The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 4, 1929, Page 4

Published by the New York City, « Baily Central Organ of the ¢ SsUBS« By Mai! (in New York only): $8.00 a year; By Mail (outside of New York): $6.00 a year; Worker Party of the U. 8. A. hivLON RATES: $4.50 six months; $3.50 six months; $2.50 three months $2.00 three months PARTY LIFE. Let’s Organize Our Meetings We have had two large and succes during the last weeks, one with ful meettings in New York 00 workers presen with nearly 2,000 present. Politically these meetings were a success, but the way the audience behaved was a disgrace because of our own membership not showing any discipline at meetings. Everyone thinks that he can talk to his neighbour freely during the program. Everyone thinks he can get up and start 4 mless walking around, looking for some comrades to gather the hall, starting arguments and free-for-all discussions. back in the halls we find plenty of small meetings going on s neously with a speech or some ot point on the program. This can- not be tolerated in our meetings. he leadign comradse must be made responsible for orderly meeting These are general characteristics of our meetings not only in New York but all over the country. | We must learn immediately how to organize meeti nd how to | secure order during the program. Here in New Yor! not a single usher could be seen during the Tenth Annive: The ushers must be placed on ends of the aisles and at the r instance, meeting. loors, and especially in the back of the hall. They should carry some mark of distinction or a uniform, and see to it that the aisles will not be used as a promenading place. Nor should they allow any special gatherings or any discussion among the audience. No doubt the Party members very soon will learn to stop everyone who breaks the discipline of the meeting. There are many other suggestions regarding means for over- coming our shortcomigns in this matter, but if once the attention is called to this fact, I am sure the Party will very soon take steps to overcome them, If we continue with our meetings in the old way many non-Party workers leave the meetings in disgust, when they cannot hear what the speakers say, or listen to the program without being disturbed by undisciplined Party members, who forget that these meetings are called among other things to attract non-Party workers to the Party. If we cannot organize meetings, how will we be able to organize the Party cr a victorious revolution?—A WORKER. * * * Fraction Discipline It very often happens that comrades, Party members, when taking part in discussions in non-Party organizations, are arguing against each other. If a fraction in a non-Party organization is working as it should, it never would happen that Party members appear in a non- Party meeting pursuing different lines. This nuisance must be stopped. From Los Angeles there is a report about a meeting of a certain board of directors, where leading comrades of the Party are members among non-Party workers. During this meeting “Party members at- tacked each other,” says the report. This is impermissible, and our leading committees must act decisively against every one following such practices. The old methods of allowing such things to happen, without doing anything about it must be changed and a real Party discipline built up. Such matters as this may be said to be of small importance. That is a wrong conception. If these small matters caused by a petty bourgeois conception of Party duties are not over- come, the Party will have a still worse struggle to overcome more im- portant breaches of discipline. in the Auto Industry By P. FRANKFELD |September below the August level.” Last week all Detroit papers car-| Continuing, the writeup says: “It ried an official “denial” from the|i8 not at all certain, however, that Ford Motor Co. that any workers |the total production figures for this had been laid off. |month will show a drop below that At the same time, dozens of|0f September, 1928, when the fac- workers came around to the office | tories turned out 436,507 vehicles.” of the National Provisional Com-|Thus for the first time this year, mittee for the Organization of the |September production will fall be- Auto Industry with facts about |low the output of last year. themselves being laid off, and hun-| The large number of lay-offfs now dreds of fellow workers in their|taking place in Detroit and other departments being fired. auto centers brings sharply to the The A. F. of L. organ in Detroi, attention of the auto workers that the “Detroit Labor News,” carried|the bombast and ballyhoo about a story to the effect that over|“prosperity” and “permanent em- 20,000 workers had been fired in| ployment” in the auto industry is all the Ford Rouge Plant. Throughout!the bunk. No doubt at all, that Detroit, it is almost general knowl-|these lay-offs are only the begin- edge that over 15,000 workers had ning because the home market is been laid off in Ford's. not able to absorb the cars that are The Ford Rouge Plant is now/|now being produced. While a slight operating on the five-day week increase in sale of cars is notice- basis instead of