The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 16, 1931, Page 1

i | ile ove } | The Unemployed Councils Are the Fighting Organizations for - Immediate Relief and Unem- ployment Insurance for the Unemployed Workers. Or- ganize Them Everywhere > (Section of > S atl the Communist Interna «Worker tional) WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! as Vol. VIII, No. 41 Entered am seecnd class matter at the Post Office Gpp21 at New York, N..¥. ander the act of March 3, 1179 NEW YORK, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1931 CITY EDITION Price 3 Cents A Triumph in Trickery E the great masses of toiling farmers needed another lesson as to. why they should unite with the wage workers of the cities in struggle against capitalism, they have received it in the form of a congressional enactment appropriating $20,000,000 under the Robinson-Hoover “com- promise” supposedly providing for farm “rehabilitation.” While this bill refers to farmers, yet it also has a lesson in it for the wage workers; and for both it should constitute a reason for mutual mobilization to make the demonstrations on February 25th, the Interna- tional Fighting Day Against Unemployment, an occasion-for combined action of the masses against, the government which imposes starvation upon the toiling masses of city and farm. For the “Drouth Aid” passed by Congress on Saturday, literally sen- tences thousands of farmers and their wives and children to death by starvation and its allied diseases. And those who miraculously escape death on the farms, face their utter ruin and precipitation imto the pauperized ranks of the city or country proletariat, adding to the already terrible conditions .of the working class as a whole. Congress has, under the most optimistic interpretation of the bill passed, and it is written with weasel words to allow any interpretation one may wish, appropriated $20,000,000 fo loan, to loan—-mind you!—to approximately 1,000,000 farmers! How far will $20 go in “rehabilitating” a farm? Fortunate indeed will be the pale and starving child of the farmer who has even the luck to pick up the grains of corn that may fall from the mouth of a “merciful mule”! Of the five million mulés in the United States, there are at the very least 1,000,000 in the drouth arya and $20 cach would not feed even them until Spring pasture arrives. Hence the $20,000,000 is a ridiculous insult to even the mules, which despite their “favored position” as “work stock” under the terms of the bill, are likewise sentenced to starve to death. But the capitalist government, in eclipsing all its previous records in chicane and hypocrisy, has, after a long and devious evasion such as the “changing” by republican leaders of Secretary Hyde’s telegram, ventured to “interpret” the bill as “not prohibiting” loans for “human food.” | How generous! If 1,000,000 farmers are starving, so are their fam- | ilies, a total of at least 5,000,000 people. And if the government, in the | fullness of its capitalist “mercy,” loans the entire $20,000,000 to the farmers for food alone, each of 5,000,000 famishing people will have an average of $4 (four dollars) to live on until about May at the earliest, when vege- tables might be available providing nature is bountiful, seed is available, the mules have not died and a number of other chance circumstances haye kept these people alive. This, of course, is an optimistic conjecture. For in the first place, the $20,000,009 will not be “averaged.” Those who need aid most will get absolutely nothing—not even $4. By the explicit provision of the bill not a cent will be given outright, It can only be borrowed as a loan, a loan around which Secretary Hyde has thrown such outrageous’ condi- tions that of the $45,000,000 appropriated months ago, for seed and fer- tilizer, ete., only less than half has been. allotted. To get a loan, a farmer has to have “adequate security,” and Secre- tary Hyde's famous “sympathy” will not be strained beyond the point of | security for the loan. The penny-pinching capitalist government, being good Christians, is enforcing the biblical law: “To him who hath it shall | be given; while to him who hath not, it shall be taken away even that , Which he hath’—his life. Those without security can die, that’s all! More, the cynical capitalist brutality in the treatment of the Negro is already apparent. The N. Y. Times, faithfully reflecting the attitude of the government, claims that “the Negro is sustained by his unfailing good humor” evidently