The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 22, 1929, Page 6

DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, APRIL 22, 1929 B ily 3 Central Organ of the Communist Party of the U. S. A. Worker Publishing Association, Inc. Union Square, New York, N. ¥. 6-7-8, Cable; “DAIWORK.” Published by the National D Daily, except Sunday, at 2 Telephone Stuyvesant SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By Mail (in New York only): $4.50 six months $2.50. three | months il (outside of New York): $2.00 three months Square, Ss: 8.00 a year 4 By $6.00 -a year “$3.50 six months Adéress and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 26-28 Unton New York, N. ¥. Hoover Slaps the Farmers Again. The capacity of the farmers.for punishment seems un- limited. President Hoover is proceeding strictly on this basis and loses.no opportunity, in the consideration of the farm. relief question now before congress, to take-a wallop at the “farmers” and their organizations. “Farmers” is put in quotation: marks because the real working, dirt farmers; the mortgage: and’ tenant - farmers and the share croppers, with the agricultural workers, are not even touched by the legislation being considered in the present congressional session. The “farmers” involved ‘are mostly. the well-to-do, big farmers, the landlords and ‘the petty: bourgeois business and banking interests that feed on the agrarian population, with the food’ spectilators. Even these “farmer” elements, willing to concede any- thing in order to get something even though the crumbs may be small, are now being repeatedly kicked in the face by the presidential “efficiency engineer” of imperialism, so that the White House cobbler must be kept quite busy providing new footgear. It looks as if the sum total of what the “farmers” will #et. from the “shell game” republican adininistration is a So- called’ “Federal Farm Board” to’ investigate the question. Hoover just feeds on “investigations”. It doesn’t matter that the farming elements in the land, since the war, have piled up a degree of misery untold that is not disputed. Yet the “expert” in the White House wants to expert some more. President Hoover* hogs just about. all the audacity in Washington when he bluntly tells the farmers that they are to Blame because there is no farm relief legislation. He tells themthat the trouble is-due'to divisions in their own ranks. This he deplores, adding: that “no great step in public action can-ever succeed without some compromise of view and some sacrifice of opinion.” The sacrifice, of course, has all been on the side of the farmers, until it has resulted in complete surrender. All the original so-called “radical” proposals of the’ Mc- Nary-Haugen legislation have been dumped in the congres- sional ashcan. The ‘so-called “revolutionary” equalization fee stalks through the capitol like a ghost of the distant past. The export debenture plan has been trotted out. But it, too, has received summary treatment from the,presidential boot. Louis J.-Taber, president of the National Grange, and Senator McNary were called into the imperial presence at the White House and told to forget about the debenture plan. They will. # There are several facts that stand out prominently. Sam H. Thompson, president of the American Farm. Bureau: Fed- eration, says that the three leading, conservative farm. or- ganizations are quite united on what they want. The other two organizations, in addition to this one, are the National Grange and the Farmers’ Union. He says that the lack of harmony exists in congress, which is a polite way of putting | the blame. on the doorstep of the White House. Congress repeatedly. voted farm relief legislation only to have it vetoed by the former president, “Silent Cal”, and now Hoover will do the same if congress doesn’t jump as he orders. The National Grange that is sponsoring the export de- benture plan carries the label of “the oldest and the most con- servative of farm organizations.” This plan would work as follows: “Should a farmer or exporter of farm products ship a cargo to a foreign country, he would receive a certificate amounting to one-half the duty that would be assessed on the same cargo if it were imported into the United States. The debenture certifi- cates would be negotiable in payment of customs duties and the farmer or crop exporter would turn them into cash by selling . them to importers and customs brokers. The latter would use them in paying duties on goods from abroad.” It can readily be seen how far removed this brand of relief is from the tenant or mortgage farmer, or the share ¢ropper who has his crop taken from him at robbery prices, sometimes even before it is planted. It is this element.among the farm population, however, that receives full in the face the smashing fist of the administration at Washington, the “fist :in fact of finance capital that demands ‘a: continually ‘worsening oppression for the countrysidé; ‘4s Well as for, la- “hor:in industry. * ~The Communist Party alone has led the fight for the dispossessed on the land. The measures urged by the Com- munists are not being considered in congress; but they are being discussed among increasing masses of working