The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 27, 1929, Page 1

« Unemployment Is Growing in Every In- dustry More Than 5,000,000 Workers Are Walking the Streets. The Commu- nist Party Demands: Full Wage Unem- ployment Relief by the State, With Su- pervision by the Workers! Unity of the Employed and Unemployed! ed dally except 7. ime, 28-26 Vol. VL, No. 252 cme Sew The Illinois Mine Strike---A Negro Toilers }ISTRIGT NT. W. Struggle of the Whole Working Class! Two facts stand out in the struggle of the Illinois miners: (1) The militancy of the working class in the strike districts , Where 10,000 miners end their families—some 40,000 altogether—have shown by mass picketing and the continuation of the struggle, in of the mass arrests and open terrorist campaign of the bo: Lewis-Farrington-Fishwick machine and the government, the the ability to fight stubbornly against the full forces of capitalist reaction. (2) The extensive character of the anti-working class united front—ranging from the coal barons and their capitalist kindred, and including the American Federation of Labor bureaucracy, the socialist party, the state and national government, down to the strikebreakers and gunmen recruited from the gangster districts of Chicago. pite It is clear that in such struggles as the Illinois strike, while the main issues are simply those of wages, hours and conditions of labor— ruggle for maintaining and raising the living standard of large masses of workers in a basic industry—the entire force of the capi- talist class and their government is called out against the workers. The Illinois strike became a political struggle from the very first day—the striking miners were confronted with the armed for of the government—both official and unofficial, troops and privately paid armed mercenaries. Out of the struggle itself have come such demands as the with- drawal of troops, unconditional release of all jailed strikers, disarming of the fascist gangs of the coal barons, etc. lt is entirely futile for the bosses and the paid press men to say that the strike is a “Communist strike,” that the “regular” trade union issues have been shoved into the background. The fact of the matter is that the more the National Miners’ Union stresses the wage and working conditions demands the sharper the struggle becomes. Pre- cisely because of the militant character of the National Miners’ Union, supported by the Communist Party, the miners’ economic demands are not betrayed. The basic cause of the struggle is the attempt of the coal barons © maintain or increase profits at the expense of the miners and their families. This drive was launched right after the Jacksonville meet- ing (January, 1924) of the United Mine Workers of America and was planned by the coal barons with the cooperation of John L. Lewis, who agreed, at that meeting, to help to starve 200,000 miners out of the industry. Chronic unemployment has been the outstanding characteristic of the Illinois mine situation for five long years. New machinery which has displaced enormous numbers of mine workers has been in- troduced. The Orient Mine Number One in West Frankfort is the biggest coal producer per worker employed of all mines in the world. Tonnage rates have been lowered. The payments for so-called “dead work”—removal of rock, waste, etc.—have been reduced or have been discontinued altogether. The wages and living standard of the miners have been lowered constantly and rapidly. The Hlinois strike is a basic struggle. It is the fight of a section of the working class with its back to the wall—but beginning to battle its way out of a situation where it has been on the defensive for years. The Ilinois struggle is the kind of a fight in which.all the Amer- ican workers in decisive industries will have to engage. More than that, the whole exploited population will be drawn into these coming struggles. The shock troops of our class as in Illinois are already on the battle front. No issue which affects the lives of the miners is too small to attract attention. Lenin once wrote of the struggle of some Leningrad factory workers for the right to drink tea on the bosses’ time and— out of such small beginnings arose the revolutionary mass movement which brought the working class to power led by its Bolshevik Party. But to specialize on such issues without at the same time raising more important ones, broadening the mass base of the struggle, pre- paring the miners and the whole working class for sectional and finally a national strike in the industry at the opportune moment, would be to condemn the struggle to strangulation brought about by its own narrowness and lack of perspective for this period of sharpening class conflicts resulting from the ever-growing keenness of the class relationships. 