needing no food, adding editorially that their “normal condition is not exactly prosperous”—so there is no cause to be concerned about them now. The whole rotten mess of capitalist starvation stinks to heaven with hypocrisy. It is thé same fake as unemployment “relief” that is wrecking the lives and crippling the bodies of countless millions of workers and their families. ‘The lesson in aM this is the crying necessity for a fighting alliance of the farmers and workers in. demand for real relief, adequate in fact and not in fancy, to sustain life and health. Demands to this purpose are contained in the proposal placed before Congress on February 10th by the National Unemployed Delegation. Around these demands all toiling farmers and workers, not one of whom is not threatened with starvation and ruin, not one of which has not been insulted by these fake “relief” schemes, should rally in insistent and militant demonstration on February 25th. Protest starvation by government decree! Demand adequate food, clothing and shelter f | the toiling masses! Don’t starve, fight! © Oct. 16 Delegation to Conduct Own Defense in Court Today NEW YORK.—The Tammany courts will again aim a blow at the hundreds of thousands of starving unemployed of ‘New York when they place on trial this morning Sam Nesin, Milton Stone, and Robert Lealess, leaders of the unemploy- ment demonstration at City Hall last Oct. 16. The three KK \vorkers have been denied jury: trial and are being tried before ee: judges in Special Ses- sions Court, Part 6, on charges of unlawful assembly, outrag- ng public decency and endan- rering public peace. Nesin, Stone and Lealess were ar- ested after being thrown out of a foard of Estimate meeting and sayv- gely beaten, Nesin nearly to the joint of death. The assault was in- {tigated by Mayor Walker who fell } 1! _Mill Inspection, A Wornout Myth From the New York “Times” | we learn that “A plea for labor to get behind her request for » twenty additional factory in- spectors was made by Frances Perkins, State Industrial Com- er.” E 220 additional factory inspectors won't change the in- tolerable conditions now exist- ing in the Daily Worker readers know that in- dustrial commissioners, factory inspectors and factory owners work hand in hand, and know, that only a militant fight Iced into a fit of fury when Nesin called the judges who had rajlroadéd Fos- ter, Minor, Amter and Reymond, leaders of last year's March 6 dem- onstration,. a gang of Tammany rafters. The “impartiality” of capi- talist justice is attested by the fact that the three workers are being tried by the same judges for whose denun- ciation they were attacked and ar- rested on Oct. 16, The New York District of the In- ternational Labor Defense, which is handling the case, has adopted a resolution in the name of its 15,000 The trial will mark a departure ‘in working class legal tactics in that by themselves will bring about sanitary conditions that are now unheard of in the mills, (60,000 circulation tips pg. 8) | g were mathine guns, shot guns, ri thrown, Insurance Bili and for immediate relief. tion for Bread 4 ve j Cs Se ihe ‘ Demonstra ‘ifles, pistols, clubs, tear gas and amm onia bombs. Note cop at the right clubbing dewn a worker. Tea Gas and Police Clubs Answer Los Angeles Jobless Ten thousand workers and unemployed workers demonstrated in Los Angeles February 10th in support of the Workers’ Unemployment A-series of police raids. pre ceded the demonstration but did not terrorize the jobless. The dem- onstration was attacked by 506 policemen and plain clothes men, aid ed by machine gun units of the militia, and by the fire department. Weapons which menaced the jobless and backed up the employers’ or der that they should starve to death if necessary to keep profits high, This picture shows one scene just after the gas was 2 Delegates Leaving On National Tour to Raise Funds NEW YORK.