The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 2, 1931, Page 6

i «wo Working Women in Forefront of Militant Struggles - International Womens). Day Finds Miners Wives In Big Strike Struggles ‘ Today in all the mining areas Men are working only 2 or 3 days a week. 2 down entirely. Families of miners in the United States are, many of them, close to actual starvation. In the strike at the Edna No. 1 and No. 2 women have taken an active part in the struggle. They have helped the*men by going on the picket line with their children, and they nave helped collect relief. They we organizing to help the Nation- al Miners Union fight wage cuts. But while wages are going down and unemployment increases in American mining districts, the Soviet Union has just raised the wages of all underground mine workers by 20%. When this news veached the miners’ wives in the Pittsburgh area, they saw that miners’ conditions in the workers’ republic are growing steadily bet- er, while miners’ conditions in the United States are growing stead- ly worse. The Miners’ Demands The struggle on March 8 for the women in the mining fields must »ack up the miners’ demands: In- srease in pay, instead of wage cuts; a weekly wage guaranteed oy the company as a minimum, even when work is slack; good “oads and sidewalks in mining ‘owns; free medical care to min- ers and their families; better houses, lower rents, and cheaper electricity; lower prices at com- pany stores. Prepare for Struggle Meetings of the working women nust be held in the different min- ng centers. Arrangements have een made for meetings in the fol- Owing coal and steel towns: Pittsburgh, MtKeesport, Mones- sen, Johnstown, Ambridge, New Xensington, Canonsburg, Y-heel- -ng, Yorkville, Bellaire, Neffs. Demonstrations are to be held where possible. This day is to unite the working ‘vomen together with the men in he common struggle, for they both “eel the same conditions. 5,000 Now Strike In Philadelphia Mills; Defy AFL Treachery PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Six “housand workers are now on strike in three big sections of the ‘extile industry in this district— n the hosiery, upholstery, and car- vet. mills...» iThey . are: striking ; 4 ——s mills are struck, omen workers form at } one half ef the strikers. = ala with the men, ‘Jercely on the picket line, against the police. 200 workers Bent ro vested one day at several mills, in- “huding 100 at the huge Apex Mill. About 85 of the 100 workers ar- vested at the no all Apex were women ‘WOMEN AND CHILDR STARVE PEN PITTSBURGH. — ty sheriffs,” forced to act by aviction proceedings, came to the tenement at 1817 furn- Street, and carried the ‘ture to the street. Mrs. Bes- sie McCord, forty-six years old and sick, her hus ‘eorge McCord, their two children, Loretta and Carl, en and nine years old respec- Sh Mrs. Varina Monday, ind her two children, Elmer, four, and Loretta, two, were ‘arniture. . ee H HG ed * et oe ai , we see one wage cut after another. Some mines have closed, mines near Pittsburgh, Intl] Women’s Day Meetings Mar. 8 (Continued from Page 1) er, Alexander. Program: Red Dancers; Lithuanian Chorus. 140 Broad St., Brooklyn, N. Y. Speakers: McKawain, Litinsky, Anna Lyons, Program: Red Dance by tHe children of I. W. O. school; musical pregram. Workers Center, 1873 — 45th} St., Brooklyn. Speakers: Gertrude | Mann, Beatrice Weinstein, man} speaker. 2121 W. 32d St., Coney Island. Speakers Williams, Samaradin, Mary Hartlieb. Program: Solo} singer, Proletarian recitation, and | play. | 48 Bay 28th St. Brooklyn.— Speakers: Gertrude Mann, Sonia Margolis. Program: Red Scout | Dance. Rockaway Mansion, 695 Rockway Ave., Brooklyn. Speakers: Harriet | Silverman, Mary Adams, _ Sonia Chaikin. Program: Brownsville Freiheit Chorus, recitation by the members of the Artef. PATERSON, N, J. Union Hall, 205 Paterson Street, Uaterson, N. J. Speakers: Nessin, Shavelson. Program: Freiheit Chorus, National Textile Workers Band, Ukrainian Russian Amateur group. | uses to try to fool the workers. NEWARK, N. J. . 