The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 6, 1930, Page 4

Page Four center of embraces of whom ting from Bradford, the ike, which gr 100,000 workers at woollen str over ganized such worke there by the labor ent, hang y the mill gates he rikers i offering They have at 6 m. and with F cket line nt with the police mills to close rike area is suf- ion of the Brit- owth of that rev- sing higher and t forces of s and labor ders how the jc ion offici: 1 and planned for years ont of the workers and n them, it is truly ww they stand firm in re- power of the enemy forces. Fakers Compromis mber of workers are ay Of co ke so far. savy woollen di secured a co omise and mills where cer- tices e the cna TS ac- cepted reductions without resi Therefore the unofficial Central Strike Com- mittee has issued the call for “All Out” and is union of 5 per ployers have not p tain e and some isolated cases whe Worke MacMillan the er ey asked for. He aw per cent for time we for piece-rate worker s promptly rec | nd warne | would mean a strike | no uncertainty. The tion by an o¥erwhe cent in favor and 2 | per cent were declz ; | The woollen auc backed this time by the neil of the Trades General Union Congress, of: of 5.8 per ¢ stood out for strike was on. Revolutionary Throughout the entire pe ing wool carried. ¢ worke pound of flesh, Messag’ riod « f the develoy Party ge to them how 1 -) rhe ed. | Communist k made by 2 the ans of struggle. Movement took t ize a Committee of inority eps before the e started Action of the strike trar tral § Stri nike ¢ Somm) r Com- ence and ip, has 2 not yet | ng its influence in terms of Sil It was not set up by a widely repre | conference, neither has it got a firm b: Central Organ vi the (ou inuilist Mai, Worker * t the U.S. A. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Ry mail everywhere: One year $6; six months $3; two months $1; excepting: Boroughs of Mavhettan and Bronx, New York City, and foreign, which are: One year $8; six months $4.50 By I. AMTER. (Written in Jail.) or all the tasks confronting our Party and the coming Party convention, the most im- portant is building the Trade Union Unity League. This is not a mere reiteration of the decision of the Comintern, but is based upon the actual conditions and the needs of the work- ing class and the struggle. We are in the third period of post-war capi- talism, that is the period of the breakdown of the precarious stabilization of capitalism— the period of its break-up. This is not an automatic process, but is based upon the con- ditions of economic production and distribution and the will and power of the workers to fight in an organized manner. Without this latter fact, capitalism will decay—it will adopt other forms of ruling, but it will continue to hold power. It will mean pauperization of the working class—the introduction of a new form of feudalism. No worker understanding the present period will question the possibility, necessity and will- ingness of the workers to struggle—except Green, Lovestone. Thomas, O’Neal, Gitlow, the Trotskyites and Woll. Not Sufficient To Talk “Struggle.” But it is not sufficient to say that it is pos sible to struggle—that the conditions demand struggle—that the wage slashes and unem- ployment demand struggle. The workers must be enabled not merely to show rebellion—they must be organized to make the flight. There is a sentiment in the Party and among the revolutionary workers that in this period of imperialist wars—and every intelligent worker knows they are here and an interna- BUILDING THE TRADE UNION UNITY LEAGUE ers, the “progressives” in the A. F. of L., the social-fascist Musteites and socialist party, are now pushed forward by the bosses and the A. F, of L. to rope in the workers, defeat their struggles and either demoralize them or incor- porate them in fascist company unions. Wit ness the strikes at Marion, Elizabethton, I. G. W. U. in New York. Witness the shameful betrayal of the Illinois miners through Far- rington, Howat, Brophy, Fishwick, Hapgood, Lovestone and the Peabody Coal Co. The struggle for economic demands of the workers—of itself and with the leadership of the Communists—becomes a political strug- gle—but this struggle must be built up. The struggle against imperialist war, for instance, cannot become’ a live issue, unless the workers clearly understand that the same bosses, the same capitalist government who are their ene- mies at home, send them to foreign countries to fight against workers who are hounded, driven and persecuted by their bosses and their capitalist government, When the workers un- derstand this, they see it is one struggle all along the line. The Economic Demands. The fight for economic demands and the ot ganization of this fight becomes our chief ~, { task. This must be organized in an effective | manner, that is, in keeping with the present stage of capitalist monopolist development. Craft unions are antiquated not only because they cultivate the craft