The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 20, 1929, Page 1

The Vanguard of the Working Class of America and the Whole World Greets the Convention of the National Textile Workers Union—Al- ready Baptized in the : Fire of Class Struggle! ass matter at the Post Office at New York, N. ¥., under the act of M Publishee a: Company. Vol. VI., No. 246 Ine. ly except Sunday by The Comprodatly 26-28 Union Square. ity, N. ¥. ar New York ~ The Coal Strike Spreads The strike of 400 coal miners in west Kentucky today gives the lie direct to the capitalist press claims that the strike struggle begun in Illinois and led by the National Miners’ Union is on the wane. The: strike is spreading. It is spreading in spite of all the ef- forts of the Lewis, Fishwick and Farrington and other agents of the coal barons. The strike is spreading in spite of the mobilization of hundreds of deputy sheriffs and the mass arrests of strike leaders. The strike is spreading in spite of the militia and their machine-gun posts on highways leading to the mines. In the Briey basin a thousand more workers joined the strike of French miners, The strike in France is spreading, The shock troops of the struggle in Illinois need money, food and organizers. Organize aid for the miners’ strike in the other indus- tries!’ Their struggle is the struggle of the whole working class. The miners must be financed and fed so they can continue to build their fighting union and—spread the strike! The Task of the Convention of the National Textile Workers Union—“Mobilize for Struggle!” The Second Annual Convention of the National Textile Workers Union, beginning its two-day session Saturday, Dec. 21, in Paterson, N. J., is of first-class importance for the working class and our Party. Conceived and born in the mass strikes of the textile workers in Passaic and New Bedford, the N.T.W.U. came to maturity as the or- ganizer and leader of the heroic struggles of the Southern textile work- ers in and around Gastonia, N. C. It won the loyalty of the workers and it was their devotion and courage which made it impossible for the textile barons and their gov- | ernment to murder the leaders of the N.T.W.U. in the electric chair after the defense of the union headquarters in Gastonia on the night of June 7 in which a chief of police was killed. They still face from 17 to 20 years in prison and their defense is the strength of the N.T. W.U. and other militant sections of the working class. The N.T.W.U. at the time of its greatest danger was deserted by ‘one of its leaders. The sharpening class struggle produced other de- fections among the leadership of the union but the rank and file never faltered. The N.T.W.U. was strong enough to repair all internal dam- ages and goes into its second convention united, to discuss and adopt the necessary measures to prepare it for its task of organizing and leading the million workers in the industry. The struggle against the opportunists will be a major point on the convention’s order of business. That struggle is already victorious so far as individual right wing leaders are concerned, but it is neces- sary now to carry on a fight against opportunist deviations in the daily work and struggles of the union. 7 The convention meets just as the leadership of the American Feder- ation of Labor, and especially the so-called Muste wing in the United Textile Workers, is planning new betrayals of the Southern workers. The Charlotte conference of the A. F. of L. to be held on Jan. 6 is evidence that the rising tide of the class struggle in the South has in- duced the capitalists to call in their social-reformist agents in an en- deavor to check the developing mass struggles. . ‘The convention of the N.T.W.U. confronts in the convention city itself a growing strike movement. In Illinois thousands of miners are striking under the leadership of the National Miners Union—affiliated, like the N.T.W.U., to the Trade Union Unity League, the American section of the Red International of Labor Unions. The slogan used in the N.T. W.U. convention preparations—“Mobilize for Struggle”—is clearly correct and embodies the perspective of our class and our Party for this period. . The attack of the A. F. of L. in the textile industry, especially in the South, is directed against the N.T.W.U. and the Communist Party. Especially has the holy anger of the social-fascists been aroused by the open challenge to Southern capitalism and its agents contained in the demand of our Party for full social, economic and _ political quality for Negroes—a demand endorsed and fought by the N.T.W.U. For the first time in the South, Negro and white workers have been united on a-class struggle program. For the whole working class this is an achievement of historical importance. The N.T.W.U. convention will give another working class reply to Hoover's fascist council and its program of increased robbery and oppression. Based on demands as the abolition of the speed-up and stretch-out, a minimum wage of $20 per week (itself proof of the low wage level in the entire industry), equal pay for men and women, aboli- tion of child labor, the 7-hour day and the 5-day week, the union will be able to organize and lead big sections of the workers and lay the basis for a general strike in the industry. The industry is in a crisis—nationally and internationally. In the United States more than 250,000 textile workers are unemployed— minimum of 25 per cent of the total number of workers in the industr: The convention will have to deal with the struggle against unemploy- ment as an immediate task—is now has to organize unemployed as well as employed workers. The situation in the industry, an integral part of the deepening industrial crisis in the United States, the tr¢émendous tasks that the union faces, makes it imperative that the convention elect a leadership that has been tested and trained in struggle. More rank and file work- ers should be elected to the National Council and a broad collective directing center established. The N.T.W.U. convention meets in the first days of the recruiting zampaign of our Party. The convention, and the hundreds of workers who will be attracted to it, must become a recruiting ground for our Party. More militant textile workers in our Party, more Communists in the National Textile Workers Union! This will be the best guar- antee that the N.T.W.U, will be able to carry through its revolutionary | National Textile Con- | . vention Meets in Atmo- sphere of Class Struggle ‘Great Mass Meet Tonight in Paterson Greets) 'Gastonia Defendants; Sessions Open Tomorrow National Silk Strike and Increased Organiza-; tion Activity in South Are Main Points | PATERSON, N. J., Dec. 19.—The Second National Convention of | | the National Textile Workers’ Union really opens tomorrow night, with | a great mass rally of the workers of this vicinity, at 7:30 p. m., in the Union Hall, 205 Paterson St., Paterson, N. J. | William F. Dunne, of the Trade Union Unity League, in which the will officially greet the seyen| Batty, leader of a small fake 1 TEXTILE YOUTH MUST ORGANIZE Sophie Melvin Tells of Terrific Exploitation Pale, anemic, undersized, are ia the Southern lyoung textile | workers. Long hours in the @ |slave pens § from early | childhood has stunted their § growth, The great majority jenter the mills jat the age of 12 and 13. The school _ enroll- jment for the State of South Carolina shows that 95 of every hundred leave school | before they reach the 4th grade and go into the mill. And although there lis a high rate of illiteracy, the De- partment of Education has no record of the number that never even see the inside of a school house, and jenter the mill below that age. Thus stated Sophie Melvin, Gas- |tonia defendant in the first trial, and South Carolina organizer for the National Textile Workers Union. She continued: ; ; “In the State of South Carolina |45 per cent of the number employed jin the textile industry are young |workers below the age of 21. Half |of them are between the ages of 13 (Continued on Page Two) | N. T. W. is a most militant section, | SLSODHIE MELVIN | ' | INTERNATIONAL WIRELESS | NEWS. | (Wireless By Inprecorr) | VIENNA, Dec, 19.—Forty of the | fifty-two workers accused before the | Bulgarian fascist court of “reviv- ing the Communist, Party,” havé ‘been sentenced to terms totaling 826 years at hard labor. The rest were acquitted. Those convicted were also fined | |a sum totaling 6,000,000 levas (the unit of Bulgarian money). Stoyan- off, Panoff and Kessyakoff were | sentenced to serve ars each, | WATCH FOR THEM! The Daily Worker calls attention to the importance of every worker, especially every Communist, clearly junderstanding the colonial move- |ments, and in this connection an- ‘nounces two articles, “The Haitian | Masses in Motion,” by Harrison George. Watch for them, Build the United Front of the Working Class From the Bottom Gastonia defendants, sentenced up| to 20 years apiece by the textile] | barons’ courts of North Carolina} | because strikers at Gastonia val- the United Textile Workers Union Textile Workers Union. breaking work. | led by the chief of police on their | " tent colony in the Gastonia strike. DE PRIEST AIDS | The Gastonia heroes will be| | William McGinnis, K. Y. Hen-| | dricks, Fred Beal, Joe Harrison, | Louis McLaughlin and George the situation in the southern tex- tile industry. Other speakers will} be James P. Reid, national presi- |tin, its southern organizer; Mar- "Acts Against Negroes} tin Russak, Pennsylvania organizer } for the union; James Ford, Ae WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.