farmers and.agricultural workers. Some of the Communist demands follows: : iia sk Avti¥e-year moratorium on'fatm mortgage’ debts, includ-. . cing debts on chattels. ah. it 2. Protection of the working farmer against monopoly sprices. Essential lowering of the prices of all‘trust products which the farmer uses. Baris ts ‘ A 3. Protection of the farmer against special exploitation ‘by . distributing agencies of production, railroads, meat packers, milk trusts and grain eleyator combines. : «4, Federal law for the creation of a special farm relief fund of $1,000,000,000 to relieve the conditions of the tenant and mort- “gaged farmers; the fund to be administered by organizations of working farmers. i eat S y ~§. Federal law against forced farm foreclosures, 6. Abolition of. all federal’ and local taxes on working’ and tenant farmers. an eo “1. The land to belong to its users.—-<-—~~~. 8. Complete freedom to organize and strike for the’ agricul- toral workers. Federal law to guarantee a séven-hour. maximum working day and a 48-hour weekly .rest for all agricultural work- | vers. Yearly vacation with pay for all farm laborers,: Extension to agricultural workers of all benefits of social insurance and bor protection legislation demanded for industrial: workers. Here is a real basis for struggle by the working farmers ricultural workers. ‘The-exploited-on the:land must shoulder to shoulder. against their common enemies: t big business, against the trusts, and against: great y in the special session of con- 116 the Tax -NERED. BY SOVIET LABOR By Fred Ellis | | Porter: Behind the bars of «the Fort Leavenworth Military Prison today: is John Porter, one who ‘will go down in the history of the Amer- ican workingclass as‘ a devoted, loyal and courageous soldier of: the ; Revolutionary. Movement in this | country, The-case of John Porter is unique. | He is.one of the first of the service- {mento realize the nature of the ‘armed forces and to take up. the struggle for the workers. Asa vic- tim of. bourgeois militarism and capitalist. rationalization, John Porter deserves the full support of all class conscious workers in his fight for freedom, and for return to his-place in the ranks of the-mili- | \tant labor movement. « It. is necessary to’-review once more ‘his case so that larger sec- tions of the working class will real- \ize. the significance of Porter's im- | prisonment and will fight harder for jhis freedom. Early Life of Porter. John Porter was born in:a-work- ing class family'in Concord, New | Hampshire. -As one. of the millions of children of the working class he \did -not have the opportunity: of | getting “free education” and at the lage of fourteen“he was forced tou \ieave school and search for work in lerder to live. Day in and day out, |when the sun rose, he was already lin line near the gates of New Eng- land textile mills searching in va’ |for work. After,many weeks’ search jhe finally got a job. He immedi- |etely became acquainted with allthe |“glories” of a textile mill, long | nonotonous hours, speed up, and very lowgwages. Every day the same noise of the machines and speed up. Being young and _vigor- ous he started to revolt against the |miserable shop life and a desire for a-change for the better became |greater and greater. Believed Reciuiting Lies. Walking on the streets after hard days of work, the army recruiting station became more and more at- | tractive. Naive, he fell for the post- |Porter also decided to “Join the | Army ‘and see'the, world,” ‘to’ have a “free vacation”,and not to “worry \ahout ajob.” At sixteen he: entered |the. army _ and remained there for two years’.and.two months, during which’ ‘he felt’ all‘the burdens of capitalist militarism and gradually to realize that’ the capitalist army nob! lace for vacation but a souree.iof exploitation and ‘Teaction. |The soldiers were used: the in- |terests. of the bosses. He had many | cecasione" to»see that’ soldiers, sons of workers and poor farmers were used against their brothers ‘and fathers as: strike breakers, He be- gan to*feel that his place’ -was not on the: side of the’ bosses and in spite;of the fact-that he had only ten: more months to serve, he dé- serted. At that time, not’ being a Communist, John Porter did not realize that the beste way: to:'serve the working class was not-by de- serting but by remaining: and<win- \ning ‘over the rest of the soldiers for. the cause of-the working class as was done. by our two Red’ sold- iers,) Grouch and: Trumbull. © 2 Textile Worker. - Porter went’ back-to a textile mil in New Bedford. The conditions thon’ were even worse than two years ago.