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

rte ly Se Worker Central Organ of the Communist Party of the U. S. A. Co., Inc York Cit e: “DAWA International May Day and the Children The International May Day of the workers of all countries and oppressed colonial peoples enlists not only labor in the factories, the mills and the mines, including women and youth, enrolls not only the militant toilers along the country-side, but also calls the children, in the schools and workshops, to rally to its banners for renewed struggle against the common op- ; pressor—the capitalist social order. The world reaction develops on every hand its resistance to this May Day solidarity of labor. In the United States the American Federation of Labor ignores May Day completely, choosing instead the Labor Day, in September, legalized by the capitalist government. In other countries, also in the United States, the Socialists sabotage the observance of May THE FINAL TOUCH OF HYPOCRISY DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1929 # I Herbert Heover by | praciat | MAY IS i do her To be " National 'CHILD yf HE ALT > DAY By Fred Ellis a ie il BIL ; HAYWOOD’S tion forbidden except by permission, “3.7.77” and the Murder of Frank Copyright, 1929, by International Publishers Co., Ine. All rights reserved. Republica- BO Little; the Nation-Wide Raid on the I. W. W.; Be- ginning of a Year in Jail. Haywood has brought the story of his life and act labor movement, particularly the militant metal mi { tions of the West through a long series of exciting and important struggles, strikes, murders, frame-up, speaking tours, ctc., up to the point of the declaration of the ‘‘state of war.” In the last chapter, ag secretary-treasurer of the I.W.W., he tells of that organization’ reaction to the war, and of its published appeal, after de n of the General Executive Board, to all members to claim exemption from draft as “I.W.W. and opposed to the war.” Now go on reading. + 8 * By WILLIAM D HAYWOOD. PART 96. FTER the meeting of the Executive Board, Frank Little, a Board member, went to Bute, Montana, to assist in the strike there. He Day, seeking to dilute the fighting spirit of the working class to the point of strict legality. In Italy, Mussolini has tried to abolish May Day completely, instituting fascism’s was hobbling around on crutches with leg in a plaster cast, as it had been broken just before he left Arizona. But he felt, in spite of this handicap, that he could do something to help the miners who were then on strike in Butte. He was an energetic “Labor Day,” April 21 instead, the anniversary of the founding of Rome. In France the police force and military is being strengthened against the May Day threat of labor. Raids and arrests are on the order of the day in Pilsudski’s fascist Poland. Similar tremors of fear shoot through the capitalist order everywhere. In the United States, labor rallies as never before for May Day’s observance. Demonstrations in the open, take the place of indoor meetings, on an increasing scale. The day’s observance grows so great that President Hoover, like the fascist dictator, Mussolini, feels some counter- movement must be started. So he has declared May First to be National Child Health Day. This is another effort of the capitalist to stifle the real May Day. But it, too, will fail. President Herbert Hoover’s declaration is merely an idle and hypocritical gesture. Both the republican and demo- cratic parties, allied with the Catholic Church and great busi- ness, helped kill the proposed anti-child labor amendment to the federal constitution. The same agencies join hands in keeping within the prison walls of numerous factories the 3,500,000 children now shackled to the industrial machine of the profit takers. It is the Young Pioneers of America, the organization of children that scoffs at Hoover’s fraudulent “Health Day,” that calls upoh the children of the working class to mobilize for greater demonstrations on this International May Day against child labor, against preparations for another military attack on the Soviet Union, in support of striking workers everywhere, and for complete observance of the slogan—“Out of School on May Day!” Just as the slogan for the workers in industry, of “Down Tools on May Day!” strikes terror in the hearts of the capi- talists, just so the slogan of the school children, “Out of School on May Day!” paralyzes the ruling class with fear, since this is plain evidence that it is impossible to poison com- pletely the minds of the young. Oaths of allegiance, to be re-sworn every day, even by the teachers at the requests of the jingo Daughters of the American Revolution, pay-tripotic exercises on every occasion, flag-waving and goose-stepping; all these have been ineffectual in completely cramping child- | hood in the straightjacket of things as they are, which the up- holders of the present capitalist social order seek to continue indefinitely. | The children will come out of the schools on May Day to show their solidarity with the children in the factories, especially with the children who have joined their lot with the | men and women strikers in the textile mills of the South. | As workers’ children they will take their rightful place | in the working class celebration of International May Day. This will not be very healthy for the capitalist regime espoused by President Hoover and the parasites for whom he rules. ROSE Ce se eater seiner | | On May Day—fight for social insurance