The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 14, 1929, Page 6

Page Six DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, HURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1929 Published b SRIPTION RA Worker ‘ D: il (in N only): ix months By } $6.00 a y $ Address ROBERT MIN WM. F, DUNNE The Dai Sque Blood of Indian Workers The Indian working class is facing the guns and soldiers of British imperialism in the streets of Bombay. With at least 119 dead and more than 700 wounded in the course of one week’s fighting between Indian textile and railway shop workers and the British and their strikebreaking allies, Bom- bay has been turned into a shambles. At the same time it has become a fortified camp, witnessing the greatest single concentration of British forces in the Far East since the war. Not only Bombay in the west is a shambles. In the south, at Colombo, capital of the island province of Ceylon, British power struck against the general tie-up of the harbor and communications works with repeated smashing blows. Behind Colombo stretch for miles inland the immense tea plantations of Sir Thomas Lipton, slave-driver yachts- man and boon companion of the American capitalists in their sportive moments. The hundreds-of thousands of wretched Tamili tea-slaves, existing just above the point where men, women and children starve, constitute a menace which stirred the British authorities to instant action in Ceylon. Tremend- ous as was the force of the workers’ resistance in Colombo to the British troops and police, blow after blow by over- whelming forces drowned the Ceylonese strike and resistance in the blood of thousands. At least 6,000 were wounded in the three days fighting. The number of the dead will never be known, many having died with mysterious rapidity in British jails and hospitals. And in the hundreds of miles between Colombo and Bombay, and in the hundreds of miles between Bombay and Peshawar and Calcutta, deep rumblings of the Indian masses re-echo the struggle of their embattled brothers against the armed British power. The simultaneous protest of the northern Indian masses against British activities in Afghanistan and along the border is not only a protest against the interference of British im- perialism in that country. It is also a protest against the crushing force of British imperialism in India itself and is so recognized by the British government, which is doing every- thing in its power to stamp out such agitation. For British India does not only comprise Great Britain’s most precarious colony. It is also Great Britain’s Asiatic base in its war plans against the Union of Socialist Soviet Re- publics. The bloody struggle of the Indian masses in the streets of Bombay and Colombo is not only a struggle to win their strikes and to repulse the massed strength of British arma- ment in these centers. It is not only, in its larger sense, an incipient struggle to overthrow British imperialism in India. The struggle of the Indian masses is also intimately bound up with the defense of the first workers and peasants re- public, which for eleven years has lighted them on the north as a beacon in their struggle. The workers and peasants who fell fighting in the streets of Colombo and Bombay were interposing a living wall between the British efforts against the Soviet Union and the U. S.S. R. Neither is British imperialism fighting the workers in Bombay alone when its tanks roll daily thru the streets, when planes are rushed from other eastern points to thi y and there is undertaken the greatest concentration of artillery in India, far more cannon having been amassed, the newspapers frankly admit, than would even be necessary to hold strikers at bay. British imperialism welcomes this excuse to concentrate its forces in India under cover of stamping out the strike in Bombay. The government, whose agents have for over a year been actively preparing to invade the Soviet Union thru Afghanistan by the overthrow of the “modernist” Amanullah, welcomes this opportunity to concentrate in the great western port of Bombay its thousands of effectives for later dispersal among the northwestern frontier provinces. Martial law and street fighting, that amounts to massacre, is already crushing the fierce struggle of the strik- ers. The instruments of British ferocity will soon be shipped to a new area for new work against the workers and peasants who have thrown off their own capitalist government. Consistently the Indian leaders who have posed as mass leaders, Chita Rinjan Das, Mahatma Ghandi, Moti Lal Nehru and their ilk, have betrayed every attempt of the Indian masses to overthrow British imperialism, to drive their Anglo-Indian oppressors into the Indian Ocean. They are still