The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 17, 1931, Page 4

Published by the Comproaafly Publishing CO., me, Gatty 6: w York City. Page Four reet, Ne N. Y. Telephone Algonquin 7956-7. Cable: Sunday, at 50 East DAIWORK.” all checks to the Daily Worker, 50 East 13th Street, New York, N. ¥. Dail Ere Party US.A SUBSCRIPTION RATES? Foreign; one year, $8 By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months $3; two months, $1; excepting Borough pt Manhattan and Bronx, New York Ctiy. + six months, $4.50. ~ DRESSMAKERS! ON. TO VICTORY! . HYMAN. today! This by the bo: are starvin| season to the dressmakers work? ues We thot ximum, but we were ion we get we have and even though they work such can’t make more than $10 to $1 have to slave for the jobbers, tors, and sub-contractors. the -contractor turns one worker, who hires other A contractor, for in- sing to one presser for the contractor. Need- is of these helpers are m prevails among the One operator works with cutter with many assistants. Un we knew that operators were fore-1 to make a dress for 30 cents, 25 cents and even less. But now we hear that dresses are svttled by the dozen. And the prices are all, so insignificant, that if we will let uation continue the time will not be far off when the contractors will demand a reward for the privilege of allowing dressmakers to wor® in the shops. Sisters and brothers, you know that we have not exaggerated a bit, we have not pictured your plight darker than ‘it is in reality. We couldn't if we wanted to, On the contrary, your conditions are so miserable, so painful, that it is impossible to express it in words. Speak to aker you will, you will hear the same It's unbearable, the cup of suffering is filled to the brink. The dressmakers have been crushed by the agents of the company union. The company union has betrayed them, misled and sold them out. The company union carried through a fake strike last year, a strike that organized the bosses into associations and disorganized and demoralized the workers. The company union vorks hand in glove with the associations to worsen the conditions of the dressmakers. the company union demands from the associa- tions and the bosses is that they force the dressmakers to pay dues and taxes—and then him and not dir Jess to si terrible. operators a many helpers, one All | are forced to work 60- | helpers who work for | y can do with the -workers whatever they please. All this is the Teal truth. But the dressmak- have got to understand that by cursing the ompany union or by pouring out their hearts to one another, the situation will not be changed. Moaning and sobbing will not help the dress- | makers. The only remedy against long hours, miserable wages, against the sweat shop sys- tem and against inhuman treatment—is for the dressmakers to abandon work. in. unison, member, your lot lies in your own hands! Fight- ing unitedly, the dressmakers can put an end to their misery and suffering. Sister and brother dressmakers, the bosses and their agents of the “International” are try- ing to intimidate you with all kinds of threats, warning you not to strike, Remember, they ure all your enemies. Out of your sweat and blood they have become rich. And the longer you let them exploit you the richer they become and the poorer you get. The bosses and their agents tell you that when you strike you lose wages. But how many weeks wages do workers lose in the time when they are unemployed? How much do they lose because of wage cuts? A dress- maker must now work 3 weeks in order to earn what he used to make in one week. The appetites of the bosses are insatiable. Even the meagre wage they pay to dressmakers for their drudgery is too much for the bosses. They are trying to exploit and degrade the dressmakers still more. Will you act like hope- less creatures and let your bosses exploit you so ruthlessly? You dressmakers were the first to raise the | banner of revolt against inhuman conditions in the needle industry. You were the first to estab- lish a union, in 1909, when the cloakmakers and the meng clothing workers were still unorgan- ized and slaved under the most appalling con- ditions. You have been struggling long years, both against the bosses and against the Schles- inger company union, and through unity, cour- age and self-sacrifice,. you once forced the bosses to establish the 40-hour 5-day week and more or less tolerable conditions. Will you look on idly and see youtself sinking deeper from day to day into this new abyss? No! We can’t believe it! We are sure that the dressmakers will respond to the cz!l of the Industrial Union and go on strike fighting now as they did in 1909 and in the subsequent strikes. An end to slavery! No more misery and starvation! An end to mistreatment and insults fom the bosses and their foremen! The hour of struggle for bread, for organiza- tion, for freedom, has struck! Down with the sweat shop conditions! Dressmakers, answer thé call of the strike! Not a wheel shall turn dufitig the strike! On to struggle! ‘On to victory! Forward, Dressmakers, to Strike and