The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 26, 1929, Page 6

Page Six oi Bi Baily Central Organ of the Workers (Communist) Party Published by Worker P: Inc., Daily SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Mail (in New York only): 58.00 a year $4.50 six months 50 three months By Mail (outside of New York): $6.00 a year $3.50 six months $2.00 three months Address and mail all checks to The Daily Worker, 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. Y. Resist the Wage-Cuts. (From the Coal Digger) Miners! Apparently wild with the victory achieved, with the help of the reactionary John L. Lewis machine, in wreck- ing the once powerful United Mine Workers of America and smashing the strike of two years duration, the coal companies are now again swinging the heavy fist of oppression and tyranny over the entire mining industry by initiating a wide- spread program of wage cuts. With the loss of unionism in the former strike area, the coal companies are now on a rampage, believing there is noth- ing in their way to putting across their wage cutting program. Within the past few weeks news has come to us of scores of wage cuts. The Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Company, to- gether with the Pittsburgh Coal Company, leads the new offensive against the mine workers. Evidently it is the policy of the companies to cut wages to the very bone, to degrade the miners as much as they possible can, in their wild stam- pede for profits at the expense of the miners. Present wages, hours and working conditions in the former strike area, and in the non-union districts generally as compared with the rates previous to the strike, should convince anyone of this. The new cut will bring the “pick” miners down to 55c per ton. Prior to the strike this was paid for at rate of $1.11 per ton. “Machine coal’ will receive anywhere from 45 cents to 52 cents per ton. The old rate was some 78 cents. Day work (per hour) is now paid anywhere from $3.50 to $5.00 per day, as compared with the basic rate of $7.50 prior to the strike. At present there is absolutely no kind of dead- work paid for, unless the boss is kind and takes pity on the miner and gives hima crumb. “Safety” for the miners is a joke. There is much talk throughout the field of the re- introduction of the infamous screen system. The companies are drunk with their victory over the miners, brought about by the misleadership and treachery of the bureaucracy of the United Mine Workers of America. The policy of the National Miners Union to the wage cutting policy of the operators is to resist the wage cuts, build organization among the miners, prepare for a gigantic struggle against the oppressive employers. Miners will get nothing by asking, whimpering, pleading. They must fight for what they get, or they will get nothing. Fight these wage cuts. Organize the National Miners Union in every mining company. Build a barrier of protec- tion against the assaults of the employers. In unity there is strength. In solidarity there is power. Despite terrorism, persecution, frame-ups, jailings, vic- timization, etc., the National Miners Union marches forward fulfilling its mission. With the continued support of the miners we will continue to go forward preparing to strike the blow that will kill all efforts to enslave the workers and the miners, Into the National Miners Union! Fight the wave cut. Organize! Describes Marine Thuggery in Panama Tenants’ Strike By WILLIAM S. FANNING. DAILY WORKER. EW YORK, TU DAY, FEBRUARY 26. 1929 Sie WwW: io rker SCHLESINGER, HILLQUIT & CO.—OPEN FOR BUSINESS By Fred Ellis | ans mt i Cappelli By EMIL GARDOS. Rinaldo Cappellini rying to come back. The famous ex-president of District 1, United Mine Workers jof America, whom John L. Lewis |threw on the scrap-heap last sum- | mer in order to calm the insurgent movements, finds the time opportune |to step forward again as a savior of the hard-coal miner: Supported by his henchmen in the general grievance committee who presented him with a $3,100 Cadil- lac car and an initial donation of $500 for organization work, he is trying hard to make people forget about five years of misleadership, ‘of gunman rule and betray He is willing to start all over again, like the first time. History repeats itself. A tragedy in 1 a bad farce in 1929 .... The Anthracite Revolt. The re-entrance of Cappellini is the latest episcde in the struggle {of the hard coal miners, who faced | with the union-smashing rationali- zation drive of the coal operators, with