The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 6, 1929, Page 6

Page Six DAILY WORKER, Baily S25 Worker Central Organ of the Communist Party of the U. S. A. Published by the Daily, except Telephone $8.00 a year 0 three months 0 three months Union Square <>: $6.00 a year Adéress and mail all checks to th New Yo The Twelfth Anniversary of the War. It was 12 years ago today that the Wilson democratic administration at Washington, on behalf of Morgan’s mil- lions, launched the United States into the world war. America’s entrance into the war was carefully prepared under a deceiving barrage of pacifist phr: Wilson had been re-elected on an anti-war platform. But immediately following his re-election in 1916, it became quickly apparent that America was heading speedily for the slaughter pits to “save the world for democracy,” to wage “the war to end all war,” and other deceiving slogans. The only object was to conserve those imperialist interests that have since trans- ferred the economic might in the world from Europe to America, and made the United States the leading imperialist nation. Similarly, today, the increasing war preparations, this time under the direction of the Hoover republican administra- tion, are being intensified more than ever, but always with the hypocritical claim that the imperialist government at Washington has every desire to keep out of war. The pacifist propaganda poison of the government itself, as is revealed in the fake Kellogg pact and the spurious disarmament pro- posals, is intended to lull the workers into p; vity as the war preparations go forward rapidly. The nature of these imperialist war preparations are partially revealed in the secret report of the French gen- eral, Le Rond, a summary of which was published in yester- day’s Daily Worker, showing how French militarism is the bulwark of the Polish army that is to become the first line of attack against the Union of Soviet Republics. American imperialism plays the important role of rehabilitating the finances of Poland, of trying to make a going concern out of a bankrupt capitalist government. Thus the United States is directly engaged in developing the new attack against the Workers’ and Peasants’ Government. Here is one great difference between 1917 and 1929. In 1917 two groups of imperialist nations were in a death grip. Today the Soviet Union exists as an established fact over the greater parts of the two mighty continents of Europe and Asia, feared by every imperialist nation. This twelfth anniversary of the American entrance into the world war, therefore, is a time for the more energetic exposure and the explanation of the new war preparations, as one method of rallying the workers for the struggle against war. It is a time of mobilization of America’s workers for the defense of the Soviet Union, the Socialist fatherland of all workers. Every possible sacrifice in defense of the Soviet Union, in the war against the imperialist war. This is the path toward labor’s conquest of all power in imperial- ist America. The Solidarity of Labor in the South. The development of the textile mill strike wave in the Carolinas brings reported evidences of the growing solidarity of labor in the South. This unity must be strengthened in every possible way. The railroad workers locked the switches, thus prevent- ing the shipment of material out of the struck Manville- Jenckes plant, the metal workers sent fraternal delegates to the strikers’ meetings, while other local labor bodies are also taking action. Here is an example for northern labor. Many of the forces in the Carolina strikes are fresh recruits in the industrial war that is now raging. They have not been in- oculated with the virus of craft union paralysis. The cor- ruption that is characteristic of the trade union in the North has not reached them. Solidarity is to them a living reality, giving a wide basis for the spreading of the strike struggle and pushing it forward to victory. This solidarity has smashed the myths that well-nigh seemingly unsurmountable barriers exist between the native Southern workers and foreign-born workers on the one hand, and the Southern native whites and the Negro workers on the other. The leadership of the National Textile Workers’ Union, especially in’the strike against the Manville-Jenckes Co. at Gastonia, brings to the southerners the pleasing realization that the workers of the north, consisting in large part of foreign-born, are with them. They greet this unity enthus- jastically. Similarly, there has been no indication of prejudice toward the Negro workers, who have taken their places side by side with the white workers in the new local unions that are being established. The only danger here is that during the continuance of the struggle, the exploiters, through the many avenues open to them, may succeed in fomenting the prejudice that does not now exist. The employers’ agents are already spreading carefully prepared literature on a large scale with this sole object in view. The extent to which these cunning methods succeed, depends entirely on the workers themselves. Work- ers, native and foreign-born, Negro and white, must continue to present a solid wall of resistance to the great capitalist interests that will easily make worse