The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 18, 1930, Page 3

DAILY WOKKER, EW YORK, SATURDAY, GCIOBER 18, 1930 Page snrec FraserValley Hop Pickers Learn from Past Mistakes and Preparefor Real Fight Bosses Work Women and Children at Killing Pace in Cold and Heat of Fields Japanese and White Workers Know Need for Unity in Fight Against Bosses (By a Worker Correspondent.) VANCOUVER, B. C.—Each fall from 2000 to 3000 workers | | drift into the Hop fields of the Fraser Valley to gather the season’s crop. Each year conditions get worse and the one just past was so bad that a militant group well linked up in the different fields would have had 90 per cent of the workers with them on any practical proposals put forward that offered a chance of lightening the immediate brrden. The day workers got from $2.50 to $2.75 for ten hours (working about half time) and ‘after they were through pay- ing the ruinous prices charged at the store for foodstuffs, HOTEL WORKERS s'st=_voult brine them back MADE TO FEEL CRISIS BRUNT, \living off the stem and rust- lling odd jobs on the side. Steady Work Among! Them Will Build Chicago, Il. Dear Editor:— I am working in one of the big- gest hotels and want to tell about conditions there. The pay never was very high, but a job in a hotel was considered, and still is, better than many others. It was a steady job and no time was lost on account of weather. Besides the pay, tips were counted on and that the man- agement figured would make up for the low wages. Less Workers, More Work. In a year’s time the force has been cut in half. Where there used to be two for a certain’amount of work, one has to do it all, and the working conditions lave been get- ting worse all the time. The bosses say that it is necessary to give bet- ter servicé now than before, less the guest will move out. No Tips, Either. As to the guests: They have cut tips almost entirely. But instead I get a few tips on inside stories. Heré is one: “Well, talk about Ford! Such a dirty man. There is one of his old dealers unable to sell the cars on hand while Ford comes out with a new car. Then the dealer says he can’t put in new stock and Ford simply enters into a contract with a new man who opens a sales- room a few miles away from the first dealer. Shouldn’t a man like that be shot?” When I get outside I laugh it off. Get “Vacations.” But the maids will have to take the brunt of the guests’ jill-feelings, and almost everyone is getting to feel bad from stock crashes, etc. If the housekeepers decide that an apartment is not kept clean, the maid gets two weeks’ or a month’s vacation without pay. The same punishment is meted out if one comes late more than once a month. Being late once means loss of the monthly bonus, $5 If one has to stay home from work one day the $2 a day pay, plus a month’s bonus; $5, or, together, $7. is lost. JIM-CROWISM. The discri ‘nation against Ne- gro workers is open and the white workers have nothing to do with the colored. The Negroes are given the dirtiest work, lowest pay (colored maids get $12 a week for seven days) and are kept in separate dressing rooms, and have their own toilets, etc. The fear among the workers of being laid off and losing even the present small wage are the main causes for the hotels not being or- ganized. The conditions certainly are rotten enough. I have tried to talk to the workers, Negroes and whites, about the T. U. U. L., which I belong to. One colored girl be- longs to an Unemployed Council, which she joined when out of work. A white man worker goes to Party doings now and then and gives money to Party activity. Three who I know ere readers of Vilnis and have participated in. several demonstrations, Bat I have failed to get them to join the T. U. U. L. Then I started to talk to them about the I. L. D., but with the same outcome, Changing methods, I de- cided to go to their homes, which proved to be the best way to talk to them, What would you do in my place since you know these facts? : —HOTEL WORKER. Short Time in Alliance, O., Shops Alliance, Ohio. Daily Worker: Only two shops in Alliance are working good. These are Alliance Machine Co. and Morgan Engineer- ing Co. All the rest working only 3 days a week. We have some, workers in our city that haven’t worked for 9 months and some for over a year and some of these have to support 7 children which altogether mother and father, makes 9 people. Vote Communist! Slave Driving in Fields. But the worst off of any were the pickers. Mainly women and children and not used to standing up for themselves (a thing the bosses knew) their lot was nothing. else ‘but a day to day tragedy. From five in the morning until sevon at night they were in the fields try- ing to force that cent and a half a pound up to something like a living wage. In the cold fog of early morning to the killing heat of noon, and those never ending hours till the stars come out, were all the same. Kids