The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 25, 1930, Page 6

{ { RESET 8 Page Six Published by the Comprodafly Publ ishing Co., Inc. daily, except Sunday, at 50 Bast Daily, Worker SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs Bee ne Clty; Nes) elenbote Alsop anit TEDe Ge cere ee ¥] of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Foreign: One year, $8; six months, $4.50 and mail al 's to the Daily Worker, 50 East 13th Street, New York, N. Y. any ~ ee a HT =—_ ae p rry i i) sr a ¥ —BY BURCK . “THE STAGGER SYSTEM” 7 wh = } Se, mn CONQUERED ‘OR years:the scientists have vain to overcor in for long rendered ur ale utilization of the f peat that cover the great Tt has remained for the work finally solve the pro completion of two huge e tions—the nec ry energy bei the combusti lies on the outskirts bers of an English rs Delegation we were recently privileged to investigate condi- tions at this plant—‘‘Red October.” The peat is dug from huge bog swamps 45 miles ant whence, after a drying process, it is conveyed by rail to “Red October,” there to be used as fuel in the production of electric energy. A problem presents itself in connec- tion with the cutting of the peat that is of rare occurrence in capitalist count Owing to the shortage of lab he huge require- ments of the plant cannot be met—thus hin- dering its complete utilization. The scarcity of labor also adversely the quality of work in the facto’ Wor now that their services are in great demand and the spectre of unemployment no longer haunts them. There is accordingly a tendency—especially among new work who have recently been recruited from the peasantry—‘o stay only a short time in the fact before moving to new surroundings. Thus there is a constant stream of more or less inexperienced workers and the quality of labor remains low. The Communist Party has found it necessary to take up an energetic struggle in connection | with these “fluctuations” which are recognized as constituting one of the most serious dif- ficulties at present impeding the rapid fulfill- ment of the Plan. The workers have been quick to respond and thousands have come forward and voluntarily pledged themselves to remain in one factory for one or two years, or until the end of the Five Year Plan. The technique of this enterprise may with justice be described as unique. As the wagons of peat are required from the railroad they are transported to the factory roof on a mov- able platform that works on the electric ele- vator (inclined) system. Here they are emp- tied into huge bunkers which supply the fur- naces by means of an automatic feed. The electri is generated by two steam turbines (the two largest each having a capacity of 45,000 K. W.). This plant fulfills 70 per cent of the total electrical requirements of Lenin- grad and district. The conquest of peat, the overcoming of the “fluctuations” danger, the building up of a highly developed technique, these are given to serve as illustrations of the mighty revolu- tion that with giant strides is transforming Ru: from an agrarian to an industrial coun- , and which will guarantee to the proletar- iat conditions of work and a standard of living hitherto undreamed of. Today in Workers’ History October 25, 1857—Communist Club organ- ized in New York by F. A. Sorge and other Marxists. 1906—F. A. Sorge, last member of general council of First International, died. 1920—Terence MacSwiney, Sinn Fein mayor of Cork, died in 73-day hunger strike for independence of Ireland. 1925—Commu- nists increased seats from 20 to 43 in elec- tions to Berlin city council. 1926—United States Supreme Court declared Kansas strike to collect a miner’s wage claim unlawful. He Will Get Six Bucks I have been reading the Daily Worker for the past eighteen inonths—ever since 1 knew of its existence—but have never been able to get six bucks together for a year's sub and the premium. Enclosed is P. O. order for $1. Please extend my Daily Worker for another two months. sub Renew! On to 60,000. —H. P. A. The Evening WIPLOYMENT Tom, IT SURE IS 4 BRIGHT IDEA, HERB! HOWD You ever THINK OF 17-/ —DAILY—36 PAGES 10 NEW YORK, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1930 (New York World) 18: ‘Ergee Publishing Compeny tek te " “THREE CENTS U.S. URGES PART TIME FOR ALL WORKERS WHAT THE STAGGER SYSTEM MEANS FOR ALL WORKERS By HARRY GANNES ‘HE headline, reproduced from “The Evening World,” published on this page, tells the story of what Hoover’s stagger-system means for all the workers. On Oct. i1, three weeks before the Novem- ber elections, Hoover called his bunch of pro- fessional liars together to talk over “unem- ployment relief.” Relief for the unemployed immediately involves ‘he question of the bosses’ profits. It was necessary for the Hoover outfit to appear to be doing something in order to win workers’ votes. Hoover’s li previously had been that there was no ec nomic crisis, or if there was, he said, it would disappear in sixty days This line won’t wo: any more. ,So he had to admit the crisis and offer a “solution” for the unemployment, sit- uation. It is this “solution” that every worker must study and understand for it involves the en- tire workig class of the United States. In the