the open seil-out of the U. M. W. A. bureaucracy, are forgetting more and more about their formerly privileged position and more r to fight. The rate of this radicaliza- 1 ni Again Fight Murderous Henchmen of Arch Betrayer Call Him to Anthracite, Give Him Automobile ago. The militancy of the rank and| file and the support of the National | Miners’ Union could not overcome the treachery of the leaders and the terror of the company and state power and the strike was lost. Since then, hundreds of black-listed miners are out on the streets, Boylan is im- | porting scabs to Pittston and Mayor} Gillespie prevents the holding of any meetings which may displease the contractors. Mise: nd despair in Pittston, a general di: isfaction in District 1 with the ex-insurgent | Boylan, signs of coming struggles . -in one word, a stage all set for the re-entrance of Cappellini. | The Danger. manded by the miners a long time for the campaign, the body is levy- ing an assessment of $2 on each miner. Has Cappellini got a chance to regain his lost power? One new paper considers him as a Boylan opponent at the next June’s election, while the rest (controlied by other interests) hardly find him while to mention. Some mine pecially around Pittston, attend his meetings, but the great majority has no confidence in the renegase. The danger is not in Cappeilini him- self, but in the fake progressive movemer.ts, led by him or other individuals which may avise in the future, hand in hand with the shavp- | Left | ening of the struggle. The Supported by coal-interests and by | wing following the National. Miners his henchmen who lost their jobs,| Union must be on the look-out and capitalizing the hatred against Boy-| every attempt of the coal-operats lan, the ex-president comes forward to push forward their own “insu as an innocent victim of John L.| gents” must be cut off in the bud. Lewis, rewarming the phrases of| By carrying on a ruthless struggle years ago. Mass meetings are} at the same time, against the U. M. arranged for him (and not broken|W. A. bureaucracy and the fake up by the mayor) and the Pennsyl-| opposition movements, will the Na- Ss Revolt ;turn its face more and more to the anthracite. The expiration of the | five years’ agreement, due Aus. 31,| 1930, will deliver a death-blow to the | efforts of the company-azeuts t.| Letween the miners and the ope:a-| tors. In spite of the pious wishes of | |the class-collaboration agencies, the | contract of 1926 will not be renewed. | Faced with a decline in production (63 million tons in 1928 as against | 165.6 in 1927 and 69 in 1926) and} with serious competition from soft- | {coal mined under open-shop condi- | | tions, from oil, gas and other sub-| stitutes, the holders of the anthra-} cite monopoly, (7 companies controll- ing 80 per cent of the production) | will demand a fundamental reduc- tion of the production costs, tanta-| mount to the elimination of the} | union. | In doing this, the operat |go around ve: smoothly, trying to avoid any “distucbance” which may effect the market, as happened in the 1925-26 strike. Instead of using | \the big stick, there is a slow, but} |continuous tightening of the screw,| a cut here, a “little” violation of | ihe agreement in another section, a| gradual elimination of the union- control, badly felt by the miners, br will Copyright, 1929, by International Publishers Co., Inc. BILL HAYWOOD’S BOOK Haywood In Gun Battle on Denver Streets; The End of A Quiet Election Day; A Scab Kills Fifteen Others In previous chapters Haywood wrote of his early life as miner, cowboy and homesteader in Utah, Nevada and Idaho; of the years working in the mines and the union until he became secretary ef the Western Federation of Miners; of its fight for the eight-hour day in Colorado against the mine owners and martial law declared by Gov- evnor Peabody. He is now speaking of the great Cripple Creek strike of 1903. Now go on reading. All rights reserved. Republica- tion forbidden except by permission, * * PART XLVI. EVERSTHING was perfectly quiet in Cripple Creek. We went to the hotel and left our grips, as we did not expect any attempt at ar- rest in the daytime. We visited the union stores at Goldfield, Victor and Cripple Creek, but for lack of time we did not go to Anaconda. The members of the district union reported that things were going along as well as could be expected. Some of them told amusing stories about the “dese- crated flag” poster, and the sensation it had made when it was posted upon the billboards and