- The process of rational ization intrenched itself, the speed- up became worse, the hours longer and ‘this. intensification of exploit- tion" was ‘acconipanied’ with’ wage cuts.’, The. workers revolted against these miserable conditions, and went cn strike... John Porter in the front'! ranks of the . é. He jers and beautifabslogeams whieh trap | |many young © workers, and Johr | | Working Class His Example Will Inspire Others to Revolt |police brutality he was’ leading the picket line every day. His de- | votion and enthusiasm ‘inspired hun- {dreds of young textile workers and | they look towards him for guidance |and inspiration. At this.time he also | became acquainted with the organ- izers of the Young Workers Com- munist League and soon joined their irenks. He was a charter member |of the New Bedford League and the first organizer of the unit. Alarms Textile Barons. | The ‘textile barons began’ to real- jize that John Porter was becoming ‘more and more dangerous and they The Automobile ‘and Aircraft | Workers’ Union, Local 127 of Detroit, at its last meeting en- \dorsed the call of ‘the’ Trade \Union Educaticnal League for, a convention to be held in Cleve- land on June 1 and 2. The local | pledged itself to not only send dele- | gates, but to conduct an energetic | campaign among the unorganized | workers in an effort to secure large | delegations. direct from the shops.” | So states the April 20 issue of Labor | Unity, organ of the Trac> Union | Educational League, a periodical | which recently changed from a monthly to a weekly, a>! sells now at five cents a copy as an eight- page newspaper. It continues: “Following the action of the De- troit local, similar action was taken by the local in Pontiac.” Foster on Convention. The leading article is on the sud- den and vigorous strike of the Bos- ton'shoe workers with the co-opera- tion of the militant new. Independ- ent. Shoe Workers’ Union of Greater New York. The Boston workers are calling a‘conference to effect per- manent.organization, and the Amer- | ican “Federation of Labor, “as ‘usual has tried:to ‘betray the strike. News of ‘all the latest strikes, including the textile, cafeteria strike in New York, Tennessee. And when night came, saying: She dragged her bo ; hing. « Life Stumbled like a yates From her? And do you say that she Against -Imperialist Militarism Gecided to get rid of him. Five times he was arrested, beaten up and tortured, but the brutality of the capitalist court and police had jan opposite effect on him. . He be- came even more determined as the struggle went. on.. In the midst of the strike he was informed by the police that they knew he @eserted the army but that jit he would step out of the strike jand leave town, they would not ar- rest him. John Porter gave the po- lice a couragéous\ answer; “I am net a quitter and will be out on strike until the struggle is ended.” New Union Center, Big Strikes Are Discussed in Labor Unity An important article by William Z. Foster, national secretary of the T. U. E..L., the first of a series, on the significance of the Trade Union Unity Convention appears in a prominent. place. Indian Labor Cong: B. F. Bradley, vice-president’ of the All-India Railwaymen’s Federa- tion, has in this issue an analysis of the recent All-India Trade Union Congress, which was the scene of the arrest and expulsion from India of Jack Johnstone, long connected with the T. U. E. L. and representing the world Anti-Imperialist movement at the Indian Labor Congress. The congress, after hearing Jack Johnstone’s speech and witnessing his arrest, voted to affiliate with the League Against Imperialism. It also decided to set up town labor councils and to fight the Trade Dis- putes Act, the Anglo-Indian crim- inal syndicalism bill. Valuable Material. Labor Unity, carrying such im- portant articles as these, and car- tying all the news of the organiza- tion steps’ being taken for the Trade Union Unity Congress at Cleveland, is:a paper, no class-conscious worker should ‘niiss. * The discussion now running in it on strike strategy is alone some- thing eyery worker must take seri- ously enough to cause him to buy the paper, ~ Proletarian Woman . © By A.B, MAGIL. a day of toil is done, ‘ to the house of the three chill rooms. Tiredness like a'fierce river flooded flesh and bone, ‘And-through her:brain the idiot whirring of the looms ee . made meaningless | Cried through the long tombed years against beast-mills that All life away ; their sharp unpassionate nakedness Had pressed on her so long—now she was big with hate. And was it a wonder that when the strike came, for the first ‘Time in years spring ran through her’ with # shout |Of blood and something exultant seemed suddenly to burst Was it a wonder she came out and stayed out?... Hert a Soc ea me faltered or that she. “the A. F. of L. and will lead the ‘| unconditional release to: Col. Wm. Fighter jHe was arrested and within two |hours he was turned over to mili- |tary authorities. | After three weeks at Fort Rod-| man where he was held incommuni- | cado, he was sent to Fort eal Rhode Island. During this period he |was subjected to the most brutal treatment by the military who tried | to break his spirit. The officers were unsuccessful. | Porter remained true to the working |class in spite of the threats of the | | officers to court-martial him for} membership in the Young Workers. Communist League and for his | | leadership in the New Bedford tex- | tile strike. Nation-Wide Protest. A nation-wide protest started by |the Young Workers Communist | League and the International Labor | Defense Convificed the authorities that it would be unwise to give Por- ter a life sentence. The officers then tried to get Porter not to make a political defense and assured him} | that if he would follow their advice | he would get away