The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 10, 1929, Page 4

ay _ 8:00 p. m. at Billings and Mooney Page Four Long Hours, Low Wages, Bonu S; HEALTH OF THE» SERVICE-MEN WRITE WORKERS IN WORKERS HURT BY ACID FUMES Forced Overtime In Busy Season By a Worker Correspondent. WILMINGTON, Del., (By Mail). fs of Wil- 0 work- 55 years of age. here are over 35. Co. is a textile fin- the goods being import- ed from North and South Carolina, d New Bedford and F: River, s. Here tl » brought ironed, and warehouses. rs, from Very few work The Ba ishing 1 goods nd Hours. Long hours are very long. The work from 7 a. m. to 5:80 p. m. on the day shift, the girls| to 5 p. m. with but 55 minutes ou unch, 23 cents to 45 cents an mus. Very few get 45 "average wage for a girl cents and bonus, and 0 cents to 40 cents an bonus. Some of the 15, old boys get the the girls. ear as { Forced Overtime Labor. eason the work- y every night e to work ne neh. If you don’t ne you will get fired. s pay 24 cents a so they can get of accident and| promise to give ek when you quit it often they find and the worker pay work. you the money 1 loses Unhealthy Work. the partments are the are in con- ; of getting consumption s always full of peculiar as from acids, soda and . The shops are very de h dirty, being cleaned only once a week, eve turday, by the work- ers ther ves. There is a smoking room which| can only be used during lunch hour. | There is also a library, with all) kinds of books to make one a good ve and to fill the workers’ heads | with all sorts of illusions so that} will not think of the rotten con- s they are working under. Need Figiting Union. owns several hun- The ed houses in which its. employes! company a live. The speedup system is ter-| rible. The workers are told that they have a chance for advancement so that with the insurance, bonus, ing and advancement system the ages, shorter hours, and bet- | ‘itions, because they will lose » homes, and often insur- money. What the workers need is to he uni under the National Textile | Wor! Union, and then they will get better wages and conditions. Guardhouse for Least. Offence Given to Rank | and File In the Army (By a Soldier Correspondent) | It is now six months since I was discharged from the army. When I was in camp at Fort} Lawton I was very much interested | in a real workers’ paper. I used to} buy the Daily Worker here at the newsstands because I found it was the best workers’ paper in America. | I used to read about the soldiers in the Red army. | I found out that the Red Army was the only army in which a priv- ate and an officer could talk to each other. Here in the American army a private soldier does not even have} the right to walk on a sidewalk near the officers’ lines. ‘ | The treatment they give a private | soldier is terrible. Sometimes for not cleaning a rifle or a machine gun they give us extra work, some- times from noon till night. And on the second time we are court- martialed and they sometimes take $14 off our pay and give us a month in the guard house. The officers are capitalist servants. After reading of the Red Army I find out it is the best army for the privates in the world. For this reason I became a good sympathizer of the bolshevik army. —AN EX-SOLDIER. Expelled Pittsburgh Student to Speak at: Mooney Protest Meet PITTSBURGH, May 9.—William Albertson, an expelled student of the University of Pittsburgh, will speak at the Labor Lyceum, 35 Miller St., Pittsburgh, Pa., Sunday, May 12th, protest meeting. The subject will be “frame-up and their unjust in- carceration,” and it will be held un- der the auspices of the Hill District International Labor Defense. Wm. Albertson is the president of the liberal club of the University of Pittsburgh and was expelled by the university authorities for his work in behalf of Billings and Mooney. { highly Training Them Young for Wall Street ows Wal. Co s training h Street ar Officers i Wall St mperialist war. WORK WITH COPS, SOLDIERS TOLD Work Together, Says Whalen (By a Soldier Correspondent) I am a member of the National Guard of thi of the coast a: At our last Grover Whalen, police of New York was present. his speech he commended us very i upon our well performed re- before him, and called for tes city, h regiment review in J commissioner very much in common, that of pro- tecting “our city” from all of its enemies, internally and externally. He therefore invited the entire