The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 24, 1930, Page 2

Page Two U,8,8, SWALLOW CREW. MUTINIED 20; GOTBADFOO Later’ Court Mart crew fleet. What the cook officer as he v he was . doughbellied S. 3. Now w get something to eat where we are going.” | I overheard t the supply of e cook say it to A SAILOR Who was on the Mon time this happe SLASH PAY OF CAR WASHERS, Frisco Men Feel Hand of. Rationalization (By a Worker Correspondent) SAN. FRANCISCO, inauguration of the tra in the auto laundry b cates .another lowering in the ready bad conditions in that indus- try. The newest one of these speed | “race tracks,” as the workers dub them, contains among many thers of the newest methods | of speed-up a track conveyor that has established the record of con- veying a car past a washing and ng crew of of 27 , Extreme speed-up and stretchout pace is quickened still more. ha Thesfate of pay in the Du-track Auto Laundry in Frisco was until February 14, 1930. At thi time @f-emergency directors’ meet= ing tak place. It was decided that ~ TAYLORVILLE. PIT | OF men in 9 | there was not enough profits rolling | in, in spite of the fact that the earn- ings $£.the owners hati remained steady for the last eight months and that at, the tin the meeting busines$ “was picking and the earnings being increased. This, however, was not enough to ii the prifit-hungry exploit less wages.” Robbery. On February 14 this placed before the work | young boys, must lay off to take a hedule was | a year ago, when the motorman and ostensibly | trip riders were for their acceptance, but merely as | a matter of routine, because when | an hour and talked about the dance four of us, incensed at the injustice | Saturday evening. It is all over now, of the steal, protested, we were | especially for those young married. The schedule | He can not give satisfaction to his canned on the spot. went into effect in spite of the gen- eral but disorganized growl, and the workers are being exploited worse than ever. The following is the tricky sched- ule the corporation brought in to replace the previous day rate of $4.75 for an 81-2 hour day. “Be- ginning this date (Feb. 14) all men employed here will work from 8 a. m. to 12 noon and from 12:30 to 5:30 p. m. (9 hrs.). The day rate of $4.75 will be abolished. Instead the washers, including chamois men, will receive a guarantee of $3 per day, if the day’s run is 150 cars; the finishers, etc.. to receive $2.70 per dey <f 150 cars; beyond 150; cars washers and chamois men will receive two cents per car up to 250 cars; finishers, ets., and eight-tenths cents per car up to 250. Then all will be paid a bonus of one-half cent beyond 250} cars. It was brought out, however, that the so-called bonus was nothing more than a wage slash in disguise, because in order to rightly call it a bonus it would indicate that we were going to get two and one-half cents, and two and three-tenths for washers and finishers, respectively. Instead. the washers and chamois men are. cut one and five-tenths cents day, the finishers one and three-tenth cents per car, and every- | one is leveled out to a half cent per car over 250 cars. Let's organize in the Trade Union Unity League. re —CAR WASHER. to receive one} { | | | ae"" SALILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 24, 1980 “> 4) SPONDENT TELLS OF U.S ar Vets and Gobs Conditions Are Worsening; For Fight Against the Bosses S. SWALLOW MUTINY IN ’20 Slumgullion and bellywash for chow, restrictions, low pay; such is the lot of the boys in blue as a gob writes from the Saratoga, shown left. This aircraft carrier is held in readiness for the swiftly approaching bosses im- perialist war and for use against the Soviet Union. on Photo on right shows sailors leaving boat for shore leave. Gypped on Compensation (By a Worker Correspondent) PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—I am a wounded war veteran. I was wounded at Chateau Thiery, France, but because 1 kept on fighting throughout ihe war and did not go back to Paris to a hospital the Veteran’s Bureau refuses to do anything for me, as they say that I must prove by hospital records that I was wounded in the war, although I am scarred and dis- * abled for life icemen turned out THE DIRT GANG.” FOR MILITANTS AT was yellow curs who did not do fighting in Franee, but that were in the quartermaster corps and who hid in the seaports, Paris, etc., while we were fighting. It is the duty of all war