The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 11, 1929, Page 6

Page Six sas Baily as Worker Central Organ of the Communist Party of the U. S. A. Worker Publis! 8 Union e, he National Da at hing As New Y APWOR $8.00 three months three m@nths Address and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 8 Union Square, New York, N. Y => The Drive to Build the Party. The basic organizational task of our Party is to sink its roots deep in the ranks of the workers in the heavy industries. This is the main feature of the orientation of the Party com- pletely towards the factories and the reorganization of the Party completely on the basis of factory nuclei. This inevit- ably widens the base of the Party among the native-born and the Negro workers, while at the same time retaining its posi- tion among the revolutionary immigrant workers. These ambitions of our Party are stressed in the Party Building Drive announced by the Central Committee in it statement to the Party membership published in yesterday’s issue of the Daily Worker. Every member and sympathizer should carefully study this declaration framed on the line of the Open Letter addressed by the Communist International to the Sixth Congress of our Party and issued with the slogan, “For the Line of the Open Letter! For the Strengthening of the Party!” In a Bolshevik Party every member is an active member. The call for the Party Building Drive, April 15th to June 15th, provides important tasks for all. There is no room here for slackers. In fact, the whole conduct of the drive will reveal the inactive members of the Party, and these will be dealt with accordingly. The growing imminence of the war danger specifically demands the carrying out of such slogans as, Fight the right danger! y factory our fortress! Build factory nuclei! Activize and politicalize the factory nuclei! Improve the social composition of the Party! To build up and proletaria- nize the leading committees of the Party! It is only when the entire membership clearly under- stands the line and the concrete aims of the Open Letter, that it will be possible to go forward correctly and success- fully with the t of recruiting 5,000 new members, estab- lishing 100 additional factory nuclei, bringing forth 35 ad- ditional factory papers, securing additional thousands of readers for our Party’s Central Organ, the. Daily Worker, and increasing the circulation and influence of the entire Party press. The Party Building Drive demands the immediate and concentrated attention of every Party member for the two months designated. The Froth of “the 5-Cent Victory.” : The Sun sounds a discordant note in discussing the time “when the froth of the 5-cent victogy evaporates.” It re- calls that the “poverty-pleading” Interborough has failed to provide proper service in the past, and that the Transit fom- mission will not be able to force it now. This may be taken as the republican viewpoint of the excitement over traction developments. The democrats have analyzed the froth and predict the overwhelming re-election of Mayor James J. Walker. The candidacy of John F. Hylan, former mayor, is immediately stricken. Thus both the capitalist parties are trying to make po- litical capital out of the supreme court decision in Washing- ton that didn’t decide anything. Even the World (democrat) refers to “the point on which the decision tyrned, that of the timeliness of seeking federal intervention.” The federal (U. S.) courts held that the 5-cent fare decision was out of their jurisdiction, at least for the present, that it is a matter for consideration by the Transit Commission and the state (N. Y.) courts. It may clearly be taken for granted that the courts found this an easy way to dodge a decision in the face of the rapidly approaching municipal elections. The supreme court is republican. A 7-cent fare decision would have crucified any republican candidate. So the court simply passed the buck back to the lower courts. There is no decision and both par- ties will again claim to be “the friends of the people,’ while the sardine packing indystry flourishes as ever in the sub- way depths, and the straphangers, nearly all workers, con- tinue to be afflicted with all the evils hitherto prevailing. The Communist Party will have its candidates in the field for the municipal elections, fighting for the only work- ing class program that will be offered. It may be worth mentioning that in Moscow, in the Soviet Union, the street car fare under the rule of the Workers’ Soviets is four cents. The fare for workers in Moscow is two and a half cents. In Baku, in the metropolis of the Soviet oil fields, the oil workers ride free to and from their work on one of the most modern and comfortable traction systems in the world. These facts will not be pointed out by labor’s betrayers directing the affairs of the New York Central Labor Union in the interests of Tammany Hall. But they will be pointed out by the Communist candidates. New York’s workers. will also be told, that while they are fighting the day-to-day battles with the traction trust and its creature, the city