3 The task of our comrades. in the coal fields and of our Party as a whole is to spread the Illinois struggle to other coal fields and to other industries. Miners! Fight for every demand that betters your conditions an] weakens the coal barons! Spread the strike! Widen the leadership of the struggle by bring- ing in rank and file miners on all committees! Smash the reactionary front Ly throwing fresh proletarian troops into the struggle! Workers in other industries! Build the second line of attack in the shops and factories, in the ports and on the railroads! | “Fine! It Couldn’t Be Worse!” i “Several Encouraging Factors in Steel Trade.” “Soviet’s Program for Industry Lags.” These are two headlines that appeared in the capitalist newspapers Thursday. Taken together, they are altogether too significant—and too funny—to pass over in silence. The newspaper that discovers “encouraging factors in the steel trade” of the United States is the New York Journal of Commerce. The theory of the Journal of Commerce seems to be: The economic depression could not be much worse—therefore things must get better! After whistling courageously about certain orders for steel and about a “drastic reduction of consumers’ stocks” (of steel), the famous Wall Street newspaper says: “Mill operations have been sharply curtailed, with man) units idle for the entire week. Raw steel output will not be cut down proportionately, but the average, counting suspensions, may riot be more than 40 per cent of capacity. The rate for December promises to be lower than that for any month, save in the summer of 1924, since the depression of 1921,” And for fear that the reader will not understand this as a basis for capitalist optimism, the Journal of Commerce hastens to explain: “The very severity of the fourth-quarter decline in produc- tion is regarded as the best promise of an early. recovery. Decem- ber’s recession in ingot output from November may approximate November’s 19 per cent drop from the October rate. The great- est decline in any single previous mdénth was 84 per cent in December, 1907.” So much for the capitalist “optimism” in regard to the present economic crisis in the land of giant finance-capital, which is throwing hundreds of thousands of workers out of employment every month until the present total must be estimated at not less than 5,000,000. Now for the capitalist press’ “pessimism” in regard to the indus- try of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. This is from the New York Times of the same date, which writes that the “Soviet’s program for industry lags.” Workers who have been so misguided as to prefer the Socialist system-which is being built up by the workers as the ruling class in the Soviet Union, will be deeply grieved to learn that while capitalist try is showing such “encouraging signs,” the industry of the class society of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics is jon’ P at Haiti Meets DETROIT, 3 Dec. 26. | Twenty-eight workers, i2 them Negro workers, joined the Commu- nist Party, five mass meetix held in De defens the Sovie olidarity with the Haiti. At one meeting, o present, 20 j the Party, eight of these being Negro¢ Of the 80 new Party ured thus far in th ng Drive ‘here, of roit. tor Union and in workers of ro ine 2 to the Communist About 1,000 | CHICAGO, De« lenge to Amicric Negro workers n imperia joined the Con ithe Haitian workers, held here cember in District 8 the Mil jone 11} gro worke Party. Re lutions 1 the Negro and) white worke at the meetings pledged support of the Haitian workers’ revolution. The Communist Party is anging to commemorate the heroic work of Frederick Doug- nous Negro leader, in Febru- 12, as an answer to the bour- geois celebration of the birthdey of Lincoln, pseudo-liberator. Sharp Class Struggles, on the Increase WASHINGTON, Dee. 26. dispatches to the Depa Commerce from various par world show a general picture of ii A ceble of the stralian coal mine ave re- jected all settlement proposals, and attempts have been made to extend the strike to other industries. One mine has been opened by the state, with volunteer (read Curtailment of important construc- tion projects because of shortage of Joan funds has been reported from different sections of the country.” From Belgium comes the news that “a slackening of orders in cer- tain important lines ice Sepiem- (Continned on Page Tw» inoff Wires That Teams