The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 25, 1930, Page 1

Peete se ee ee - JOBLESS If Senator Borah and Rabbi Wise Were Not the Imperialist Tools They Are and Were Really Interested in “Preventing Persecu- tion of the Jews” Instead of Making Anti- Soviet War Propaganda, They Could Worry a Lot About the Thousands of Jewish Unemployed Workers Right Here in New York. aily Entered as second-class matter at the Vost Office at New York, N. ¥., ander the act of March 3. 1879. Published daily except Sunday by The Comprodaily Publishing Company, Ine. 26-28 Union Square, New York City, N. Y. Ss, FINAL CITY EDITION Vol. VI., No. 303 NEW YORK, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1930 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In New York by mail, $8.00 per Outside New York, by mail $6.00 per year. - WILL SUPPORT FALL RI year. Price 3 Cents VER STRI ‘Why the Church Is Always REPORT SANTO Against the Working Class Many workers, feeling the pressure of capitalist exploitation, but nevertheless bound by age-old traditions and habits to the idea that there is something “sacred” to themselves ‘and their families in re- ligion and the church, may be puzzled to know why it is that just at the present time practically all of the protestant and catholic churches and Jewish synagogues are engaged in a furious attack upon the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics—the country where the working class has won freedom for itself and is building a magnificent structure of socialist society without wage slavery, exploitation and degradation. It is necessary to explain that all churches exercise a political function. This has always been so throughout history. The church today in all countries is always reactionary, always corrupt, always serving the rich as a political support against the poor—always for the landlord, the manufacturer and the banker. For instance, Bishop William T. Manning, who was chosen to lead the present drive in the United States against the workers’ Soviet Republic is one of the chief functionaries of the Protestant Episcopal Church, The “lay” head of this church is J. Pierpont Morgan, head of the bank of J. P. Morgan & Co., and the acknowledged chief of the enormous structure of finance capital in the United States. The “Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America” is now carrying on a rabid campaign for an imperialist war to destroy the workers’ republic. On the Laymen’s Committee of this council of churehes we find Ivy L. Lee as the representative of the Rockefeller family, Truman S. Morgan of the family of J. P. Morgan, J. C. Penney, the head of Penney Chain Stores, James M. Speers, president of McCutcheon & Co., John Wanamaker, Jr., multi-millionaire depart- ment store corporation head, Otto H. Kahn, the international banker, and Philip LeBoutillier, president of Best & Co.; and among the co- operating ministers is the Reverend Harry Emerson Fosdick, the pastor and “personal flunkey of John D. Rockefeller. This is only a small glimpse at the actual facts which show that the American churches are personally owned and controlled by the same class of multi-millionaires who own and contro! American indus- try and are interested only in the exploitation of ‘the workers to in- crease their own wealth. These billionaire bankers and trust heads are precisely the same group which played the dominant part in throw- ing the United States into the imperialist world war of 1914-18. This is important because this group is now carrying on its present propaganda directly for the purpose of doping the minds of the masses, preparatory to launching a world-wide war in the attempt to destroy the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. It must not be forgotten that these labor skinners directly and personally control the. religious institutions which they try to make the workers take off their hats to in respect. For instance, when the new $1,800,000 chapel of the University of Chicago was opened, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., went to Chicago to “dedicate it to God.” The connection is easily seen when we remember that John D. Rockefeller, Jr., then 40 years.of age, was taking an active part in control of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, in April, 1914, when the gunmen em- ployed by that company murdered three women and 14 children of striking miners, and burned their bodies at the tent colony at Lud- low, Colorado. And a few days ago when the explosion in the Stand- ard Oil plant at Plizabeth, N. J., occurred, it is easily understood that the ministers of the churches do not denounce Mr. Rockefeller as