Victory! By I. WEISSBERG. t HE hour has now approached when you are called upon to stand up and fight against slavery and starvation! Too long have you been paid starvation wages by your jobbers, manufacturers and contracturs! Too long have ycu suffered unbearable speed- up and long hours! Too long have you allowed yourselves to be terrorized by the I. L. G. W., the agent of the bosses! You cannot and will not permit them to, re- duce you to the state of beggars! True to the fighting tradition of dressmakers, you will rise like one man an@ in united ranks, march forward in the struggle for recognition of the Industrial Union, guaranteed minimum wages, a 40-hour 5-day week, equal pay for equal work for young and old, men and women, white and Negro dressmakers. Dressmakers, unite your ranks, all of you, members of the I. L. G. W. and of the N. T. W. I. U,, organized and unorganized. Join hands, all of you, in the struggle to abolish misery and establish decent conditions! Under the leadership of the Needle Trades Workers’ Industrial Union, dressmakers will strike and win better conditions for themselves. Under the leadership of the Needle Trades Workers’ Industrial Union, dressmakers will strengthen their forces for the struggle for week work and the seven-hour day, five-day week. Long live the Needle Trades Workers’ Indus- trial Union! Forward dressmakers, to strike and victory! To All Members of the “International” (I. L. G. W. U.) COMPANY UNION On Wednesday, February 11th, thousands of dressmakers met, at Lincoln Arena and unani- mously voted for a strike in the dress industry! Sisters and Brothers: The misleaders of the “International” Your bosses warn you against the coming dress strike. They are trying their best to persuade you to scab when the dressmakers, under the leadership of the Needle Trades Workers’ Indus- trial Union, will go on strike. THey are telling you that you had a strike last year and as a result of that strike sweat shop conditions were abolished and union conditions established. Sisters and Brothers! Give a moment's thought to your lot! ‘Think how many hours.a week you are forced to work! How much you earn! How the bosses treat you! 7 Those who are still employed work long hours, Saturdays and Sundays, at a time when thou- sands of dressmakers are unemployed. Exper- ienced operators are compelled’ to work for $20 a week. There are hundreds of dress shops where opergtors earn as low as $15 a week. Pressers who used to make $50 and $60 a week cannot make more than $25 or $30 a week, at the present scale of prices. The cutters who considered themselves the aristocrats of the trade, cannot make a living. To each experienced cutter is added a few as- sistant cutters, mostly young boys who are paid $15 or $2) a week, and they ttfrn out as much work as skilled cutters. Because of this, many cutters are out of a job. When one does get a job, he is compelled to work below the scale. Every time the boss brings a new “style” to settle offers a lower price. In many settling of prices is entirely out of “style,” the boss pays as much as he pleases. And what are the officials of the “International” doing about this situation. Do they help you get better prices? Do they fight for any discharged work- er? Ydb know from your experience that this 4s not the case! he officials of the “Interna~ and° A tl ccaese lela kop tell ls They are the friends and the servants of the bosses whom they help to make worse your conditions. Do you remember how the bosses, their papers, the City Mayor, the Police Commissioner, Tam- many Hall politicians—all of them helped to force you into the “International” in the 193¢ fake strike? They did all this because they knew that with you belonging to the “Interna- tional,” they will be able to rob and exploit you to their hearts’ content. ‘Those of you who, at that time, still imagined that the “International” was a workers’ union, and that their officials really meant to organize the trade and to improve the conditions of the workers—have you not convinced yourself since, “that it is all a fake? Don't you see now that your conditions » and are becoming worse from day to day’ We must put an end to our suffering and 1 ng live the unity of all dressmakers! Forward to the struggle, for a better living of all dressmakers! Dressmakers, quit working on the day of the strike! Don’t let anyone mislead you into scabbing! Strike together with us for our common inter- esta. ad weitace, sud’ to alld eipowserul Bang trial Union! Our strength lies in our unity! United we will fight and be victorious! tally tie sate problem is on the agenda: PROSTITUTE! PARTY LIFE | Conducted by the Organization Department of the Central Commitiee, Communist Party, U.S.A. | . How to Organize the Work- ing Women aré publishing a letter to the Women's De- partihent ih which the comrades from Pitts- burgh raise two important questions and the | aasWer given to them in order that this shall be helpful also to other districts where cer- “Here in the city in the Negro section we hhave many contacts with Negro women. They have already