with a month or |/so at the most. Knowing the consequences, Porter | told the court-martial that he de- | serted froni the army because it is | used against the workers. “I would be ready to give my life for a work- ing class army” he declared. The | infuriated officers gave him the | maximum, two and a half years at hard labor. Then he was sent to | Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, where the Commandant, Col. Wm. Morrow, had | demonstrated his vicious hatred of | Communists when Commandant at Alcatraz prison where Paul Crouch {| }and Walter Trumbull were confined. | | Only the working class can free | John Porter. In fighting for his re-| jlease, we will prove to the ruling| |class that they cannot take out of | our ranks our best fighters and rail- road them to prison, | More John Porters With the sharpening of the class struggle we will have more and more John Porters. Many servicemen will realize their duty to use their mili- tary knowledge on the side of the working class instead of being tools of the capitalists. Larger numbers of young workers will come into’ our ranks from the factories. Passaic ; produced such splendid youthful fighters as Jack Rubinstein and Bill Seroka. The mining struggle gave jus Tony Minerich, who is now in one of the Ohio jails. The Néw Bed- ford strike brought John Porter to the front as a leader of the Revolu- tionary youth and an inspiration in our anti-militarist work, The wave of textile strikes ‘in the South will bring to the front more militant youthful fighters who, together with the adult revolutionary workers will root out the corrupt labor fakers of working class to final victory thru their own organizations. Today the struggle for the free- dom of John Porter is part of the struggle against ‘ rationalization, capitalist militarism and the war danger. * * iJ Write to Porter! Porter at present is being held strictly incommunicado and very few lettesr are permitted to reach him. Letters to him, however, demonstrate the solidarity of the workers with Porter and have great significanc2 to the authorities. Work- ers are asked to write to John Porter (Walerysiak), U. S. D. B., Ft. Leavenworth, Kan: and also letter demanding Porter's immediate Morrow, Commandant, U. S. D. B., Ft, Leavenworth, Kansa: * Mass Demonstration. A mass demonstration to demand the release of Porter b d in Copyright, 1929, by International Publishers Co., Ine. ities Dili HAYWOOD'S BOOK Strike of 16,000 Iron Miners; “An Eye for An Eye, A Tooth for A Tooth”; Workers On Trial Betrayed by Lawyers Haywood has described the great labor struggles from 1880 on to the outbreak of the world war, to Lawrence and Paterson textile strikes. During most ofthis period, Haywood was a labor. leader, striving always to give a more revolutionary turn to the spontaneous discontent of the masses. He was for years secretary-treasurer of the Western Federation of Miners, helped to orgdnize the I. W. W., ; and lead it after its organization, was on the national executive com- | mittee of the socialist party until expelled for advocating direct In the last issue Haywood had testified before the Indus- | All rights rese,ved. Republica- tion forbidden except by permisstcn, action. trial Relations Committee of ‘1916 about his idea of the workers’ state, and defended the theory that all wealth belongs to labor. Hie testimony continues below. H oe ® By WILLIAM D HAYWOOD. PART 92. s dhoenkes P. WALSH, Chairman of the Commission, put some questions to me: I have some questions that I have been requested to ask you that have been sent up, and I wish that you would answer them as briefly as you can. 3 One is, do you not consider the exploitation of children in industry under the present system'a form of violence of a very insidious and brutal sort? Answer: I most certainly do. It is only one of the terrible violences that are practiced by the capi- talist class. Chairman Walsh: Then there is another: ‘ques- tion:. Will I.W.W.ism do away with crime and crim- inals? If not, how will you organize your society to protect the well-behaved many against the vicious few? Answer: Industrial will do away with crime and criminals, as 95 per cent of the crime today is crime against property, Abolishing the wage system—abolishing private property—will remove 95 per cent of the crime. . *_ * * Te strike of the iron miners of Minnesota in 1916 was a great event in the history of the Industrial Workers of the World, though one thing occurred during this strike that caused an indelible black mark against the organization. This was the conyiction of three of the strikers on a charge of murder. I will describe the affair later. The strike began at the Silver Mine at Aurora, which was an iron property where the conditions under which the miners were working became unbearable. For example, there were places underground where the miners were compelled to drag timber through places so small that’ they had to get down on all fours in the slush and mud and drag the | heavy timber to the places wheré they were working. Demands were It rapidly extended to made for improvements, and the strike began. Some the Mesaba, the Cayuna and Vermilion iron mining districts, 16,000 men were involved