The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 16, 1930, Page 6

Published by the Comprod Suu New York City, Address ane Page Six mail al checks to the laily Publishing Co ar gb 28 Unbe Telephone Si DATWORK." Workes New York NY Sy mail everywtere: Une year $6; six months §3 Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. and foreign, whtc SUBSCRIPIION RATE! two onths 31; excepting Boroughs of hare: Oue yr. $8: six mons. $4.50 The Political Report of the Central Committee to the X VI. Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ul. The Party (Continued) r remarkable that we, who are n the merging of ional cultures ure uniform in form and content, and with one common language, should at the same time be advocates of the highest develop- f national cultures at the p: nt mo- ring the period of the proletarian di But there is nothing remarkable The national cultures must be given the opportunity of developing and advancing, of revealing their powers, in order first to create the conditions for unification in one uni- form culture with one common language. That t 2 cultures, national in form and socialist in content, should be, developed to the full under the conditions given by the proletarian country, to the end that one unified socialist (in culture with one common ss been vic Socialism appe one erge 1 nt) the proletariat 1 over the world, and aft established in the habits of life people—it is precisely here that we alectics of the Leninist method of ith the question of national culture. asserted that such a view ot ght be question is “contradictory.” But have we not the same “contradiction” in the ques tion of the state? We are in favor of the vithering a of the :tate. At the same time ve further the strengthening of the dictator. hip of the proletariat, which is the strongest and mightiest state power which has eve: existed. The highest development of state power for preparing the conditions for the ex f state power, this the Marxisi This is contradictory? Yes indeed But this contra liction s basis in real life, and is a true reflec- tion of lectics. Or let us take the Leninist method of deal- the question of the right of nations determination, ineluding separation. Lenin often reduced the thesis of national self- rmination to a simple formula: “Separa- tinction o! is formula. is contradictory. Marxist di tion in the interests of unification.” Consider this: Separation for unification. It sounds like a paradox. But again this “contradic- tory” formula mirrors that living truth of Marxist dialecties which enables the Bolshe- vists to storm the most inaccessible tortr in the territory of the national question. The same must be said of the formula of national culture: Highest development of the national cultures (and languages) in the per- iod of the dictatorship of the proletariat in one country, for the purpose of preparing the conditions for their dying out and unification in one uniform socialist culture (with a com- mon language) in the period of the victory of Socialism all over the* world. Those \sho fail to grasp this peculiarity and “contradiction” of our. period of transition, hese dialectics of the historical process, are lost to Marxism. It is the misfortune of our opportunists that they do not comprehend Marxist dialectics and jo not want to comprehend them. That is how the matter stands with 1 to the deviation towards Greater hauvinism. It is not difficult understand that this deviation reflects the endeavors of the disap: pearing class cf the former ruling Great Rus sian nation to regain their lost privileges. eg Russian tience the danger of Grenter Russian eheuv nism is the chief anger threatening the ‘arty in the nati ”u What is the nature to. ards local nationalism the vleavur to shut out the outer world and re uain within national confines; to conceal the class antagonisms within the nation itself, to safeguard against Greater Russian chauvinism by means cf turning aside from the commor work of wing up Socialism; the endeavor not to see anything which brings the working masses of the nationalities of the Soviet closer to one another, and to see only that which can separate them, The deviation towaris local nationalism re. The Declining American Federa- tion of Labor Ry SAM DARCY. e been leaving the social fas- t unions in the United States thousands, T! is admitted of by even an o°v'elel United States government ropoxt besed on figures d by the Amer eon “e'evelion of Labor and closely allied o-ven'sations. port published in the Monthly Labor of the De nt of Labor comparison of the situa- 3 and in 1929. The fig- s exaggerations. The owledzve the practical . of L. needle worker: few years, the loss of vsands of members by the line Workers of America, the wip- of the textile workers union with an ‘ficant excention in a very minor part ustry (full-fashioned hosiery). etc. he facts offered ind orkers to the aucracy, activiti Net Less. During the three yea vered. the report adm a net loss of 11 members for all unions involved out of the somewhat over two million members which ar2 claimed. This loss was sustained chiefly in the basic and wai industries of the country. The railroad union alone show a loss of over two hundred thov sand members. Those railroad unions direct! affiliated-with the A. F. of L, do not show an: loss because of. the return in 1929 of a pre viously expelled railroad craft union from the A. F. of L., the Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks with a membership of 135, 000. The net loss to all the various craft unions including the A. F. of L. totalled 