against unem- loyment, sickness and old age; for the organization of the morganized; for militant, fighting unions. Long live the Cleveland Trade Union Unity Convention! Greetings to Our Communist Youth Twenty-two years have passed since the Stuttgart Con- gress, where with the help of Karl Liebknecht, all the scat- tered proletarian youth organizations were welded into a single international body. That year also marked the found- ing of the first Marxian youth club in the United States. | In the maelstrom of events since, especially during the World War, the influence of Stuttgart was always on the side of the battle against the Socialist betrayers. The Com- munist Youth International, born out of the fight against the imperialist war and for the Russian Revolution, can already point with pride to its growth into a really inter- national organization having sections which have carried on hetoic class war in every part of the world. Our American Young Workers Communist League is to- night opening its fifth convention, exactly one month before its seventh birthday. During these seven years it has made tremendous progress, and tho it is yet small and comparatively weak, yet we can truthfully say that thru its splendid work in the mass struggles of the country it has established itself as worthy of the traditions of Stuttgart and the Communist Youth International. The war danger, the uprisings of the toilers in the Ameri- can colonies, the increasing importance of the youth in. the working class at home, these and other factors make it both possible and necessary that the League prepare itself for much greater tasks than ever before. With Bolshevik unity and iron discipline the fifth convention can perform a truly historic role. __ We extend to the Fifth Convention of the Communist Youth heartiest revolutionary greetings! ‘Demonstrate your solidarity with the striking miners, , food and shoe workers on May Day, and against the ~~ socialist party and the capitalist flunkeys of the ) revolutionary proletariat. ers—the Sheidemanns, Noskes, Hen- dersons, | militant | America is looked upon as the might- i | By ANTHONY BIMBA. ORTY years ago (1889) the So- cialist Congress in Paris pro-| claimed the First of May an Inter-| national Labor Day. The same con- gress also founded the II Interna- tional. Today the II International; is dripping wet with blood of the Its lead- Vanderveldes—are hang- men of the workers for the inter- national bourgeoisie. The celebration of the First of} May as an International Labor Day goes on from year fo year with ever inereasing revolutionary fervor and ilitancy. As a revolutionary tra- ion the celebration of the First of May has been inherited by the Sommunist International, founded ten years ago at Moscow—the cap- tol of the first fatherland of the international proletariat, the center of hope and inspiration for the op- pressed of the world. The celebration of the First of May by the workers as their own holiday, as the day of struggle and \class solidarity originated in Amer- ica in 1886, forty-three years ago. In militancy the American labor movement was at the head of the in- ternational proletariat at that time. The eyes of the world were turned | toward America as the home of the vanguard of the working class in its struggle against the international bourgeoisie. Today once more the eyes of the |world are turned toward America. but no longer as the home of the labor movement. Today iest imperialist power in the world. In 1886 the labor movement of America was showing the way to the workers of the world. In 1929 our working class is far behind the workers of other countries in its po- litical and economical struggles. The First of May as an Inter- national Labor Day was born as a direct result of a struggle on the part of the workers for a shorter working day. It is the day'on which the workers of America, forty-three years ago, declared a general strike | for the eight-hour day. On October 7,-1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada, the predecessor of the pres- ent American Federation of Labor, at its convention in Chicago, adopt- ed the following historical decision: Resolved, by the Federation of Organized. Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada, that eight hours shall constitute a legal day’s labor from and after May 1, 1886, and that. we recommend to labor organiza- tions throughout this jurisdiction that. they so. direct their laws as to conform to this resolution by” the time named. The convention also officially in- vited the Knights of Labor “to coop- erate in the general movement .to establish the eight-hour day.” But how was this great aim to be achieved ?.The convention answered: THROUGH A_ GENERAL STRIKE. vs & It was a daring move on the part of the Federation, which at that. time had only about, 50,000 mem- bers. It had a correct perspective and a will to fight. The conditions were ripe. The masses of American workers were ready for one of the greatest battles fought on the class struggle arena. 