The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 20, 1931, Page 4

‘ Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc, datly except Sunday, at 50 Baws SUBSCRIPTION RATES: % : p € ny Jable: * RK" By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months $3; two months, $1: excepting Boroughs Y: “ov Street, New York City. N. Y. Telephone Algonquin Cable: “DALWORK. ; : s vage Four Address and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 50 East 13th Street, New York. N. ot Manhattan and Bronx. New York Ctiy. Foreign: one year, $8+ six months. $4.50 nO ENDS “ ” By BURCK. INVESTIGATING Tammany Corruption—Corruption and Decay of Capitalism District Committee, Communist Party, District 2.) (Statement by April 14, 1931. y administration, in con- f ands ex- as the most {ting poli- e world, The fake investiga- to the surface only a the deep going cor- the entire city adminis- ial, from the grafting down to the bought and olice and every Tammany ‘or years. corrupt not limited to Tam-~ is inseparable from much a part of the face. It part of and decomposition of > Tammany Hall the complete control of New of the city of of the republican capitalism, the iarpening their ctions in 19; wish of so-called fake administation, and eyes of the workers attention from un- vicious wage cuts, e persecution of Negro rs and growing atacks and standards of all the and starvation, the fie born wor! and spee million workers Aare out of jobs . Over 2,000 families are evicted daily. The cost of living and while hundreds of thousands Negro workers, are tenemen' Starvation and e not y the unemployed, of part-time workers. 2 who still have jobs are suffering wage cut speed-up becomes ever More than or growing the c admin a1 of at an al: but d his city city, id corrup- © listen to the demands of the unemployed. only answer of the Tammany administra- tion, aided by the republican and socialist party to the demands of the unemployed are police clubs and jails. The March 6th delegation of 110,000 unemployed workers last year, wete sent to the penitentiary by the same judges who to- day are guilty of graft and of preying upon in- nocent women. Time and again delegations of unemployed and employed workers placed their demands for immediate relief and unemployment insurance before the city, and each time the un- employed were clubbed and beaten by the same police who are today shown to be working hand in hand with the underworld, who grow fat and framing up of women. The republicans in the city administration not only sanctioned but applauded the slugging of the unemployed and the sentencing of their leaders to long jail terms. While one set of Tammany grafters is investigating the other, the republicans “investigate” Tammany Hall and Tammany Hall accuses the republicans in the city administration of graft. The social fascist preacher, Norman Thomas, in chorus with liberal politicians, rave’ about “clean gov- ernment, honest politics,” in preparation for vote catching in the coming elections in the Fall. In reality, they all present one united front with Tammany Hall against the employed and un- employed workers, In’ Albany the hunger march- ers tried to place the demands of the unem- ployed of this state for immediate unemploy- ment relief, against evictions, for free gas, heat and light for the unemployed, for lunches for the childre nin the schools, against wage cuts and speed-up, for lower rents, for the workers unemployment insurance bill, and were murder- ously attacked by the republican controlled state troopers. The entire state legislature, demo- crats, and republicans passed a resolution, high- ly praising the murderous attacks of these thugs. Governor Roosevelt is directly responsible for the brutal police clubbings and attacks of the unemployed workers. The holy preacher, Norman Thomas, with the entire leadership of the socialist party approved the slugging of the unemployed only demanding more efficient methods on the part of the Tam- many thugs. These socialist leaders while using working class language to fool the workers, are part of the bosses’ strike-breaking machinery to betray and sell all workers struggling against miserable conditions. They are combined with the gangsters of the underworld, the police and the injunction judges, in every fight of the New York workers against wage cuts, long hours and speed-up. Today, as the third party of capital- ism, the socialists support the system that breeds mass unemployment and starvation, the system that is today driving down the living standards of all workers to the semi-starvation level. ‘The socialist lawyers and socialist union officials work together with the judges who are today exposed as grafters arid racketeers, get out in- junctions and send hundreds of workers to jail under Paragraph 600 of the penal code, one of the most vicious strikebreaking laws that have ever been enacted by a capitalist legislature. While it squanders millions robbed from the workers in graft, the city administration did not assign one cent in the original city budget of jast October of more than $620,000,000 for the unemployed. It was only after the militant demonstration of the unemployed at City Hall on October 16th that they appropriated a mis- erable $1,000,000 for charity. Through a special alien squad set up by Mulrooney, the city ad- ministration is assisting the Federal Labor De- partment in the vicious drive against the for- eign born, Hundreds of foreign born have been rounded up for deportation within recent weeks, Foreign born workers are taken off jobs or rounded up in meeting places and rushed off to Ellis Island. The Negro workers are