the murderer of the 11 workers who died in that explosion. All of these churclies have church endowment funds which amount to about $575,000,000, besides the big amounts held by local churches, and most of the large church boards have permanent trust funds. The Missionary Society of the rrotestant Episcopal Church has a fund of $9,000,000. The Baptist Foreign Missionary Society has more than $7,000,000 in its fund, while the Presbyterian Foreign Board has about $5,000,000. The Home Board of the Presbyterian Church as a fund of more than $3,000,000, while the Methodist Foreign Board ‘treasury amounts to more than $2,000,000, and the Methodist Home Board treas- ury amounts to more than $4,000,000. All these funds are supplied to the churches by the capitalist employers. All of the reverend gentlemen of these churches are aware of the fact that the very handsome “Church Pension Fund,” contributed by these trust magnates and bankers, will take care of them under all cireumstances if they serve their masters. They don’t have to join the present army of six or seven million unemployed workers, eating slop in a breadline. In the eleventh annual report of the Church Pen- sion Fund of the Episcopal Church, of which J. P. Morgan is a member of the Executive Committee and Bishop Manning is one of the trustees, it is shown that this church fund has bought bonds in such concerns as the American Radiator Co., American Telegraph and Telephone Co., General Motors, the New York Central, the B. & O. and numerous other railroads, U, S. Steel Corporation, the Standard Oil Co., the Western Electric Co., Montgomery, Ward & Co., and many other cor- Pporations—a total:of investments in bonds of $20,777,190.12, while the whole of their investments in industrial and government bonds would amount to $25,000,000. In addition, they have a vested interest of $8,839,500,610 in church buildings. It is not surprising that the slick scoundrels who are on such in- timate financial terms with the exploiters and enemies of the working class are inclined to see all political auestions with the eyes of their masters. Rey. A. F, Anthony of the Federal Council of Churches says that the large church investments are a means of “promoting the Kingdom of God.” He declared: “Money is a holy thing. . .. . Possessors of wealth . .. . are more and more consecrating it to longer periods of useful- ness. They, through the medium of organizations for missionary and educational enterprises, with the cooperation of legal ad- visers, who aid them safely to dedicate their benevolence to fu- ture uses, in the custody of banks, trust companies and persons and societies invested with fiduciary powers are the parties or agencies concerned in the solidifying and the pefpetuation of the Kingdom (of God). . . .” Or, as the chamber of commerce of Portsmouth wrote to the manu- facturers Record of September 25, 1924; » “We must all recognize that without religion as a founda- tion for civilization all of our business interests would be worth- less.” Therefore, can any sincere worker have any more doubts about why it is that the religious institutions are always corrupt in the in- terest of the employers against the workers? ‘an any one wonder why these reverend gentlemen are always habitual liars and servants of the exploiters of our class? Do we not remember that even the Baptist Church of East Marion, N. C., expelled a hundred people of the working class from that church in the effort to frighten these workers with “hellfire” for striking against the mill-owners who pay the salaries of the preachers? But all of these churches are the same. If we have spoken mostly about the protestant churches, it is only by way of illustration. The catholic church is notoriously the same, and in some cases an even more effective instrument of political reaction in the hands of the exploiters of labor. The Jewish synagogue is just as much the pliant instrument of the capitalist class for the doping and deceiving of the workers in the interest of the exploiters. It is no wonder that when the workers, in the course of the revo- lutionary class struggle, overthrow the exploiters, leeches and swindlers --the whole brood of capitalist bankers and landlords—then also the little flunkeys of these exploiters lose all influence over the workers. It is not the policy of the Workers’ Republic of Soviet Russia to in- terfere with the freedom of every person to hold whatever opinions he may desire. But is there any wonder that the great masses of workers and peasants who have overthrown their oppressors and found a new life of freedom, quite naturally dispense with all friendly rela- tions with and all support of the leeches and intellectual prostitutes of the exploiters! The very corruption of the priesthood and the churches helps to bring the workers finally to understand that the scientific view of life is inevitable for the healthy development of a DOMINGO MASSES ARE IN REVOLT President, Wife Hide in U. S. Legation From Rebels \Imperialists Now Rule |National "CHey Bank Exploits Peasants PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Feb. |24.