The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 7, 1929, Page 4

Bfiare, New the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc., dai sha » New York City, N. Y. Telephone Stuyv fdrees and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, nternational Youth Day and the New Line in the Young Communist League The present period of increasing radicalization and sharpening Btruggles brings before the Young Communist League the problem of (becoming a mass League. In order to accomplish this the League must iew its work and bring in new methods of work, more adapted to the present conditions. Our first test was the Red Day. Heil success in the Red Day the International Youth ‘farther test. d The analysis of the results of th eRed Day proved cons that neither the League nor the Party were yet ready for the ‘te come. To a great extent the membership was pa: jmobilize for work. In the League we saw that too m ny past tradi- {tions exist in our work and hamper it. That is why in the period between Ried Day and International Youth Day we made eff to orrect the situation. After the par- Day became a ively struggle: t The International Youth Day ies with it mili the struggle against war. In the . it also ¢: tory of passivity, of small meetings limited in many bership of the League and the Pioneers. It has not as yet tr: ditions ‘of militancy in our own country. In the whole past h of the ‘League we had only one outstanding good Youth Day meeting and hat was in Chicago in 1927 where over a thousand workers at d. pSince the League as a whole was not militant, the Youth Day meeting nt traditions of with it ah to the mem- even there wwas not marked by any militancy in spite of the at- | tendance, * The CI decision created a new basis for our work. The League began to prepare for militant struggles. The test of this militan to be first the Red Day and then the International Youth D y “League was the life of many Red Day meetings. But there wer yet too many shortcomings, In Philadelphia an indoor meeting was held and while the YCL @id organize an outdoor demonstration after the meeting, there w Yack of organization, lack of preparation. Many comrades under mated the militancy of the workers. In its anal of the Red Day, the League did not spare itself and found that did not do enough work, that it failed to attract large numbers of working youth, even commensurate with its influence. a Profiting by the experience of the Red Day, the League in Phila- @elphia began preparing for Youth Day even before the Red Day. The | whole League was activized. Membership meetings held during the campaign showed an attendance of over 80 per cent of the membership. Unit attendance jumped to 80 or 90 per cent. Already with its face towards the large shops, the League consolidated its work by the estab- lishment of a nucleus in a radio plant employing 14,000 workers and the issuance of a shop paper. As a main method of mobilizing the working youth for the Youth Day, the Buro had instructed all units to hold an open air meeting each week and end up with two in the week preceding the Youth Day. ‘All Negro connections were visited individually and brought to League meetings. Over fifteen open air meetings were held in Philadelphia alone attracting over 1500 workers. Over one hundred connections were secured at these meetings, held largely in Negro sections. Over ten thousand unit leaflets were issued for this campaign, mimeographed and printed. Besides this 12,000 National League leaflets were im- printed for the various shops and distributed, Committees visited every sympathetic youth organization. J On the day of the demonstration three thousand special leaflets Were distributed at Atwater Kent and a noon day meeting was held at which in spite of a drizzle over 200 workers attended. i Eight open air meetings and four indoor mectings were arranged for the eve of Youth Day. Because of a veritable downpour these open air meetings were not held. ve and did not | rgan of the Communist Party of the U. S.A. nly): $8.00 a year; York): $6.00 a year; SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $4.50 six months; $3.50 six months; $2.50 tree mrerene $2.00 three months “RUSH THE DAILY WORKER TO H For the demonstration itself intensive preparations were made. For weeks the League and the Pioneers drilled and learned how to march and sing. Dozens of banners were prepared and for the first | time in Philadelphia five great cartoons drawn by one of the local comrades, showing John Porter, the electric chair and Gastonia work- ers, the Soviet Union and the attack upon it by China and the imper- ialist robbers, ete. The picture of John Porter headed the demonstra- tion. All demands of the League were included in the slogans. The uniformed ranks of the League and the banners of the various organiza- tions marching with it made a great impression on the workers. The columns assembled about ten blocks from City Hall Plaza and ‘with singing and cheering marched. A solitary cop tried to stop the march but gave it up. At City Hall Plaza over 700 workers attended the demonstration. ‘The speakers, among them one of the organizers of the National Tex- tile Workers Union, were received with applause and cheering. After the demonstration