their conditions, in- tensifying even more the brutal exploitation that now exists, if labor allows itself to be divided along the lines of race and nationality. The class war knows only the working class and the capitalist class. It was inevitable that the fighting spirit of the food workers should win the big successes that were achieved on the first day of the cafeteria strike in the garment center on New York City’s west side. The same spirit continued will win the strike and build the union into a formidable organiza- tion, better able to go into greater struggles with the bosses. The capitalist class has called on the workers to demon- strate in favor of imperialist war today. The Communist Party has called on labor to demonstrate against the war plans of the capitalists. The extent to which the workers rally against imperialist war, and in defense of the Soviet ion, is the extent to which labor realizes its own class and its determyation to fight for those interests. Call N egro Workers to Meet As a special drive to bring to | the attention of the Negro work- ers the call of the Trade Union Educational League to send dele- gates to a National Trade Union Unity Convention, in Cleveland, June 1-2, the Negro Department of the T. U. E. L. has issued a special statement to Negro work- ers. The statement has been en- dorsed by the American Negro Labor Cor -ress and is to accom- | pany the regular call addressed to all workers when distributed wide- spread in those districts where there are many Negroes in the in- dustries. The call to the Negro | workers is as follows: ee er ELLOW WORKERS: The Na-| tional Committee of the Trade | Union Educational League has called | for the clection of delegates to con- | stitute the Trade Union Unity Con- gress, to meet in the City of Cleve- | lend, Ohio, at 10 a. m. on June 1,} 1929, and to conclude on June 2. | This call is of special interest to Negro workers. With the partial check of immi- gration which came about during | the last war, and which has con-| tinued since, bringing about the mi- | gration of Negro workers to north- crn industrial centers and with the | growth of industry in the south, the demand for Negro workers in| the large industries has increased. The introducticn of more machin- ery in the factories would, under a better system, shorten the hours of labor, but under the present cap- italist system it is used by the em- to reduce the number of s, increase the amount of | and lengthen the hours for those left on the job. | Since the great majority cf Ne- gro workers are.unskilled and unor- | ganized, they suffer more intensely | than any other group from the ef-| fects of rationalization. They suffer from double oppres- sion, being oppressed as Negroes and as workers. They are the last to be hired and are always the first to be fired. In every shop, mill, or factory they are given the worst jobs, Negro workers are always the lowest paid workers in all indus- \tries. The worst and lowest paid jobs are considered “Negro jobs” and the better jobs are for the | whites. | The Negro worker, no matter how ‘capable, is seldom allowed to step into what is considered by the em- ployers as a white man's job. . | In the industrial centers to which | these workers migrate, they are ‘forced to live in the worst houses, in the worst districts and pay the highest rents in spite of the low wages that they receive. Because of the small earnings of the men the wives and children are forced to work in sweat shops and in the fields under the most miser- |eble conditions. The women are the prey of the jlust of the white bosses and over- seers. The children have little op- | portunity to attend schools because of being forced to work at an early vage. In the South they are forced to attend Jim Crow schools un- | usually far away from where they | live. | The Negro worker has always |been used by the bosses to reduce | che cost of labor, | The white bosses, therefore, con- |sider the Negro a valuable source lof cheap labor. We could go on \endlessly talking about our miser- able conditions. What we must do | now is to find a way to better these | | conditions, That is the purpose of this call. We must organize together with CONFRONTING THE ARMED WOR | ers gether with us to better the con- T. U. E. L. Negro Department Issues Special Appeal to Send Delegates to Cleveland who are willing to fight to-) ditions of the working class as a whole. Since we are a minority group we | cannot make this fight alone, nor can the white worker better his own) conditions without fighting together with us against the whole system of oppression, We all know about the American Federation of Labor and its policy towards the Negro worker. In spite of its general constitution and declaration, that it does not discrim. inate against the . Negro, its af. filiated bodies do, and during its 40 years or more of existence it has never made a serious effort to organize the Negro workers. It is —- posed strike of the Pullman Porters. | Even its so-called recognition to- day of the Pullman Porters’ Brother- | hood is a classical example of its} treachery. The methods of these | fakirs in issuing charters to each local of the Brothez!.ood instead of | a national charter to the Brother- hood as a whole is simply designed to weaken and destroy the organ- | ization and prevent its development jinto a fighting union. Negro work- ‘ers thruou’ the United States will never forget the traitorous role of this Jim Crow,-Ku Klux organ- ization. The Trade Union Educational | League and those who support it jane the only organizations that. have |carried on a fight for the organ- |betrayal last year of the pro-| only interested in the Negro worker | ization of all workers regardless of | insofar as he can be prevented from | race, nationality or color. Its policy scabbing on his white fellow worker.