telegraph poles. Some of the boys had pasted copies of the poster high up on the poles and said that the sol- diers who were trying to scratch them off had to hang on like monkeys. On our return trip we stopped at Colorado City to visit the mill and smelter men. There was a good spirit among them. They all felt certain that the strike against McNeil would be won, We returned to Denver very well satisfied with the outlook in the district. i * * * fee: military authorities and the Citizens’ Alliance did not like the turn affairs had taken, and had another convulsion of martial law. At this juncture there was a strange twist in the mentalities of Pea- body and Bell, who had but a short time previously appealed to Presi- dent Roosevelt for Federal soldiers. Now they sent a joint telegram offering to provide two thousand soldiers to help steal the republic of Panama for Roosevelt. Roosevelt, however, pulled off the job with- out help from Colorado. The law-and-order element, which always means the silk-stocking | people, were extremely busy in the Denver municipal elections. The | ladies of Capitol Hill changed their costumes frequently, and each | voted several times during the day. They were vying with the ac- | tivities of Cooney-the-Fox, who was supposed to control the Demo- | eratic repeaters under the direction of Billy Green, the boss of Green county, which comprised the barrel-houses and houses of prostitution on Market Street. Even this section of the city had been invaded by the aristocracy of Capitol Hill. Little Billy was handicapped. He couldn’t tell the well dressed, painted and powdered dames of Capitol Hill from the regular girls of the red-light district. * * * REPORTS from different wards came trickling into the office of the Western Federation, where we were quietly at work on election day. Dan MacDonald, president of the American Labor Union, had just arrived from Butte. He and Moyer were talking about the election, when one of them suggested that we should visit some of the voting ——— \establish good-will and cvoperation| booths of the nearby precincts, just to see what was going on. As we started I slipped my 38-caliber Colt into my hip pocket. From the office we walked along Fifteenth Street to Larrimore, down to Eighteenth, then to Market. We saw some interesting groups, but no unusual activity, Then we made our way back to Fifteenth and Champa Streets, where we went into a saloon through the rear door; all saloons were supposed to be closed on election day. Mac and Moyer had a drink, I took a cigar. As we were going out, we met a gang of deputy sheriffs, headed by a young man who was a nephew of Felix O'Neill, captain of the Denver police. They all wore badges. Moyer sarcastically remarked: “Pretty badges!” O’Neil said sharply: “Don’t you like. ’em?” Moyer replied, “Indeed I do; I’d like to have one for my dog.” * HE no sooner said it than one of them struck him squarely between the eyes.. The man must have had on brass knuckles. As Moyer fell, his head struck the stone threshold and he lay quivering. The captain’s nephew whipped out a big six-shooter, swung at MacDonald and struck him across the forehead, lifting his scalp about three inches. As Mae fell he broke his arm. I knocked the young fellow back and then had the whole bunch to deal with. I had no time to think how desperate was the situation: it was a fight for life. One of them struck me on the head with a gun. I dropped on my knees off the curb of the sidewalk, and drew my revolver. The captain’s nephew rush ing up to give me another blow; I shot him three times in qui succession. He staggered back and started to run. T got to my fe and the other deputies ran away pell-mell, O'Neill following them with jlandlordism of Cuba, Haiti, Santo|tion process may be uneven in the yania General Greivance Committee | tional Miners’ Union win the lead his gun pointing straight up in the air, and yelling like a Comanche After reading Bertram Wolfe’s| Domingo, Porto Rico, Virgin Is-| different sections, as are its mani-| endorses Cappellini and votes a sub-|ship of the coming struggles over pau BOE PY. seis My We Indian, I could not fire again as the opposite sidewalk was crowded article in criticism of Scott Near-|lands, Panama and Nicaragua (and|festations, but it exists just the sidy of $500 to carry on the “fight” | the hard-coal miners. CR BCYs ; with people. A policeman hurried up; he knew me, as they all did, ing’s views on the “Good-Will” trip Soon, I suppose, Colombia) there is|same. Lack of