81,896 members. All of the unions concerned in thes: losses one of the most significant is that of the “Jim Crow” Association of Colored Railwe Trainmen which lost 1800 members out of its pitiful total of 4800. In the group of mining and mineral ex- traction workers, the official figures report loss of 50,000 members. That the actual! to: is several times larger than this can be seer fron the fact that the United Mine Workers of America are listed as having 450,000 mem bers in 1929, whereas it is well know that not more than one quarter of this number. chiefly anthracite miners have remained in this union Basic Industries. In the basie branches of the metal industry similar losses are admitted. The Internation: Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Shiv Build ers, and Helpers of America acknowledges @ loss of over 3,000 members out of tote) ot 23,000. This, despite the sweet overtures of Green to Hoover begging the union tabel on American shipping and navy boats in return for energetic support by the A. F. of L of the new and greater war program before and after the London Naval Conference. The union which includes the aircraft workers was cut in half. And so on all the way through In the clothing, shoe and similar unions, a loss of 26,000 members is acknowledged. hat the loss is far greater can be seen by the fact that the International Ladies Garment Work ers Union is listed as having 87,000 members. This union actually has ‘ess than 5.000, and even these are mostly non-dues paying. The United Garment Workers is alleged to have 83.000 members, It has barely 20 per cent of this amount ana these are concentrated in a comperatively unimportant part of the indus try, the over-ali line. Textile. In the textile industry, P. of L. fieures admit bers in the Anviiean Operatives, the hile the official A, a love of 5,000 m Kel ation of boing mombership reduc from 11,000 to 6,000, they still claim 30,000 membe in the United Textile Workers ot America. This is a most fancifully exagger. ated figure. Even the Department of Labor comment on it 1s that this does not represent actual membe but merely “voting strength in the A. F. of L. The tremendous losses suffered by the A. F of L. which they do not yet acknowledge evidenced also by the fact that the American Federation of Musicians still claims in 1929, 25,000 members, the same figure as for 192s. become common knowledge that the amongst the musicians in the United States brought on by the tremendous exten sion of talking pictures and other mechanical devices has declassed tens of thousands of musicians and practically wiped oat this once flourishing organization leaving nothing but a treasury. This treasury is now being used in a pathetic cttempt to win the public against “canned m —talking pictures, radio, vic- trola, etc.—and for attending concerts, Progre: The report claims serious prozress for only one group of unior These are the unions which include the government employees. Even in this list, however, it is not the laborers or other actual manual workers which in- creased organization but the most vilely cor- rupted groups of government employees. Thus, for example, the International Association of Police Women doubled i's membership from 300 to 600. The itwo unions which include the postmasters, the worst slave drivers possible, increased their membership by ever 4.200. The American Federation of Teachers claims an increase of 1,500. This last is, however, very doubtful. The building trades according to the of- ficial reports have been holding their own during the three years under consideration. However, because of the tremendous crisis which this industry is suffering from at the present time, where in many sections betweéa 45 and 60 per cent of the workers are un employed, these unions have also lost con siderably. For some time the official figures as shown in the voting strength in the A F of L. will not reflect the tremendous losses ot membership which they are suffering from. Especially tie larger of the various crafts have accumulated hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars in their treasu and will continue to pay their per capita in the A. F. of L. out of these funds irrespective of actual dues payments within the unions. Senili This is done by the bureaucrats so as to beiter enable them to jockey for power ayainst one another. The perspectives especially for this group of unions auger their futher weak- ening. The builders have already reduced wages by at least 35 per cent in by far the greatest prt of this industry, Thus thougn a carpenter’s wages in New York is still of- ficially $13.20 per day. there are al ost no carpenters getting these wages at this moment which is supposed to be the height of the sea- son. Because of economic conditions the car- penters leave the reactionary unions which are doing nothing to help them out ot the misery of unemployment and go to work for as little as three dollars per day. The Na tional City Bank, one of the biggest investors in heavy industry declared in commenting on this situation that “wages must come down’ if industry is to survive. The A. F. of L. is in the period of its sen- ility. Next year marks its fiftieth anniversary. It cannot and will not lead the workers im defense of their interests avainst the waut cuts and worsening conditions which are being vod through. Tie Lovest | | | The Prayer of Chiang Kai-Shek in Wall Street, Hoo “Our Father who art red be Thy Name. ET aR BY BURCK. Thy kingdom is hard up, Thy Will is flaunted, in China darn near as in the Soviet Union, Give us