spirit—spirit of divi- sion among the workers—but because they can- not cope with trusts and open mergers. There- fore industrial unions are imperative—fighting unions with political outlook, with militant leadership, with rank and file control—these are the demands of the hour. With these centrating its efforts on extending the | the shape of elected s ees in the tional blood-bath has been prepared in London | unions as their leaders, the workers harassed rike right throughout the district. mills, So far th exist only in by the naval “disarmament” conference—it is | and hounded as they are, will fight heroically. What are the employers demanding? They | a few ted cases. Moreover, the Central | unnecessary to do more than engage in wide- The unemployed Sronkasamiet hecamaran n- ace wage rates by 1 shilling, 10% | Strike Committ not yet succeeded in | spread propaganda and fill the workers’ minds | togral part of the T. U. U. L. They must be in the pound from time-workers, 1 | getting a firm grip in important areas outside with hatred of the system and a will to fight. | gyrawn into the industrial unions and, owing shilling and 9 pence in the pound from piece- | the centers of Bradford a Even more—that in view of the fact that a gi- | {9 the rapid shift of workers from one indus- gantic imperialist slaughter is coming, we juvenile should not bother about such slogans and is- abolish nd to the special Recognize Weaknesse: try to the other, their transfer be facilitated This These we: ‘ knesses are recognized by from one industrial union to the other. nt wages are very, very low. In | Strike Committee, which has issued a ledflet sues as the i hoe day and bey, week, fight | wil] in an organic manner link up the strug- 1927 the ministry of labor stated that wages | for widespread distribution which is concen- against speed-up, for unemployment insurance, | 516 of the employed and unemployed and lead averaged 2 pounds (about $10) a week, a | trated on showing the nec for extending | By FRED ELLIS ete, The Proletarian Revolution will take care | +, more complete solidarity than at the pres- of that—and our immediate task, these com- ss the higher paid skilled average is now much figure which in worke the below that figure in consequence of the ex- tension of shor working. A girl told me that gets 31 shillings and 3 pence for a 48-hour week, with no pos- “of an increase if she remains at the 20 years. A married woman fini for another stated that wh working full time her wages ttle over 2 pounds a week, t_ two years they have aver- a week, and cag = h trike her v 4 pence, 26 shillings Tad 2 pence a week. say: “We We are going ers’ Fighting Spirit. ificant features of this strike nation and fighting spirit of id the fact that the new revolu- dership come to the forefront rst tinte in a mass strike. rike of the woollen workers makes a tremendous development of the mass struggle against the labor government for the political aracter of this struggle is very sharp and clear. For years the employers have carried on a guerilla warfare against the workers, try- ing to enforce cuts wherever a favorable op- portunity occurred. The advent of the labor government and the subsequent rationalization drive dictated by the finance capitalists increased the pressure on the woollen workers. The trade union of- ficials were in the forefront of the capitalist attack. When the employers demanded an 8.3 per cent reduction last September, the union bureaucrats offered to accept a 7.25 per cent cut—a difference of .78 per cent! Negotia- tions broke down when the workers were bal- lotted and rejected all wage cuts by a four to one majority. Leadership of Communist Party. Then followed the sectional attacks in vari- ous districts, which did not succeed because of the strong campaign of the Communist Party and inority Movement and the deter- nee of the working class. iling to enforce reductions by these meth- ods, the labor government resorted to arbitra- tion, and for this purpose they set up a one- man industrial court, consisting of Lord Mac- Millan, on whom a peerage had been specially conferred in order to add to his prestige. are the strike and electing committees in every mill, which is now absolutely urgent, in view of the cunning maneuvers of the trade union officials to break the solidarjty of the workers by concluding separate agreements on the basis of reduced cuts. The -trade union bureaucrats have them- selves set up so-called “Councils of Action,” in order to counteract the influence of the revolu- tionary leadership and to confuse the workers. | In most cases these consist solely of a handful | of trade union of appoined by them- In certain cases workers are included. | the case in Shipley, where the strikers | 1 the bureaucrats out and asked for the co-operation of the unofficial Strike Commit- | tee. In Bingley the trade union Council of | Action has asked for permission to send dele- | gates to the Central Strike Committee. | | | Now that the