veterans and work- ers to defend the Communist Party when chief gunman Whalen and his thugs attack them. When the people voted the New York soldiers a war bonus, the capitalistic court said it was unconstitutional and tried to prevent the soldiers getting it, al- though + capitalist class made millions of dollars out of the war. —A VETERAN, AUTO BOSSES Laying Tracks to, Break Your Back (By a Worker Correspondent) TAYLORVILLE, Ill. — Did ra the dirt gang what we call the free turn, twelve workers and four bosses. Each boss has three men and from seven to eight four-ton cars on each man. This is the penalty because | you didn’t obey the bosses’ law, and the next day you can go to the ARE DESPERATE doctor and pay for medic for your sore back. If the bo: don’t like you, they might keep you in the dirt gang for many months till the miner is forced to quit dine | Someone might get an easier job. laying tracks. But,} your shoulder-blade must ng and well, otherwise the rstrap won't fit you right.’ Down in the th, I remember, the company fu es a tool truck and partner. But in here, all what you need, as I said before, are good and strong shoulders and a strong har- ness without collar to drag rails and other supplies from room 1 up to 21, all by yourself for 40 loaders. Oh boy, that is some job, I tell you. Here I want to explain something about hand-loaders in these mines. Loaders should read the “Agree- nt by and between the Illinois Coal Operators and the U.M.W.A., District 12.” Page 6, line 11 s “In mines where both hand load- ing and mechanical loading prevail the hand loader shall not be dis- criminated against and mine cars shall be divided among hand loaders and mechanical loaders in a just Shown By Iverland Co. Trick (By a Workex Correspondent.) TOLEDO, Ohio. — An obvious ick played by the Overland plant prior to May 1st was to hire a large number of worke: place names on the payroll and after a few hours’ or days’ work fire them all again. This was broadcasted over the radio and figures quoted in the local press, purporting to means This ing and that the worst was passed. This device was to keep a large number of workers away from the May Day celebrations. This fraud shows that the bosses e being driven to their last re- sources to keep the workers quiet. The only answer, fellow-workers, to such dirty tacties is to organize our- ‘selves in the Auto Workers Union, the Trade Union Unity League and the unemployed councils. Help the Daily Worker campaign, show your fellow-workers what the coming fall and winter will mean to them. Realize, comrades, that this is not just a task for the faithful few, but a job for the whole rank and file. hand loaders are afraid to thing, because they know l happen after and better and say nothing. So hé the mine all day long, he budy for a couple of cai lays in and his Y | because. all the rest of empty cars went into that meeting with the fol- are gaing into mechanical loading lowing slogan: “More Profits.and jmiachines. And trip riders, especially morning or in the evening for two r three hours in the dirt gang, and in only $5.95 and no one says anything. this wage scale they might put him on the dirt gang and keep him there until the poor devil gets tired and the only way out for him is to quit and bye, bye. Brothers, if I wanted to tell about all these rotten conditions that we have here, it would take me at least little rest once a week. I remember aiting on the part- ing for empty cars, sometimes for, wife, becuase he dances in the mine | and needs rest. ‘for better conditions is through the Here is another game that some- | National Miners Union and I hope one told me about paying the in-/ and like to see it very soon. side wage scale for those who work as members of a loading machine} crew. The boss sends him in the said “Rotten as Hell, Black as Sin.” —MIDLAND MINER. ! | | their, show that conditions were improv- | ead of $7.50 or $8.04 he gets] If one might start kicking about) one week or more. The only hope, | Even the Illinois Miner of Feb. 8, ing the damn stuff, right at the A MONG the first shop papers established were those in auto plants. The “Ford Worker” is now a veteran shop paper that saw Yeoman service in the organization of the auto workers in the Aut’ Workers Union. And then there are the “Hudson Worker,” the * Packard Worker,” the “Chrysler Worker,” the “Dodge Worker” and everal others. Auto making is perhaps the most highly mechanized