the whole crowd marched to a hall about three blocks away and packed it in what the comrades reported was ‘one of the most enthusiastic meetings held in Philadelphia. From the indoor meeting over 800 workers marched back to the headquarters. The next day, in spite of the constant rain, over 250 people attended the first League rally at the Pioneer Camp. Ten young workers, all of them working in large plants, joined the League at the Youth Day meeting and rally. ‘As a result of the drive a new shop nucleus was established in a radio plant employing 7,000 ‘workers and ten workers besides those that joined at the meeting joined the League. Unquestionably the campaign was a success. It is necessary to | analyze its shortcomings as well as see the reason for its success. We | must not repeat the error of the past campaigns. our gains, ’ We must consolidate In Philadelphia as everywhere the radicalization process is moving enward. The tremendous increasing speed-up in the radio plants, the Wage cuts amounting in some cases to thirty-five and forty per cent ‘(Philco-Radio from $7.20 for an operation to $4.30), the lay offs of tens of thousands of workers (Atwater Kent Radio, six thousand laid off in the space of three weeks) drives the workers leftward. A num- ber of strikes have taken place recently. More are coming. The work- ing youth particularly feels the attack of the bosses. It is beginning to react. A number of workers from the great radio plants attended | the IYD meetings. This radicalization of the workers places before the League the problem of organization, how more sharply than ever before. In its preparation for the IYD, the League considered this and Organized its work accordingly. In Philadelphia the Lovestone renegades secured no hold in the | League. Let them deny radicalization. the shops feels it and reacts to it. position in the Philadelphia organization, we have been able to unite the League for mass work. The League membership in Real Communist discipline was created. This, combined with a eonscious desire to do work, helped us carry thru the campaign. There were no leaves of absence, no transfers, no breaches of discipline. All members attended to the work, Those that did not were cleansed from th League. Their place was taken by active American workers. But there were many shortcomings. Too many. The entire ab- sence of anti-imperialist work, the poor work of the industrial depart- ment, and other committees, the bad work among children (only 50 Pioneers at IYD meet) underestimation of the work among Negro youth and the presence of not more than 20 Negro workers at the meet- fing, the poor cooperation of the Party and the evident underestimation of youth work by Party members, all of these factors indicate that we are not yet ready to occupy our position at the head of the strug- gies of the workers. Much more activity is necessary. With the organization of the TUUL we can and must do more work among workers in the shops in basic industries. We have yet to reorientate ourselves further to the war industries. Too few of us work in large shops as yet. Too few connections in the armed forces. History itself is defeating the renegade opposition. The League will help the Party in smashing the remnants of the social democratic traditions. In constant struggle for Bolshevization against the right wing, with self criticism under the banner of the YC] and the Party leadership, the League will move forward towards the conquest of the meskine youth—towards becoming a mass Young Communist Teague. ‘4 Because of the defeat of the op- | Thousands of app towns and villages. Workers” Drive. the “union paper,” a! THE SOUTHERN By Fred Ellis WORKERS” the mill workers know it—have come from hundreds of southern mill must answer these appeals by sending contributions to the “Rush the Daily to the Southern The e of 44 mill was to pay p devices on the The work of cours The work in the shafts devices. The men wor water sometimes re: vices. These m tem from Yonkers to. Astori: nd to be completed within si of wages and to have all necessary safety ng to the contract. did not get the prevailing scale of wages. s, due to inefficient pumping de- re forced to work long hours, with no overtime lete the wo condition on strik several hour stead of on The strike t Foundation and Sewer Construction Wo ion, Local No. 63, ated with the A. F. of L., found a splendid response in those wokrers. Jrish, Negro, and some Italian workers have united to fight their common enemy, the Patrick McGovern Co, The number of strikers increased daily. The shafts were almost completely tied up, with the exception of three or four, where the company with the aid of the Tammany police suc- | | ceeded to operate the shafts with strikebreakers. While these workers were almost 100 per cent on strike, the blasters an dengineers union also affiliated with the A, F. of L., ordered their members to continue to work, on the ground that they had a “verbal agreement” with the McGovern company that no sympathetic strikes shall take place. Mr. Flynn, the delegate of the blasters’ union, told his members that if they strike, they will be fined. This open treachery on the part of the officials of the blasters’ and the engincerg’ unions enraged the