abor ‘Lit | Aviators, Dog | Are Hunting riat of Forei 2 Soviet Union, si all possible , Carl Ben Kil- json and Borland, wrecked somewher! the coast of Siberia. | Litvinoft’s pointed out tha’ the Stavropol, which the U. S. gov- ernment had mistaken for an ice- { breal er and asked to have sent to | Bilson’s assistance, is an ordinary steamer, but said that dog were being sent out from the S pol. The message continued: | “Soviet Government is organizing | in a few days an expedition by plane }of type Land of Soviets with Shes- takoff, recently returned from | America, as pilot.” Negro Tennis Players Too Good; Drop Them Two Negroes, Reginald Weir and Gerald L. Norman, Jr., have been dropped by the Lawn Tennis Asso- ciation from the National Junior in- | aily of 200 workers | | é "| Women Workers workers, 7 union in all districts, within not less “DRESS STRIKERS comdqclass matter ae ss Worker RIPTION HATES: In New York by mail 64.00 ver rear Ontside New York by mall $6. CONVENTIONS TO START STRUGGLE Call of National Office of Union Points Out | Workers Are Ready | ‘Build More Mill Locals ‘Reach More Negro and Pilot of the “Land of the Soviets” on its historic flight from Moscow \to New York, who has now been \placed in charge of the Soviet ex- Over the signature of Clarence Miller, sentenced to 20 years in the Gastonia case, and secret: treas- rer of its National ixecutive ard the ational Textile Work-|pedition to search for Carl Ben Union yesterday issued a call |Hielson and Earl Borland, American dist conyentions of the aviators who have been lost for six weeks off the Siberian coust. than four or more than six weeks. Representation at these conferences jis to be from mill locals, general \locals, mill committees, unorganized mills and from unemployed connec- tions of textile workers, The district boards of the union, lare called to meet immediately and | start preparations for the conven- | tions. | YED | “The district conventions are ral- | lying centers for tho struggle,” says the call. It points out that the na-| mee itional convention recently held in| Paterson, N. J., proves that “the textile workers are ready for strug- gle not only in isolated textile cen- ters but in the textile industry as a whole. . jorder to help the big capitalists in “The in speed-up system, |the present-sharp crisis, the Ways the longer hours, the lower wages,|and Means Committee recommends unemployment, that are parts of the | turning back $190,164,359 to the big plan of the bosses to rationalize the |exploiters, as income tax refund. textile industry are part of the in-| The larger single nunk, amount- creasing crisis in the industry. The jing to over $25,000,000 is presented n the textile industry in turn|to the U. S. Steel Corporation. S$ a part of the crisis that is devel-|Further hand-outs of millions of oping not only in the United States, | dollars to the steel corporation are (Continued on Page Three) | pending. The Hoover government freely turns over millions to the big corpo- \rations, aiding them in their wage- jeut drives, and creating the “grand |fascist council” to carry on the at- |tacks of the workers. “There is not |the slightest move for unemploy- ment relief by “he capitalist legisla- tors. With the unemployed already (number over 5,000,000 the Commu- nist Party is pressing the demand |\for immediate unemployment relief, Be a er enone ae 200 MILLION TO U. S. Steel Gets $25 Million Tax Refund WASHINGTON, Dec. —In PICKET BONROSE [Industrial Union Will Fight in Many Shops The; Needle Trades Workers’ In-|t0 be paid under the supervision of dustrial Union is carrying on a} the workers, vigorous picketing of the Bonrose | ap: n the dress shops, and to organize all those that have not yet recog- have to be fought through, now by ILD Since Its Last Convention ‘gn to win union conditions | tax cut of $160,000,000 wa recently as for the big bosses. that the shops begin to work soon, | after the holiday closing, and they | National will be conducted vigorously to vie- tory without regard to the Interna- Five thousand nine hundred and BOSSES; NOTHING based on full wages, and the relief | U. 8, KILLED HAITI, CLAIM Smuggled Note Shows by Censorship. Letter Reveals Women and Children Shot | A letter smuggled out of Haiti, | printed in-the Negro newspaner, the |more conerete testimony of the mas sacre, hinted at previously, of hun- dreds of Haitian peasants at Aux Cayes on December 6, where the ly- jing report of American imperial- tism’s “high commissioner,” Brigadier |General Russell, admitted only five |peasants were killed by U. S. | Marines. The name of the