The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 10, 1928, Page 6

Page Six Published by National Daily Worker Ass'n, Inc., Daily, Excep Union Square, New Y Stuyvesant 1696-7-8. le Address “Daiwork” Telephone, ROBERT MINOR.. . Editor WM. F. DUNNE Another War Conspiracy The convening at Washington Wednesday of a “civil aviation conference” is quite in keeping with the new turn of American im- perialist aggression since the election of Hoo- ver. It is so openly a challenge to England that no political observer can fail to realize its implications. While most European na- tions will send representatives it is recog- nized on every hand that it is a move to create a new international aviation body to take the place of the International Commis- sion for Aerial Navigation, dominated by England and France. That the United States has the material at hand for the creation of a new international aviation body that will challenge the Euro- pean commission is obvious when we recall the fact that of the Latin American coun- tries only Chile and Uruguay are members of the latter. Of European capitalist powers Germany does not adhere to the old interna- tional body. In Coolidge’s message to the last session of congress he emphasized the necessity of establishing “commercial aviation’ routes throughout al! the republics of the South American continent, combined with an am- bitious program of hard roads. At that time the government was still cauti posing the war-like nature of the propos Coolidge was very careful not to refer to w planes in connection with his “commercial aviation” proposals motor lorries and tanks in connection with hard roads. He did not mention the fact that the same planes that carry mail can also carry high-powered explosives to drop upon defenseless popula- tions. But today Coolidge submits to the lame-duck session of the same congress the annual report of the national advisor mittee for aeronautics which in speaking of resi egarding a new type of plane the will ens greater safety in flying, is no longer cautious about correcting commercial and military aviation and says: or ches “This is the type, as yet undeveloped in practice, which might be flown safely by the unskilled owner-pilot who now drives his own motor-car. In general the information ob- tained from the study of this extra type will also make possible the solution of the less dif- ficult safety problem of commercial and mili- tary airplanes.” This observation is followed by reference to the remarkable advance in airplane pro- duction in a large number of plants through- out the country. Emphasis is placed upon the necessity for special tools of production to meet the increased demand for mass pro- duction of airplanes. All research in this line is to be coordinated by the national ad- vis committee for aeronautics. The next point emph. was the necessity for the all-metal plane to replace the part-metal, part-wood type now in use. In dealing with the “encouraging progress” made by private concerns engaged in pro- ducing planes, the report says: “The most notable event in connection with the development of aircraft engines during the past year was undoubtedly the first suc- cessful use in repeated flights of an engine using fuel injection and burning heavy oil in- stead of gasoline. This engine was constructed by the Packard Motor Car Company. It is an air-cooled radial engine of about 200 horse- power, and is reported to weigh about three pounds per horsepower.” Certain definite facts regarding prepara- tions for aerial warfare are established in the present report: 1.—Private concerns will be encouraged to produce planes of a uniform type so they can be useful for military purposes. 2.—The production of such planes is to be coordinated under the supervision of a gov- ernment agency, the national advisory com- mittee for aeronautics. 3.—The new type of plane can be flown about ex- | j; ence. They will help the imperialists in their ized in the report | safely with but little practice by anyone who | can drive a motor-car, which will greatly in- | crease the number of aviators who will con- stitute a reserve for war purposes, 4.—The new type of engine that will burn heavy oil, (mazut) the cheap residue of gas- Oline, and will stand much longer flights, will be encouraged by the government. * The United States will secure the monopoly of airplane production on both American continents, as the bankers who dominate many of the Latin-American countries will never permit them to establish industries capable of producing planes of their own. With such a program of airplane produc- tion the United States hopes to outdistance all other powers in the field of aviation. The elaboration of its program on the eve of the international congress called at Washington should be a warning especially to Latin- America. Unquestionably the various puppet zovernments of that part of the world that have been fawning like