The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 26, 1930, Page 4

| Anarchist‘Murders Two Com- | Red. Se vA munist Miners | 3 3 state and county police are making in- e:forts to suppress the Mine, Oil and 4 he JORGE ¢ Workers Industrial Union, the [.L.D. | The Second International in Tears Columns of it—all about how the Dutche: of York, Wife of King George's second son tched out a royal brat. All in the front pages of America’s greatest capitalist papers. The American press runs more naus ng rubbish ab royalty, with stunning roto- gravure pictures, than all the papers in all the monarchists of the world combined. The on is that imperialism, the last stage of capitalism, relies on all that is backward and reactionary to bolster its declining hold on t The N. Y. Times used three col- umns, beginning on page 1, first column to the Dutchess of York’s confinement, with honor- able mention next to it of how “perfectly wonderful” the Prince of Wales was for mak- ing a present of a statue of himself to .some old woman. This is “news fit to print,” but not a description of hundreds of thousands of British miners slowly starving to death in the Welsh—or Scottish, coal fields. The same slobbering over royalty is, of course, expected from “socialists” of the Second “Socialist” In- ternational, whose whole reason for ex is bound up in upholding British “tradition”— and imperialism. In the case of the old cow having a calf, “tradition” since 1688 provided that the cabinet member who is called the “Home Secretary” should stick around the bedside and verify that no substitution takes place.. Thus also, the “socialist” Home Secre- tary, J. Ri Clynes, hovered about the Dutchess of York, anxious to pin the first diaper on the hoped for son that might inherit the throne. Alas, the brat was a girl, and the N. Y. Times notes that “some natural disappointment will be felt throughout the country that the baby is a girl and not a boy, who would have become third in succession to the throne.” Picture Ramsay MacDonald, hanging weeping on the shoulders of Morris Hillquit at the congress of the Second “Socialist” International, inconso- lable that the British monarchy has deprived him of another prince to defend. In his sorrow and anger nothing will recompense him, he tells Morris, unless it be to bomb another In- dian village. Don’t Worry, Boys! The pre-election poppycock is in full and luxurious bloom. As one may remark by the harvest of “investigations” going on. Mr. Tuttle, republican and an appointee of Hoover, as federal attorney in New York, completely surrounded by Tammany democrats, any one of whom can be legitimately charged with graft and corruption, starts to throwing har- poons at a few of the little fellows of Tam- many, just to make campaign publicity. He turns, as he has to turn, the prosecution tor state offenses, over to Tammany to handle, and Crain, Tammany’s prosecutor, sees that his grand jury says, “Nix, he’s one of ours.” But it is so raw that Crain had to back up, and as it was getting rather overdone for him to investigate his own investigation, Tammany thought it a good trick to have Governor Roose- velt, with an appearance of-an “outsider.” take over the works. Thus the whitewash is being mixed by experts. But so far the down- town Tammany crooks who are heavy on graft but light on brains, got a scare: “Wot the hell is all this ‘vestigation by Albany? Has that bloke Roosevelt double-crossed us?” As a sort of assurance that he was all right, Roose- velt made a speech to some farmers in which he attacked the republican party as respon- sible for the hard times, to prove that he stays regular. Incidentally, after telling them that high wages caused the trade depression (where is the “high” and how did they cause -it?), Roosevelt spoke a kind word for the New York City milk trust, boasting that Tammany had shut all milk out of New York City from west- ern sources.. He said this was done because ft “could not be easily inspected for purity.” The idea of Tammany inspecting anything for purity strikes us as bordering on the ludicrous. * * * Peace Guaranteed In the news about a revolt in Peru, equally reported and denied, it is stated that the re- volt was started by two infantry regiments and a battalion of sappers, but that an arti!