committee that Hoover called together was Secretary of War Hurley. Hurley said he tried out a scheme whereby on war de- partment work he permitted the workers to work only half-time (with half wages), in order to put two workers on a job that could barely feed one. Hurley said this would be a good idea for all the workers. He called it the “stagger” or “part time system.” Hoover grabbed at the idea. So did the other boss representatives. It was a fine idea to put the entire burden of “relief” on the backs of the working class. It wouldn’t cost the bosses a cent to put two men to work at one job; make them work more time than one man would work, and pay them, together, less wages than one man usually earns on the same job. Then, too, it fitted right in with Hoover’s wage cutting drive. It would result in a direct wage cut for from 10,000,000 to 15,000,000 workers of any- where from one-third to a half. Those on the jobs barely get enough to live on now. Hun- dreds of thousands of workers are forced to aid in the support of some unemployed mem- ber of their family. Hoover’s “stagger sys- tem,” or as “The Evening World” puts it, “U. S. Urges Part Time For All Workers,” would result in these already low wages being slashed. This is just what the bosses have been after for a long time. Owen D. Young said the standard of living of the American workers must come down. The A. F. of L. fascist leaders have been doing their best to push the wage cut campaign along. Wage cuts were put into force in hundreds of plants. But the bosses were not satisfied. They wanted The Face ot the Socialist Party By KARL REEVE ‘HE political parties of capitalism, the re- publican, democratic and socialist, in the present campaign, compete with each other in assuring the working class and the laboring masses that evils of capitalism, the crisis of capitalist production, the large army of un- employed, the destruction of life, increased ex- ploitation danger of war, are accidents of bad administration, are the result of graft and corruntion of the other party. Political parties are a reflection of the econ- omic class interests they represent. There- fore, a capitalist party in power defends and protects the interests of the capitalists only. The foundation of capitalist society is robbery, exploitation, graft and corruption. This rob- bery and corruption is perpetrated by the re- publicans with the help of the democrats. Na- turally on a large scale, and locally—in the cities by the democrats on a small scale. The big financial and industrial capitalist despises the petty thief. In an age when whole con- tinents and the natural resources of our coun- try are stolen openly, the petty grafter looks puny and the capitalist resents the petty thief. He waxes indignant against this petty business because he glorifies larceny of the public do- main on a large scale. The socialist party feels ashamed of Gov- ernor Roosevelt that “He investigated repub- lican dereliction of state, but has steadily ig- nored all requests for investigation of the most direct and specific charges against Tammany In the political campaign, every capitalist party is exchanging empty promises for the votes of the workers and in good capitalist fashion, they are convinced that this vote should go to the highest bidder. The socialist party seeks to out-bid them all. the fact that “Political strategy has forced ‘the fact that “Political stratery has forced ism, but liberalism neither sincere nor intel- ligent, much less adequate to the demands of the times.” The socialists therefore seek to restore liberalism to its proper place. They try to go the democrats one better in their proposals in “assuring” the working class of a safe existence. The Democrats Pledge: “Creation of a commission to make a scien- tific study of unemployment in the state, in- cluding employment exchanges. “Unemployment insurance by a contributing’ fund and not a dole method. “Employment satistization through advance planning and proper timing of public construc- tion so as to take up the slack of private in- dustrial activity.” The Socialists Promise: “The establishment of additional state and city public employment offices in connection with a federal system, under strict civil ser- vice and adequately financed. . “State insurance against unemployment. “The immediate launching of public works on an extensive scale by the state, city, and county government, and the prompt introduc- tion of long range planning of all future public works.” Where is the difference between the demo- crats and the socialists? There is no differ- ence—not even in the language. At this time when the crisis is still deepening, unemploy- ment growing and the condition of the workers and poor farmers getting worse and worse, the capitalist class in order to preserve and increase its own power, uses all means to put the burden of the crisis on the shoulders of the working class. Only an active and mili- tant struggle of the masses can compel the capitalist, class to také any, measures to allev- iate the condition of. the unemployed even in _~* = the democrats to make some show of liberal- | the least degree. at least a 20 per cent wage trimming for all workers. As Sidney Lenz