The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 3, 1931, Page 1

Negro Jobless Discriminate Agamst Reports from many cities give the information that the families of Negro unemployed workers are discriminated against by the city governments and charity institutions. The relief distributed is always inadequate, but Negro families in many instances get nothing or much less than amounts ven to white families. Starvation and sickness among Negro fam- illes is much more severe. Fight dis- crimination, unite Negro and white un- employed workers into neighborhood branches for common struggle for asequate relief. . Vol. VIII, No. 81 Dail Entered an second-class matter at the Post Office <¢a5p21 at New York, N. ie Orga (See trom: 0} ¥., under the act of March 3,..1879 o a the Communis > t Interna Worker Rinunict Party U.S.A. tional) NEW YORK, FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 1931 OF WORKERS THE WORLD, UNITE! CITY EDITION Price 3 Cents BOSSES MADE HALF BILLION PROFITS FROM WAGE-CUTS ‘MEANWHILE THEY CUT OFF EVEN LITTLE Anthracite Mine Pickets Battle Police April Fooling the Farmers Qo" MARCH 27th, the U. 8. Department of Agriculture, prancing across | ¥ the front pages of the capitalist press, shouting the glad tidings that; as the N. ¥, Times headline put it:—“American Farmers Prepare Starp Cut in Wheat Acreage.” The story went on to say: | - “The reports show an intention to sow only 76.1 per cent as much | durum wheat and only 88 per cent as much Spring wheat other than durum, as in 1930. 1 -Ahd so forth and so on. Only whispering, however, that these “re- aoe were “based upon returns from 43,000 producers.” And not men- tioning that 43,000 farmers are rather a slim foundation upon which to biild‘a prophesy as to what the 6,297,877 farmers of this country are going to do, of which total perhaps 1,500,000 raise wheat. =o on April Fool's Day, on page 52 of the N. Y. Times, the whole fairy tale was exploded by the first private reports of commercial agencies on the 1931 wheat crop. Here, buried in a market price report, it is said: P “f, H> Miller placed the abandoned acreage at 2.5 per cent of the &rea (in winter wheat) seeded last Fall, compared with a ten-year aver- age 6f 11.8 per cent. The report suggests 41,000,000 acres remaining for harvest, or 3,000,000 more than last year, and fully offsets the prospective reduction in Spring wheat.” § ‘The importance of such a statement about winter wheat( already sown); as compared to the government hokum about Spring wheat, can pe seen by the fact that winter wheat harvested in 1930 totaled 604,337,000 bushels, and all Spring and durum wheats combined totaled only 216,628,000 bushels, Why all these April Fool jokes? +For two reasons. First, the “reduction of acreage” story was put out for ‘world consumption, The internation#l wheat conference was on at Rome, and the U. S., which refused to take part in it, had to give out something pretending to show that it was “doing its part.” Chiefly, of colirse, because this lie about ‘acreage reduction” serves as an excuse, false as hell, but an excuse, to bluster later on that it is the Soviet Union, and not the United States, which is “responsible” for “surplus” for “dump- 2” ete, . Secondly, the lie about “acreage reduction” came in handy as a follow- up to the Farm Board’s announcement that it would buy no wheat of of the 1931 crop—‘‘maybe.” It was an attempt to make everyone believe that the policy of s20~more” purchases” really had considerable effect, thus trying to cover up the failure of the Farm Board in “orderly marketing” and organized capitalism. with bright hopes about the future. ‘ Not that the Farm Board and Secretary Hyde are not trying to get the farmers to reduce acreage. But “orderly marketing” is impossible with disorderly production. And to talk about controlling production, while 6,000,000 individual producers are pursuing their 6,000,000 ways, sounds “reasonable” only to ghose stupid enough to chatter about “‘organ-. ized capitalism”—as if capitalism, which is anarchy incarnate, can be organized. Yes, indeed, Mr. Hyde and the Farm Board try hard to get the farmers to “reduce acreage.” That is why they put out the great de- claration of “no more wheat purchases.” But each wheat farmer must meet debts and try to get enough income to feed his family. It is no abstraction for him. If prices go down, he tends to try raising more bushels to make up, The “other fellow” is expected to reduce; he can’t. The re- sult is no reduction. And with capitalism starving millions in the cities with wage cuts and unemployment, these mililons can not buy bread— which is the essential thing. Only in an insane