government, they must look ahead to the complete abolition of profit rule and the extermination of all profit takers. This will indeed be something more than blowing the froth not only off “the 5-cent fare victory,” but off the two capitalist parties, and the social system for which they stand. The Daily Worker yesterday told the story of “The Two Fifth Avenues” in New York City. There is the Fifth Ave. that goes through the working class district, cutting through a section of the Negro neighborhood in Harlem, densely populated, with ugly firetraps on every side. There is the “Fifth Avenue” of the fashionable rich, most of whom are away in Florida or Europe, with palatial mansions empty ex- cept for caretakers. In time the working class will move into exclusive “Fifth Avenue” so the rickety tenements. now inhabited by them can be torn down and real “homes” built in their places. That will be a task of the revolution. In the meantime the profit-taking interests must be fought every inch of the way on this evil. It is announced that the former vice-president, General Charles G. “Hell an’ Maria” Dawes, has been appointed by President Hoover as ambassador to- Great Britain, and has accepted. Wall Street could pick no better representative of its own interests. | ANOTHER SPOILED DISH | ~ By K. YAM AGATA, (Shanghai) The number of strikes in Japan during 1928 showed a decrease of Thousands Thrown Into Prisons But Revolu- When the windows were smashed in tionary Outbreaks Show Mass Discontent abouigp0 per cent from the previous year. Statistics compiled by the Ministery of Home Affairs show that during the first eleven months of the year there were 689 strike: involving 7 workers. This is a decrease of strikes and 2,000 in the number of strikers. The Prg- liminary investigation for December does not alter appreciably the totals for the entire year. Number of Strikes. Classifying the strikes during the past year the Ministry found that 178 were due to demands for in- creased wages, 114 were concerned with the bonds question and 78 arose out of attempts of the employers to cut wages. The Noda strike, which lasted over four months and finally ended in failure due to the treach- erous, deeds of Matsuoka, Bunji Suzuki and company, was forced to a settlement early in the year. Since | that time there was hardly a dispute in which it could be said that the workers got the best of it. An ex- ception was the strike of the Sea- men against the unsubsidized steam- ship companies, This ended in June when the strikers were granted the most important of their demands. The chief reasons for the de- crease in strikes during last year in Japan are as follows: 1—The gen- eral industrial depression; 2—the systematic suppression of strikes by. armed for ;—ruthless perse- cution of the militant trade unions. For instance the dissolution of the Hyogikai (Left Wing Trade Union Federation) etc.; 4—systematic mass arrests of revolutionary trade union- ists and their imprisonment for long terms. It is also noteworthy that though the number of strikes de- ‘creased, the strikes were fought | with greater determination and en- |durance than ever before, undoubt- edly indicating a sharpening of the class struggle. - Revolutionary Tendencies Manifested The growing unrest in Japan was very sharply demonstrated during the Mikado’s enthronement last November, when, though all precau- tions had been taken by the police and over ten thousand militants rounded up and thrown into jails, mass demonstrations, nevertheless, took place. There were such revolutionary out- breaks in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and other places on November eleventh and twelfth culminating in open street battles with the police and soldiers that resulted in tens of casualties on both sides. Of course, this was all hushed up by the strict censorship, being reported only by |the Chinese press and several of the English language papers in | Shanghai. There is other proof of this tend- ency for example, though all the suspected Communists are being kept in jail with the newly-enacted Death Penalty Law for Communists hanging over their heads, Commun- ist influence in Japan is spreading rapidly. This was clearly expressed in the recent Reorganization Con- ference of the Ronoto (Workers and Peasants Party) and the mass pro- test demonstration and armed clash between the police and the members of the Ronoto in Tokyo. Not less clashes between the police and the members of the Ronoto over the dis- solution of a local membership meeting of the Ronoto in Tokyo the previous week. Of ‘like significance | Japan Unrest Defies Terrorism important were the} | a ie DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, THURSDAY APRIL 11, 1929 —oS= = ! is the courageous attitude and fight- ing spirit of our comrades, including women, dragged before the bour- geois courts and sentenced to long years of imprisonment. Moreover, student strikes are continuing, al- tmough the universities and high schools were purged time and again of all radical students and profes- sow. Jobless Storm City Hall. One of the latest manifestations