|in the various unions has been to but has rover preventc the White| carry on a consistent fight for the| Unions from scabbing on the Negro| admittance of Negroes and the | workers. While there are a few.A./}reaking up of the exclusion policy| F. of L. unions which, under pres- | of these fakirs for many years. The | sure, have admitted some Negro! T, U, E. L., which is the American workers, the general policy is to Section of the Red International of organize Jim Crow Unions for them) Labor Unions is still carrying on in order to tie their hands and keep | the fight against the traitorous lead-| them on the lowest economic level) ership of the A. F. of L. for the of all the workers. | erganization of Negro workers into} This organ’-ation has been be-| all its affiliated unions that bar traying both white and black work-| them and to force them to admit ers for years. Typical of its atti- | them on equal basis with the white tude toward the Negro workers who| workers. It has also fostered new are a part of the great mass|unions as the Needle Trades who of unskilled workers was its|recently carried on a_ successful strike against the bosses, Textile, | thi fighting uni of white work- Women Workers Militant in Fur Industry Struggle By CLARA MELTZER. A large number of women work- ers are employed in the fur indus- try, a luxury craft in the needle trades. In fact, there is no fur shop where women are not employed. The conditions of the women fur- miserable; the speed-up intense; the wages are are long; the period is short, and long loyment follow. is work, workers are rushed under the excuse that the garment being made is a special or that the rich lady to whom the garment belongs must make a train. At many occasions the finishers working on a rich lady’s garment are not allowed to go down for lunch until the garment is finished. The hours are 10 to 12 a day, part of which is called overtime, but which is paid for as regular time. The work is hard and un- sanitary. After a short time of working long hours during the sea- son, handling the hairy fur coats containing all sorts of sharp chem- icals and paints, workers often con- tract tuberculosis. Dark and filthy shops add to those bad conditions. No insurance is provided for women workers in case of such sickness or for unemployed workers. The women workers played a prominent part in the famous fur strike of 1926, They were seen in large numbers on the picket lines where many were arrested and beaten by the poligo. During the 17 weeks of struggle, the women fur workers bravely resisted the club- hing of the police and the jail sen- y es. They) ¢ in the mass meetings called by the Joint Board and in all other strike activities led by the left wing. When an attempt was made to break the strike, an attempt made by the International union after a secret conference with the bosses at Wash- ington, D. C., the women furriers as well as the men crowded into Carnegie Hall and voiced a vigorous protest which resulted in the failure of the conspiracy. After a short period, the bosses were forced to give in, they were powerless against the vigorous strikers and a victori- ous settlement followed. At that time the women workers, as well as the men, enjoyed better conditions in the shops: higher wages, far shorter hours with the abolition of overtime. Many unor- ganized women joined the union and took a direct interest in its struggles. The reactionary Interna- tional and the A.F.L. could not very well digest the progress and control the left wing enjoyed in the fur shops. The reactionaries made a deal mith the bosses, a promise to bring about the same conditions as existed before the strike; the work- ers were thrown down from jobs if they refused to register with the International. The Joint Board declared a strike against the bosses and the reaction- ary International. The workers re- sponded with the same spirit of 1926. The traitorous International provided fur manufacturers with scabs. Women and men furriers picketed the shops in spite of the injunctions issued. Wholesale ar- Beat followed; many women served jail terms as bravely as they di REE ie | : | and new Miners Union. There are) almost the only unions in existence} which practice absolute equality for all workers regardless of race, and has Negro as well as white workers on all leading committees. | As examples of the fact that) these unions practice what they preach, we have Wm. Boyce, a Ne-| gro miner, vice-president of the New| Miners Union, Henry Rosemond, who was one ‘of the first workers beaten up ky the police during the | recent Needle trade strike in New| York City, and who is a member | of the General Executive Board of | the