strike is well under way, an urgent problem is the feeding of the strikers, which is an especially acute question, because of the large number of girls who have come into the industry from the mining areas are consequently living away from hom Union ke pay, which been redu be paid Yo about 40 ner cent of the strikers. | Collect Relief. | The Comunist Party hi ed a strong for the setting up of le Worker: Committees right throughout tt the Workers’ International Re’ ve ve in colle funds 2 ing relief. At the ame time m tions are being organized in or relief from the local authorities and in par ticular the feeding of children, | The question of assistance for strik must be raised, not only in Britain, but by the | Communist Parties in eve The bitterness of this iruggle and the fatt that the fight d on in the teeth of the labor gov itration award shows the great dis he masses | in the MacDonald regi working-cle a mig of The Communist Party ical issues clearly before the workers and con- centrating on the exposure of the trade union s and the labor government, whilst at ame time advancing its revolutionary de- mands and inereasing its propaganda in f. of the Revolutionary Workers’ Government. The woollen strike is taking place at a de- cisive moment in the life of the labor govern- ment and this mighty struggle has already dealt it a heavy blow. ; The Office Workers Are Hit By New Speed- -up By GRACE HUTCHINS. OW to make two office workers do the work of nine? Advice to office bosses to just how it can be done is given by the Dictaphone Sales Corp., one of the many companies en- gaged in selling office machinery to displace workers and thereby increase unemployment. By tables and work-sheets, stop-watches and other measurements the company proves to its own and the bosses’ satisfaction that the dic: taphone incre production by nearly 100 per cent with a 50 per cent decrease in cost. Time- sheets of nine stenographers writing 129 let- teys totalling 1,740 lines a day are compared with the record of two dictaphone operators writing 134 letters totalling 1,815 lines. For the short-hand method the boss pays $9.91 for 1,000 lines, for the dictaphone method only $4.99 for the same. “Rest and unaccounted for” time, averaging 50 minutes a day for the stenographer is re duced to 28 minutes for the dictaphone oper- ator who is thus driven at the typewriter for 94 per cent of a 7% hour day. While the stenographer had at least the variety of tak- ing dictation as a relief from steady typing, the dictaphone operator has no relief at all and the added strain of keeping up with a voice as it comes out of the machine. If this steady, rapid typing for more than 7 hours a day proves too much for a girl’s strength, there are plenty more at the agen- cies to take her place. One office workers’ agency in New York 60 samples a month of “high grade office help” for sale from $14 a week up. Two agencies report that unemploy- i | and founded of free emp’ ment among office workers has increased by 50 per cent since the winter of 1929, é While the aphone displaces stenograph- rs, other office machines throw out other al workers. A machine to do what six office workers did formerly is now used by the * Pennsylvania Railroad, Dividend checks are fed to a machine in blank and come out com- pletely prepared and ready for envelopes and mailing. - Office workers needed two weeks to get the dividend checks ready for mailing. The machine prints 3,600 chee stubs an hour, and is capable of completing the entire dividend payment in two days of continuous running. Sixty checks a minute is its capacity. Even the lunch hour is now included in the speed-up plans of some larger companies. An advertisement of the Sanford-Day Iron Works to boost moving belts tells how it is done un- der the hedaline: “A Cafeteria Specded Up Output. Why Not You?” In a large cafeteria maintained for the “wel- fare” of employees, the workers could not serve themselves quickly enough in the limited time allowed, explains the ad. “The manage- ment employed an efficioney engineer to speed | up the output. To meet such speed-up and the growing un- employment among clerical workers, the Of- fice Workers’ Union affiliated with the Trade Union Unity Leigue, demands the 7-hour day, | 5-day week and the elimination of overtime and piecework. Other demands include a mini-_ | mum of $20 a wee. ¢ nz of the joh shark ment agencies, The Case of Roy Stephens A delightful little tid-bit for the capitalist | press was furnished by Roy Stephens, for- merly Party organizer in Boston, when through the office of the Lovestone renegades he de- nouncel the Party and declared his adherence. Let the capitalist press and the renegades have their pleasure; meanwhile, let the Party fully understand this incident and draw the proper lessons. In Stephens letter, circulated by the Love- stone renegades, he says explanation for his mduct is not nece: that “I don’t think it necessary to explain in this letter why I have supported