- regiment joined them “merely to prevent bloodshed.” Possibly it may be figured that since their aim was bad, their shooting cannon at people is guaranteed harmless, but still calling out the artillery for a revolution is a new way of preventing bloodshed. Blood- shed or no,.we’re more or less in favor of anything that will pry the old tyrant Leguia Party, following the cold- ve Mina, 40, and George Petrella, the leader of the anarchists in this section a Sacco-Van etti demonstration on August 22 i Mir and Harkoff were militant miners, nembers of the Communist Party. Petrella came to the medting armed. He kept his hand | m his gun during the entire period that he | was there and announced from the beginning that he was going to break up the demonst tion. As Mina stepped forward to quiet iim, he pulled out his gun and shot him through the heart. He then turned his gun on Com- rade Harkoff, fired the remaining shots into the crowd and ran away. | Attempt to Smash Union. The shooting of these two militant miners by this anarchist follows a long struggle dur- which the anarchists attempted to destroy the M.O.S.W.I.U. in the Avella section. Petrella, once a member of the 1.U.. left the organization and attempted to destrow | it. But he did not succeed. The union grew de- spite the activities of th hists who servea as open enemies of the mi Police Hound Murdered Miner's Wife. The police, on arriving at the scene, made no effort to find the murderer. 1 their ac- tivities were centered on smashing ail mili- tant working class orga ions. Comrade Anna Harkoff, wife of one of the murdered miners, was driven from her home by the state police who locked the house and refused to 1 return the key, She a her three children were taken to the squire’s office, surrounded by a large group of state and county police and subjected to a vicious grilling. Sergeant Clea- | son of the Pennsylvan ate police as well as Dinsmore, county detective, continuously in- sulted Comrade Harkoff. Their questions were not directed towards the finding of the mur- derer but towards an investigation of the ac- tivities of the Communist Party and the union in that section. A police-inspired story ap- peared in the Washington, Pa., papers stating Comrade Harkoff was indirectly responsible for the slayings. No such stories will dis- credit Comrade Harkoff in the eyes of the working class in this section. She is well known as a militant fighter in the section, has been active in all strikes and has been arrested on numerous occasions for her strike activities. Investigate Union—Not Murder. During the time that Comrade Harkoff in the hands of the police, Max Salzman, dis. trict organizer of the Communist Party and Vincent Kemenovich, secretary-treasurer of the | Western Pennsylvania district of the M.O.S. | W.LU., came to the squire’s office to see Com- rade Harkoff. They were immediately placed under arrest and subjected to a grilling by the police officials. They were lined up so that all the police present would get a good look at them. They were especially questioned re- garding the activities of the movement in the Avella section and threatened with vioience by the state police, who, however, finally released | them. During the night, workers from many min- ing fields came to Avella to view the bodies | of the murdered miners. These miners were | also grilled by the state polic Press reports | ziven by the county detectives contain bitter | attacks against the left wing forces in this | section and indirect praise of the activities of the enemies of the union. A committee of the International Labor Defense and the M.O. | S.W.LU. is arranging a funeral that will take | place Tuesday, August 26, 2 p, m., from the | home of Comrade Harkoff Miners from all over the district will attend this funerat en masse. The murder of our two comrades | by Petrella, the anarchist, is a deed of which | any murderous hireling of the coal company | could glory in. | | | | | | This act is of special importance because it ties up completely the activities of the anar- chists with the social fascists. Following the murder of Comrades Weisenberger by A.F.L. gangsters and the murder of Comrades Ka tovis, Levy and Gonzalez by New York police | the murder of Comrades Mina and Harkoff b; this anarchist leader, rounds out the alliance | of the holy trinity against the working class. | It is interesting to note that also since the | Sacco-Vanzetti issue the activities of the anar- chists have been directed not against capital- | ism but against the Soviet Union and against the left wing forces in the United States. Feeling among the miners is high and di- rected not only against the anarchist murderer and his cohorts, but also against the police who are attemp.ing to destroy all militant workers organizations in this section. off the roost he has held for Yankee imperial- ism too long. From the way it looks, British imperialism has advanced over the Andes from Bolivia where it put old man Siles out and some of their own tyrants in. Demonstrate September: First! By VY. MALQUIST. THE conditions of the workers in Rockford, | Il, are worsening every day. To the work- ers, who are still “lucky” enough to have a job, wage cuts, ranging from 10 to 30 per cent, have been—and are—handed out in every in- dustry. At the same time, the bosses, in order to cheapen production and make greater pro- fits, device all possible means to speed up and exploit the workers. The speed up is being applied to such an extent in some of the fac- tories here that today three or four workers produce just as much as 12 and 15 did a few | months ago. The result of the continuous wage cuts is