writer of the letter is withheld by Capt. Napoleon Bonaparte Marshall, a lawyer and |former attache of the American Le- | gation in Haiti, who read this letter at a “luncheon of the Foreign Policy | Association,” says the Negro news- paver. The letter in full follows: Port-au-Prince, Dec. 16, 1929. “Dear Marshall: “At the American. Hotel, where (Continued on Page Two) PROTEST MEXICO ~ TERROR TONIGHT Anti-Imperialist Meet! at Harlem Casino | The attack on } the militant leaders and the vicious white terror and tor- ture conducted by the lackeys of American im- perialism in Mexico will be | 3 | @ ', New York work- ers tonight at S. JUNCO. jthe New Harlem Casino, 116th St. jand Lenox Ave. Thousands of leaf- ing upon the workers to stand by the Haitian workers and peasants in their struggle against American imperialism, and calling upon Negro ‘and white workers to rally to the |support of the militant fighters fo jthe workers and peasants of Mexico land Cuba. Events in the last few days have \“New York Amsterdam News,” gives | | poswered Dy tne bed by Baldwin an@ Lloyd George, | in| */gram accepted Massacre Concealed |United Mine Workers Actively to Cut Wages More; \Conspiracy of Silence National Miners Union Draw | TAYLORVILLE, IIL, Dec | Thompson, the miners of Taylor | mass demonstration of ‘local | to smash the terror of the bosses t of the United Mine Workers of INDIAN REVOLT ~ GLOUD HOVERS ~ OVER CONGRESS “Labor” Scheduled to Perform a Massacre | | London dispatches reveal a grow- ing anxiety on the part of British |imperialism less the toiling masses lof India get “out of hand” in the |near future and seize by force i |dependence from British rule under Headership of Indian working class. | The National Indian Congress of |the Indian capitalist class is due to open this week at Lahore, and while the British imperialists do not fear |the Indian capitalists and _ the spokesmen led by Mahatma Ghandi jand Motilal Nehru, they do fear the | | 300,000,000 masses may take the road of revolution in «pite of the |pacifist preaching of Ghandi, who \is imperialism’s best gurantor of the | sterility of the independence move- | ment. | This, then, is the fear prompting |the present fuss in the British | parliament, It is clear that imperial- |ism demands a new bloodbath, such as that of Amritsar a few years ago, |which imperialists openly boasted \“taught the Indians a lesson in time |to prevent a wide revolt.” The conserve tives and the liberals, re&pectively, are making nois | parliament and out of it also, ex- | pressing “doubts” about the “labor” The $190,000,000 gift to’the big lets have been distributed denounce. |Party ability “to handle the situa- Dress Co. shop at 370 West 35th St. | bosses is the second of such presents jing the Wall Street maneuvers in| ‘ion-” This, poner he pe This strike is part of the general| handed them in the pst month. A|the Latin American countries, call-| derstood to signify no lack of con fidence in the intentions of the Mac- Donald government to do everythi limperialism requires. jonly that imperialism |eonerete performance of the pr by Mot as suppression, ruthless and violent, if need be, of the Indian revolution. The vague talk, rumors and hints, suddenly let loose in London about mands; Pay for ‘Dead g taken to saye the | {Peaven that the president-elect Ru- it regan n aca ; a gestgaarera Ms 1 : the possibility of the ‘labor” gov- tional Ladies’ Garment Workers |five workers were thrown into prison |}io's visit to Hoover, has completed | " abOEE RON fake stoppage, scheduled for the|it the United States and defended the sell-out of the Mexican workers | ernment being put we ha office! by first of Jan [by the International Labor Defense jand peasants to American Imperial- | the combined votes of the conserva 5 a ny jsince the past national conyention,|ism, Portes Gil and Calles have an | 'iVes and liberals, thus can be under- | were arrested on the! Eleven icket line at the Bonrose shop yes- y morning. They are: Betty Goldstein, Dora Stern, Rose Chinitz, Celia Feller, Rose Auerbach, Sarah Bernstein, Fanny Atkin, A. Kaplan, B. Miller, P. Rymorenko and B, Kenigsberg. Their cases came up hefore Judge Smith at Jefferson Market Court and were all dis- missed. Two pickets were arrested last week at the Fairway Hat Co., 49 West 37th Street, charged with dis- orderly conduct. They were Frances Kass and Bertha Latuchi. Bertha Latuchi made counter charges against the boss to the effect that he assaulted her. Judge Smith dis- | missed ethe charge made by the | picket against the boss and fined) | Bertha Latuchi $10, dismissing