dogs before Hoover ~~. during the past few weeks will support the program of the United States at the confer- DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1928 —— | SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By Mail (in New York only): $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. $8 a year program of aggression by agreeing to main- tain a whole series of airplane bases through- out Latin-America that will serve as points from which to rain death and destruction upon whole populations that refuse to bow to its will. This contemptible conspiracy against the peoples of Latin-America must be defeated. It should be stopped at once. The Latin- American masses should fight like tigers against any government that dares agree to permit the United States to establish air- plane bases in their countries. Far from en- deavoring to develop “commercial aviation” in the Latin-American countries the Ameri- can imperialists are conspiring to furthe deprave and enslave the masses of tho countries, and to make them slaves of ti war-mongers in the struggle against its im perialist rival, England. In the United States the working class and the exploited farmers must fight against this new aggressive turn of American imperialism by waging a relentless anti-imperialist strug- gle, by organizing the great war industries that are being coordinated by the government itself, by carrying on agitation among the armed forces. The Washington aviation conference is a move against the great imperialist rival of the United States, England. It is a move against Latin-America. It is a part of the general program to take the lead in world reaction. It is a continuation of the bitter hostility to the Soviet Union. In short it is part and parcel of the war preparations that are going forward with tempestuous speed. These facts the masses of both American con- tinents must realize and these conspiracies they must unitedly fight against. The “Dope Ring” Scandal and Politics Developments the past few days in con- nection with the spectacular federal raids on dope “kings” partly reveal the reluctance of the Tammany city administration to ‘‘solve” the murder of Arnold Rothstein. It has been more than a month since Rothstein was fatally shot at the plutocratic Park Central Hotel. The Tammany police, always quick to act in behalf of employers against workers on strike, are very careful to avoid unearth- ing facts about Rothstein, his associates and his murderers. It is now quite clear that Rothstein, who was characterized as a gambler, was in reality head of a dope ring that handled millions of dollars worth of opiates in a single tran- saction. It is equally clear that no such organized band of dope peddlars could pos- sibly t in New York without the knowl- edge and connivance of Tammany Hall—the “new Tammany” that placed Al. Smith at the head of the democratic party as candidate for president of the United States. This fact explains the reluctance of the chief of police, of Mayor Jimmy Walker, himself a denizen of the white light district of the roaring forties and a popular song writer to probe the Rothstein affair to the bottom. It also probably explains why the republican United States district attorney, Tuttle, and his agents of the “narcotic squad” have suddenly become so aggressive against the dope ring of which the murdered Rothstein was un- questionably the head. It is certainly not because the republican party, the party of Teapot Dome, the party of ‘the department of justice grafters, the party of veteran’s bureau swindles, the party that spawned Bill Vare in Philadelphia, Frank L. Smith and “Big Bill” Thompson in Illinois, is one whit better than’ Tammany and the democratic party that the district attorney moves against the dope ring. In all the great cities of the country dom- inated by a political machine, whether re- publican or democrat, there are dope rings and vice rings as a part of the machine. The republican district attorney is simply con- | centrating upon the New York ring because it is part of the rival political machine. It is part of the preliminary work for the coming city election. Comment in the capitalist press after the raid of Friday night that netted two trunks full of assorted dope, valued at $2,000,000, indicates that the agents of Tuttle have in their possession the names of some of the mightiest eminences of the city—the nabobs of Fifth Avenue, Park Row and Riverside Drive. Let no one be so naive as to believe for a moment that these “best people,” the bulwarks of this capitalist civilization, will be exposed as drug addicts. It would be very poor policy to expose the fact that many of the idle degenerates who parade as the personification of civic virtue are ordinary hop heads. : The little address book taken from Joseph Unger, the exquisite dope peddlar who was arrested in his berth on the Twentieth Cen- E \tion of these fights. STOCKS CLIMB