the six-day week) able, yet the fact that there has as previous. In spite of the big|been over 40 per cent increase in lay-off of Ford workers, production | auto production for the first eight in Ford’s is proceeding at a very| months of 1929 over 1928, accounts high rate. Ford has produced|for the increase in car stocks on 1,472,386 cars for the first eight) hand. Foreign exports of automo- months of 1929, approximately 33) biles, while also increasing, was per cent of the total. still unable to absorb the huge num- In the Chrysler factories, through- ber of autos produced this year. out Detroit, there has been a great| These large lay-offs spell greater lay-off of men. Fully 80 per cent|misery for the auto workers. The of: the Chrysler working force has | bosses are taking advantage and are been laid off. The rest of the men already intensifying their policy of are working only two and three|wage cuts, and speedup. The bosses days a week. |will always threaten to use this Ternstedt has laid off quite a)large army of unemployed to r number of its workers. L. A. Young, | place those working; and the motor producing springs and wires, is|corporations will attempt to instill working only two and a half days |fear of losing their jobs into the a week. The Oakland-Pontiac plant hearts of the workingmen. This is also working part time. In Lan-'growing unemployment will be ex- sing, Mich., Olsmobile is working ploited by the bosses in order to try only two-three days a week; the|and crush the rising wave of mil Reo, Fisher, and Durant plants have | tancy amongst the auto workers. been closed down until October 15,) The fact that these layoffs will but the workers expect the plants | result in greater misery for the) to remain shut until after New]|workers is even recognized by the Year's. the Hays-Ionia plant two and three days a week, is working | by the capitalist press. Several of The the candidates for the city council Grand Rapids Body Co. is also|are already making “promises” to working part time. \the unemployed auto workers, and In “Automotive Industries” of| promising “relief.” September 21 we get the reasons for) Taking stock of this situation, the these lay-offs. In the section en- National Provisional Committee for titled “News of the Industry,” there | the Organization of the Auto Indus- is a leading news story on the pre-|try, at its last meeting worked out sent auto situation. The very head series of measures for taking up line is indicative of the present|the struggle for the unempoyed trend in the auto industry. “Auto- workers. Leaflets will be issued motive Industries” states “Recession | immediately to the auto workers Is Paced as Car Stocks Continue to|and especially to the unemployed, a Mount,” and points out that a sharp | mass meeting is being called for curtailment can be expected in the|Thursday afternoon at the Auto industry immediately, and will take) workers Hall, 3782 Woodward, at on the form of complete shutdown |2 p. m. on the issue ‘of unemploy- in several factories. jment! a special leaflet will be is- The same issue of “Auto Indus-|sued to the Ford workers, as well tries” contains an article on August as to the workers of Chrysler; de- Employment, and points out that)mands for the unemployed workers for the month of August, for the/will soon be drawn up. first time in 21 months, the industry; The National Provisional Commit- showed a falling-off in employment tee will link up the fight for the as compared with the same month |organization of the auto industry of the preceding year. The month| with the problems of the unemployed of August, 1929, saw an increase in| and will fight to unite the struggles production over thé same month of|of both the employed with the un- last year, also of July, 1929. “Auto-|employed. The National Provisional motive News” speaks of this pheno-|Committee will proceed to organize mena, as an “unusual drop” of em-|an unemployed council of auto ployment. | workers, will accept members on The Detroit Free Press of Sep- payment of a small nominal fee, and tember 27, quoting from “Automo-/ will proceed an energetic fight in tive Industries,” states “the auto the interests industry already shows a ten per auto workers as well as for those, fort dasiine the first two weeks of| working in the factories. ‘ = BATTLE, MOTHER” “JUST BEOFRE THE mmunis By Fred Ellis Gastonia: In Grand Rapids, Mich.,| bourgeois candidates for office, and| | Gastonia and Bessemer City. of the unemployed! Its Significance to Negro Labor By GEORGE PADMORE. The acute conflict centered around Gastonia, does not simply ex- press another phase of the class struggle on the American battle front of world capitalism, but also symbolizes in a far reaching and signifi- cant form events making for the emancipation of millions of oppressed and brutally persecuted Negroes in the South. Gastonia is merely the beginning of a series of class battles which are destined to take place throughout the newly industrialized South. We have already seen the workers in action in New Orleans; €liza- | bethton, Tennessee; Marion, North Carolina; and the various mining sections of West Virginia. Sharper and more