joined the -unemployed councils. One of the Negro women has been elected a delegate to Washington. The city at the present time has stopped giving any relief, they said that they would give relief in about two weeks. Many of these Negro workers were depending on these two or three dollars a week which they got and now that they do not get anything at all, they are facing starvation still more. I have had a meeting with a small group of Negro women and they brought up the question of going to the city council to demand food. They are ready to go in a group and demand that the city give some relief. I have arranged with them that if we get a large group of women we will go to the city hall to present our demands. What is your opinion of this method? Another question which I want to be clear on is whether it is a proper method to form Wom- en's Unemployed Committees in the different Parts of the city who will direct the work among the women iy that part of the city.” Ist Question. We believe that this is a burn- ing issue around which you can mobilize not only the Negro women but also the white men and women, You must take this matter up imme- diately with the local Council of Unemployed and together with them mobilize the workers in the city of Pittsburgh to go to the city hall demanding immediate cash relief. This is not merely a question of Women’s Dept. nor should it be limited to @ “large group” which you can organize. The district committee and the coyn- cil 6f unemployed should make this one of the outstanding struggles for “immediate relief” a mass demonstration—of women, children and men—special dramatization necessary, 2nd Question. It is correct to form Women’s Committees in the various councils of unem- Pl dustrial and neighborhood councils— the purpose of these committees is to help the councils reach and enroll unemployed women as regular members. The women’s committees are to help formulate special women’s demands— raise the proper slogans and help the-councils find special methods of approach to attract wom- en, The direction of work and struggles of the unemployed women in the’ neighborhoods The Coming STATEMENT OF THE DISTRICT COMMITTEE OF THE) YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE, DISTRICT 2 Ta District Committee of the Young Commu- nist League, District 2, supports the state- ment of the Communist Party, pledging . full support to the coming dress strike, In the needle industry, the conditions of the young workers are wretched. Many young workers are forced to work 50 and 54 hours @ week for wages ranging from $10 to $15. Over ten thousand young workers, many of whom are Spanish and Negro, are employed in thé industry as ship- ping clerks, floor girls, assistant cutters, oper- ators and finishers. As young Workers, and sitice they gre unorganized they suffer severe exploita- tion. Many are only working part time now for decreased wages, It is because of these conditions that the field is ripe for the building of the Needle Trades Workers’ Industrial Union and for the smash- ing the fake International, Ladies Garment. Workers company union ofthe bosses that has betrayed the interests of the workers time and time again. This fake International Ladies Gar- ment Workers’ Union must be fought at every step and wiped out from the entire dress in- dustry. The young workers in the Needle Trades must play a leading role in this respect. ‘The Young Communist League calls upon all young workers and their working class youth or- ganizations to rally to the support of the Needle Workers Strike. to improve their conditions. Every young worker must realize that this strike is not only a strike of the needle workers but } young workers; must be of the utmost impor- it concerns the entire working class. All. young workers’. organizations mubt get behind this By BURCK Dress Strike strike not only with moral support and helping on the picket line but also by financial support. Many thousands of young Negro workers are included in this industry, It is in this field that the revolutionary union has given the great- est opportunity to develop its work and to build up the solidarity of Negro and white young workers in the strike, The main task of the Youth Department in this strike is the building of the union and the creation of a real militant Youth Section that will struggle for the every day needs of the young workers in the shops, The popularization of the Youth demands among the young needle strikers, namely: No discrimination against young workers; equal pay for equal work; full payment for continuation school; minimum wage of $20 a week; no discrimination of the Negro tance, In this strike the children of the strikers must also be brought into the active support of the strike by participating on the picket line, plan- ning affairs for strike relief and the Young Pioneers must be in the forefront of all these activities. The Young Communist League recognizes that up to now it has been negligent in carrying on, and in leading work among the Needle Trades Youth. However, this strike must find the League prepared