this day our daily And forgive us our debits, as we have grafted a lot and spent millions trying to bribe sed the ante. For thine is the foreign con- bombs the other war lords, but the British have re cessions, the graft und the main swag forever, Amen.” Steel Workers Must Organize Shop Committees By VERN SMITH. idered the barcme. GreEL has long been co ter of business. When steel production sags, even the capitalists admit there crisis. The reason, of course, is that th’ really the iron age, Steel is the fabric of a machine civilization. Just now steel production is at a low ebb, nearly down to the lowest points of prev.ous , in spite of various precarious and ar. tificial boosting of production for months. Even before the crisis, more experienced ob- servers pointed out that the auto industry was taking the place of railroads and building, at that time as a consumer of steel, and that the steel industry was running on thin ice, for at any moment the auto orders might fall to nothing. is 52 Per Cent Capacity. Now, in spite of the preparation of war ma terial, autos have stopped buying much steel, find common ground against our Communist Party on the trade union question. They wail about the danger of deserting the American Federation of Labor. They ery against the isolation from the masses which will inevit- ably result from “exaggerating” the possibil | ities of the new revolutionary unions. They shout that we must reach the messes through | the A. F. of L. This opportunist sentiment ye 0, positions | complish this t has even found echo within our Party in the articles of Comrade Stahl, during the pre- convention discussion. This point of view has roots in the history of our Party: Even at the time of the Sixth Congress of the Comintern in October, 1928, there was considerable speculation on the aves- tion of a , ossible new era of growth after the A. F. of L, This point of view never con sidered that the will of the masses might sett!e this question. Nor did they conceive of the Communist Party and revolutionary unions as a factor in determining the will of the masses. The workers are in fact writing the answer to the renegades in bold letters by leaving the A. F. of L. in hundreds of thousands. The r'ght wing however, has devel oped a scheme of possible historic development fatalistically ased on the will of the bourg. eoisie to force the working class into the A, F. of L. so as to have the, situation more in hand. Our Farty has since left these pro. found thinkers to their speculative tasks and proceeded with its own. T.U. U. L. While the A. FP. of L. continues to d glorious opportunity for revolutionary trade unionism was opened with the successful Cleve- land conference which formed the Trade Union Unity League. It is now about one year sine: that conference. A thorough sxamin: that year’s work must be made. the and most constructive eritieal facul’! be brought to bear and then all po: must be thrown in to help the T. Unity League become the great class ¢e"on’ of the workers that the historic moment ea!ls upon it to be, ne, a The Fifth Conrress of the Red It tional of Lavor Unions, now m ‘ unos ett mer y' te the lead neceasei y to vc. ! and the whole steel industry runs at an aver- age of 52 per cent of capacity. The big U. S. Steel Corporation boasts of 63 per cent, but many of the independents run at 50 or less. And it won’t get better right away. Iron Age, the journal of the steel employers says: “Nothing within the present vision of the steel industry indicates improvement of the colorless market. In fact, such adverse factors as drought, a sluggish retail mar- ket for automobiles, surplus railroad equip- ment and declining “oreign trade are per- haps more accentuated.” And what of the workers in such a con- dition? Ever since the great betrayal, the failure of the American Federation of Labor unions to | support the huge steel strike of 1919, the steel workers have been unorganized, except for very few of the skilled mill workers, who be- long to the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, and, in the machinery branches, a few machinists, auto workers, etc. Recently, the first real attempt since 1919 to organize these masses in the most basic and fundamental of modern industries .as begun under the banner of the Trade Union Unity League and its Metal Workers’ Indus- trial League. Looting Their Workers, The steel! workers badly need organization. Since 1919 the employers, holding tight to a rigid anti-union policy; have consolidated their victory, have reaped the profits of it, They Fave speeded production, have substituted new and ever more labor displacing machinery, heve cut down the crews, and have made one man do the work of two or three or more. Sven when the mills were working at over 90 per cent-of capacity, at this time last year there was unemployment, speed-v~ and terrific itation. With the beginnings. of depression, the <teel employers earnestly set to*work to make the vorkers bear the burden, and allow profits to 40 on. The bosses have been fairly success- ful in this, up to recent times. Between what they | by screwing down harder on the aid what they made by using un- surpluses, dividends have been kept up fairly, well. But how the workers in the mills have suf- fered for it! There has been for months a steady rozime of speed-up and wage cuts, ac- ed by ever growing unemployment. introdyetion of newer maciinery, the percentage of womer and young workers (oth lower paid) has increased, There are nany ceses told of where men have been fired, have starved, and then as a great