The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 11, 1928, Page 6

Publishing y> at 26-28 Telephone, ress “Daitoork” ROBERT MINOR WM. F. DUNNE Editor War Talk Thousands of facts, militarist, economic and political, have been adduced to emphas the ominous approach of another world cat: trophe, wherein the imperialist nations of the earth will endeavor to hurl millions upon millions of wo and rmers into the slaughter house of another war. The world- wide economic conflicts between the United States and Great Britain, that the Commu- nists have long ed as containing the germs of a new world war, were ignored un- til recently in the political utterances of the statesmen speaking in behalf of the two im- perialisms. It is only duri st year and ala? the past that the lan » of diplomacy was inte>. rupted by belligerent utterances from both sides of the Atlantic. With the election of Hoover came a new sharp turn of American imperialist aggres- sion, more brutal and cynical than ever be- fore. The Coolidge Armistice Day speech was an insolent challenge to Great Britain. This White House puppet, accustomed to drooling weasel words and concealing his imperialist policies ind pacifist phrases suddenly launched forth with a snarling venemous at- tack upon the naval program of Great Britain and proclaimed that the navy build- ing program of the United States must be such as to make this country “second to none.” There could be no doubt as tw the attack being levelled against Britain, for the simple reason that that country is the only one with a navy that can equal the one mai tained by the United States. The Baldwin tory government dumbfounded for a time. Its position at home was so precarious after the fiasco of the Anglo-French naval accord that was withdrawn because of the fierce assaults it evoked from the United States and from the attacks of its political op- ponents at home that it dared not take up the challenge and reply in kind to Coolidge. It did not take long, however, for it to be- come audible through other than diplomatic channels. It selected as its spokesman, not a diplomat, but what passes in newspaper y man,” in be was St fiction as “a plain, blunt milita: the person of Field .Marshal Sir William Robertson. Replying to Coolidge’s utterances on Armistice Day, the field marshal said: “America, influenced by imperialistic ten- dencies, apparently, means, whatever hap- pens, to go on increasing her navy,gand her official utterances on the question of arma- ments not infrequently bear a close resem- blance to those claims which we were so ac- customed to hear made by Germany before the tragedy of 1914. “America may be fully entitled to take her own course without care or thought for the interests or opinions of other states, but nevertheless it is disquieting to reflect that she cannot attach much importance either to the League of Nations or the ! SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By Mail (in New York only): $8 a year $4.50 sixemos, $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. SC i This is war talk. The roar of the British lion echoes the shriek of the American eagle. The historical analogy “Germany before the tragedy of 1914,” is correct. Whereas for a number of years before the war the pivotal point in the world situation was the an- tagonisms between England and Germany, today the central point of imperialist conflict is between England and the United States. The British field marshal, however, in spite of his war-like rejoinder to the jingoism of Coolidge, cannot entirely free himself from the practice, now become almost habitual through long usage, of resorting to pac fist deception, by bringing up the ques- tion of the League of Nations and the Kel- logg pact. As for the league only the veriest dolt believes that it was conceived as any- thing other than a weapon with which to realize an ambitious dream of world im- perialism. The Kellogg pact was partly an attempt to offset the disarmament proposals of the Soviet Union that exposed the pacifist pretenses of the capitalist statesmen of the world as hypocrisy. That part of the pact we are sure would meet a favorable response even from Field Marshal Sir William Robert- son. But there was another motive involved in the Kellogg proposal; that was another step toward securing the’ leadership of world reaction. That part of the pact was directed against Britain’s maneuvering in Europe;.an effort to align Europeen nations on the side of the United States As against England. Cer- tainly every spokesman of either British or American imperialism understands the real meaning of the Kellogg pact as another piece of duplicity preparatory to the next world