Stocks climb and Wall Street sits pretty—on the shoulders of the working class. But the perch is precarious. === By Gropper The Wage Fight of the German Mill Girls By CHRISTA, During the last few months a wave of strikes has passed over the|Girls Are Enslaved, Rise; Reformists Sell Out; world, marking the aggravation of the inner contradictions in capital- ism and the growth of the revolu- Communists Force City Aid tionary forces. The lockout-out of! « the textile workers on the Lower{the year 1927. workers of Rhineland-Westphalia; companies for Even the “Berliner Rhine constitutes an important sec-; Tageblatt” has to admit that the The textile | average dividend of the textile stock ——. Women’s Wages Below Men’s, From the above it will clearly be seen that the women's wages are the 1927) still 15 to 40 per cent below those year has developed to the following ex- make a fifth of the total number of textile workers in Germany. Ac- cording to the figures of June, 19265. there were in Rhineland-Westphalia | about 10,000 textile mills employ- ing about 226,750 persons, 57 per cent of whom were women. Ac-}| cording to the report of the Munich- Gladbach Chamber of Industry and Commerce, dated April 20th, 1928, the textile industry of that district tent: ig 349 mills, 35,273 workers, 1,000,000 spindles and 20,000 looms. 1927: § mills, 38,343 workers, 1,500,000 spindles and 25,000 looms. Profits Rise; Wages Cut. The reports of the employers con- cerning bad business, with, which they tried to justify the mass lock- out of 40,000 textile workers in| Munich-Gladbach and Rheydt and of 5,000 textile workers in Duren, are greatly exaggerated. Accord- ing to the data of the National Sta- tistical Department, the net profit! of the German textile stock com- amounted to 9.7 per cent. Further-| more, between the middle of Oc-} tober, 1927, and the beginning of September of this year wholesale pieces of textile goods have been forced up by 18.2 per cent. Food- | stuffs, too, have risen by 15 per) cent. The wages of workers af€ne re- main on the old level. In the Munich-Gladbach textile district the wage per hour has remained from October 17th, 1928, for men: 19 to 63 pfennig, for women: 16 to 47 pfennig. However, 95 per cent of the textile workers are on piece rates, and on the wage per hour of 63 pfennig they must get a 10 per cent supplement, making 71 pfennig per hour as standard piece rate. The greater part of the piece work- ers, and especially the women, do not, however, get even this 71 pfen- nig rate (throstle spinning mills pay 60 pfennigs, cotton weaving mills 67 pfennigs, silk weaving mills 67 pfennigs per hour as. the highest piece rates). The highest piece of the men. In spite of the textile mill owners’ huge dividends, ex- tracted chiefly from the work of the people on the lowest wage rates, and in particular out of the bones of the mill girls, in spite of the fact that he unjustifiable range of wage rates reduces more than half of all the textile workers to workers of ing, seriously influences certain glands, so that the possibility of development of the female body is diminished. This explains why 30.4 per cent of all mill girls need medi- cal assistance in child-bearing, and that in 5.8 per cent of births the dangerous caesarean operation must [his educational campaign. yout a large sign in front of his {headquarters declaring: “Evolution [is true. 4& ghost.” saloud a municipal law forbidding jthe use of god’s name except in Darwin and ' Gold in State ' of Arkansas Continued From his headquarters in Little jXock, Smith distributed througheut Arkansas more than 25,000 pamph- lets defending the theory of evolu- tion, and protesting against the anti- evolution bill upon which the voters were to decide in the election of November 6. The reactionary ele- ments protested; the mayor of the city declared, “No atheist will be permitted to maintain headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas, if I can prevent it.” But Smith continued He hung The Bible is a lie. God is In court the judge read “veneration and worship.” Then he Ath ‘st Forbidden to Testify. “I wish to affirm—not swear,” Smith said. “You're an atheist!” exclaimed the judge. “You don’t believe in god!” Smith admitted the monstrous accusation. “Then you cannot be sworn!” the Judge said. “You cannot testify in my court.” And the judge was legally cor- rect; for although most courts in the United States permit an atheist w “affirm” instead of swearing, the Arkansas state constitution speci- fically provides that “no person who denies the being of a god shall hold any office in the civil departments of this state, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court.” Subsequent laws do permit people to “affirm” in Arkansas courts, but the judge could disregard these laws be- cause the constitution is the funda- mental law of the state, Seat oes PECs Smith was not permitted to speak or even answer questions