attempting to play their role of betrayal. But the Indian masses themselves are astir. The unrest within the great country is ominous, as no one knows better than the British authorities. At periods of greater and greater frequency it bursts forth into some such bloody upheaval as the heroic Colombo and Bombay struggles. Then in terror lest the whole country be engulfed in one vast united movement. of mass revolt, British imperialism rushes up its troops, its can- non, its planes, its killers as has happened in Bombay and Ceylon. But the bloody carnage against the Indian workers ended, the troops are to be dispatched upon another road,—the old road down which the eyes of British imperialism have always wandered in the past and which they now seek with a new ferocity,—the road that leads thru the Khyber Pass, the northern gateway of India into the Soviet Union. But between the British and their plans of invasion stand the millions of the constantly more aggressive and awakened Indian workers and peasants, and the Red Army. And behind the Red Army of the Union of Socialist So- viet Republics, the working class of all countries must rally, ready for furious and unlimited combat to defend the Social- me eperians against all imperialist governments, of the ‘world, : ieee w “Ane. | CAPITALIST GOVERNMENT 2@5 Worker Caribbean Congress in March * By GEORGE PERSHING. | The Caribbean Conference of the All-America Anti-Imperialist League to be held in Mexico City during the first two weeks of March, 1929, completes another step towards the| unification of the struggle against imperialism. It is the Latin Amer- ican’s response to Lenin’s slogan: “Workers and Oppressed Peoples, Unite!” The growing aggressiveness of United States imperialism meets a sharp opposition from the Nicara- guan Army of Liberation led by |ation confronting the Caribbean Con-| alist gains from Great Britain’s pup-| |Sandino on the one hand, and the! } continuing trend of solidarity on the | other, as expressed in the calling of a Caribbean Conference. The in- dustrial and agrarian workers are preparing to intensify their struggle against the imperialists with a uni- fied program of action which the| Caribbean Conference will bring! forth. | Beginning of United Action. Every section of the All-America | Anti-Imperialist League, including | the United States section, will be-| come a part of the imposing demon-| stration of the organized anti-im-| perialist forces of the western hem-} isphere. The Latin-American work- ers are looking to the workers and poor farmers of the United States for support in the struggle against our common enemy, the Wall Street- | © Washington imperialist government. The Caribbean Conference will mark the beginning of a powerful, united opposition to the imperialist | financiers of the United States. It must be a union of the revolutionary forces of Latin America with the |i revolutionary workers of the United Anti-Imperialist League Holding Meeting of| ample, the United States had in- vested in: 1912 Country 1928 Colombia —2,000,000 By Fred Ellis B I 7. <== Copyright, 1929, by International Publishers Co., Inc. HAYWOOD’S BOOK Haywood Directs the Strike of Millmen at Colorado City; Governor Peabody | and the Denver Press All rights reserved. Republica- tion forbidden except by permission. | | | Previously, Heywood t#d of his boyhood among the Mormons in Utah; of his life as cowboy and miner in Nevada and Idaho; his vise to ewecutive office in the Western Federation of Miners: its battles for miners and mining millmen in Denver and Telluride Colorado; he is new telling the vivid story of the W. F. M. fight against the open shop at Colorado City, where Governor Peabody had sent in state militia to help the Pinkerton Detective Ageney and the mill managers to crush the union. Now go on reading. oF us | | PART XXXVI. | By WILLIAM D. HAYWOOD. | 0% March tenth I expressed myself as follows, in the Denver papers: é The rights of personal freedom and liberty of speech are being violated. The strikers’ pickets are being arrested on the public do- | main, when not attempting to encroach upon the company’s property. | They are not permitted to speak to the men in the | mills, although their purpose is the peaceable one of | Persuading the men to quit work. So many of the non-union men have left the mills that the company is getting desperate. Now, the situation is this: the miners of the | State do not propose to submit to such oppression. | They are advocates of law and order and they will not long permit it to be violated even by the state’s chief executive. There is grave danger in pushing oppression too far, and it is certain that the miners | are now in a mood to strike back. They will pre- | serve their