made the victims of worse and worse discrimination, Un- employment is especially severe among Negro workers. The Tammany city administration and the republicans are discriminating agaihst Ne- €roes even on bread lines. With the aid of the socialist party they are doing their best to set the Negro workers against the foreign born, and white against Negro in order to smash the unity of the working class. In ‘one ‘complete united front, Tammany Hall, the republicans, socialists, police ¢epartment and the fascist Veterans of Foreign Wars are now trying to keep the work- | ers from demonstrating on May Day at Union | Square. | | 4 Workers of New York, the exposure of the Tammany Hall machine can be duplicated in every city of the country, including socialist controlled Reading, Pa., and Milwaukee, Wis., where socialist police evict unemployed work- ers’ families, club and jail the militant leaders of the unemployed. The socialist fakers, Thomas, Hillquit and Co., are part and parcel of the en- tire capitalist system, and support and attempt to perpetuate graft and corruption, unemploy~- ment and starvation, wage cus and bosses’ war. Whether Tammany Hall, the republicans or so- cialists have the political control, the conditions of the workers will remain the same until the workers organize their forces and, under the leadership of the Communist Party and revolu- tionary trade unions, destroy the entire system | and establish a Workers’ and Farmers’ Govern- | ment in their countr; There can be no “clea “honest” politics, while capitalism e these fake investigations, the socialist fakers are not fighting Tammany Hall. The fight against Tammany Hall is part of the fight of the work- ers against the republican and socialist parties, and against the entire system. It is the fight against unemployment, evictions, wage cuts, for the 7-hour day with no wage reduction, for the right to organize and strike. It is against discrimination and:-lynching of Negroes, against deportation and persecution of the for- eign born, against imperialist war and for de- fense of the Soviet Union. This is the fight that is led by the Communist Party and the revolu- tionary unions. The Communist Party calls upon the unemployed to join the unemployed councils, the employed workers to join the Trade Union Unity League, Negro and white together. Work- ing class solidarity, organization and mass strug- gle must be the answer of the working class to the Tammany Hall machine, to the republican and socialist parties, enemies of the working class. Support the Communist Party in its pro- gram to organize the working class. Support it in the coming aldermanic election campaign. Organize May Day Committees in every shop, trade union and workers’ organization. Workers still in the socialist party and those supporting the fascist leaders, Thomas, Hillquit and Co., re- pudiate these enemies of the working class. Con- demn their united front with the police, fascist Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Russian white guards and mobilize with the other workers at Madison Square, forward to Union Square under the leadership of the United Front May Day Conference, April 20th at the Manhattan Ly- ceum, 66 E. 4th St., N. Y. Thru Mobilize in the shops, in every workers’ or- ganization for a mighty demonstration on May Day, the day of International Working Class Solidarity, in the struggle against capitalism. Join the Communist Party, the Party of your class. Turn the capitalist offensive into a counter-offensive to smash capitalism, to estab- lish a Workers’ and Farmers’ Government in the United States. District Committee, New York District, COMMUNIST PARTY OF U.S.A. Prebare tor May Day With Daily Worker By HARRY GANNES. Fe May Day sees the drive against the wages of those workers who still have jobs left raised to a higher pitch. The entire capitalist press is yelping for pay cuts. Unemployed work- ers are closer to the starvation level. We see the “socialists” getting active to stave off mili- tant action of the workers against capitalism. It does not require much.argument to con- vince the revelutionary workers of the necessity of spreading the Daily Worker to mobilize for May Day. But because this has become a “rou- tine” matter many overlook the importance of increasing the circulation of the Daily Worker as a means of rallying hundreds of thousands for May Day around the concrete issues of the every day struggle. The workers are hungry for news of the fight against capitalism. They want a way out, a road of struggle against wage cuts. This informa- tion is contained in the Daily Worker. May Day will be a rallying point for these fights, uniting all the revolutionary workers throughout the world, in a mighty protest and fight against capitalism. : All workers must know what May Day stands for. They can be drawn into struggle. And the Daily Worker is the best single means of doing it. It must be distributed in the shops to get workers to lay down tools and participate in demonstrations; in the breadlines, on the streets, at workers’ homes, to organize the unemployed to demonstrate for employment reJief and insur- ance; to secure the participation of all workers’ organizations and working class neighborhoods, and to draw them to the rallying centers of revo- lutionary struggle on May Day. Workers! Join the Party of Your Class! Communist Party U. S. A. P. O. Box 87 Station D. New York City. Please send me more information on the Com- munist Party. tee enereeeserereees Address See eeeeeeeenenwanes vee BtAate cescevcccee CHtY .ccecceececcescveces P, O, Box 87 Station D, New York City, the fight | | sirate on May 