2 The, labor movement was on thi upward trend. The activities of the National Labor Union from 1867 to. 1872; the formation of the Amer- ican egstion of the First Interna- | tional -in 1872; the militant strike of|they reaffirm their to fight on and win. the anthracite miners in 1875, which culminated in the execution of seven- | teen miners in Pottsville and Mauch Chunk in 1877; the general railroad strike in 1877, in which tens of workers were mercilessly slaughter- ed by the armed forces of the gov- ernment; the formation of the Fed- eration of Organized Trades. and Labor unions in 1881; the phenom- enal rise of the Knights of Labor, and its militant strikes from 1883 to 1886—all these movements indicated the forward march of thes American working clags. The great eight-hour day strike | of 1886 involved hundreds of thous- ands of workers all over the coun- try. The heart of the struggle was in Chicago where the labor move- ment was led by revolutionary so- cialists (“anarchists”). ‘There the fight ended labor leaders to the gallows. The ruling class cduld not crush the militancy of the workers with- out first exterminating their mili- tant leaders. In 1877 leaders were swung in order that the coal barons might crush the resist- ance of the miners; in 1886 the lead- erful, world. Yankee imperialist rule. ready see the first signs of their re- volt. workers and peasants of Nicaragua under the leadership of Sandino; the militant strike of the banana work-| their ranks, to unify their forces with the Haymarket | tragedy, a frame-up which sent five | | the leadership of the |Party; the spontaneous the workers of Argentina, etc., show | that the protest against Yankee im- seventeen | May Day--A Day of Struggle What is the significance munist movement, in particular. First of all, we know that we} a i have to contend with the most pow- Negro masses with the Communist in the| ¢ in Latin | icalization process going on in the| overtime whenever they could. ; America is more open than ever be-| Working class of America, of the | «Qvertime is scab time, any time there are, some who are working no fore. On the other hand, the work-| awakening of the American labor ers and peasants of South America| movement, of the development of and Central America are learning | the will to fight, on the part of the very rapidly the real meaning of| unskilled and semi-skilled workers. | brutal Today imperialism its rule We al- The heroic struggle of the ers of Colombia several months ago; the united front movement: of work- | ly. united Communist Party can ers and peasants of Mexico under} meet the challenge of the Communist | class and their lackeys strikes of | American Federation of Labor and} perialism is growing in Latin Amer- ica, On this First of May the working | lclass of the United States and its| termination. ers of the eight-hour day movement | Tevolutionary vanguard must re- were framed-up and murdered with the intention of destroying movement itself. The role of the leaders of the Knights. of Labor in the general} was that of strike-breakers | strike and traitor: They refused to join the Federation in the historical ruggle, and sent secret instruc- tions to their member: part in the strike. It is true that | over two hundred thousand members went over the heads_ of their lead: ‘ers and joined the struggle, never- | Powderly, head of the Knights, and others was a severe blow to the suc- cess of the strike. It also knocked the bottom out of the Knights of Labor themselves. The workers lost their faith in the organization that _ betrayed them at the time of great: est need, and began to abandon it. On the other hand, the eight-hour day strike laid the basis for the | growth of the Federation of Organ- jized Trades and Labor Unions, which at its convention in the same | year changed its name to the Amer- ican Federation of Labor. Its in- |fluence increased enormously. Its j tanks were swelled by tens of thous- /ands of new recruits, ¢ The eight-hour day. struggle of 1886 proved, above every thing else, as a weapon in the hands of the workers,. The idea. of a. general strike became deeply rooted in. the minds of the revolutionary proletar- iat, not only of America, but of the entire world. Forty-three years ago the A. F. of L, initiated and led a general strike for the eight-hour day. Today the same A. F. of L, is an agency of strike-breakerism,. In 1886 it was leading the strike; in 192g it is en- gaged in the most open and brutal attacks upon ‘strikers, The misleaders of the American Federation of Labor today have nothing to do with the. celebration of the First of May as an Inter- national. Labor Day. The yellow socialist party. merely gives lip service to the First of May. Only the revolutionary workers led by the Communist Party of America are today carrying on the revolu- tionary traditions of the labor move- ;ment of 1886. On the First of May of every year its members review their activities of the past and pre- pare themselves for the battles of the future. On this’day of struggle trade workers, not to take | Parations |a@ pavifist character. ereating an illusion in the minds of the effectiveness of a general strike | | affirm and strengthen the bonds of | the | Solidarity with the workers and| danger of a new war is greater today than ever before. The ruling class of America is lead- ing the bourgeois world in its pre- for a new imperialist slaughter. On the one hand it comes into conflict with England over the world market. On the other hand it the Soviet Union. government upon every attempt to {organize the unskilled and semi- | Skilled workers into militant indus- j trial unions, corruption of the trade union bureaucracy for the services \of Wall Street, complete unity be- tween the government and big busi- ness—all these mean only one thing; prepar@tion for another world war. Our fight against American imper- ialism and the war danger is not of We are not the workers that they will