The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 27, 1930, Page 4

Page Four DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1930 WHEN CADDIES STRIKE frpo tnt Rich Idlers Exploit Youngsetrs; Cops, Grafters Work Together, Where Palm Trees Blow | By M. LIVINGSTON ing caddies out. He had his fav- We 120 caddies orite caddies: Scotch and Irish.| colors, and occupati These were the first to be sent Mulattoes, Cubans, out. We, “Niggers,” “Wops,” “Cu- dians and wh gether in the evi ling caddy- pen of the \ Golf Club. We were ruled by Jerry, the cadd er. He was the supreme ar ly lawgiver of the pen. He did not recognize any “nexts” or any rights. If ye don’t like it get out”, was his favorite remar He gave a nickname to everyone of the caddies; and everyone had to respond when called by that name. If you objected when he called you, you “Ass-head”, well quit ri and then. For never in all your life, would you see a golf bag again. The caddy-pen, a s e plot of ground, ab: 0 feet on one was surrounded a excluding the air and the sun. It to the barn where the might there just as at igh vw bans” and those known as tramps | were sent out last. | Moreover, there was again the| matter of bags to be gotten. The} golfers were divided into two class. | es. Those that tip and those that don’t. The latter were the so-called| Flats, Labs or Joe Labs. When a caddy was not tipped, he marked on the golfer’s bag) “Lab” or “Flat,” so that the next caddy who was unfortunate enough | to get that bag should know how| to treat the cheap golfer. Of course s favorites always got the} good bags, while the “black sheep” | got the Flats. | The amount paid for one “loop” was one dollar. That meant four h of walking under the blister- ing sun for one “Flat.” The most that one of us cheap skates could make was two loops, and since we id we were, each time got a flat, it amounted subjected to to two dollars for eight hours unde- work. F Hence we continually stayed on: an iIn- —Coffee and toast for breakfast. | rainle col sas oma us eee —Coffee and cheese sandwich for wos nehes _‘Tunch. eet the prnite caddies, the back coffee, bread and beef stew for| s: - : ss ;: Py z su er. | solored caddies. Another idea of Se he Rene | In the right corner was “Mur-| One morning I and “Jew-boy phy’s altar”, a structure which ©2™¢ to the caddy pen about six used to be a billiard table and now was used as a plain craps table. Every day we sacrificed our di and quarters to the god of craps represented by Murphy. Our days began with the an- nouncemnt of Murphy “Crap game opened”, followed by: “Fifty cents open”. | “Quarter open”. “Fifteen cents open”. Those who were too broke to play craps, amused themselves at the expense of the “goosy” fellows. | We had two such fellows. One a) tall, very black Negro, “Silver! King,” and another a white boy, a half-wit, “Goofy.” These two were never allowed to rest in peace. They were con- tinually harrassed, tickled, scratch- | ed, pinched, yelled at. | This is the sort of meanness | which igonrance and lack of or-| ganized solidarity breeds among down-trodden and miserable work- | ers, until they learn better. | Favoritism of Petty Boss. Jerry had his own way of send- in the morning. We were cold,| shivering, and desperately hungry. | The previous night we were ob- liged to spend in a sand trap on| the golf course, as our landlady kicked us out for non-payment of rent and other deadly sins. The day as usually began with the sending out of favorites. | Eight o’clock “Twin,” who just | got in, went out with a two-dol-) lar bag. Eight-thirty. “High Pockets” out following “Low Pockets.” is Nine o'clock. “Whitey” is sent ately arrived and they threatened | the colored caddies with exemplary | punishment. They did not threaten jus, the white caddies. out. “Jew-boy” lost his temper. “Jerry, give us a break.” | “We were the first to come in and you sent out fifty guys ahead of us already.” “Tf ye don’t like it get out. I ain’t keepin’ ye here.” Immediately we all protest. And there was a spon-| taneous walk-out. A strike. Even the so-much harrassed “Goofey” and “Silver King” joined our ranks. Our demands were: 1—$1.25 per loop. began to |this taught me a lesson, that all “YE HAVE BEEN NAUGHT, YE SHALL BE ALL?” ernational: Born of Worker’s First Revolution- ary Siruggle, Now Sung by Millions Around the World| —By George Chaffee 2—No favoritism. | However the strike did not last two hours. Jerry called up the police de- partment. Four policemen immedi- Here