strikers and one after another would rise at theri strike meetings to denounce the strikebreaking of THE PEASANT MOVEMENT The Presidium of the International Peasant Council to the) National Peasant League of Mexico in Vera Cruz. The Nationalist Peasant League of Mexico is faced with the neces- sity of feonducting a merciless struggle against the government which has gone over to the side of the imperialists and concluded a close al- liance with the Catholic Church, with the rich landowners, with the counter-revolutionary officers corps and with all the other forces of reaction. At the moment, the government is conducting a policy of white terror against the revolutionary peasant leaders, and is thus pre- paring the way for an open attack upon all the achievements of the revolution and for the re-establishment of all the old privileges of the rich landowners, the priests and the capitalists. In this critical moment, a number of Communist officials of the Peasants League, including its leader, Ursulo Galvan, have gone over to the side of the reactionary government, the rich landowners, the priests and the foreign capitalists, The International Peasant Council (The Peasant International) has decided to expel Ursulo Galvan from its ranks on atcount vf this treachery and declares that any attempt on the part of Galvan to speak in the name of the Peasant International, is a deception of the peasant masses. The Peasant International ap- peals to all the members of the League in Vera Crux and jin other | parts of Mexico, to distribute declarations amongst the broa demnation and the expulsion of Ursulo Galvan and of all other traitors to the cause of the working peasants and the agricultural proletariat, from the ranks of the League. The Peas ant International is firmly convinced, that the exploited masses of the village poor will continue, despite the treachery of their leaders, to oppose energetically the reactionary plans of the govern- ment, and, in alliance with the working class, will continue their merci- less struggle against the rich landowners, the capitalists and the im- s, for the establishment of a real workers’ and peasants’ gov- sont in Mexico. The Presidium of the International Peasant Council. masses | | of the Mexican peasantry. The Peasant International demands the con- these officials and demand that these workers strike. Due to the mili- tancy of the strikers and due to the gpen strikebreaking activities of the blastérs’ and engineers’ union officials, many blasterers and en- gineers left the shafts and stroke in solidarity with the other workers. But as the strike developed it became obvious that the officials of the union did not call the strike to better the conditions of tHe work- ers. This was evidenced by many outstanding facts. In addition to the mild demands put forth by these officials, they have tried by all means to extinguish the militancy of the strikers. They have tried to convince the workers that by sending a committee to Governor Roose+ velt or LaGuardia, the bosses’ nominee for mayor in New York, that they will help the strikers, They have been telling the strikers that the law is on their side and will not allow Patrick McGovern to exploit them. What law! The laws passed by Tammany Hall to which Pat. McGovern is a generous contributor! They have not once mentioned the fact that mass picketing is necessary. Not one attempt was made to force the officials of the blasters’ and engineers’ unions to call their men out on strike. In short, it became obvious that they were working for the interests ofg the bosses, The building and construction workers section of the Trade Union Unity League, realizing that these workers are being sold out by the A. F. of L. officials, warned the strikers of this. It put forth its own . demands, wwhich met with great enthusiasm on the part of the workers. Our leaflets were read eagerly, our speakers were met with tremendous applause. Time and again after our speakers got through the strikers unanimously. voted to continue the strike until all demands are gotten. The building and construction section of the T.U.U.L. put forth the following demands in contrast to the A. F, of. L.: | (1) Six-hour day for all workers in the shafts. (2) Five-day week. (3) Immediate installation of proper safety devices. (4) Hot water and rub-down facilities. (5) Full time pay for workers wwhen ill or for accidents on the job. (6) Recognition of union, immediate discharge of all strike- breakers. | (7) No discrimination against Negroes. | (8) An increase in wages to be equal to the prevailing weekly scale of wages. (9) Double pay for overtime. But the T.U,U.L. did not have any illusions. We knew that in order to get these demands the present leadership must be shoveled aside. And we urged the strikers to take matters into their hands by estab- lishing rank and file committees in charge of the strike, mass picket- ing, more Negro workers on the committees, decrease in initiation fees, election of shaft committees, etc. The “leaders” of the strike began to feel shaky, for these demands found splendid response in the strikers. They had to make haste. And when on Saturday, September 8 it was proposed at the meeting to send a committee to ask the T.U.U.L, for help