The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 7, 1931, Page 4

_— DAILY Comrades Dixie | YC. ROGERS. { he bus, and you sit down. Not too far back, and not too far front. Just back far enough to be nearer the Negro section than the white, The white section is al- | ways filled with a lot of drunks, | middle-class clerks, R. O, T. C. he- foes and potential Mussolinis with | their Shrine fobs resting easily on fat paunches. The rear of a bus is always full of life and color. Negro workers and students. Always talking, singing.) Full of a little gin sometimes, with a brown head resting on their strong shoulders and calloused fingers strumming the strings of an old banjo. “St. Louis woman .. . and her diamond ring . . . drag that man round on her apron string . . . plink plink, plink.” Color, life and laugh- ter. } Don’t Jet the laughter fool you. The Negro is always conscious of his (or her) servile position in the capi- talist system. Only the contemptible, wealthy Negro, who apes the white race in all of its garish, cheap dissi- | pations, is without interest in the | dom from this here capitalism, what | stop. in | | this here low-wages what these white folks is givin’ us. We niggers has got to-fight for everything we git. We | gotta fight all the harder for free- | don’t give us nothin’ but lynchins | and poverty.” | The Negro who has been listening | to..an, incomplete, but sincere, lesson in-Marxism, rings the bell. for his We say, “So-long, comrade,” and he goes down the .aisle, out of | |the bus and is swallowed up in the night. | A-lot of concerns in Virginia and | the South have made a boast that | |they Have been helping unemploy- | ment’ by hiring more ‘men, The | press ‘makes the most of it, by tell- | ing its readers PROSPERITY is just around the corner. As usual, this is only another capitalist lie. In | instances men haye been hired;: but at a wage that aljows them only the | us before, immediately pointed at us | and claimed that we were the boishe- | barest necessities of life; they have | no money left over from one day to | another, from one pay day to an- | other. In the Soviet Union, workers de not have to worry about tomor- | row. ... “The Negro and white work- WORKER, NEW YORK, SATU IRDAY, MAKCH 7, 1931 On the Dress | Picket Line | By M. Livingston HH, HOW sore Mr. K. was because as soon as the picket committee | walked into his shop, the girls cheered | them, got up right away, dressed and | went to the strike hall. This unex- pected ingratitude of the girls to him their best friend, enraged his small, round and barrel-like body. | His father, the gray-haired, with- ered, old man nothwithstanding the fact that he was so much exploited | INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DA f= So ickey Learns How By VALENTINE V. KONIN. to cut our wages?” asked Mickey an ICKEY’S real name was Veronica | grily in front of everybody. “Do yo Genevieve MacLahanna, but no| think I can live on. six dollars one had ever called her by that name, | wetk?” Practically since the day of her birth “Zf’s your own fault if you can’t? when her father, caressing her soft | snapped the boss back, drowning ou red curls, called her affectionately| thesmurmur of agreement comit Mickey, that name had become ai | frem other workers. “Can't a good! inseparable part of her boisterous | looking girl like you support herself?" fighting personality. When she was} Mickey. threw on the floor the four years old, she licked her cousin | shirt’ she was soaping, and walked Tcmmy so hard that he ran home| out’ of the laundry shivering with ay "eet class struggle. Don't be fooled by | &s must UNITE for the overthrow the songs and the laughter. Thhe | °f capitalism and the establishment | ®euthern egro realizes more clearly|0f the Dictatorship of the Prole- than the Southern white proletariat | tariat. Under capitalism we have the significance of the class struggle | €xploitation and misery. Under | and the importance of solidarity, | Communism, freedom .and’ happi- Only a few white workers going to | ness,” I tell my new-found comrade. the night shift at the railroad yards, |‘ You 4s. sure right,” says the Negro and two Negroes talking, One of | comrade, “I gotta get off here, but | them has a red and black button on | We-all_ will sure meet again)... . we| his coat. I have a button on my | Sure will.” coat to match it. “Fight Imperialist | Wars. Defend the Soviet Union.” | The Negro’ has a booklet from. the | Workers’ Library, and he is showing | it to his comrade, who obviously has | never heard of Unemployment In- | surance or the Communist Party. I} fold up the Moscow News and de- cide to’ break into the conveersation. | ‘To hell-with the Jim Crow system, | if the white fellows in the bus don’t | like my*talking to a Negro worker | they can ride another bus! “You have been to the meeting, | comrade?” “Sure, I been to the| meeting, Delegates from all over the | country came in. Ridin’ the rails. | hitch-hikin’ walkin’ and some in cars. We-all is goin’ up to the cap- tol tomorrow. I jest tole this com- | rade he wants to join up with a fightin’ Party. This here unemploy- ment hits“all of us. We can’t do no good, alf scattered over the country. We-all “gotta organize. We gotta fight, an’ fight dam hard to git outa < LIFE IN A SOVIET. | STUDENT COMMUNE | «The ‘Lenifigrad ‘echnical students | own and above each the wall is dec- who ‘Sefit this letter (translated by | orated with pictures and photo- the American Esperanto group), ask.