bitterly fought out strug- gles will occur as the class consciousness of the black and white work- ers of Dixie become aroused by the very nature of the intensive process of capitalist rationalization, which means the worsening of their present horrible standard of living. The condition of these southern workers represent the very lowest among the American working class. The primitive life which both the Negroes and poor whites are reduced to, can only be compared with that of the colonial and semi-colonial toilers in China, India, Africa, the West Indies and Latin America. It is out of these class confliets which will sweep over the South with greater rapidity than most of us anticipate, that the Negro and white workers will come to realize their class relations in the present. | social order. Jn proportion as they recognize that despite their racial differences, they are both members of the proletariat, will they be able to fight effectively in the common struggles of the working class against the capitalist overlords. This unity of purpose will be the most powerful force in breaking through the age long prejudices be- tween the workers of both races. Herein lies the greatest hopes of the Negro masses in their struggles for self-determination, Let us not deceive ourselves that the eradication of race prejudice will take place | over night, but on the other hand, it must come about as a result of the social forces propelling both groups in the same direction and throwing them in the struggle against their class enemy—capitalism. For years the capitalist oppressors of the South have used the race issue as their most effective instrument to maintain their privi- leged position. whites against the blacks and in this way withdraw the attention of the workers from the class nature of society. In the ezar’s days, the Russian workers and peasants were always made to believe that the Jewish masses were the cause for their poverty, and in this way led to carry out bloody pogroms against a helpless minority. Similarly, the Southern capitalists and their hangers-on—the preachers, politi- cians, editors and teachers—have taught the white workers that their poverty is caused by the Negroes. minds of the workers it was therefore easy to incite them into lynch- ing mobs, Gastonia shows that the workers will no longer be fooled by the deceptive propaganda of their oppressors. Present events indicate the fighting spirit of the masses. Gastonia has already thrown to the forefront several burning | Chief among these, it has dramatized in the boldest aspect | issues. the viciousness of the ruling class and the role of the capitalist state during strikes. terday suffered from the illusion that the government was their “pro- tector,” today are able to see for themselves that the police, the state militia, and other defenders of “law and order,” are the chief agents of the bosses and mill owners. Early in 1929, the National Textile Workers’ Union, a left wing crganization which grew out of the betrayals of the United Textile | Workers’ Unionvaffiliated with the A. F. of L., and controlled by a | | group of labor fakers who style themselves the Muste “progressives,” invaded the South under the leadership of Fred Beal, a stalwart trade unionist and Communist. After a few months of preliminary work among the workers in the Loray Mill of Gastonia a strike was called. Despite the betrayals of the A. F. of L. unions in the past, the workers | goaded by the “stretch out” system, long hours, and starvation wages— which hardly exceeded $12 for adults and $5 for children per week of 69 hours—responded to the appeal of the new left wing union leaders and came out on strike. No sooner had the workers left the mills and organized their picket lines were they confronted with the state militia called in to break the strike by Governor Max Gardner, a mill owner and ene of the richest men in the state. These Anglo-Saxon workers, who for generations have been taught by the ruling class to consider the militia as a special force to keep the “niggers” in their place, for the first time realized that whenever they dared to demand better conditions that they too would be shot. down like dogs alongside of the black workers. During the course of the strike it became necessary for the union to also organize some Negro workers employed in the mills around Loyal to their program of full social, political and economic equality for the Negroes, the organizers im- mediately began to tackle what has always been considered the most delicate problem in the South—the organization of Negro and white workers into the same union, The A. F. of L, has never attempted to undertake this task. Rather, they have always pursued the line of least resistance by leaving the black workers unorganized, and in the few instances where they did organize them they set them apart in Jim-Crow locals. These militant trade unionists, despite their knowl- edge of the slave traditions of the South, and fully aware of the fact that the business men and their lackeys would exploit the stand taken on behalf of the Negroes, nevertheless refused to surrender their posi- tions. Their heroism