The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 15, 1929, Page 6

Page Six oN. =SeK2 Wi cleoee | THE AMERICAN SOCIALIST PARTY TAK Daily 325 Worker Central Organ of the Communist Party of the U. S. A. Published by the Sunday, at > Telephone od Compr except “Stuy commen SUBSCRIPTION R : By Mail (in New York only): $8.00 a year $4.50 six months By 1 (outside of New York $6.00 a year 0 six months ) three months Address and mail all checks to the Da Union y Worker, New York, ¥. N. Militancy In the Building Industry. It is clear that the lockout threat of the New York build- ing employers can only be met effectively by the militant program of the left wing urged by the Building and Con- struction Workers’ Section of the Trade Union Educational League. The popularization of this program, winning for it mass support among the 75,000 workers affected by the lockout decision unanimously reached by the Building Trades Em- ployers’ Association, to take effect at five o’clock today, be- comes the major task on labor’s side of this developing struggle. This is not a time for the “peace and conciliation,” urged t by H. H. Broach, international vice presi of the Brother- hood of Electrical Workers, who was the first to se the white flag of surrender and retreat in the face of the em- ployers’ attack, offering to sell out the solidarity of the work- ers in bargaining for the withdrawal of the lockout threat. This is a time for struggle and preparation for more struggles. The workers cannot promote their interests under the banners of the building trades department of the American Federation of Labor, that refuses to organize the unorganized, that does not recognize the changing conditions in the in- dustry, that maintains its “class peace” relations with the employers, and betrays the workers in the industry at every opportunity. It is clear that the powerful building trades bosses are attempting at this moment to drive an entering wedge into and split such organizational strength as does exist at the present time among building trades workers. The great employers base their lockout decision, that rescinds the ten per cent wage increase and five-day week granted on May 4, on the effort to force the use of non-union electrical workers on jobs where sympathetic strikes are now being waged in support of Electrical Workers’ Union, Local No. 8. The bosses claim they had the promise of John Hal- kett, head of the Building Trades Council, for the calling off of these sympathetic strikes, which means an acceptance of the use of non-union labor on these jobs and the betrayal of the electrical workers. Halkett is silent under these charges. If Halkett entered into such an agreement, the pressure from the workers in the industry has temporarily forced him to change his po tion. There seems to be considerable basis for the charges made by militant workers in the industry that the lockout order is the actual result of a deliberate conspiracy between the building bosses and A. F. of L. building trades council officials in an effort to break the strikes of the electrical workers against several New York employers, and also to break down the comparatively high wage standards of favored workers in the industry. The development of the struggle will make this clearer. It is very clear that the powerful profit takers in the building industry feel that now is the time to wage open and vicious war against the workers, to smash the trade unions that exist, to fight the shorter workday movement,; to de- press wages and conditions of work. Wages have been on the increase during the so-called “building boom” spread over the 12-year period since the American entry into the world war. During this period union membership increased. Today, however, the workers suffer under the murderous speed-up, falling wages and a growing jobless crisis. At the same time there are increasingly powerful forces at work bringing about a “revolution” in the industry. Build- ing construction has become more and more an assembling process, with an increasing amount of work being done in mills and factories, with the use of the latest improved ma- chinery manned by unorganized workers. The building trades heads have refused to organize these shop workers and have acquiesced in agreements with the employers for the use of non-union material. Specialization, sub-division of work, labor-saving machinery and the speed-up have made their appearance on the building jobs as well, increasing the productivity and cutting down the number of workers neces- sary, at the same time eliminating the skilled worker. This also inevitably results in growing and permanent unemploy- ment. It is clear that the present trade union leadership, that has permitted such a situation to develop, is the enemy of the working class, not only in the building trades but through- out allindustry. This treason can only be fought on the basis of an effective program meeting the present crisis. Militancy in the building trades includes in its demands the fight for the 7-hour day and five-day week in order to decrease the demoralizing effect of rationalization on the workers; uniform building trades agreements to expire at the same time in May, to be ratified by referendum and enforced by rank and file control; a joint drive by all unions to or- ganize the unorganized; for social insurance against dis- ability, old age and unemployment; the fund to be provided by industry and administered by the