1! Employed and unemployed anto workers: Increased wage-cuts, speed-up, mass unemploy- ment, in short, misery and mass starvation is the lot of the masses of automobile workers in Detroit and vicinity. On theother hanr, the mil- lions of dollars profits for the automobile man- Jars profits was made by Henry Ford in ‘1930. This holds true for General Motors and other automobile concerns. These millions of dollars profits were made out of the sweat and blood of the very same automobile workers who are confronted with this increased misery and mass suffering. The spring pick-up m the automobile industry is a thing of the past. All the prop- aganda in the capitaliss newspapers about the return of prosperity is being exposed by the in- creased misery of the masses of workers. In ad- dition to all this, the city relief institutions are making a wholesale slash upon the meagre relief which they were compelled to give as a result of the fighting demonstrations and activities of the TUUL unions an dthe Unemployed Councils. ‘The automobile manufacturers, together with the city administration under the direction of Mayor Murphy are doing everything possible to shift the whole burden of the present economic crisis which is developing ever decped in the automobile indstry upon the shoulders of the masses of employed and unemployed automobile workers. Wage-cuts from 10, 20 to 50 per cent are taking place at the prsent time. The speed- up program is being applied as never before in the history of the automobile industry. In ad- dition to thealready over 200,000 unemployed auto workers part time work (stagger plan) is increas- ing, and as a result further swells up the army of the unemployed. The leadership of the Detroit Federation of Labor under the lead of President Frank X. Mar- tel not only failed to give leadership and guid- ance to the increased militancy which is de- veloping among the masses of auto workers, but on the contrary they are part and parcel of the machinery of tne automobile manufacturers and the city administration in helping to further forse upon the workers this brutal system of mass exploitation. Not only are they not the leaders of the masses of workers in Detroit, but they are the open agents of the bosses and all their city machinery. among the automobile workers in Detroit and vicinity the automobile workers in the Soviet Union as well as the workers generally abolished unemployment and are steadily increasing their social and economic standard under the success- ful Five-Year Plan of the Soviet Union in build- ing up a new social order. The workers in this country will demonstrate and protest on May Day against increased wage cuts, speed-up, mass misery and starvation. The workers in the' So- viet Union will celebrate on May Day the suc- cessful achievements of the workers and peasonts in the building up of socialism. We auto work- ers must become a part of this fighting move- ment and prepare for a counter-attack against the wage-cut and speed-up program of’ Ford, General Motors, and all other automobile manu- facturers, Down Tools on May Day! must result into building up of a militant fighting industrial automobile workers union under the Ieadership of the Trade Union Unity League embracing all workers in the automobile industries regardless of race, color, creed or nationality. ‘The building up of a fighting May Day dem- onstration must be made into a challenge against the bosses’ policy of discrimination against Ne- gro, foreign born, youth and women workers. Organize and strike against wage cuts and speed- up!-must become the immediate aim of the auto- mobile workers, The militant upsurge and mass discontent must be crystalized into real militant shop organizations under the leadership of the Automobile Workers’ Union. The building up ot May Day Committeess, the building up of Griey- ance Committees in the different departments and shop organizations is the immediate task of all employed automobile workers, May Day, the revolutionary day of struggle, must further spurn on both employed and unemployed workers for immediate unemployment relief and for a Down Tools! Demon- ufacturers are increasing. Over 44 million dol- | While this misery and suffering is increasing The Role of the Boot and - Shoe “Union” By MAX HENKIN Ceres in the shops are ripe for organ- ization. A tendency on the part of the em- ployers to lower the living conditions of the workers is constantly in progress, a tendency from which the Shoe manufacturers are not excluded. The reports issued by the State and Federal agencies show that payroll is decreasing faster than employment; while employment dropped 10 per’cent, wages have dropped 15 per cent. Lengthening the hours, peeding-up the workers, cutting wages—is the bosses’ solu- tion for the crisis. Despite the fact that the cost of living has dropped but very slightly, wages as low as $3 to $4 per day for a 9 to 10 hour labor day are quite common among the Shoe Workers. The workers are in a rebellious mood. Shop Committees in various shops are calling upon the Shoe and Leather Workers Industrial Union describing the inhuman conditions to which the workers are subjected in the shops and clamor- ing for organization, The hour of offensive has struck. This must become the slogan of the Shoe workers in every shop. The greed of the employers for profits at the expense of the workers must be resisted; definite organizational methods must be applied in order to lead the workers into struggle to improve their working and living conditions, In their struggles the workers must not be misled by betrayers of their cause, such as the officialdom of the Boot and