that hundreds of workers must slave like hell for 20 and 30 cents an hour in such factories as the Rockford Cabinet, Scandin Furniture, and Illinois Cabinet, ete, which are notorious for their slave-driving and merciless exploitation. Lay-Offs. Working at rottenest kind of piece “work systems, scores of workers, many of whom have families to support, cannot earn more than 17 cents an hour. In every factory here, con- tinuous lay-offs are ‘-king place. Every day some workers are added to thé army of unem- ployed, which now, figuring conservatively, numbers well over 7,000 for Rockford alone, Rumors are circulated daily about a prospec- tive lay-off in this factory and that factory a week or two from now—always explained by the same “we cannot sell anything and we already produced too ..uch.” The majority of these 7,000 unemployed have been out of work ever since last October and have nothing whereby to support themselves, There are scores, who go around and look in the garbage cans, hoping that they will find something whereby to sustain life a little longer. Every day the misery of the workers is becoming more and more unbearable. At the same time, the bosses’ government spends bil- lions of dollars for more and “deadlier arms— preparing for war, but the workers receive not a penny to relieve their miseries. Instead of armaments for bosses’ war, we must fight for unemployment insurance such aie out in the Workers’ Social Insurance il. Demonstrate September 1, But only through struggle wilt we get this. On September 1 there will be a mass demon- stration in Rockford, when the thousands of starving workers will rally in North Western Park, at Kishwaukee Street, anil Second Ave. at 3 p. m., and demand the recognition of the Workers’ Social Insurance Bill, All Rockford workers to North Western Park, September 1! | 000,000 | downward. | ination of skill, through slave-driving method Central Daily, <Worker wmist Porty U.S.A. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Sy mail everywhere: One year $6; six months $3; two months $1; excepting Beroughs of Manhattan and Rronx, New York City. and foreign. which are: One yr. 3; six mons. $4.60 “ISN'T HE JUST TOO CUTE!” BY BURCK, By PHILIP RAYMOND. ihe automobile industry has been one of the basic pillars upholding capitalistic pros- perity in the U. S. since the war. Steel, rub- ber, railroads, and other industries depend upon automobile production for continued activity, High Profits For Bosses. 2 The auto bosses have long enjoyed increas- ing profits. The net profits for 3 successive years of 12 automobile companies were in round figures as follows: 1926, $236,000,000; 1927, $294,000,000; 1928, $49,000,000. The net profits of General Motors was $235,- in 1927, and $276,000,000 in 1928. While its profits amounted to only $248,000,000 last year, the G. M. Corporation not only bought out several automobile and accessory firms in the U. S. and Europe but also ac- quired extensive properties in electric refrig- eration, radio, airplane, and other industries. Wage Cuts For Workers. have not shared in automobile pros- nee 1925, wages have gone steadily Through the constant introduction of labor displacing machinery and the elim- Worke: perity. through the cheating of workers by the man pulation of false bonus schemes and piece work rates, and the replacement of men by women at reduced wages, the average wage of automobile workers has been cut from 75 cents to less than 45 cents per hour. Skilled work- ers who enjoyed a wage rate of $1.10 per hour now receive less than 60 cents an hour, while unskilled labor has dropped from 60 | cents to 30 and 35 cents and in some cases even as lowe-as 15 cents an hour. This reduction has been accompanied by a constant increase in the murderous speed-up, longer hours, and worsening of conditions. These conditions, plus part and full time unem- ployment, is how the workers have shared in automobile prosperity. And now, the auto manufacturers are endeavoring to throw the burden of the growing crisis upon the shoul- ders of. the workers by further rationalization, wage cuts, unemployment, etc. Decreasing Production. In 1929 automobile production amounted to over 5,600,000 cars. Production for the first six months of this year amounted to 2,220,000 units. The Jast-half of this year will see a production of less than two-thirds of this amount, making the total production for the@ year about 3,600,000 units. This brings auto- mobile production back to that of 1927, in spite of the fact that the productive capacity of the auto industry of American plants is about 9,000,000 units. The saturation point of the automobile in- dustry has been reached as far as the domestic market is concerned. The growing economic crisis is seriously affecting even the replace- ment market. The hopes of the manufac- turers that a growing export trade would bolster up the falling domestic market are blasted. In 1929, auto exports amounted to over $722,000,000 accounting