industry. The notorious life-sapping belt and conveyor system was first highly developed at Ford’s. Speed-up is the first law in these auto plants. Workers age at 35 and are thrown on the scrape heap at 40. The task of our auto shop papers has now started in earnest. The organization of hundreds of thousands of auto workers into the Auto Workers Union is the major task on the order of the day. Consistent, faithful shop paper works in the big auto plants will help in the realization of this great task. The Spark Plug Again Many may remember how lyrical we become on reviewing the last copy of the ark Plug.” Here it is again, and as shiningly neat a shop paper we ever saw. The political contents are good. The day to day issues in the shop are tied up with the general political demands of the Party. On page two we have the following streamer: “Strike May First Against These Rotten Conditions! Join Auto Workers Union.” Dropping out of the lead is a list of issues, department by department. Typographically the “Spark Plug” is a joy as compared to many mimeod bullentins. It ed by the Fisher Body Nucleus of the Communist Party in Cleveland. Battle Smoke from the Cigar Workers Cigars were once made by hand, and the workers had to be fairly skilled. But now they are machiné-mad and young workers, mostly girls, work at cigar-making. Wages for the young cigar makers have dropped. The cigar bosses profits have swollen enormously. The Consolidated Cigar Co., The Bayuk Cigars, the Congress Cigar Co., The General Cigar Co., and the American Cigar Co., located in the anthracite coal region, Trenton, Philadelphia, Lancaster and Baltimore have grown fabulously rich in less than ten years by the use of auto- matic machines, speed-up, and low wages for the girl workers. The “Cigar Worker,” issued by the Young Communist League Nucleus in the American Cigar Co., Trenton, N. J., shows the constant drop of wages of the young workers. “In 1927 we got 80 cents for 100 straight cigars. “In 1929 it was reduced to 70 cents. “And today we only get 60 cents for a hundred cigars and the leaves are so bad that we can hardly work with them.” But already the young cigar workers are stirring. Last week two meetings in front of cigar factories in Trenton and Philadelphia were reported. The cigar workers have resisted police terror to hear the ‘Trade Union Unity League organizers. The “Cigar Worker” is the first to take up cudgels against the cigar bosses. Roebling Hot Wire Sizzles with Fight Roebling, N. J., is a company town, owned and paid for by the Roebling Wire Co. From six to seven thousand wire workers toil long hours in the wire mills. Wages are low. Accidents many. And profits high for the bosses. Industrial serfdom. “The Roebling Hot Wire” is now more than six months old. It is a lusty youngster born in the struggle of the wire mills, and already Roebling workers are beginning to raise their heads and look to the “Hot Wire” for leadership in their day to day struggles. Unemployment and Starvation in Iowa (By a Worker Correspondent) | the Olympic Co. Commissary feed- | ing the slaves for $1 a day. The cook gets orders not to spend over 12 cents a day per worker or he loses his job, The men are half- starved. They are absolutely helpless, in fact the working man is not considered a human being, after being in the breadline all winter. Women in cities offer their bodies for sale at 50 cents a throw to feed the hungry kids and themselves. That’s Hoover prosperity! Let’s not stand for | it, but organize. Join the Com- | munist Party, fellow slaves. —IOWA SLAVE. MARION, lIowa.—Talk about slavery. The Chicago and Mil- waukee Railroad got a stealing gang working here. The coolies in China in the starvation in its height cannot be worse than the slaves in the Gandy. The wages are 30 cents an hour. For ten hours’ work nine hours are paid and the garbage is so rotten that in order to eat it you have to close your eyes. Live worms .crawl out of the meat, and plenty of them. | It killed one worker while eat- He was from Cleveland, McDermott is the head of table. Ohio. Beans and Bellywash Ts Sailor’s Chow | War Vet, Jobless and . Hungry, Calls for Fight (By @ Worker Correspondent) BROOKLYN, N. Y.