unions; mass violations of all injunctions in labor disputes and struggle against the enactment of anti-strike laws; development of job control through job committees and stewards so as to stop the hire and fire system and put an end to speed-up methods; re- instatement of all union members expelled or suspended for their opinions and restoration of revoked charters; no dis- crimination against Negroes or workers of other races; amal- gamation of the building trades and abolition of ruinous jutisdictional disputes, for the centralization and the unifica- tion of the forces of all building trades workers; recognizing the class struggle as a political struggle, and support of a political party composed of and in the interest of labor; the organization along industrial lines of shops supplying build- ing material, the federal, state‘and municipal workers, en- gineering construction, alteration and maintenance workers and ship building, with special attention at all times to youth workers. These are some of the demands raised by the Construc- tion Workers’ Section of the Trade Union Educational League, that has fought continuously for militant action by labor in the building industry. They should get the support of every worker fighting for his class interests in the loom- : ing war on this important front in the class struggle. RK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 1s, Yorv Ya (The third of a series of articles on the Cleveland T. U. E. L. con- vention to be held June 1 and 2. The final article, dealing with the organization of the Negro work- ers, wil! appear in the next issue.) By WM. Z. FOSTER. HE reactionary leadership of the U. &. series of denunciations and attacks. Fight the Reform ES A LESSON ist Labor Leaders surance for the -workers, the reac- tionary labor leadership is a tool in |L..and S. P. leaders, is merely the | nationalization program of the capi- By Fred Ellis de Union Unity Convention the labor bureaucrats as the ration- alization agents of the employers. | For Organization. Likewise in the great problem of} organizing the unorganized. The re- actionary trade union leaders are a deadly obstacle to the accomplish- the hands of the bosses to defeat talists. Whoever would fight against | ment of this work and they must workers into the speed-up slaughter laws, union management coopera- |these objectives and to drive the | the evils of capitalist rationalization |—the speed-up, low wages, unem- union leaders. i trade unions are greeting the T.| house of capitalism. The new wage|Ployment, ete——must in the first|€rs are L. convention with a whole | policy, B, & O, plans, Watson Parker |line fight against the reformist trade ans , The T. U. E, L,| This is the prelude to bitter strug- be defeated in order to bring it to success. The great masses of work- beginning to stir under the | of worsening conditions. | presure And well they may look upon it with) tion, and the rest of the semi-com- | understands this and its coming con-| gles on their part. The labor bur- hostility, because it bodes no good! pany union policies of the’ A. F. of| vention will direct the fire against to them. One of the major asjects| of the general work of the T. U. E.| L. convention will be to further or- ganize and concentrate the attack of the revolutionary and progressive elements in the working class against the corrupt and reactionary leaders who now stand at the head of the A. F. of L. and the conserva- | tive independent craft unions. The T. U. E, L, convention will meet in the sense of a full realiza- tion that these reactionaries, with their social reformism, are the prin- cipal obstacle the left wing has to | overcome in order to win the masses for real struggle against the capi- talists. The T. U. E. L. convention will understand that it must com- bat on every front the A. F. of L. leaders and their phrase-mongering socialist party and Labor Age-Muste group supporters. The convention} will intensify the struggle against these agents of the bosses, demoral- izers of the workers. For Class Struggle. The T. U. E. L. has nothing in| common with these reformists. They | preach the doctrine of class collab- oration, which in actuality means | the surrender of the workers to the} employers. The T, U. E. L. advo- cates the program of class strug- gle and carries through a policy of militant attack against the bosses; the A. F. of L., S. P.-Muste leaders, | who are all basically of one stamp and brand, are defenders of capital- jism. The T. U. E. L, is the foe of }capitalism and fights for its aboli- tion. Between these two conflicting elements there can exist only rela- |tionships of struggle. The T. U. E. L, understands and accepts this fight. The T. U. E. L. convention will organize further the struggle against these misleaders, In every field of its activities to organize the workers and lead them in struggle against the employers |and the capitalist government the T. U. E. L, must come into open con- | flict with the reactionary union and | socialist leaders. The capitalists are | prepaxing for war in the furtherance of their imperialist program. They |are getting ready, multiplying mili- |tary preparations upon an unparal- | leled scale, for war with Great Brit- ain. They are only awaiting a fav- | orable épportunity for a fresh hrmed attack upon the Soviet Union. In this work the A. F. of L. and so- cialist leaders, including the Muste group, are their tools. Their role is to misuse their strategic