is where we made our mis- take. We, white caddies did not all stick together. So the colored |eaddies, seeing this grew discour-|f the state. aged and were forced back into the pen. Thus the backbone of the strike was broken. Finally, late in the afternoon, the rest of| us had to go back too. Believe me, | workers have got to stick to-| gether. For if we had, we could THE BROKEN--BACK LINE | I had the doubtful honor of serving as boatswain on the S. S. Paul Luckenbach for a period of five months. The Luckenbach line, as most seamen know, oper- ates twenty-three ships of 10,000 | to 17,000 tons, out of New York “and the Gulf, with the West Coast headquarters at San Fran- cisco, | The working conditions on this ship passes the wildest imagina- | tion. The ships run on schedule | and must at all coasts leave | | | | By N. G. Soderberg | port at the set date and arrive at the next port equally on time. Anyone can imagine what it means when a ship with a mat- ter of twenty two booms and a great amont of deck cargo is leav- ing port at 10 P. M. Booms have to come down and deck cargo secured. It means all night work and some times part of the fol- who replied that there is no such thing as overtime for shifting ship and getting her ready to sail. During the trip to Pedro Capt. Punjer (also of the naval reserve) did not like the way one of the A. B.’s steered during the Quar- termasters relief. He (the Capt.) immediately proceeded to apply a beating to this man knocking him down twice while at the wheel. This was witnessed by two other sailors on the 4-8 watch. Two days later this man was put in irons in the forpeak for having the audacity to de- mand his right to leave his work for a few minutes to attend to nature’s calling. All this hap- pened on the 4-8 watch. A few days later an ordinary seaman after cleaning some paintbrushes on his watch 8.12 at night empti- ed the bucket of coal oil on the 1 logged 4 days pay for refusing | duty. Seamen, Organize! Fellow workers, this did not happen 30 years ago but in the| year of 1929-30. One may ask] what did the rest of the crew say and do under those condi- tions?) Why, nothing, absolutely nothing. Not a man organized and not a man realizing the value of organization. The food is rot- ten and badly cooked. The work- | ing hours and conditions general- ly on these ships are unbearable, | yet the crew does not even stop to think what a hundred percent organization could accomplish on slave ships of this nature. There is no excuse for these ships be- ing unorganized. The Marine Workers Industrial Union are having branches in each and every port, these ships called and they could be organiz-| The Longshoremen Slave Market Line Up Hundreds of longshoremen awaiting wpon th e fancies and whims of the boss stevedore for a chance to earn a living. When such liners as the Leviathan pulls into the harbor hundreds of unem- ployed longshoremen wait long hours in such lines as shown above. eee lowing day with the whole crew on deck. After cargo has been secured and booms lowered wat- ches are set. All this with no hope of getting time back. On leaving New Orleans on | the Paul all hands on deck work- | ed from 5.30 in the morning when we shifted ship until 12 mid- night. Salled on deck again at 4 P. M., lowering booms and get- ting ready to leave port at 8 ‘A. M. Left port and continued getting back on the eWst Coast. According to my own gigures, none of the men had less than 84 hours overtime due by the time we arrived at San Pedro. I pointed this out to the mate weatherside. The result can be imagined. The forepart of the bridge and some other white paint work naturally suffered some spots. This ordinary seaman was then forced to clean this on his watch below for several days. Arrived Christmas day, the day of peace on earth and joy in heaven (like Hell), and this sea- man was ordered by the chief mate to proceed to clean the bridge on his watch below. This he refused, “on account of it being Christmas”, etc. He was then put in irons in the forpeak and kept there on bread and water until evening. He was —Photo Ewing Galloway then called up on the bridge and ed if an attempt was made. I would suggest that a couple of delegates try and make these ships out of New York and also the Gulf, One or two good men on these ships could create won- ders. Get the “Brokenback” line organized and do away with these long working hours, the rotten food, unsanitary quarters and above all the bully tactics of its Captains and