to help and give leadership to the young workers in the strike and despite all difficulties to help in the building up of the revolutionary unions and the Young Communist League among the Young Workers. (The following article was written on March 4, 1921, and printed in the supplement to “Pravda” No. 51, of March 8th, 1921, on In- ternational Women’s Day.) By V. I. LENIN. ea fundamental task of Bolshevism and of the Russian October Revolution is the draw- ing into politics particularly of those who are most exploited under capitalism. They were op- pressed, defrauded and robbed by the capitalists both under the monarchy and in the democratic. bourgeois republics. This oppression, this cheat- ing, this robbery of Idbor by capitalists was in- evitable as long as there existed private property in land, factories and mills. ‘The essénce of Bolshevism, the substance of the Soviet power, consists in the fact that while the lies and hypocrisy of bourgeois democracy, while abolishing private property in land, factories and mills, the state power is con- centrated in the hands of the toiling and ex- must be under the direction of the neat hood unemployed councils. Workers! Join the Party of . Your Class! Communist Party 0 S A. P. O. Box 87 Station D. New York City. . “Please send me more information on the Cum- ° Oe eeereeeeeeepesevecsons, 4 AGGrOES .sccscccececcesscecescccsseocececs. + State ...csecceee . Age +Mail this to ithe Central Omice, Communist Party, P. O, Box 87 Station D, New, Xork City, pee Seeey ananey ploited masses, : These masses take politics into their own hands—that.is, the job of constructing a new society. The task is difficult, especially since the masses are beaten down and crushed by erase PC ee ee wage slavery, It is impossible, however, to draw the masses into politics without drawing into it the women, for the female half of the human race under capitalism, is doubly exploited. The woman worker and peasant woman are oppressed by capitalism and in addition to that, even in the most democratic of the bourgeois republics they remain in the first place without equal rights with man (for the law does not give them equal- ‘ity) and secondly- end this is the main point— they remain in “household slavery,” “household and of the individual household economy. ‘The Bolshevik Soviet lution cut the roots International Women’s Day ‘The hideous, ‘hypocritical inequality in marital and family rights, the inequality in relation to the child was completely destroyed by the So- viet power. . This is only the first step towards the emanci- pation of women. But not a single one of the bourgeois republics evan of the most democratic dared to make even this first step. They did not dare in fear of “holy private property.” ‘The second and main step is the abolition of private property in land, factories and mills. With this step and only with comes the full and real emancipation of women, of their eman- cipation from “household slavery,” through the transition from petty individual household eco- nomy to the vast socialized economy. This transition is difficult, because it means changing the most deeply rooted, habitually hardened and ossified, “order of things” (in truth of deformity and savagery, and not of “order”). This transition, however, has begun. The work has been started and we have entered on @ new read. On this International Day of Working Women in all countries of the world, at innumerable meetings of women workers, greetings will be sent to Soviet Russia which has begun an im~- measurably difficult but universally great and emancipating task. There will be heard brave calls not to lose spirit in face of the fierce and brutal bourgeois reaction, The “freer” and more “democratic” a country is, the more does its gang of capitalists rage and the more brutal it is against the workers’ revolution; as for exam- ple, the democratic republic of the United States. The emancipation of the peoples from the ei relied pedicel andl og! ay and working women from the yoke of capitalism is moving ahead irresistibly, This task has been Bl foute By JORGE Not Exactly a Good Record What is called the “official newspaper of the Central Labor Union” of Philadelphia, the “La- bor Record,” which announces as if it wete not something to be ashamed of before workers, that it is “Supporting Policies of the American Fed- eration of Labor,” has done “Red Sparks” the honor of devoting the whole front page to us on February 13. We now reply to the favor in kind. We-gather that. the editor don’t like us. In fact he refers in a most disparaging way to “Red Jorge.” We are called a Soviet agent, and it is alleged that we are “rearing our in- sidious head among the ‘wage earners of ‘this country.” It is further recommended that we “be driven across the Atlantic clear to the ‘Land of the Soviets.’” Which would cimply tickle us to death. It seems that our broadcasting, like that of some unidentified “Soviet station” (which is al- leged to have mixed up the “Holy Fathér’s” Latin speech, though why it should be rendered any more unintelligible than Latin we