The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 15, 1929, Page 6

Page Six sas : DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1929 Baily 3s Worker Central Organ of the Workers (Communist) Party RIPTION v By rk only): $8.00 a ye $4.50 six months $2.50 three months ff New York): 0 six months onths by th Publ 1 hecks to Union The “National” and “Patriotic’ Question of General Electric Stock “This is a great national question, this is a patriotic question. It is up to us to set a precedent that shall be copied all over the country. Let us grasp the nettle. I say to you, vote British.” This little speech by an unnamed English capitalist at a meeting of shareholders of the General Electric Company, Ltd., of Great Britain, recently held in the city of London, a flash of light upon the coming imperialist The business before the meeting was voting of the is ock at a special exclusively, and casts war. suance of 1,600,000 new shares of “bonu low price to be limited to British subjec the barring of American coupon-clippers from the right to obtain any of the new issue. It appears that American cap- italists own about 1,500,000 out of 2,300,000 shares of the company, and Sir Hugo Hirst, managing director, is putting through the plan to “restrict the flow of shares to America.” The British General Electric Company is not the same corporation as the American company of the same name. It is controlled by British capitalists who have put up special safeguards to preserve their control but who are now much alarmed by the heavy buying of the stock of the British com- pany by United States capitalists. Of course it is a part of the world-wide struggle between the two biggest national groupings of finance-capitalists— those of the British Empire and those of the rival Wall Street Empire. This one incident may pass and its chief im- portance may lie in its picturesque, sharp illustration of the irect clash. But the same quarrel is going on in all parts of he world: in Canada, in Egypt; in Mexico, in South America, in China, in India, Australia and in all other places where the British Empire holds or has held the upper hand in imperial- ist exploitation. The decaying but still extremely powerful British Empire is fighting tooth and nail against the on- slaughts of the United States imperialists. It will come to war. The big navy bill and all of the present feverish war pre- parations of the United States have to do with this. Hoover was put into office openly for the purpose of conducting this struggle with all instruments, including war. What is the United States government? An organiza- tion for man&ging the collective affairs of the American cap- italist class—a monster “board of directors,” we might say, and at the same time a huge military-naval-police machine for enforcing the will of the American capitalist class thru- out the world in the tortured exploitation of workers at home and colonial peoples, and in diplomacy and warfare to strug- gle against the rival imperialisms. And what is the British government? It is precisely the same instrument devoted to the interests of the British finance-capitalists instead of the American. The two “boards of directors” (the governments) con- duct the struggle for a while on the plane of diplomacy. In this connection the probable appointments of Herbert Hoover to the principal ambassadorships are interesting—each am- bassador is merely a high-powered ’executive for the big trust and banking magnates of Wall Street, just as Hoover is their general executive. When the diplomatic specialists of one or the other ag- gregation of big trusts finally reach the end of their re- sources in the struggle—then the ultimate salesmen, the ad- mirals and the generals, will be called out. What of the many thousands of workers slaving in the factories of this giant corporation, the General Electric Com- pany? These unnamed thousands of men and women of our own class, flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, slave through the long years without reward beyond the means of restoring their strength each day sufficiently for the follow- ing day’s slavery. This British General Electric, like the Amer- | ican open shop hell-hole of the same name, is notorious for the fact that it squeezes the life out of men with extraordin- ary rapidity. Not only are steel bars changed into electric machinery—also young men and young women are changed into broken old men and old women before their years. And of course our concern is not with the one corporation alone; the whole of the monstrous open-shop, speed-up trustified industry of each country is our concern. A nation full of slaves is toiling to make the heads of these trusts still more rich, and while they are needed at this alone, they are fed on “peace” talk. During this stage of the game, the capital- ist class squabbles around directors’ tables and in government offices about such “national” questions and “patriotic” ques- tions as this one, whether the British bloodsuckers or the — bloodsuckers shall suck the best blood from our odies. Then comes the next stage of handling these “national” and “patriotic” questions of stocks and bonds—and the bugles call us to go out and:“work” for the same masters on the battle-fields instead of in the workshops—to work with bayonets and machine guns instead of with hammers and lathes, to tear the flesh of our fellow-workers instead of cut- ting steel. : What can possibly be the interest of the working class in this affair? When squabbles of the millionaires of