and to ask George Powers, who spoke at their meetings to volunteer his services to the strikers. Mr, Lynch, the business agent, said that he is seeing red. But the workers did not care if it was red. The militant spirit with which the T.U.U.L. urged the workers to fight and the demands put forth by the T.U.U.L. appealed to the work- ers and the cry of red did not scare them at all. Being afraid that the workers would adopt the recommendations made Mr. Moran, vice pres- ident and chairman of the meeting, adjourned the meeting hastily. He said that the proposals “may be brought up next day.” On Sunday, at 2 p. m., they hired an exceedingly small hall and packed it with the “good boys.” Hundreds of strikers were kept out. | At the meeting the executive committee reported of a settlement with McGovern of $1.50 a day below prevailing scale of wages, completely forgetting the rest of the demands. in order to mkae the strikers be- lieve that it is a victory for them, they invited other fat officials of the A. F. of L. to “congratulate” the boys. And thus the strike was vic- toriously sold, In reviewing this strike we must come to the following conclusion: 1, That the A. F. of L. officials have once again proven its ser- vility to the bosses, closely connected with the bosses parties (the coll- ing upon Roosevelt and LaGuardia for “help”). 2. That the officials of the A. F. of L. are acting as strikebreak- ers for the bosses and therefore must be fought dxefusing to call out f ’ Reprinted, by permission, from “I Saw It Myself” by Henri Barbusse, hed and copyrighted by E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc, New York. THE RED MAID. (Continued) Amon g this group—exiles in the very heart of their country— | this tender-hearted rationalist, this mystie with a logician’s mind, | found her combative spirit fo revolt both strengthened and quickened. For this was a secret little circle of fiery souls, comparable to those bands hidden away in the catacombs in the days when Christianity was a people’s religion, ground under the Roman heel. Later, when speaking of this period in her life, she would say: “We kept our eyes fixed ahead.” She led the austere and ascetic life of a porr school-mistress, bought old clothes and boots in the Temple Square in little second-hand dealers’ shops. She incurred debts because she used to buy books, and above all because she bent in pity over every victim, every suffered. She who had given her all to the cause of revolution could not but give freely to others ef all that was in her hands, her head, her heart. And if she ever had tender feelings other than for her mother they were never revealed—even though stories will have it otherwise—and doubtless sh was reluctant to confess them even to herself. 7 8 * 'HEN same the Franco-German War: then the defeat and the fall of the Empire. Afterwards came that great upheavel of a mar- tyred people—The Commune. Now was revealed the treachery, of those bourgeois republicans who were ‘democrats’ only in so far as they were opposed to that half-caricature, the descendant of Napoleon I. Now came the bitter deception: men learned the perfidy of those whose ‘solid front’ was solely turned against the Emperor. Now that the bourgeoisie themselves were enthroned, their one thought was to be rid of the common people; fear and hatred could plainly be read in their eyes. This little school-mistress, dark-eyed and darw-robed, threw her- self body and soul into the Communard cause. She preached revolt and organized it. Dressed in men’s clothes and gun in hand, she went down into the mud of the trenches, into the hail of bullet and grape- shop. She was Revolution incarnate, now that she knew bourgeois liberalism to be a hollow mockery, and understood the hideous hypo- cricy that had moved the great bourgeois republican, Jules Favre, to embrace her theatrically ni public, at the same time as Ferre, before the crowd—the better to choke the life out of them both and out of those who stood behind them, with his Judas kiss. e 6 . IN the defeat that followed, in the suppression of that revolt, she played her full part and more. Only a miracle saved her from the rifles, machine-guns and baynoets of the army of Established Order, from the drunken hordes of the ‘avengers’ let loose in Paris, inculting, striking, torturing and killing haphazard in the streets. And some- times even the crowd, poisoned by the vile catch-words of ‘peace and bred of intelligence. the Communards, she said: “The: it; they are believers. Above all, we have need of those order,’ heaped insults on the vanquished. For all these poor creatures and tools, who know not what they do, she showed her pity; pity, too, for those who carried out the orders of the blood-thirsty regime—pity wide and deep, such as is When she saw the pale-faced Bretons firing on se men do not understand. They have been taught that they must fire on the people, and they believe Money, at least, is not their niducement. Some day they can be won over by being taught to believe in justice. who do not sell their services.” The strike movement in France increased tremendously in the last year. In spite of the relatively im- proved capitalist economy, the wages of French workers remain on a very low level, representing