could cry and fight, yet nothing must interfere with that driving urge for more and more pounds, for was not win- ter coming with its “no work,” “no money.” Talk Organization. The few class conscious ones were active up and down the line spread- ing the spirit of tevolt and to make a stand for better conditions. The Padgham Bros. came up from the city with a supply of leaflets and old “Workers” and were helped by the “Larsons” in getting them around. This had a good effect, a more militant feeling was in the air. Leading in this were a couple of hundred Japanese who had been brought in by John Haas and Co. for just the opposite purpose. They decided to hold a meeting one night (before starting the lighter hops) and finally decide on action. We were to hold one right after in the “White” camp, also to choose repre- sentatives to go together to the company to demand a cent a pound raise in all the new fields. While this was going on a “mouthy” type of worker started to rave in front of the office, what we would do, this gave the C. “Nerves”. A bit later and not knowing of this, Comrade Fillmore and a boy named Smith who knew some of the young Japs, came back from their camp and visited all the shacks who were |thought to be favorable, to prepare for the eve- ning. In spite of care being taken someone must have overheard and ran to the boss. Fillmore was run out of camp and escorted from the district by two Company cars. Many who were in the camp at the time were hot against this but had no one to give them a lead. The japs not having acted yet care was taken not to spill their plans to the company. Next morning their demands were presented, but being greatly in the minority, “Law and Order” were brought in from the nearest town and prevailed, the de- mands were refused, when’ all but a few of the Japs and a great many others quit in a body. Learning from mistakes and preparing ahead, for we know an- other year is coming, and with or- ganized plans in advance, some- thing definite can be accomplished to raise the standard of living of these needy workers. Fighting for Bread We road the ecreeching ‘shot and skell We faced an avalanche of hell, We mot the “foe” full hilt and died That liberty (profita) be not denied. pis Todey, in serried rankc, disbanded, We toilers of the ccuntry By starvation now commanded Will fight “democracy’s” effron- tery! bts Onco more the battle cry renews, Thzoughort car prosperous lend, Let every worker spread the news United we wi!l stand! B Vv Shoulder to showider and arm in arm Unemployed Council, Chicago, From town and city—village and ferm We raise the cry from shore to shore “We now know what we are fight- ing for!” —i. C., ARREST OIL WORKERS. MARTINEZ, Calif. (F.P.).—Ar- rested in a car registered to Anita Whitney, two Oakland Communists are held in Martinez, charged with vagrancy. They were distributing Communist literature at a factory when taken into custody. They ‘are John Mutigli and Joseph G. Endino. Martinez is an oil and industrial town, just north of Alameda County. Losing Grip INDIAN YOUTHS HAIL LENIN IN | BRITISH COURT Revolt Turning Away Fro mFaker Gandhi New York. Daily Worker: Seven young prisoners who were | Gandhi, non-resistance faker is losing his grip upon the masses. Read the story by an Indian worker correspondent, elsewhere on this page, of the changing course of the Indian revolution. “BONUS” SCHEME NEW SPEED UP AT RCA-VICTOR Organization Is Crying ~ Need at R.C.A. Camden, N. J. Dear Editor: There isn’t a single day that passes at Victor’s without some- thing happening to make us hate this slave hole more—more acci- dents—more speed-up—more over- time. Bosses Give “Break.” This week, though, the bosses be- came so kind that they wanted to give us a break. The foreladies came around and told us that be- ginning with Wednesday everybody was really going to get a bonus— of course everybody would have to work twice as fast, and if we put out a certain number, much more than before, we would get about $1.50 bonus a day. Just think of what a raise in pay that would be. $1.50 a day increase? It sounds too good to be true—there must be a catch somewhere. And so there is. The forelady mentioned that in or- der to be able to carry this out so that: all of us working would be able to get that increase there would have to be a change in de- partments—50 removed from one line, 100 from another department, several hundreds. from others, Very simple. But that’s not all. She forgot to ‘explain what was told by the man that hires on help to one of the unemployed workers who tried to get a job here last week. That the job was only good for three and a half more weeks, when the big lay-offs would begin. More Speed. Can you get the drift of their clever scheme now? They’re going to make us all work like hell to kill ourselves and put out all their or- ders inside of three weeks for a little@increase in pay. It means that we'll just be working ourselves out of a job! A little more money for three and a half weeks—then nothing. What a bright future! Starvation and misery! Do we have to put up with it? Not while the Metal Workers’ In- dustrial Union is around organiz- ing us for a fight against such con- ditions, I’ve joined and talked to a lot of fellows who all think it’s a pretty good thing. —T. R., a Victor Worker. (By a Worker Correspondent) ; _ SACRAMENTO, Cal.