in the face of mob law and the lynching appeals of the press will never be forgotten by the American workers. Their courage surpassed that of the abolitionists. Their’s was a mission to emancipate not only Negroes but white workers as well from the fet- ters of wage slavery. “The Gastonia Gazette,” owned by the mill bosses, issued appeal after appeal to lynch Beal and the other organizers, This paper tried its best to play up race prejudice against these men and women who openly championed the rights of Negroes in North Carolina. In keeping with its policy, the “Gaz@tte” carried news that the union was controlled by Communists who hated “god” and loved j “niggers.” Like the captalst class of ezarst Rusisa, the white | ruling class of Dixie have been able until now to inflame the poor | With this belief inculcated in the | Thousands of these southern workers who only yes- | The business men and the preachers—a class that can always be found on the side of reaction—called upon the workers to forget the fact that they and their families were being shot down by the gunmen of the mill owners, and to unite with the “respectable” citizens to rid the town of the dirty “foreigners.” Reailzing that the appeals were in vain, that the workers refused to be stampeded into a lynching mob, the reactionary forces organized a fascist battallion called the “com- mittee of one hundred” and set out to take the lives of the strike leaders themselves, During the raid on the‘strike headquarters by the “committee of one hundred” headed by the police, a very significant thing happened which in itself shows the tremendous spirit of class solidarity between the white and the black workers which Gastonia has already brought into being. This new attitude of class alliance was also reflected in the speeches made by the southern delegates of the recent T.U.U.L. con- vention in Cleveland, Otto Hall, a Negro organizer for the textile union, was on his? way from Bessemer City to Gastonia on the night of the raid in ques- tion. The wwhite workers realizing the grave danger to which Hall was exposed if he happened to get into Gastonia that night, formed a body guard and went out to meét Hall and warned him to keep away. They met Hall two miles out of town and took him in a motor car to Charlotte where they collected enough money among themselves to pay his railroad fare to New York. No sooner had Hall embarked on the train a mob broke into the house where he hid before his departure. It was only the timely and prompt action of these white workers that saved the life of their Negro comrade. One can easily imagine why these fascists were so anxious to get hold of Hall, As a Negro it would have been very easy to accuse him of some alleged crime and thereby “justify” their action of lynching him. After that, the class nature of the Gastonia struggle would have been diverted into one of a racial issue leading to the wholesale lynch- ings of the white Communists, the champions: of equality for the blacks. The Negro workers, together with the white workers of America, must answer this challenge of the capitalist class by mass protest ac- tion until the revolutionary fighters now on trial at Charlotte are freed from the clutches of the mill barons. We can already deduct several valuable lessons from Gastonia in relation to the working class in general and the Negro in particular. (1) The struggle immediately brings on the order of the day the right of the workers to defend themselves. This must be the cen- tral issue for us, for as indicated, the workers will engage in more and more such class battles in the near future, during which fascist ele- ments such as the “committee of one hundred” would be mobilized against the strikers. We cannot surrender the right of self defense, ctherwise we will be simply inviting wholesale massacre of the work- ing class. (2) Race prejudice is not a geSgraphical feature of American capitalist society. It is everywhere, although more bitterly entrenched in the South, because of its semi-ffeudal remnants. As the process of industrialization proceeds and the Negroes and poor whites are drawn from the rural communities into the industrial centers they will be forced to discard the ideology of the past and to orientate themselves to their new environment. This process of urbanization will bring them together and out of these contacts they will learn to recognize that both groups are the slaves of the bosses. They will further learn through their everyday experiences that the employers foster race ea in order to keep them apart and thereby exploit them more easily. (3) The new class battles which will increasingly break out will necessitate the application of new methods of class warfare. We have already realized that the antiquated Jim Crow craft unions fostered by the A. F. of L. must be displaced by new industrial unions under the militant leadership of the Communists and the left wing T.U.E.L. Every battle will present us with new lessons in class tactics and methods of struggle. We must therefore be always on the alert to recognize our weak and strong points. Rigid self-criticism must be indulged in, in order to