the two rival imperialist groupings show so baldly just what is the “national” and “patriotic” basis of the coming call to imperialist war—then every use must be made of such uabbles to show the working class of each country that ga of their own imperialist bourgeoisie is the greatest bs it and the highest objective of the working class in eh country. The worker’s interest and sacred duty to his s is to turn the coming imperialist war (of American ritish workers tearing each other to pieces) into civil of the working class of each country for the overthrow e dictatorship of its “own” capitalists, and the estab- of the dictatorship of the working class, DOWN WITH YANKEE IMPERIALISM! Mr. Thomas: Pan-Pacifie Trade Union riat, Shanghai. Secreta-| China has recently had a “dis-| tinguished guest” in the person of | Mr. Albert Thomas, who holds the| position of Director of the Labor] the Orient for the A “Socialist” Minister from Europe Visits Imperialis League of Nations Office of the League of Nations at; |. is Geneva. It is necessary, therefore,| tified me,” _ replied to introduce this gentleman to the| “But now, the war has changed workers of China and the Far East, | all: that ‘we areal’ ‘conmades: , and what is his record. | * sees Ma. thomas. ieee beens Social. | imperialist rulers of the world, thus iat: «AiineetOU:: hai and ene party the one-time “socialist” became the have! pen a ee Pee the | most valued tool of imperialist rule. French govertiment, that same im-|And when, after the war was over, perialism which holds Chinese terri-| the imperialist powers set up their ‘tory, oppresses and exploits 20 mil-|/eague of nations which they hoped | would consolidate their power and lion Chinese people in Annam and} ‘y \Cochin-China, participated in mas-|frever keep in slavery the weak sacres of Chinese people (Canton, | 2ations of the world, they turned to |June 23, 1925), and takes part. gen-| Buchanan, | Mr. Albert Thomas as their man to |direct the so-called labor office of | that organization. In this position |Mr. Thomas has won new applause |from the imperialists, who love him more than ever for his services in keeping European workers away from connections with the colonial independence movements, in keeping them fooled and stupidly obedient to the imperialists, in preventing them from winning their freedom by over-throwing imperialism. |" An example of what Thomas and| erally in the imperialist exploitation Jof the world, During the World War, |Thomas first became well-known to the world, as minister of munitions. French working men were rebellious and did not wish to produce ammu- | nition to slaughter their brothers in} On/10th of February there took an imperialist war; Mr. Thomas, the! place in Vienna a Conference for, “socialist,” was made minister be-|the purpose of setiing up an Anti- ause he could fool the workers, cheat Fascist Committee. The Conference them with high-sounding words,|was attended by 78 delegates from and with talk of “socialism” per-| Vienna and the provinces, represent- suade them to plunge deeper into! ing 24 medium sized and big factor- the war. lies, 12 proletarian organizations and What the imperialists think of|four district anti-Fascist Commit- Mr. Thomas, and the reasons why | tees which had been already formed. they love him are to be found in his|'The delegates present consisted of war record, as well as in his services| members of the Social Democratic today in the League of Nations; but| Party, of the Communist Party and especially in the days of 1917 in| of non-party workers. Russia when the workers and peas-| After the report on the develop- ants were revolting against tsarism| ment of Austrian and international and war. The French government | fascism, the Conference elected from sent Mr. Thomas to Russia to persu-| its midst an Anti-Fascist Committee ade also the Russian workers that|in which all the factories and or- }they should submit to imperialism, | ganizations which took part in the |should kill and be killed obediently Conference are represented. in imperialist war. The reactionary, The ,newly founded anti-fascist \French ambassador to Russia, M. Committee sets itself the task of |Paleologue, has published his diaries | of that time, in which we find such| \records as the following: “Albert Thomas is’in cheerful mood, beaming, highly amused at the idea of meeting the tsar. ‘Well, old Thomas,’ he cries, ‘so you are to come face to face with his Majesty the Tsar, Autocrat of all the Russias!” The captains of industry hurried |to meet and receive this “socialist.” | } They asked him to inspect their fac- tories. The vice-president of the In- dustrial War Committee said to the French ambassador: | “My friends and I-are very | anxious that M. Albert Thomas should attend one of our sittings. He would certainly have most valuable things to tell us, which we could. then circularize to all | our factories.” “At one moment,” writes Pa- leologue, “I saw Albert Thomas | in copversation with Sturmer (the transit premier). I’ came up to . them and listened.” “Your factories are not get- ting enough done,’ said Albert: Thomas, ‘you could produce ten times as much. You should mili- tarize your workers.’ ” A Comrade of British Imperialists. * After the tsar was overthrown, Thomas and “socialists” from many nations came to Russia to persuade the workers to continue to fight for lthe allied imperialism. The British jimperialist ambassador, Sir George Buchanan, tells about giving a din-| ner in honor of the “socialists,” at which Mr. Thomas asked him: * “What would you have said if you had ‘been told five years ago that I and two other socialists would be sitting one day as guests at your table?” ? “The very idea would have hor- Wr a The Extension of the Front Against the Fascist Terror The Red Dawn organizing the defensive front| against fascism by mobilizing the broadest working masses, by creat- ing anti-fascist Committees in the| factories and in the districts, as well) as by rallying together’ all the anti-| fascist forces in Austria. The Conference welcomed with jenthusiasm the founding of the | International Anti-Fascist Commit- |tee under | |Barbusse and decided to affiliate to | this Committee. The Austrian Anti-Fascist Com- mittee decided to send an Austrian delegation to the Anti-Fascist Con- gress held on the 9th and 10th of March in Berlin. The Conference finally adopted an appeal to the Austrian working class setting forth the tasks and aims of the Anti-Fascist movement. . Over China the leadership of Henri| to kiss the hand of the Mikado, and| |confer with the Mikado’s faithful] | servant, Bunji Suzuki. By Fred Ellis t Agent his labor office do in practical mat- ters, is shown by the Miners Fed- eration of Great Britain, one of the biggest and strongest labor unions in Western Europe, which has ex- posed the labor office in its jour- nal, “The Miner”, issue of June 16th, 1928. This journal explains how, when the Miners Union had reques- ted the labor office and Mr. Thomas to conduct an inquiry into the in- ternational conditions of miners, this investigation was made, but only in aceord with the views of the em- ployers, and its report had been used by the employers in their war against the miners to. reduce wages. and in- crease working hours. Mr. Thomas and the labor office are used to establish the authority of false. leaders over the working class in various countries. It even deliberately cooperates with fascist governments, which smash labor unions, and recognizes and deals with the fascist “unions” set up by| the bourgeois and militarist dicta- tors. The Italian fascists are part of Thomas’ labor office, while the real labor unions are smashed and out- lawed. Mr. Thomas recently visited Italy, talked with Mussolini, and made public statements praising that murderer of workers. He has done the same thing in Balkan countries, where similar conditions prevail. Now Mr. Albert Thomas is com- ing to Asia to perform the same kind of work. His first stop in the Far East was Japan, where he came His second stop was Peking, where he was wined and dined (in company with the French Ambassador) by General Pei Tsung-chi of bloody notoriety, the director of the Shanghai massacre of workers on April 14, 1927. His third stop will be Nanking, where he will arrange with Chiang Kai- shek for the Kuomintang to appoint some “labor delegates” to go to Ge- neva. Then he will, with the bles- sings of the British empire, go to India. to tell.the Indian trade unions to keep out of politics, to trust their masters, and follow the good advice of Mr. Joshi. Under the leadership of Mr. Thomas, the Japanese labor imperialist Suzuki, and the reac- tionary Mr. Joshi of India, are plan- ning to set up a rival organization against the Pan-Pacific Trade Union Secretariat. Already they have an- nounced an “Asiatic Labor Confer- ence”, to be held in Calcutta in 1929, while they oppose or ignore the P. Pp. T. U, S. aand its ten affiliated trade union movements. All. this is the logical continuation of the long history of treachery by Albert Thomas, of service to imperialism. Thomas wishes to do in Asia the same things which he did in Europe, for which the imperialists love him, namely, to divide the workers, to confuse their councils, to keep them from fighting against imperialism, {to render them helpless cannon-fod- \der for the imperialists to build their armies from, to perpetuate the rule of imperialism in Asia—these are the aims of Albert Thomas in Asia today. He is the most dangerous enemy of the workers in China, In- dia, Japan, and the whole Far East. Let Mr, Albert Thomas be known to all in his true colors. BANKERS’ TRUST FOR 3 NA- TIONS. Bankers headed by A. Iselin & Co., of New York, have combined with British and Canadian fi- nanciers to form a three cornered international’ investment company, | with the carbon paper on top. The thought struck me. jit was announced yesterday. Initial Drawn by a Chinese Art Student of Philadelphia. |capital will be about $11,000,000, Copyright, 1929, by International Publishers Co., Inc. doar ai BILL HAYWOOD'S BOOK All rights reserved. Republica- tion forbidden except by permission. |The Steunenberg Murder and the Startling Kidnapping of Haywood, Moyer and Pettibone by the Mine Owners In previous chapters Haywood told of his early life as miner, cow- boy and homesteader in the Old West; of his years as a working union miner in Idaho; his election to head the Western Federation of Miners; its great strikes in Idaho and Colorado; the organization of the LW.W. in 1905. He is now telling of what occurred at the W.F.M. offices in Now go on reading. * * ® By WM. D. HAYWOOD PART 60. Denver. QNE day I was sitting at my desk when Moyer came in and put down a telegram he had just received, I read it; it was from his wife, who was then in California, saying that she was very sick and asking him to come at once. He had put the telegram down without saying anything, and I picked it up and went into his office. As I handed it back to him I said: . “T’m sorry your wife is sick, Charlie. I suppose