regi- ment to the police review. I can readily see the reason for such remarks when I read the re- ports in the Daily Worker about the present textile strike in the South. The use of the National Guard, who work hand in hand with the police in Gastonia, N. C., for the slugging and bayonetting of American workers on strike for bet- ter living conditions, the arrest, con- viction, and sentence of John Porter to a military prison because of his strike and Union activities in the recent New Bedford textile strike, proves conclusively to me_ that bosses are considered the “city” and workers on strike against the low} wages, long hours and speed-up sys- tem introduced in the factories, are between the police and | the National Guard, since we have} NO OVERTIME = _— INSHAM WARS AB, a in Guardsmen for Coming War (By a Soldier Correspondent) As a member of the Headquarters Co. 58th Brigade, Maryland Na-| d, I was able to clearly | preparation for war. Al- a Headquarters Co. concen- t on communications (radio, telephone) we still had rifle and pistol drill (to prepare us te shoot down our fellow-workers in strikes, such as at Ludlow, Colorado, etc.), as well as in the next war. al the gh tio In our communications work we often had sham wars where we would put up our telephones and | radio and send messages and then | have runners take these messages to! different places, thus preparing us and teaching us how to be a message center in case of war; during these wars, although we often spent an hour or so more than our alloted| time, we received no additional pay | for this. | zation in key industries and the civil | From these facts as well as many others which we could mention the workers can see that the National Guard, as well as the regular army, | C. M. T. C., R. O. T. C., Boy Scouts, etc., are all instruments for their oppression and that the working! class should have nothing to do with} these, but should organize a work- | ia which will fight for the! workers instead of the fat-bellied capitalists. | —NATIONAL GUARDSMAN. | ‘not join one? OZARK MILL HAIL UNION Wages Low In All Gastonia Plants (By a Seamen Correspondent) GASTONIA, N. C. (By Mail).— Say, textile workers, what do you think about the union! I think its the best thing that ever started in Gastonia. I’m in favor of the union and I'll tell you why. The union helps the laboring class of people, and there, are lots of people that don’t seem to care if they are helped or not. I work in the Ozark cotton mill running eight sides and make $10.23 per week and there are others that make still less. If you don’t believe that come down and see for yourself, Now we get only three nights. How do you think workers can live like that? You know when I see these big bo: and rich men driving around in cars I just think how many poor people there are that cannot have a decent living, just because we do not get. enough pay for our work. Think about the children of today that can- not get an education, and another thing the men cannot make a living for their families. Their wives go to work leaving their children at home, Think of the poor widows that work all week and then have to look after their children crying because they haven’t decent clothes to wear. We are in slavery when we are under the bosses working for so little. We can’t make @ living. We were not meant to be slaves, and there are people realizing it and are willing to :elp us. It will be our fault if this strike is not won. Any worker can belong to a union. Why And if you have to fight, go to it. Fight for your rights. I am a textile worker of the Ozark. —OZARK MILL WORKER. Disemploy Yugoslavian Workers, Fire Soldiers, to Bolster the Dictator BELGRADE, May 9.—Rationali- service has commenced by decree of King Alexander, who seeks to con- solidate his dictatorship. Civil service employes are the first to be discharged in the widespread economy campaign waged by the king and his government under the plea of “regenerating the finances of Yugoslavia.” Existing unemploy- ment will be aggravated with the ad- dition of thousands of railroad and |post office employes who are vic-|blame for the accident, say work- tims of the economizing process. Insurance DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, MAY £0, 1929 Schemes in Benc ie vrott M ills in Deleware OPEN SHOPPERS ‘Moscow Today” Comes to | WORK IN FILTH, RULE IN FRISCO. AND BAY CITIES ‘Labor Walkers Sabotage ° Against Workers; (By a Worker Correspondent) | SAN FRANCISCO (By Mail).