—Always in the van- guard of the needle trades workers, the dressmakers, a fighting and de- termined lot, are waiting impatiently for the Needle Trades Workers’ In- dustrial Union and their strike com- mittee to issue the strike call that wil! mean the beginning of the struggle to end slavery in the needle industry. ~ Confronted with constantly in- creasing speed-up, open as well as) underhanded wage-cuts, an unbear- able, long working day, the dress- makers, knowing that they have nothing to lose but sweatshop condi- tions and unbounded exploitation by their bosses, are waiting for the strike date that will send enthusiastic thou- sands into the picket lines in the united fight for a higher standard of living. Defy Wall Street, ‘The dressmakers have proved time and again that they will not suffer slavery at the hands of the jobbers who are backed by a few Wall Street financial interests. And never in the history of the needle trades in- dustry have the dressmakers been so exploited as they are today. ‘Within the past year alone their wages have been reduced 20, 30, 40 Dressmakers Wait Impatiently Shop Delegates Meeting Tonight at 66 E. 4th for Strike Call; CALL YOKINEN TO MASS TRIAL GROUNDS OF WHITE CHAUVINISM The District Committee of the C. P.|tensified struggle against all rem- U, S, A. District 2, issued the fol- nants of bourgeois race prejudices, as lowing statement on the mass trial) well as an occasion to effectively of Comrade Yokinen: demonstrate before the Negro masses About two months ago Negro work-|that the:Communist Party is the ers attending a dance given under! Only Party which actually champions the auspices of the Finnish Club! their struggles against oppression, in- (Harlem Branch) were confronted |Cluding the struggles against all such with an atmosphere of a violent |Nesro hating ideas as expressed by bourgeois race prejudices, and were|Comrade Yokinen, 3. The date of actually threatened with ejection by, the trial is set for March 1, 2:30 p. a group of rowdies. In the course of ™. at the Harlem Casino. 4." The the investigation of this disgusting|District Committee calls upon all affair Comrade Yokinen, a Party|™ass organizations to adopt resolu- comrade and a member of the club,| tions and elect delegates to the trial. expressed the rankest white chauvin- 5- All revolutionary mass organiza- ist sentiments. This comrade ex- ons should play an active role in pressed “fears” that if Negroes were preparation for the trial. 20 CIGAR MAKERS OUT ON STRIKE NEW YORK. — Twenty cigar mak- | ers struck at the Blum de Lux cigar shop at 40 East End Ave, Saturday, demanding no wage reduction, no discrimination, and recognition of the shop committee. Two are wom- en workers. They will have a picket line today at 7 a. m. The Trade Union Unity Council has come to their assistance. The management, although there | has been no organization in th shop now declares that he is running a “anion shop” and has signed up with the A. F. L. union. Jar efforts will be made to secure the active participation in the'trial of the largest number ‘of Negro workers’ or- ganizations. 7. The trial is to be preceded by a series of solidarity demonstrations against Jim Crowism throughout the city and especially in the Negro districts. 8. The prepara- tion for this trial is to be regarded as a most important immediate cam- | paign of the district which must be 6. Particu- linked up with all other campaigns. to be allowed to come into the pool room, they would soon come into the| bath-rooms and that he, for one, did} not wish to bathe with Negroes. In view of the fact that this is but one of a whole series of similar chauvinist incidents occurring in the recent period, especially in the mass organizations and among individual members of the Party fraction of these organizations, the Dist. Buro has decided: 1, To call a mass trial of Yokinen. 2. That the trial should be made a (CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO) TUTTLE, Okla.—A farmers’ meet- ing was held in the school house in Walden township, on Feb. 9. The schoolhouse was packed to the doors, many standing up. Workers had come out from Oklahoma City to show their solidarity with the farmers in their fight for better con- ditions, Hearty applause greeted the workers as they entered. Frank Brown talked on the pro. gram of the United Farmers League ard the , demands.to be presented to the governor and the State legis- | lature were discussed and adopted. Ten new members joined the’ league, including five women. The schoo] » Joined and took -the point of departure for a more in- Farmers to Come in Trucks to Oklahoma City for Feb. 25 ‘(By a Worker Correspondent) initiative in getting four other wom- en into the organization. In her talk she emphasized the need for action. Albert Pitt, worker, just out of the county jajl, talked on the bad prison conditions prevailing. C. L. Fuller- ton, another worker, showed need for solidarity between the workers and poor farmers . Both Pitt and Fuller- ton were jailed for fighting for the | interests of the workers. It was decided to go ahead with the organization of two truck