for 20 per cent of last year’s output. This year America faces serious competition from European coun- tries. In retaliation against the Smoot-Hawley tariff, European and South American coun- tries and also Australia, have increased their tariff on automobile products of the U. S. to almost a prohibitive figure. Chile increased its tariff 10 per cent, Australia 50 per cent, Spain (who used to import 80 per cent of her automotive products from the U. S.) has doubled her tariff, and Italy has increased its tariff 100-167 per cent. British concerns are planning to invade Canada which is America’s chief customer. Pres. Mooney of the Generat Motors Corporation estimates that General Motors sales abroad this year would be 60 per cent less than in 1929, Decline in Profits. In spite of the wage-cuts and the speed-up forced upon the workers, profits in the auto industry are declining. Divitend payments of 39 companies for the first 6 months of this year are in round figures $137,000,000 com- pared with $167,000,000° for last year. The K ' General Motors Corporation paid out $108,- 000,000 in dividends during the first 6 months of last year and on July 2 paid an extra divi- dend of $13,000,000. For the first 6 months of this year only $78,000,000 has been paid. Several other companies have drawn upon their reserve funds to maintain their dividend payments, hoping to make this up next year. The Briggs Manufacturing Co. is a notable , exception because it has increased its earnings almost 5 per cent. The first 6 months of last year its net income was $2,422,697; the first 6 months of this year its net income increased to $3,531,803. It manufactured 43 per cent of Ford bodies, 33% per cent for Chrysler and 50 per cent for Graham-Paige. This big in- crease in profits was made possible by wage- cuts of 20 per cent to 50 per cent, by a ter- rifie speed-up system and by the employment of women as well as men for 12 hours and more for day and night shifts. Growing Exploitation of the Workers. Wage-cuts and unemployment confront automobile workers at every tufn. Thousands of auto workers have been unemployed for more than a year. Others are fortunate to get 5 months work during the year. Wage cuts, such as 33% per cent at Briggs Mack Ave. plant last spring and that of 50 per cent for the whole Fisher Body Buick Plant iif Flint, are of common occurrence. More and more women are replacing men at greatly re- duced wages. attempted to replace men getting about 65 cents an hour by women at 15 cents an hour. At the Kelsey-Hayes plant, a company whose profits jumped from 577,000 for the first 6 months of last year to $749,000 for the same period this year, women are now being hired at 35 cents an hour. Another wage cut of 15 per cent took place recently at the Cadillac plant. A 10 per cent cut took place at Tern- sted’s. The Fisher Body Co. which held up their scheduled wage cuts because of the Flint strike are now putting them into effect. In all auto plants, including Ford’s, wage cuts are taking place in one form or another. With the rapid tapering off of production in the auto industry, unemployment increases at a terrific rate. In spite of much newspaper publicity that 150,000 workers were going back to work at Ford’s and other plants Ford only took back a part of the 80,000 workers who were given a “vacation” of 3 weeks. Since then, 20,000 workers have been laid off at Ford’s, with more at the rate of 800 a day being laid off The Briggs Highland Park plant opened up again, but after a few days laid off practically the whole night force in- definitely. Other plants, such as Packard’s, Paige, Kelsey-Hayes, General Motors, etc., are working only 4 days each week. The bulk of 1,214,459 workers employed in the auto indus- try face the coming menths with absolutely no chance of any employment in the industry. Growing Resistance of the Workers. In spite of unemployment which exists even during the peak of the year’s production, greater numbers of workers are fighting back against intolerable conditions, This year 500 workers struck against a wage cut at the Hayes Body Co. in Indianapolis, In Lansing the workers, men and women, stormed the Durant plant forcing the company to take back the men whom they had attempted to replace by women at reduced wages. workers struck against a wage cut at the Limosine Body Co. in Kalamazoo, Mich. The Flint Strike. The biggest struggle in the auto industry since 1921 took place in Flint, Mich., this year when 5,000 workers of the Fisher Body Plant struck against a wage cut of 50 per cent. In this strike, thousands of workers, men and women, carried on mass picketing in front of the plant and paraded’ through the heart of the city to the Buick Plant, overcoming every attempt of the Flint and state police to stop them, This was the first time in years that a strike starting in the body end of the in- dustry threatened the workers in the basie mo- tor end of the inlustry. Strike Breaking A. F. of L. The Durant