— | Here are conditions in San Fran- isco and the Bay cities: The carpenters’ union has become a paper organization, with the offi- cials enjoying full prosperity and| laying plans how to fight the “Reds.” The business association has become the real boss of the workers, Ninety per cent of the workers are working in open shops, receiving the lowest wages, as low as $5 a day, while thousands are walking the streets, living in pov- ty and mis | The laund: workers are real slaves. They are sweating blood un- | aer the most unhealthy conditions, speeded up to the limit, and in a short time they become human |wrecks, The officials of the union |co-operate with the bosses, smash- jing any attempt of the workers to |better conditions. Workers who} dare to criticize them are thrown cut of their jobs. The unemployment question in this industry is a grave one io the workers, with the officials doing nothing to solve the problem. In all the other trades the condi- tions are the same. Workers are (working mostly part of the time, | making enough to keep themselves alive. The unorganized workers are | the victims of rationalization, work- | ing 12 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, under the most effective speed-up ‘tem, receiving the low- est wages. The street car workers are working 12 hours a day, 7 days | a week; completely unorganized. | Thousands of tannery workers re- ceive slave wages. The ferry boat workers are working 12 hours a day. |The workers in the basic industries, jsuch as steel, automobile and iron! workers, are the most exploited sec- tion of the working class, The op- pressed workers, such as Mexicans, Negroes, Chinese and Filipinos, are treated worse than animals, victims of their race and color; they are the source of the cheapest labor power. | BOSS NEGLECT KILLS 2 AMBRIDGE, Pa. (By ail).— |Raymond Potter, 29, and Charles |Dawson, 22, both of Monaca, were | killed when they fell from the top \of the Ambridge Junior High School while at work setting coping on the brickwork. The derrick on which |they were drawing up stone broke |in two, hurling the workers 60 feet |to the ground. The company is to lers. ® |have altered their style of produc- Laving off of Pennsylvania Rail Slaves Means Great Speed-up (By a Worker Correspondent) _, veals many startling facts. Follow- PHILADELPHIA (By Mail).—'ing are some of the most outstand- The “Pennsylvania News” the offi- ing: cial organ of class-collaboration, Less Workers, More Speed-U, good-will and company loyalty, inits,| 1. Quoting from the report we sue of April 15, 1929 has printed a Yead, “that the average number of | Digest of the Annual Report for employees during 1928 was 186,319/ the year 1928.” which was a decrease of 15,264 com-| A careful “digest” of this state- pared with that of 1927.” This with ment from a worker's viewpoint re- 4 Very slight decrease in business gover 1927 which necessarily means} Death Follows Speedup of Rail Workers | now embodied in the by-laws of the] gated. They were teased by the few| “Pennsylvania Railroad Clerk’s As-| dollars a month increase that the! sociation,” a company union with! management finally allowed to a officials nominated, elected, and paid | small number of exceptional posi- by the railroad officials. | tions. More and more positions were | Forced to Buy Stock. |abolished. Whole stations were 8. The report reads further, | abolished and the work consolidated “Subscriptions to an allotment of into one central office. Speed-up be- $17,500,000.00 of capital stock was|came a terror and then a habit. made by over 100,000 empolyees.”| Piece-work was installed in billing Needless to say a huge majority of departments which caused men and these employees did so under more) women employees to pound their or less rigid, persuasive methods.! strength away on a typewriter at a The report further reads, “The num-| most inhuman rate of speed. Where ber of stockholders of the Pennsyl-| formerly 45 bills per hour was good, vania Railroad Company was 154,008 | now the requirements are 100 bills at the close of the year.” Deducting | per hour. | the 100,000 employees who were| And now the employees are reap- “asked” to subscribe to one or two/ ing the harvest which they allowea and not more than ten shares, we/ A. F, of L. union leaders to sow for find that 54,008 stockholders are jhem. Looking about