concession, the boss has hired their wives at half the pay to run the same machine from which the hus»and wes discharged! The case of Sparrows Point plent of Bothichem Steel Co, is typical. In this plant the tin mij] workers got a ten per cent wage cut. id up for two eeks, “for -epairs.” [his rick of stoppoge for a limited time is a fav- one for all industries in the present It looks innocent, it gives them a to wait for orders to’ accuinilate. and oids a cen ion that the crisis bites as doooly as it really does. \vhen the piant reopens, it usually dos so the ‘then the whole plant was | flects the discontent felt by the disappearing classes ot the once oppressed nations with the regime of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and their endeavor to hold themselves apart in their own national state, and to establish their own class rule there. The danger of this deviation lies in its breed. ing bourgeois nationalism, in its weakening the unity of the working peoples of the So- viet Union, and playing into the hands of the interventionists. This is the essence of the deviation towards local nationalism. It is the task of the Party to combat this deviation determinedly, and to secure the nec- essary conditions for the internationalist edu- cation of the working masses of the peopies of the Soviet Union. These then are the deviations in our Party, the “Left” and Right deviations in the sphe of general politics, the deviations in the na- tional question, That is our inner Party situation. Now that our Party has emerged victorious from the struggle for the general line, and the Leninist line of the Party has triuntphed along the whole front, many are inclined to forget those difficulties which the various op- portunists occasioned us in the course of our work. And more than this, there are some comrades of a Philistine trend who still believe that we could have managed without the struggle against the opportunists. It need not be said that these comrades are greatly mistaken. It is only to cast a glance backwards at the heroic deeds of the Trotskyists and Right opportunists, to recol- leet the history of the struggle against the deviations in the period just past, in order to realize the complete hollowness and useless- ness of these Philistine attitudes in the Party. There can be no doubt that we should not have attained those successes of which our Party is so justly proud, had we not curbed the opportunists and defeated them in open combat. Our Party has grown and become stronger in the struggle against the deviations from the Leninist line. In this struggle it has Comrade J. Stalin’s Address on June 27, 1936 | formed the more firmly the Leninist unity of its own ranks. Nobody any longer disputes the fact that the Party has never gathered so closely arour its C. C, today. All are compelled to acknowledge that today. the Party is more united and firmly welded than ever before, and that the 16th Party Congress is as one of the few Congresses of our Party at which there is no united opposition capable of opposing its own line to the general line of the Party To what does the Party owe its undisputed achievements are due to the fact that in its struggle the deviations it has invariably pursued a policy based on princi ples, and has never descended to combinations behind the scenes, or to diplomatic bargaining. Lenin told us that the policy based on prin- ciples is the sole right policy. We have | emerged as victors trom the struggle against the deviations for the reason that we have consistently and sincerely bequeathed to us by Lenin, Comrades my address. followed this trust (Applause.) [ now come to the conclusion of What is the general conclusion to be drawn? During the period just passed we have been able to record decided successes on every front of socialist ruction. We have attained these successes because we have proved able to hold aloft Lenin’s great banner. If we in- tend to be victorious, we must continue to hold Lenin’s ner, and we must keep, it »plause.) the general conclusion which must draw. we Under Lenin’s banner we won the victory ir the struggle for the October revolution. Under Lenin’s banner we have attained de cisive successes in the struggle for the vic- tory of the building up of Socialism. Under this same banner the proletarian revolution will be victorious all over the world. Long live Leninism! longed applause. (Enthusiastic and pro- Ovations in the whole hall.) Comrade Sialin’s concluding speech will | be published in the next issue of the Daily | Worker.—Editor. 'HE bosses today, unable to solve the finan- cial crisis and the diminishing markets, are making every effort to force the burden on the backs of the workers to keep up their profits, and here in the sheet mills of the Bethlehem Steel Co., located at Sparrows Point, there has oceurred within the last month and a half two wage-cuts, in addition to the introduction of the sheet “continuous mil where produc- tion has increased almost 100 per cent. Speed Up Production. Prior to the introluction of the speed-up mills, the workers on the mills had a rest period or spell between heats, but now, on the continuous mills, the workers are forced to work continuously for eight hours without any rest period, and all this goes on under an excessive speed-up and intense heat. A month ago about a 50 per cent wage-cut was made, considering the amount of increased production made on the new mills. The work- ers struck for five hours, forcing the company to let them work on the day rate instead of the piece rate; but the company’s submission only