special Washington cor- respondent of the Journal of Commerce, ex- plained it, the idea had to be “sold” to the workers because it was a little bit raw in the way it reduced wages. He said, also, that it wouldn’t work in small plants. It must begin in the big industries, where at least 100 work- ers are employed. It would be put to work in the big steel mills, packing houses, large factories, in the auto plants, ete. It would be a smack in the eye to the great mass of work- ers whose wages are especially low and where they have no organization. : For the unemployed it would mean hard work plus starvation. The bosses would man- age to squeeze twice as much work out of them than the workers ordinarily do on the ground they were getting “relief.” Instead of it costing the bosses money in payment for unemployment insurance, this scheme of “re- lief” would suit them fine. money out of it! Here are some facts which every worker must keep in mind when reading the capitalist fake “relief” schemes. (1) The crisis is getting worse all the time and this winter production will be at the low- est level known in American history. The Annalist already says that its business index is far below the lowest point of 1921. Hoover and the bosses know this. That is why they form their “hunger and cold” committee and become so frantic to find a “solution” that will leave their profits intact. (2) The bosses and their government know the Communist Party is leading a militant, revolutionary struggle, demanding real unem- ployment insurance at the expense of the bosses’ swollen profits. They are mobilizing their forces against unemployment insurance. The chief function of the A. F. of L. conven- tion was preparing to help wage cuts and They would make Hail the Workers’ Sport Convention! 'HE National Executive Board of the Labor Sports Union issues the following instruc- tions and directives to the districts and sport clubs on the coming National Convention which will be held in Cleveland on November 1-8-9. 1. The Convention will be held at the Fin- nish Workers’ Hall, at 1303 West 58th St. (otf Detroit Ave.), Cleveland, Ohio. 2. The Convention will start promptly at 9 o’clock on Saturday morning, November 8th. Delegates who will arrive in Cleveland before Saturday should report to the Cleveland district office of the L.S.U. at: 1426 West 3rd St. Room 19, Cleveland, Ohio. Immediately upon arrival the captains of the delegations should get in touch with the Arrangements Committee for quarters for the delegates. 3. The National Executive Board asks that all delegates and visitors to the Convention at- tend the November 7th Celebration of the Rus- sian Revlution in Cleveland which will be held at the Slovenian Hall, at 62nd St. and St. Clair Ave. This will be held on Friday evening, November 7th. 4, The welcoming affair to the delegates attending the National Convention of the L,S.U. will be held on Saturday evening, at the Finnish Workers Hall, 1303 West 58th St. All friends and sympathizers of the workers sports movement are asked to attend. 5, The Convention and the delegations should be popularized. Delegations in private cars or chartered busses should carry banners: Here are a few suggestions: (1) Hail Fourth Con- vention of the L.S.U.. (2). Forward to the Workers’ Sports Convention. (3) Down with bosses sports—hail workers sports. (4) Down with Bosses’ Olympics of 1932—hail Workers Olympics of 1931, (5) Don’t wear the bosses sport uniform—join the L.S.U. (6) Organize trade union and factory sport clubs and teams. (7) On to Cleveland—to the Workers Sport Convention. (8) Equality for Negro sportsmen —no discrimination. (9) Negro and white sportsmen unite—join the L.S.U. (10) Build a mass workers sports movement—win the sportsmen from the A.A.U. 6. All trade unions, sport clubs, athletic teams, and workers organizations interested in sports and the workers sport movement— Elect Delegates to this Convention! Send cre- dentials and for information write to: Na- tional Office, Labor Sports Union, 96 Fifth Ave., New York City, N. Y. t bolstering up the exploiters’ fight against un- employment insurace. (3) On the other hand, the capitalists know they must “do something.” Elections are coming on and Hoover, with the support of the democrats and socialists must keep the workers from voting and fight “red.” _ His speeches showed this, and the actions of every capitalist politician in the country amply demonstrate this fact. On the other hand, the Communist Party points out, profits are being shelled out to the parasites by the millions. The New York City budget’s largest item, $196,000,000 was “profits” for parasite bond holders. Whether 9,000,000 men and women starve or not, these parasite bond holders get their dough. The U. S. government is spending over $1,000,000,- 000 for war preparations. Hoover returned over $300,000,000 in income tax to the big corporations, in which he and Mellon, secre- tary of the treasury, have large interests. The Communist Party says the boss class should be made to pay for “relief.” It demands this relief be adequate, a minimum of $25 per week for all unemployed workers, and that the unemployment insurance should. be under the control of a workers’ committee. To make up the necessary funds, the Communist Party’s Unemployment Insurance Bill demands that all incomes of $5,000 or over be taxed further, and that all fortunes of $25,000 or over be levied against. Hoover’s answer for the bosses system,” part-time for wage cuts. ‘ Only by struggle will the workers be able to defeat this dastardly attempt of the bosses who roll in wealth to place the burdens of the crisis on the backs of the workers in the mos‘ ->cn and brutal fashion ev.» proposed. is: “stagger all workers; wholesale By JORGE “Cooperative Christianity” In boozy Brooklyn there are strong survivals of what are known as “good people,” regular church goers perhaps. Anyway there are churches. And the whole pack of them have got together to corner the salvation market. The racket goes under the name of the “Brook- lyn Federation of Churches” and it publishes a paper called—“The Federation News.” This paper of the- Federation isn’t suitable for anything. No, not a thing. It’s filled with ads of scab laundries where Negro wom- en. are forced to work 10 and 12 hours a day at starvation wages and other such joints. But the Federation itself is busy. If the Communist Party is not doing its duty of or- ganizing the workers in factories of Brook- lyn, the same tardiness can’t be charged up to the Brooklyn Church Federation. God is going in for Shop Nuclei. And under the heading of “Factory Meetings” the Federa- tion’s paper of Oct. 12, says that God’s Board of Directors are holding noon-day meetings in the shops and factories of Brooklyn. The paper says it stands for “Cooperative Chris- tianity.” By which it means to cooperate with the bosses against the workers. These meetings are supposed to be about “Americanization.” But the paper gives the game away by saying: “In view of the activity of the Commu- nists among the factory and shop workers, something must be done to counteract the false impressions which these workers are | receiving of both the church and the state.” | “And the state”! Notice this! The preach- ers think it their business to explain that Tammany Hall is a divine institution and that Hoover derives his power from Heaven. One of the first things to ask these birds if they show up in your factory is what connection is there between the government and the churches and why. You might follow it up with some other ones like the following: Is the church responsible for the govern- ment corruption seen on every hand? Does God approve of the speed-up? Why is it that when His Children were starving in the wil- derness, it rained flapjacks, according to the Bible, while here and now it rains only black- jacks? How is it that some of the “idle” live in the best hotels and go to Palm Beach, while most of them live in tenements and get evicted if they can’ scrape up the rent? Can and does the speaker live on the same amount you get as wages? If we have a free country, tell us why the boss lets you speak to us at noon time without the least trouble, but calls the cops to arrest a Communist, who tries the same thing? There are lots more questions we leave to the workers to figure out, but the above will provide the hypocrite with something to chew on till the whistle blows. +. = ~ More “Insults” t We perceive that the “insult” epidemic has spread out like Spanish influenza and is now loose on the great plains of Oklahoma. Secretary of War Hurley was making a campaign speech at Oklahoma City, and the boss press tells us that when he was getting into an auto to leave for the railway station, two men out of a crowd that pressed around, began hurling questions at Hurley: “Why are you sending troops to China to fire on the workers?” was just one of the questions the boss press gives. But it says there were more like it. The press goes on to say that when Hurley refused to answer and told the chauffeur to step on the gas, one man shouted: “I know you didn’t have the guts of a yellow cur!” It adds that—“Police arrested both men.” It seems that they were expecting too much from a secretary of war. =? —_~ a decision to make a fight. Especially is this the case because the argument that was put up in other cities that we do not have enough comrades to put up a fight, does not hold true here. I believe, also, that it was incorrect for the Section Committee to instruct the Young Communist League to call off an anti-lynch meeting because the police did not give a per- mit. An important issue like 'this could have been dramatized by holding the meeting. A test meeting arranged by the I. L. D. and the American Civil Liberties Union flopped, be- cause after two were arrested, the Civil Liber- ties Union held the meeting in a private lot, By LOTTIE BARTON. Hae year the Communist Party of New Jer- sey has made much headway in reaching the workers by means of street meetings. In previous years we have had much trouble in getting police permission for street meetings and we must record that our Party did little or nothing in fighting for our rights to the streets. Even now there is reluctance on the part of the units and the Section Committee (Sec. 10, Newark) too, is slow in putting up a fight. Our experiences in most parts of New Jersey show us that now, when we are in the