—A widespread revolution of the impoverished peasants and workers of Santo Domingo, due to the grow- ing crisis and the worsening of con- ditions under the yoke of Wall St. imperialism were indicated in re- ports received here today from many points along the border. The revolutinoists have seized the fort and police station in Santiago de los Caballeros, an important town |in the tobacco district. Greet John Porter, Wed. Feb. 26! SOVIET ATTACKS Plans of British Imperialists |War Moves Against | USSR Increase | (Wireless By Inprecorr) BERLIN, Feb. 24.—The German Minister of the Interior, Curtius, \declared today before a Reichstag ; Committee that the Anti-Soviet |Polish-German treaty was signed junder urgent pressure from British imperialism, and as a return for reparations concessions. ik oer The unity of the German govern- |ment with the anti-Soviet campaign {conducted by the American and Brit- “I am anxiously awaiting the day when I shall be out to fight shoulder to shoulder with the fel- low workers,” wrote Porter recent- ly. All workers should join in the demonstration to greet Com: rade Porter after his 18 months’ | The commandant of the Haitian} garde, U. S. marine-controlled, at | Ounaminthe, said he had received information that the rebel workers imprisonment on Wednesday, Feb- ruary 26, at 8:30 a. m., at Battery Park, h imperialists under various guises PAID FOR ANTI. ‘MacDonald Backs War'| Everywhere, Employed and Unemployed, Neg For Strike and Demon DETROIT, Feb. 2t—Thow| ’ | sands of jobless workers dem- Italy Ss Women \tramck (industrial suburb),! workers. The first demonstra-) oye rhe signs of economic| | every day. ne uner | workers answered a call for welling. For} points in Detroit and Ham- tear gas and arms against the) Unembloy | started when six hundred} The army of the unem- the whole country this army is in} KE AGAINST 20% CUT GERMAN BOSSES DETROIT, HAMTRAMCK, UNEMPLOYED IN DAY OF BATTLE: THE POLICE USING TEAR GAS AND ARMS UPON WORKERS | Fall River Strike At Wage Cut Matched By Fighting Workers of Mich.; | San Francisco Unemployed Rally Chinese; Atlanta Jobless Unite Writes Vicious Letter! : ro and White, Organize stration By Whole Working Class on March 6 FALL RIVER, Ma Feb. 24.—When the Elgin Silk Mill tried to take advantage of the unemployment situation here, and cut the wages of its work- ers 20 per cent, 150 weavers walked out on strike. The Trade Union Unity League is organizing the unemployed for active support of this strike, and to help spread the strike. Emanuel Perry, and Martin Rus- onstrated today at various . Workers. Fight |the Hamtramck police using tion at the City Hall in Detroit) isis in Italy are becoming plainer ployed keeps steadily one single job, and decided to explained now on the basis of |cas heoncessions to the German cap- jitalists under the reparations agree- | march to the City Hall. They gathered numbers as they marched through the employment the neighborhood of one million; in} sak, yesterday re-elected youth or- Turin, center of the automobile in-/ganizer and district organizer of the dustry, there are more than 30,000 National Textile Workers’ Union men idle. Work there is only for] district here by the district conven- and peasants disarmed at Dajabon, near the Haitian frontier. American travelers at the brdoer reported shooting in SantoeDomingo, the capital, with three or four per- sons injured. | The masses are rebelling against Haracio Vasquez, who is a tool of (Continued on Page Two) 3 MORE KILLED FOR BOSS’ GAIN Others May-Die; Series Industrial Accidents Yesterday showed increased kill- ing of ‘workers, due to company greed and speed-up, neglecting all safety precautions. Two workers in the subway cut at Flushing, Queens, were killed by an Interborough Rapid Transit com- pany train. The men were Frank Crast, a railroad supervisor, and | Joseph Kovack, a track worker. ment, MOBILIZE TO GREET PORTER Ce oe 4 LONDON, Feb. 24.