struggle. But, of course, since only recently the representatives of the governments, with tongues in their cheeks, signed them with - great ostentation and endless drivel about the dawn of the era of peace, they cannot so quickly repudiate them. The jingoism of Coolidge and the war-talk it evoked from the other side of the Atlantic is a danger signal for the working class. This preparation for another world war must be relentlessly com- batted. The political spokesmen of the im- perialists must be exposed. Everywhere throughout the country great mass demonstrations and meetings must be organized so that wave after wave of fury will sweep over the war-mongers. The potential soldiers, sons of the workers and farmers, must be aroused against the im- | perialist conspiracies, The war industries, the great basic industries, must be organized. The transportation workers must be organ- ized. The anti-imperialist propaganda must be carried into the armed forces of the na- tion. With every means at hand this war or she would not be so anxious about her navy.” Rolicne vec danger that is growing ever more menacing | must be challenged. Fascist Method of “Justice” (Red Aid Press Service) | We recently learned some interest- ing details concerning the trial and the execution of the Italian Commu- nist, Della Maggiora, which we wi: to bring to the knowledge of every- body because it throws a lurid light on the shameful justice methods of fascism and presents a true picture of the personality of the executed Communist as opposed to the lying reports of the fascist press. The bearing of Della Maggiora be- fore the fascist judges and before the weapons of the execution patrol presents him to us as a strong-char- actered and bold fighter, as a true follower of his ideal. As is known, the defen fot allowed to choose a d nse at- torney whom he could trust. When one of the two military lawye who were assigned by the govern- ment to defend him, opened his ta with a greeting to Mussolini, Della Maggiora arose from the defense bench and declared that the defense attorney was only speaking for him- self and that the defendant in no way approved of it. When in the further course of the trial the mili- tary lawyer indulged in new hymns of praise to fascism, Della Maggiora declared that he denied every re- sponsibility for the declarations of his attorney and demanded that he “se allowed to defend himself. wince 1 am denied the servic an anti-fascist lawyer, I refuse every legal defense: I can defend myself!” Offered Pardon For Treason. Very indicative of the the justice methods of the fascists is the propo- sition that one of the lawyers re- ceived from the president of the special tribunal. The defendant was faced with the following com- ise: The court would sentence him to death, but the king would grant hix pardon under the condition that Dalla Maggiora would point in dant was leaders of the Communist Party as the instigator of his deed. Della Maggiora warded this in- sinuation off with rage and declared and repeated again and again that the whole responsibility for his deed fell upon him alone and that the Communist Party had nothing what- soever to do with it. A Great Speech. | During the hearing Della Mag-| giora showed such a resoluteness and courage that the judges and the waiting public, kept out by the mil- itia, could not get over the wonder. Della Maggiora spoke over an hour. He began by describing his political past, how in his youth he had joined | the socialist movement and why he later joined the Communist Party. He then portrayed the condition in; his home town when fascism erected its regime of terror, destroyed the workers’ organizations, murdered) the best fighters of the working} class or forced them to emigrate.) Della Maggiora’s brother was beaten | by the fascists, he himself saved himself by going to France, where he remained for some years. Re- turning to Italy, existence made impossible for him by ‘s tematic persecution and provocation. We want to repeat Della Maggiora’s own words with which he pictured his fearful exisience in his home was “My case was not an isolated one; many other workers carried the same burden as myself. We were no different than slaves. One could not |talk; one could not seek work. I learned that in the neighborhood of a demonstration of workers which had been riddled with rifle fire. Hunger and unemploy- ment worked together. These facts called up a decision in me to defend myself with weapons against the fascist provocators. I knew well |that the killing of one or two fascists would not bring about the overthrow tor would only be overthrown by a general uprising of the workers. DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1928 “GENTLEMEN’S AG REEMENT” By Fred Ellis | (Continued) In addition, a number of grievous} | annoyances caused by the mill own-| |ers make the lives of the mill girls intolerable, A source of one of the worst annoyances is the punishment system. There are punishments for faults in the texture, punishments for the washing of hands, punish- ments for singing, for every minute of lost time, ete. Payment of wait- ing rates should also be extended, so that during the conversion of the looms from one pattern to another flat rates should be paid. It is no wonder that the textile workers have responded to the in-| | human’ conditions, the brutal lock- | outs and the contemplated wage re- | duction of 12.5 per cent on the part | of the mill owners with a fight last- | ing several weeks. The workers de- |manded a 15 per cent increase in wages over existing flat rates and piece rates, abolition of the piece | rate disparitty, six days of holiday, ete. Women Start Strike Wave. The first movement of the big) | strike wave originated among the| |women. In the throstle spinning | | section of the Spinnerei A. G. Mun- ich-Gladbach the mill girls resorted to passive resistence as a protest against the wage reduction of 10 |pfennig. Thereupon, the manage- ment tried in vain to drive the | women out of the mill with the batons of the police. As a result of the subsequent fight put up by the mill girls, the mill owners were obliged to withdraw the wage cut |and the contemplated penal mea- sures, and a large portion of the non-union mill girls immediately | joined the union. Later on, when | the strike wave spread all over the textile district of the left bank of the Rhine, the mill girls also took | part in the demonstrations. At a} ’ Gils Are Enslaved, Rise; Reformists Sell Out Communists Force City Aid similar resolution was passed, The 000 textile workers. And the re- social democrats were also com- pelled, under the pressure from the workers, to advocate this, while the social democrats in Halle, Magde- burg, ete., threw the Communists out of the trade unions, because the latter, as members of the town councils, had demanded municipal support for the locked-out metal workers. up the fight of these workers, too. Instead of taking into account the demands of the textile workers (20 pfennig wage increase for all work- ers, etc., demands which have been taken up by the trade union opposi- conference of local executives at The textile workers? fight on the| Chemnitz, the following demands: Lower Rhine had hardly been| “For male workers over 20 years wrecked in consequence of the|of age 10 pfennigs per hour; for treachery and of the arbitration | female workers over 20 years of swindle of the reformists, before the age 8 pfennigs per hour; all tariff mill owners’ association of West-| wage rates and supplements to be East Saxony and Thuringen issued | notice of annulment of the wage| plements granted to reniain as here- rates in force there for about 300,-| tofore.” The Wage Fight of the German Mill Girls This is a fresh proof that the re- formists are prepared to meet the | industrialists even before the fight, for it should be stressed that the wages of the textile workers in Sax- ony are the lowest in the whole of Germany. It is a great scandal that the textile workers’ union has de- | the women than for the male work- ers. From this fact every mill girl should recognize that the trade union bureaucrats do not represent their interests. The demands for the working Federation of Trades Union Con- gress, were as follows: “Equal wages for equal work!” “Away with the women’s wages from the wage contracts!” | It is only under these slogans that raised in proportion; all other sup-|a just fight for the improvement of | | the economic position of the women | worker's can be carried on. Letter from Japanese Working Woman Women comrades! You must hear Overseers Attack Girls. how we live! We work the whole! ‘That, however, is not the worst. day amidst tears and at night our) The overseers in our mill, impudent troubled dreams give us no peace.