position as labor leaders in the interest of the capitalists, to act as capitalist recruiting sergeants among the workers and they, are carrying it out militantly, They have made the craft unions a part of the capitalist war machine. The T. U. E. L. fights against the war danger, and this | fight will be greatly stressed at the convention. But the only way it can be waged successfully is by thoroughly exposing and aggressive- ly struggling against the imperialist Jabor leaders, war agents of the bosses, amongst the workers. Against Speed-Up. And so it is in the fight against the destructive effects of capitalist rationalization of industry. There | again the reactionary labor bureau- ‘cracy looms up as an effective co- partner of the capitalists, as a dead- ly enemy of the working class. While the T. U. E. L, fights against the n Fascist Bulgaria Slaves Auctioned I So great is the misery of the a” * workers and peasants in Bulgaria under the fascist terror, that women offer themselves to be auctioned off as servants. Photo shows auction of servants going on in Sofia. Anti-Fascists Expose the. Brutal Terror in Bulgaria (Red Aid Press Service) The newly-formed Cominittee for| the Defense of the Victims of Fas- cism in Bulgaria has issued an ap- peal to the workers containing de- tails of the inhuman treatment of the arrested workers in the Police Presidium in Sofia, The following are quotations from this appeal: A prisoner named Methodi Shar- atov was exfmined in the following fashion: For four days he was ques- tioned to the accompaniment of blows on the head, in the face and on the hands. His hands were so terribly beaten that they turned blue and swollen. He was beaten so ter- ribly that he lost consciousness. His tormentors then revived him with douches of cold water. This hap- pened on a number of occasions and he heard how his tormentprs dis- cussed whether they should fling him out of the window. He could no longer walk alone and his tor- mentors dragged him up to the third floor and then tried to throw him down the stairs, but with his re- maining strength he clung desper- ately to the banisters and com-]- menced to scream. All the time the detegtives demanded that he should confess that he had been party to a conspiracy, This treatment con- tinued on and off for weeks. Michail Pendjerkov, the chief edi- tor of the independent workers newspaper “Novini,” was arrested on September 5 last year. He was lashed with whips, beaten with sticks, punched and kicked until he lost consciousness. He was restored with cold water, whereupon the mal- treatment commenced anew. This treatment was continued for a whole week as Pendjerkov refused to make the “confession” required of him. Medical testimony slfpwed that at the end of the week his urine con- sisted for the most part of blood. He was also kept for 40 days in a | speed-up, and struggles for higher wages, shorter hour: id social in- dark cell on bread and water, ce ion is 3 Ivan Denkov was beaten on the soles of the feet so that he could jneither walk nor put on his shoes. |He was also so badly beaten with truncheons that he has wounds all over his body. He suffers from fre- quent fits of giddiness as the re- sult of this treatment and from ter- rible pains in his inside so that it is feared that he has sustained in- ternal injuries, Yanko Panov was punched again and again and beaten on the breast with revolver butts. His head was then knocked against the wall until he lost consciousness. On one oc- casion he was maltreated by eight detectives. His testicles were squeezed and he was threatened with death. The detectives then held him head downward over the banisters of the fourth story and threatened to let hiny fall unless he “confessed.” He*has been driven half mad and suffers from pains in the chest’and in the head as well as from a gen- eral breakdown, *. Protest Terror. The Committee for the Protection of the Victims of Fascism called a mass meeting to take place in a large hall in Sofia on April 5. Long before the time fixed for the meet- ing the hall was occupied by the police who turned the whole neigh- borhood into an armed camp, Masses of: workers assembled and as the hall was cordoned «off a protest meeting was held on the open streets. The police attacked the meeting again and again and made many arrests. Amongst the arrested is Entcho Staikov, the chief editor of the of- ficial organ of the Workers Party, a member of the Central Commit- tee of the latter party and « mem- ber cf the new Committec for the Protection of the Victims of 7 * eaucrats will not organize amd lead these struggles to victory. On the their whole course will be| to demoralize and defeat them, Although the A. F. of L. makes no efforts to organize the great armies of workers, we may consider it as} axiomatic that wherever these masses begin to strike the A. F. of | L. will have its “organizers” on the job, whose task it will be, in collab- oration with the bogses and the gov- ernment, to defeat these strikes and to do so under the guise of A. F. of I. unionism. The new industrial unions, in organizing the unorgan- ized, will have many heavy obstacles to overcome—the bitter resistance of trustified capital, widespread terror- ism by the state, ete.