the jis the gist of a partial report of agreement with the bloody butcher Stood as meaning broad hints to the ithe year’s activities to be delivered | Machado, of Cuba, to ship the Pe ce ate ce {at the Fourth National Convention | Cubans, who are in exile in Mexico, | £7 its resistan cadenend [oe Wie D1cD. to betel tn EAS baneh nak -tovthe-Intand; which vhas“been |“ Uy t saee Cae inceneneenee 4 , e |Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in!turned into a morgue for class con- ami prouare ee fo Tall: e oiae ‘Labor Lyceum, 35 Miller St. scious: workers; India to attempt to forestall a wide FINAL CITY EDITION ot ce 3 Cents MINERS MASS MEETING HUNDREDS IN JN TAYLORVILLE 10 SMASH TERROR BY BOSSES, UMWA Aid Operators Men Have Grievances Local De- y Devices Wor p of Freeman ville preparing a and many from out territory he militia and the deputized gunmen America. Ill., Dee. nion organ- unstruck fields the America WEST FRANKFORT find the coal co and United Mine Workers of co-operating tc i all rebel- hope of ter- kers so that they N.M.U, which are sure element the r licu rorizin will not join the in the re- cut sistance to. w he near future. tha U.M.W. offi- s is to expel from “e not ready bosses, and companies dis- to come in | The cial; the to t then have t charge them, hire only UL plan 1 who Guieeteo » miners will fight under rship of the National nion. General worsening of conditions continue, and the work n each mine have a number of t have cumulated day day. The lo- U.M.W.A. off make only e of fighting to There is ‘AG; Mine rke gric cal |the faintest preter BOSS IN COURT BOASTS LOCK QUT Elmore Shoe Co. :Part | of Hoover Fascism Attorneys for the Elmore Shoe Co. argued for the injunction they want om Justice Selah B. Strong in the Court, yes- frankly they t with the union and locked out t wo. They said they did it “because the Inde- pendent Shoe Workers Union is @ Communist organization,” and they were told by the U. S. Department of Labor to have nothing to do with t The Dan Palter Shoe Co. 151 W. 26th St., is trying to get an injunes tion in the formal way, with a heare ing, et Other shoe companies weré just given ready injunctions by judges who mu started worke jing them out before the strike starte jed. Conviction As Evidence, | But Dan Palter wants to go thra |the regular routine, and as part of jtheir evidence, they had Jefferson |Market Court yesterday convict $ More Than 320 Delegates to Attend. Credentials have been received at | the national office of the Interna- tional Labor Defense of 327 dele- gates from all sections of the United States. 20 delegates from the South; Negro workers, the seven Gastonia defend- ants, Salvatore Accorsi, Fred Beal’s father, a delegate from Boston. Yetta Stromberg a 19-year-old giri sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in California. Mass _ .Demonstration. Night. The convention will be preceded Tomorrow militant | "evolutionary rising by a bloody |of 16 pickets arrested before the : ; Sandaito- Junco,. Negro |slaughter the very first occasion |chop. The pickets had been told to Included among these are! | case against Frances Kass. {by a mass demonstration tomorrow night in North Side Carnegie Music Harry Dondish wes arrested and all, at Federal and Ohio Sts., when with disorderly conduct jdoor tennis tournament. The sole | charged reason for the discrimination is the | while doing picket duty last week. fact that the two tennis players are|Today the case was dismissed by | Negroes. the judge. | | the December figures thus far show little improvement.” And then the Times correspondent explains the failure: | “Instead of the planned incredse in production of 82 per cent and a decrease in first costs of 11 per cent, the figures show a production gain of only 23 per cent and a 4 per cent decrease in | first costs.” The capitalist press will have a hard time persuading the workers | much longer to. believe in the “success” the unbearable speed-up and slavery of working for a capitalist boss, combined with the torture and starvation of unemployment—and at the same time to disbelieve in the unprecedented successes of the workers’ own state in Soviet Russia, . But in the Soviet Union there is no need of the lying “cheerio” stuff among the great mas who are the creators of the tremendous, world-shaking new society, which stands on a higher historical plane, free from the cancer of capitalist robbery, anarchy, erime and decay. The Soviet government openly calls upon the workers in the Soviet Union to regard as shameful even the relative failure that is repre- sented by a gain