The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 24, 1931, Page 1

= ee ye et ee Ae & GHESRATGssSAERSata sVSESS naar ehh” z SEES E REESE BE De A Worker in New York City. Collected 1,750 Sigr-tures by His Own Efforts. Many Smaller Cities Have Not Reached This Total Yet Dail Central ~Comn Norker unist Party U.S.A. (Section of the es sing iol WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! Vol. VIII, No. 22 Entered a» second-class matter at the Post Office at New York, N. ¥., under the act of March 3, 187° <4 NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 24 CITY EDITION The Hunger Government AST September, after a detailed “survey,” county by county, of the drouth-stricken regions, President Hoover announced that, while there was shortage of forage for cattle and horses, there was “no shortage of human food.” Today, the truth is beginning to come out. And the truth, the ghastly truth, is that famine and death hovers over hundreds of thousands, per- haps millions—the number is not confessed by those responsible—through- out the 17 states affected by the drouth. Little glimpses of the truth are permitted—now—in the effort to cover up by Red Cross “charity” the crime of the capitalist government which, to save some corporation taxes, to be able to “refund” taxes already paid, deliberately and consciously insisted that starvation, death, pellagra and typhoid, be turned loose among the poor farming population. This situation is not famine—but murder, murder of the people by a government which no more represents their interests than does a rattle- snake “represent” the interests of the victim into which it has set its fangs! “The State Health Officer of Kentucky made a survey as far back as last July, and estimated that 500,000 people would starve this winter if aid were not given. And please note that the State Drouth Board, according to a Louisville dispatch published in the N. Y. Times of Jan. 19, found that this estimate was correct last September. What was done about it? Exactly nothing! Hoover was saving taxes for the capitalist class! Again; it is admitted now, at this late date, that in seventy-three out of eighty counties in Mississippi “the people are suffering severely,” while in Texas and other states not as yet “in the news,” great masses of poor farmers, tenants and share croppers, are literally starving, some are eating roots and bark, with pestilence in the form of typhoid and pellagra threat- ening literally thousands upon thousands with death! ‘This in “prosperous America!” The “richest country on earth!” And {t 1s, but not for the masses; only for the few! With good reason all the big capitalists endorse Al Smith’s appeal to “forget politics” in rallying around the pretense of “relief” by contributing to the Red Cross. It was the choicest kind of capitalist politics which prompted J. P. Morgan & Co., in reply to Al Smith, to give every bit of $50,000, just think of such “generosity” on the part of J. P. Morgan! Essentially, the same murderous hypocrisy is being given the head- lines about the farmers as about the unemployed. Hoover's “Conference to Maintain Prosperity” of November, 1929, with its “No discharge of work- ers” and “no wage-cuts,” is equally hypocritical as Hoover’s “Drouth Re- lief Commission” which at first saw “no shortage of human food” and, after appropriating $45,000,000 to loan to banks at 3 per cent so these banks could re-loan to farmers that can give security at 8 per cent and 9 per cent interest, refuses to do anything at all until the sacred cow of taxes is threatened, then shoves the job to the Red Cross, which is openly an accomplice in mass murder. But the hunger government is not going to escape by all this sneaking evasion. Hoover may, of course, feel quite safe. But the armed farmers of Arkansas, who demanded food and forced it to be given; and the starving unemployed of Oklahoma City who swept the shelves of grocery store clean before the law that said they must go hungry could stop them, are going to be multiplied like the leaves of the trees unless something is done to give real relief instead of hypocritic promises. It is not in the nature of American workers or farmers to starve quietly and peaceably to death in the midst of plenty. And the sooner the hunger government of Hoover finds that out the better. Both starving farmers and jobless workers should unite in struggle for real relief; the poor farmers for full government compensation for ‘Uo. crop lossamet year, the unemployed for the Unemployment Insurance Bill. Both should rally to the demonstrations for real relief to be held the nation over on February 10. Both will learn, through struggle, that capitalist government is always a government of hunger for the masses, and that only by its overthrowal can the masses insure themselves against starvation with their own Work- ers’ and Farmers’ Government. Men, Women and Children Mass Picketing at Hillman Co. Mine PITTSBURGH, Pa., Jan. 23.