loads of farmers from this section-to at- tend the demonstration at Oklahoma City on Feb. 25, Another meeting wjll be held out | Rush All The drive for the $30,000 Emer- gency Fund will be completed with the returns of the Red Shock Troop lists All organizations or individual workers who have not yet turned in money collected for the Daily Work- er should forward this immediately. Within the next few days we will publish the actual results of the cam- pajgen. These will show the income by districts and what percentage of the quota was reached by each dis- trict. ” ‘The circulation of the Daily Work- er is increasing by leaps and bounds. The workers are building up Red Builders Clubs and developing the means of getting the Daily Worker to the workers in the shops, factories, on the streets, in the workers’ or- ganizations and in their homes. The contents of the Daily Worker has showed marked improvement. In building a real mass circulation. The workers now have their real daily weapon with which to prepare, mob- jilize and organize the workers for | their struggles against the bosses. However, it is not suffjcient. We have pointed out the serious draw- Worker is the deficit which cannot ‘be met by the every day income. All } of our efforts ta: increasa, circulation a word the Daily is on the road of | | back, the actual danger to the Daily | Act On Red Shock Lists; Funds to Daily will be destroyed if we permit the to get the best_of us. That deficit can be overcome if we intensify our work in raising funds now’ for the DailyWorker. Send in those RedShock Troop Lists. Send in all money on hand due the Daily Worker. Rush all funds immediately to Daily Work- er, 50 East 13th St., New York Cjty. Workers’ Lives LUBBOCK, Tex., Feb. 15.—At pre- cisely the moment that the Vander- bilt University Medical School is warning against tularemia, a danger- our fever contracted from wild rab- bits, the united charities fakers in this city are engaged. in distributing wild rabbit meat as part.of the hun- ger rations allowed a comparatively few of the thousands starving un- ‘employed workers in this commu- nity. The medical school says of Tul. aremia: “This disease is very debilitating | financial crisis jn the Daily, ‘Worker Diseased Meat Hand Outs 300 Prepare to March| On Albany; Meeting On Wednesday NEW YORK. — Preparations are rapidly going through to completion for the hunger merch of 300 jobless workers to Albany, the state capitol, | to demand immediately unemploy- ment relief, and to further the fight for the unemployment insurance bill. | The march begins on.Thursday, Feb. 19th. A huge mass. meeting will be} called for Wednesday, February 18, to give these hunger marchers an! enthusiastic send-off. ‘The 300 hunger marchers will pass through Yonkers, Hudson, Peekskill, Poughkeepsie, Beacon, utchess Coun-! ty, Newburgh, Tarrytown,.Troy and| Schenectady. Unemployed Councils have been organized all along the route, and they will send delegations | to take part-in the march. Demon-/} strations and mass meetings will greet the marchers on their way to} Albany. Despite the fascist terror that has been shown against the unemployed in Yonkers, Newburgh, Tarrytown and other cities, the marchers will go | through with their meetings and stimulate the mobilization of Unem- ployed Councils. Food for the march, as well.as other preparations, is being provided | by the Workers-international Relief. | Tag days were arranged for Febru- ary 14th and 15th to collect the necessary funds for, the march. | | | Funds are still needed, if the work- | ers on the march are not to suffer hardships. Every worker must con- tribute. This march will rally trem- | endous support for the growing fight | | for immediate unemployment relief | | and unemployment insurance. | Make your contributions immedi- | ately. Send it today to the Work- | ers Center, 50 E. 13th Street, marked | |for the Hunger March. ‘There can |be no delay. Plans are all made. | The 300 workers begin their march Thursday, and every worker should do his part by aiding in donating for the expenses. YONKERS JOBLESS OUT ON FEB. 17TH 15,000 Unemployed In Industrial Town YONKERS, N. Y. — Calling upon | the 15,000 unemployed workers of this city the Unemployed Council has is- sued a call for a mass demonstra- tion on Tuesday, February 17 at 12 noon at Larkin Plaza and War-| burton Ave. In a leaflet issued to the jobless workers the Unemployed Council ex- poses the squandering of money by city graiters while the workers go about without any