The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 3, 1929, Page 6

\ ij Nive Six Baily Sa Worker Central Organ of the Communist Party of the U.S. A. Published by Sun. the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc.. Daily, except at yhone Telep $8.00 a year 36.0 Adéress an a year U. S. Imperialism and the British Elections. It will doubtless startle to behold the eagerness with which the imperialist govern- ngton and the capitalist press generally graci- the fact that the MacDonald-Henderson- Thomas Labor Party has won the greatest number of seats in the next House of Commons, although it has failed of a many workers in this country ment at Wa ously accepts clear The New York Times, organ of finance cap- ital, “His (MacDonald’s) official program was so moderate and cautious a! rdly to be dis! uished from that of the conser- vatives...” “It is safe to infer that if he again becomes prime minister he . . . will not attempt to shake the pillars of society in England.” Only those workers will be startled at this applause from the leading imperialist press spokesman in this country, how- ever, who have failed to acquaint themselves with the actual role of the bourgeois Labor Party, one of Great Britain’s three capitalist parties. This has been clearly pointed out by the Daily Worker. The election results, raising the possibility of another “labor government,” makes it more than ever necessary for America’s workers to understand the sham fight waged be- tween the conservative, liberal and labor parties, the three parliamentary harlots of British imperialism, with similar policies on all important questions, and the reflections of this situation in the United States. MacDonald says he is power to ke eep the two eral-labor c¢ MacDonald It is a libe: yor bloc that will best suit the interests of British capitalism in the present period and provide the best instrument for intensificd war preparations, increasing opposition in the colonies, and the developing suppression of working class r ance at home. The Tory government sent the Simons Commission (headed by the liberal, Sir John Simons) to India, against the protest of the Indians, but with the endorsement of the Labor Party and containing Labor Party members. Sir. Alfred Mond, the liberal who gave his name to sm," ’ the program of “class peace” supr d by the treacherous B h trade union bureaucracy. going to hing in his ment” in power for at least nent will inevitably be a lib- n in spite of the excited declarations of Lioyd George to the contra governn new It was It was the liberal-labor bloc in 1910 that helped dupe the masses and prepared the way for British imperialism’s entry into the world war in 1914; the liberal-labor bloc that helped carry on the war, so that in 1924 Bri imperialism was ready for its first “labor government,” kept in power for nine months with liberal support. It is under cover of the new liberal-labor bloc, putting down an increasing barrage of pacifist pretensions, that Brit- ish imperialism will advance its war preparations. The Hoover administration at Washington was quick to respond to this situation. Even while the British voters wefe casting their ballots, the president, while calling for increased speed in the armament race, nevertheless, held out the much tattered olive branch so-called “peace and under- standing and closer cooperation between the two great Eng- lish-speaking nations.’ Behind the whole smokescreen of threadbare pacifist phraseology emanating from Washing- ton, however, there looms the old Anglo-American struggle over 6,000 and 10,000-ton cruisers, the battle for supremacy on the high seas that broke up the last arms limitation con- ference at Geneva, the most recent and sharpest of many skirmishes in a war for world trade, raw materials, and the struggle to maintain colonial countries as huge slave pens. The frantic peace protestations of both American and British imperialisms are a reminder of the fact that it was the Russian czar who proposed the organization of the Hague Peace Conference on the very eve of the Russo-Japanese War’s outbreak. The MacDonald-Henderson-Thomas Labor Party will continue, more loyally than ever, to carry out the policies of British imperialism. The Hoover-MacDonald pacifist pass- age-at-arms will is already a new development on the world stage of Anglo-American rivalry. The working class in both countries develops its own class power under the leadership of the British and American Communist Parties that directs the struggle against both imperialisms as the sections of the World Party, the Com- munist International. The Tenants on the March. Discontent over mounting rents marched the streets of the Harlem section of New York City, Saturday, in protest against landlordism, mobilizing finally in a demonstration at Brooks Square. The Harlem Tenants’ League has thus widened its in- fluence by developing its activities from small hall meetings, that attracted little attention, to an open appeal to the masses that brought instant response. One-reason for the growing response, of course, is the fact that working class tenants now, more than ever, are be- ginning to feel the pinch of the rent increases being imposed on them. This means that, while the Tenants’ League has been quick to take the lead of this protest, nevertheless, the big task lies ahead, which is the agitation and organization | of a really mass movemént of Negro and white tenants, not only in Harlem, but throughout the entire city. It is significant that this demonstration of tenants also saw the carrying of a banner with the slogan, “Defend the Soviet Union!