be able to really prevent another world war. As long as capitalism exists, wars cannot be prevented. We say to the workers: Be ready! Mobilize your forces under the Communist leader- ship in order to transform the im- perialist war into the struggle for Reaction is on the increase. in this country. Bloody fascism is raising its ugly head. The National Guard, the state militia, the American Legion, gangsterism in industrial disputes, police brutality in the strikes, ‘persecution of foreign born workers, ‘ete. is fascism. on the American scale. On the other hand, slowly. but surely, with ever-increasing tempo, the workers of -America are rising against their enemies. The fight of the miners against the coal barons and the reactionary leaders. of the United Mine Workers of America, the heroic struggle of the - textile workers, the strike of the dressmak- ers, the spontaneous outbursts of the shoe workers, the revolt of the food workers in New York, etc., the form- ation of new, militant industrial unions among the miners, shoe workers, textile ‘workers, needle determination , jon of the| growth of the influence of the Com-| First of May of 1929 to the working | munist P; class of America in general, and to] sified activities of the Young Work- its revolutionary section, the Com-|ers Communist League among the |armed forces of the bourgeois gov- f ‘ say | BLY, i ide. peasants of Latin America against | eS, Poh ore aide American imperialism, against the rule of Wall Street. The | Communist | leader of the awakening labor move-! is preparing for a war to recat eae pete Ponte life. | ism is doomed. theless this treacherous attitude of | “44, yationalization in industry, | head of bloody fascism will be | speed-up system, reduction of wages, | Crushed by the Communist batallions piece work, unemployment, growth | of the world. In all corners of the of misery among thegnasses, brutal | arth, on all continents, among all attacks by the employers and their | faces of the exploited and oppressed, the overthrow of your ruling class! call of the Labor Unity Conferenee June ist, at Cleveland, the y of America, the inten- | ernment, the campaign to reach the message, etc.—are signs of the rad- The “Open Letter” of the Com-| of America, is a timely call for the} | for the coming battles. Only a solid- | ruling from the the yellow socialist party. On this day of class solidarity we | pledge ourselves to carry on our} revolutionary tasks in the future) with greater vigor, and stronger de- The Communist International, which celebrates its tenth annivers- The Communist of the| is the} Party of America, section International, ment of this country. The future belongs to us, to the workers of the world. Communism must win over capitalism. Already | today one-sixth of the earth is! marching forward under the banner | of the Communist International to The ugly hundreds of thousands of red fight- ers are today R the victory of italism. We greet the revolting workers and peasants of India. We hail the struggle of the masses of Africa and Australia. We extend our revolu- tionary hand to the workers and peasants of Latin America. We hail the courageous fight of the Com- munists of Europe against the treacherous social democracy. We rejoice at the success of socialist construction in the Soviet Union. We send our greetings to the tens of thousands of our comrades, the victims of fascism and_ reaction, languishing in the capitalist dung- eons of the bourgeois, countries. We bow our heads before the graves of the countless victims of the murder- ous Nationalist Government of China. We pledge ourselves to the relentless fight for the release of political prisoners in America, On this day of class solidarity we join with the revolutionary proletar- iat of all countries in one mighty cry: Long live the First of May—th day of class struggle and class solid- arity! Down with industrial peace, with the bourgeoisie! Long live the re- volutionary class struggle! Down with the treacherous Social Democracy! Down with imperialist war! All to the defense of the Soviet Union! Long live the new militant labor movement of America! Long live the Communist Party of America! ledging their all for ‘communism over cap- “He can’t do you any good, he’s in here with you.” worker, part Cherokee Indian, black-eyed, hot-blooded, and feliable. . He addressed several meetings in Butte and it was charged that he made remarks in contempt of the United States troops. While in Butte, Little lived in a Finnish board- ing house near the I.W.W. hall. At 3 o'clock in the morning, August 1, 1917, an automobile load of thugs went to the building where Little had his room. They got into his room, and either dragged or carried him with his broken leg down to the automobile. They fastened a rope around his neck and must have dragged him part or all the way to a railroad bridge where they hung him up by the neck. They pinned to his shirt a card “3-7-77.” * Bill Dunne, then editor of the Butte Bulletin, Tom Campbell and one or two others, got cards with this deadly warning 3-7-77 of the bloody-handed Vigilance Committee. When Frank Little’s body was found, it was taken in charge by the mine workers and a huge funeral was held in the graveyard on the flat below Butte. A motion picture was taken of the ceremony. But this, as well as the motion picture of the funeral of Joe Hill, was taken from head- quarters by a photographer named George Dawson, who lived near Pittsburgh, Pa., and who has since proven