Needle Trades Industrial Union. | Virginia Allen, a colored woman) needle worker, is also a member of | this Executive Board. The Trade Union Unity Conven-| tion is called for the purpose of | uniting all groups of organized and/| unorganized workers into a solid| united fighting front against the | bosses. This Convention, which is of par- ticular interest for Negro workers, will deal with all problems affect- | ing the unorganized Negro and white workers. | It will fight against capitalist] wars, which draft the Negro work- ers as tools and cannon fodder to} help conquer the workers of other races and nationalities and then deny these workers rights as cit- izens after their retu It will} fight for the organization of the oppressed Negro women workers | and will carry on a strenuous fight | against child labor. It will fight for social insurance, | which will benefit the workers who are injured by the speed-up system, and who are forced to retire from work at an early age because of disability. | It will advance the platform of} International Trade Union Unity.| It will organize the workers, black | and white, on an industrial basis in- stead of the narrow craft basis 6f |the A, F. of L. It will fight for the admittance of all Negro seamen and dock work- ers, etc., into the various unions |that discriminate against them, or failing in this, it will organize new unions of white and Negro workers in these industries. It will create one common trade union center for all class struggle organizations. All groups of organized and un- |organized Negro workers must get together and elect delegates to send to this convention. This is our opportunity to fight against race discrimination and bet- ter our conditions as a whole. NEGRO WORKERS! SEND YOUR DELEGATES TO THE COMING CLEVELAND CONVENTION! Our Emancipation Is in Our Own Hands! Let’s Quit Whining and Start Fighting! We Must Prepare to Fight for Ourselves! Equal Pay for Equal Work}! Shorter Work Day! Against Peonage! Against Jim Crow Schools! Against White Terrorism in the South! Strengthen Our Fight Child Labor! Take Our Women Out of the Fields and Sweat Shops! Build a New Trade Union Center! Fight Against the Race Discrimin- ation Policy of the A. F. of L. Leadership! Carry on Active Fight Against Lynching of Negro Workers and Farmers! (Signed) OTTO HALL, Director Negro Dept, Trade Union Educational League. Against Endorsed by American Negro ee) International BILL — HAYWOOD’S BOOK jak ) Copyright, 1929, by Publishers Co., Ine. All rights resc, ved. Republica- tion forbidden except by permission. Police, Troopers Murder Lawrence Children; Child Worker “Bawls Out” Gompers at Congressional Hearing; Parades i i vood his carly life of toil, In previous chapters Haywood has told of E : of becoming « strike leader, of the struggles of the Western Fed- eration of Miners and the I. W. W. which he helped to organize and lead. Yesterday he told of the Lawrence strike and the arrest of strike leaders, Now read on. * * By WILLIAM D HAYWOOD. PART 179. FTER the arrest of Ettor and Giovanitti a demand was made for A their release on bail. These men had been charged with being as- cessories to the death of Anna LaPiza, although nineteen witnesses had seen Policeman Beloit murder the girl. Ettor and Giovanitti were refused bail and held in jail for seven months. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the leading woman or- gani: of the LW.W., gave splendid service at Lawrence, speaking to the strikers, and also at ate ings outside the strike district, raising money for the relief fund and for the defense of prisoners. We were sending the children of strikers to sym- pathizers in other cities, to be cared for during the strike. Some of the groups of children were large | and attracted a good deal of attention and sympethy. One day when a group was to be sent away, the militia formed a cordon around pay ane rue police attempted to prevent the children getting i the train. When one of these big burleys would lay his aaa on 8 child, of course it would scream, ant’ its mother would fly to w ase of her captive young. There was a turmoil in the a een the policemen and the fighting some: ay cael children vii is day, but they never attempted it a 0 . SE ee ain on the picket line a Syrian boy, Who belonged to the strikers fife and drum corps, was epee an Fae back with a bayonet. i on after being taken to the hospital. a es ‘cals the local police force was used against the strikers, Hos police from other cities, the state police, and the state militia a been called in. These organized forces used the mills as their bar- Te women strikers were as active and efficient as the men, and fought as well. One cold morning, after the strikers had been drenched on the bridge with a firehose of the mills, the women caught a po- liceman in the middle of the bridge and stripped off his uniform, pants and all. They were about to throw him in the icy river, when other policemen rushed in and saved him from the chilly ducking. aig We appealed to Congressman Victor Berger for an investigation of the Lawrence strike, and through this socialist congressman’s ef- forts, a hearing was arranged before the Rules Committee of the House, in Washington, D. C, When we got news of this, the General Strike