*” Thus the full meaning of this growing ef- fect of an aroused tenantry to combat the bandit landlords is presented to the working class population. The housing conditions grow increasingly worse. This calls for a more intensive campaign against these conditions in which the whole working class must join, , it is a permanent institution in the | HAIL, HAIL, THE G ARTICLE It. { By KARL REEVE. When Fred Beal, organizer fi the National Textile Workers Union, stood on a stump in front | of the mill gates of the Manville- | Jenckes plant in Gastonia eight weeks ago and declared the strike on in the name of the union, a new page had been turned in the class struggle in the South. For more than a year, over half of the textile workers of | ihe United States have been located in the South, and Gastonia is in the heart of the Southern textile area The drawing of the tenant farmers of the lowlands and the mountain- eers into the factories in large num- bers and the accompanying introduc- tion of all of the methods of ex- ploitation, long practiced in the Northern industrial centers, sharp- ened the class struggle in the South. The introduction of the speed-up system, called in the South the “stretch-out” system or “doubling” and “tripling up,” on top of the miserably low wages, child labor, unsanitary conditions, the 12-hour day, goaded the textile workers to | revolt. The Southern strike wave has lasted for some months, and will continue. Along with the intensified exploitation there came into the South a militant trade union organ- ization, Attitude Toward the A. F. of L. | The Southern textile workers ac- cepted readily the leadership of the left wing National Textile Workers | Union. It has been stated that the textile workers of North Carolina do not know the diff ce between the American Federation of Labor union, that is, the United Textile Workers, and the National Textile Workers Union, the left wing organ- ization, This is absolutely incorrect. | The textile workers of North Caro- \lina are well acquainted with the A. F, of L. textile union and will have nothing to do with it. The U. T. W. operated some years ago in this area and the workers charge them with stealing the workers’ money and deserting them in the midst of their struggle against the ruill owners, When Fred Beal began his. organ- ization work last December around | |Charlotte, by going from house to |house in the mill villages, a number jof workers at first tried to drive him away at the point of a gan, be- | cause they thought he represented | the United Textile Workers Union, jand it was not nntil he explained | |that this was a different union, a | militant left wing organization, and |not affiliated with the A. F. of L. that the workers listened to his mes- |sage. In the present strike in Gas- tenia the workers speak from the platform and unanimously denounce |the U. T. W. union as a corrupt or- | |ganization, with which they will have absolutely nothing to do. This jis the general sentiment of all the workers to whom I have spoken in |North Carolina. At the present time lin Lexington an organizer for the U. T. W. is attempting to break up the N. T. W. U., but has had no |success, The workers have an- | swered that they have had enough of the A, F. of L and will stick to jthe N, T. W, U." Permanency of Union in South. The contrast between the conduct cf the Gastonia strike by the N, T. W. U. and the Elizabethton, Tenn., strike, by the U. T, W. (the latter |trying from the first to sell the |workers out) has not been Jost on jthe textile workers of North Caro- lina. The N. T. W. U. has won the complete confidence of the workers of North Carolina by showing that ‘weeks ago. : jheadquarters were taker. from them | £Towing. |new his lease, Jers. | around, \field with his union, announcement because the .workers, \in spite of all the help given to the ANG’S 8S ALL HERE Poe DAILY WORKER, NEV YORK, MONDAY, NONE 3,'1929 New Unionism in Gastonia ! - National Textile Workers Union Leads in Fight, A. F, L. Gang Swindled Him in Years Past | South, and by its consistent fight- ing policy, as opposed to the class collaboration policy and the open} corruption of the U. T, W. The T. W. U. in Gastonia has | already had four headquarter Their first headquarters was de- stroyed by a masked mob a few The second and third by the landlord, who refused to re- The fourth head- quarters was built by the strikers’ ewn hands, and is