—Ramsay Mac- |Donald, head of the “labor” gov- | ernment in a letter to the capitalist jpress today supports the religious jattacks of the imperialifts which |they use to mask their war pre- WED, FEB, 26! | Battery,8.30 a.m. On Wednesday morning, Febru- ary 26, at 8:30 a. m., John Porter, who has been in jail for, over 18 months for his strike and revolu- tionary activitjes, will arrive at Bat- | tery. Park, on his release from Gov- ernor’s Island. “T have only six more days to serve before completing my sen- tence,” wrote Porter on February | 20,” my return expiring on Wed-} |nesday, February 26, I shall leave | of February 26.” The Young Communist League | and the Communist Party of New| ‘Demonstration At the| here sometime during the morning | (Continued on Page Three) ‘Police. Attack, Arrest} 7; Union Drives On Another shop, the G. & G. Cafe- jteria on 23rd St. near Broadway, was | called on strike by the Cafeteria | Workers’ Union yesterday. A very | militant demonstration took place at | |this cafeteria and 7 workers were ar-| | njunction, At the Benrgd.and Mon- roe Cafeterias mass demonstrations took place with three workers ar- MASS PICKETING | AFETERIA rested and charged with violating an | three or four days a week. Ship- building in Venezia-Giulia is prac- ‘tically at a standstill. We here give recent information regarding the position of the women workers in those districts where in- dustry employs large numbers of agency district and reached the City | Hall 1,500 strong. At the City Hall thousands of | jobless congregated at the Campus | Martius, the place where the March 6 demonstration is to be held. A large squad of police, and the spe- cial “riot squad” were on hand and began beating up the workers who attempted to speak from the City Hall steps. . The workers shouted out their de- mands, “We want work or wages! Give us Unemployment Relief! Down with wage cuts and the speed- up! Give us the 7-hour day! Give (Continued on Page Three.) CHATTANOOGA IN __ JOBLESS DRIVE |Prepare For Big Action on March 6 CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Feb. 24. women. In and around Bergamo unem- ployment is steadily increasing, rationalization is being forced on, and generally what with unemploy- |ment so rife and other things, the | | government itstlf is organizing the emigration of workers and peasants. | According to “LaxVie Proletarienne” | for January 12, 60,000 workers and | | peasants from Bergamo district | alone were marked down for emigra- tion on September 20. | The following figures indicate | how unemployment is spreading |among the women workers. In the | | textile mill owned by Senator Crespi there were in 1922, 6000 persons em-| |ployed (the bulk women), 1928, |4,000; 1929, 3,000. Working conditions in this mill) are simply appalling. Hunger and | Joverwork have exhausted the mill | | “hands.” tion in New Bedford, came imme- | diately to Fall River. The workers hailed them as lead- ers of the strike at the mill this morning. Perry and Russak organ- ized the militant picket line, and efforts are being made to bring out the other crafts. From Paterson. The Elgin Mill, 207 Pleasant St., is a $100,000 concern which moved some time ago here from Paterson. It has been paying its weavers $22 and its winders and quillers $16. A little over a year ago it locked (Continued on Page Three) JOIN IN DEFENSE OF SOVIET UNION Support Mass Meet for March 16 more organizations today Three York are arranging a _ welcome rested. The workers who are cus-/| It may be added that the? i iieq ihe mass protest movement | The seven car train was entering |the Main street station and struck | the two men before they could leap {held up for almost an hour while the bodies were removed. Killed By Cave. | One man had his life crushed out, and another will probably die in a landslide in the Brooklyn cross town | subway cut at Jackson Ave., and/ Seventh St., Long Island City. The | crew of shovelers was sent in to pick up loose dirt just after a blast, without inspection. Only a few escaped being burried, and there are {many bruises, broken bones and | other injuries. | Five women were injured when a} hurrying ferry collided with its slip | at the battery, and there were two| more collisions in the bay. Fog or no fog, sailors and worker pas- sengers have to risk their lives. Profits are profits, and a job is a/ job. * NOTICE TO ALL PARTY AND YCL MEMBERS All Party and Y. C. L. members are instructed to be at the District Headquar- ters, 26 Union Square, on Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 2 p. m. sharp. Report at Room| | 404., Very important mat- ters have to be taken up. _ Re re ne to safety. Service on the line was | demonstretion for Comrade Porter. An appeal has been issued to all working-class organizations and | workers, young and adult, to meet (Continued on Page Two) GERMAN, EVERT, | Three more workers were arrested jon these picket lines: Konstantini- dos, Pappini and Jelapis. These | three were held under “Paragraph |John Marsh, Louis Teyoble, Con- | Court. Yesterday in Jefferson Market By Court the cases*of Anna Speaker, | Rose Kaplan, Louis Demos, and | John Pico came up. The bail was | reduced to $2,500 each except for | Rose Kaplan, who is held under Must Prove Words Deeds, Says C.P. (Wireless By Inprecorr) BERLIN, Feb. 24.