in the strike. This was at a time when the United States Steel Corporation was flooded with war orders from all countries engaged in, the carnival of murder. The first move of the Steel Trust was to call out the guards and gunmen of the company. Then the governor of the state sent the militia into the iron districts for the purpose of breaking the’ strike. Governor Burnquist issued an order that were to be no parades, processions, or demonstrations of the strikers. This would ‘have. de« prived the men of one of their strongest means of agitation, The order was ignored. . * * A FINNISH worker by the name of John Alar was killed while sitting on the porch of his house with his babe in his arms. This murder occurred at Eveleth. The dead miner’s funeral was the occasion of a great demonstration of miners from all the different ranges. Those who went from the town of Virginia carried a streamer at the head of the procession upon which was inscribed: “An eyg for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” The organizers of the I.W.W, were at the head of this parade followed by a band of music. As they marched along, gunmen and guards lined the sidewalk. When the funeral speeches were being made at the graveside, this old Biblical oath was adopted by the miners of several different nationalities by uplifted right hand. This fact was later used in a trial when the organizers of the I.W.W. were arrested, charged with the murder of a gunman, one of a gang which organized in Duluth to go up on the range and clean up or drive out the leading men of the strike. They went to the home of a miner by the name of Masonovitch with whom two other miners were boarding, Geogorovitch and Orlanditch. A fight was started and the shots that were fired killed two men, one the driver of a grocery wagon, a Finnish worker named Latvala, and the gunman Myron, This skirmish was immediately followed by the arrest of Masono« vitch and the other two miners as well as of the organizers of the I.W.W., Joe Schmidt, Sam Scarlett and Carlo Tresca. The men wel all put in prison in Duluth, and held there without bail. isis ‘ Seat I AT once started a campaign for their defense. I sent to Denver for Judge Hilton, whom we had previously employed on behalf of Joe Hill and who took the place of Clarence Darrow in the defense of George Pettibone at Boise, Idaho. I also sent for a young lawyer by the name of Whitsell, who had worked for the Western Federation of Miners during the Boise trial. We employed local counsel in Minne- sota, and felt that we were well prepared to defend not only the or- ganizers who were facing the terrible charge of murder, but also the striking miners who were involved. Joe Ettor, who was then the general organizer of the I.W.W., had been doing some work in Scranton, Penna., and vicinity. He had. not been very active since the Lawrence strike. He arrived on the ground shortly after the strike began and also started collections for the de- fense. What with his work and that of the general headquarters, a large sum of money was raised. When the case came to trial, I got word through the press of the conviction of the three miners. At once I wired Ettor to file an ap- plication for a new trial. I was dumbfounded to learn from him that the miners had pleaded guilty and had been sentenced from one to twenty-years in the penitentiary. I telegraphed him at once to come with the organizers who had been released to headquarters. With them came Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, who had also been working in the strike. es 8 @ TN going over the situation carefully, it developed that the arrange- ment for a plea of guilty on the part of the miners had been made in the Duluth prison. It was agreed that the miners would plead guilty and get a sentence of one year, while the organizers of the I.W.W. were to be released and the charge of murder against them quashed. The scene in the court was a farce. The miners who were not conversant with ‘the English language found that they had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were sentenced to from five to twenty years. _ Joe Schmidt, a Polish organizer, said to me at the conference at headquarters: “It was wrong, Bill, wrong from beginning to end. Those men should never have been sent to prison.” Scarlett substantiated the words of Schmidt, I then looked to Ettor, Flynn and Tresca for an explanation. I did not expect much from Tresca, as he was not a member of the organization, though he had done effective work dur- sing the Lawrence strike in Massachusetts. Ettor and Flynn said it was the best that could be done. I told Ettor in plain language that when he was being held for murder in Lawrence, the organization would not have permitted him to plead guilty to anything, not even to spitting on the sidewalk, The three of them knew that an injustice had been done to the convicted miners who were now on their way to the penitentiary. Their part in the affair terminated their connection with the LW.W. Ettor and Flynn had long been connected with the I.W.W. and were eurnest and vigorous workers. They should not have allowed themselves to be entrapped by lawyers who would rather “fix” a case than try it, We * * eo