fail te See), interfered with the Pollyana, propaganda of the “Labor Record.” More definitely, what the illiterate editor of the “Labor Record” calls our “degradatory” re- marks anent the blessings conferred by catholic priests in New York on automobiles parked along the street, is used a subject to divert the minds of any worker stupil enough to believe the “La- bor Record,” from more serious affairs of the labor movement which that AFL paper wished thus to cover up. Therefore,*the whole front page is devoted to an editorial-entitled: “The Red Strikes a Blow Beneath’the Belt.” And we are to be “driven across~the Atlantic,” and so forth. Evidently this is altogether too blessed and sweet a country for us to live in, = Unfortunately for the pleasant theory, however,.one has only to turn to page 2 of the same edition of the “Labor Record,” to be disillusioned. There are 13 stories on page 2, and the subjects dealt with are as follows: 1. “Drastic Rate Cut Hits Navy Yard Work- ers.” But the editor don’t say for them to hit back. Only an “insidious” guy like us would do that. 2. A divorce story about an “ungrateful count- ° ess.” Nuf sed! 3. A New Orleans dispatch that workers of the American Sugar Refinery there have had their wages cut $3 a week. The “Labord Record” has no comment, no advice, and the A. F. of L. has a “no strike” policy. 4. The editor seems tickled over the O.K. the “Davis Wage Bill” got in a Senate Committee, the bill providing “prevailing wages” for govern- ment work. “Prevailing wages” are not union wages, but both Bill Green and the “Labor Rec- ord” appear vastly pleased, 5. An item says the carpet workers are being “reorganized” in Philadelphia.» The editor gives no opinion of why or for:what they should or- ganize. So we presume that whatever their de- sires may be, the A. F.-of Ix is organizing them to sell them out as it did ab ‘Danville. 6. A prominent place is. given) picture of a starving farmer's family in Arkansas, No, not in the Soviet Union. Toiling:farmers there don't starve, That is reserved now for: on Amer- icans. t 7. “The Boston Typo; ‘Union ‘Aids Idle Mem- bers.” Why they should aid “idle” people is a mystery. That, as Bill Green khows, is one of those horrible things called “a dole.” But it seems better to the “Labor Record” that the employed printers cough up that cash than that corporations be taxed amd war funds given to Unemployment Insurance, 8. “Immigration Drops.” But In spite of it so do wages and so does employment, though the +Labor Record” don’t mention these latter facts in that connection. 9. We are told that Kansas farmers are paid 12 cents a dozen for eggs, the lowest price since 1886. The “Labor Record” says not a word about it, but Philadelphia workers who try to ay, eggs are not paying 1886 prices, 10. “1930 Construction Slips to. New Loe Lev- el.” Cheering news, eh? But. construction in the Soviet Union is*beating all records, though the “Labor Record” is mum as.a clam about that. li, It is told that the,*cold storage and fresh evg acts” are be! eViolsted wholesste in Harrisburg, Pa. We car wellbelieve it, but we don’t see vy we should therefore sing the Star Snangied tenner, 12, In Messochusetts,-we're-told, “The Slump Fails to Cut Prison Labor Profits.” Yes, boys, it's sdd, but only in the, Saviet Union are pris- oners paid union wages. si 13. “Church Groups. Seek Mooney Freedom.” Well, they've been seeking it without finding it for a long time. And the A. F. of L. has not even done that, as Mooney himself declares. Mooney actually says that: “Mooney was saved from the hangman's noose only through the mass protests and pressure of Russia and the rest of the world. The case has always been and myst) plways be a vital part of the general struggle between the workers and employers.” And the effort of, the “Labor: Record” to make it the business of the churches and not the business of the working class, is typical of the A. F. of L, leadership, ite function of which Tota Mooney says: “. . . is to fool the Weber and make them amenable to the employers.” And precisely that. is the reason for the’ “La- bor Record” of Philadelnhia, in snlattering its editorial—"The Red Strikes a Plow Reneath the Pelt.” over its front nome, JRy this we may again he deine so with the “Tohnw Pasasa” editar Tn fort, it is doubtful wig there 1s any place else to strike, ete: Wate ; Deaton MA Meng From rere 19. of the MN, ¥, Peantne Pret of Febrrary 11. a fertnes story ch tha Tae show ‘which New York Society is. pulling off, contains the following tidbit: ‘Mrs. Noeman Thomas, wife nf the socialist candidate for mayor in 1930, several of her entries in cocker Blue Waters Gerry was second in novice | with Blue Water Winning Ways. second In novice bitches. Mrs. Thomas’ Rowcliffe’s Regina was third in Anierican-1 ‘The unobservant reporter | of ‘the Post forgot to Thomas ‘was not only, “socialist” Pater ye in 1930, but also entered in 1928 an ab bak eal a NE | Upho gangs es W is sit | port . | Yes lor se | picket | attack | the pi | aroun his po All | help st jat 7:3 | The Hea Feb, 2 St, to ‘of mil the A.