—Eyert, the leader of the group in the Commu-| nist Party of Germany which-takes a conciliatory position toward the | Right Wing, has issued a statement | retracting his errors and unresery- | edly pledging support to the Party’s} political line, and a determined struggle against the Right Wingers. Evert’s declaration represents the| bankruptcy of the conciliatory ele- ments, The Party organ, the “Rote! Fahne,’ declares that experience with the conciliators shows that their words are insufficient, that the statement must be doubted until it is| supported by deeds. The Communists have won the elections in the Workers’ Councils in Duisberg, Gleivitz, and Essen. | holy war against the workers’ rep SO —————————— | free society. And then, when the masses turn away, not only from the priests, but also from the superstitious of the church—the priests and the rabbis shout: “They are persecuting religion! Let us have a ublic—for the landlords, the bank- ers and the trust magnates, who pay us so* well!” | $5,000 bail, These comrades are framed and the women comrades were beaten up by the police be- cause they participated in picketing demonstrations. Their cases will Court. The drive of the cafeteria work- (Continued on Page Two) Cs Today in History of the Workers a aii February 25, 1892—Unemployed workers held demonstration against government in Berlin. 1919—New York white goods workers struck kfor 44-hour week and wage in- ereases, 1920—200,000 French rail- road workers struck for better con- ditions and nationalization of the | railways, 1922—200,000 German me- |tal workers struck. 1928—Eugene Landler, former commander of Hun- garian Red Army, died. tomers of these places are not sup-/ porting them any longer and are| | helping the striking cafeteria work- | ers of these shops win their struggle. | | G00” till next Monday; the other 7,| the slogans of the T.U.U.L: “Work | stas Pappas, Alter Laly,*Chas, Ober.| Evictions for Unemployed for Not | ADMITS ERRORS i: Sid Mashid, and Frank Ar-|Paying Rent,’ and others ageinst : | gon, were dismissed in the 57th St.| W28e cuts and the speed up of the \come up today in Jefferson Market | | of the Southern District, and a coal} | miner member of the Action Com-| ~-The Unemployed Council of Chat-| mij] in question has the “Beddo” .tanooga, organized by the Trade | -,eedometer on all machines. Union Unity League, held its first | Wages—A spinner earns 125 Lire factory gate meeting here at the (1 Lire—6 cents) a week if working Crane Enamelware Plant, the largest : 7 Pi Threc) metal works in the city, with over] (Continued on Page Three. sixty per cent Negro workers. i Placards were displayed bearing WHEAT PRICES or Wages,” “Immediate Relief,” “No | Storehouses Filled Bu Jobless Starve CHICAGO, Feb. 24.—The sharp | employed workers. | |. Amy Schechter of the T.U.U.L.| and Gilbert Lewis, Negro organizer mittee of the Unemployed Council, | spoke to a crowd of both Negro and|T white workers, calling on them to support the unemployed demands. During Lewis’ speech, the huskiest white and Negro members of the Ceuncil of Unemployed, closed around him to insure protection against any attack of bourgeois in- fluenced race-prejudiced fanatics. A series of factory gate meetings are planned in preparation for the March 6 demonstration. ° COPS GET GRAFT ON BOOZE BROOKLYN, N.Y. Feb. 24. — Checks, payable to three policemen, were found in the safe of a swell speakeasy here today. The names of the official gunmen was not made public. STAGE HANDS GET RAISE. HAMMOND, Ind.—Stage hands and electricians in union theaters in Hammond, East Chicago and Indi- ana Harbor won a raise of $2.50 a week to $72.50. Operators were raised $16.25 a week to $95. “Down with the police and court protection of gangsters! Down with fake storie sand fake settlements! Long live the struggle of the work- ers!” says a statement printed in leaflet form and distributed in thousands of copies in the garment section yesterday by the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union. The Industrial Union calls all workers to its mass street demon- stration this morning in the gar- ment section, Workers are to mo- is liize on Eighth Ave., between 35th and 36th Sts., early this morning. The leaflets state: “Come to demonstarte your read- iness to fight against the conspir- acy of