in his own defense. The judge found him guilty of distributing atheistic and “obscene” literature and fined him $25. Smith refused to pay the fine, and instead was sent to prison for 25 days. In order to call public attention to the fight against Ar- kansas’s religious reaction he went on a hunger strike lasting a number of days. On November 15, Smith was again arrested in Little Rock and given the maximum sentence for “blasphemy,” a fine of $100 and ninety days imprisonment. As in the previous case, he was forbidden to testify in his own defense because of his inability as an atheist to take the oath required of witnesses. At present he is released on bonds, aes Smith to be sworn in, be resorted to. On eccount of this low state of health among the mill girls, bourgeois doctors have de- manded that no girl under 18 years of age should be allowed to work in the mills. To Be Continued pending appeal to the higher court. The program at the 5th Anni- versary Celebration of the Daily Worker at Manhattan Opera House consists of the Isadora Duncan Dancers of Moscow U. S. 8S. R.. in nu special program of Revolution- ary Dances. Symphony Orchestra, Speakers, Tickets $1, $1.50, $2, 82.50 now on sale at Dally Work- er office, All. seats reserved. the second class, the trade union re- formists have still not begun to ad- vocate the old trade union demand: “Equal pay for equal work!” Girls’ Health Ruined. The*mill girls ruin their health in damp, stuffy mills for a beggarly wage. Examinations in the textile districts show a number of narrow hips and pelvis bones and abnormal births far above the average. This fact is explained by the circum- stance that the textile industry em- ploys up to 66.4 per cent of girls from 14 to 20 years of age, of whom fully 60 per cent must go to work in the mills at 14 years of age, i. e., when they are only half grown. The panies rose from 43.7 million marks! rate may not exceed 81 pfennigs in the year 1926 to 76.7 millions in per hour, intensive work by the textile ma- chines, most of which is done stand- tury limited on his way to deliver a consign- ment of dope tn Chicago customers, is ¢> in- teresting political document, inasmuch as it reveals, according to reports, a direct connec- tion between the upper strata of society and the slum strata, all united in one “New Tam- many” fold. Tammany is the classic-example of the modern capitalist political machine. It is duplicated more or less exactly by the Vare machine in Philadelphia, the. Thompson machine in Chicago, the Mellon machine in Pittsburgh and even has its counterpart in such smaller cities as Jersey City, where the Hague machine rules. The chief character- istic of such machines is the unity of the biggest capitalists at the top of the social scale with the so-called slum proletariat at the bottom. Such machines serve the in- terests of the big capitalists against the working class, through police terror, injune- tions, militia, gangsters, in strikes and polit- ical demonstrations. The lower strata of such machines serve as precinct and ward commit- teemen during election campaigns and on election days steal or stuff the ballot boxes so that the political agents of the big capi- talists win. At the same time such elements organize various types of vice rings and the “kings” of such outfits cater especially to the depraved appetites of the idle rich. Roth- stein and others of his ilk who live in the same luxurious hotels with the nabobs and associate with them are nothing more than glorified panderers. In many sections 'of the working class movement there prevails a misconception of what constitutes this slum proletariat. Some imagine it is composed of the most exploited, most miserable and oppressed of the working class. This is not correct. The slum prole- tariat is recruited from the degenerated ele- ry ments of all classes of society. The best description of this element, and one that, with slight variations, can be applied today to the so-called rank and file of the corrupt city political machines, is'to be found in “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” by Marx, where -he says in describing the slum proletarian “Society of December 10,” created by Louis, the Little: “Along with ruined roues of questionable’ means of support and questionable antecedents, along with the foul and adventure-seeking dregs of the bourgeois, there were vagabonds, * dismissed soldiers, discharged _conviets, sharpers, jugglers, lazzaroni, pick-pockets, sleight-of-hand performers, gamblers, pro- curers, keepers of disorderly houses, porters, literati, organ grinders, rag-pickers, scissor- grinders, tinkers, beggars—in short that whole undefined, dissolute, kicked-about mass that the Frenchmen style, ‘la Boheme.’ ” Were he writing of Tammany today Marx would include ‘Greenwich Village prize-fight- ers, comedians, popular song writers, boot- leggers, soft shoe and buck and wing dancers, race track touts, yellow socialist ‘labor lead- ers,’ dope peddlars, proprietors of beaut; parlors, etc.” ' . The Rothstein case is of importance to the working class only-inasmuch as. it exposes® the class enemies aligned against us in the camp of the old parties. .No intelligent worker will get excited over the political fight between the office of District Attorney. Tuttle, representing the republican party, and Tammany’s dope ring, representing the democratic party. Instead he will align him- self with the one party of the working class that fights relentlessly against the capitalist class and all its agents, the Workers (Com- munist) Partys oo gciauu i y The ‘Revolutionary’ Allies of the Bourgeoisie By M. CUSHING Kansas City is the home town of the slow-thinking J. P. Cannon (it took him 5 years’ to decide between the Comintern and the Trotsky fac- tion). Naturally in his own home town Cannon has a few followers. There is the sort of admiration for him on the part of this handful of followers which can be best characterized by the typical “from-office-boy-to-pres- ident” admiration. They knew Can- non when he was a Little Fellow and he has risen to be a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party. These people very much the same as Cannon have suddenly discovered that “Trotsky is right.” » A year or two years ago when the Trotsky issue was so widely dis- cussed in our Party these people spoke against Trotsky and voted against Trotsky. What historic fact ‘changed the opinions of these peo- ple? Have the ictions of Trot- sky about Russia going back to cap- italism been realized? About the Kulak taking over the government in Soviet Russia? No. None of these things have taken place. » One thing however did take place. The much-belated expulsion of Jim Cannon took place, and it is from Cannon that these people have learnt that Trotsky was right. Of course Cannon ‘promises them the victory of Trotskyism on an in- ternational scale. It is self-explana- tory. that people who now. say that wh.on they voted’ against: Trotsky years ago did not know what they voted’ for, do not know any better now. However, the Kansas City group (2) cf the Cannonites are a good’ example and expression of how far €..non intends tv go against the Party,’ against the Comintern ahd against the. Soviet Union, Even the day after his expulsion Cannon de- nounced Salutsky, Eastman® and re as counter-revolutionist and op- portunist right wingers. Of ,course he did it in order to catch 2 few naive comrades to follow him. But hardly a week has elapsed since his expulsion when the local of Cannon are already engaged in campaigning for him. H 7 do they do it? What methods do they use? Only. time will dis- el--> the full counter-revolutionary substance of Cannonism. The Ameri- can workers will have a living ex- aimple of what Trotskyism is. For the present the counter-revolution= ist of a week ago, Eastman, is at present the mouthpiece of Cannon. The two supporters «are peddling around the book by Eastman, “The New Situation In Russia,” and it is with the aid of Eastman that Can- non wants to build his new party. Truly there could be no better com- bination than the bourgeois East- m- and the self-seeker, the rene- gade Cannon. The book of Eastman has become the weapon in the hands of Cannon to demoralize ideologically the minds of the Communist Party members. The book of Eastman, which is filled with the bourgeois democratic theo- ries and other bourgeois philosophic rot, has become the theoretical wea- pon.of James P, Cannon. The book of Eastman is filled with nothing but attacks on the Soviet Union. In his preface to the book, Eastman deplores the fact that the Russian Communist Party controls the Soviet government, that there is no freedom of press, ete. No one should be surprised at this activity of Cannon. He is performing his historic role as an agent of the bourgeoisie in the ranks of the work- ing class. While the socialists and the labor misleaders are bourgeois agents in the ranks of the non-party workers Cannon tries to be the bour- geois agent in the ranks of the Com- munist workers. His historic mission is to demoralize the mainstay of the proletarian revolution, the Commun; ist Party in America. At this time when the capitalists are preparing a war against the Soviet Union his work is to discredit the Soviet Union in the eyes of the most revolution- ‘ary workers in this country. His agi- tation against the Soviet Union, his demands, his methods do not differ from those of the bourgeoisie and the social democrats. If you want to know what will be the attitude of Cannon on certain questions, listen to what ‘he socialists have to say. In short, the American Trotskyites are the “revolutionary” allies of the bourgeoisie, The American Trotsky- ites have become the Agitprop dept. of the yellow socialists, “The writer makes one mistake: Cannon has not denounced the rene- gade Eastman.—Editor, al