—The Pacific Coast Labor Bureau at 1014 Second St. is a gyp place. The so-called L. Manning commissary clerk gets crders from the Southern Pa- cific to send Mexican laborers to the railrozd camps free, but he puts the order in the P.C.L. bureau and George Lekoc, manager charges them $3 office fee. A TOUGH HOME GUARD. TORONTO.—“Knock down any- body whom you hear starting off any of this talk the Reds are so fond of,” General William Hughes advised a méeting of war veterans. (By a Worker Correspondent) HIGHTSTOWN, N. J.—The strike started in the Schneider Upholstered Furniture Shop, on Sept. 30. Previous to that, on the 29th, the workers had a meeting where the order of business was whether we should call a strike the next morning or not. But here something happened. The worker who was laid off was a Communist and the A, F. of L. fakers think twice before they call strikes when workers are laid off for union activities. FAKER WANTS DUES. And at the same time we didn't send in our dollars to the Inter- national. Therefore, we were not members of the union yet. So, what happened? Instead of the strike and how to conduct it, Mr. Diner (organizer of the Uphol- sterers’ Union), through his fa- vorite, made a proposition that he (Diner) should be given full power | Jai” which is “Up with Lenin” in tried in Layalpur in the British courts shouted “Mahatma Lenin Ki} ithe native language. These brave men are tried by the present so- called Labor Government of Eng- land for being the members of the Youth League. All of the prison- ers wore red shirts as the uniform| of their organization, and sank the} revolutionary songs. The drifting | of the national workers away from | the Gandhi’s passive resistance is| clearly seen by the present events. At Lahore comes the news through! the local newspapers that two young | prisoners who were released after | their previous internment, violently | denounced government and Gandhi’ and openly’ urged the people to re-| volt and set up the Soviet India. | These workers were soon imprisoned | and would perhaps never be re- leased. These few individual accidents are not the only evidences that show | how the trend is taking its course, | but when one reads the local news- papers, which are published under the present rigid censorship, one finds ample proof that the people of | India are more and more adopting government, The recent ,distribution of the pamphlets of the Socirlist Repub- underground organization, already existing for over three years and vigorously combating the govern- ment against its execution of the revolutionary workers, has clearly great harm to mentality of the peo- ple of India, It has permitted the | |enemy of India to dare all forms of terror, insults, rape, and has! turned the people into a bunch of | herds. The increase of present Political assassinations and throw- ing of bombs on government officials has given the government more con- cern than the Gandhi movement in| its whole history.’ The foreign cloth | | and liquor pickets-are even adopting violent means to boycott the goods made in England. The Indian revolution though once in a while is misdirected by wrong leadership ‘éf'some idealist, but even- tually takes its logical’ course. In order to achieve its goal the Indian revolution is feeling more than ever to follow the paths carved out by the Russian revolution. —INDIAN WORKER. MCRORY PAYS $12 FORKILLING WORK Sample of Hoover’s “High Standard” New York. Editor, Daily Worker: Last Tuesday I got a job in Mc- Crory’s 5 and 10 cent store. I had to wash dishes at the lunch counter 10 hours every day and Saturday I worked 14 hours. They are making about $300 busi- ness on this and for all this work they want one man to do all the washing by hand . Every day I had| to speed up faster than a machine and for all this hard work which almost killed me after the week was over they handed me 12 dollars for 5 days’ work and told me if I want- ed to work next week I will have to get one dollar less, and it goes for everybody that works in the store, Every Saturday they get a few extra girls to work at the rate of $2.50 for 14 hours. Some high standard of living. Long live “pros- perity.” Vote Communist! UPHOLSTERERS’ FAKER S to negotiate with the boss the next day and we will decide on the strike on the following night. * I,,as chairman of the new local, opposed and proposed to elect a committee of three to go with Mr. Diner. Due to the fact that | the boss knew about the meeting | he ordered