the Schlesinger-Kaufman- Zaritsky-Hillman agency, the bosses and the state authorities to com- pany-unionize the needle industry Fight Against Sellout “Come to demonstrate your read- iness to fight in defense of the 40- hour week, that has been sold out by the company-union to the bosses in ALL ON THE NEEDLE TRADES PICKET LINE TODAY Mass Demonstration tor 40 Hour Week, Against Thugs This Morning the strike-lockouts in the cloak and against unemployment, under the dress trades! “Come to demonstrate your read- iness to fight against the reign of terror instituted by the company- union and the bosses; against the protection and free hand given by the police and the courts to the gangsters of the company-union, while the workers are being clubbed, arrested and jailed! “Come to demonstrate your read. iness to fight for union conditions, shorter hours, higher wages and leadership of the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union! Industrial Union Lo." . “The Industrial Union is leading the workers of New York, of Bos- ton, of Philadelphia, of Los Angeles, and every other needle trades center in the struggle against the sweat- sho pand for union conditions. Join the organization campaign conduct- ed by the Industrial Union! Or- ganize shop committees in your (Continued on Page Two) | drop in wheat prices today is sharp- }ening the farm crisis. Prices) | crashed to the lowest point in many years in a frenzy of selling which operators describe as a crash com- parable to the stock market panic of last October. Average wheat prices have de- clined more tfan 52 cents in the last | three ‘weeks from the summer high | of $1.60. |trolled Federal Farm Board to halt |the precipitous drop in wheat and cotton prices have not helped the situation a bit. The grain elevators | are overflowing with wheat due to the facts that exports are dropping |rapidly and the visible supply of wheat is greater than in the history of U. S. capitalism. The mass un- empoyment throughout the world, and the fact that 7,000,000 Ameri- can workers are jobless, accounts to a large extent for the shrinkage of | the market for wheat. Chairman of the Federal Farm Board, Legge, admitted that the situation was critical. farm crisis will be intensified’ and will in turn worsen the general cri- sis of U. S. imperialism. " Mobilize Workers Against Lynchings Over 100 workers attended a meeting at St. Lukes Hall Monday night to protest against the vicious lynching of Laura Woods, a 60- year-old Negro woman worker at Barber Junction, N, C., Feb. 11. ‘The workers present expressed a/ militant fighting spirit and sup- | ported the demand for organization | of workers’ defense committees | against lynching of Negro workers. | Twenty-six Negro workers joined the International Labor Defense. Attempts of the imperialist con-| The growing | | against the capitalist war prepa: tions on the Soviet Union und the guise of a religious campaign, it was announced by the Friends fof the Soviet Union, 7E$ Fifth | Avenue. The three organizations, the Fin- ish Federation, Inc., the American Negro Tabor Congress, and the John Reed Club, declared their sup port of the protest meeting ar. ranged by the Friends of the Soviet Union for March 16 in Bronx Col iseum, 177th St., and Bronx River to expose the imperialist maneu- vers against the U. R. | The speakers that have thus far {been secured for the March 15 mecting. according to an announce ment of the Friends of the Soviet Union, are former Bishop William Montgomery Brown,. who was ex- |pelled from the Protestant Episco- pal Church; Charles Smith, pres- fident of the American Associatior for the Advancement of Atheism; Joseps Lewis, president of the Freethinkers of America; and Wil liam Z. Foster, national secretary jof the Trade Union Unity League. who recentyl returned from a visit to Soviet Russia. Protest meetings are also being arranged by the ‘Friends of the Soviet Union in other parts ef the country. 4-HOUR WEEK AT SHOE MEETING ‘Injunction Case Ended; Decision Held Up A general membership meeting of all the members of the Independ- ent Shoe Workers Union will be held Feb, 26, 8 p. m., at Irving Plaza Hall to vote upon the recommendations of the last shop delegate conference for the 40hour 5-day week, to. go into effect in all union shops, with |the new agreement for 1930. All members must bring their due |books or striking cards. A tremendous mass unemployed among the shoe workers makes it imperative that every member of the union be present and give full support of the shop delegates con- The trial of the Schwartz & Ben- jamin Shoe Co, injunction was con- cluded yesterday at 1.30 p. m, in (Continued on Page Two) gas 4 )