—Miners in the Hillman Coal and Coke Mine Edna No. 2, mine, went on strike. The strike was 100 percent effective. Mass picketing is going on, and pickets include women and children who prevent anyone from going into the mine. A picket line at 2 a. m. stopped the night Rae eee I ae SPECIAL ELECTION aE salle Raphi slew SIGNATURE DRIVE by the coal and iron police. BROOKLYN, N. Y.—Every worker is called upon to cooperate with the Communist Party Section 6 to collect signatures to place the Party of the working class on the ballot in the special congressional election which Six special deputies and con- stables were called in by the company in an attempt to smash the militancy of the strikers. Young miners are very active. A strike re- lief committee was elected and is collecting relief funds from nearby will take place on Feb. 17. The Communist Party must collect in the 7th congressional district 2000 signatures to be able to participate in the coming election. Every worker is called upon to come iSaturday from 1 p: m: to help us eollect signatures at 61 Graham Ave., Sunday morning at 10 a. m. mem. ibers of the Williamsburgh Workers’ Club, Womens Council, Y.C.L. and Party members are called upon to ome to the section headquarters for special election campaign mobil- zation. Only four days remain to place the y on the ballot. Every worker ust take his place in the struggle. fthe duty of every class conscious fworker is that of placing the Com- unist Party on the ballot. ) PLENTY OF TIME FOR WAR ARMING GENEVA, Jan. 23.—To give the im- st governments plenty of time | o prepare for war against each other d against the Soviet Union, the so- illed League of Nations’ arms parley as been set for January, 1932, "| mittee of 49. mines. The strikers are arranging an affair for relief at Herminie No. 2 hall Saturday. Call Other Miners Out. ‘The company announced the clos- ing of the mine for 30 days in an at- tempt to starve the strikers. They refuse to deal with the strike com- They insist on dealing with each miner individually, but the men unitedly refused, The striking miners, together with the district organizer of the Mine, Oil and Smelter Workers Industrial Union issued a call to all Hillman mines to join the strike to stop wage cuts. The strikers demands are‘ 1) With- drawal of the wage cut, and increase to ten per cent above the old scale; 2) recognition of the miners’ commit- tee; 3) no discrimination or dis- charge of any miner active in the strike; 4) abolition of associate fund; \5) abolition of forced dealing in com- pany stores; 6) drivers and daymen » work every day when coal loaders are working. Workers and Workers Organizations! Support the Dressmakers Strike! NEW YORK.—The dressmakers are about to strike. Thousands of them are slaving under the most appalling conditions, The bosses, in partnership wiih the company union, are doing everything possible to Increase the misery of the workers. Sweatshop conditions are changing jlaily from bad to worse, The dressmakers must strike against slavery. ‘he Needle Trades Workers’ Industrial Union is mobilizing the workers jor a strike. The strike of the dressmakers must be supported by the workers in i other industries. The victory of the dressmakers will help all other yorkers in their struggles. Help the dressmakers’ strike! Send in contributions to the Needle rades Workers’ Industrial Union, 131 W. 28th St. Every individual forker and every workers’ organization should answer this call! | 2,000 HUNGER MARCH THRU PATERSON Fake Mee nales Close When Jobless Take to the Streets PATERSON, N.J., Jan. 23—-Twenty- five hundred workers today demon- strated at the Court House to back up their committee presenting de- mands of the unemployed to the county authorities. From headquar- ters of the Unemployed Council the workers marched to the Court House, where their delegation of nine pro- ceeded to the meeting of the County Board of Freeholders and presented the demands that had been formu- lated at a conference held a few days ago. Pace, in the name of the confer- ence, presented the demands, Gold- berg spoke in the name of the Un- employed Council, Rubin in the name of the National Textile Workers’ Union. Vafiadis, section organizer of the Communist Party, when attempt- ing to speak, was denied the floor but got it later. The demands put forth were: 1—All salaries shall be cut down to $2,000. 