—Pr liantly repulsed a murderous raid/ |there. They are: Clarence Miller, | Carter. | dent of the N. T. W.; Dewey Mar- Con | organizer. of the T. U. U. L. and|dent-Hoover’s commission, which Sophie Melvin, N. T. W. organizer |to rivet tighter imperialist shackles | for South Carolina. lon Haiti, was approved by the Paterson Workers Interested. House of Representatives, with The workers of Paterson are on| very few votes against. | the eve of a decisive struggle with | One of the chief upholders of this their employers, who are making | measure against the Haitian work- silk mills and dye houses. The ex-| Priest, Negro petty-bourgeois Con-| periences of the southern struggle|gressman, frcm Chicago. of ‘their union will be of great ad-| De Priest made a vicious attack vantage to them, on the Haitian masses. He praised The main sessions of the conven-|the murder of thousands of Negro | tion will begin Saturday, in the (Continued on Page Two) afternoon, and will be preceded by | a conference of young workers, sic R | L PL LLU, PLENUM many of the mill slaves are chil- dren and young workers. __Battle Is on. { The dispersal of three members of | the National Textile Workers Union, Astoria, L. 1, distributing calls for of the Textile Mill Committees there. The strikers joined the Here you see Batty doing the bosse 1879. arch 3, SUBSCRIPT: Ontside Ni -FINAL CITY EDITION by mail, $8.00 per year. 86.00 per year. ew York. by m: union in New Bedford which joined to help the boss during the strike ational strike LABOR” REGIME SHOOTING NEGR ~ AFRIGAN WOMEN |Negro Congressman 18 Fallin Fight With} Troops in Nigeria Reports from London Thursday show that ‘the ” imperialist government among other crimes, has now resorted to wholesale murder of Negro women in Southeast Ni- geria, in British West Africa. The Under Secretary of the State 5 |for the Colonies, Dr. D. Shields, re- conditions worse and worse in thejers and |peasants was Oscar De! ported in answer to a question in| 2 the House of Commons, that in 2 clash between natives and the Rolay West African Frontier Force, both of troops and police, eighteen native women had been shot. Shields would not tell how many were killed of the 18 “casualties.” } The anger of the native masses {was aroused at the imposition of poll taxes, and to enforce the bless- ings of “British civilization” in the form of paying taxes to King George V, the “labor” government sent troops and police to stop the native the national convention Saturday in Paterson, the barred meeting of the union in Woonsocket, R. I, where Fred Beal, sentenced to 17 to 20 years imprisonment in the Gas- tonia trial was scheduled to speak, and the outbreak of a strike under | the N.T.W.U. leadership in Mystic, | Conn., were preliminaries today to | the national gathering in Paterson, | | which will decide upon a general | |strike in the silk industry, and in- Leading Report (Wireless by Inprecorr) MOSCOW, Dec. 19—A_ the Plenum of the Executive Bureau of the Red International of Labor Unions, Merker, of Germany, spoke in review of the labor struggles, World Congress of the R.I.L.U. have proven the correctness of the . tactic of independent lead ip by another vag revolutionary trade unionists of /_ | Strike struggles. |tensification of the union drive in| the South. “Clarence Miller, member sentenced to a term of 17- years in the Gastonia trial, an- |, (ee aby s eT Sa, |the Sadonia Silk Co. mills, in Mys- | the) “Siwaye’ betrayed the’ woche, tic, Conn., walked out on strike this |" participating in the discussion morning ween Amey sere mnahle. to}, 7-4 the following: Chent of Chiba: | (Continued on Page Three) | Foster, of the U.S. A.; Bandeboem, | if ary ~~) {ef Belgium; Mahon, of England; | Emergency! jAtchkanov, of the RLL.U; To-| |mann, of Austria; Ballam, of the | |U. S. A., and Yussefovitch, of the |Soviet Trade Union: Membership Meeting Monday, Dec. 23, 8 p. m., Cen-| tral Opera House, 67th St. and 3rd Ave. An important develop- | | ment which involves the interests | | of the entire Party will be re-| ported on and dealt with. All| | members of District Two must | | be present. Ail other Party | | meetings are called off. Bring | your membership card.