Plant in Lansing’ Several hundred’ Auto Industry Shows Growing Crisis and Struggles The Flint strike was led by the Auto Work- ers’ Union, affiliated with the Trade Union Unity League. As long as the Auto Workers’ Union maintained its leadership the strike continued to grow. Each day the strength of the workers increased. Each day saw a new victory for the strikers. Yet the General Mo- tors Corporation, with the help of the Amer- ican Federation of Labor officialdom, finally succeeded in breaking the solidarity of the workers and smashing the strike. Itis not the first time that the A. F. of L. has broken strikes of auto workers. In 1928, it broke the strike of the General Motors workers in Oshawa, Canada, apd attempted to do the same in the Flint oil sanders strike of that year. Earlier this year, it broke the strike at the Hayes Body Plant in Indianapolis by means of a false agreement that the com- pany would meet the workers’ demands pro- vided they accepted the leadership of the A. F. of L. This agreement was immediately re- pudiated as soon as the strikers returned to work. In Flint, the A. F. of L. again suc- ceeded in its strikebreaking role, once more demonstrating the danger of underestimating the insidious influence of the fascist leader- ship of the A. F. of L. Auto Workers’ Union. The Auto Workers’ Union is well known to thousands of workers in Detroit, Flint, Pon- tiac, ete. It is the only union carrying on pro- paganda, shop-gate meetings, and demonstra- tions for the purpose of building up a militant union in the auto industry. The A. F. of L. does’ absolutely nothing to organize the work- ers. How then can the A. F. of L. carry out their strike-breaking role? The Flint strike shows how. The militancy of the A. W. U. and its leadership is unquestionable, yet ser- ious mistakes were made which played into the hands of the enemy. First, vital differences between the strikers’ leaders and the union should have been brought out into the open before the great body of the strikers. Such questions as the tendency of Comstock, chairman of the strike committee, to curry favor with the police; his efforts to hold back the militancy of the workers, the desire to limit the demands of the strikers to satisfy only a few of the more skilled categories of the workers, these questions should not only have been fought out in the strike committee only but should also have been brought before the mass meetings of the strikers. Comstock & Co. should have been denounced openly before the great body of strikers earlier in the strike and replaced by strikers who had demonstrated their militancy and courage in the conduct of the strike. Strikebreaking Tactics of the G. M. C. The policy of the company to break the strike was as follows: (1) To spread insidious propaganda against outsiders such as Reds, Detroiters, etc., leading the Flint strikers. (2) To spread the idea that the police were friendly to the strikers but objected to the “outsiders.” (3) That the company would deal favorably with the strikers provided they re- pudiated the leadership of the A. W. U. (4) To arrest every leader of the A, W. U. and the T, U. U. L, that the police could lay hands on; also to arrest the more militant of the strikers themselves. (Comstock and his group seemed miraculously immune from arrest.) (5) To mobilize stool-pigeons and weaker ele- ments of the strike committee, and the A. F. of L, officials to seize the leadership of the strike, repudiate the A, W. U. and prevent any further militant action of the workers. (6) To concentrate more city and state troop- ers and police, gangsters and militia to cow the workers into submission. (7) To attempt to break the solidarity of the workers by send- ing foremen, ete., to visit strikers at their homes. (8) To terrorize the workers by po- lice raids upon their homes, threats of severe punishment, as well as by use of armed forces to break the mass picketing. While the A. W. U, leaders were with the strikers they were able to counter the bosses’ « attacks, About 60 militant A. W. U. leaders Free Speech in Boss-Ruled U.S.A. By ‘WILLIAM Z. FOSTER (Communist Candidate for Governor of New York State.) eee speech and free assembly have become only memories. The right to organize and to strike are being rapidly liquidated. When the workers strike, they confront groups, police and armed private thugs. Their leaders are jailed by hundreds and given ferocious sen- tences. Powers and Carr in Georgia are actu- § | ally facing the electric chair for organizing ) REC white and colored workers, while the Dohenys, 0 Fall, etc., robbers of hundreds of millions, go venen free, The courts brazenly show their capitalist } ; class character. «mere Clubs For Bread. mar When the unemployed demand relief they are ridden down by mounted police, or insulted || '“°" by Governor Roosevelt’s pauperizing old age i iH pension bill, by Wagners hypocritical bill to |{P take a census of unemployed. Night sticks, ]} >" bread