2.—$1,500,000 be taken from the budget. 3.—That the $3,500,000 appropriated for building county jails and $25,000 set aside for fighting mosquitoes shall be handed over for unemployment re- lief. 4.—That all public buildings be opened up to shelter the unemployed. 5.—$12 for each jobless worker per week, and $4 more for each depen- dent. In answer, the delegation was in- formed that “the board has no au- thority to make such changes.” March Through City. Leaving the Court House, the dele- gation spoke to the mass of workers assembled before the Court House. Rubin, Taft, Silverman and others | spoke. Then they marched 15 blocks through the city, passed the office of the Unemployed Council and the fake “food distribution” office to the union hall of the National Textile Workers’ Union. The directors of these of- fices locked them up when they saw the jobless coming. Three or four hundred workers gathered in the hall, held a meeting there. 25 joined the Unemployed Council, 100 signatures were procured and considerable lit- erature and Daily Workers sold. Fifty workers went by truck from Passaic to Paterson to participate in the demonstration. Price 3 Cents Jobless Will Starve Before ‘|DRESS WORKERS, LED Hoover’s Wheat Reaches Them The need for mass mobilization tol pass the Workers Unemployment In- surance Bill and to force local gov- ernments to grant immediate relief was never so cledr as now, with the blasting, almost as soon as they bloom, of one after another of the Hoover fake relief schemes. The latest of these growths is the bill approved by the Senate Agricul- tural Committee, to authorize the Federal Farm Board to make avail- able 20,000,000 bushels of the wheat bought with federal funds months ago, and use it to provide food for the starving unemployed. Presumably the idea is to hand out the wheat in paper bags through the police de- partment and the Salvation Army breadlines, and let the hungry chew it dry. Anyway, no appropriation for grinding, milling, and baking it into bread is in sight. Nothing To It. But even wheat to fill your pockets with is a false hope, as the Journal of Commerce points out in its issue of January 22, The Journal of Com- merce represents real big capital, and the editors know that the average worker never sees it. So they can af- ford to be frank. They say: “As a method of providing relief, the plan is thoroughly undesirable. The organizations that are engaged in feeding the hungry will not, it is Speed the I Drive forl Signatures to Bill for Insurance! sincerely to be hoped, place much re- liance upon the aid that might be} rendered by the Farm Board after| it had set up a distributive organi-| zation to deliver such wheat and to see to its conversion into flour, charg- ing the expenses to others. By the time that the necessary arrangements had been perfected it is probable that those who had not already been re- lieved would have starved to death, The fact is that the proposal can- not be seriously considered as a re- lief measure. It is an old plan in a new guise for getting rid of Farm Board surpluses.” Get Signatures! There you have it, from capitalism itself. There is going to be starva- tion, death for the jobless. If any relief is obtained by the 10,000,000 hungry unemployed, they will have to take it. They will have to enorm- ously speed up he collection of sig- natures for the Workers Unemploy- ment Insurance Bill. They will have *o arrange mass demonstrations in all cities on February 10, the day the bi! is presented to Congress. These demonstrations must be so big they can not be disregarded, must be so militant that their demands will have to be considered! The National Campaign Committee for Unemployment Insurance has is- sued the followin special call: “All workers, all oranizations which have participated in the drive for signatures for the Unemployment In- “Do not stop collecting your signa tures, collect more than ever before, | but mail all filled lists in your pos- session to us. “All workers’ organizations are called upon to send in their collec- | tive endorsements of the Bill, stating in each instance how many members in the organization. “There are a number of national | workers’ oranizations which have not | yet endorsed the Bill and sent such endorsements to us. These oraniza- tions, like the International. Labor Defense, the various national unions and leagues of the Trade Union Unity ‘League, are requested to mail their | endorsement and