only about 2-8 of the wages of German workers and less than half of the wages of American workers. The French workers’ real wages are only about 60 per cent of pre-war scale. From October, 1927 to April, 1929, retail prices increased 29 per cent, while to five per cent. The continued decline wage became an important factor in increasing the competitive ability of French capital on the inner, as well as on the international market. Every raise in real wages puts French capital in a less advantage- ous position in the, struggle for world markets. To avoid this, the French bourgeoisie puts up the most determined resistance to the labor movement, workers, parliament, capitalist courts, the police, militia, the social democratic and christian trade unions. On June 25, the French parlia- ment with a majority of all capital- ist (including the social democratic) votes, against the 12 Communist representatives, passed a law for compulsory preliminary discussion of all struggles between workers and employers. Before calling a strike or declaring a lockout, both sides must enter into negotiations. However, while employers who de- clare a lockout without preliminary negotiations are liable to a very small fine, workers organizations and individuals who, without negoti- ations, “provoke a strike,” are to be fined 10,000 francs. Law Favors Reformists. The employers will enter into ne- gotiations, but only with the social democratic unions which follow a policy of class. collaboration and whose leaders always betray strik- ing workers’ interests. The revolu- tionary Unitary Trade Unions ‘will be declared illegal and destroyed stroyed through large fines imposed on them—or so capitalists hope! Another sneaking but important attack on labor is the law proposed by the socialist deputy, Hervare. The representatives elected by the workers in the mining industry to watch for safety of the mines, a very improtant victory for the workers, will ,under the law, be abolished and replaced by inspectors appointed by the Minister of Labor on recommendation of the reformiss trade unions, ‘Trops In All Strikes, In the last six months the courts have increased activity in aid of employers. For the smallest strike, strikers are ‘charged with “violation 4. That the T.U.U.L. is the any longer, THE STRIKE MOVEMENT IN FRANCE nominal wages decreased from two} in real! mobilizing against the | of the freedom to work” for scabs or with resistance to.police or mili- tia, Active workers are brutally ailed in wholesale fashion, whether or not they participate in the given strike. Not one strike passes with- out intervention of the militia of “mobile guard.” The strikes in the months;in Concarnot, where 80 per cent were women; in Paris building |trades; on the docks of Bordeaux; |in the textile factories of Rouen; the building trades of Marsailles, | Dunguergue and other places, were all accompanied by demonstrations against the repressive measures of the government. Reformists Defeat Strikes. | Government reaction works in conjunction with strikebreaking by the reformist trade unions, which fight preparations for strike and jtry to avoid them through compro- mise with employers. The smallest | concession is touted by them as a “great victory.” Practically every defeat of the wrokers comes from |this treachery of the reformists. In |many big factories where 99 per leent of the wrokers were unorgan- ized, and hence not influenced by the reformist union bureatcrats, srtikes there were carried on ener- getically, with good class solidarity and ended in victory. Nothing can stop the growing strike movement. In the first five months of this year 494 strikes oc- curred, involving 173,000 workers. Outstanding among them were two strikes of four or five thousand agricultural workers of the Arles district and the general strike of the Paris postal employes on June 4, The French agricultural workers live in the most terrible conditions; their wages are miserably low, and their hours very long. Of the three | or four million only 20,000 are or-~ ganized. Red Unions Lead. The strike demonstrated the awakening of the agricultural pro- letariat. In spite of the police ter- ror the nearly 5,000 agricultural wrokers of Arles won the eight-hour day, better wages, better food and living quarters. This strike was led by the militant Unitarian Trade Unions, which are affiliated to the R.1.L, U. In almost all strikes the workers demanded an increase in wages, the eight-hour day and recognition of representatives elected by the work- ers to guard their interests. In most of the strikes the workers won wage increases. This was at once followed by further rationalization by the capitalists and more inten- sive exploitation of labor, which in reality lowers wages. Therefore, the strikes which ended victoriously created conditions demanding a new struggle on a much higher level. s — the blasters and engineers on strike). 3. That the workers are ready to accept the program and lead- ership of the T.U.U.L. (response to our speakers and literature). only organization fighting for interests of the workers and for the unity of all the workers. 5. That the craft system of orgenization cannot serve the wor 3 ) last few . Pe ee ee ee rey ee cla in the day ing the