capitalist system would reduced production be preached while millions are starving. _ {But the Farm Board’s “ne more purchases” policy is nothing new. It said the same thing last year. But after the speculators had bought the farmers’ wheat at depressed prices, the Farm Board discovered “an emergency” and went to buying—from speculators! Then it said: “We helped the farmers!” No doubt the same thing may be done again this year. Farmers with little or no capital can not solve anything by reducing acreage, nor by any of the tricky “cooperative” schemes advocated by the Farm Board. They can only make some headway by fighting big capital and the rich farmers. And they can win nothing permanent unless they unite with the revolutionary’workers of the cities to put an end to capi- talism, and all its anarchy and robbery. ‘This is the lesson they should learn from the April First joke the capitalist government is playing on them. And they should unite this May First in joint demonstration with the workers of the cities to pledge the revolutionary unity of all who toil to the overthrow of capitalism, the system of robbery, unemployment ,wage cuts, lynch law and war! To the future Workers’ and Farmers’ Governnient!! ‘Poilers of city and country, unite on May First! ¢ WORKERS JEER ~GARVEY FAKER eformist Sends Call *=for Police Allies NEW YORK —Negro workers in Harlem yesterday afternoon jeered William Grant, Garvey misleader and head of the Tiger Division of the G.N.LA., when in a Garvey street meeting: at 128th Street and Lenox Avenue, Grant attacked the Com- murist Party and William L. Pat- es of capitalism in other ‘parts of the world, I am convinced that when the Negro masses of America come to understand more clearly, the ide- ology of Communism they must ac- cept it as the only genuine relief from their present plight. Under capitalism they are doomed to ex- ploitation and oppression. The door to better things is closed to the American worker by his wage scale. In Russia, where private profit is being progressively abolished, there will be no limit to the benefits the worker may receive. When the Ne- gro realizes the superiority of the Soviet system he is bound to ac- cept, its tenets.” Grant, who with other misleaders, realize that their “right” to rob and SHOE STRIKERS Grievance Comm. Delays Meet As Lewis Orders Strike Broken; Miners Indignant at Treacheries Union; Rank and File Opposition Meets Militants Adopt Demands, Pick Candidates to Oppose Traitors, Plan to Organize Further BULLETIN. The capitalist papers state that tear gas was used by the police in the attack on the mass pickets at Dodge colliery of the Glen Alden Co. at Scranton, and that the police superintendent has issued a threat to employ more severe measures next time. . . WILKES-BARRE, Pa., April 2.—After police clubs had failed to disperse the mass picket line at the Dodge Colliery of | the Glen Alden Coal Co., in whose mines 20,000 are striking, | the firemen were called out, and, joining forces with the police, a brutal attack was made on the strikers. —° The miners fought back, throwing stones which slightly injured several policemen. Sev- 2 RETURN TO WORK Win Two-day Strike) Against 20 Pe. Cut NEW YORK, April 2—Under the leadership of the Shoe and Leather Workers’ Industrial Union, affiliated with the T. U. U. L., forty-five work- ers employed by the Vincent Horo- witz Slipper Co., 64 W. 23rd St., New York City, won strike against a 20 per cent wage-cut after only two days on the picket line. The workers were confronted last Thursday with a notice of a 20 per cent wage-cut and when they pro- tested they were told to get out. They had no organization, but a few of the shop crew called upon the Shoe and Leather Workers’ Indu:- trial Union and an organizer was immediately put on the job, th the result that within 24 hours 30 out of 45 workers had joined the union and were picketing the shop. This quick action threw a scare into the bosses, who spent all day Sunday visiting the workers’ homes to urge them to break away from the union and to come back to work. On Monday morning there were not only pickets, but also strike signs furnished by the union. By 9 o'clock the boss sent word that there would be no wage-cut and no discrimina- tion, The workers returned to work and will now perfect. their union in the shop. A meeting will be held ths week at the union headquarters to elect a shop committee. their Against evictions, for rent reduc- tions! Conditions of Negro Masses in U. S. Is Tragic, Homes Being Broken Up, Admits Boss Agency By CYRIL BRIGGS. NEW YORK.