of “only” 23 per cent in production! This is because the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics can and must push ahead in its task of outstripping the entire capitalist world in its present econ- omic alvance, Thus it shows the way to freedom for the workers of _ all countries. orkers @ this eduauy, too, will learn how to throw off the pitalist class and to build a f.ce society of thet working Ee ena a f expivaisan. |economic crisis in the United States famous class war prisoners. and fighters will address the workers. The convention itself will be held in Labor Lyceum, at 35 Miller St. Delegates should report to the dis- trict office of the LL.D. in room 205, 119 Federal St., North Side, Enlist Your Shop Mate in the Drive for 5,000 New Members, leader and Barriero, both fighters for the workers and peasants of the colonial countries, organizers of the Cuban. proletariat are now together with over one hundred others sub- jected to terrific tortures in the jails of that country. Barreiro, whose exile and constant persecution has rendered him too weak to survive the torture has gone insane. Junco is threatened with deportation and | Machado. ss The All American Anti-Imperial- ist League calls upon the workers of New York to come to the mass meeting and mingle their voice with the similar meetings thruout the country. Only the. solidarity of the working class and the mass pressure of the workers can save the militani leaders of the colonial and semi- colonial countries. Comrade James Ford, of the Trade Union Unity ‘oneue. who has just returned from ithe Soviet Union will sneak and tw> comrades will speak in Spanish. One is a leader of the Cuban workers. Wage-Cuts and Unembloyment Grow with Severe Decline. Each day capitalist sources of in- formation add to the fact that the is taking a sharper and deeper trend. During Christmas week an at- tempt was made to decorate the newspapers with the Hoover dope that were better than ever. financial and commercial organs of the capitalist class, admit a “se- vere economic crisis.” Says a financial writer in the New York Times (December 26): “Of the seope of trade reaction at the moment there can be no Steel production is down eventual death at the hands of) offered. This will likewise provide the “la- (Continued on Page Two) SANDINO QUITS Dispatches from Mexico quote the s‘. temen tue All-America Anti- Imperialist League and the Hands- Off-Nicaragua Committee to the effect that General Sandino, former leader of the revolutionary forces fighting Wall Street intervention in Nicaragua, accepted a $60,000 bribe as a price for his abandoning his | part in the struggle. Sandino came to Mexico several ; months ago. The Mexican fovern- ment, which has been pr~) culerly vicious against the rev." idnary Cuban and Mexican work. }, per- mitted him to live unmolested in Yucatan. The sudden withdrawal of San- | dino from the heroic band of fight- jers against marine rule in Nicara- gua is given its logical explanation by the statement of the All-Amer- ica Anti-Imperialist League of | Mexico. His force of workers and peas- ants did not give up the fight but continued in their battles against the marin The bribery of Sandino does not by any means end the Nicaraguan masses’ struggle against U. S, im- perialis: FOR $60,000 BRIBE |move on by a cop, but had come \back, and were militantly registers ing their protest against police ate tacks, and the union smashing, piece work, low wages and long hour pole icy of the bosses, when arrested. Eight of them were released bee cause there was no evidence at all |to connect them with the charge. The |case has been pending since the first day of the strike, Delegates Leave Tonité for I. L. D. Convention Tonight (Friday) at 9:30 the New York delegation to the Nationa§ Convention of the International Lae bor Defense leaves for Pittsburgh in specially chartered busses. The delegation consists of about 30 workers, representing various worke ing class organizations, as well ag the three delegates elected by the district convention of the I, L. D. oy Dee. 15. The National Convention will be held from Sunday till Tuesday ins clusive and will form plans for ore ” ganizing broad defense campaign for all class war cases including the Gastonia, Shifrin and Mineola cases, trip to Pittsburgh can still be made by communicating with the I. L. district office, 799 Broadway, 422, The round trip fare is $1 The busses leave at 9:30 sharp fron the district office and all dele are requested to be on time, DYAK PEASANTS REVO} Bova reports from Manila st Last minute reservations for the — ad