them (when- really bona fide, and that the em-\eyer they can grab a few minutes| ployees were deliberately inveigled|jeeway) the once militant union| and “persuaded” into purchasing member ponders and wonders that) shares in order to boost up the the patriotic, free sounding, equal op-| figure. : ” |portanity, etc, phrases which he Thus do we view the situation of had been digesting in the monthly | the workers and their bosses of the! pamphlets issued by the “Brother-| Pennsylvania railroad, the “Standard | hood” were not so wonderful as they Railroad of the World.” While sur- seemed, He wondered why his union veying the ruins of the once upstand-| was so slow in organizing the un- ing “Brotherhood of Railway and) organized railroad workers. He be- Steamship Clerk’s Union” and the! |Lubitsch’s motion picture, “Decep- |the role of the many-wived Henry Photo above shows one result ee cet SAL es ee of the rationalization of Pennsyl- vania R, R. workers, described by a worker correspondent. Several Pennsylvania R. R. slaves died in extreme speed-up, or as the self- styled officials of the P. R. R. call] ary themselves, 's' ciency. The report reads further: “Payrolls amounted to about $344,- 000,000,000 which was a decrease of about $23,000,000.00 as compared with that of the year 1927.” Divid- ing the amount of decrease in pay- rolls by the decrease in number of employees (viz.: $23,000,000.00 divided by 15,264) we find that the average wage of those railroaders who had been permanently dis- employed was $1,500.26 per year or $28.85 per week. However this was the average wage of those employees “Pop Pennsy offi- 2. this wreck, caused by speeding up. whose positions had been abolished. | The lower paying positions were held |intaet wherever possible so that the average real wage per railroad clerk (and only the most efficient clerks now remain) at the present time is between $108 and $125 per month with a comparatively few so-called “executive” positions paying a few dollars more or less per week. Wages Go"Down. It is not uncommon to find em- ployees who had suffered reductions | | in their wages from five to thirty dollars per month as a result of the! seniority-bumping scheme once be-! utter impossibility for this union, which is affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, to now cope with the situation, it is well to go back a little and review the steps by which the bosses had completely an- nihilated any vestige of resistance on the part of the employees and had rendered the union a useless, docile, bureaucratic institution, Class Collaboration. With their slogan “New Relations Between Men and Management” the A. F. of L, officials had allowed the once vigorous union to accept the company union’s proposals to in- crease efficiency and production by speeding up the workers and thereby “letting the employees reap the benefit by increases in wages.” Thus, getting a clear road ahead and getting the co-operation of the employees, the Pennsylvania Rail- road management issued detailed forms that were filled in by the em- ployees as to amount of time taken to perform each separate task, The management followed up by en- gaging efficiency experts who soon made short work of so-called “easy” jobs. Thereupon began the wholesale system of speed-up and abolishing of positions and a mad scramble of dis- placed employees “bumping” other employees, ete, Utter confusion reigned in the ranks of the workers. gun by the A. #, of L, union and They became more and more segre- came suspicious. And there he stopped with a sense of utter futility | and lost hope. | But soon he will come to realize | the role that his “Brotherhood” had | played in betraying him into the) hands of the bosses. He will demand action of the leaders in organizing and accepting into the union those workers who are militant and aware of the situation, who will determine |to make a stand against the treacherous bosses. Soon he will realize that only thru struggle and | continual struggle to keep intact his | victories can he defeat the shrewd, | and clever tactics of his bosses. No |more will he be fooled by such phrases as “New relations between |capital and labor or men and _management” such as has been spon- ! sored by the American Federation of | Labor and the socialist reformists. But best of all he will realize that he cannot look forward to an end of struggle until he conquers his ex- poiters, the