The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 5, 1930, Page 4

- 5 7 SH I SCRIPTION RATES: ly Publishing Co. Inc., éaily, except Sunday, at 26-28 Unton Daily sug) = Worker ety j $2.50 three months F ; . : en Apart rome @ a {1 (in New York City only): $8.00 a year; $4.50 six month frewe rou ES Le ee EDEL PeEVINETER Sousre: Neceore Ny ny WN ia BY Mail (ouside of New York Citys: $6.00 a year; $3.50 six months: $2.00 three months dace Nghe: fhe: pare Central Organ of the Commu... of the U.S, A. SHOP NUCLEI IN NEW ENGLAND DISTRICT By NAT KAY. The transformation of our Party on of shop nuclei is becoming more pre day. The very power of the Party, its influe- ence and leadership over the workers and the resistance against persecutions by U. S. cap- italism lies in the building of well functioning shop units. In the New England district we are realizing this as we face struggles in industries like textile, shoe, metal, rubber, needle trades, etc. In spite of the fact that we have recruited to date 210 members, close to 85 subs, organized 12 nuclei and issued five shop papers, we can say that the Drive was weak generally, expres- sing itself in (a) Not enough shop work by our members in units and sections; (b) Units and sections have failed to give daily tasks and leadership to their members; (c) Ins ficient recruiting of Negro workers; (d) glect of work for Daily Worker. The blame rests with the leading bodies of the units, sections, D.E.C. and its sub-commit- g ever Ne- tees including the Organizaton Department. All units, sections and fractions will have to work overtime to make good on the quotas. Work in the shops and utilization of the strug- gles for recruiting new members. Must Give Daily Guidance to Nuclei. Our shop nuclei are organized in Textile 5, Leather 2, Rubber 1, Metal 1, Ship 2, Glass 1. We, however, experience that because of the poor national composition the very life of the shop unit depends on the daily help by the leading Party bodies. In almost every case we have to attach leading comrades to work with the shop units so as to help the work and develop leadership among the nuclei members. To issue shop papers we find it necessary to allow comrades to write articles in their own language and then translate it—in other cases we write the articles upon the comrade’s verbal report or after speaking some time in conver- sation with him. To get the comrades. to do we find that detailed dis- the work in shops cussion and advice is important especially on methods against exposing our nucleus to spies, etc. One nucleus in a leather factory got two subs by introducing the Daily Worker in the proper way. , How to carry on our pro- paganda work, sale and distribution of litera- ture, drawing in of the workers into activity, this is one of the greatest problems we have yet to solve. Fight Right Deviations in Nucleus Work. Right manifestations and the right danger in the shop unit work has been shown here, in one nucleus, in a shop with 4,000 workers, all but one member opposed the issuing of shop papers, givipg the e: that “let’s wait till we get more member “We'll be fired,” ete. Of course, the paper was issued anyway. In another shop unit a member who is in a leading position in the District Committee is also opposed to the shop papers and shop work now because it is “slack.” “Let’s wait till the season in June and July,” ete. In spite of the fact there are 1,300 working now. These right wing proposals come even from the old members, some of whom are pessimistic and afraid. We are overcoming this by going ahead with the work just the same, recruiting mew elements, especially native born, and de- veloping a higher Party ideology. Must Develop New Proletarians in Shop Nuclei. Training of forces in the shop nuclei is a life and death question. We are holding special conferences, classes for members especially of shop nuclei. Street unit members who work in the neighborhood of factories where we have shop nuclei are being attached to the shop nuclei until they organize one in their own shop. This is a help to the shop nuclei and also intensifies the re-organization of the Par- ty on the shop nucleus basis. We are de- termined to organize the overwhelming major- ity of our Party members into shop nuclei. They Work Like Police Agents THE Lovestoneites have shown their reaction- | ary policy in regard to trade union work in the instance of renegade Perlow. Perlow was the head of the furniture workers in Brownsville, betrayed the workers and took them over to the A. F. of L. Finding that he received no support from the A. F. of L., he cunningly turned towards the Trade Union Unity League and brought the Trade Union Unity League into the strike, which was in a very bad situation. Admitting the mistake that he had made, he continued as leader. The | next day on the picket line he declared the strike off, that the T.U.U.L. would do nothing for the workers and took them back to the A. F. of L. These are the renegades, the, Love- stoneties—they