—After severely apol- ogizing to the bosses for bringing up the “distasteful question” of unem- ployment, the National Urban eral miners were arrested. As a result of the attack, the last three mines of the Glen Alden | Co. at Scranton have not yet been | pulled out on strike. The Grievance Committee, in the local Maloney, Davis and others—prom- ised at the time it wired Interna- tional Prosident Lewis of the United Mine Workers of America to call a urday if he did not an- Lewis—Strike Breaker. Lewis answered with a wire full of strike-breaking propaganda and | against the wage-cuts and lengthen- (CONTINLED OF PAC PBREE? Yonkers Workers in Farewell to Weich, Delegate to USSR YONKERS.—The Workers Cooper- ative Hall was filled to the doors with miJitant workers last night to bid farewell to Comrade Milton Weich, organizer of the Unemployed Council of Yonkers, before he leaves with the Trade Union May Day Delegation to the Soviet Union. Weich, prominent in the struggles of the unemployed in Yonkers, has bees selected by the Trade Union Unity League-as one of the delega- tion of American workers who will jein the Russian workers and pea ants in their giant May Day d strations. For the Workers Unemployment In- surance Bill! ' os ‘Negro and White and Persecution! meeting whenever he answered their | | insults to those who dared to strike | |Local Fakers Fear to Debate National Miners whith a majority is’ controlled by| misleaders—Pomicheck, | | Workers! Fight Starvation Demonstrate May Day! | Family Starving, Plead for Bread COLUMBIA, S. C., April 2— The governor of South Carolina has just received a letter from a mother pleading that her babies shall not starve. The letter, in part, lows: “I am hungry and got no bread for my seven children. I am ask- ing the governor of the United States for help, and please, sir, have mercy on me and make a way for me to live. I ask you to please help me and don’t let me die for hunger. Please, Governor Blackwood, I want you to have mercy on me. “I am out here on the farm and I want 10 farm, but I’ve got no mule and no money to carry on. And no bread to eat. “I know you are not going to let. a’ hard-working farmer like me die in the United States for hunger—for something t) eat. Please have mercy on pcor me with seven head of children. “I was begging for bread last night and got none. What are we going to do? “Please don’t hunger.” was as fol- let me die of | YCL ISSUES CALL TOR GTHNATIONAL, CONVENTION Wide Discussion In Ranks to Precede Pointing out the worsening condi- tions of the young workers in the United States, as the economic cri- sis grows sharper, as the ranks of the unemployed increase, the Young Conimunist League has issued a call for its Sixth National Convention. Especially stressing the growing war danger, the call puts forward the | main tasks that face the Young Com munist League in the present strug- gies, The call, in full, is as follows: To All Members of the Young Com- munist League: Dear Comrades: Nearly two years have passed since our Fifth National Convention held in May, 1929. During these two years, many important events, effecting’ the work of our League have tw#sen place The general crisis of capitalism has especially hit the United States. In this country there are 10,000,000 un- employed, of whom 2,500,000 are young workers. Another 10,000,000 are working part time. Wage-cuts and speed-up are increasing every day. Even capitalist politicians ad- mit that thosuand people die from hunger daily in the United States. The capitalist powers are fighting to: the markets of the world. They are preparing a new war. The im- perialists are especially preparing for a war against the Soviet Union. They RELIEF THAT WAS GIVEN T0 JOBLESS; MOBILIZE MAY DAY TO FIGHT HUNGER! News Briefs} starving in Warsaw, Poland. Efforts ; to make it appear that they merely | want Matzoths are exposed by the { admission that they are starving. | cannot see my child starve ee | my eyes,” was a note pinned to one of many abandoned Jewish babies. Tow Shaw, “labor minister of war in the MacDonald government, fused to accept an amendment to the army and air force bill which would forbid soldiers from being {used as strike-breakers. The maker Thousands of Jewish workers are | re- | “Tp Duvidend Oaiataitey 1/ Pittsburgh Unemployed 46 Start Ma Harrisburgh, Ste Stat Steel City Rulers Refuses All Aid; Uses ¥ burgh Plan” to Fire Worke Expected to Reach the Sum of $750,000,000; Grinding Workers aud Starv- ing Jobless Makes Big Loot ch Cn e Capitol, April 18 ellon’s “Pitts: rs to Rehire On Lower Pay Five hundred million dollars in dividends of the amendment, however, was a the pr ofits wrung in the midst of the crisis left faker who thought it was alright; from fearfully exploited and wage cut wo rkers