93 Mercer St. Speakers: Caro- line Drew, Rose Kaplan. Profram: Freiheit Chorus. PASSAIC, N. J. Russian National Home, : Speak- er: Nessin. bt Ss #35 ELIZABETH, N. J. H Speaker: Ray Ragozin. Program: musical program. NEW BRUNSWICK, N, J. 11 Plum St.,.3 p. m. Speakers: Jessie Tafft,. Gertrude Ackerman. SCOTIA, N. Y. March 7, evening. BOSTON, MASS. Paine Memorial Hall, 9 Apple- ton St., 2 p. m, WORCESTER, Mass. Lithyanian.Hall, 29 Endicott St., 3 Pi Meroe QUINEY, ' Mass. Malnatis Hall, 4 Brooks Ave, 7 Pp m MAYNARD, Mass. Russian Hall. LAWRENCE, Mass. PROVIDENCE, R. I. NORWOOD, Mass. Finnish Hall, 87 Chapel Street, Tp. m. PEABODY, Mass. 11 North End Street, March 7, evening. CHICAGO, Ill., West End Wom- en’s Club, 37 South Ashland Blvd., at 3 p. m. if 8z ay i ff i g<3res ai J ffs! : it She’s Not Hungry! SS ba “ z a es She’s wearing a fortune in gems, enough to buy food for hundreds of workers’ families for a year. | This dame is Mrs. Henr G. Gray, “society” woman, whose millions came from exploiting thousands of | workers who are now unemployed | and starving. She is shown posing | for “charity” — for fake unem- | ployment schemes which her class More Jobs In U.S.S.R. {Continued from Page 1) building of laundries and other} facilities for freeing women from | domestic work. During 1930, 71,000 children were eared for but in 1931 the number will be increased to 170,000 and the budget for this purpose raised from 13% million dollars to 41% million dollars. Women are responding enthusi- astically to the opportunities of- fered to them. As the kindergartens, restau- rants, laundries, etc., women will find themselves free to develop as equal workers with men in all sec- tions of Socialist industry wher- ever they are best fitted. Johnson City, Ill., West Frankford, Nil. : ' New Bedford, Mass.; Philadel- phia, Pa., Baltimore, Md., Buffalo, N. Y., Rochester, N. Y.;, Pitts- burgh, Pa., McKeesport, Pa. Monessen, Pa.; Johnstown, Pa.; Ambrideg, Pa.; New Kensington, Pa.; Canonsburg, Pa.; Wheeling, W. Va.; Yorkville, Ohio; Bellair, Ohio; Neffs, Ohio; Cleveland, 0O.; Detroit, Mich.; Minneapolis, Minn. Kansas City, Mo.; Seattle, Wash. San Francisco, Cal.; Oakland, Cal., Los Angeles, Cal. NEW HAVEN, ‘Conn. 7 86 Howe’ St.,: Labor Lyceum,’ at 8 p. m. : HARTFORD, Conn., ¢ p. m. SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Victory Hall, 841 Dwight St., 8 p. m. BRIDGEPORT, Conn., Moose Tem- ple, 840 Main St., 8 p. m. - PLAINFIELD, Conn, Farmers Co-op. Hall, Sat., Mar. 7, 8 pm. WESTERLY, R. I. STAMFORD, Conn., Workers Center, 49 Pacific St., 8 pm. PORT CHESTER, Conn., Fin- nish Hall, 42 North Water Street, 8 pm. CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Union Indianapolia, Indiana;i Hall, 16 1-2 Main St. etn nee Women in Forefront of Picket Lines in Lawrence Women Hat Workers In Danbury Toi. in Air Filled With Acids, Dust Of the 400 workers in hatters sh out on strike under the leadership ops of Danbury, Coonn, who walked of the TUUL in protest against a 20% wage cut, the women workers comprised approximately 50 per cent of the strikers. Right under the shadow of the fur hat factories, with their poisonous odors of acids and decomposing animal flesh, stand the Dress Strike Aims to End Sweatshop (Continued from Page 1) as the dressmakers fought in 1909, 1919, 1926, and all other historic struggles that have placed the dressmakers in the forefront of the American labor movement. Strike Extends to New Sections The outstanding feature of this | strike is that it is not limited to} the Garment center, but is extended to the small shops of outlying sec- tions of the city where conditions | are unbearable. In Harlem, the} Spanish and. Negro workers, for the wirst time are learning the les- sons of the class struggle. In Brooklyn, Brownsville, the Bronx, and all sections of the city, the dressmakers for the first time are beginning to see a way out of their miserable conditions, they are be- ginning to build an instrument to defend them in the struggles against the bosses. In the halls, workers are showing a_ splendid spirit ef solidarity. Race and na- tional prejudices which are encour- aged by the bosses, have been wiped out, the dressmakers are showing a united front of all workers, with one aim, to spread the strike, to draw the workers in- to the fighting ranks of the work- ers, and for better conditions in the shops, Police and Underworld The silence that existed prior to the strike has now given place to a campaign of threats and terror. The company union working hand in hand with the police and the underworld instigates ‘arrests