mates. Join the Marine Workers Industrial Union, fellow workers, and speed the day when those and all other ships |on as they got into the hall, “be- | tween being wanting things for shall be manned, run, and in- spected by the ship committee. | have won our demands. | That night, Jerry planted two plain clothes men near the golf} course. And so “Jew-boy” and I} were arrested the very same night | for bumming a ride—a ride treach- erously offeered us by these same cops! | The following day we were sen- | tenced to one month for vagrancy. | After four weeks of “free room} Beach, Thence we were thrown out | Only months later I found out that five colored caddies were} beaten and then put in jail on a trumped up charge of stealing} cocoanuts. And that “Goofey,” poor| “Goofey,” innocent “Goofey,” was| sentenced to two months for “sell- ing” golf balls. | | Slaves or Free? By GRACE LUMPKIN. “You can put it this way,” Jean said. “I’m plain selfish. And when you come down to facts every human being is.” “Of course,” Virginia told her. “Of course. But there’s a big dif- ference between being selfish and) wanting for yourself and wanting| for your group and class.” “How do you mean—wanting for your group and class?” Jean| was powdering her face before the} mirror in the ladies’ room. She went slap-slap at her faee, while Virginia waited to get her turn.) It was five-thirty, past time for them to be leaving the offices of} the magazine syndicate where they typed at desks along with dozens of other girls in a huge factory- like room. “I mean acknowledge you're a worker and stand up for your fellow-workers.” “T’ve got enough to do standing up for myself.” Jean moved away from the mirror. “You’d be standing up for your- self, too,” Virginia said. She pre- tended to be powdering her nese but really she was watching Jean in the mirror. “If you fight with other workers to get higher wages, shorter hours, and guarantee of a steady job and other things the union stands for you'd be aiding your group and yourself, too.” Jean had been raised on a small farm in western New York. Vir- ginia was from a small town in North Carolina. Both girls were the same age, almost to the day, twenty-five years. Jean had had many dreams about coming to New York. Her father was a poor farmer, but she wanted to become a real lady. She wanted to make a big salary and have clothes and theater tickets. Jean wanted to be a “lady” and forget that she was a worker. And the queer part about it was that she was a good worker. But in spite of her skill after four years in offices she was getting only twenty-five dollars a week. “The difference,” Virginia went yourself . and wanting for your group, is the difference between a slave and a class-conscious work- “Who's a slave?” she de- manded. Virginia’s brown eyes looked at Jean without flinching. For once she was going to say things straight to Jean. She had been beating about .the bush for weeks. It was time to put it up to her. “You are,” she said. “You're a “The International”, ®sung in|Commune, two of which are well- dozens of tongues by the laboring | known in Europe, “The Commune masses in all parts of the world,| Will Never Die” and “To Those was a product of the first prole-| Fallen”. dete pose piieaes oer The music of the International place in France, when the Fren 4 workers set up the Paris Commune | was also written by a worker, 5 : French cabinet-maker named Pierre in 1871 and fought courageously | Po ea nee orkens to hold Paris and extend the rev- | DeReTtEe olution throughout the countryside, | Chorus in Lille, Bees: di After two months, the Commune| Was on the lookout for good, rev- He tut om Gérniiended aie man. | Uutionary poems which he could Senne o music for his workers’ jer, | Set to aged to escape, Eugene Pottier, to sing. His ‘American Sailor’s Story of | His Trip In Soviet Union | Have Interesting and Surprising Experiences, and Get Many New Ideas of Workers’ | and Peasants’ State howling for bread? Possibly they were further inland. But why, in a country as big and as fertile as Russia, which could raise enough food to feed the rest of the world if necessary, should anyone be going hungry? Possibly the ad- ministration was a failure. Possibly Written by an American sailor, | a non-party worker, this story is full of fresh and enthusiastic | comment on the life which he | saw in his travels in the Soviet | Union.