midst of an election campaign, when the capi- talist parties are a little careful of being branded as “partial” even against Commu- nists, is the right time to insist upon our rights as workers to the streets. Our exper- ience has shown that in most places the po- lice will give in when they see that we are det red to fight, although we must have no illusions about the fact that they let us hold meetings. We must at all times be.pre- pared for a struggle. In arranging for these meetings without permits, it is important that we have the capitalist press “expose” their masters. Especially in small towns, where most of the news is syndicated or else social, the papers will welcome a little “local” news. It was through properly using the local press, that we succeeded in drawing 10,000 workers to an open air meeting in New Brunswick, without distributing a single leaflet. Elizabeth. The State Election Campaign Committee ar- ranged ‘an open air meeting for Elizabeth. Two comrades were arrested and the chief of police made a statement that was printed in all the papers, that no Communist meetings would be permitted. We made a statement that the meeting would be held, permit or no permit. We came to the corner and fcund several police waiting. We started the meet- . ing, and continued for over 2 hours. Now in The Fight for the Streets in N. J. Elizabeth we call up the chief of police and inform him that we are going to hold a meet- ing, without going through further red tape. Meetings held here since have been successful, Thousands of workers of the Singer Sewing Machine Co. listen enthusiastically to our shop gate meetings. New Brunswick, The application for a permit here was re- fused by Chief of Police O’Connell.. We im- mediately made a statement declaring that we intend to fight for the workers’ rights to the streets. The papers printed it widely and 5,000 workers came to the meeting. Two com- rades were arrested before the meeting started but were immediately released since there was no definite charge against them. When we returned to hold the meeting, the crowd was still there. Tie fascist Veterans of Foreign Wars had, however, arranged to break up the meeting and started a fight during which many were beaten up. The police were con- spicuously absent from the meeting. For the next meeting we sent the police a written notification which was also sent to the press. The police stated that they would not inter- fere with the meeting! The veterans were again at the meeting. 10,000 workers came, too. We had another fight. At the third meet- ing the same thing occurred but the Veterans got such a beating that they decided to let up a bit. Party open air meetings have since been held in New Brunswick, Newark. For years we have had to hold meetings in the Newark parks because the chief of police told us that there was a police ordinance against street meetings. This in spite of the fact that the Salvation Army, republicans, democratic and socialist parties held. street meetings. The application for a meeting this year was at first denied. Here I believe that the Section Committee was slow in coming to and so the issue of meetings on the streets was completely covered up. The papers fea- tured the fact that New York professors spoke in a. Newark lot, when the police refused to let them talk on the streets. When the Civil Liberties Union lawyer insisted on trying the cases of the I. L. D. representative and the Civil Liberties Union separately, and as the judge’s decision was different in both cases, it became clear against which organization the police were fighting and also showed the dif- ference in the tnetics between the professors and the militant workers. Another meeting was arranged, this time without the liberals, and before that meeting, the campaign man- ager of the Party was given permits for street corner meetings! Jersey City. ? There has been a unit of the Party in Jer- sey City since the split with the S. P. Open air meetings, however, have never been held. The Section Committee kept putting us off be+ cause we “would not be able to follow it up, we do not have enough comrade-. etc,” The Young Communist League took’ the initiative in asking for a permit for an International Youth Day meet. It was refused. We replied that we intended to hold a meeting. We were called into the chief's office, and told that if we attempted to hold a meeting. we would all be given a ride. We made a formal appeal to the city commission and received a letter to go to see the chief. In tho meantime a statement was published by the Election Cam- paign Committee endorsing the youth meeting, and calling upon the workers to: attend the meeting. The campaign manager went to see the chief of police and was given a written permit for the meeting. atthe These experiences show: the importance of the fight for the streets. The argument that we haven’t the forces does ‘not hold water. It is through such meetings that we have been able to revive and get new elements into the movement, There is no reason that the forces cannot be so distributed so that we can follow up our successes. Failure to do this means a neglect of an important way to reach the workers: in the- election campaign.