immediately correct our mistakes and steel our fighting forces so that all advantageous positions gained by the workers will be consolidated. (4) A systematic ideological campaign against white chauvinism must be carried on among the workers as well as within the Party, ranks, There is still a tremendous underestimation of Negro work among some of our comrades. Up till now too little serious attention has been given to this phase of our. activities . The T.U.U.L. conven- tion marks a new effort, which, however, must noww end merely in resolutions. The large Negro delegation shows tha twe are capable of winning the black workers to our banner if we ourselves carry on systematic work among them. These Negro workers, as pointed out by the Comintern over and over again, represent revolutionary poten- tialities which it will be criminal for us to neglect for the social revo- lution. We must therefore intensify our work among them, and draw them not only into the new unions but also into the ranks of the Party. (5). We must popularize our slogans of full social, political, and economic equality for Negroes more than we have done in the past. The most effective means of doing this is through our press, especially the “Negro Champion,” which should be developed into the mass organ of the Negro workers. In districts and centers where large groups of Negroes are employed especially in the centers of the basic industries special leaflets and bulletins dealing in a concrete way with their everyday problems should be distributed at regular intervals. The Negro press can also be utilized to a greater extent then some of our comrades recognize. In order to do this the Crusader News Service should be subsidized. Because of the peculiar position of the Negro petty-bourgeoisie and intellectuals, they too, are compelled to support our slogans of equality for the Negro workers or else expose their reactionary role before the masses. Experience has taught that these slogans of equality mean more to the Negro working class than to the black bourgeoisie and its yniddle class hangers-on, decause they already enjoy a certain privileged 1 SAW IT sn thot maniac tn i WAY SEL ted, by permission, from “I Saw It Myself” by Heart ie | hed and copyrighted by E. P. Dutton & Co, Incy New York. Blood in the Oil Cans (Continued) a (d secretary standing there, as silent and motionless as the tele- phone receiver, thereupon said, ‘All right, sir.’ “It was an order this man had given, for he was one of today’s world emperors, even though they did call him ‘sir’ by an old deme cratic custom. “Some time after, in that same year 1923, there came a day whew the chiefs of the tribe sat waiting in their gayest clothes for one, by name Great Heart, who was to go out hunting with them. Great Heart was late, an utterly unusual thing with Redskins, who are mad on punctuality. The end of it was that Great Heart never turned up. So they went off to his wigwam in Indian file and found him in the death throes, his face terribly distorted as though from inside, surrounded by screeching women and frantic medicine men. And soon after his mighty frame, which looked enormous as it lay stretched out, had breathed its last. “Poisoned he had been beyond all doubt, but whose hand had poured the drug and whose the arm that guided the hand? Those who knew betroyed no sign. Great Heart was one of the petroleum field proprietors. So now there were only twenty-five, “And the very next thing that happened was a hunting accident, which very nearly brought them down to twenty-four. “There was a crowd of them—Redskins and Pale Faces—chasing the quarry. One of the white hunters following behind fired a shot and sent his bullet into the thigh of the Indian galloping on ahead of him, instead of into. . .. Damn clumsy fellow! o. oe le SWeEES are the good old days when it was so easy for the bosses to get rid of twenty-five superfluous men? In this generation you can only do that sort of thing in wartime, and it was peace time then, worse luck! * “One of my pals, whose head was a regular box of tricks, said: ‘What about a conspiracy? Supposing we get ’em mixed up in a con- spiracy to undermine the Government and Civilization in general?” You know how often the conspiracy stunt’s used in all countries; sure thing, mops ’em up every time. You discover a conspiracy, with all sorts of horrible details, and that not only does in the undesirables but makes all honest citizens say: ‘They deserved what they got,’ and, ‘What a good Government we have!’ “To work up a conspiracy all you need, as you know, is one or two artists—handwriting experts, as you mjght say, to prepare the incrinimating documents, and a few eloquent™preachers to set the ball rolling towards national independence or anarchy. You bet we had ’em both within easy reach, and soon we had persuasive fellows at work amnog the petroleum tribe, patiently explaining to the Indians how much it would be to thier interest if they shook off the oppressive yoke of the Americans; for instance, they could have a bomb (a receipt for one was offered) nad use it to blow up some public monument in the district. “But they were up against it. The Redskins wouldn’t take on, the swine! And yet no one was asking them to go right through with it; all that was wanted was that they should show a bit of interest in the idea. But it was no go. They wouldn't tumble to it, and stuck pretty close together. Ce ee “AND actually this happened: our very best sedition man used up s0 much spittle shouting out revolutionary doctrines that he went off his'chump, by which‘I mean that he turned revolutionary in earnest. Would you believe it? Here was a fellow who had always been squarely dealt with by the rich, and blest if he doesn’t wear arrow-head suiting now, all because he expressed revolutionary opinions rather more loudly than he should. “And so there were still twenty-five owners left, rolling in wealth, and honest Injuns at that! ° “You’ve heard of the Ku Klux Klan? They’re a very respectable crowd; lots of rich men’s sons, in particular, and young bloods out for sport and excitement, who’ve banded together in the South, first with the idea of knocking out Catholics and lynching negroes, and next, | as their programme of reform grew wider in scope, with an eye to keeping the upper hand over the scum who claim to live on equal terms with acquired wealth. These Protestant Patriots can boast, like the Fascist gentlemen—they’re the Ynakee brand—of a certain number of acts which you can describe, if you like, as crimes, and, in addition to that, of picturesque processions in which they figure in white hoods. ‘Well, they got up one of these processoins in the already pre- sentable town stretching along the line of petroleum wells which look so like skeleton towers. The Indians were looking on. It reminded them of their ancestral ceremonies on a bigger and blacker scale. But when the procession was over, somehow or other—why was never dis- covered—a scrimmage began. Colts were popping right and left. Bullets whistled in dozens past hoods and police helmets. When the excitement died down, there were three citizens lying on the ground. They were three Indians—three petroleum field proprietors. So now there were only twenty-two. * * * s°THIS affair led to some uneasiness and even to a certain amount of unrest. To clear the air and to give them something else to think about, the Company, always anxious to keep every man amused and happy (seeing in it, too, perhaps, a perfectly legitimate publicity stunt) decided to ‘shoot’ a film in the district. This film was to be made with the help of Indians, workmen, employees, and the entire population, grouped round two film stars—a splendid star of the mas- culine order and a dazzling light of the female species. “Tt was then,” said Billy Pew (proudly his voice rose one point), “that I came on the scene. “The whole business was put in my hands. I should explain that by this time—that’s three years ago—I was a film producer. ‘I got hold of a good scenario. As they made no bones about the Dollars, I went to the biggest f all the scenari men. His name. . . let’s see. . . . I can’t remember it for the moment, but you know it sure enough. He wrote me up a peach of a thing. The title alone was miles out of the ordinary and quite sensational!—The Virgin of Tulsa. You know what a genius the Americans have for films. The most splendid and original of all ideas come from them. The big swell I had gone to had surpassed himself and I was the proud owner of a scenario unrivalled for intensity and novelty by any other. Judge for yourself: A young white girl is carried off by some Indians who are annoyed by the industrial enterprises ‘of a millionaire philanthropist, father to the pretty young lady. AAS a vd hes horse, then! Off they go in pursuit of the ravishers; riding away with their prey. They must be caught before they scalp the golden-haired heroine. Now, all the interest and originality of this super film lay in this chase through all kinds of obstacles. They pass through floods, through fire, over mountains and plains and even over a train in motion. At last the Indians are surrounded, at the very moment when the chief sorcerer has his knife to the scalp of the angelic victim. They are shot down with rifles and the child is saved by her father and fiance. “The parts were assigned, the scenes were staged. The Redskins caught on like anything. There were several rehearsals of the final scene. When all was ready, they ‘shot’ this scene. Ralph, the photog- rapher,—he was a fat chap with spectacles—was hard at it, and while he turned and snapped the acrobatics and graces of the male star and the female star—both on horsebck, of course—and the troops of horse- men thundering downhill like avnlaaches, he yelled and cursed and applauded and sweated like a child streaming with tears. * . . (To be continued) 3 ss _———— position in Afro-American soeietty, by playing second fiddle to the Hove ae be. ; s the struggle assumes sharper class lines th call leaders who still befuddle the black workers ad Healade Sn eat propaganda such as Garvey’s “Back to Africa” slogan—a form of black Zionism—will be compelled to show their true colors and in this way expose their ocieaten reseioniooksy Basitiie: before the Negro working a orn, ee prion on Meant