liberties and retain their rights if it is necessary to pass | through the red sea of revolution in order to do so. Colonists had less’ occasion to rebel against the authority of King George than have the miners of Colorado to resist the oppression of Governor Peabody. * 8 8 quarters of the W.F.M. every day and sometimes several times a day. They asked me if I thought the mill workers of Colorado City would arbitrate their differences. I told them that I thought they | would do anything within reason. On March sixth the Denver Post sent this telegram to the Colorado City mill managers: Are you willing to submit to arbitration the troubles between your | company and the mill workers employed by you, the arbitration board | to be appointed by joint arrangements of the parties involved? Please | puzine the progress of the strike the reporters came to the head- 125,000,000 | This is one of the replies they got: Latin Delegates Who Fight U.S. Empire | Mexico - -$800,000,000 $1,288,000,000 ) @nswer’ at our expense, The Denver Post. States. To this end the energies of | Latin America. The United States, the members of the U. S. section of | in its efforts to drive its chief im-| the League and of all class-conscious | perialist competitor, Great Britain, | workers must be directed. out of Latin America, is creating | With an objective of unification! new colonies and semi-colonies in and solidarity in the fignt against |Latin America and arming them with | imperialism, let us look at the situ-| an intent to wrest additional imperi- pets. The recent outbreak between Paraguay and Bolivia is an example of the war danger that threatens the workers and peasants of Latin America and may lead to the out- break of a new world war. Again there is the general in- crease of hostilities against the Sov-| | iet Union and the policy of bringing | the puppet governments of Latin | | America directly into the war pre-| | parations against the Soviet Union. | |This danger has been doubly in- | creased by the recent Pan-American | Pact signed in Washington. i Lastly, let us view the increased | penetration of the United States im- \perialists into Latin America. This led by General Sandino, and this !T¢sh offensive, opened by a special conf.zence will tend to draw th: | imperialist agent, Mr. Morrow, sent workers of the United States more | t® Mexico to amend the constitution closely to the support of the Nica-| 0f Mexico in order that the Stand- Army of Liberation and the | ard Oil and the House of Morgan -aguan working class move | might more easily dominate that { jv-.ical and economic emancipa- | Country, and climaxed by Mr. Hoo- | ver, has centered the imperialists’ 2 wee | attention on Latin Americ: Anglo-American Cenfict. ereased investments shed additional we must ler the) light on the question of “Khaki| t danger of war that United; clothed dollar invasion” of Wall States imperialism has brought to| Street into Latin America. For ex- ference. Firstly there is the general armed movement against United States im- perialistic oppression. The Nicara- guan Army of Liberation, the revolt against the puppet government of Guatemala, the arming of the Col- ombian workers in their strike against the United Fruit Company, the student uprising in Venezuela and the broad wave of armed oppo- sition against the -agents of Wall Street, These acts are highly. sig- nificant from the point of view of Sandino’s effective armed resistance. The Anti-Imperialist League has been working in the past for the support of the Nicaraguan workers, Nicaragua 3,000,000 In Nicaragua, marine have been training native hirelings to fight with the marines against | Santiino and the lessening, by with- | drawal, of United States marines} from Nicaragua does not mean a re- | treat on the part of the imperial- | ists but merely means the develop- ment of a new force to fight San- 20,000,000 | officers There is no trouble between our company and mill workers em- | ployed by us. Our employees are and have been perfectly satisfied with wages and treatment. Wages paid by us more and hours of labor Jess than ore reducing plants with whom we compete. Our employees don’t ask to arbitrate. Our plants are full handed and all our em- ployees and plants require is protection from the violence of outsiders not employed by us. We would be pleased to have your representatives visit our plant and fully investigate. C. E. MacNeil, vice-president United States Reduction and Refin- ing Company. * * * . i dino. | IN the same issue with these telegrams there was published a scathing | The defeat of Wall Street imperi- | alism in Latin America, as well as} of in the United States, is a problem confronting the entire working class and one that can be accomplished | only by the united action of the) workers throughout the world. All Militants Must Help. The Caribbean Conference must have the support of the trade unions | | agers? editorial, which I quote at length here, because it sets forth the basis the troubles that were developing and breaking out all over Colorado at this time, C. E. MacNeil, stand up! Was not this telegram of yours endorsed by the other mine man- Is it true that it is a subterfuge? Is it not a brazen falsehood from beginning to end? Is it not a carefully worded telegram, prepared to hoodwink the people of Colorado? Is it not intended to make the people believe the mill managers are and organizations of poor farmers,| more sinned against than sinning? as well as the Workers (Commu- | nist) Party and all militant, pro-| gressive workers’ clubs and fraternal | organizations. from the above summary of exist- ing conditions, there is a need for concrete solutions and a unifying program of action that will bring the great mass of American workers into the ranks of the fighters against imperialism. The Caribbean Conference is a means to the end. American workers, rally to the In-| support of the Caribbean Confer- | ence! Support the fight of the All-Amer- | ica Anti-Imperialist League against | imperialism! Big Profits for Plane Bosses; Meagre Wage tor Slaves ——- | By HARVEY O'CONNOR. | (Federated Press). | Astonishingly low wages paid/ workers in the fast-developing air-| craft industry are admitted in a re-| ‘port on the aeronautical industry | prepared by the N. Y. Merchants’ | Assn. In the New York metropolitan | |area, the general machinist starts| at 55c an hour and gets only 75¢ on the average. His top wage, if he is exceptionally skilled, is 91e. These wage rates, for precision | work on which depends the safety | of aviators, and plane passengers, | are below the general standards of | machinists’ wages in other indus- \tries. In the New York district, | where a high type, specialized plane ‘is produced, only well qualified | workers can hope to keep jobs. 80c for Welding Wings. { Welders, responsible for joining | |wings and fuselage into one safe ‘and reliable whole, start in at 80c, according to the merchants’ report, | and average but 90c an hour, with $1.10 a top limit. | In other divisions of plane mak- ing, much lower wages are paid. The |assemblymen get 60c to start and '80c on an average, after working months or even years in the same | shop. 65c and average 80c, wood workers start at 70c and average 80¢ while unskilled labor is paid as low as 35¢ an hour. These workers, mostly ‘women working on fabrics for wings, average only 45¢ an hour and can hope to get no morc than 60c at) the most. Nearly 5,000 workers are covered in the report, but the industry is expanding so rapidly that nearly 10,000 will be employed in the New | York area plane, engine and acces- | Sheet metal workers start for |’ sories shops by the end of the year.| workers in Paterson who are try- Largest of all is the Atlantic Air-|ing to unionize the plant. | aft Co., turning out the Fokker zs ree i - Organized Men Raise Wage. planes. The Wright Aeronautical Corporation, builders of the Whirl- Next to New York rank Buffalo, | wind and Cyclone motors, have their! netroit, Los Angeles and Wichita| 800 employes in a company union 45 aviation centers. Buffalo holds for which a company paper is pub-/ the prize for low wages with 40c as lished. The Wright Propeller how-| starting pay for a machine operator ever expresses the aims of Wright! and 50c as a top rate. In Denver OUT OF A JOB By HENRY REICH, Jr. Out of a job, out of a job. This is my weary old song, For you’re a slob, and I’m a slob— ee And so we march along. Out of a job and nothing to eat, And nothing for wife or for kids. O, here’s a game that’s hard to beat When the bosses give you the skids. Out of a job and none to be found, | This prosperous land’s on the blink. . The agency’s full and the crowds hang around; The ships are as bad—for they sink. Out of a job and looking for one, Looking and looking in vain. t Uncle Sam offers you only a gun— | Now wouldn’t it give you a pain | Out of a job, and it’s out of a-job. And this is my tune, if you list: For you're a slob and I’m a slob For letting the bosses exist! \few plane | week 50c to 56c is about right for a ma- chinist, the air bosses believe. In | San Diego the highest wages in the \industry are paid to the top notch sheet metal workers. The report fails to mention that they are or- ganized. In unorganized centers 54 to 75c is the sheet metal workers’ average, The airplane worker makes $1,080 a year in the New York area. If employed steadily his wage, based on an average of 75c an hour, would net him $1,800 a, year. Actually airplane