relief. The leaflet calls for the immedi- ate payment of the Tombstone bonus | for world war veterans and scores| the boss congress for their brutal disregard of the plight of the mil- lions of jobless workers. All unemployed workers sre urged | to attend this demonstration and/ bring along their friends and fami-| lies, Fight lynching. Fight deporta- tion of foreign born. Elect dele- gates to your city conference for protection of foreign born. Menaced by causing a great weakening of the body. It therefore assumes increas- ing importance from a public health standpoint.” The disease is very painful. There is no known cure for it. It is often fatal, even when contracted while the victim‘is in the best of health. To workers already weakened from hunger and privation, the disease is likely to prove fatal. This danger does not prevent the boss charity fakers, accustomed-as they are to | Bread Dutch supplies.” RED CROSS HIDES $44,000,000 AS UNEMPLOYED STARVE DEMONSTRATE FB. 25 AGAINST DELIBERATE STARVATION PROGRAM ADMIT 50,000 IN TEXAS DESTITUTE Wants Workers to Pay; Conceals Huge Fund for “Emergencies” Further proof that the employing class in the United States is using the misery of the 12,000,000 jobless to put through its war-making and wage-cutting program is seen in the refusel of the Red Cross to use its $44,000,000 fund for immediate relief. The Red Cross has been given charge of whatever crumbs of relief the na- tional government chooses to grant the starving. This alone is a war move, for the Red Cross is primarily part of the war machinery in every’ nation, U. S. not excepted. ‘The Red Cross admits in various | localities that there are masses of hungry and destitute—as, for in- stance, in a half-page advertisement in Texas papers, it states there are “50,000 Texans destitute,” and that "650,000 people in 21 states are de- pendent on the Red Cross for food, clothing and medical attention.” To Starve Them. But it is part of the game to feed only a few the swarm of starving jobless, and not to feed them much, lines are being cut down everywhere, and arranged so that only one sandwich a day goes to the hungry. The plot is to starve these unemployed workers good and plenty, even though it kills some of them, i norder to make scabs of them, and to make soldiers of them in the com- ing war. The idea is that actually starving men, with the cries of their hungry wives and children in their ears, will welcome work at a wage- cut and welcome the chance to get into the army and fight their fellow- workers in other countries. Further proof of this is contained in an article in the “Nation,” a weekly magazine committed to “lib< eral” not revolutionary policies, The Nation declares that an in- spection of the Red Cross accounts shows they have $44,000,000 on hand in an “emergency fund.” ‘They are not spending this for the jobless, in- stead they are making a drive to force the low paid workers who still have jobs to dig up what funds are to be used for the unemployed—they want merely to spread starvation, not relieve it, When the editors of the Nation asked Payne, director of the Red Cross, what he considered, an “emergency” durin gwhich he would spend the millions of dollars he has on hand, he tried to deny having the money. Only a presentation of pub- lished figures by Mr. McClintock, vice-chairman of the Red Cross, in charge of finance, drove him under cover, It did not loosen up any of the $44,000,000, Mass pressure alone will get the food that millions need to save their lives now. All the demonstrations en Feb, 10 in support of the Workers’ Unemployment Insurance Bill passed resolutions pledging a bigger demon- stration Feb. 25, International Fight~ ing Day for the unemployed and wage-cut workers. Prepare these demonstrations! Build the Councils of the Unemployed! U.S. OIL MEN SEE 5-YR PLAN SUCCESS NEW YORK.—Further admisston of the success of the Five-Year Plan is made by American oil men, accord- ing to J. D. Tompkins who, in an article in the boss press, expresses the changed viewpoint of the big oil interests as follows: “Cniil a few months ago oil men were inclined to disparage the sug~ gestion that Russia might upset world siabilization of oil supplies and markets outside of the United States. Today this viewpoint has changed. The realization is grow- ing that Russia must be considered as most decidedly a pert—a large part—of the world picture.” Moreover, as Tompkins admits: “The inference is inescapable that Russian oil is supplanting Anglos sh tina sl