| scoundrels, can do just. what they | When she first came to the mill, | she was a strong, healthy young wo- man. But after two months of work in the mill she became ill and suf- \Misleaders in the American Labor Unions By WILLIAM Z, FOSTER | Against these charges of whole- sale corruption O’Donnell and his co-defendants made no oral defense. | They sat silent, refusing to take the witness stand. The reason was ob- vious. Noble representatives of the working class. Their conduct was a clear admission of guilt, yet they were acquitted. O’Donnell relied upon the power of his money and | his political connections to pull him |through, and they did. After the | trial a juror testified that he had been paid $1,000 to work for an ac- | quittal. Referring to the O’Donnell re- gime, A. M. Bing says in The Surs vey, Jan. 15, 1925: “The leadership of the building trades unions had been usurped by men who in many cases were not members of the craft, coming in |from the outside, sometimes with a |record of crime and violence, they |frequently transformed union elec- ‘tions into pitched battles. Corrupt contractors willing to avail them- selves of this situation are said to have frequently financed the cam- paigns for union leadership, in order to have as heads of the unions men they could control in their own in- terests. Large employers have ad- mitted that some of their less scrup- ulous competitors have not hesita- | ted to bribe the union agents to strike the jobs of other union con- | tractors.” O'Donnell was a favored lieuten- ant of Gompers, being entrusted with many important missions by him. He became rich through his | graft. He had heavy interests in | real estate and the contracting busi- |ness. When he died his wealth was |estimated variously by the news- papers at from $500,000 to $1,000,- 000, During the war he was a super- patriot, being associated with labor | crushing capitalists in many branch- jes of war work. How he lived may | be gathered from the following news* | item about his palatial home: (Chi- |cago Tribune, Aug. 5. 1923) “Two robbers entered the home |of Simon O’Donnell, 1051 Columbia | Ave. late yesterday. After tying the colored maid, they ransacked the | formists are again at work to break mended a lower wage advance for! house and took silverware, jewelry and furs valued between $8,000 and | $10,000. Included in the loot was a |sable mink coat belonging to Mrs. O’Donnell valued at $3,700, a dia- mond pin set with five stones valued |at $2,500, a string of beads worth jtion), the trade union bureaucrats! women, as represented by the trade| $200, three silver cigarette cases, put forward a few days ago, at @/ union opposition at the German) pearl earrings, and a number of | smaller articles of jewelry, in addi- |tion to $500 worth of silverware taken from the dining room.” Such was Simon O’Donnell, a |typical American building trades junion leader and tool of the em- | ployers. Michael Boyle. j “Micky” Boyle, better known as “Umbrella Mike” is business agent |of Local 184, and board member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. He is potentate of the Chicago building trades elec- | trical workers and a real power in | the organization nationally. Boyle |was a pupil of “Skinny” Madden’s and a “side-kick” of “Si” O’Donnell’s in their palmiest days. Boyle gained his sobriquet of But | meeting at Munich-Gladbach, where- | , open: | by the police were incited against I decided to | the demonstrators, a boy and a mill) | girl were injured. | The execution of Della Maggiora| _ Reformists Sell Out Strike. | was for the fascists of Tuscany an| With the help of the reformists, opportunity to put on their war the mill owners then succeeded in} equipment and terrorize the popula-| bringing the fight to a termination. tion. For the shooting of a revolu-| The arbitration award, which» pro- tionary worker the whole fascist | Vided for insignificant advances al militia of a whole province was| hardly 5 per cent of the mill work- mobilized. The city of Lucca, where | ers, was declared binding by the ar-| the trial took place and where Della| bitrator, Dr. Joetten, counsel of the| Mazziora was held until his execu-| Supreme court. And the father of| tion, was in a stage of seige. \his thought, of this declaration of His home town, Ponte Buggianese, | Validity, is the same Wissel, the was decided upon as the place of | S°ial-democratic minister of labor, execution. About 600 black-shirts | Wh also declared the 54-hour week were concentrated here. The inhabi-| Pinding for 300,000 textile workers tants of the place lived thru fearful | "4 rejected the arbitration award hours. Reports of reprisals of the| i" the men’s clothing trade, which fascists bombarded the inhabitants|®T@nted/ an 11 per cent wage ad-/ for me only two roads were 0 to be killed or to kill. kill!” * * unemployed * like a bail storm. In the early mor- ning of October 18 Della Maggiora | was conducted to the place of execu- tion in the neighborhood of the! cemetery. His bearing made a deep| impression upon everybody. He} leaped from the auto briskly and/ advanced to the execution. spot with) strong steps. When they took off| his handcuffs in order to tie his| arms, he called out: | | ment. “Down with fascism!” | A sharp order from the com-} mander to the execution patrol. | “Long Live the Soviets!’ cried | Della Maggiora with his last breath. | A salvo of shots—-and this true/ and brave heart stopped beating. | But millions of other hearts keep on} beating for the same cause. These | must employ all their} energy so that the martyrdom of Della Maggiora be not the beginning | millions | vance. The reformist leaders of the) German textile union never before.) What we have to suffer is more than human strength can bear. Terrible Food. At half past four the overseer | wakes us up roughly, and at five| o'clock we are in the dining roam of the factory. Bad, cheap rice, such | as we never ate at home, constitutes breakfast. The soup has neither} strength nor juice, it is merely salt water. Then we get two or three pieces of salted turnip, and that is all. We cannot eat this stuff, for it makes us sick. But one must either eat or starve, and we must pay very much for this food. If we come inj too late for breakfast, we are beaten | by. the gverseer. The day’s work begins. We work) the whole day in the sweat of our} rows. But we get only 70 to 75 sen. The unskilled girls, when first taken on, get 55 sen. . No Pay at End of. Month. If we are working in the textile section, on bad machines, we pro- duce bad material which tears, and for this we get blows and deductions from our pay. Sometimes, as a pun- ishment, a girl is put on unskilled) work at a wage of 50 sen, If, in spite of this, we succeed in| earning something, at the end of the like. Woe to the girl who does not submit to them! She is put on a |bad machine and endless fines are inflicted upon her. For us this is such a menace that we are very un- happy. The company never takes any notice of our complaints. Listen again, comrades! work in the mill we must buy a | pair of overalls at 5 yen, 50 sen; a hat, a cape and a fubber apron at| 155 sen. For all these things we pay double prices at the shop belonging to the company, so that these ex- penses swallow up our miserable pay. We can leave the mill on Sun- days only, but itwften happens that even on Sundays we are prevented on one pretext’ or another from go- | ing out, and we have to spend the day indoors. “Sick Forced to Work. If a girl becomes ill, she is not | permitted to remain in the hotel; she has to go to work like the oth- ers; gndeed, she must work still harder than the healthy ones, for the company is afraid through her death to lose the advances made to her and is therefore anxious to re- cover as much as possible while the chance remains, If a girl is so ill | that she cannot get out of bed, the For the} fered with her lungs, as we all|“Umbrella Mike” through the way do here. The company forced her to 'he accepted graft from building con- | continue at work, as they were anx- tractors in his unofficial headquar- | ious about. the advances made to her. | ters, Johnson’s saloon, 333 W. Madi- It was terrible work. The drops|son St. There, while receiving his jof hot water from the steam of the “clients,” he used to hang his um- machines fell on her face and head,|brella on the bar-edge and they while her feet almost fréze to the| would drop their “contributions” into wet, cold floor. The rubber aprons | its capacious folds. Then Boyle make the legs and body cold, and/| would hypocritically say that he had they are also very heavy. ° |not actually taken money from One day, when she was already | them. \her apron. When the overseer be- | gan to shout at her, she said that | she was not able to stand the weight | of the heavy apron, as she was very ‘ill and could hardly stand on her \feet. The overseer flew at her and began to beat her. From that day | on Hissa could not get up; she spat | blood until she died. -There are | thousa: of such cases. Unionize and Strike. I cannot describe our unhappy lot; I should have to talk day and night. The will ‘and the ideas of an in- dividual being will not suffice to re- llease us from this life, or, rather, to save us from this death. We must unite. Last month we entered the trade |union and two days ago we began | very ill, Hissa was working without | overseer goes up and drags her out.