Id. deci: tate of | ‘ pee Ene OneCare ote distributed Wednesday. The New York emergency.” V vere e ; ; ‘Times, which prints this news states that the Five hundred workers have been| “ividend and interest payments in April will be more than jarrested in Japan, the government | $750,000,000, an impressive total even when business was | admits, and seventy-one are held for/ more prosperous.” trial (the rest are held without any | This is the iat of those trial), charged with’ Communism. | | pretense of suing four companics in Of course, Moscow and not starva-| tion wages is blamed. The U. S. state |department is making expensive preparations to receive the Japanese | crown prince “ut to arrive in Amer- \ica soon. > ‘Washington reporis claiming that }naval maneuvers in the Caribbean showed that bib battleships ai |mecessary for “defense,” in addition to airplanes and cruisers, is govern- ment propaganda for the big ship- building companies and armor plate interests, whose robbery in. the past war was to outrageous that the gov- ernment is now going through the the Philadelphia federal courts to collect $11,000,000 excess profits. The “go-slow strike” of freight | handlers in the London station has been “snuffed out” by the union leaders, The workers did not walk | off the job, but simply obeyed all} rues, which is enough to tie up any} railroad company in the world. The union leaders have forced 540,000 men to accept wage-cuts from 21-2 to 5 per cent. Resentment is rife. The whole pacifist picture of naval agreement has been upset by the French demand for more warships than Italy “agreed” to. Reports prove that Communists were correct in rid- iculing the whole thing. Reports admitting now that “there was as much secret skepticism as public op- timism among the French and Italian negotiators themselves.” It is said} to be “a tragic situation” for the “socialist” Foreign Minister of British Imperialism, Arthur Henderson, whose scheme for the Geneva Con- ference next’ year is seriously upset. | He was trying to get an advantage for Italy, Britain’s ally. He was not ee ED ON PAGE «oe EE) trying to get peace. tersoni, for his statements in an in- terview. given to The Amsterdam News. Patterson who has just returned from a three and a half years’ stay inthe Soviet Union, said in his in- terview: “after three and a half yer“s' study of racial minorities in Soy'2t Rus- siaysI~am convinced thet the pro- gram-0f Communism is the only sol- ution of our race problem in Amer- “after a critical comparison of the — “System with the various phas- exploit the workers is challenged by Communism, bitterly denounced Pat- terson for his views, and aroused such hot resentment among the Ne- gro workers present that one of his henchmen sneaked out of the crowd and sent in a call for the police allies of the Garvey misleaders, the ame police who with Grant wore responsible for the murder of Com- rede Alfred Levy last summer. In spite of Ahe presence of the police, nowever, the workers continued to jeer Grant right up to the end of the meeting. League, in a pamphlet just published we sy F | let points out that t he percentage on “How Unemployment Affects Ne-/ groes,” admits thai “the condtions of, Of Negro unemployment is in every employment among Negroes are not) Case far higher than among other workers: Percentage of Unemployed Higher. “In every instance where figures available, the percentage of Ne- es among the unemploye dis high- than their population percentage ts, sometimes running as high four times mount, and in some instances, five It is of par- the high- improving, and in some sections of| the country are apparently becoming worse.” “In only a few cases are condi; tions improviny for Negro work- ers. Jn most instances condition lave either grown worse or co! tinned unsatisfactory during t pest four menths.” Charecterizing the situation of the; and six times as high. Negro workers as tragic, the ules ticular yignificance that the proportionate | } est disproportionate figures are found in Northern industrial centefs where the Negro is limited to unskilled oc- cupations, and is in truth t he mar- ginal worker, This is not to be taken, however, to mean that the dispro- portion does not appear also in Southern communities where the per- sos handled by relief agen- in excess of the percent form of the total popula- tion.” These figures clearly do not farm laborers who are not on the lists of the “relief” organizations and who are denied relief. Admission of gross discrimination by government agencies against Ne- gro workers is also made: Discrimination by Government “There is abundant evidence that in the public works programs of the various