of this growing proletarian unrest occurred in Yokohama January 15. Five thousand unemployed stormed | the city hall ina violent protest against the recent decision of the city officials to give the jobless work every-other-day instead of daily. A call was police reserves but despite the large police force the unemployed broke the doors of the city hall and occu- pied the second floor of the build- | ing. | The previous day five delegates representing the unemployed had | petitioned the mayor of the city de- claring that they would live on the lone yen and 40 sen (65 cents US) received every other day, and re- quested that work should be given jevery day. The request was re- fused. This made the unemployed representatives highly indignant and {they promptly organized the unem- ployed for a mass action, which turned into the storming of the ; building. The unemployed workers, with set faces and fixed determina- | tion and in a long grim line marched as a mass to the city hall. The po- |lice—the guardians of bourgeois peace and order—made a strenuous effort to break up the demonstra- SO By L. 1, New light from Indian skies, Spreads o’er the universe; Dawn through a night of lies Breaks where the clouds disperse. Souls from the blackest tombs, Ignorance, Fear— Fear for the whips and dooms Preached with a sneer; Souls in the deepest spells, Worship and Awe— Awe of the horrible Hells None ever saw; Souls from the blackest tombs, Souls in the deepest spells, Rise where the new light looms, Wake where the dawn compels! 2. No more the prayer-wheel’s song, “God of the lotus flower,” Shall with its whirl of wrong | Bring to the pompous, power. No more shall blinded man, Plundered and tied, Kneel down to Hanuman, Strangling his pride, sent out for the} For the Revolutionaries of India « |tion but were brushed aside by the proletarian masses. It happened that the mayor was not in the city hall. The workers than demanded an official answer to their plea from | Harando Matsumoto, chief of the; bureau of social affairs. Matsumo- to replied that the recent decision —work for every other day—could | not be changed. Upon this an- |nouncement the unemployed attacked him and gave him a good beafing! up. Large reinforcements of police |and soldiers which soon arrived dis-| persed the angry workers and drove | them out of the city hall. As usual, | a large number of the demonstrators | were. very roughly handled and| beaten. Over 200 were arrested and are still in jail. Peasants Also Stirred. | Last but not least, the sharpening of the deep and wide unrest of the toiling masses in our country has been demonstrated by the two 1e- cent peasant riots, The first occur- red in Miyazaki, Kyushu, in De- cember, when an excited mass of 5,000 villagers, in which hundreds of women participated, stormed the prefectural assembly and broke up a meeting which was discussing ‘the removal of the high school for wom- en from the city to another town. This removal was to begthe price for the entry of a Minseito (oppositjon party) Diet member to the Soot (government party). Following addresses by the lead- ers of local Peasants Union (Nomin Kumiai) the huge crowd with loud | Shouts of “Banzai” yscattered the 7C9-800 policemen sit to stop the demonstration, Firemen, sympa- thetic to the protest, ran their NG | | SPIER. No more shall greedy ones Toss their wormed crust Down to the ‘dumb millions’ Prostrate in dust. Who gave the plunderers right To lash souls to. barrén soil? O rise, in your own deep might, Life sides with those who toil! 3. Workers of India’s mills, Comrades commend you, You have the strength to. kill Those who would bend you, Toilers of India’s mines, Worlds shall repay you, You who near shattered shrines Slay who betray you. Workers and toiler, all Brothers in every land, We hear your freedom call, O fearless and valiant band! We hear the thrilling cries! -We hear the slavers curse! We see the new lights rise And spread o’er the universe! y Fred. Ellis | engines to the scene and turned the water upon the assembly building. | the legislators fled ignominously. Thousands continued to demonstrate in the streets and as night came on| the firemen of thg whole town turned | out, running the engines through | the streets and ringing the bells. | The official residence of the chief) of police was wrecked, The troops | were called out. With their help} the police succeeded in crushing the | rebellion, Over 400 peasants and | villagers were arrested. The other peasant rebellion took | place in Gifu prefecture two weeks | ago. An indignant crowd of vil- lagers and peasants late at night at- tacked the town office of the dis- trict in an effort to stop the carry-| ing out of the so-called Saigawa | river improvement plan. This in re- ality would rob 20,000 peasants and villagers of the great source of water for their rice growing and) thus would starve them to death. | Clashes between the excited farm ers and policemen occurred during} |the demonstration. In these many on both sides were severely fnjiicel} The, 1,000 policemen mobilized were | easily defeated by the peasants, the| |number