the present leadership up until time or why I am now making what will robably seem a sudden change of mind.” It ay not be nec for Stephens, nor for the e clique, to explain these things, but must find the explanation z sisted in this task Stephens in leavi f some of his pri- The following letter will ehind him in th te corresponden more ht upon Stephens “sudden ge of mind” than all his “explanations: “Glendale, Cal. “Dear Roy noon so am Not doing anything thi spending it writing. statement and found you received the O.K. Suppose it came in handy. Elmo out and g with me. I’m sending him to business college. He’s been going two months now and 1s to like it. Suppose he'll go for some time yet. “T bought a lot. a short while ago—75x180. It’s in a good district. Paid $2,500 for it Am going to build in a couple months. Put up an 8 room house and three car garage. Will have a very ni “I’m working t it of town m the time, but am go arrange my so I can be in town this fall an] fin law course. Paid income tax on year, so will have some left after building and can go through school. Struck it lucky! to an ¢ rations for M “Cousin Walter and Aunt Gran were over for dinner last nite. Walter just got Aunt Armida’s home (She died, you probably heard), he’s quite elated, as the place is worth about $10,600. “How’s things with you? Don’t mean to be antagonistic or Sone but sincerely believe you’re wasting good effort and cer- tain talent on a hopeless and thankless cause. Why not get into lucrative work with a chance for your own advancement?... “Well—if you ever get this far west, re- member the latch string is always out. “Yours, Bill.” Well, the “call” seemed to be too strong for Mr. Stephens to resist, especially as the class struggle was growipg too hot for comfort, and hi “talents” were already being demonstrated inadequate for his job. But in order to cover up the running away from the fight, to provide an intermediate stage to pass through before he openly returns to ciety portuni the mc stone clique of he can sell out. “respectable so- rich relatives, big legacies. for “more lucrative worl convenient instrument in the Love- By the use of this, oropriate the money and of the P turn over Party records pelled renegade, sabotage the prepa- and at the very same moment sign “yours for the success of the world revolution.” For our Party, the main political lesson nothing to do with the miserable figure of ons, except as Stephens dramatizes the al role of the group of renegades headed Gitlow, Wolfe, et al. All the remnants of the past, still re- Party feel an irresistible af- to Lovestone, Eventually they will all nd their course into the same or a similar gart pail. The Party gains thereby. Al- ready the Boston District is improving its work nm by Lovestone, rotten spots, aining in our nity | and bils fair to regain its health in short order. | HE, history of the The First of May i in Italy By GIOVANNE GERMANETTO. rst of May under fas- cism is the history of desperate attempts to strike the world holiday of labor from the calendar. Fascism has established its own fes- tival of labor—April 21, the date of the found- ing of Rome—and even on the eve of this fe: tival a great number of arrests take place. In spite of the thousands of arrests and the hous s are to be seen that the Ita at has not forgotten International Labor —even when it is de- nied all possibility of “holdi ing meetings and processions. In 1925 the Fi prohibited. The s say, contented themselves with making ener- getic protests in newspaper articles, which were confiscated, whilst on the other hand, the Communist Party in Milan, Turin and other centers held impromptu factory gate meetings. celebrations were ats, needless to Rome flooded with bills and leaflets. Nearly everywhere red flags were hoisted: on the telegraph poles, the factory chimneys, et Inse’ ions appeared on the walls: Long live the F of May! Long live the Communi. Party! Down with fascis: Pigeons and Propaganda. On the following day it was interesting to see how busy the police were rubbing out the offending inscriptions on the walls. In Trieste, small balloons and carrier pigeons bearing Jeaflets were sent up. In Pola a red flag was hoisted on one of the highest masts, where it remaine{ all day, as the mast had been so thoroughly greased that it was im- possible for anybody to climb it and pull down the flag. The fascists were furious, Tn Rome, Milan, Genoa and Trieste Mussolini was comnelled to suspend all tai , streets in which the embassy, the consuletes f a . are who h the red flags waved, Since then arrests have been carried out on an increasing scale on each First of May, with- out, however, succeeding in suppressing these small demonstrations. Of course, in addition to these demonstrations, meetings have tdken place; there have been strikes in a number of factories, aml last year it came to open dem- onstrations. The preparations for the First of August, along with the campaign for the plebiscite, furnishes