideology on the basis of Marxism! | and Leninism. The Communist Par- ty cannot tolerate in its ranks any elements, which represent any form |of petty-bourgeois or bourgeois \ideology. Bourgeois ideology, with | the tremendous powers at its dis-| | Bosal, constantly forces itself upon} the working class, and finds its rep- | resentatives among the upper strata | of workers, and petty bourgeois and} | intellectuals on the fringe of the} | working class. Particularly, in the | present epoch of wars and world] | revolution, does the bourgeoisie of) | the whole world intensify its strug- gle against the revolutionary, Len- |inist ideology of the’ proletariat; particularly today, when the work-| ers of the world find themselves |confronted with the great task of |turning the coming imperialist war ee a class war for the overthrow of imperialism, do the comfortable | trade union bureaucrats and part of the small upper strata of the work- ing class go completely over to the| side of the bourgeoisie. The social | reformists are the representatives | of bourgeoisie ideology in the work- jing class movement. In the ranks of the revolutionary party of the | working class, isolated individuals jare found who succumb to petty) | bourgeois pessimism. In the Soviet where the workers are| | Union, | triumphantly building up socialist society, this pessimism found its | crystallized expression in the theory of Trotskyism, which Lenin consis-| | tently combatted for twenty years. | the Canadian Party Central Committee of Canadian Party Issues Statement on Expulsion of Spector Trotskyism is social-democracy dis- guised with revolutionary phrases. “Maurice Spector was unhesitat- ingly expelled from the Communist Party of Canada at a special en- larged executive meeting by a unani- mous vote on the grounds of his open alliance with Trotskyism against the Leninist policy of the Communist International. Trotsky- ism was completely repulsed by the million members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the masses of class-conscious workers of the Soviet Union. The Commu- nist Party of Canada emphatically condemns Trotskyism as objectively counter-revolutionary and in ex- pelling Maurice Spector from its ranks, reaffirms its stand upon the clear Leninist policy and program of the Communist International. In succumbing to petty bourgeois pes- simism, Maurice Spector has allied himself with the renegade Max | Eastman, and finds himself with- out a single ally among the class- conscious workers of Canada or in the ranks of the Communist Party. Two days after his expulsion (No- vember 11th) he made use of the reactionary Toronto Globe to slan- der the Soviet Union, and his ex- pulsion from the Communist Party was used editorially to indicate a world crisis in the Communist In- ternational. There is no crisis in the Communist Internctional and there is no crisis in the Communist Party of Canada. The wish is father to the thought. The struggle against Trotskyism has not weak- ened the Communist International but has strengthened and devel- oped the solid Leninist foundation of the Communist movement, and cleaned from its ranks those few vacillating petty bourgeois elements, who succumbed to pessimism in the face of difficulties. “Trotskyism finds its latest ex- pression in hopelessness before the defeat of the Chinese revolution, the stabilization of capitalist economy and the great task of constructing socialist industry and collectivizing agriculture in the Soviet Union, The world revolution does not develop in a straight line, and without tem- porary defeats of the workers and oppressed colonial peoples in their struggle against the forces of world imperialist oppression and exploita- tion. The imperialists seem to have vanquished the heroic Chinese people in their struggle for libera- tion, But the Chinese workers and peasants will gather renewed gner- gy and confidence. The ‘inese revolution will rise up again, strong- er, firmer, mightier. The stabiliza- tion of capitalist economy far from leading to greater security in the capitalist sector of the world, leads to the intensification of the con- | tradictions and conflicts in the im- perialist world. Germany has be- come once more a powerful competi- tor of England on the world mar- ket; the U. S. A. has taken up a course of open imperialist aggres- sion, as indicated most recently by the paradoxical, Armistice speech of President Coolidge; the revolu- tionary rumblings in India, Egypt and all of the oppressed colonies grow constantly louder and louder; the capitalist world stands as if on Danger and Trotskyism in a powder-mine. At the same time, the objective facts show more clear- ly every day, that the Soviet work- ers are building up socialist indus- try at an amazing pace—against all obstacles. The news in the capital- ist press of isolated acts of terror by rich capitalist peasants does not indicate a crisis; on the contrary, with the development of collective agriculture on a firm basis among the millions of poor peasants at the yexpense of the rich capitalist ele- ments, those elements have resorted in one incident to terror against Soviet officials. The rapidly devel- oping Socialist Soviet Union is the inspiration of the workers of the world. “The pitiful isolated Trotskyists fail to see the growing forces of the world revolution, ‘At a time when the Soviet Union is faced with the danger of an imperialist onslaught, these individuals combine with their deceitful revolutionary phrases, the ers’ state, and objectively align themselves with the imperialists and their agents, the social reformists and labor bureaucrats. The Com- munist - International directs its course with the Sure compass of Marxist-Leninist proletarian science. It will not leave this course. This course leads the workers and the oppressed peoples of the world into the final victorious conflict against imperialist war, oppression, exploit- ation and darkness, The Commu- nist Party of Canada calls upon the workers to form their ranks for the struggle against the imperialist Soviet Union. “Down with the agents of the bourgeoisie in the ranks of the working class! “Maintain Leninist clarity in the ranks of the workers! Join the Communist Party! Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada. National Executive Committee, Young Communist League of Canada.” Socialists and Sugar Capital in Porto Rico By HARRISON GEORGE When thieves fall out, the ancient |saying goes, honest men have a chance to learn the facts. The Porto | Rican elections recently held, but yet | disputed, have stirred the interest of | Porto Ricans in the United States. | A New York Spanish language capi- talist daily, La Presna, i: ‘ather re- luctantly, it appears—carrying much information of what is going on in |that land which is both in and yet outside the United States, aecording to U. S. courts. | The elections in Porto Rico fol- lowed the devastations of a hurri- cane, and have excited only slightly less turmoil. The old ruling party, “the Alliance,” seems to have been beaten by the “Coalition.” The former is led by Antonio Barcelo and the latter by Santiago Iglesias, | who is correctly labeled“as a lackey | \of imperialism by his position as | | Latin secretary of the Pan-American | Federation of Labor and the fact |that he heads the socialist party in | the island. That Senor Barcelo of the Alli-| ance is no better than his foe, Igle- | sias, appears evident from the gen- jeral servility to U. S. imperialism }of his past ruling regime. Twelve, | Porto Ricans, writing to La Presna| \trom 33 Main St., Brooklyn, give other startling charges against the | Alliance and expose the use to which | Red Cross funds, supposed to re-| lieve hurricane sufferers, are put. They write: | “There is no Porto Rican who is} convinced that the Alliance could have won legally in Porto Rico. It is certain, on the other hand, that the money given by the American ted Cross has been kept to buy the votes of the unfortunate poor.’ Counter-charges of the Alliance against the Coalition are especially revealing against Iglesisas and the| so-called “socialist” party he leads. | Antonio R. Barcelo, leader of the Alliance, writes, in part: Socialists and Sugar Capital. “In the district of Humacao, the socialists, with the aid of the sugar corporations, that, angered by the Alliance policy against the seizure of lands and the monopoly of these corporations, helped the socialist party with money and employes. “The spectacle of the electoral struggle offered in this district was the most shameful in our political history. The socialists and the sugar centrals combined bought votes and threatened the electors with eviction from their properties and discharge from their jobs. The auto trucks of the sugar centrals, filled with peons beaded by straw-bosses, speeded through the district, assaulting and threatening.” Why Be Mystified? Barcello claims that the Alliance earned the attack of the American residents and interests. He states that this attack is explainable by the special interests of these Americans, but he proceeds; “The conduct of the socialist party, commanded by Santiago Iglesias, helping all that policy against which he, hypocritically, always says he stood... is a thing that astonishes me... that leaves me without ex- planation for the conduct of those men who are more addicted to their personal interests than to the prin- ciples and ideals they say they main- | tain.” Population Wants Independence. Iglesias comes back with general charges, but it is to be noted that both leaders, while avoiding care- fully the word “imperialism” are forced by the basic aspiration of the to speak however weakly against the American plunderers of their home- land. A Porto Rican, it should be noted, has no nationality. Although the | country is run by an American, Gov- ernor-General Towner, no Porto | Rican can get a U. S. passport, as he is’ not a citizen of the United States. Neither is he a citizensof an independent sovereignity.. He is, at most, a “subject” of Yankee im- perialism. Sugar and Imperialism. _One Porto Rican comments, in | part, as given below, in a letter con- cerning the demand of Senator Smoot for a tariff bar on cane sugar, especially coming from the Philippines: “Senator Smoot asks protection for beet sugar, naturally, as he rep- J island population for independence; ate. The Philippines are a ‘posses- sion,’ subject as such to the laws of this nation. They must submit to the protectionism of the U. S. on one hand and yet consume its prod- ucts that, naturally, enter free of duty in the Philippines without com- petition, “A special interpretation of the ‘status’ of the Philippines will be necessary (in case tariff is laid— H. G.), which: will not be surpris- ing if we take into account the elasticity of certain decisions ren- dered by the U. S. courts that in one decision holds that the U. S. constitution does not apply to Porto Rico and that it is an ‘unfor- ganized’ territory and as such sub- ject to a special regime.” Seize Lands. The letter tells how Porto Rico, when it lost European markets for its coffee when it lost its sovereign- ity, asked in vain for a U. S. tariff against coffee, and says that failing in this it began to cultivate cane