of whom reached over 4,000. | Telephone lines were cut. Many po- \licemen were disarmed and stripped of their uniforms. Emergency aid from the third division of the regu- |lar army had to be called for to sup-} |press the rebellion, A regiment of |soldiers with drawn bayonets dis-| |persed the revolutionary mass| |demonstration and arrested over 300. In spite of the raging white ter- ror over the Japanese towns, vil-| llages and cities the class conscious- |ness and fighting spirit of the toil- ing masses is rapidly spreading and intensifying. Therefore our supreme task is to erystallize these influ- ences and sentiments into concrete organizational form under revolu- tionary leadership, into well ccn- solidated Left wing trade unions— the Hyogikai, Resume Two Marxist Classes at Workers School Next Week The Principles of Marxism classes begun at the Workers School in February will again resume sessions the week of April 15, under Comrade Markoff. “Principles of Marxism 1” (Monday’s session) will begin Mon- day, April 15 at 7 p. m, “Principles of Marxism I” (Wednesday’s ses- sion) will begin Wednesday, April 17 at 8:30. “Principles of Marxism Il” will begin Wednesday, April 17 at 7 p.m. Comrades who have reg- istered for these courses or who took the introductory session in Feb- ruary are requested to come to their classes next, week. Because all three classes have held only two introductory sessions the Workers School has opened up these classes to further registration. The “Principles of Marxism I” class will study “Socialism, Utopian and Scien- tific’ by Engels; “Communist Mani- festo” and “Wage, Labor and Cap- ital? by Marx. The “Principles of Marxism II” class will make a thorough study of the French Rev- olution and Marx’s “Class Struggles in France.” The classes in “Prin- ciples of Marxism” are considered basic courses in the school and have been among the most popular for the past few years, D. Benjamin, School instructor, announces. iy. BILL : HAYWOOD'S =z BOOK Se a : Paterson Workers Refuse to “Starve Under . the Flags They Weave; 1,200 In the Paterson Pageant: Akron Strike Copyright, 1989, by International » Publishers Co. Ime. ee: chasis All rights rese,ved. Republica- tion forbidden except by permission. a ] Haywood has told of his boyhood in the Rocky Mountain region, where, after working at many trades, he became a miner, quite young in life. He soon was convinced of the class struggle, and the need of labor organization, and never. changed from this point of yiew. He took part in the carly struggles of the Western Federa~ tion of Miners, was its sccretary-treasurer during its period of greatest activity, joined the socialist party and went on its executive committee, was a prime mover in the organization fo the I. W. W., and fought misleaders of labor in all of these organizations. He was a brilliant strike leader, and describes strikes with a stark and moving simplicity, painting a swift and colorful picture of each labor struggle. In the last gssue he was telling of the Paterson strike, led by the I. W. W., and by Haywood. os . ¢ By WILLIAM D HAYWOOD. PART 83. ‘ URING the strike the mill owners and flag manufacturers attemptew a patriotic stunt like that pulled off at Lawrence. Here in Paterson the silk weavers and others who were on strike produced the flag cloth. They allowed the flag sentiment to get a fairly good hold. All the mills were bedecked with flags, some of the stores were decorated with the colors and “patriots” were wear- ing flags on their lapels. But the strikers were alive, to the situation. One day in a big parade every striker and his family wore a flag under which was printed: “We weave the flag. “We live under the flag. ““We die under the flag. “But damn’d if we'll starve under the flag.” The patriotic wind raised,by the manufacturers soon died down. The big flags that were flapping about in the wind and rain were removed and the flag waving became a mere incident of the strike. The strikers of Paterson felt that “life without labor is robbery, labor without art is barbarity.” They proceeded to produce the greatest labor pageant ever held in America. At this time Jack Reed, who was then the dramatic editor of the American Magazine, came to Paterson and got interested in the strike. It was Jack’s first venture in anything like a revolutionary movement. I introduced him at a meeting of the strikers where he spoke and later he taught the strikers a song which when sung by 25,000 people made an impression that cannot be realized without hearing such a great crowd give vent to their full voice. Booes like those of Lawrence were now used by the strikers of Paterson against the police. The sound of 25,000 people shouting, “Boo, boo, boo” was like the blast of Gabriel’s trumpet that shook down the walls of Jericho. These thunderous choruses will never be forgotten by those who took part in them or heard them sung. . * IN the day of the Paterson pageant 1,200 strikers crossed the Hud- son River. From the dock we marched to Madison Square Garden, which for a week previous had every night been lighted by an electric sign of