—In 1919 I was young and my head full of -nili- taristic and patriotic ideas, so I joined forces with the bosses, guardians of human life and property (the bosses’ lives and property), the United States army. After serving or slaving two terms of three years each, of which one year I have spent with the Army of Occupation in Germany, {to guarantee Uncle Shylock his ® ee : ‘share of plunder from the German| | ' workers for losing the war, I was ONE H LL OF A honorably discharged from further | militarism. “In 1925, that is the latter part, | IFE BEING IN and which was a few months after) “x leaving the army, I began to work! for the Hudson Paper Bag Co., lo-| | cated in Brooklyn, New York. The | Hudson Paper Bag Co. is the largest | | of its sort in the country. The sup-| — | ply everything in paper bags to the! leading concerns in the United | States and Canada. They own paper jmills in Vermont, where there are | eerreee, |several hundred workers employed! (By a Worker Correspondent.) | under the worse conditions prevail-| popRTsMOUTH, Va.—I am sta- jing. In their Brooklyn plant the! tioned on board the U. S. S. Sara- | Hudson Paper Bag Co. aso employs toga, one of the largest battleships several hundred workers of whom! jy the fleet. We are now located in pe my, are young boys ana tee drydock here. girls. These young slaves are driven et to a tremendous rate of speed on| I am a wireless operator, get 20 * jlousy dollars a month, being paid aceount of the company’s greed for | twice monthly, the 5th and 20th. fetes Profit. The speed-up causes! m0 chow we receive consists mostly jmany of the workers, to get hurt! or beans and potatoes, thin. soup |shameful manner by the foremen| loneeee water) innd, “Ae vrata “iota ob Most ‘of us sleep in hammocks In the four years that I have been and a few on bunks. Our superior |connected with them as a slave I officers are very, very gentlemanly | have practically worked about two|_ to ladies. Try and get a leave of jyears solidly. My pay was $28 per absence, and during the day when week, but at the end of the year I) we do get a couple of hours off, we only averaged about $14 per week. are restricted in going about where The company laid me off in April, we please. 1929, on account of the. intense’ Being in the navy is one hell of a rationalization perpetuated by a life, and how I wish I could get out. Mr, Frederick, one of the owners, in I enlisted because I had been out of his new program of economy. My) work so long and thought at least |former job as a pressman is now|I’d have a place to sleep and per- being cared for by young boys out) haps some food. of school for about half of the! | heard about the workers revolu- wages that I was getting, and that tionary movement from one of your is if they work a full week. jgirl comrades in Norfolk whom I | At present I am still out of work,/ met on a train going north. {and I do not see any immediate prospects in sight for me. Every) Lc sammeamiias caatye-aiaey morning, for the past few months, | 4 I have been trying to get a joo Communists Have | through the want columns of the, Smith Corp. Scared newspapers. Every time I answered} eg an ad for a slave or two I have; (By « Worker Correspondent.) found hundreds of poor discouraged | MILWAUKEE, Wis.—Last week | Workers fighting among themselves | One of the workers in the A. 0. jin order to see who would be the’ smith machinery plant managed | first one to get in line, and to at-| to successfully spread the Com- | tract the bosses attention or favor.| munist leaflets inside of this plant. These hungry and disillusioned) ‘this factory has been so far the workers who roam the streets of the} hardest to get into, due to the co- richest city in the world, seeking operation of its private police something that they cannot find with the local “socialist” police, jand that is a means of livelihood,| who are most evidently bribed by |has finally convinced m& that the| the company: \fat boy of the White House, Hoover, | es who has preached prosperity for the| | When these bosses found out workers, is only a bubble in the air,| that our leaflets were spread all and the workers cannot exist on that} over the shop they immediately | kind of prosperity; they want bread, called a meeting of all the work- | clothing and a roof over their heads.