his stool-pigeons to tell apd workers not to go to the meet- ing. We had only 13 present, mostly highly skilled men, who voted i: favor of the former proposition. On Sept. 30 Mr. Diner about 6:3 a. m, came to me and told me tha I should go with him and pul down the shop. We succeeded ir pulling down the shop 100 per cent. Then Mr. Winer spoke to the boss. About 10 a. m. we held our first meeting, where a vote was taken whether we should | strike or not. At this meeting we | voted 35 for and 5 against. | This was unexpected to Mr, \P Slow Starvation’ in Form of “Relief” This is the kind of feed the bosses and the pack of “liberals” and “socialists” call “relief” for the jobless workers. Fight all fake schemes and promises of the bosses and their agents. Strike a smashing blow for real relief, for the Workers’ Unemployment Insurance Bill, by vot- | tal of America” as the city bureau- Speed Up Blind Workers in Orleans | New Orleans, La. | Daily Worker: | Find enclosed clipping from the New Orleans “Item.” Please note that the blind workers are being speeded up and without any increase in wages. so * * | The enclosed clipping shows several photos of blind workers working at broom making ma- chines and the statement that they are producing more brooms than ever. CLEVE. JOBLESS MISERY GROWS Wait Overnight for 1 Week’s Job | (By a Worker Correspondent) | Cleveland, Ohio. | | In this city “the industrial capi-| erats describe it over the radio, | thousands of workers are in actual starvation. Today thousands of ing Communist November 4th! |these starving workers stormed the violent methods to fight the British | lican Army, which is i secret and | given the proof that the passive re- | sistence is a failure and has done | Scene in the kitchen opened by the Cincinatti bosses for a short time, hailed by the “liberals” as the solution of the unemploymnt problem, WITH THE SHOP PAPERS We're back again in a fresh burst of enthusiasm about some shop Papers we saw being run off, while on a little week end sojourn. As you ride over the Delaware bridge approaching Camden at night, you may witness the vast stretches of the RCA-Victor radio plants all lit up and going at full blast. Speed-up is so great here that only young workers stand a chance of being taken on. Maniacal speed-up pushers are in every depart- ment and on every floor and speed, speed and more speed is the cry of the bosses. The leaden weight of lay-offs hangs ominously over the heads of the speeded up workers. | It is in these plants that the shop nuclei of the Communist Party and the Young Communist League are issuing their first issue of the Victor Worker 5,000 copies strong—to bring to thesi workers the problems facing them and the need of organization to fight them. Bringing in a Gusher. Oil is the reason why Rockefeller keeps the republican, demo¢rati- and “socialist” politicians in pin money. And oil lands to the oil and savage attacks against the oil workers is the function of Rava feller’s government. The workers in the Shell Oil Co. at Martinez, Cal., in common with the workers of all industries are feeling the brunt of the severe crisis shaking the capitalist world. Lay-offs and their attendant miseries are the Shell Oil’s policy to save dimes for Rockefeller. Speed- up and indirect and direct wage cuts for those still working. * * * It is in this situation that the Oil Workers’ Organizer enters to take up the fight of the workers. It is a compact, neat little shop paper of eight mimeod papers easy on the eyes, and chock: full of good material. However, it has the faults of many of our shop Papers. For instance, the election campaign is brought to the work- ers in abstract form, in a series of blanket statements. Why not tie up the fact that the government that gives billions in oil lands to the oil barons will not give a cent to the unemployed oil workers. Why not show up the local terror of the oil govern- ment right in Martinez. There should be a visual relation be- tween the boss parties and the shop and this must be brought to the workers in clear form. ; ae re Same with the agitation for the Mine, Oil and Smelter Workers’ Industrial Union. A stereotyped series of statements of what the union is. No visual tie-up with the conditions that make need for a union imperative. Every accident, speed-up, waze-cutting story should be tied up with the need for the workers to join the M.O.S.W.1LU. 6 Bee Several cartoons throughout the sheet, another page of letters and more short stuff would make the Oil Workers’ Organ- izer a real good shop paper. Try it. the job. Go to work and come from work on your own time. J. K. SYLVIA, Unemployed Council. Miseries of Cal. Unemployed Are | Growing Daily P. S—I went to bed agitating and got up agitating but six were in favor and the rest out of 25 were (By a Worker Correspondent.) SACRAMENTO, Cal. — I was} \ sent out of town from Gills Em- ployment Office free to work on a