—Editor. | ‘S68 \w By W. O’SULLIVAN was inspired by those heroic days| chorus to write the now immortal words beginning “Arise ye prisoners of starvation”. Eugene Pottier, a worker, whose craft was designing, was born in Paris on Oct. 4, 1816. Early in life he joined in the political up- heavals which were sweeping France, first as a Republican; than in 1840 he took his place in the/ and peasants, through their Sov-| the U. S. S. R. as we saw them. ranks of the revolutionary social-|iet Government, extended an in-| ists (who were the Communists of that time). ing out to the very last in his de- fense of the Paris Commune. Aft-|ed, and until his death a short| places we visited who did every- er the fall of the Commune, he managed to escape to America for} where a few years. Later he returned brother, Adolphe, on a trip to Paris, dis-| covered the poem, “International” | The following is an account of a the thousands of tons of agricul- tural machinery which has been trip made by a party of American |and brought it home to Pierre, | who as enthused as his brother by | the words, immediately undertook imported into the country in the last twd" years were being used to cecorate the countryside! | sailors, who, being desirous of per- sonally viewing something of the interior of Soviet Russia, visited the task of setting the poem to| the monster state farm inthe Across 500 Miles of Wheat music, This he did in the year | Northern Causasus appropriately Country. 1888, named Giant. I have tried to | In 1918, the Russian workers j vitation to Pierre Degeyter to Pottier fought on the} come to the Soviet Union, and| auspices of the International Club barricades as a Communard, hold-| spend the rest of his days there.|in Novovusisk. To them and to! This invitation he gladly accept- he lived for the “Intrnationale” time ago, in the land first time the is sung by mil- to Paris, dying there in Nov. 1887, | lions of toilers who have succed- Besides the International, Pottier|ed in throwing off the yoke of has written other * * Words by Eugene Pettier | Arise, ye prisoners of starvation, Arise, ye wretched of the earth For justice thunders condemnation, A better world’s in birth. No more tradition’s chain shall bind us, Arise, ye slaves no more in thrall! The earth shall rise on new foun-! dations, We have been naught, we shall be all. se Refrain: ‘Tis the final conflict, Let each stand in his place! The International Soviet Shall be the human race. (Repeat.) eo stand up for the colored ones, and @nd-board” we were sent to Palm) We want no condescending saviors | To rule us from their judgment hall We workers ask not for their fay- ors, Let us consult for all! To make the thief disgorge his booty, To free the spirit from its cell, We must ourselves decide our duty We must decide and do it well. Refrain: oa 8 The law oppresses us and tricks us Exploiters drink the victims’ blood, The rich are free from obligations, The laws the poor delude. * In all working class gatherings, meetings the singing of revolu- tionary songs has an important role to play. Yet the American working class still does not sing enough. One reason for this is that many workers do not know the words of the songs, or know only phrases here and there. Therefore we are planning to print some of our best revolu- tionary songs, and a_ story about how they came to be written, (whenever this is possible) and revolutionary| their own government, and build- poems, also inspired by the Paris|ing a free socialist society. * Music by Pierre Degeyter. We decided that we’d like to see more of the country if it was pos- sible. When we made our requests known to the local authorities we anticipated trouble and were some- what astonished when asked just where would we like to go and how long were we prepared to stay. They seemed disappointed when we told them that our time limit was |give an unbiased account of the linternal conditions prevailing in The trip was suggested by our- selves and was made under the the many people we met in the thing in their power to place be-| fore us the information we were seeking and whose unbounded hos- | pitality made our trip so enjoyable we tender our sincerest thanks. | Absolutely no restrictions were | |placed upon us by the authorities. yes the contrary, they seemed |eager to have us see the whole |country which we would gladly four days. Giant, the huge experi mental state farm we had all heard about became our objective. Here | we would have the opportunity to see for ourselves whether socialism as practiced on a large scale could prove successful. The necessary