who want to save the Commu- nist Party and the Communist International. These people are real helpers of the capitalists —traitors,of the working’ class, just like John Lewis, Schlesinger and the rest of the reac- tionary gang. However, the Lovestoneties do not hesitate in taking even further steps. In Harlem, New York, there is an excellent comrade, a Negro woman, who is doing fine work, not only in the Party, but in mass organizations. This comrade has a child that was injured some years ago, that she takes care of and at the same time performs Party work. The Love- stoneites are doing everything possible not only to discredit this comrade but also to drive her out of the Party by police methods. | and commit damage. Only a short time ago, about February 1, a man‘ declaring that he was an agent of the Children’s Aid Society, appeared at her home and threatened to take away the comrade’s child if she did not cease her Party activities. | He accused her of being a member of the Com- munist Party which she proudly admitted, whereupon he threatened to enter her house This comrade is a very powerful comrade and dared him to cross the threshhold. This fake agent of the Children’s Aid Society left, once more issuing his threat. A few days later, a young girl, also pretend- ing to be an agent of the Children’s Aid So- ciety, rang the door bell and asked for the comrade. She seemed surprised that the com- rade was a Negro comrade. She hesitated and finally admitted that she was sent to the home of this comrade*by the Lovestoneites, whose purpose was to drive her out of the Party by means of intimidating and threatening to take away her child. This was no‘ the end of the story. In order to spread the evil somewhat further they sent a letter to a well-known comrade in the section of which this Negro comrade is a member, reiterating the threat. The letter was signed— a Communist Lovestoneite. These are the people that want to “save the Communist International” for the revolutionary movement. These people are acting as nothing more than police agents and stool pigeons and spies against the interests of the working class. An Economist of the American . “Victorian Era” HILE Mr. Chase was writing his book the , contradictions of capitalism were writing the | answer. In fact, the rapidly developing crisis | of American economy necessitated a preface which tries to apologize for most of the con-. clusions. The author tells us if a “good, old fashioned business depression,” comes on, the book becomes a “historical document, chron- icling what prosperity felf like when we (!) | had it.” Stuart Chase is an efficiency’ engineer who likes to call himself a petty-bourgeois and an economist. To call him a vulgar economist is praising him too highly. Even the most vulgar capitalist economist would not state that “de- clining business was not responsible for de- clining security prices.” The entire book, what thre is of it of any value, is not original. The interesting facts and figures come from two books which are “historical documents,” namely Recent Econ- omie Changes and Middletown. Chase’s con- tribution is a lot of flippant and vapid grugl- Ings, interspersed with conclusions that any Young Pioneer could nail. For instance, engineer Chase tells us that ‘No clean cut division of social classes can ever be made in America.’ Only a few sen- ances before he himself informs us that*“Sev- enty-one in every hundred urban persons . . . Notice of Central Control Com- mission Decision On the plea of Paul C. Reiss for reinstate- ment, the Central Control Commission has taken into consideration the, fact that he has straightened out his accounts with the Daily | Worker and that he has recognized as a grave error his request to have his name removed | from the membership list of the Party, and has decided to accept the recommendation of the Sub-District Committee of Los Angeles and to reinstate Paul C. Reiss in the Party, on the condition that he shall be on probation for six months. CENTRAL CONTROL COMMISSION COMMUNIST PARTY, U. S. A. belong to the working class.” And he adds the | startling piece of boloney that “Millions of us are continually climbing out of our class to something higher.” Of course, the figures in his own book disprove Mr. Chase. A lot of the book reminds us of Lovestone’s | “Victorian Age’ of American capitalism, with the exception that in spots the petty-bourgeois Chase gives us a little more critical attitude on the probabi of capitalism’s ability to keép up an ascending rate of production. During 1922-29 the capitalists increased their profits about 100 per cent. The hourly wage rate remained practically stationary. In fact, from 1920 to 1927 there was a drop—and that drop is now becoming a andslide. After showing what increases in production and profits were obtained by the capitalists from 1922-29 resulted from tremendous ex- ploitation and spe¢d-un of the workers, the au- thor wants us to believe that “There is no evi- dence that nervous strain