shops, because of the ex- perimental nature of much of the work and their reliance on con- tracts, operate but 60 per cent of the time. Big Profits. The finished airplane is valued at) . four times as much as the direct wages put into its engine, plane and accessories, resulting profits are enormous for the bigger units of the industry. With the exception of a corporations however, these figures are not published. The real money in airplanes how- | ever is not in their construction, but in financial manipulation by Wall Street banks and insiders. AUSTRALIA PRESSMEN FIGHT. SYDNEY, Australia, (By Mail). —Proprietors of Sydney newspapers have demanded that workers on the papers accept a reduction in wages, an increase in working hours, and the abolition of preference to union workers. press workers state they will fight the demands of the bosses to the end. “L” WORKERS WIN DEMAND. BOSTON, (By Mail).—Workers on the Boston “L” have won a Are you not laughing at your own cunning and flattering your- self that you have made a master stroke and have fooled the people? Your answer to each of these questions, if you are truthful, must As we have seen,! pe: “Yes,” Read your own telegram, Mr. MacNeil. “There is no trouble between our company and mill workers em- | ployed by us.” Is it not a fact that your employees are on a strike? You must answer “Yes.” “Our employees are now and have been perfectly satisfied with their wages and treatment.” Is it not a fact that your wages were so low that the men were hungry more than half the time? Do you know that you are seeking to deprive these men of their liberty and deprive them of their happiness by grinding them down to the level of serfs? You must answer “Yes” to these questions or tell a deliberate lie. You say, “Our plants are full-handed and all our employees and plants require is protection from the violence of outsiders not employed by us.” Do you know that lies teem in every word of that sentence? Craftily as you have touched that sentence, do you not know that it will not fool the people of Colorado? Is it not a fact that Citizens of Colorado Springs and Colorado City to the number of hundreds have signed petitions to Governor Pea- body declaring that there was no violence? i Do you know that these troops are costing the state of Colorado $2,000 a day and that there is absolutely no use for them in Colorado City? Is it not a fact that you have those troops there just to excite violence? qed You must answer “Yes.” Is it not true that your company has twelve million dollars of watered stock and pays dividends on starvation wages? ~ Answer “Yes.” Don’t you know that you must answer “Yes” to these questions? This is what the Western Federation of Miners stands for: “To secure compensation fully commensurate with the dangers of our employment and the right to use our earnings free from the dic- tation of any person whomsoever.” Do you endorse that for yourself personally? Answer “Yes.” . Is there any reason why every man should not endorse that? You must answer “No.” Here is another point the miners stand for: “To establish as speedily as possible and so that it may be endur- ing, our right to receive pay for labor performed, in lawful money and to rid ourselves of the iniquitous and unfair system of spending our earnings where and how our employers or their agents or officers may designate.” Is that not right? ¥ * *@ QUCH an editorial could not appear in America today. At that time the press was comparatively free and unhampered by either bank- ers or industrial capitalists, although the advertisers had the controll- ing influence on all papers. The papers of Colorado were largely de- pendent upon the miners for circulation. Twenty-five years ago the great interests, in their war upon labor, had not yet completed their united front, and an occasional voice of protest could be heard through a gap here and there in iron ring. This has all been changed since imperialism began to assert itself in America. Just preceding the World War, for example, one hundred and twenty-five of the most prominent papers all over the country were bought up for the pre- paredness campaign. a ; ’ 7 o In the next installment Haywood writes of how the arbitration game worked—or rather didn’t work, between the W. F. M. and the ore mill owners of Colorado City: how when it failed the W, F. M. decided to make the strike industrial, by spreading it from the mills to the mines which furnished ore to the mills; how as a resiilt there “began the historic Cripple Creek Strike, on August 10, 1908. (Note: All who wish to get Haywood's memoirs in book form free can do it | without extra charge by sending ina year's subscription at the usuai * subscription price—no more.) ated i Paco wpm a