owned by them. The building of this headquarters, | after so many difficulties encoun- tered, has once more struck terror into the mill owners, and has proven to the workers that in spite of all difficulties’ and all opposition, the union is spreading and growing in| the South, The textile workers of North Car- | olina, in the present strike, have ence more seen the strikebreaking role of the U. T. W. After the re- actionary “union’s” desertion of the workers in 1921, it has done nothing to better the condition of the work- But after the Gastonia strike | was in full swing, Thomes McMa- hon, head of the U. T. W., and his \lieutenants declared that they would organize the workers into their| union. mill owners heralded this announce- | ment with great joy in large head- lines. McMahon’s union then made its strikebreak attempt and McMa- hon spent several days in Gastonia jand surrounding territory, snooping He then announced in the press that he would not enter the Gastonia | Hundreds are still actively engaged|U. is a Russian red organization, jmade up of foreigners and Yankees, capitalist press and the mill owners, |ceclared they would run the U. T. W. organizers out of town if they continued with their strikebreaking He made this | | tacties. | At, the present time, after eight | jweef’s of struggle in the Manville- | jJenckes mill in Bessemer City, Charlotte, Pineville and ‘Lexington, |the N, T. W. U. is in a stronger po- sition than ever before, it has the confidence of\ the masses of the jworkers and its influence is daily At the mass meetings be- |tween two and three thousand peo- ple attend every day. Workers in| dilapidated automobiles, from both North and South Carolina visit the union headquarters daily by the dozen, contribute small sums for re- | lief, and join the union before re- |turning to their mills, There are 129 mills in Gaston County, and in jmore than 70 of these the N. T. W. | U. has members. | Present Strategy. , For some time the N. T. W. U.] has concentrated on calling a sec-| |ond walkout in the Manviile-Jenckes | mill and in spreading the strike to other mills in Gastonia. Just before I left Gastonia, a few days ago, mill jcommittee meetings of union mem- bers had heen held in a number at | Gastonia mills, and we have now |sueceeded in calling out on strike | | the Dixon mill, following the dis- | |charge of some union members. The The capitalist press and the | strike will probably spread in the |against the workers, of police and near future to other Gastonia mills. | “In the Manville-Jenckes mill it- |self there were in all 2,200 workers | in two shifts. Of these, according |to the admission of Superintendent Baugh, 1,700 of the original help lare still out. Some of these have | sounding out the workers. |1eturned to the mountains and a few |that the right kind of union is not |have obtained work in other mills. in the strike. A large number of strikebreakers have’ been brought | from all over the South, workers be- ing present from Texas, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Alabama, ete. Many of this outside help is inexperienced. The best workers Workers’ Children Swelter in City | granted slight concessions in an at- \ No fine beaches for these workers’ chlidren of New York City. The rich get the breaches; the children are forced to seek relief from the heat through fire hydrants. that; the beaches | would go to the A workers republic sould change workers, z i \ray mill, and a general walkout was !The union |in the |Jenckes plant a company union has |been organized, called a “Committee ‘others have announced their inten- | owners will go in this policy of | granting slight concessions, many developed local leaders, who are al- ‘for the union, and who speak of the from the mill are the most active strikers. Many carloads of work turned out in the mill have been re- turned by the purchaser as unfit for use, Several small waikouts have already been engineered in the Lo- prevented by the bosses on one oc- casion only by locking the doors of the various rooms in the mill, placing armed guards to prevent the workers from talking to each other |and instituting a general intimida- tion. Those workers who have returned to work are net to be considered or- dinary scabs. Most of them are friendly to the union, attend the union meetings and declare that only starvation prevents them from joining the strikers. These are the raw elements who have never ex- perienced a strike or have never been in a union, and who ar not yet edu- cated to understand the meaning of their strikebreaking, In some cases some mnembers of the family are working, while others are on strike. is gradually teaching these workers who are sympathetic ‘to the union and are remaining at work the meaning of union organ- lization. A new walkout is probable Manville-Jenckes mill. New Developments. The strike has gone through a number of stages and has taught |the workers a number of lessons, | which will be dealt with in the next article. The strike has gone through