is accelerating.” Just recently the New York State Commis- sioner of Labor, Frances Perkins, published the fact that industrial accidents and deaths in- creased nearly 100 per cent in the past four or five years. While this is a measure of the number of workers who left part of their bodies clinging in machinery, or whose life was flicked out in making profits for the bosses it is no guide to Mr. Chase of the accelerating nervous strain. ; In a sentimental mood, he does bring out some facts which throw light on the present unemployment situation. He estimates that at the highest crest of nroduction in 1929, there were at least 3 million unemployed in the United States. * * On the whole, Mr. Chase’s book is a “Tragedy of Waste,” and is not “Getting Your Money’s Worth.” H. GANNES, t Chase, “Prosperity, Fact or Myth,” New York, 1930. Charles Fight the Right Danger, A Hundred Proletarians for Every Petty Bourgeois Rene- wade! Yok the Working Class Women and Children Will Also Demonstrate March 6th! « By Fred Eliis in the By DAN SLINGER. ‘HE strike of the Illinois miners under the leadership of the National Miners’ Union came as a result of rapid machinization of the mines and the rationalization scheme of the coal operators which results not only in the form of greater speed-up, but in the number of miners killed and injured in the mines. It is reported by the Bureau of Mines, Dept. of Commerce, in a recent report that 2,518 miners were killed, while 181,300 accidents took place in mines in the U. S. in one year. In the state of Illinois in 1924, there were about 100,000 miners working, and today there are but 52,000; we come to the realization that miners to produce more coal today, but that it has increased the number of miners who are killed, and fatally injured. In proportion of the coal conveyor and the loading machines into the mines did not bring with it the safety measures necessary to safeguard the lives of the miners from falling slate or coal. The miner working on a coal conveyor cannot hear any of the danger signals, with which all min- ers are familiar, such as the breaking of a prop, the cutting of the slate or draw rock on the ribs, or pillars. He is not allowed to stop the coal conveyor to investigate. Life of Miner Is No Consideration. Tll., Joe McKinley, driver, refused to drive or pull coal under a loose piece of rock. The boss fired him stating that the place was per- fectly safe; he sent two other men to take Joe’s job; both refused to work, stating the rock was not safe. The case was referred to that the place was safe. The fact was es- tablished that all of the time that the boss was saying the place was safe, they were putting in more timber. It was not Joe’s life that the coal company was interested in, but the fact that it stopped production ani that Joe was a militant fighter. The speed-up on the coal conveyors not only entails more danger from falling slate and coal, but the fact that miners are loading as high as 30 tons today in com- parison to 1922, and as late as 1926, when 10 tons was considered a big day’s work, this speed-up burns out even the most rugged min- er, and places him on the scrap pile beside the old miner, which the machine has driven from the industry, About Conditions. . Miners in the dim past were paid actual time for dead work, *such as draining up draw rock, slate, ete. not ask how much dead work did you have, Jack; no, he says the room is so many runs wide, that he will pay one hour if the draw | rock or slate is five inches thick. If Jack com- plains, the place is stopped and Jack is sent to the miners’ cemetery. This is the worst place in the mine. Jack does notereceive any pay for taking up bottoms, which some tinfes means as much as five hours’ work. With few exceptions, the miners are made to carry their own rail if théy have any road, and es- pecially is this true where some of the mfers are still working at the old tonnage system. The boss does not, care, as long as the con- veyors are kept going. Smash Check-Off. The check-off is one of the connecting links between the coal operators and the Lewis and Fishwick machines. It is well to note that the check-off is also used by the coal oper- not only does the rationalization cause the | miners employed in 1924, the introduction of | At Wasson No. 1 Saline County, Eldorado, | the county mine inspector, and he decided | Today the boss comes into | the room at the end of the period; he does | Under the Heel of Rationalization Mines ators, for their own use. We have only to go | into the largest”coal producing counties in the | state of Illinois, where the check-off is used, | compejling the miners to trade in company stores. Down in Saline County, Illinois, the | writer has talked to miners who have not | drawn any of their wages in six years. Here the coal company is not satisfied with the profits derived from the intense speed-up in the mines, but it exacts the last penny by issuing what is known to the miners as or “stickers,” for either of