capitalists, and puts an end to exploitation, wars, privation, ete., once and for all. He will learn, to be a Communist. —J. F., Pennsylvania R. R. Slave —dJ. F., PENNSYLVANIA R. R. SLAVE Every member an active mem- | ber. Get a new member. Celebrate | the Red month of May by building the Communist Party,» | Film Guild on Saturday “MAOSCOW TODAY,” the latest! Sovkino production, which will receive its American premiere at the Film Guild Cinema on Saturday, represents an original technique and new school of the cinema in Rus- sia called “Kinok.” This screen development is the result of experiments by Dsiga Wer- toff, a young director who insists in calling himself an “author-superin- tendent,” as his conception cf the function of directing is altogether | different from the accepted defini- | tion. Dsiga Wertoff calls himself the open enemy of “play-films,” that | is. those which are not based on re- | jality but which employ actors in- stead of persons and decorations in- stead of real scenery, and utilize a preconceived plot. | Wertoff states “that he does not, | with the aid of authors, actors and scenery men, build up an illusory drama, nor does he pursue any def- inite ies of carefully invented sit- uatiol He “detects” his material by directing the objective of his cam- era right into the core of real life as it flows past him, and these snatches he welds into photographic substance which he calls “Cinema- ye,” cr its slavonic namesake, | “Kino-oko,” hence the name of his school “Kinok.” this group belong not only s who adhere rigidly to the principles, but also those idea, | Wertoff who follow his fundamental namely, to “shoot” only real life. | Their further aim is to concentrate | on activities and to picture life as it truly exists without any furbish- | ings. In that way this group of | “Kinokists” are helping to realize | the new cultural life in the U. S. | S.R. Wertoff's most —_ characteristic achievement, with the assistance of a staff of competent cameramen are called in’ the Soviet Union “film- truths.” These chronicles dealt with specific facts and occurrences of the week and corresponded to the Amer- ican news weeklies excepting that they are filmed with an absorbing exactness and technical efficiency of the highest order that they bring to the Soviet workers the important | events in all parts of the country with a startling vividness. However, Wertoff and his group found that it was very difficult for ; them to capture and hold public at- tention in the face of the splendid films which Russian studios were producing, and taking a cue from public tendencies the Kinok group tion and have created news films which have a tremendously dramatic appeal besides retaining their def- inite documentary significance. Two of his foremost disciple-cam- eramen, Kaufmann and Raisman, following closely the precepts of Wertoff, have created a film, “Mos- cow Today,” which is a penetrating closeup of the Red Capital. They have endeavored to give a complete conception of life in the seething Soviet metropolis and in- stead of making it a polite trav- elogue and picking out the stereo- typed points of interest, they have emphasized more the life of the great masses cf the population so that the onlooker gets the impres- sion not roerely of architecture, boulevards and museums, but the ‘ultitypes of humanity which goes | to make up pfesent-day Moscow. On the same program the Film Guild Cinema will revive Ernest tion,” in which Emil Jannings plays VIII, with Henny Porten as Anne Boleyn. | LOW COMPENSATION DENVER (By Mail).—Employ- ing interests in Colorado have blocked the passage of the compen- sation law desired by workers, but have allowed a partial increase to pass the state senate. The former $12 a week maximum is increased to $14. The minimum goes from $5 to $7. For a Four Weeks’ Holiday for Young Workers! SIXTH JUBILEE CONCERT of the FREIHEIT GESANG VEREIN (over 300 Voices) Saturday Eve., May 18 at 8:30 at CARNEGIE HALL In an exclusive new program of songs and excerpts from “TWELVE” Alexander Block—Music by J. Schaefer and “Walpurgis Night” Mendelsohn. Conducted by Schaefer and Lazar Weiner. Tickets 75c, $1.00, $1.50, $2.00 (only a few). To be gotten at the Freiheit Office, 30 Union Square, and also from mem- bers of the chorus. \Board Does Bidding of “LEAD POISON, HURTS PLUMBER Age Tint Blacklists | Older Men (By a We Don’t you think, fellow plumbers, that it is about time