—Secre- National Textile Work 'Merker of Germany in) |Negro demonstrations that took place last week, and on Sunday the {Governor of Nigeria reported that enough police and troops were on {hand to hold down the Negro masses. ; But on Monday more were sent, {and when large bodies of natives |heroically ed the officials who jwere forcibly trying to collect taxes |by seizure of native goods, the troops declaring that events since the last|Were ordered to fire, and shot 18] women. Shields reported that only women were shot, and tried to put the crime in the light possible as “regretting” such |“misunderstanding,” ete. The world conference of Negre Toilers called to meet at London on July 1, next year, will take up the erian and other situations, such {as the American occupation of Haiti | the oppression of the Negro asses in the United States. Build Up the United Front of the Working Class From the Bot- tom Up—at the Enterprises! ers Union Convention Will Carry On Stzuggle Started in Gastonia|\Carry On Real Fight;, AI aru ms A ae eae me best imperialist | ILLINOIS STRIKE; OVER 400 OUT IN TWO COUNTIES 'New National Miners Union Leaflets Call to Spread Strike; Denounce Attack on Pickets | Appeal to Railroad Workers and Truck Drivers to Stop Scab Coal; Worker Relief Helps HARTFORD, Ky., Dec. 19.—The Illinois miners’ strike | spread to Kentucky today. Two hundred and fifty miners of \the Duncan Coal Co. mines in Muhlenberg County, 150 from | the Louisville Gas & Electric Co. mine in Ohio County, and an | unknown number at Gibraltar, Ky., walked out on strike with- out waiting for the “sanction” of.the International officers of the United Mine Workers of America, to which the Kentucky U. M. W. fakers referred the nearly unanimous strike vote of all Kentucky miners taken about a week ago. The Kentucky delegates to the Tri-State Conference of the National Miners’ Union, held in Zeigler, Illinois, Dec. 1, declared that the Kentucky? re | miners would join and support | the Illinois miners in their struggle. 30,000. PROTEST The tactics of the U. M. W. are clearly to vost: MURDER OF MINER |pone the Kentucky strike in) hopes of smashing the Illinois strike first, and then betraying} Police Break Up Crowd the Kentucky miners at their) leisure. '1,000 More French Out | | (Wireless by Inprecorr} PARIS, France, Dec. 1 thousand miners of the Briey have joined the strike of the miners of Piennes, with the demand for a daily wage raise of five francs. A * * * Call On R. R. Workers. ST FRANKFORT, Ill, Dec.| 19.—The Illinois district grievance | committee of the National Miners’ | | Union urges the+spreading of the| |strike. In a meeting yesterday it} made plans to defeat the terror} | being conducted against the pickets,) The Piennes miners originally | and to call out yet more mines.|went out on December 16 because | Twenty-five thousand copies of ajof an attempt of the bosses to dis- | leaflet were issued a couple of days|charge a miner for membership in ago by the Illinois office of the|the militant miners union, affiliated union, 1111-2 West Main St., West | with the Red International of Labor Frankfort, IIL, under the title,| Unions. The wage demands were |“Spread the Strike! Do Not Per-/| made after the miners struck. | mit the Sheriffs, Militia, and Lewis- | Fishwick Gangsters To Break the | * * “soa Eee (Wireless By Inprecorr) Strike! Organize and Carry On “ Mass Picketing! March From Mine| SYDNEY, Australia, Dec. 19.—A | To Mine! Organize Broad Rank| tremendous protest demonstration land File Strike Committees, Which | of 30,000 workers was organized by | Must Lead the Strike!” |the Sydney Trades Council, the akors/arGet Joi |dominating body of the New South 3 ‘ g ., | Wales trade unions which is affili- The leafiet is addressed to rail-| ated to the’ Red International of | road men and truck drivers, as yell) Labor Unions and tho Pan-Pacific as miners, and says: | Union Secretariat, against the mur- | “The strike of the Ilinois miners |der of the Rothbury miners by po- is spreading and gaining strength | lice. The Sydney police attacked the daily. The Indiana miners are join-| workers’ demonstration with great ing the strike. The miners in other | brutality, 30 workers being taken to fields are preparing for struggle. | hospitals. | “In