Committee decided to send sixteen witnesses to Washington, all boys and girls under sixteen years of age. One of them was a | little girl whose hair had been caught in a machine and her scalp torn from her head. These child workers from the mills were able to picture their working conditions and their home life, and we felt convinced of their ability to explain why they and twenty-five thousand others were striking in the textile center of Lawrence and adjacent towns. Margaret Sanger, who afterward became famous for her cam- paigns for birth control, went with the children to Washington. * * * ae Seer 4 0% the day of their arrival there, the boys and girls appeared before the Rules Committee. Samuel Gompers was present presumably in the interests of the A. F. of L. He was called as a witness, and condemned the strike and its leaders. Suddenly a childish voice rang out: 2 & Aird “You old son-of-a-bitch! ‘You're telling a god-damned lie! It was a Polish boy who had interrupted Gompers. The chairman of the Committee rapped vigorously with his gavel and, looking sternly it the boy, said: e Young man, that sort of language will not be tolerated here. Do not attempt it again!” Siig, The any kind of language I know,” answered the boy, “and I’m not a-goin’ to let that guy lie about us and get away with it!” 5 This incident is not reported in Gompers’ Seventy Years of Life and Labor. A newspaper revorter at the hearing remarked that “here was presented the old and the new of the labor movement.” : When the committee in Lawrence heard that Gompers was taking part in the hearing, they decided to send me down to Washington to help the children who were representing the strikers, if they should need help. But the children had told everything about conditions in | the mills, even to being compelled io buy drinking water, The arranging of this hearing was not the only time that Victor Berger had responded to requests of the I.W.W. On a previous oc- casion I had appealed to him, when Federal Judge Hanford of Seattle had denied men citizcnship because they belonged to the I1.W.W. Han- ford lost his job as a result of Berger’s investigation. The newspavers had a staff of reporters in Lawrence to cover the strike. Many of them were of the usual type; one told me that he was the man who had concocted the scheme for my arrest in Yakima, in order to test the anti-cigarette law and to make a good story that he could sell. Gertrude Marvin was reporting for the Boston American. She came to me for an interview and got it. When the story was finished, she thought she had something good: for her paper, but the managing editor remarked, as he threw it in the wastebasket: “That big two-fisted thug has put it all over you!” Miss Marvin resigned and went to work for the I.W.W. in Lawrence, doing publicity work for the strike. Later she was en- gaged by the United Press to assist Marlen Pew, The stories these two sent out about the strike were so thoroughly appreciated by the papers subscribing to the United Press that these papers sent hundreds of letters from all over the country commending the stories. I saw these letters posted up all over the walls of the United Press’ New York , office. The managing editor of the Boston American finally came to Lawrence and asked Gertrude Marvin to arrange an interview with me. After a long talk with me, he told her that he knew that he had made a mistake in throwinz away that story. * * * I WAS speaking one night to a meeting made up almost entirely of Polish workers, when two Italian women came into the hall and were brought to the platform. The younger of the two said to me, “Tomorrow morning man no go on picket line. All man, boy stay home, sleep. Only woman, girl on picket line tomorrow morning. Soldier and policeman no beat woman, girl. You see—” turning to her companion, she said, “I got big belly, she too got big belly. Police- man no beat us. I want to speak to all woman here.” I presented her to the assembled strikers and told them what she had said to me. Then she spoke herself, in plaintive voice reciting her message, and all agreed that next morning no men or boys should be on the picket line. The women were out in full force, many of them pregnant moth- ers. Horrible to relate, the little Italian woman who had organized the woman pickets, and another woman, Bertha Crouse, were so ter- ribly beaten by the police that they gave premature birth to their babies and nearly died themselves, Later a gang of gunmen was brought in. One night they went to the room of Jim Thompson, I.W.W. organizer and prominent figure in the steel strike. When he opened the door the crowd pushed in. Several shots were fired, but Thompson, a big man, was able to force\ his way out of the room, and ran naked to an adjoining harness shop. He had severe contusions on the head, but no other injuries. A strang- er’s gun and hat were found in his room, but there was no effort made by the Lawrence police to discover the culprits; they probably knew who they were. * * * In the next insiallment, Haywood tells of the attempted dynamite frame-up at Lawrence, when the company planted a bomb, Haye wood’s story is a history of militant labor struggles. You'll need it in book form. Get Haywood’s Book fre B01 “ily Worker z La RL