giant proportions with the,Jetters “I.W.We” in red lamps. We had enlisted the services of 80 or 90 people with radical tendencies in New York. “Bobby” Jones, now a leading scenic designer, with Jack Reed, drew the poster—an heroic figure of a worker rising out of the background of factories, smokestacks and chimneys, A great stage had been erected in Madison Square Garden and scenery painted de- picting the silk mills. Jack Reed acted as stage manager of the pageant. Yee 2 The first scene showed the gill alive, working. Lights shone through hundreds of windows. The workers with spirits dead, walked down the street—the center of the great auditorium—in groups, singly and by twos,—an occasional one glancing at a newspaper, another humming a song, some talking, all with small baskets, buckets or pack- ages of lunch in their hands or under their arms. The mill whistles blow. The thump, chug, rattle and buzz of machinery was heard. , Then the wide aisle—the street—was deserted. All were at work. Two hours were supposed to elapse, when voices inside the mill were heard shout- ing “Strike! strike!” The workers came rushing out pell-mell, laugh- ing, jostling each other. They burst out into glorious song—the “In- ternational”—joined by the audienee. In Scene Two the mills were dead—no lights, not a sound, They stood like monstrous specters. It was the morning following the strike. The workers were coming on massed picket duty. They sang their strike songs. One, an exuberant: Italian, gayly strummed his guitar. A few policemen mingled with the laughing, singing crowd parading in front of the mills. Without warning the police began to club and beat the strikers. A fight ensued. Shots rang out. A striker fell, The police had killed one. Another limped out of the crowd wounded. The dead man was carried away. The strikers followed the body to its home. The day was done, * 'HE third scene was the burial of the murdered striker. A coffin was carried on the shoulders of the pallbearers, followed by march- ing strikers singing the “Funeral March.” The coffin was set down near the center of the stage. The strikers marched onto the stage, one on either side, placing a twig of evergreen and a red carnation on the coffin. The tributes pile high as the strikers formed in a group to the rear. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Carlo Tresca and I spoke, as we really did at the graveside of the dead striker in Paterson, im- pressing the listeners and again pledging the strikers to battle on- ward until the infamous system of exploitation is overthrown and the workers come into their own, In Scene Four striking parents sent their children to other cities while the strike was on. A pathetic sense of filial devotion portraying the human reason for the strike—it was for the children. These same children had gone on a school strike because the teachers had called the striking silk workers and their organizers “Anarchists and good- for-nothing foreigners.” The children who were bidding their parents good*by were decked out in red ashes, They departed singing the “Red Flag.” They were then with new-found friends—their strike parents—to stay until the strike was ended. The last scene was a strike meeting in Turn Hall, Paterson. The strikers came to the meeting down the main aisle. A platform had been made at the rear of the stage around which the strikers gathered with their backs turned to the audience, transforming the setting into a vast meeting. I addressed this great gathering as earnestly and as vigorously as one could whose heart was in the cause and inspired by thousands of sympathetic listeners. : The great pageant was ended with the crowd standing again sing- ing the “International.” When the train pulled into the depot I saw 35 or 40 men with long yellow ribbons pinned on the lapels of their coats. I thought to myself, “That’s a strange decoration for a reception committee.” Then I saw that cach man had a long, hickory club fastened to his wrist with a thong. When I stepped down from the coach two or three men came up to me and asked: “Are you Mr. Haywood?” I said: “Yes, that’s my name.” He added: “The chief wants to see you.” I asked: “Where is he?” He said: “Right here.” I stepped over to where the chief of police was standing and he accosted me with: “Mr. Haywood, you realize that the situation in this city at the present time is very tense. I want to notify you that while you are here you are treading on very thin ice.” “I said: “I know there is a strike here, and in all strikes the feeling is tense.” Then I asked him if he had a warrant for me. He said: “I have no warrant I just wanted to warn you about the situation” I remarked: “If that is all, step aside, *. * In the next issue Haywood tells of “battleshipping” the Paterson jail during the silk strike. Only one of countless incidents of his vivid story of his 35 years as a leading factor in the class struggle. You can get Haywood's Book, an autobiography, free by sending in one year's subscription to the Daily Worker, new or renewal. * * I’m going this way.” A * ' ape nagheerhee—euewenerne peat re H { \