the first three days of the} i haa strike in Illinois, the Midland Sec-| ‘The miners at Rothbury, New tion is out 100 per cent solid. In| South Wales, went on strike some the Springfield territory the strike|time ago for improved conditions. is gaining. In Franklin County the!The right-wing union officials sold Coella Mine is shut down. Buckner|them out. The miners refused to go |is paralyzed. Hundreds of miners|pack, and picketed. The govern- in other mines have walked out. In| ment sent police, who, on Saturday, Saline County the Wasson Mine is fought a pitched battle with the | (Continued on Page Three) strikers, killing one and wounding 40. The miners rallied, and im spite of heavy police reinforcements sent by the state government, picketed to the number of 8,000, and cut off all | communications, WOMEN A FACTOR IN SHOE STRIKE The indignation of the rank and file forced the miners’ central com- |mittee to declare a strike of all mines in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales, that is, a general strike for Australia. The railroad workers refused to haul scab coal, and this is the situation at present. Bosses’ Meet Fails Plans for continued struggle, of a more intense type, and better or- role as the organizer and leader of the million textile workers in the United States. American Workers Help Haitian Fight Against Imperialism! The demonstrations carried through by the Communist Party against the murders of Haitian workers by the U. S. Marites, for the immediate and unconditional independence of Haiti and all the colonies, and for defense of the Soviet Union, were an essential and most im- portant contribution to the world struggle against imperialism. All those thousands of workers who participated in the demonstr> tions, and the hundreds of thousands who sympathize] with them, wi! be glad. to learn that. these actions were immediately effective *~ strengthening the fighting front of the oppressed peoples. Our test’. mony to this effect comes from that bloodthirsty organ of U. S. im- perialism, the Chicago Tribune. In its Dec. 16 issue, this paper car- ties a story from its special correspondent, William Lawson, from Port Au Prince, Haiti, which contains the following paragraph: “Martial law continues here and the hones that it would he lifted in a day or two were blasted by reports of demonstrations by radicals in New York. These reports encouraged the agita- tors to new extremes, with the result that the martial law is being kept tighter. Efforts by the American lecation officials to keep the revorts of sympathetic outbursts in the United States quiet failed, and almost as soon as the news was received leaders of the opposition to the American occupation were carry- ing the word through the country.” In the light of this news from the capitalist press, we can judre at its true value the attempts of Hoover and the press to put the sof’ pedal on the demonstrations, to release the arrested comrades, and ‘ promote their slogans against “cheap martyrdom” of the Communis‘ These gentlemen do not hesitate a moment to provide us with martyr as the 20-year sentences in Gastonia prove. or the 10-year sentence of young girls in California for the crime of displaying a red flac, to 5 and 10-year sentences in Ohio and Ponnewlyvania for “sedition: sveeches.” They are busy mabin~ rncteee ber Prt in this particular case, the “martyrdom” woull not be so “clcap” for din, forded, UpLin the: lidsistcies! ES Dist. 2, C.P. U.S.A. ———————— American imperialism, but very costly indeed, because it would fur- ther rouse the fighting spirit of the oppressed Haitians, who are strug- gling for the liberation of their country. _Bloodthirstiness and hypocricy are two inevitable characteristics of imperialism. We are getting more demonstrations of both from | the imperialism of the United States, Further light on the true opinions of the imperialists about the demonstrations is shed by an editorial note in the Washington Star which said: “This ridiculous performance of the youngsters is not, how- ever, to he dismissed altogether as insignificant. Small though the numbers of the Saturday delegation may be, it is known that there are rather long ranks of young Communists in the indus- trial centers and the larger areas of population in this country. ‘There are schools of Communism, at which the boys and girls are being trained, taught the pernicious principles of this dangerous political cult, instructed in ways and means of harmful propa- ganda.” | | Let the workers have as