| graphs. Beneath the books and pic- for’ letters from American workers | tures you’ see plenty of life. The AH'VE GONE COMMUNIST - (TS MAH TURN NOW By J. ROGERS. by his own son as a presser, imme- diately thought of revenge, And so he and his son-employer hatched the scheme. They cut the wire of their own phone. Out of the clear sky a cop appeared accompanied by the steamed-up boss and arrested the two of us. Myself and comrade Cohn. The cop brought us back to the| shop. The old presser, who never saw vik gangsters and gurrillas who cut the wire. The cop immediately be- gan to search us for knives, scissors, | and other concealed weapons. On not finding anything he said: “Of course you threw the out as soon as you saw us Come on. In the police station the lieutenant after taking our names and addres: and asking us whether we want to be} deported to Russia, had us searched again. In the light there appeared an apple from one of my pockets and some crackers from another. The as- tonished officer asked me: “Where is your milk bottle?” “Sorry we can’t oblige,” wisecracked | Cohn. “Shut up. You think you are furny | ain't you? Take ‘em to the court.” ‘When we were brought to the court, the cop pushed us into the cellar where we were booked on the charge | of disorderly conduct. Then we wete | shoved in into one of the enclosed parts of the basement It was dark and it stank honibly. There we found »wrselves scrutin- ized rather closely by two bewildered | men. One of them, as we found out later had been arresced for refusing | to split the proceeds from the slot ma- | chine in his store with the cop on his beat. “Ain't I splittin’ with the ga: 3 already, Let ‘em fix the cop up.” ‘the other had objected rather too vigor- ously while drunk, the suspected in- timacies of his wife with a cop. “If not for the kids I would not give a damn for the witch.” The attendant and another cop scissors | coming. cops, and the how and why one can | Save $150 a week on a salary of $50. The police wagon rattled past the door. A fat old policeman appeared, handcuffed both of my hands (I must have impressed him as a ve:y dan- gerous criminal) and chained -ne to the other camrade and we were on the way to the city prison. It took us ,|me from eating the prison fare heatedly discussed the judges, the} | All Out on March 8th! —By PREVAL. the basin where we were expected to; get our drinking water. Near the/ gate was a tabouret chaine to the} floor. | On entering my new apa-tment, I) found iL already inhabited by one | prisoner and many hundreds of lice, fleas, and bedbugs. Good company. “Don’t worry buddy, they don’t bother you now in the cold weather.” My fellow prisoner tried to dissuade He | advised me to order some sandwiches | | (there ain’t a thing you can’t get in | jail providing you have the money to | pay for it). I, however, decided to try the goverrment frod. Here is the prisun supper menu: Three slices of stale white bread. | A little jelly sprinkled over with small | |and sometimes big slices of dirt. Beans }dating from the Spanish-American |War. A lukewarm brown liquid | claimed by some to be tea, by others | coffee, I, however, think it was some- thing different unmentionable here. | When Ihad already resigned my- self to making’ the best of it, an at- CHARGE IT TO THE bawling all the way down the ‘block. | By the time she was ready to enter | school, she was known far and wide | r as the greatest tomboy and fighter | among the female sex, as far as the | youngest generation of Cranberry | Street could remember. Edith Goldberger was the daughter | of the candy store man. Up to the/ time of school age, she lived in iso- | lation from the Cranbe: Street so- | ciety. On Saturday her mother | would put on a black fur coat, and a diamond ring, dress up Edith in| white shoes and stockings, and 70| away with her for the day. Mickey's | gang would run after them, shout- rage: She decided to marry Alfred Fer- She was sick of working, and lad of a chance to leave her father’s house. Alfred seemed much more: steady and sensible than other boyS who. had been hanging aroun her,,...Her parents’ disapproval of her marrying an Italian made no im- pregsjon on her whatever. y;four years she had two baby girls With the birth of the second one, Alfred found it pretty hard to teed the family. Mickey found a job it a watch’ factory, but two weeks later, after quarreling with a fore- nan because he accused her of go- ifig out too often for a drink, she was ing “Sheeny,” and “Christ-killers.” | handed her pay envelope and asked Edith neither answered them nor | to: leave. A short time after, the fought with them, but there was fear | workers in Alfred's fur-shop went on and hatred in her large brown eyes. | strike. The family was close to Mickey and Edith became friends | starvation. ) the first day of school, when she pro- | ».