for us to w up and look into cur trade? are the C¢onditio: today hops? The bo: the old help and getting new help for less money. The bo: are try- IN “HELLO DADDY” + Correspondent) ing their best to speed up, killing the plumbers’ help. When they ‘lay off the plumbers’ heipers, the plum- s to carry the tools on his back and do as much work as with a helper. The plumber has miserable work h as to go down and clean is cold, Bett; , one of the fe players in the Lew Fields r show, “Hello Daddy,” now at Er- langer’s Theatre. getting all kinds of es, such as lead poisoning from the lead work. Ab 1 not hire a plum- ber if he he ray hair; they want young, healthy men. After 10 pletely broken. This is what the plumbers get for $7 or $8 a day. Fellow plumbers, in order to bet- ter our conditions, we have to or- ganize, I mean organize into a pow- erful, militant unicn, In this way we can win the seven-hour day, five days a week, wages of $10 a day, two weeks’ vacation a year and force ihe bosses to supply with bber gloves for cleaning sewers. We must win our demand for a helper for every mechanic and abolish the wage limit, and must demand that the boss discharge no workers with- cut consulting a workers’ commit- tee. N. Y. PLUMBER. Power Company FORTY FORT, Pa., (By Mail).— The appeal of Joseph and Annie Germick, 1642 Wyoming Ave., for, compensation for the death of their son Joseph, killed while employed by the Pennsylvania Power and) Light Company, was denied by the Workmens’ Compensation Board here. Young Germick, it was proved, had contributed $70 monthly to the sup- port of his parents while working at | Allentown. Referee Lewis, however, declared that they were not depend- ent on the son’s earnings. His at- titude was supported by the board, whose members waived aside im- portant testimony of the parents in the interests of a favorabie decision for the power company. To strengthen the power com- pany’s case, the referee even re- ported that neither contributions from the killed worker nor from his brother George were necessary | to maintain the household of the vic- timized parents. MISLEADER BETRAYS GLASGOW, Scotland (By Mail). —After the Glasgow dockers had given a month’s notice that they 2 would not work Saturdays after ncon, and after 4 a. m. after work- ing nights, the Conciliation Com- mittee, headed by Ernest Bevin, British labor misleader, told the dockers they were wrong and must accept the bosses’ demands to work overtime, NEWARK BUILDERS GAIN NEWARK, N. J. (By Mail).— Bricklayers, plumbers and carpen- ters here have gained the five-day week, effective July 1. A three-year agreement calls for an increase on ‘Oct, 1. Make every factory our fortress. Organize shop nuclei. Issue shop papers. Build the Communist Party. Theatre Guild Productions € H CAMEL Through the Needle‘sEye MARTIN BECK THEA. 45th W. of &th Ave. Evs. 8:59 Mats., Thurs. t. 740 Mans Estate by Beatrice Blackmar and Bruce Gould BILTMORE Theatre, Ww. 47th Street Eves. 8 Mats, Thurs.&Sat. THREE WEEKS! CAPRICE A_ Comedy by Sil-Vara GUILD “hea.” ss. Ev Mats., ‘Thurs, LAST WEEKS! Strange Interlud 5 2 GOLDIN Oe ohn ( ‘N_Thea., OLDEN," of B'way EVENINGS ONLY AT 5:30 THEA 8.50. Ma | JOHN DRINKWATER’S BIRD HAND | MOROSCO 'Chanin’s MAJESTIC Theatre } 44th St., West of Broadway | Eves. 8:30; Mats.: Wed. & Sat. 2:30 | The Greatest and Funniest Revue Pleasure Bound The Thrilling Story of a South American Communal State “Red Majesty” Filmed and Presented By Harold Noice, Wrangel Island Rescue Hero 5th Ave. Playhouse 66 FIFTH AVENUE, Corner 12th St. Continuous 2 p.m, to Midnight Daily JAIL MILITANT SEAMEN NAPIER, New Zealand (By Mail) -~New Zealand seamen are angered over the jailing of five militant sea- Y men, Derbyshire, Mulholland, Mac- L I D A kenzie, Hewett and Farmer, because Comedy Hit by PHILIP BARRY of their part in a strike of the S. Thea. W. 45 St. Ev. 8.50; Tangaroa sailors against the Rich- PLYMOUTH Mats. Thurs. & Sat. 2.35'2rdson Co. for better wages. ICOR’ CONCERT FOR JEWISH COLONIZATION IN SOVIET RUSSIA ARTHUR HOPKINS H O presents Famous International Balladist and Singer VICTOR CHENKIN CARNEGIE HALL 57th Street and Seventh Avenue SUNDAY, MAY 12TH, AT 8:115 P.M, CHARLES RECHT (of the New York Bar) Chairman M. J. OLGIN, Speaker NEW SOVIET FILM (depicting the life of Jewish Colonists in Russia) “FROM KASRILOWKA TO BIRO BIDJAN” Admission: 75c, $1.00, $1.50, $2.00—“ICOR”, 799 Broad- way, Room 514, New York.