which the coal corporation charges 111-10 per cent on each dollar. Of this amount 11-10 per cent goe& to the clerk for clerical work, the com- pany taking the 10 per cent. | It is asked how do miners get in the clutches | of this octopus, and the answer is a simple one. In the season when the miners are not working, which is the summer, the company stores give no credit. But three weeks prior to the opening of the mines, in the busy sea- son, the miner’s wife is told by the manager of the company store that they may have credit. This credit extended, stops the miner from having any pay to draw. They do not use U. S. money, but company money. He can- not obtain credit any other place, so he draws a sticker or scrip for his wages, for which he +pays the exorbitant interest mentioned above. This 111-10 per cent is not for the uge of the money for a year, but.many times for only | two or three days, and never to exceed two | weeks. | Penalties and Docking Clause. Here is another method used by the ‘*UMW | of A and the coal operators to hold and com- | pel the miners to submit to any and all con- | ditions they wish to impose. The penalty ; clause, placed on the miners during the war | of 1914 is used now, not as a war measure, but to stop the miners from fighting to im- | prove and retain their working conditions. Penalties are used as a club to stop the miners from striking to retain their working condi- tions. The docking clause, which can only be enforced through the use of the check-off, is also used to discriminate against. the militant fighter for conditions in the mines. Miners in many instances have been framed up and | discharged on what is termed an aggravated | ease of loading impurities. In Franklin Coun- | ty miners have had taken from their earn- | ings as much as $12 in a period.of two weeks. | + Unemployment, | Today, when many hundreds of miners are | working overtime, Sundays, tens of thousands | of miners are unemployed. Abolition of all | overtime, rest period for the men on con- | veyors, fight for the six-hour day and five- | day week, are the main demands of the min- ers. Every miner who is unemployed must | recognize the importance of organization of the unemployed miners, fighting shoulder to | shoulder, with the employed miner, for social | insurance for unemployed paid by city, county, state and coal operators, and administered by the miners. ‘ Bug Light. Here is another real grievance which miners complain of and which*can and must be abol- ished. The reason for bug lights in amine is the lack of the proper ventilation of the mines. Proper ventilation costs the coal oper- ators money and causes a loss of profits. The miner, who is always made to pay, does not escane here. The operator charges the miner for the use of the bug light. The miner who * uses this bug light, which weighs 5 Ibs., for ten hours, not only finds it a burden, but also finds himself burned from the acid which UNEMPLOYED WORKERS TAKE UP OFFENSIVE Unemployed Workers Movement in Poland By S. BELSKAYA. dae crisis now developing throughout the world has become catastrophical in Poland, with its weak economic and industrial de- velopment. The textile industry, especially in the Lodz area, the chief textile district in the country, where 150,000 textile workers are employed, has come practically to a standstill. Only a few of the big mills are working at the pres- ent time, and then only two or three days in the week. The Lodz mills always used to work for the Russian market, but this market has now been lost. The frontier set up by the Polish bourgeoisie between Poland and the USSR is simply undermining the very exist- ence of Lodz with its large working class { population. In view of the pauperization of the working masses of Poland and the general depression observed throughout the agricul- tural trades the home market is unable to ab- sorb the output of the Lodz mills, while the Polish bourgeoisie has been unable to extend the export trade. There is a complete slump in the building industry, and this is by no means a sedsonal phenomenon. during the building season that operations would be drastically curtailed. And the pres- ent slump in the building industry has\brought about a crisis in the cement, brick, machine construction and wood-working industries. The depression in the agricultural trades has led to a crisis in the chemical and engineering industries since there has been a marked re-, duction in the demand for agricultural machin- ery and fertilizers. Things picked up somewhat in the coal in- dustry owing to a fairly brisk demand which lasted for some little time. But there had already been a slackening up of industrial coal orders. The first threatening signs of the on- coming crisis in the mining industry were seen recently. In upper Silesia, for example, short time has been introduced in several of the mines. Meanwhile in the Dombrov Basin several mines have closed down altogether. The crisis is now spreading to the oil, leather, food and other