faith in the U. M. against the contractor-system. They | Next Battle-Field. In all these attacks, the Lewis| and said: of Hoover to Central and ‘South|@ seething cauldron getting hotter America I wish to briefly state my|and hotter—the peons and workers own ideas on the class forces exist-| of the U. S. A. colonies of the Carib- ing in Central America and South|bean in motion, As is almost gen- America, | erally known there is practically no middle class in these countries tend- ing-to complicate the seething. Seasonal Maneuvers. In connection with Wolfe’s state- ment with reference to the impos- sibility of permanent military oc- cupation of these countries let me state that the army maneuvers on and about the Canal Zone have never been attempted in the wet season (eight months a year) for |fear of stretching the endurance of the troops to the rebelling point. | Always in the dry season they pack up their little bundle of military tricks, order the men into the jun- gle or out over sabanas but even then they dare not overdue—it takes Tenants Strike. In October, 1925, I happened to| be an eye-witness of the “Inquil- inos” (tenants) strike in Panama City, Panama, that was put down by the “treat-’em-rough” boys from Forts Clayton and Amador on the | Canal Zone at the request of the landlords of the city; these same landlords being of course the gov-| ernment of the Republic of Panama. It was an example of a people who me day could be seen following the image of some saint through the streets to a cathedral and then the next day forgetting all about their religion in order to battle feudal landlords’ hirelings through the} same streets, but little to destroy the morale thru Marine Strikebreakers. | days of tropical maneuvering. I It was three days before the gen-|can readily see why some of the eralissimos of Quarry Heights got|‘‘Devil-dogs” fighting Sandino have the idea to squelch the uprising but/ gone over to the “enemy.” in those three days a general strike] Wolfe undoubtedly has the right developed that finally drew in the|slant on this Latin American ques- firemen and the police and saw the/tion. There is every reason to be landlords running for cover on the|sure that when the proper and par- Canal Zone. Then General Lassiter | ticular time comes, that the peons issued one of those high-sounding| and workers of the Latin American general orders and in came the boys| countries will show in spirit and in khaki, iron helmets and gas|vast numbers that they are on the masks, armed to the teeth, to make|side of the enemies of American the city safe for the landlords.| imperialism in the fight to rid their Martial law was declared, sentries |lands of this viper. A sure and ap- ‘were stationed throughout the city|preciable advance has already been ‘and we aristocrats of labor on the| made in the right direction, other- Zone warned not to enter the city wise, why should Panamanians want until Uncle Sam had the situation|to throw rocks on tin hats, little in hand. The Panamanian puppets|love taps, little bits of “good-will.” ‘were returned to power only after mapseericspineasibibe > TS let Mle le dae DRIVERS FIGHT WAGE. CUT. or . i ‘suppose the Irish of the “treat-| LONDON, (By Mail)—An at- Yem-rough” boys was aroused when|tempt to cut the wages of 17,000 he — road transport workers in Lanca- tl “Inquilinos” started to toss ‘ from the roofs onto the tin| shire and Cheshire by 2 shillings a week has been met by the drivers | of the doughboys. 0, thar cee ee | plettcw kiront’ to’ ntelia 40 tha cut takes. place, "for the Americanos. / srneath the crust of feudal |W. A., a revolt against the Lewis | machine, refusal to pay dues and assessments, are the prelude of the more open resistance, of strikes called against the will of the of- |ficials, of the strengthening of the | National Miners’ Union inside the |decaying, company-unionized U, M. |W. A. Feeling that a struggle is to take place in 1930, when the agree- ment will expire, there is a fer- ment among the miners. The events in Pittston, this advance post of militancy, the birth-place of the in- |surgent movements, give us an idea what this storm will be like. Pittston, with its more than 12,- |000 miners was the hot-bed of the \fight against the corrupt Brennan rule in 1923, which thanks to the mistaken support of the Left wing, swept Cappellini into power. When this faker turned out to be as rot- ten, if not worse than his predeces- sor, Pittston was again the center of the revolt against its own favor- ite son. The murdering