| to strike for an improvement of our Numerous girls die in the mill at) position and an increase of wages. ‘throttled, for of the 45,000 work- |and Hirseh-Dunker); suffered such»a defeat as that at| Month we hardly have a few yen| the meeting of sho stewards of the| °Ver for, in addition to the fines,’ lockout district. Here they called) the company makes various other upon the workers to accept the ar- deductions from our wages for in- bitration award and agree with the Sutance, ete. And none of us has) union advisory council, which con-| the courage to protest. fronted the shop stewards with faits | Work 13-14 Hours Daily. accomplis, for it had accepted the} We work from six in the morning, award, and to call off the move- without interruption and without anything to eat, until noon, At mid- |day we are at liberty to eat, but, jas the machines ‘are still running) and work is not interrupted, one girl must attend ‘to two machines, while the other girl gulps down a little food. We have learnt to eat at the run. P They do not leave us time even to drink a cup of hot watgr during hours. The canteen is so far away |that those working on the night shift In spite, of this, the fight was ers, 30,000: were unorganized and the remaining 15,000 were split up into three unions (free, Christian but in this fight in particular an ‘intense radi- calization was apparent. Communists Force City Aid. As regards the support of the striking workers, it was again the by - Communists who procured munici- at at the dirty machines. pal support for the strikers. For| In the afternoon we work on until instance, the town of Munich-Glad-| six in the evening anc even longer, bach resolved to contract a loan of without a minute’s interval. The re | j the grave-yard. The hospital is so | Nobody who enters there ever re- the machines. There are only two ways out of the factory: to the hospital or to} terrible that we call it the sepulchre. tirns, They give one cup of tice per day there. When the attendants bring the food, they hit the patients} cn the head as a sign to sit up and eat. We have no faith in the medi- cines that are given there, for they have never done anybody any good. Health Ruined Rapidly. Our sleeping quarters are dusty and dirty, and a ray of sunshine never firds its way in there. They are like a terrible prison. The girls from the North all fall ill here; this. year no more of them have entered the mill. But the worst off of al | azo the peasant girls, who are used to the fresh air of the fields. T will tell you, comrades, the story } of a woman who wo sed along wit) .) We are in a difficult situation, but | we shall fight bitterly to bring the strike to a successful issue and to vindicate our right to live. New Dividend Record Also New Record for Labor’s Exploitation Dividend payments in November aggregated $421,235,770, a sum which’ smashes all records, being about $60;000,000 over the total for November, 1927, which then was the highest record. known. . It is known that this. capitalist prosperity does not do anything for the workers, in fact they are worse off than ever as this profit pile is made from the working class and | from labor only. Hence an increase | of profits for capitalists means so much more robbed from the work- of a whole series of such fascist| 400,000 marks for the financing of sult is a working day averaging} us. Her name was Hissa. She came ers. Class collaboration labor fak- a formal declaration to one,of the of "the regime, The fascist dicta-imurders, their support, and in Rheydt, too, aj thiriecn to fourteen hours, from the north-east of Japan. | ers deny this, but they deny facts, | “Umbrella Mike” has participated | deeply in the widespread corruption | Practiced by building trades union officials. He sells “strike insurance,” and “sticks up” the employers. in the most approved fashion. He mulets the workers for exorbitant initiation fees and working permits. There is no money making scheme of the labor faker of which he is not a past master. | Closely connected with capitalist | politicians, Boyle pursued his activi- ties with relative immunity until |1917. Then he, together with three other business agents and ten em- ployers, was jailed for a conspiracy |to violate the Sherman Anti-Trust’ Law. As is usually the case Boyle had entered into a combination with | these manufacturers to exclude from the Chicago market all electrical ap- pliances made by firms outside of their clique. Through this local monopoly the favored manufactur- |ers made enormous profits, the la- bor officials got fat graft, and the | few workers concerned were allowed | to organize. But the national “open shop” Electrical Trust smashed this monopoly and sent Boyle and the others to jail. Boyle was sentenced io ® year’s imprisonment and to |pay a fine of $5,000. During the trial it developed that Boyle, among his other exploits, had accepted. a bribe of $20,000 from the Chicago Telephone Co. to permit the erection of its new building without strikes. Jingo War Plans Need 11,000 Additional Men . WASHINGTON, Dee. 10. (UP).— Nearly 11,000 additional men ‘will be needed to man new naval vessels and care for increased aeronautical requirements in 1930, the bureau. of navigation, navy department, said‘ today in its annual report.