industries. As the de- pression affects one industry it inevitably brings on a crisis in the allied industries. The slowing up of some parts of the capitalist ma- chine in Poland is gradually bringing the whole machine to a standstill. In Poland, in contrast to our own industrial development, economic life is slowly dying down. And this is no tem- porary depression this time, owing to a short spell of bad conditions. It is the bankruptcy of capitalist stabilization in Poland. Unemployment Increases. Whereas in October, 1929, the number of workers employed in the large scale and me- dium plants of Poland comprised 591,000, in the following month, November, the number employed had fallen to 570,000 (as against 608,000 for November of the previous year); while throughout December and the first half of January thousands upon thousands of work- ers were laid off in practically all the indus- tries. There has been an incredible. growth of un- employment in Poland. The number of reg- istered unemployed, which according to offi- cial figures comprised 93,000 at the begin- ning of November, grew to 140,000 early in December and to the incredible figure of 223,- 000 at the beginning of January, which means that during November and December the num- ber of unemployed was more than doubled. At the present time there are 300,000 unem- ployed and the tendency is towards further growth, But the official statistics, based as they are on the registered unemployed, are no true in- dex to the actual size of unemployment in the country. Even in the towns the number un- employed far exceeds the official figures. In the countryside you will find thousands upon thousands of unemployed agricultural laborers who register nowhere and are not kept track of at all. There are hundreds of thousands of completely unemployed workers in Poland to- day, not counting the scores of thousands on short time and whose numbers are increasing with each passing day. . Approximately only a third of the unem- ployed industrial workers are receiving unem- ployment relief. The rest are doomed to star- ‘vation. The unemployed workers in Poland are really up against it today. Their position is hopeless, And the break-up of Polish econ- omic life makes any improvement in their posi- tion totally out of the question. So this is where the policy of the fascist government has landed the Polish workers! There are about a million industrial workers in Poland. But what is the position of those in em- ployment? Threatening to lay off the men, the industrialists are increasing their drive against the workers, Wages are coming down. Agreements are no longer being observed. Capitalist rationalization and speed-up sys- tems are being screwed up a pitch higher, completely exhausting the workers. A longer working day is being introduced with the short- er week. Factory delegates and all class con- scious militants are being persecuted and dis- charged. The capitalists’ lash is falling equal- ly on employed and unemployed. Fight Exploiters and Fascists, Both these séctions of the great army of labor of Poland are now fighting the exploiters and the fascist government. causes great sores all over the lower part of his. body. N Equal Pay For Equal Work. We have in many mines different forms of undercutting machines. Here we find loaders working at a different scale of wages, although the loading of the coal into the mine cars re- quires the same amount of work. In some in- stances in Saline County this difference amounts to as much as $4 on the hundred tons, The Weapon of the Miners. The National Miners’ Unjon is today en- gaged in a struggle against the coal onerators id their allies’ agents, the Lewis-Fishwick gang, the I.W.W., the Trotskyites, the armed forces of, the county and state authorities, all of them, who are being used at present by the bosses directly or indirectly as strikebreakers, The militant fighting miners are forging now a mighty weapon—the National Miners’ Union. It became very clear already | The workers in the factories are stoutly re- sisting the capitalist offensive. We find that it is the capitalist offensive—due to the crisis —that is’ giving rise to a whole series of dis- putes in the textile mills of Lodz and Belsk, and in the engineering, food and other indus- tries. Mass meetings and demonstrations of the unemployed are now almost a daily occurrance in Warsaw, Lodz, Zgierz, Zelova, Beljatova (a town in the Lodz district), Lvov, Poznani, Grudzentze (Pomerania), Wlotzlavsk and other Polish towns. Meetings outside the town coun- cils, outside the war ministry (in Warsaw) and outside the factories where the workers were employed previously, nN These demonstrations, which are becoming increasingly mass in character, are turning more’ and more into political demonstrations. In Lodz the unemployed workers’ demonstra- . tions headed by the Communist Deputies in the Diet marched past the barracks, urging the soldiers to fraternize with the workers, and gathered outside the prisons