on the picket: line: | But the spirit of the strikers is not dampened by these acts of terror. Since the day of the strike, many additional shops have come down to the strike halls. The militant workers, and par- ticularly the working women, throughout the entire country, must rally to the support of the | sriking dressmakers ‘in New York | and Philadelphia. Show your jsol- idarity -with the strikers,,on the picket litte. Raise money for the strike fund to enable the dress- makers to carry on their militant struggle, to win their demands for. the 40-hour week, minimum wage Scale, the right to the job, no dis- crimination against Negro workers and all other demands aimed to raise the standards of the thous- ands of dressmakers in the dress trade. * Working women, make Interna- tional Women’ Day a demonstra- tion of solidarity with the dress- makers. Their fight is our fight —their victory will be your vic- homes of the factory slaves. The working day begins at seven in the morning and lasts until five in the afternoon with only a half-hour for lunch. For nine hours’ labor, in a shop without windows, with air permeated with dust, acid and fur, working with dangerous ma- chines and tools, with no lunch rooms, and no toilet accommoda- tions, women receive seventeen dol- lars a week. The twenty per cent cut introduced by the bosses low- ers it to $13. Starvation Wages Can anyone exist on thirteen dol- | lars a week, when the rent for an apartment without a bath in Dan- bury is as high as twenty-five or twenty-eight dollars a month? When the cost of electricity and gas, owned by Mr. Lee, the czar of the town and the boss of most of the fur shops, can go up when- ever he pleases? When women workers who must leave their ba- bies in care of neighbors, have to pay five dollars a week and sup- ply their own milk? Women get up at 4:30 in the morning to get their housework done before the factory whistle blows. They get home after a whole day’s work on their feet. All day long they work under the strain and hurry with dangerous tools, heavy baskets, etc., with their mouths tied with handkerchiefs to keep from choking over fur dust. And’ they have to get the dinner ready and finish whatever house- work had been neglected from the morning. Family life is non-existent. The shop swallows the whole family, one by one as soon as each meme ber is old enough to handle the machine. Workers’ children do not go to school for long. If they are not sent to the fur shops, they stay home to take care of the babies, who have been robbed of care by the profit makers of the hat shops. A fine militant striker, whose husband and two sons all worked in hattex{" shops, had their lungs already poisoned by the bleaching acids. Another woman worker told how her husband, in order: to make a living wage, worked from 4:30 in the morning until midnight without a rest, filling up bags with dust fur. : Working Conaitaht: Déstroy Healtle,- On. account of acids, workers consume a great deal of water. Special drinking water has to be brought in, since the water in the pipes js also polluted by bleach- ing acids. For this drinking wa- ter, women have to pay fifteen cents a week. If they do not bring the money on time, the forelady calls them “cheap sports.” The suction machines do not fanction properly, and the air is always full of dust and fur. Nose bleeds are very common, Tremors and loss of teeth ang serious dis- eases rrevail in appalling propor- tions. But the government inspec- tor, well paid by the bosses, never even sets her foot into a shop. Women Militant When the strike was called, wo- men workers responded in wonder- ful solidarity. They poured out into the picket line, fighting the scabs. They carried placards with militant slogans over the town, in defiance of public opinion. Some women workers, whose shops had settled with the union, came to the picket line before work, helping the other workers. A woman worker who had never spoken in public before, got up at a meeting and made a half hour speech in the support of the union. The Needle Trades Workers Indus- trial Union has become firmly es- tablished in Danbury with a mem- bership of over 200 ‘workers. Ce ia, Se ERR METERS SS eT AN RSET Pe BENIN ee Ae - ste ERLE a NY UOT aa HORTON TE BNA ING SEMEN TOE RS IHRE AEE TORRENT LEY RMR PIT AEST