the number of members in the national! organization | which gives this endorsement. “All local and district organizations | of the T. U. U. L. are requested to | mail to us all filled lists and collec- tive endorsements they have in hand.” Red Cross Helps Bosses Save Money at Expense of Jobless To give the American workers and farmers the kind of “relief” that led 500 Arkansas farmers with arms in their hands to storm grocery stores to keep their familiés from starving, the chief liar of the American boss government, Hoover, has started his publicity organization working to get $10,000,000 for the Red Cross slop houses, Forced to admit that millions are starving because of the bankruptcy of the capitalist system, Hoover has enlisted every strikebreaker and enemy of the workers to appeal for Red Cross funds. Among those who are in Hoover's charity begging out- fit to keep the workers from fight~ ing for unemployment insurance, are ex-President Coolidge, the democratic candidate for president, Al Smith, who made millions out of the Bank of United States crash; Mary Pick- ford, movie actress; the chief imper- ialist cloun, Will Roers, and Judge John Barton Payne of New York who is the head of the Red Cross Jim- Crow organization. Textile Worker Aged 70 Gets 475 Signatures in Three Days NEW BEDFORD, Mass., Jan. 23.— In New Bedford the signature drive has just got under way. At the un- employment conference a quota of 2,000 signatures was set for the city. Already over 1,250 signatures have been collected by a few energetic workers who have turned them over to the city committee of the unem- ployed. One of those most active in col- lecting signatures for the Workers’ Insurance Bill is an unemployed tex- tile worker of some 70 years of age. As soon as he was approached with a list he stated “Why that’s one of the best things started yet, give me about 50 of those lists and in two days he returned with 325 names. The very next day he returned with another 150 signatures and he is still on the job daily. “Why, it’s the easi- est thing in the world to get signa- tures. When I stop to talk to one worker on the street immediately a large group gathers around me and they are all eager to sign; why I'll have 1,000 names collected before the week is over.” In this spirit he goes from house to house, approaching every worker he meets on the street, approaching every worker at the factory gates. He has also visited a number of clubs in the city, where he has left lists and made arrangements to come back for them after the membership has signed them. Another has also collected over 200 names himself, by going not only to the factory gate but also to the docks, where the seamen were very eager to sign the petitions. In this way not only will the quota be reached by Feb. 1, but the workers of New Bedford will go over the top. Lack of Funds Stops Daily Worker Presses, Distribution Crippled $30,000 FUND MUST BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION! While the government can find $2,- 000,000,000 in tax-return presents for the bosses and their big corporations, and easily puts its hands on $1,000,- 000,000 for war preparations, it is re- fusing to give one penny for unem- ployment relief to the 10,000,000 American workers without_jobs.. The Red Cross drive for $10,000,000 will be made in the shops and mills and in reality will be forced on the | workers now employed and whose wages have already been cut $9,000,- 000,000. The entire press and publi- | city machinery of the country 1s being put into use to put over this $10,000,000 Red Cross drive, but the | unemployed workers will not be fed} by it. | men WORKERS (CO! WITH FA SCISTS, 3 Young “Communists of Budapest. Tortured BERLIN.—Last night ferce colli- sions between workers and fascists occurred at an indoor mass meeting, in Griedrichshein Hall. Over a hun- dred were injured. Police arrested fort”, Workers faced the fascists with “7s, tables, etc. The hall was devastated. Today in Chemnitz, the Premier, Bruening, was welcomed, the masses o. unemployed greeted him with shouts of “down with the govern- whistles and catcalls. Even should the entire sum be used | for relief, it would not feed the 10,- | 000,000 unemployed for more than al The fact is, however, that tne | big publicity organization will be | paid; the directors of the Red Cross will get heavy salaries out of it, and | what is left will be handed over to | soup kitchens where the workers will be treated like dogs if they come for food. This is capitalism’s answer to the demand for bread. Workers! Don’t stand for it! Or- ganize and fight