an even stronger proof that the Com- munist Party still ex The working masses “had the feeling that the Communist Party stands at their head as the fighting advance guard. A whole number of papers appeared: the ; “Unita,” the “Avantguardia,” the women's news- paper “Compagna,” the trade union organ “Battaglie Sindicali,” as well as leaflets against war and for higher wage: It came to demonstrations in the Fiat Works and the Aircraft factories in Turin, as well as in Milan, in Monfalcone, in Trieste, Leghorn, Rologno and other places—everywhere there were signs of resumption of activity. Put Up Red Flag. In the docks of San Marco in Trieste—in spite of the greatest vigilance—a big red flag was run up on a cruiser which was undergoing repairs. What about the First of May in Italy this year? The economic situation of the workers is becoming more and more desperate. There are over one million unemploye |, of whom, accord- ing to the fascist figures, only about 87,000 are drawing unemployment benefit (according to the official returns the number of the un- employed is about 460,000, but the actual fig- ure exceeds one million). The crisis of Italian capitalism is becoming more acute every day. The fascists themselves are sounding, the alarm. In a recent syeech Mussolini emphasized the necessity of the fascist party being better pre- rades think, is preparation through propaganda of the workers for turning the coming imper- ialist war into civil war of the workers and poor farmers against the capitalists. There is the other attitude among Party members and revolutionary workers that in this period of economic crisis, the workers are afraid of losing their jobs and therefore, al- though resenting it, will accept worsening of conditions. This opinion is very close to that of the social-democrats, Lovestoneites and Trotskyites. These comrades still do not rec- ognize the significance of March 6 and of the May Day strikes and demonstrations. They project their own unwillingness to struggle and sacrifice into the minds of the workers. Such an attitude is dangerous to the Party and to the working class and must be mercilessly combatted. It is social-democracy. It is the attitude of the skilled craftsman who cannot see the objective conditions surrounding the working class as a whole. It is the position of the potential renegade. The Workers Fight Back. The workers will struggle. Witness the strike of the wool workers of Amoskeag, N. H., the steel workers of Indianapolis, the strikes in Gastonia, Marion, New York, Pittsburgh, Elizabethton, New Orleans. The workers will struggle and they must be given the proper forms, slogans, leadership. Can the Party discard the slogans of imme- diate demands and use only those of the Prole- tarian Revolution? To do so would mean to isolate ourselves from the masses. It would appear to be a “Jeft” position, ultra-revolution- ary point of view, but in reality is an oppor- tunist position, for it condemns the Party to mere propaganda, The Proletarian Revolution does not come of itself. It comes through the struggle of the workers against the increased pressure placed upon them by the capitalist class and capi- talist government, through wage cuts, in- creased hours. intensified speed-up, unemploy- ment, ete. This struggle in this stage takes on a political form. Witness the cooperation and leadership of the U. S. Department of Labor against the Independent Shoe Workers’ Union of New York; of the state government of New York cooperating with the cloak and dress manufacturers together with Sigman and Schlesinger of the International Ladies’ Gar- ment Workers’ union against the workers. Wit- ness the struggle in the South, with the state and county authorities themselves and with the fascist Ku Klux Klan and other organiza- tions that they have sponsored, in open fight with the bosses against the workers. Desnite all forces against them, the workers will fight—even as they are fighting under far harler conditions in some countries of Europe—wool workers in England, railway and textile workers in India, etc. Recognizing this willingness to fight, the American Federation of Labor has made a skilful maneuver. The A. F. of L. is against struggle, the leadership having taken an open fascist stand with the bosses against the work- publie works, the suppression of the fighting activity of the workers in town and country show how serious is the situation in Italy. The latest events: Milan—agitation in the Miani and Silvestri factory; Turin, agitation in the Fiat Works; Faenza—armed attack of the land workers against the fascists; attacks on the houses of the Burgomaster and the fas- cist organizations in some districts in the pro- vince of Apulia—all this plainly shows that the situation is changing and that the masses are bevinning to stir. The big class struggles which are develon- ing in all countries are also to be seen approach- ing in Italy. In the seven years of its rule fascism has plunged the working