| ets and the superintendent made To help remedy these prevailing} 4 little speech, that if the work- |conditions under the present system | ers could not earn enough at the of graft, corruption and privation, | starvation rates they get in the we, the unemployed workers must plant the company would see to |immediately organize into unem-| it that the outdoor relief would | ployed councils, under the leadership} furnish them with some grocer- of the Communist Party and compel| ies, “but for cripes sake stay the capitalist government to give us| away from those Reds.” immediate relief in the form of un- —A. 0, SMITH WORKER. employment insurance and not char- ity. Write as you fight! Become a worker correspondent. —WORKER VET. SOVIET MILITIAMEN GUARD INTERESTS OF WORKERS Ask American Soldiers and Sailors to Write to Them of Conditions and ‘Life Here Charkov, U.S.S.R. American workers and militiamen! Dear comrades: We want to relate to you about the workers’ and peasants’ Militia, and the tasks which it is called upon to perform. The Red militia is the reserve of the Red Army, and exists for the maintenance of social peace, order and safety. The workers’ and peasants’ militia consists of workers, the poorest peasants and so-called miscellaneous people, that is: clerks and sons of workers and peasants who proved by their previous work that they are good Soviet citizens. The former policemen, priests, private mer- chants and people of the paracite classes in general, who are now de- prived of the vote, by no means can ke accepted in the Militia. The first duty of a Soviet militiaman is stated as follows: “A member of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Militia is the guard of the interests of the working class and of the toiling peasantry, and in all his activities must strictly follow the revolutionary laws, The Soviet Militia works in the closest contact with the workers’ social organizations and regularly gives an account of its work to the local Soviets. : MEET WITH FACTORY WORKERS. It is a custom also, that now and then during the dinner hours at the factories the chief workers of the Militia give information about their work and the suggestions of the worker for the future. During the year 1929 there were 1000 such meetings at the 42 factories of Charkov. For closer contact with the Militia in the factories are or- ganized so-called assistant-brigades. A The members of these brigades fulfill voluntarily some of the ele- mentary duties of the militiamen. The members of brigades are chosen at the factory meetings and then are sent to work in the district departments of Militia. Th®se brigadeers during their liesure time’ visit the militia department, and go with militiamen to the places where accidents have occurred, they attend the conferences of militia- workers, and study the work of the militia both in theory and practice. Great attention is paid to the education and culture of militiamen. Illiterate people are not accepted for work in the militia and th literate are studying there in special schools, There are also groups for more advanced students, great attention is paid to political education, Every militiaman has to know what the Soviet Government is for, what is he called upon to protect, etc. Many militiamen are studying in universities. Cultural work is developed in our clubs. There are often delivered interesting lec- tures, are organized different circles—such as sport circles, group for studying radio, photography, art, and so on. COMRADELY SPIRIT. In all these schools and circles the rank and file work and study together with their chiefs and there is no difference made between them’! During the work our chiefs are very polite and their ettitude | towards the workers of a lower rank is that of an older comrade towards a younger one. The militiamen are taught to be polite to the citizens, so that every citizen could rely on their help and protection. In Charkov our paper “The Soviet Guard” has a great circulation. This paper helps to raise the cultural standard of militiamen, and on its columns we discuss all defects of our life and work, give valu- able suggestions for their removal and expose the mistakes of our comrades. PROMOTION FROM THE RANKS. As in mills and factories we also promote our workers from the lower to the higher rank. At the head of the Charkov Militia is a pro- moted worker, The majority of our chiefs are also promoted ‘workers of the locomotive factory. Many women are working in our Militia and successfully fulfil their duties. We take part also in the socialist competition, and different groups and individual workers. challenge each other. A result of it is the strengthening of discipline, the better service for visitors, the increase of exposed crimes, etc. And in future we hope to improve our work as much as possible, Please write us about your life and we shall write you about ours. With comradely greetings, BORISOFF, CREMENEZKY. Address: USSR, Uerains, Charkov, City-militia, ? Betas etyabagte oil 4 paday ee FRAME BRITISH SEAMAN FOR DEPORTATION \Crime Was to Work on American Coal Boat (By a Worker Correspondent) BOSTON, Mass.