for immediate re- lief locally, at the expense of the boss governments and for unemploy- ment insurance. / ONE WHO Sats wo W cap TaLsT Site? 19 een ons | Taonitaatons | 2 —= in their respective districts and towns, | pulice protected Bruening. Budapest reports the arrest of Communists, Revai, Gecrcoeg and Gaydo: presidium. Revai was tortured for four days, beaten on his foot soles, no doctor was permitted, although | the victi msuffered from heart at-} tacks. ORGANIZE TO END STARVATION; DEMAND RELIEF! | » twenty were sent to the hos- «; Many | who were tortured in police | Stop Firing, Recogn shop, at 157 West 26th Street, Needle Trades Workers Industr Two days ago the shop fire 3 MEN DASHED T0 GROUND ON JOB 'Seaffold Breaks; Two | Killed, One Injured NEW YORK.—Two workers were | killed when a scaffold at 48th St. and | 34th Ave. in Jackson Heights, was broken, due to the crumbling of the building. | The brick on the building was laid | yesterday and had not yet dried. The stenes were put upon the wet brick, causing the wall to fall, and the workers were dashed to the. ground with the falling brick. They were | unearthed by their fellow-workers. Two of them were dead and the third severely injured. The scaffold upon which the work- | ers were working was condemned two | weeks ago by the safety men, but the foreman had forced the workers to continue on the same rotten scaffold. Charlie, the foreman of the bricklay. ers, is continually shouting and yell- ing at the workers to work faster and | more efficiently. He keeps yelli Let of workers: walking the streets, you know what you'can do. NT FREIHEIT BALL TONIGHT AT || MADISON SQ. GARDEN The Madison Square Garden will be painted red tonight. It is the night of the annual Morning Frei- |{ heit Ball, an affair famous in the ranks of militant worke1 From |} all over New York and nearby }} towns workers flock in the thou- sands to this affair. A big, brass band, singing, dancing and enter- tainment will feature the affair. This ball will turn into a huge demonstration for our Communist press. This year the workers will answer, more than ever before, the call, and. will challenge, by their attendance, the attacks of the in- famous Fish committee. Hoover Suppresses Report of 9,000,000 WASHINGTON, Jan. 22.—Hoover is suppressing a report showing there are more than 9,000,000 unemployed in the United States. This report is now in the hands of Col. Arthur) Woods, head of the so-called Emer- gency Unemployment Relief Com- mittee. Efforts made by the Federated Press to get a copy of this report have proven fruitless. The report was based on inquiries made in all parts of the United States by the staff of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co, They were instructed to report on the unemployment totals and the amount of part-time unemployment Power was shut off for 4 hours in the building of the DAILY WORKER office and shop because there was no money to pay the electric bill. Lack of funds to pay immediate obligations stopped the linotype machines and the presses, plunged the editorial of- fice into darkness. Comrades, this incident illustrates the need for com- pleting the $30,000 Emergency Relief Fund immediately. There must be no reoccurence of Thursday’s disaster. Nor is this danger over. The DAILY WORKER appears today because it was found possible to borow $700 required to pay the electrical company. This money must be repaid by tamoroy morning or there will not be sufficient funds to cover other pressing obligations and the Daily Worker may be forced to suspend for a day or more. Money must be rushed to save the DAILY WORKER. Every Party member and every class conscious worker must take upon himself the immediate task of liquidating the $30,000 Fund. You will find the Red Shock Troops Coupon on page 3. Use it now. Send whatever you can. Make contributions regularly while the emergency lasts. Point out to every worker you know the need for saving the DAILY. Only such mass action can save this fighting organ of the working class. Send all funds to the DAILY WORKER, 50 East 13th Street, New York, N. x your friends, Jobless in U.S. amily renee report, according to people who have seen it, indicates there are more than 9,000,000 workers in this country without jobs, and that the part-time employment is far greater than ever before estimatted—running into the millions. When Hoover heard of this report he gave strict orders that it should not be made public under any condi- tions. This shows how the bosses’ government attempts to keep from the workers the facts about increas- ing unemployment. The Daily Worker, months before showed that the unemployed were 9,- 000,000 and is now over 10,000,000, The Daily Worker, ever since the crisis began, has been giving as accurate figures on unemployment as possible from all the data available. MEETING IN BORO HALL ON SUNDAY Lealess and Stone Wiil Speak BROOKLYN.