partially, and with a wage cut.” Sparrows’ Point is no exception. When the mills reopened, eight sheet steel mills were changed to conti. ous running time, with enormously increased production per man. A turn in the old mills produced abou. 40,000 pounds, now it puts out 120,000 pounds. Im- mediately, also, the :heet mill workers got a twenty-two and a half per cent cut in wages. When they quit in an unorganized strike, the tin mill workers were used to replace rhem. and without the promised August 1 raise in pay. Instead, these new men got an additional ten per cent cut, and now begin to see the need of organizing in the Metal Workers’ In- dustrial League, and staging a real fight. A new strike is on, but organization is needed to bring out the rest of the mill and make it win. This case is typical. unorganized strikes. The whole industry follows this same gen- eral line. Unemployment continues. Recent- ly, in East Chicago, 1,500 young workers were laid off at the Inland Steel Co. In other de- partments, three days work a week is usual. At Sault Sainte Marie, Mich., the Algoma Steel Corporation laid off 1,200 indefinitely because of “lack of steel rail orders.” Recent wage cuts are announced at Youny- stown, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, everywhere. The Metal Conference. The Metal and Steel National Conference ealled together by the Metal Workers’ Indus triaf League on June 14 found such condi tions throughout the industry. It found too. the beginnings of a movement of the <tvel workers toward organization. ‘They can not go into the A. F’. L. The sabotaye of the 1ty strike by the A. F, L. unions . i-kles stil) in their minds, so much so that it must be care: fully explained to all that the Me-al Workers Industria] League has nothing to uo with th A. F. L. except to call all workers still in che old unions to repudiate the treacherous poli cies of the A, Fr. L. The situation now among the disillusioned. unemployed and part time sice! workers und thie masses still at work une: speed up and long hours and low wages, is ripe for organ Speed-up, wage cuts, ; ization. On orgenization, fighting for shop | igher wages and shorter hours. | th demands to tre care of the cicpend. And they must row realize, with the thou- sands of unemployed at the mill gates, the fight for. the Workers Social Insur Bill, to keep the jobless alive and maintain them Wout the necd of seabbing, is a eentral pojat of their siveggle Twice Again st Wage-Cuts in this case was only to give the bosses time to force the workers and not to spread the strike throughout the other depari- ments. to work Wa Seale. Then, on August 4, when the new was put in effect, the company was already pre- | pared with imported workers brought in from other cities and in the meanwhile a lay-off in the tin mill prepared a large reserve of men | to replace those workers who refused to work under the conditions of the new wage scaic. The police foree of the Bethlehem Steel Co. was brought into the mill to intimidate the New workers back into submission, but even so many workers, rather than go back under the able conditions, quit the job. The old | mi; ; mills in the sheet mill were also shut down to have men for the other mills. Piece Work. On the piece-work basis the catchers, match- ers and doublers were reduced $2 too $4 a da A roller came in from Warren with a crew of men, but returned when he tound out about the conditions here in Sparrows Point. The laborers have been forced to do any job in | the hot mills for 37 cents an hour. Crane- | men, handling hea’ dangerous loads for | eight hours get only 46 cents an hour, hook- | | i} ers following the crane all day in many dan- gerous parts of the mills get only 39 cents an hour. There is placed on each turn a group of thugs and strong men, who have nothing to do but walk up and down and intimidate the men and spy on them, The bosses and superinten- dent are especially active in walking through the mills at intervals to force the men to work. | The company is figuring to cut the 8-men crew on the mills to five men. Also they are planning to install the patent shears that means the loss of jobs to many men. Play Off Men. On the day of the strike the workers were called before the superintendent of the tin mills and asked whether they were satisfied with the wage-cut, and many workers an- swered low do you expect us with our fam- ilies to exist on such vation pay?” The shrugged his shoulders and had worse times than this. when the vkers were get- 1.50 a day?” This was the answer the we s got to feed themselves and family with at home. The workers were nized for the strike, but they wilt at the only way to beat down the at- es, who want to lower the living of the workers lower and lower, is to organize into the Metal Workers’ Industrial League and build the shop commit- tees of the department and prepare to strike against the miserable conditions. superintendent we said: “Well, Remember 19 Will Pudiich Overgaarde’s Article on Metal Workers Next Week EIVED too late for publication in this sue, an aricle by Andrew Overgaarde, Seereiavy of t'e Me‘al Trades. Industrial League of the Trade Union Unity League, | | will be published early next week. Analyele a the er in the sieel and iron indusiry, and pe savage aiack of the bose: es upon the living standares of the work- ers, Comrade Overgaarde tells how shop commiitee should be built, and how weak- nesses in organizing the metal workers can be corrected. All metal wor! should not fail to read tis important article, Order your copy of the Da'ly Worker now. if