lines, jails, fake statistics, are the cap- | italists answer to the unemployed. In New avi York the Tammany Hall administration, the with expression of the reaction and terror of the 15 bosses, is clubbing and killing workers because E they dare to demonstrate against unemploy- an ment. Whalen, the Chamber of Commerce, and 4 ),,,, all other agencies of the bosses have forged documents in order to discredit the Communist # ,,, P Party and to create war sentiment against the j. 4 Soviet Union. « spec In the present bosses attacks against the mon workers they have enlisted the support of the appl American Federation of Labor and the social- ist party. The American Federation of Labor the was the initiator of the forged documents pre- Todi sented by Whalen. Matthew Woll the vice-§ on t president of the American Federation of Labor} the has united with the most bitter and open shop and fascist enemies of the working class. The} offi American Federation of Labor and its history sive of countless betrayals of the struggles of workers, has today proven very clearly and this | definitely to the entire American working class that in its policy and reactionary leadership fore it is an open fascist and bureaucrat organiza- pre} tion working hand in glove with the bosses f§ cor: against the working class. for mac Crisis. con: While the United States is the scene of J} PT! paralyzed industry mass unemployment and s growing fascist terrorism, world capitalism ily shows a similar picture of crisis. The various TAS} capitalist countries driven on by internal crisis and an insatiable thirst for markets and world || ‘he control, come into violent conflict with each ‘ other. They fight by building tariff walls} ‘* against each other, by building up larger tri armies and navies and suppress ruthlessly the Jy °'” colonial people. They are now particularly pre- ‘| paring a war against the Soviet Union. The an London Naval Conference has definitely proven the that the bosses are preparing for war and that ain disarmament is impossible to achieve under Sey capitalism. a (From William Z. Foster’s acceptance Uni speech delivered at New York County Penitentiary, Hart’s Island, N. Y.) the the ber and strikers were jailed; then the agents of pre the company together with the A. F. of L. of- ficialdom and with the help of the police, both arm city and state, succeeded in getting control of und the strike committee. The great bulk of the bet workers still had confidence in the A. W. U. Str and attempted to continue the policy of mass picketing and militant struggle. Organized squads of company agents were constantly on hand to disorganize the strikers, and when the strikers, still militant, followed the line of struggle laid down by the A. W. U., they were met by the iron fist of the General Motors Corporation, by clubs, mounted police- tra men and bayonets, driven 10 miles out of Mi town, and their strike headquarters seized. Ha Without a leadership in which they had confi- fiv dence, the workers felt that the first battle in the struggle was over and the strike broken. col Major Shortcoming of the A. W. U. be The basic shortcoming of the A. W. U. an existed before the strike. The A. W. U. had carried on considerable propaganda, held many de! shop gate meetings and demonstrations. In- pr sufficient attention was given to the organiza- su tion of shop and department committees. The result was that when the strike broke out, the to union had no organized contacts from the shops and departments and was forced to ac- cept such leaders as Comstock and Co. whose department initiated the strike. Even small groups of organized committees in the shops would have facilitated the change of leader- ship in the strike committee. With a group of workers in the shop who understand the class struggle and the methods of the enemy, the union would be in a better position to maintain control of the growing struggles in the auto industry. If this basic shortcoming is not soon reme- ° died we will again have to record the story of — militant courageous struggles of workers fall- ing a prey to the fascist and social fascist groups. Moreover, if we are to get away from waging nothing but purely defensive struggles, if we are to: be in a position to choose the time and place to initiate struggles for higher wages and better conditions, we must organ- ize shop committees. We must measure our progress in the future not by the number of shop gate meetings, demonstrations, and ar- rests, but by the number of shop, department, and organization ‘committees we have ‘solidi- fied. Each month sees greater numbers of auto workers involved in struggle. Every day sees greater solidarity of both employed and unem- ployed workers. Automobile, steel, and metal workers face the task of organizing shop com- mittees. This is the only way to face the powerful trusts of these industrier Organize shop committees! Build up the militant unions! Forward to organized strikes and victory! —