a period of terror, of court action National Guard brutality, ete. At the present time the mill owners are concentrating on working through company unions. In the Manyille- of 100,” which uses the argument objectionable, but that the N. T. W. and urging the workers to come into the company union. The N. T. W. U. has exposed this new trick of the bosses and has told of the experi- ences of the Northern workers with company unions. Grant Concessions, Another result of the strike has been that various mill owners have tempt to stem the tide of organiza- tion into the N. T. W. U. Some mills have granted a slight increase in wages, others have repaired the komes of some of the workers, and tion to abolish night work. The Gastonia Gazette of May 29 reports that a large number of mills are abolishing night work. It is too early to predict how far the mill of which are only apparent conces- sions. However, the workers re- alize that those gains, however slight, have been won by the activi- ties of the N. T. W. U. in North Carolina, Another feature of the present sit- vation is the fact that the union has ready beginning to act as organizers union policies in the language of the Southern textile workers themselves. T have heard, for example, Red Hen- | dricks, one of the leading strikers. | speak eloquently of conditicns, o! the necessity for the adoption of t! union’s policy of equality in union, regardless of race or color. “* © (The next article will deal with the use of terror in the textile orea) 4 2 a | By FEODOR CEMIEN GLADKOV Translated by A. S. Arthur and C. Ashleigh All Rights Reserved—International Publishers, N. Y. Gleb Chumaloy, Red Army Commander, who has just returned to his town, where he finds the great cement factory in ruins, the workers demoralized, and the factory committee not functioning, sets about getting things done. The workers demand work, the recon- struction of the factory and the repairing of the single track over the mountain to get wood before the winter sets in. Gleb forces his way thru to Badin, chairman of the executive of the Soviet. Badin calls in Shramm, chairman of the Economic Coun- cil, which supplies the needed materials. The following conversation ensues: * * * HRAMM’S face remained dull’ as before, strained and lymphatic as a eunuch’s. “The Council of Economy receives its tasks and plans from the Bureau of Industry only.” The Executive Chairman gave him a hard black look and leaned forward with his weight upon the table. “You're hiding behind the back of the Bureau of Industry in or- der to shelter your Economic Council. But do you even know what's going on on the two floors of your premises? From your written re- ports it seems that you are doing nothing but auditing and inventories, ever and over again. You’ve an uncountable number of departments and sub-departments with a staff of two hundred persons—but you haven’t given us the smallest amount of real creative work. What are the intentions of the Economic Council for the immediate future with regard to the factories, workshops and other undertakings?” “The Economie Council takes the position that the most important thing is firstly to conserve the patrimony of the State without tolerat- ing any doubtful undertakings.” “How is the District Forestry Committee working?” “T have nothing to do with that, or, rather, only indirectly. under my control, but they have their own apparatus.” “What data have you on the work of the Forestry Committee?” “The plan of what wood has to be felled.” “And the delivery of the wood .to the districts?” “That is not the business of the Economie Council; affair of the District Fuel Committee.” “Well then, Shramm, listen. The town, the suburbs and the trans- portation system must be provided with wood for the winter. We must at once get the dynamos of the factory working and install the rope- way to the top of the hill. The Economic Council must carry out this task as quickly as possible, using the machinery of the factory.” “That is not my business; that’s the business of the Bureau of In- dustry. We cannot carry out this plan unless they sanction it.” “It is our business and not the Industrial Bureau’s, and we shall execute it without their sanction.” * * * FOr the first time a mournful expression came to Shramm’s face, passing like a thin cloud, but his eyes remained glassy and un- blinking as formerly. “How much oil is assigned to the factory?” “The deliveries are very bad. According to our statistics thirty per cent. is lost through waste. We have been compelled, with the authorization of the Bureau of Industry, to draw upon the oil reserved for the factory, which is in the tanks of the refinery, for the steam mills. With regard to the electrification of the factory and the con- struction of the ropeways: these items are not included in the plan of work for the year which has been approved by the Bureau of In- dustry. This question should first be sent for examination to the State Reconstruction Department and to the Industrial Department so