states and the national government Negro workers are re- ceiving scant consideration, and is a not uncommon practice in some cities to deliberately oust Negroes from jobs in order to make room for unemployed whites.” Although the Urban League heads heave been among thc Negro mis- leaders in the campaign to displace the biggest wage cutting campaign in history, who have con- TERSEY CITY MAY | DAY CONFERENCE ‘o Be Held May 5th; Plan Demonstration capitalists who’ have put through ®sistently refused to allow any but the most trivial relief for the 12,000,000 jobless, who have doubled up and speeded up their employees at work in the t fashioz | Most” of the cor |big dividend | companies, and these compar even now, acting u he a | Wall Street as expressed through tt | Finar r Jof March 14, starting the rc JERSEY CITY, N. J., April 2—An spen air demonstration on May Day ill be held her This was the de- on of the provisional committee for the united front on May Day. This will be the first open air May Day demonstration ever to be held |in Jersey City for many years. the response to the May Day conference which has been called by the Commu- | | nist Party and the Young Communist | League is excellent and shows that the workers are preparing for strug- | gle. Thousands are unemployed. ‘Wage cuts are“increasing. Recently a wage cut was put into effect at the Stand- g| ard Oil Co. if Bayonne, N. J. The May Day conference will be held April 5th. A call has been sent out to all unions, cultural and fra- | ternal working class organizations. ‘TO TEST RIGHT OF PICKET! Fur Rabbit W orkers N. J, Make Test NEWARK, N. J.—The Fur Rabbit Work Department of the Needle test the right to picket tomorrow morning in front of the S. K. & S. at 137 Logan Ave., Jersey City, N. J. The union is conducting a strike in this shop as a result of all the workers being locked out for refusing to submit to a 20 per cent wage cut. This morning the police prohibited the workers from picketing and even prohibited some of them from enter- ing the house of a co-worker, who lives on Logan Ave. The union intends to fight for the elementary rights of the workers and for the right to picket, and will there- fore picket this shop despite the in- terference of the police. of the union will be on the picket line with the workers. An officer THREE MONTHS FOR SEVEN- CENT CAR RIDE CHICAGO, Ill—Worn out from tramping the streets, hunting work, five jobless boys hopped a_ sireet car and tried to ride on it for noth- ing. They weye jailed. The judge sentenced them to three months in take into consideration the tens of thousands of Negro workers and «CON MINUED ON VAGE THREED his sentence to six months’ proba- tion, and threatened them with jail “| to work to bring of) Trades Workers’ Industrial Union will | the house of correction, then reversed |* a flat wage cut for | railroad workers. Already they have, |as the Pennsylvania } the Penn R R. tracted bigger profits with le income for the road, by expense. And t saving on expen | workers and making those stiil left jon the job do the extra labor Among the firms other than rail- | toads who are recorded as giving big | dividend payments to their stock- |holders, are many which have been in the lead in wage cutting and speed-up. Among them are: Youngs- town Sheet and Tube, Goodyear Tire and Rubber, Hudson Motor Car, Phelps Dodge Corporation, General Electric. International Harvester, and | Johns Manville. | Organize! These dividends _ tell Starvation of the jobless, wage cuts and speed-up, have made huge profits for the employers, with the working the dory. class standing the. burden of the crisis. Only through organization, | building up the unions of the Union Unity League and the Cor |of the Unemployed, can part of this huge sum now going as profits be de- flected to the hungry masses who made the profits for their employers. Make’ May 1 a day of mass protest against starvation! Meanwhile the policy of the em- (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) “Daily’ Needs Volunteers Stenographers, typists, etc., who have an hour or two to spare during the night drop up to the Daily Worker circulation department where their help will be very much appreciated. Quite a bit of correspondence has accumulated as a result of the 60,000 circulation drive, and the Daily Worker can use volunteer help y gratitud The address is att on the 8th floor. (Sixty thousand sparks page EB. cireulatic if they participate in worki activities. DEFEND ome SOVIET UNION!’ SMASH THE WAR PLOTS OF THE BOSSES! he war . ANCE! SMASH THE TERROR REIGN AGAINST FOREIGN-BORN AND AS. FUNDS TO THE ea Ag le IN THE F O R M OF UNEMPLOYME? NEGRO WORKERS! R-