to be a Federal agent. ee (0-CALLED independent unions, the railroad organizations and the American Federation of Labor were definitely for the war, and in every division of trade and industry they had secured real personal benefits in the way of an increase in wages, and in some places a reduction of hours with extra pay for overtime. And they worked The I.W.W. adopted the slogan: time.” The country was going mad about the war. On the 5th of Sep- tember, 1917, the secret agents of the Department of Justice swooped down on the I.W.W. like a cloud of vultures. The organization was raided from coast to coast, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of | munist International to its Amer-| Mexieo, The general headquarters, the main offices of the industrial | ican section, The Communist Party unions, the industrial union branches, and the recruiting unions were in the hands of the government. Even the homes of the members jrevolutionary proletariat to close) were invaded. And all of this took place without a search warrant of any kind. The books in which were recorded the transactions of the organiza- tion, the literature, the furniture, typewriters, mimeograph machines, pictures from the wall and spittoons from the floor were seized as evidence and sent to Chicago. Tons upon tons of the property of the Industrial Workers of the World were there piled in the Federal Build- ing. The letters and correspondence were most carefully investigated by the prosecutors of the Federal government. Special men of the judiciary were assigned to this work. An indictment of five counts was found against the officers and members of the Industrial Workers of the World. The laws that we were charged with violating were all passed after the declaration of war. They were emergency measures which were to become null and void after the war was over. The indictment was the cause of another gen- eral raid upon the I.W.W. on September 28, 1917. * * 'HIS time the arrest of the officers and members of the organiza- tion was general. Thousands of them were crowded into jail in all parts of the country. There were three groups that were held, one in Sacramento, Cal., one in Wichita, Kan., and the larger one in Chi- cago, Ill. Members were dragged from their homes and families, single men from their living places, brought to Chicago, shackled and hand- cuffed. The arrests were not a surprise, but no man had left his post, though it would have been easy for many to have escaped.across the border line into Canada or Mexico. The arrests were to have been all at the same hour, and they practically occurred that way, though in Chicago the warrants had not been prepared. When the federal officers surrounded the general headquarters, 1001 West Madison, Chicago, Taro Yashiharo and I were in a barber shop a short distance from the office when some member rushed in and told me what was taking place. As soon as we got shaved we went back to see what was going on. As I opened the door I saw several deputy marshals. I was acquainted with most of them, as they had been in the office several days during the time of the previous raid. One of them said to me: “Mr. Haywood, just step in this machine.” There were several automobiles lined up along the curb. I got in on® and we were driven to the Federal Building, and there taken up into the office of the Secret Service Department. * * ILTON CLAYBAUGH, superintendent of the secret agents, asked me to come into the adjoining room. When I was seated he began to question me about the whereabouts of members of the organization. I told him I had no information to give him. Pagan, a special prosecutor who had been brought from Washing- ton to formulate the indictment, came from another room. He had a copy of Pouget’s Sabotage in his hand. Claybaugh introduced him to me. He said: “Hard lines, Mr. Haywood, but I wish you the best of luck.” The other fellow workers were brought into the room where I was, Marshal Bradley read to us the warrant that should have been served upon each man when he was arrested. This was another of my strange experiences with the law. From there we were taken into the subway of the building, loaded into patrol wagons and driven to Cook County jail. We went into the rear entrance and were put into a small cell, there to wait-<until our names were entered on the books, Chaplin used the time to draw an emblem of the I.W.W. on the wall. This was the same jail in which the Haymarket martyrs were im- prisoned for eighteen months and where they weré hanged. I did not learn the numbers of the cells that they occupied, but it is certain that some of us lived in those cells while we were in the place. When our records were taken, we had to give our names, our birth place, age, religion, etc. Some of the boys, when asked about their religion, answered: “The Industrial Workers of the World.” The guard said: “That’s no religion.” “Well,” they replied, “that’s the only reli- gion I’ve got.” Another question that was asked was—‘Who is your best friend?” One member said: “Bill Haywood.” The guard said: The answer was: * * “That’s all right, he’s my best friend.” * * * “3.7.77” meant a grave according to specifications in Montana: 3 fect wide, 7 feet long, 77 inches deep. * * 8 In the next chapter Haywood tells how.100 rebels were kept over a year before and during trial in the Chicago jail, and what mmuni; tex life was like there. Get a copy of this book free with one yearly SL tuberin to the Daily Worker. “ i ee in