—A mass protest meeting will be held Sunday after- noon at 2 p. m. at the Borough Hall Unemployed Council, 15 Myrtle Ave., Brooklyn, to mobilize all forces to protest against the railroading of Nessin, Lealess and Stone. These workers dared to ask Mayor Walker for bread for the unemployed work- ers and they received a brutal beating in true Tammany style. Bob Lealess and Stone are sched- uled to speak at this meeting. The trial will be at Lafayette and Leon- ard Sts. at 9 o'clock on Monday morning, Jan. 26. Show the grafters that the workers are awake, Bring be BY INDUSTRIAL UNION, WIN STRIKE IN “E & G” Stop All Production in Fight Against Wage Cut; Mine, Oil and Smelter Workers Union | Calls to Strike Other Hillman Mines surance Bill are called upon to send | | in all filled signature lists at once. | Walk-Out Hundred Per Cent; Force Firm to ize Shop Committee NEW YORK. — The workers of the E. & G. Dress, an open have won their strike and the bosses were compelled to submit to all the demands of the ial Union. two workers who were mem- >bers of the Industrial Union. The answer was a strike called by the N. T. W. I. U., to which the entire shop responded 100 per cent. This splendid demon- stration of strength compelled the bosses to recognize the shop commit- tee and the shop chairman, and to consent that henceforth prices will be settled not at the whim of’ the bosses, but by the shop committee. The Needle Trades Workers Indus- trial Union is at present conducting strikes at the Nagler and the Atlas dress shops. The workers of these shops are determined to enforce union conditions. Strike Activities. ‘The General Strike Committee held its first meeting Thursday night and has taken up very important ques- tions in connection with the coming strike in the dress trade. The Gen- eral Strike Committee has decided to call upon all the workers in the needle trades to immediately pay up the $5 tax and to make contributions to the $15,000 strike fund. The strike committee is also set- ting in motion the general strike ma- chinery. All the members of strike committee will participate in the open | air meetings called for Sunday in all | Sections of the city. A call will be issued to all workers to support the dress strike. That this call will receive the proper response is already evident by the preparations | being made in all workers organiza- tions for the January 31st confer- ence. The conference of workers’ organi- zations to as the dressmakers in their coming strike will be truly rep- resentative of thousands of workers’ | Organizations who will send their del- egates to the session at Webster Hall, on January 31, at 2 p.m. This ‘con- ference will decide on ways and means of how best to assist the dress- makers in their strike. WOMEN MEET AT PLAZA TODAY Today the working women’s con- ference on International Women’s Day will meet at Irving Plaza to plan a mass campaign to organize the working women for struggle against unemployment, wage cuts, high rent, the high cost of living, and the war plans of the bosses against the Soviet Union, the only country where the working women have won real equality. The bosses set aside Mother's Day, which is intended to fool the work- ing women into believing that the bosses have any regard for mother- hood. The revolutionary working class movement has set aside March 8th as International Women’s Day, which symbolizes the struggle of the work- ing women against exploitation. In- ternational Women’s Day is the day on which working women of the en- tire world demonstrate their interna- tional solidarity against capitalism. Workers from shops and working women's organizations are called up- on to send delegates to this confer- ence, Active NewsClub in Galveston, Tex. Galveston, Texas, is making a dent with the latest Red Build- ers’ News Club, According to A. W. McBride, members are “going from door to door, sell- ing the daily on the docks, com- Presses, cotton warehouses, on the streets, in the stores, small business shops, in restaurants, rooming houses, in the jail, any place’ we can get to the unem- ployed or employed worker.” A striking example of what can be done with Red News Clubs. Unemployed workers should join up, carry on this important work and earn their expenses, (60,000 circulation flashes page 5.)