rice threshing machine for Mr.) Kruger, 5 miles west of Rego in Placa County, and there was no job so I am out one dollar transpor- | tation one way, and another man| was out $2 fee and $1 transporta-| tion, and we had to walk back to Sacramento this morning. We had to sleep in a tent and it| was bitter cold last night and we ate cold boiled eggs, cold bacon and cold potatoes and coffee without milk for breakfast and also last night for supper. There is no bath- room, no hot water, no heating | against me. I did not get one ap- plication but am going to continue to carry on the fight. stove. They work 10 hours straight on ELLS OUT STRIKE Acts As Stool Pigeon Against Communist Worker Diner, so he squirmed and said: “If you want to strike, you can do so, but I don’t think the In- ternational will give you support because you haven't paid your in- itiation fee yet.” TRIES TRICK. Then, making his last effort, he reversed the proposition as fol- lows: “All those who want to go back to work and let me negotiate with the boss, vote “yes.” All hose who want to stay out should ote “no,” In spite of these maneuvers the orkers voted to stay out on vike. From that day on Mr. ‘iner, true to the A. F. of L, pol- cy, done nothing but fight against he rank and file committee and promising us day after day with financial support, which, of course, was a lie. He didn’t tell us how to conduct the strike. IN STOOL-PIGEON ROLE. But, he ran to the mayor, where he acted as a stool-pigeon by telling the mayor that one of the strikers is a Communist. And them knocking at the door of the boss daily and offering a settle- ment. When the boss got an injunc- tion he (Diner) ordered us to obey it and not to picket any more. Considering his activity generally he exposed himself as well as the International. A GENUINE FAKER. 1—By pretending to prove that workers can win strikes through the good graces of the mayor and by the good nature of the boss. 2—By acting as a stool-pigeon, thinking that by doing this he will win the confidence of both boss and the mayor. 3—By the failure to secure fi- nancial aid for us from the In- ternational proved that they starved us back to work, |city hall looking for jobs when it became known that the city was go-| | ing to spend $200,000 improving city [owned property. Yesterday at noon the ‘starving workers began gather- ing at the hall. At midnight the writer counted one thousand seven hundred lined up at the rear and front entrances. | The city officials refused to open | the hall until the regular time, fore- |ing these starving people to remain out all night in a downpour of rain }and an icy lake wind. Dozens of these Hoover “prosperity” victims slept on door steps, window sills and the lawns at the rear of the hall. |The writer counted twenty asleep |in a trench to the west of the build- ing. Only five hundred of these men | will be hired, and only for a week. | They will then get the air and another bunch will be taken on to | meet the same fate. Those without | a permanent address in this city | ill most likely get the bums rush | vut of town if they fill out the ap-| , lication blanks gs a city official) | has announced that “only those most worthy” will get a job. These are| | the men whose voices the Cleveland | police and gunmen failed to pre- vent reaching the ears of Wall Street office boy Hoover on his re-| cent visit here. —CARMAN No. 2. BOLT HITS SHIP, CREW DROWNS, Join M.W.L.U. to Fight) for Demands! Daily Worker; Comrade Editor: — Looking over this morning’s | “World” I saw that a lightning bolt | struck the schooner “Carranza” bound from Newfoundland from} Nova Scotia. The paper gives this | report “The Barranza, a Newfound- ! land vessel, put out from this port (North Sydney, N. S.) Thursday | with eleven passengers and 180 tons | of coal from Burin, Nfd. Do you notice it does not give any number of the crew aboard her, it further states this “three passengers and three members of the crew were saved, eight passengers, the Cap tain, and the cook were drowned,” here it gives an account ef one member of the crew. This ship left | OAKLAND JUDGE. LEERS AT MISERY OF THE JOBLESS Vote Communist to Fight This Tool (By a Worker Correspondent) OAKLAND, Calif.