demanding the release of the political prisoners. Although the police attacked the demonstrat- ors and the unemployed workers’ meetings, time and again they were unable to break up these movements. Despite the police squads the workers burst into the town councils, and are fighting the raids of the police. All the demonstrations end in casualties and the round- ing up of many of the participators. All the workers of Poland, both in and out of work, now realize that their present plight and poverty stricken conditions is the direct result of the policy of Pilsudski’s fascist gov- ernment and its lackeys, the reformists. These demonstrations of the unémployed workers, a direct expression of the indignation, unrest and dissatisfaction observed among the people at large, are dealing blow after blow at the tottering foundations of Polish fascism and paving the way for the proletariat of Pol- and to revolution, to establish a new Soviet Poland, and following the example of the U.S.S.R.—take up the great work of Socialist construction, “Union Label” Fascists in Chicago By D. MATES. 'HE social-fascists of the American Federa- tion of Labor of Chicago are showing their true colors more clearly than ever before. Especially now, when the workers of Chicago are displaying the greatest militancy and when the Communist Party and the Trade Union Unity League are intensifying their activities and spreading their influence over larger num- bers of workers in the basic industries, are the fakers of the Fitzpatrick-Nelson Chicago Federation of Labor machine openly coming to the aid of the capitalist class in an attempt to stem the growing influence of the Commu- nists and the revolutionary trade unions of the Trade Union Unity League. - The open fascist role played by the leaders of. the Chicago Federation of Labor ‘as seen in several events of recent date, will only help to mobilize the militant workers in a struggle to defeat and destroy these social-fascists and to build and strengthen the revolutionary trade union center—The Trade Union Unity League. There are over 300.000 unemployed workers in Chicago who are facing actual starvation. But no one would expect the Chicago Federa- tion of Labor would tackle this most serious problem facing the workers of Chicago. How- ever, when the Chicago Council of Unemployed, - affiliated with the Trade Union Unity League, held two overflow meetings at which some 3,000 workers voted to march to the City Hall with the demand of “Work or Wages” the fakers of the A. F. of L. lived up to their true role as agents of the large induStrial interests of the city and denounced this demonstration, de- claring this demonstration “unlawful” and min- imizing the importance by stating that these thousands of workers were merely foreign- born Communists and should be ignored. Advises Police. Vice-President Durkin, of the Building Trades oCuncil wes even more frank and tells the police how to act when similar dménstra- tions will be arranged by the Communists. In an interview with the capitalist press reporters, he stated that “the police should organize squads with banana stalks and teach these - demonstrators a lesson.” . The thousands of unemployed and employed workers who took part in the demonstration on February 21 at the City Hall, many of whom were brutally slugged by the police, will learn many interesting lessons from this struggle as well as from the comments made by the fakers on this militant demonstration under the banners of the Trade Union Unity League. . The workers present at the demonstration have learned the lesson that this is only pos- sible by conducting an effective struggle against unemployment and misery,’a most de- termined fight against the allies of the bosses— the social-fascists of the Chicago Federation of Labor. “Labor” Fascists. But the labor fakers of the A. F. of L. go even further in preparation for further betray- als of the workers of Chicago. The social- fascists see the growing struggles of the work- ers under the leadership of the Trade Union Unity League and the Communist Party have taken steps to actually strangie and paralyze the struggles of the working class of Chicago by the establishment of a “labor? post of the American Legion. Wy The American Legion known to all workers for its open fascists attacks of strikers, per- secution of militant workers, stirring up race riots, ete. has established a “labor post” with the aid of none other than the “commander” of the strike-breaking A. F. of L., William Green. Ae At a celebration at which the color standard was presented to the Union Labor post of the American Legion, held at the Electricians’ Hall arranged by the Chicago Building Trades Coun- cil, all the prominent labor misleaders; mingled , with the militarists and commanders of the Legion and celebrated the great occasion, feel- ing sure that now they were quite prepared for any milita: 5 struggle which might be waged by the workers of Chicago under the leadership of thy Trade Union Unity League,