class into the deepest misery, without, however, having found anv possibility of achieving a certain stability. The Italian bourgeoisie finds it necessary to organize all the forces of reaction against the working class hoth in town and country, On shin of the Communist P--'- + nared as a fivhting party in order to oppose the masses, The abandonment of the policy of reaction, arrin-t war e°! the Boley Uri the First of May next—which is the day of firht of the workers of the whole world—the Italian working class, in spite of the thousands of victims who have been condemned to hard labor and banishment, in spite of the emigra- | tion of thousands and thousands, will know how to contjnue its advance wder the leader- v'act fascist, “onre of ent time. To build up such unions is to build not only the organized power of the workers but also to develop their political understanding. Failure to build them—failure because the Party mem- bership and revolutionary workers do not un- derstand their imperativeness, means to stunt the working class, to prevent the growth of class conscious militancy, tq prevent the growth of our Party into a mass Communist Party—it means to postpone the Proletarian Revolution. Our most important task, therefore, is the building of the Trade Union Unity League and its industrial unions. Although individual re- cruitment is not to be neglected, it is obvious that different methods are needed by the strug- gle. The T. U. U. L. and industrial unions will be built in and through struggle. Nor must this be taken fatalistically—not waiting for the struggle and then make heroic efforts to build the unions, but building the union and building for the struggle at the same time. Work in the Shops. Every worker in a shop, mine, factory, office or store has the opportunity and basis for this work, by forming a shop committee of the most militant, trustworthy workers in the shop, This is the basis of the union—the future shop local. Build up this shop committee with the consciousness that it does not exist for the sake of a little organization in the shop, but for leading all the workers of the shop into struggle for demands. In the struggle, the union will be built, the best militants coming forward as leaders. Through these struggles, facing the government in the form of police, sheriffs, injunctions, arrests, etc., through par- icipation of the Communists who lead and ex- plain, the political understanding of the work- ers is awakened and stimulated and the work- ers become ripe for and join the Communist Party. In forming shop committees and building the Trade Union Unity League, special attention must be paid to three categories of workers: Negroes, women and young workers. Millions of these workers, who formerly were to be found only by hundreds of thousands, are now in the industry and are more viciously ex- ploited than adult white workers. Negro workers can and will be won for the fight only through and in struggle. Jim- crowed by the government, the bosses and the A. F. of L., they correctly look with suspicion upon all white workers, most of whom still harbor race antagonism in them as a result of capitalist Propaganda and practice. Women workers, formerly considered unfit for factory work, are to be numbered by the millions today and are rapidly supplanting men. Their organism is not suited to the high speed-up methods of capitalism—but the bosses and their government, which hypocritically talk about “American womanhood,” want cheap labor and thus force women and girls through need to enter the industrial process. Young Workers and Speed-Up. Young workers who are more susceptible to speed-up and changing methods of production number millions in industry, many below the “legal age.” They are forced by need at home to enter the shop and work at far lower wages to the “glory” of American industry. These three categories of workers are ex- cellent fighters, as they have proven in all in-: dustrial battles. Special demands must be pu! un for them. They must be drawn into the shop committees, into leadership in the strug- gle, without discrimination. The line is clear, the Party is unified, the conditions for organization and struggle are! given. No so-called “left” or opportunist hesi. tation can be tolerated, The Party’s most im portant task today is to build up the T. U. U, L. Any comrade who shirks in the shop; wh refuses to win over the rank and file in thi A. F. of L. to the militant policies and meth ods of the T. U. U. L.; union leaders who con sistently follow an open or covert opportunis' policy of preventing or of not fostering th development of fresh proletarian leadershi must be ruthlesslv fought. 50,000 in the TUUL by June 30 will be ai easy task if the work is organized and push ~—if every Party member and_revolutiona worker is put to work. Through this chann the Party will increase its proletarian me: bershin—it will establish itsélf in the shop: it will become the leader of the masses workers,