—Judge Bason, local municipal judge who has gain- ed an unsavory reputation among workers here for his anti-labor de- cisions showed his attitude towards the miserable conditions capitalism has forced the workers into, in his court last week. An old man, about 55 years of age was brought into court charged with breaking a win- dow. Bason, who by the way has just returned from a vacation at the workers’ expense sentenced the worker to 6 months with the follow- ing remark: “You seem to be dead set on going to jail. Well, we'll accommodate you. Six months,” After the worker had been led sway by the attendants, Bacon be- came real jovial, and passed a few jokes or ¥ he considered jokes, over the wo’ He then went on to say: y got out of jail last week and seems anxious to get back in. Well, anything to oblige.” Of course, the ambulance chasers and the court hanker-ons all laughed at the head flunke; “bril- liant” remarks. Tried For May 1 Demonstration. Not everyone present joined in the laugh, however. In the court room were two workers who were charged with speal at the May 1 demon- stration awaiting their trial. Ace companying them was a large group of workers who came down to show their solidarity with the workers, who were to be given an exaniple of capitalist justice. The judge very clearly showed by his cheap cow- ardly attack just what his position was. Later on when the two members of the Communist Party were called their case was postponed. This is | in line with the policy of the capi- talist courts here. They keep post- poning workers’ cases in order to keep the bail money tied up and discourage the workers’ witnesses from appearing in court. There are }25 cases in Oakland all over six months old being held up by the capitalist courts: here, Workers Rallying to C. P. The workers of Oakland are re- sponding to the call of the Commun- ist Party and the Unemployment Insurance Bill. The worker who was given six months because he was starving, is but one of thousands who are in the same position. Lay- offs are taking place daily. The Fisher Body-Chevrolet is practical- ly closed down. SP shops are reduce ing their force every day. Workers, realize that by individual action such as. breaking windows and the like they will not better their conditions. Only by organizing into strong militant unions and the Com- munist Party can they remove the cause of the miserable conditions, the system of exploitation and greed, capitalism and establish in its place the workers system such as they have in the Soviet Union. YOUNG WORKERS GET PAY SLASH Girls Can’t Stand the Speed Up Pace (By Worker Correspondent) LOS ANGELES.—In our fair port with no less than forty-one per-| city of Los Angeles we had another sons on board her, this would male | the amount dead thirty persons in- | stead of ten persons as the paper | states. The members of the crew are human beings the same ds the | passengers and the captain. | Seamen and Longshoremen how much longer are we going to stand| these rotten conditions? Organize NOW!! Join the Marine Workers’ Industrial Union!! If you are in New York City come to our head- quarters 140 Broad Street! In “Philly” come to our headquarters at 121 Catherine Street!!! ORGA- NIZE NOW!! NOW! NOW! F. P. (Comrade please do not print my name as I am trying to ship out.) Lack of Fare Keeps Kids in House Seattle, Wash. Daily Worker: I was asked by one of my friends to go to the school board to report this. A family with five children, the | youngest one year, the oldest 12) years. The father works in an iron) works five and a half days a week at 4 dollars a day. As they could not pay rent in close to town they were forced to move to a smaller place on the outskirts. They have three children of school age. Children Separated. When they sent them to school they were sent back because they did not have a certain grade and told to go to three different schools 2 districts further. The parents, of course, prefer to have the children go all to one school and because they are not/| able to pay the bus fares the chil- dren have to stay at home. When I told the school board this they said they could not see why they could not pay bus fares for —A BETRAYED WORKER. the children, Yet they kept one sample of Hoover’s prosperity. I have been informed that just a few days ago two Los Angeles laun- dries, both under the same manage- ment, introduced a new speed-up system which was too much for the girls to keep up with. The result was they were all fired and young boys put in their places, This took place at the Cali- fornian and also at the Hollywood laundries, Cut Wages Also. These girls were getting from sixteen to eighteen dollars per week and now they are paying these young lads from seven to ten dol- lars per week. The state of California is very generous. They have a law here which states that women should get at least sixteen dollars per week and no less. But what the hell about the married men who are forced to work for as low as twelve and fifteen dollars per week, men who have families to support? Why doesn’t California pass a law for the men also? No doubt there are plenty of women working for less than sixteen dollars and consider themselves lucky at that. Will keep you informed on the conditions here, J. M., Young Worker. "NTS FRIEND ON LIST: “Please find enclosed check for $2, one dollar for a donation and one dollar to put M. R. back on your list for the Daily Worker at my expense.” Anjuse Schlem- mer, Chicago City, Minn. BOOST MASS CIRCULATION. day’s pay from the father for the Community fund. If he did not pay he would lose his job. —COMRADE. Vote Communist!