of Campbell, Lillis and Reilly by the machine, the frame-up of Bonita, whose hand worked faster than the contractor- gunman Agati’s, precipitated the in- surgent movement, which lead to the dethronement of Cappellini. The. Betrayal. Although the Left wing started | the struggle for the Scranton rump | convention, the leadership of the | movement was captured by a group of unprincipled job-seekers, Brennan, Boylan, McGarry and others. After Lewis bought off Boylan, Brennan, Tsaacs, ete., and rejected advances of the McGarry crew, these fakers, in- stead of uniting with the Save-the- Union forces, went ahead with the organization of a separate anthra- cite union. This splitting move was hailed as a “boom to the community” by the Chamber of Commerce, but the miners rejected it definitely. As a last effort to save his pres- tige and to get his price, McGarry called a strike last November at the Pennsylvania collieries, a strike de- also bought him an expensive car} and in ovder to have more morey|coal miners, the new union muct|°f the operators. Acting as brakes | After the heroic fight of the roft- Homeless Children Find Shelter in Gorki Colony |hundred homeless orphans, children jand murderers have earned here the |honored title of workingmen. Their ‘earnest, painstaking labor has turned \the seventy hectares belonging to the The Maxim Gorky Colony for} Homeless Children, which is located in a former monastery at Rizhov Station not far from Kharkoy, the capital of the Ukraine, has been in existence for eight years. Within its ancient walls over four and youths, find friendly shelter} and comfortable lodging and become useful members of society. Former thieves, ruffians, and even bandits institution into a model farm, where sweet “Duchesse” pears and the world-famed “Ukrainka’” wheat are grown in winter and magnificent chrysanthemums bloom in, autumn, while fat carp are bred in the ar- tificial ponds, The same hands that formerly} wielded the clasp-knife have built barns for the cattle with the stones of ruined monastery walls and have equipped the pride of the colony— a woodworking shop, which is a real factory where hundreds of children fill important orders, such, for in- stance, as 100,000 wooden cases for the Donetz coal mines. The children have converted the old church into a.club, where exten- sive educational, cultural and art work is done, as one result of which illiteracy has been entirely elimin- ated. Over fifty inmates have been sent from the colony school to fac- tory schools, workers’ high schools (“rabfacs”), and higher institutions in Kharkov, Odessa, Kiev and other Ukrainian cities. Many children haye returned to normal social life ‘rom the colony and are successfully orking in various factories and en- terprises. The members of the colony are entirely self-sufficient, attending themselves to all their needs. They cook, bake, launder, make their own clothing and shoes, their own wagons | and harness, take care of their own electric plant, moving picture and radio apparatus, etc. The children are divided into brig- ades, each performing its own speci- fic tasks. For example, the first brigade looks after the electric power plant, the. woodworking factory, the blacksmith shop, ete.; the second consists of cooks, bakers, garden- ers, stable-boys, etc.* When newcomers arrive, the chil- dren established in the colony en- deavor to create an atmosphere which will mak> the recruits feel at home, interested in their work and distract them from any thought of running away. Most of the at- tempts to run away, do, in fact, occur during the first days. No ef- fort is made to catch the runaways, and no one is held in the colony by force. It is always hoped that if some one runs away, he will come back of his own free will. In most instances this is really the way it turns out, The colony maintains the closest relations with Maxim Gorky, after whom it has been named. The chil- dren and teaching staff are in con- tinual correspondence with Gorky, who is keenly interested in the work and gives advice and counsel not only to the youths, but also to their preceptors, machine is a ready and efficient tool | Whenever the miners revolt against | | the rotten conditions, the officials |have expressed many a time their earnest desire to maintain the peace and harmony which exists today. The organ of the coal-operators is justi- \fied in stating that Lewis, after get- |ting his lesson in the soft-coal “will jafford real relief soon in granting |improved working conditions, if