sugar. However: “THe sugar trusts in the island busily began to seize sugar lands, violating with impunity the Jones law, with inexplicable tolerance on the part of Porto Rican legislators. |The law limits corperation holdings to 500 acres.” Inside or Outside U. S.? Stating that the cane sugar trust |controls not only that of Porto Rico, but that of the Philippines, Hawaii and Cuba, the letter states meanest slanders against the work-| war and for the defense of the} | resents those interests in the Sen- | Misleaders in the American Labor Unions | By WILLIAM Z. FOSTER The great armies of workers in the packing industry have paid a high price for the treachery and venality of their leaders. Prior to ;1904 they had an organization. It was then led by Mike Donnelly. The union won a big strike in Chicago in 1904, but unwisely allowed itself |to be forced into a second strike. |This was completely lost and the | union crushed all over the country. | One of the basic causes of the de- |feat was the fact that the Chicago |local unions had been organized in | two separate councils, the mechan- ical trades and the packing trades. This facilitated the treachery of the leadership. When the crisis came | these councils split from each other, |the mechanical trades scabbing on |the packing trades. This completely demoralized the strike. | For 18 terrible years the packing- house workers remained without or- | ganization. They were at the mercy | of the packers, who reduced them to a state of slavery hardly equalled |in any other industry. The half- dead Amalgamated Meat Cutters’ and Butcher Workmen’s Union did |nothing for them. Led by such | Gompersites as Dennis Lane, who is |reputed to he heavily interested fi- | nancially in the packing business, it | contented itself with organizing a few butcher shops and small pack- |ing plants. The reactionary leader- ship were incapable as well as un- | willing to tackle the great packing industry. Finally, in 1917, the Chicago Fed- | eration of Labor, upon motion of | the writer, began a campaign to unionize the stockyards. The But- cher Workmen’s Union was literally forced to join it. Great success at- | tended the campaign. Soon not only |the Chicago packing houses, but those all over the country, were or- ganized solidly. The union lined up the 200,000 workers in the national industry. The 8-hour day, big wage increases, and radical changes in working conditions, were estab- lished. The packinghouse workers began to lift their heads after the long period of non-unionism. When the 1917 movement was be- gun it was decided and agreed that | the great mistake of 1904, the build- |ing of two gtockyard councils in | Chicago, should be avoided. It was | recognized that to repeat this error | would threaten the life of the or- | ganization. Hence the Stockyards Labor Council was organized to in- | clude all the trades. But this pro- | gressive organization, which really led the entire movement, was al- | most from the first attacked by the black reactionaries at the head of the Butcher Workmen.. They assail+ ed it from all sides, demanding the |formation of a separate packing |trades council. They. put a dozen | organizers to work agitating the idea. The workers, knowing its de- structiveness, revolted against it. But the Butcher Workmen officials despite all, established their packing‘ trades council in July, 1919, in Chi- cago. This broke the packinghouse union. Only 2,000 of the 50,000 or- ganized workers affiliated to the new council. The rest stuck to the Stockyards Labor Council. These were then expelled from the Butcher | Workmen and the A. F. of L. Reac- tionary organizers from other inter- | national unions then demanded that | their locals break with the Stock- | yards Labor Council. Finally such chaos developed that there were | three councils, the Stockyards Labor | Council, the Packing Trades Coun- cil, and the Mechanical Trades Coun- |cil. Besides, there were several junions entirely unaffiliated. The | Chicago Federation of Labor pro- | tested against this outrageous split- ‘ting of the packinghouse workers and fought to prevent it. But Gomp- | ers supported Lane, a typical hench- | man, and told the Chicago Federa- | tion of Labor to take its hands off. The packers, profiting by thi situation, moved to destroy the unio | outright. In the fall of 1920 the; | instituted company unions in their: plants. Then they made a general | wage cut. The weakened union de- clared a national strike on Dee. 5. But the fakers had done their work too well. The tinion’s fighting power was gone. On Jan. 31, the lost strike was called off. The workers sur- rendered unconditionally. Their promising union was completely wrecked. | Today, led by the packers’ agent, | Lane, the weak and decrepit Butcher ; Workmen’s Union confines itself to organizing workers in petty butcher shops. It leaves the packinghouse workers to the mercy of’ the rapa- cious Packing Trust. OLD, JOBLESS, TAKES LIFE Angelo Harri, 60-year-old unem- ployed worker, turned on the burn. ers of a gas stove and committed yesterday. GOV'T AIDS GAMBLING GENEVA, Dec. 8.—The Swiss government has restored gambling tables in the kursaals, or casinos. that the Filipinos can watch a fight “between wolves” of cane and beet sugar. It concludes: “But always the question remains open and pending, touching the ‘status’ of the American ‘posses- sions’ in reference to their obliga- ‘tion to consume the products of the United States, but are foreign lands when the interests of a group are judged to be injured by the com- petition of insular products.” ce suicide at his home, 156 Prince St. |.