“..ain’t going to see my children tected Edith from the attacks of Reta | stare,” said Mickey. “I'll get some Keenan. It was not so much sym-| Work.to do. Wait and see.” pathy for Edith, as the desire to show ,She put on her hat and coat, and Reta that she was nobody, that nade | walked over to the residential sec- her kick Reta with her heel. After |tiom- of the Heights. She knocked that Edith remained a steadfast} from-one door .to another, asking if friend of Mickey’s for years, treat-| anybody needed some house help. ing her to best caramels from her | She could do anything, she said. She father’s shop. |conld. wash clothes quicker and By the time both girls were ten | Sheaper than the. laundries. She years old, Mickey had to leave school. | coyld cook. She was not afraid to Mrs. McLahanna presented the world | Wash windows on top stories. She with another heir to its poverty. | could take care of the children. Mickey had to stay home to take} Nobody wanted her. Some shut care of the baby, while her mother | doors in her face before she finished went back to the factory. Mickey | talking. “From continuous climbing kicked at this arrangement first be- | her: knées were giving way under cause it was not in her nature to| Héi| Inside she was boiling with accept things without active protest, | hatred towards these well fed people and: students.’ Address all corres- pordence to M. Moskalev, Leningrad- 22,; U.S.8.R.,. Ul Krasnij Zorj, 67, Komniuna: E.S.I. | : They-also request a copy of a book “The ; Radio Manual,” published in this country. If any reader has @ copy which he can pass'on or can afford to -purchase .one,-it will be al timely and much appreciated gift.) Either send direct or mail to the| Daily and we will forward—Hditor. aes K 1924; a group of us, electrical stu- dents of Leningrad, organized a Commuhe in order to carry cn our | work and daily life on a completely cooperative bask. We began with} thrty members but we hav> now growrlto'tires Lend: ed. When you er-er the commune vou find yourself in a small corridor, the walls are decora’*d v'th announ ments and inforr:von, also the istration of a commune. Fur ] down you see a man sitting at a) table—he is on cuty. He takes you} through the commune, it is divided | into twélye apartments, each one} having’ 7.*or eight rooms. Each apartment is divided into bedrooms, studyrooms, and recreation rooms (for cultural life). The rules are atfict, in bedrooms you can only sleep, in studyrooms you can only study. Now take a look at our “Red Cor- ner.” It it a large room with soft furniture. On the table there are numerous magazines and newspapers. Our meetings and lectures also take place in this room. Yes, a meeting of the commune is an extraordinary occasion. Each member wants to five his or her idea. Young blood flows in their hearts, and the meet- ings are full of noise, merriment and laughter. ‘ In the same room you find our “department store,” which isa cup- board divided into several parts con- taining different objects. On the door you find a list of the articles and the price. Every member takes whatever hé or she needs and marks in a note book underneath or her name. Thus the “holy “n Just because it is to talk loud in our rooms in order not to disturb those who are studyingy -there is .a special room where you can sing, play an instru- ment, and dance. In the same room numerous meetings of our committ- and different circles are held. _ The Study Room All study takes place in the study i |ferent. tasks. There is plenty, of large movement of socialist competi- tion is certainly popular over here. We Tiave organized brigades whose purpose is to learn the sciences more effectively, and these complete with One another. Thus the commune does | not’ Tecognize individual work but | sponsors. collective training for the| new “engineers. Some comrades fail to understand many mental prob- lenis, then the collective helps them out, nd pulls them out of dififeul- ties. For beter results comrades tak- ing the same course of study in the Same room. They can meet in one of them to discuss certain problems. On the wall are charts and pictures. In the commune you also will find a library with technical books. Cultural Life and Work However, we do not prepare just good engineers, we also see to it that they" are good loyal comrades, mem- bers of the working class. Socialist construction needs engineers who can | lead the masses of workers to the} victory of socialist construction. We | therefore work collectively and rest together also. A great deal of in- terest is attacked to the ‘evening of combining our commune and that of the Medical Institute. ‘You can un- derstand it yourself—because our group consists mostly of boys and theirs of girls. Preparations begin early, comrades