—I am a British seaman who is being held here for | deportation. The crime that I com- | mitted was to have made an honest living, working on a American coal boat. They have kept me a prisoner here for over two months, whilst monied people only stay a day or jtwo and are allowed out on bail. These people are often men who have committed big business frauds. There are many workers here that have been prisoners for months and don't even get a chance to raise the bail. There is a case of a buddy of mine who was framed up for the same crime as myself and whilst being detained asked for some better food, as the food here is sometimes unfit for human consumption, The fol- lowing day six cops were brought in and this young seaman was taken to Suffolk County Jail without even a trial. He is held there for safe- keeping, What sort of a justice is | this? I got you address from a young worker by the name of Davies who is going to be deported for trying to organize the unemployed. Why | don’t they deport some of these rich |grafters many of whom have been found in the police force in this city? Something ought to be done | about this, and it’s the workers who ‘should fight these frame-up affairs. | When I get back to England I am \liable to a three months sentence on the grounds of deserting a ship. | Why, you can’t even leave a job | when you like, and they tell us in \England that “Britans never shall | be slaves.” I write to you because | I have learned that the Communists are the only real friends of the |workingman. The Labor Party of | England is only a bunch of lackeys |to the Lords and Dukes, and condi- \tions of the workingman are worse than they ever were. What we | want is a government like they have in Russia where the workers are | really free and don’t just sing about \it like they do here and in England. \ I know something about conditions |in Russia, because I was there in | 1928. Why, the Russian seamen | don’t have to be suckers to the ship- jowner like the average seaman. | They don’t have to slave and live under miserable conditions that we | do. | | But one of the days, the seamen of the world are going to take a smack back at the shipowners in- stead of offering both sides of our * |check as the labor fakers tell us. | I know one thing and that is if I |had a choice of going back to Eng- | land or Russia, I know which place I'd choose. —ENGLISH SEAMAN. ACW IN USUAL ROLE IN STLOUIS Up to Sellout There as Everywhere (By a Worker Correspondent) ST. LOUIS, Mo.—Reading an ar- ticle in the Jewish yellow socialist, | the Wecker, written by Sneid and giving all the details in the good ears of the Amalgamated and say- ing for a period of time that the Jewish socialist was a_ relative enemy to the Amalgamated. Now, Mr. Sneid, I want to tell you that you are a big hypocrite. What was the reason that the so- cialist Forward’s windows in New York were broken out by the mem- bers of the tailors and why? Be- cause the so-called socialists, with ‘the bureaucrats of the garment fak- ers betrayed the strike in New York, that’s why the windows were broken, A Yellow Record. Now, Mr. Sneid, let's examine your record in the Amalgamated and find out who you are in the Amal- gamated and what you are speaking for in the name of the tailors, You are one of the clique just like Hill- man or Levine or Beckerman and the rest of the bureaucrats of that organization. We were betrayed by you and your clique. Do you know that the tailors in Chicago know you pretty well, that you are just as rotten as the Hillman gang? Now, Mr. Sneid, you have been drawing for such a long time a big salary. You were put in St. Louis to organize the tailors. Did you do that? Of course not, and you know why; because the tailors know you pretty well and know your organiza- tion of Chicago and what kind of glorious conditions they have in their union shops. This article is written by a rank and filer who is suffering under the same conditions as all the tailors of the Amalgamated. All of you tailors must read this article and organize yourselves in and help build the Needle Trades In- dustrial Union of America, ST, LOUIS NEEDLE WORKER.