—but the most insiduous and difficult thing will be the sirikebreaking .interference of the A. F. of L. Such strikebreaking will be the work not only of the Greens and Wolls and Schlesingers, but also of the so-called Progres- sive Muste group, as Passaic and New Bedford eloquently prove. For Thoroughgoing Solidarity. The test of the new unions will come in their efforts to defeat the strikebreaking tactics of the A. F. of L., in working out a successful strike strategy despite the treason of these labor misleaders. be done only by a thoroughgoing solidarity of the workers, based upon a knowledge of the jpetrayal policies of the A. F. of L. To develop such | knowledge among the workers by thoroughly exposing the treacherous rele of these trade unions leaders, will occupy the greatest attention of the T. U. E. L. Convention. A | militant fight against the reaction- ary trade union leadership is a first condition for the success of organ- izing the unorganized and strike movements, as it is for the whole left wing program. The entire history of the T. U.E. L. has been a war against the A. F. of L. bureaucracy. The coming convention will not diminish that fight but will broaden and deepen it. The T. U. E. L. will carry on the struggle against the misleaders for control of the masses in the existing unions. It will also fight against these labor traitors in order to win leadership and build organizations among the vast multitudes of work- ers in the unorganized industries. War Against Misleaders. The expanded and reorganized T. U. E. L. emerging from the Cleve- land convention, will be a real sec- tion of the Red International of La- bor Unions. It will be a fighting labor movement, waging war on all the misleaders of labor whether they appear under such’ open. capitalistic guise as Green and Woll, or at- tempt to hide themselves under radi- cal sounding pharses as the social- ist party and the so-called Muste group. Every effort must be put forth to make the T. U. E. L. con- vention a real mobilization of all the best fighting elements in the whole American working class. BANTON, McADOO IN CLINIC RAID. Police Commissioner Whalen to- day admitted that District Attorney Banton and Chief Magistrate Mc- Adoo were in the conspiracy to raid the Birth Control Clinic. Both had representatives in the raiding par- ty, which seized confidential clinic records and it This can) be. ght ad humility CEMENT cisoroy GLADKOV Translated by A. S. Arthur and C. Ashleigh All Rights Reserved—International Publishers, N. Y. Gleb Chumalov, Communist and Red Army commander, returns to his town on the Black Sea to find that the great cement works are in ruins, the factory committee uselessly quarreling, and his wife, Dasha, an active Communist, greeting him with a new indepenc ence. With their child, Nurka, in the children’s home, both are leading figures in the reconstruction of the town. Gleb turns the attention of the factory committee to the reconstruction of the eat factory. Gleb goes to the Party Committee to report and see what can be done about the factory. . ey ae CHAPTER Il. The Party Committee :3 Comrade Shuk Sneaks Out. HE Palace of Labor was a heavy square, brick building, two stories high, standing on the quay, not far from the long jetty which, supported on black piles, stretched out into the bay. A concrete wall ran out in irregular lines from each side of the facade, separating the quay from the railway, Through the holes and gaps in the wall one could see the rusty and worn rails meeting and separating like iron nerves. The grain sheds stretched along all the way to the station; and far away, at the foot of the mountain, like ancient towers, the summits of the elevator appeared, overgrown with moss. The elevator glowed a fiery red under the mountain and itself looked mountainous like a huge inaccessible temple. Carts rattled noisily over the paving past the wall. The grey quays with their giant rings for the mooring of steamers, the metallic gleam of the rails shining amongst the litter of broken trucks, divided the bay into quadrangles of*stone, with deserted moles and breake waters. In the distance through the spring mist the harbor danced in bright flecks of light and the white sails of fishing-boats flashed daz- zlingly like sea-gulls; fat-backed dolphins were diving and leaping and the silvery fishes glittered in the sun. Desolate harbor, hungry sea. . . . In what waters, to what shores, are wandering the captured ships? > * Neae the Palace of Labor, in front of the high pyramid-like steps of ' the entrance, was a flower-garden with chestnut trees. But there were no longer any flowers, the chestnut trees were misshapen, and the fence had been broken up for fuel. Instead of flowers weré scattered sunflower seeds, and brown mushrooms made shadowy patches under the trees, But one could plainly see high up above the roof the letters R.S.F.S.R. shining and disappearing like white daisies on the red flag. Two corridors crossed each other—one led straight ahead to the Assembly Hall (the red flags gleamed like blood through the open doors), the other running from right to left ended in two dark caverns: on the right was the Party Committee and on the left the Council of Trade Unions. The tobacco-laden air was thick with over-heated steam; the walls were dirty, splashed with dishwater, and the plaster was broken. There were colored placards, men with black or yeltow leather coats, some with portfolios, and men—just men, in rags, booted or barefooted (although March had only just come, it was warm), Near and far in the corridors and rooms, singing voices could be heard, the stamp- ing of boots, the patter of bare feet, and the clatter of the