aré assigned for dif- laughter and fun, discussions of work, play and comparison -of achieve ments. In summer we or- Banize hikes, and other outdoor Sports. “%, Sex Problem Still Unsolved “One problem has been left un- Solved as yet, namely the sexual problem. We still do not accept married couples, because we have no rooms for couples and those who get married while living in the commune are forced to leave. We don’t even have a place in the commune where One,,could make love without being disttirbed. ‘Therefore the members decided that the sexual problem is outside the commune. Not long ago we received more rooms and the problem was relieved. Our Future 4 We have been promised an entire } Six floor house for the commune. Now we are faced with the problem of organizing on a larger scale. This takes up a lot of strength and en- ergy¥ but the youth has 4 lot to spare. We are also faced with the problem of socializing other phases of our life. One thing is certain— we are on the way to complete so- clalization. On this collective basis, the commune has given afd will give our country socially and téch- nically capable engineers for the electric industry, pees about two hours before we got there | tendant appeared and told us that} 2s the wagon stopped every once in| the I. L. D. is bailing us out. And| a@ while to pick up some more “pas-| out we went, taking a few vedbugs | sengers” from other courts. |as a free souvenir from the city in) Once in prison, they took the hand- | our clothes. | cuffs off, had us change whatever money we had into prison currency, and searched us thoroughly again. | When we received our cards and | three torn blankets a prisoner took | us to our cell in the uppermost tier. | The cell or rather the cage was the | worst I have ever seen before. For a/ minute, I even envied the animals in the Bronx Park. They at least have some privacy, warm and clean cages, NEXT WEEK “John Sargent,” the story of a young American worker, by Al Dasch; drawings by Bill Seigel on the Paris Commune; “The Kai- MAYOR By IRVING S. KREITSBERG. . I’m hungry. Goddamit! I’m hungry, My guts feel as if they’d been carved, I need food, not foul mission garbage, Ym tired, I'm famished, I'm starved. Does famine rage throughout the land, Have the crops been scorched on the stalk, Have fish in the cans and fish in the sea, Just suddenly turned into chalk? And have the chickens stopped laying eggs, Or the cows stopped giving their milk, And have all the warm beds just disappeared, Save those for the rich and their ilk? x ‘The markets are deluded with clothing, ‘Warehouses flooded’ with food, But these were created for profits, Not for the multitude. Ten millions are hungry and starving, Ten million are looking for jobs, They stand in long queus at factory gates, ‘They swarm through the slave markets in mobs. Whene’er we demand work or wages, We are blackjacked and thrown into jail, But you can’t fill a stomach on gasbombs, Or by clubbing the jobless wholesale. Hunger marches are just beginning, The jobless just starting to fight, I need strength to continue the battle, I need food that is wholesome and right. I'm not going to die of starvation, When there’s plenty to eat for all, Ym going into the first restaurant I see, And my feet ‘neath the table install. Tl order a steak and a bowl of soup, P Tll run through the whole bill of fare, Fill up the hole twixt my hips and ribs, And charge the darn bill to the mayor. and second, because by giving up school she was losing contact with | her society in which she figured as | @ prominent member. She became attacked to the baby | with a precociously passionate at-| fection. But when h- ~~s fifteen! months old, he was sc~ to death | when a pot of boiling « ..09, which } Mickey was cooking for supper, over- | turned on top of him. | At thirteen she found herself a| job in the laundry, and the very first | summer was overcome by heat ex- | haustion. Two men carried her home | unconscious. But the next week, she | was back at the laundry demanding her job back. ‘They gave it back to her readily enough, since she |” worked with more energy and speed | than any of the boys employed there. At the beginning of her fourth year | there, an announcement was made | that everybody's wages will be cut. | “What do you mean you are going in comfortable apartments. After each refusal, she grew more bitter and more impudent. | Climbing up to the sixth floor, she collided in the darkness of the hall with a young lady, who had just pped out of the elevator. The ly excused herself, and Mickey recognized her voice. “Edith,” she cried happily. “How nice. you look.” Edith smiled in embarrasment. She neither recognized Mickey, nor seem- eg particularly thrilled at the pros- pect of recognizing her. SI am Mickey, Veronica MacLa- hanna. Don’t you recognize me?” Edith gasped. « “Qh, my. dear Mickey. you, look.” She didvnot mean to say it, but the words came out spontaneously. “Well, come on in,” she said apol- ogetically.. “Tell me about yourself.” Hew old _ A maid in while