arrangements were made and on the afternoon of the | Too long we've languished in sub- jection, Equality has other laws: “No rights,’ says she, their duties, | No claims on equals without cause.” | Refrain: ere “without | | Behold them seated in their glory, The kings of mine and rail and soil! | story | But how they plundered toil? Fruits of the people’s work are buried In the strong coffers of a few; | In fighting for their restitution The workers only ask their due. Refrain: ee as Toilers from shops and fields united | The party we of all who work | The earth belongs to us, the people. |No room here for the shirk. How many on our flesh haye fat- | tened! | But if the bloody birds of prey Shall vanish from the sky some | morning | The golden sunlight still will stay. Refrain: “Tis the final conflict Let each stand in his place. The International Soviet Shall be the human race, (Repeat.) oe such facts as are known about their authors. We suggest that you clip each | song as it appears, paste it on | heavy card-board, and keep handy jin your pocket or purse. Learn the words yourself, and teach them to your comrades and children. Any readers who know interest- ing facts concerning “The Work- ers Flag”, “Hold the Fort”, and other well-known labor songs, will \please send these in to Editor of | Saturday Feature Page. as those on southern plantations before the civil war.” Jean was half crying with anger. “Slaves are sold,” she said, “and I’m free.” “You are not free, Jean. You are free to leave this job, but only to sell yourself to another boss. The agencies are the auctioneers. They say to the boss: ‘How much am I bid for this nice clever girl, Jean Martin?’ And the boss says ‘$18 a week or $25 or 15.’ Whatever is the lowest he can get you for. “I got one job without agencies,” Jean said. : “All right. You only sold yourself. You were your own auctioneer. It makes little differnce. Don’t you see?” Virginia asked anxiously with her hand on Jean’s arm. “Bad as that kind of slavery was there we had some advantages in it. Most of the masters took good care of their slaves—for a good reason.” Jean did not answer. She was looking sullenly out of the window. But Virginia felt that she must make her friend understand. She must. “The reason the other slave own- ers took care of their slaves was because they had paid good money for them. You lived on a farm, Jean. How many horses did your father have?” “Two,” Jean said. “What’s that got to do with it?” + “Did your father take care of his horses?” “Of course he did.” “Because he had paid money for them. But if, now, listen, Jean, if there was a herd of horses loose in a pasture where your father could step in and take one free any time he wanted he wouldn’t be so care- ful about his old ones. A man takes care of what he has paid money for, whether it’s a slave or a horse.” “And how does that touch me— all this about slaves and animals?” Jean’s mouth twisted in the light from the window. “Just this way, Jean. There are hundreds of unemployed girls wait- ing out in the ‘pasture’ and more graduating each year who are just longing for the boss to turn you slave, Jean, and I am, just as much off and chose them in your place. You are willing to be a slave, and you allow yourself to be made an animal.” Jean was almost crying. “But what can I do? I just get enough now to pay for food and clothes and a roof. I want a little pleasure.” “What can you do, Jean? Just what I’ve been telling you, girl. The jobs belong to us workers, by rights, and we are the ones who should control them, not the bosses. We Americans are so proud we're free. Free nothing! We’re poor, shivering, humble slaves. But if we get together in a union, we can tell the bosses what’s to be done about these jobs of ours. But we've got to do it together.” “Well,” Jean gasped. “You've cer- tainly given me an earful.” ‘ “I only hope,” Virginia laughed, “it didn’t go in one ear and out the other.” Jean turned. She was not looking out of the window now, but straight at Virgi “No,” she said, “I don’t think it did.” “I don’t know, Virginia,” she added. “I'll let you know tomorrow morning. But I think I'll join. You make me want to fight.” ‘Too bad for England Lipton lost.” have done had we had the time at ‘our disposal. ! | We had not been docked in Novovusisk more than a few hours when ugly rumors began to cir- |culate around the ship. It was/ table four berth sleeper with soft | said that there was a serious short- | cushions and all modern conveni- age