you'll have to leave right away.” He told me that he would, and made arrangements to go that evening. As he left the building I went back to his office. There on his desk was a book of telegraph blanks, why did he tear the copy off? I picked up the carbon paper, took it into my office, and read it in a mirror. Tt was a telegram from Moyer to his wife, telling her to wire him that she was sick and wanted him to come. : : I was surprised at this subterfuge, as there was no occasion for it. If Moyer had told me that he was going to California, I would not have made my objection. When he returned he brought his wife back with him. « * * c was not long after this that the startling news was in the papers that the ex-governor Steunenberg of Idaho had been killed by a bomb at his home in Caldwell. This was on the thirtieth of December, 1905. Shortly after. this a man by the name of Hynes began to frequent our office. He spent considerable time in the editor’s office. One day early in February he came to my desk and asked if I had the monthly financial report ready. I said, “Yes, I'll get you a copy,” and went | into the adjoining room, when it occurred to me that it was strange that he should ask for a copy of the financial report; no one had ever done that. I went back and told him it had not yet come from the printer. Then I went out and asked the janitor if he could spare a little time. “Yes,” he said, “what do you want me to do?” “There’s a man in my office,” I told him, “a fat fellow. When he Jeaves I want you to follow him and see where he goes.” He did.this and when he came back reported that Hynes had gone to the office of the Pinkerton Detective Agency in the Tabor Block. I told O’Neill about it, and he wrote a short article about this detective. for the next issue of the Miners’ Magazine. A copy of the article, with the dick’s picture, was sent to the Pinkerton’s office as a valentine. I said: “There must be more of these skunks around, they probably do not work on one shift.” bye * * * HAD noticed a réd-headed fellow hanging around across the street from the office. I said to Moyer: “Let’s go to the cattle show.” When we got on the street-car, Read-Head jumped on as it was about to move off. When we got to the stock-yards, without seeming to pay attention, we could see this dick dodging around in the crowd. We went back to the office, and from the window a little later we saw him go up to a man sitting on the back of an express wagon. We thought “that makes three of them.” The next morning Moyer said that when he was coming out of his house he had seen a man leaning against a stone wall a short distance away. When he looked around he saw that this man was following him. We soon found out what all these detectives meant. On the night of February 17, Moyer, I, and George Pettibone were arrested; Moyer at the depot, where he was on his way to visit the Smeltermen’s Union at Iola and other places in Kansas. Pettibone at his home, and myself at a rooming house near the office. About eleven thirty in the evening there was a knock on the door. I got up and asked who was there. A voice replied: “I want to see you, Bill.” I onened the door, holding it partly closed when I saw a deputy sheriff whom I knew. He said: “I want you to come with me.” I asked him why. He said: “I can’t tell you now but you must come.” I told him to wait a few minutes while I nut on some clothes. We went down and got into a carriage, I asked where we were going. He told, me, “To the county jail.” “Well,” I said, “if you are arresting me why didn’t you come with a warrant?” “I have no warrant,” he replied. ‘“We’ve sent a messenger out for Richardson; we couldn’t vet him on the ’phone.” Richardson being one of the attorneys of the W.F.M., I felt more at ease with this in- formation. * # * THEN we got to the jail I was “measured in” as I had been on the previous occasion, when this place had been turned into an office of the W.F.M. Then I was told that Moyer and Pettibone were already arrested and in jail. They put me in one of the federal cells. The other boys were in the same quarters. A few minutes later the sheriff who had been elected to fill the place of my friend Ham Armstrong came around. “They’re going to take you to Idaho. They’ve got you mixed up in the Steunenberg murder.” : Are we to have no chance at all? You can’t arrest a man with- out a warrant and transport him to another state without extradition papers!” “Tt looks as though that’s what they are preparing to do,” he ad _ mitted. About five o'clock in the morning I was taken with Moyer and | Pettibone into the office, There were a lot of strange men there, but among them was Bulkeley Wells. Some one said: . “The carriages are ready. We'll drive down to the hotel!” We drove along the quietest streets, each of us in a separate car- riage with three guards. It was very dark. I could not recognize a building through the carriage windows. But when we stopped I found it was the Oxford Hotel. After a short stop we were marched to the depot, deserted at that hour of the morning, A train was ready and waiting. We stepped aboard and were off for Idaho. mf * * In the next instalment Haywood writes of the special kidnappers’ train which took the heads of the W.F.M. to the death cells in the Idaho’ penitentiary charged with murder; isolation; uncertainty. No worker who wishes to know the history of American labor can afford to miss the chance to get Haywood’s book free with a yearly subscription, re- newal or extension sent in to the Daily Worker. Do it now.