keen a realization of the effectiveness of their protests and political demonstrations, as the capitalist im- | perialists show themselves to have. Every political demonstration of the workers is a blow against imperialism. Sufficient accumulation of such blows, and their proper organization, will undermine imper- ialism and prepare for its overthrow. The workers—and certainly the Communists—must not be flattered into self-satisfaction, how- | | ever, by these “appreciations” from the enemy. So far there is only | the meagrest beginning and the demonstrations were far too small | and none too well organized. Before the class conscious workers and their leader, the Communist Party, can indulge in self-congratulatic=~ there must be at least tens of thousands, and then hundreds of thou- sands, of workers participating in such demonstrations in support of ‘he struggles of their brothers in Wall Street's colonies. The meny ers of whole trade unions must be brought en masse into them and | the consciousness of the whole working class must be aroused. | To work! Renewed energies must be thrown into the struggle for independence of the colonial peoples, as an integral part of the | whole siruggie of the working class against capitalism! | { Two scenes from the Gastonia tent colony just before the Ader- .uit raid and the strikers’ heroic defense. . Workers International Relief food photo of the new headquarters building of the N.TW.U. built by the workers themselves. It was ganized, were made by the general | Strike committee of the Independent Shoe Workers’ Union meeting last ;night at the union headquarters. | Fred Biedenkapp outlined the | present situation, and a free debate on principles and details took place, | with a strong majority for the most militant forms of struggle. The report of women’s speakers and mobilization committees were rendered. The women’s report showed how these members of shoe workers’ families are becoming a strong factor in the struggle. They are handling the relief and kitchen work, joining the demonstrations, organizing demonstrations them- selves outside of scab’s houses, and sending visiting committees to call {on the scabs, Boss Trick Fails. | Striking shoe workers rallied to ;a meeting the William Goldstein Co. yesterday, thoroughly exposed his | scheme to break the strike, and dem- jonstrated militantly in front of the |hotel. The boss lost out altogether. | Thetrial of 75 shoe strikers for ‘violation of the injunction did not \take place yesterday in Gates Ave. ‘court, as advertised. The bosses’ lawyer looked over the situation, and decided to postpone it ad tnransfer it to Special Sessions Court in Brooklyn. The judge does whatever the bosses want, so it was transfer- red and $50 bail for each worker Above, photo of the tent in the strikers’ colony. Below, before this that the police led by Aderholt opened fire on the strikers’ guards and were met by de- | demanded. termined resistance from the strikers. Aderholt was. killed. in A very enthusiastic meeting of retaliation, the mill owners’ state has sentenced seven mei fo terms |the Ridgewood section strikers was up to 20 years, with one more, Saylors, to be tried soon. held in the afternoon at the Flush- [had called at the McAlpin Hotel| N. Y. Delegates Go | . to Ntl I. L. D. Meet 7 a | Preparations are being made to send a large delegation to represent the workers of New York at the fourth national convention of the International Labor Defense in | Pittsburgh, December 29-31. In jaddition to the three delegates |elected by the district convention of the LL.D. last Sunday, many | working-class organizations will | send representatives. The three delegates chosen by the (district convention are Henry Buck- | ley, representing the shoe workers; | Gilbert Lewis, a Negro, representing the building maintenance workers, and Sam Nesin, district organizer of the LL.D. Plans are being made to charter a bus for the trip to Pittsburgh. In order that sufficient reservations may be made, organizations are asked to inform the district offiee of the LL.D., 799 Broadway, Room 422, of the number of delegates they are sending. ing Mansion, over 300 workers at- tended. The present situation of |the struggle was discussed and plans for the future were laid. Fred G. Biedenkapp and J. Magliacano were (the principal speakers. All workers are requested to re- port at 28 Porter Ave. at 7 p,m. A meeting of the New York sec- tion of the Womens’ Council of Shoe Workers was held last night at 16 W. 21st St., New York. t