not an actual cut in wages,” National Miners’ Union Must Lead. Will the miners give in to the junited front of the operators, the Lewis-machine the press, churches, bankers and other capitalist agencies or will they resist and defeat these sinister efforts by putting up a hard battle against all their enemies? The developments of the last few |months, the situation in Pittston, the many outlaw strikes called throughout the tri-district, not even mentioned by the newspapers, a |more open resistance to the ma- chine and last, but not least, the jexistence of the National pine. Union, and a small but always g} ing Left wing in the company union are encouraging signs for the fu- ture. The coal-operators know this, hence the re-emergence of M. Cap- pellini and many more Cappellinis as the fight goes on. The work of the Left wing may not be easy at the present time be- cause of the terror and spy-system of the company-U. M. W. A. forces. But it is just their desperate fight against the militants which shows how shaky their rule is, how it is lacking the support of the masses. The sharpening of the struggle will eliminate the fake, safety-valve progressives and the fight will be fought between the united company- Lewis-government forces on the one hand, and the miners following the National Miners’ Union on the other. It is the duty of every class-con- scious work to support the National Miners’ Union in this struggle. uy | | | 4 “T'll have to take you to the station, Bill.” “Certainly,” I replied, and stepped into the patrol wagon when it arrived. Meanwhile the ambulance came and took MacDonald and Moyer to the hospital. A’ the station I was booked with assault to commit murder, and put in jail, only to be taken out a few minutes later to have my head dressed by the doctor. Young Jim, the captain’s nephew, had just been brought in, I was told he had been badly hurt. I asked the doctor to fix him up first, as there was nothing serious the matter with me. My three bullets had hit him in the left arm, permanently crippling it. Two bullets had lodged in the bone, or I probably would have killed him, as his arm seemed to be across his body when I shot him. The surgeon remarked, as he was stitching the scalp wound in my head, that I was fortunate it was no worse. I said: “I’m sorry I hurt him so badly, but from now on I'll carry a stronger shooting gun.” It was but a few minutes later that Coates and Pettibone came to the jail and I was released. I went home to report to the family these details of a quiet election day. Officially I never heard of the incident afterward. * * * * * * THE Citizens’ Alliance tried to fasten still another outrage on the Federation. A horrible accident had happened in the Independence mine, It was caused by the carelessness of Frank Gillese, a scab en- gineer from the Coeur d’Arlenes. He was pulling the shift out of the mine at two-thirty in the morning, and for some unaccountable reason hoisted the cage above the shaft house floor, up into the sheave wheel, pulling the cable loose. The cage started back down the shaft. One man was thrown out on the floor of the shaft house, but fifteen wer@ carried to a terrible death. In the eleven-hundred-foot -drop the pres- sure of air pushed the men off the cage, and they were torn to ribbons on the walls of the shaft. It was twenty-four hours before they had gathered up all the remnants of the bodies. This, like every other catastrophe that happened in the district, was charged to the Federation, although the Independence mine, like the Vindicator, was surrounded by soldiers, and the engineer was a scab. The coroner’s jury found that the company had neglected the usual precautions—there was no man at the landing to watch against acci- dents, there were no safety devices, the hoisting engine brakes were out of order and useless, This verdict made it impossible to connect the members of the W.F.M. with this terrible disaster, There was, however, no investigation of the management, which, if the verdict of the jury was true, was guilty of nothing less than murder, wy wh ee In the next instalment Haywood writes of the “Red Book” of the mine owners and the “Green Book” of the miners; of how the echo of the Colorado mine war reached the Senate of the United States. Those who wish to get a bound volume of Haywood’s book for im- mediate reading or as a gift to friends, may obtain it free by send- ing in a yearly subscription, renewal or extension to the Daily Worker. No extra cost, just the regular subscription price «