rifles in the department of the Cheka. | Two men were standing pee a (ee went down the corridor to the right. at the glass door of the Party Committee room. Their profiles showed distinctly against the ground glass of the panes. One was bald, with a Turkish nose. His upper lip was short and his mouth half-opened in a smile. The other was snub-nosed with a low forehead, sharply furrowed down the middle, and a large chin which stuck out like a fist. “Tt’s too bad, it’s disgraceful, my dear Comrade. graceful!” It was the snub-nosed man speaking, or rather he was not speak~ ing, but barking. “Bureaucracy is ruining us. . . . Bureaucracy. We've scarcely had time to bury the ‘bodies of our Comrades . . . their blood is hardly dry . . . before we're sitting in private rooms and easy chairs with lovely riding breeches like generals. And the formalities—docket~ ing papers, marking doors ‘no admittance’ . . . soon we shall get to ‘Your Excellency.” We had Comrades. Where are they? I feel that the working class is oppressed and miserable once more. . . .” “You’re wrong, Comrade Shuk. That’s not the case. Your point of view is radically wrong. One can’t argue like that, That's not important. We have many enemies, Comrade Shuk. We need merci- less terror, or the Republic will linger between life and death. That’s what one must consider. I understand you, Comrade Shuk, but the Soviet has to have a firm, efficient, well-tested administrative ma- chine—even if it is bureaucratic—so long as it works reliably.” “You too! It’s the same with everyone. Everyone says the same things. Where does the working-class come in? Ah, Comrade Serge. ... It hurts.... And there’s none you can talk to.” “There’s only one thing that matters, Comrade Shuk, and that’s work among the masses. Work, work, work. ... The masses have got to penetrate the whole administrative machine of the republic right up to the top. Comrade Lenin’s well-known saying about the cook must | be turned into an accomplished fact. That’s the thing that matters. And you’re making a mistake, You’re trying to force an open door.” “Come off it, Serge! .,. You may be a devoted Communist but you're blind... . The working-class needs a bit more sympathy, and as for enemies—the Devil take them! We’ve managed to deal with them hitherto, and we can carry on the same way. But what about the Party officials and workers? They’ve no sooner got into high positions than they change from friends and comrades into scoundrels. . . . That’s where the trouble is, Serge; that’s the enemy, Comrade!” * * * { prom the complaints he was barking out, from the angular profile, Gleb recognized his old friend, Shuk, the turner from the Southern Steel Trust Factory. He had not changed; he was shouting and grumb- ling just as he did three years ago. Gleb went up and clapped him 6n the shoulder. “Hullo, my friend! I see you’re shouting and cursing. When are you going to stop cursing? You ought to be organizing things, putting your back into it, and you’re just whining, you old siub-nose!” Shuk, astonished, opened his eyes. He was dumbfounded and con- fused. He drew in his breath and whistled. “Gleb! Dear old pal! You old.warrjor! Well, I'll be damned!” He flung his arms round him, stifling him in heat and sweat. “Ts it really you? Oh, my friend, we'll go together at once and tell them all off. We’ll put them all in their places... . What planet have you sprung from? Here, Serge, here’s my oldest pal. We've seen trouble and blood together.” “Don’t talk hot air,‘Shuk. Grumbling wins no victories with us.” “Do you hear, Serge? He’ll skin the lot of them, he will! That’s the kind of chap we need, Serge. He’ll knock down thirty-three moun- tains.” Gleb and Serge shook hands, just touching each other’s fingers for a second, warily, like strangers. And Gleb felt in Serge’s fingers the softness and timidity of a young girl. . An intellectual! .. . Soft-handed. . . . Refined. * * * es Absolutely dis- t | H 4 POY Or ON? pay eres er eer ia} Lee | t s Pp n f ‘LEB looked into his face. His hair was red-brown, a smile lurked in the tilted corners of his mouth and in his red-brown eyes. There was a sneer in the smile, but a hint of kindness and inquiry was visible , also. A “I know you already, Comrade Chumalov. I have seen you before in the registration office. They were talking about you on the presidium, You’ve come just at the right time.” “There, you see, my friend? Our generals smell an enemy. You'll have to treat them in military fashion, otherwise they’ll make your life’ a burden to you. They wahted to catch me too, but I’m too clever for ‘ them and I know what I’m about. ... I’m going to show them up, the whole lot of them.” “Well, explain then, Shuk. What’s the row about?” ' “T’ve no faith in them. They talk all the time about the workers. | But actually they care for nothing but their own bellies. Profiteers! | Posers! Swankers!” “Well, then, Shuky let me have a look at your generals too. Lead ' me to them, Shuk!” “Go to the secretary, Comrade Chumalov. He’s at a meeting but . he left orders that you were to be summoned by telephone, His name's | a Shidky.” de “No, you take him along, Serge. It’s your job. I'll come along fu and see if they can catch him with bare hands.” th “I’m busy, Comrade Shuk. There’s the Agitprop meeting on now, 1 yo and then the department of education has a sitting, and then I’ve got ‘ Wi to speak. he Bee “Oh, Serge! You may be educated, but you’re worse than a monk voi PP ro