of food in the town. People| ences. The fares average a frac- |were rioting in the streets for|tion over a cent a mile and the bread. They were dissatisfied with|1ailroads, owned and operated by 4th of July we found ourselves leaving Novovusisk on a train—a real train—not riding in box cars like some pessimists on the ship had predicted, but in a comfor- | What have you read in all their! the state, last year made a profit only kept in check by the use of | of 733,000,000 roubles. armed force. We found out later ‘ that the rumors were for the Hat sOnke close (Ot the veces Bee part put into circulation by the | tains and the country spread itself waterfront riff raff and prostitutes | before our eyes. Not a bleak, de- who can be found in all sea ports! solate stretch of country like we and who seem to regard sailors as, had imagined, but a green fertile their lawful pray. The tougher the | countryside every inch under cul- hard luck yarn they can spin the| tivation as far as the eye could more sympathy and cold cash:—| see. Garden produce of all kinds; at least, that is the way the writer | herds of livestock; wheat and bar- figures. | almost ready for the harvest; | A personal tour of the town re-/ miles and miles of sunflower, | vealed none of the things we had| which are raised for oil. So this |heard. The stores were not plen-| was the starving Russia we had tifully overstocked, but we found| heard about. |that food was being rationed as in everything and everybody and mere) | At the wayside stations crowds war time, to eliminate waste and assure a greater surplus for ex-| port. From the appearance of the | | people they seemed to be thriving | remarkably well on what they were | receiving. A more robust, healthy | looking lot it would be difficult | to encounter anywhere. The parks were filled with cheerful crowds; the beer gardens were well pa- tronized; the opera was crowded. Where were these hungry mobs from Unripe Fruit. LOS ANGELES.—Three children of an unemployed worker died over a week ago from unripe fruit. For several days the children had eaten nothing, and for days past they had been living on goat’s milk only which they got®from some of the boats in the slums of the city. Another child of the same fam- ily is also very ill from the unripe fruit, and may die. The father of the four children, Robert Low, said that he is un- employed for the last few months and that his family ate actually nothing for the last few days. cer Pa Too Poor to Bury Baby. NEW YORK.—John McCraken has walked the streets for five months looking for work. He could not find any. He hasn’t enough money to pay for food or rent and now he hasn’t the money to pay for a funeral for his three year old son. McCraken lost his job when he was scalded by tar while fixing a roof. He hasn’t found work since then. Baby McCraken was killed by the auto of a rich good-for-nothing. Now the child is in the city mor- gue. John McCracken has three other children whom he was forced to put away in charity institutions be- cause he has no money to feed Pioneer Corner Three Children of Unemployed Die and clothe them. | of happy carefree people gathered to meet incoming travelers or to wish good-bye to the outgoing ones. Children ran up and down the train peddling food and fruit. Apples and cherries in abundance. Fried chickens at two roubles each. Potato pancakes by the basketful. Truly a remarkable situation for a starving country! (To be continued.) . Letters from Our Readers. Houston, Texas. Dear Young Pioneer Corner: It is hard for me to tell you that I am not a member of your organization. That is because there is no’ Pioneer group where I live. But I am a worker's child all the same. I take great pleasure in reading the Corner. I do not read any other paper than the Freiheit and Daily Worker because all other papers are full of boloney. I want to tell of you comrade readers to work, unite and fight! Free Harry Eisman! Fight and de- mand work or wages for our par- ents! Demand free food and cloth- ing. Down with the bosses and hur- rah for the Communist Party! I am your comrade, DORA SPORN. * * * “In the following puzzle substi- tute the numbers for the letter in the alphabet corresponding to that number. For example: P-i-o-n-e-e-r-s — 16-9-15-14-5-5- 18-19, Here’s the’ puzzle. Let's go! Can you answer? 23-15-18-11-5-18-19 8-8-9-12-4-18 5-14 8-1-22-5 14-15 2-18-5-1-4 23-15 18-11-9-14-7 16-1-18-5-14-20-19 13-21-19-20 22-15-20-5 18-5-4! $22 to go bet rig day lea the $1,