that they can go into the details and draw up their estimates. Moreover, I shall myself energetically oppose these schemes, the adoption of which would only lead to the plundering of the people’s money and property.” The Executive Chairman’s eyes flashed. “You're not going to speak against it. We shall know how to force you—ynderstand! You will make your report at the next sitting of the Economic Council. And now another question: do you know that the property of the people of which you have charge is being openly plundered?” The blood rushed to Shramm’s face and a shadow passed in his eyes. “This is unknown to me. According to the recently verified in- ventory everything is in order.” ‘ Badin smiled in the same way as he had smiled at District Chair- man Borchi. “Undoubtedly you are right, seeing that the Economic Council is formally committed to the point of view of the conservation of the people’s property.” They that is the * * * TERRIFIED, Shramm looked at Badin and could not grasp what the 4 Executive Chairman was saying. Gleb shook the ashes of his pipe into the ash-tray. The first knot, quite a little one, had been tied. The others would come after. He got up and stretched out his hand to Badin. He saw a smile in his eyes and this time it was a quiet smile without glinting points. “Comrade Executive Chairman, this is going to rip our guts out and break our backs, but we'll get the job done!” “Carry on, Comrade Chumaloy. The question of restarting the factory will be considered within a definite period.” Gleb stood to attention before Shramm, “Your Bureau of Industry we'll send it to the devil with a kick in its behind! We understand how to work it! We'll send the whole Economic Council and you with them to clean out the water-closets! Mildew and red-tape grow lush in this marsh; but we know how to dry the marsh up!” The Chairman of the Economic Council looked at him in amaze- ment. The blood fled from his face and the shadows in his eyes faded. His face again became soft, strained and still. “No threats, please, Comrade. We do not accept any projects from outside. Those schemes which are sent to us, we file for posterity without examining them. We are enemies of all questionable enter- prises and plans. We must cure our Comrades of their leaning to all kinds of adventures, which will be the best safeguard against disorgan- izing enthusiasms.” * * * GC broke out laughing. Sticking his pipe into his mouth, he looked at Badin and again met a smile in the depths of his eyes. “Our boots stink of the dust of the highways, Comrade Chairman of the Economie Council, and they are hob-nailed. Our hands are ac- quainted with rifles and hammers. You must realize this as a Com- munist. You are a Communist, but you have no knowledge of a work- ers’ policy. You've neither smelt powder nor the sweat of working men. I don’t care a damn for your apparatus. . .. You’ve got swarms ef rats there who have sharpened their teeth on Soviet bread, easily earned. You’ve everything nicely cut and dried—according to hour and minute—nicely camouflaged. But we’ 've got a good scent and good bulldog’s teeth too.” The shadows passed over the eyes of Shramm again and he bowed his head. “Comrade Badin, I demand. . .” But Gleb did not wait to hear the answer, he went through the sunrays to the door. And now to Shibis! No one is more needed now than Gomrade Shibis. Eyes At Sea By Night. | By a small office with open window (the powerful light that streamed in was too much for the size of the room) Shibis and Gleb sat at a heavy desk. Shibis seemed to be smiling and yet not smiling—as though his face was behind gauze. It seemed a frank face, with humor- ous eyebrows, as though ever ready to burst into laughter. At the same time he was shrewd enough and always a little reserved. Now joy was quivering in his face and spinning webs, of little wrinkles} round his eyes, “Comrade Chumalov, you can speak at once if your business is urgent, or you may wait a few moments. I just have a minute free. Say what you wish. Are you getting on well with the factory?” t “At present we're only just thinking about it and the work is still | distant. We're still in the yelling stage.” Shibis was not listening. He screwed up his eyes at the impact | of the warm light. “I’m looking at the sea now. From here it looks like a soap- bubble. It’s curved and the colors are so and so. . . . D’you see it?] ‘That is no dream, it is reality. It makes you long to have a bathe or| stretch out.on the beach. That would be nice and so simple; like get~ ting into another dimension and becoming invisible .. , and throw peb- bles into the sea. And in the woods it’s nice too. But look at the sea, |] how it’s heaving and blue. Well, I’m here and the sea’s over there. | That’s the way it will always be with me. Can you realize what it | means; ‘Forever’? This smells a bit of psychology, eh? What’s your idea about psychology?” “Let it go to eee Take an hour off and have a swim! What. is there to stop you if (To be Continued.) pis! i “Hs ii