apron opened the door for them, and eyed Mickey dis- trustfully . Edith’s little boy, dressed iri‘an expensive knitted suit, sat in | dn'drmchair, watching with curiosity the’ queer woman with red, unkempt | hair’ showing beneath her shabby hat. Edith was listening absent-mindedly to Mickey’s story about how her hub- band had gone out on strike in sym- pathy with the demands of the left union, and how her baby was crying for''‘milk and she had to find some wotk to do. “Td be glad to help you, Mickey,” -drawled out Edith, anxious to get good food, good natured attendants. A sickening, nauseating, nutty smell of bedbugs permeated it. Expected to accomated two prisoners, it was only about three by eimh: feet. To the right there were two iron cots chained to the wal! In the ex- treme left corner an uncovered. dirty. stinking seat. Right next to it was ser’s Coolies,” reviewed by Harri- son George; a story from Red China, translated by Seymour Goldberg; Mother Goose Rhymes in Red, by HAP (Potamkin), il- lustrated by Gropper, and “Mary,’ a story by Myra Page. » « . And this year they’re more planning to create 2,000,000 jobs. Book Reviews Reviewed By BENNETT STEVENS “THE CHURCH AND INDUSTRY,” By Miller and Fletcher, Longman Green and Company, 1930. ‘ARL MARX'S famous declaration that “Religion is the Opium of the people” received striking support from this book which was written in defense of the churches. Spencer Miller, Jr., one of the authors, as secretary of the Worker's (?) Educa- tional Bureau of the A. F, of L:, a few years ago accepted $25,000 from the Carnegie Foundation to be used in “educating” workers with capitalist propaganda, It is to be expected that he would justify the churches’ ex- penditure of a billion dollars yearly to “educate” the workers in the ideas and ideals that keep the masses bound to capitalism, blind to its evils and so dulled by religious “dope” that they will not rebel against their poverty and exploitation, - ‘The book is an historical summary of the utterance of the Episcopal church and its affiliated organiza- tions on matters affecting the “rela- tions between capital and labor” and a study of the churches’ acts in a a few selected strike situations. It is clear that it is published as @ part of a vast propaganda cam- paign that aims to counteract the as counter-revolutionary agents and as capitalist lackeys. . A frantic attempt is made to play up the ech as guardian angels of the workers in the class struggle but at the same time not to draw too exaggerated a picture lest capitalists who build the churches and pay the ministers’ salaries and all other ex- penses, be antagonized. ‘The collection of resolutions “on industrial relations” published here} show that even when talking for public consumption the churches are hostile to labor. When the clergy- men are not blabbing about ap- proaching the class. struggle in “the spirit of Christ” and “in the light of the Incarnation,” they are urging conciliation, compromise and arbit- ration. In the strike situations de- scribed here such a8 in the West own business. In the meantime, by pobre the Workers, they have suc- a8 ie i Why don’t the flies stay in line? By BARD. Forty Years Ago By CH. MclL. (A Worker who lost his savings in a small town bank crash) The kettle on the stove was froze . Just forty years ago; And for fuel each morning, @ the woods, I would have to go; My clothes were not just the thing, And how the winds did blow, T can feel the sting now in my bones, From forty years ago; I struggled on with bravery, An existence I have sought, But found the road to slavery For freedom has been bought, You try to save a penny For collateral it does go, As for safety there ain't any Like forty years ago. My savings had a watch-dog, The interest has been small; And when you try to make a draw, ‘There's nothing there at all, Politicians will investigate, ‘That we all do know, And here I’m back where I started Just. see forty years ago. rid.of her visitor before her husband came home for supper, She started to..search through her pocketbook. “I don’t want your money!” said Mickey haughtily, her body growing hot with anger. “If you have some work to give me, I'll take it, But J don't want charity.” Qh, don’t be like that,” saic Edith. “It’s not charity, you knov Mickey. I can’t send my maid away just like that. Take some mone; for the sake of old times. We art ‘hot 'rich, but it won't mean muct to,us.” , No, that’s why I won't take it!’ said, Mickey angrily. “You are no one of us. Qh, I don’t mean be. cause you afe Jewish,” she hastily, noticing the changed expres sion on Edith’s face. “There is when she’s got them. But you not. like us. You are a rich man’ wife. I.don't want rich man's char. She came home that night, withou k and without milk. Alfred wa sitting on the edge of the children’ oe supporting his head with bot yes, as he greeted Mickey. =I, guess.’ have to go back te Morrow morning,” he ‘said softl without at her, . “No, you won't,” she shot back # row. just as you a sie & as is done in this book,