Shoe and Protective “Unions.” The “Boot and Shoe Workers Union” is thoroughly discredited and despised among the Shoe Workers. The strike-breaking activ- ities it conducted at the Sigman & Cohen, who were striking under the leadership of the Am- erican Union, and at a number of shops that were striking under the leadership of the In- dependent Shoe Workers Union, such as Bern- ard Shoe Co., Brooklyn Shoe Co. Morris & Silver Shoe Co., etc., expose the treacherous role of the Boot and Shoe. Shoe workers had a chance to learn about the conditions in the shops controlled by the B & S W U (hours— plenty of them, miserable wages), forcing the workers to buy stock of the firms they work for under the guise of “partnership,” giving the bosses the right to hire and fire—such are the “UNION CONDITIONS” of the Boot and Shoe in the shops controlled by them. Being a part of the American Federation of Labor, it pursues the policy of enslaving the workers and of killing the least resistance shown by the workers against the bosses. In a letter sent to the manufacturers, the B & §& offers its strike breaking assistance to the masters. One of the suggestions in that letter is...“a strong manufacturers’ association that would enforce rules of the association...” ‘The interest of the bosses is always in mind of the traitors. The workers can be better ex- ploited. More profits can be extracted. Hence gigantic fight to demand unemployment insur- ance at.the expense of the millionaires and bil- lionaires. Not a cent for capitalist war prepara- tions but every dollar to the unemployed! must. be made into a mass fighting demand of the De- troit automobile workers, “ i All automobile workers, Negro and white, wom- en and youth, forward to the May Day demon- stration in Grand Circus Park! Rally to the international May. Day movement of the world working class! Set up your May Day Committee for this fighting May Day movement! of Build your Grievance Committees in all the Departments! Build the revolutionary unions, the Automobile Workers’ Union! Fight for a 7-hour, 5-day week with full pay! Fight against eviction of unemployed workers! Fight against the cutting down of relicf of unemployed workers! Demand an immediate increase in relief! * Fight for unemployment insurance! Long live May Day, international day of struggle! ~° JOHN SCHMTES, Oo _For the Auto Workers Vinion, | ~~ . | DS aoa | | | | the desire of the bosses’ friend—the B & S— a strong “Manufacturers Association.” The letter further states: ‘a settled policy to adjust all differences be- tween employer and employee by arbitration...” A basic feature in the age long policy of the A. F, of L.—arbitration—the method applied to defeat the militaney of the workers. A “promi- nent citizen” selected as arbitrator. Workers know too well what this means. They have | learned the lesson and know that no share-~ holder, be it a “prominent citizen” will decide in the interest of the workers. The leaders of the B & S are conscious of the, fact that Shoe workers know them too well. Therefore, new methods are applied to get the workers. “Progressive” elements and various tools are employed to spread rumors of a pos- sibility of improving the B & S from within. Workers forced into the “Union” because of be- ing employed in one of their shops, turn with disgust watching the close collaboration between the boss and the “Union” officials. Such is the record of the Boot and Shoe. The same applies to the Shoe Workers Protective Union; a long list of sell-outs and betrayals in various Shoe centers where they were active. The only union in the field that is leading the Shoe workers into struggle for better condi- tions, is the Shoe and Leather Workers Indus- | trial Union, affiliated with the T.U.U.L. The S & L WI U, formerly the Independent Shoe Workers Union, has proven its militancy and sincerity through the periods of bitter strug- gle. All the enemies combined, have failed to break the organization. A momentary retreat— consolidation of the forces—and back in the field of battle—constantly calling, urging the shoe workers to join its ranks, and once again to fight militantly to improve the conditions in the shops. | | | A New Phase—New Methods of Struggle Old structure of organization, old methods of work no longer servesthe purpose.. Activity in a shop without building a shop committee is no longer a successful method of organization. Instances where shop gommittees have offered serious resistance to the vicious demands of the bosses are numerous. The aim and practice of the S & L WI U is—a shop committee in every shop. Many workers have a vague idea of what a Shop Committee is and what is its function— therefore the underestimation of its importance. At the meetings and Open Forumseconducted by the S & L WI U the new methods of or- ganization—the Shop Committee—is constantly being explained to the workers. The Shoe work- ers must adapt themseives to it. Grievances arising in the shop must be taken up by the Shop Committees. The best and most trust- worthy elements in a shop are the ones to form the shop committee which shall be in constant and close contact with the Union, Glorifying the past and moaning over the Present will not solve our problem. ‘The condi- tions in the shops are a driving force towards building a militant organization. The only way to resist the lowering of the standard of living and to re-establish decent conditions in’ the shops is to make a united effort and to build the SHOE AND LEATHER WORKERS INDUS- TRIAL UNION, ’ Uncover Starvation and Misery The capitalist press, the agents of the ruling class, has been publishing less and less news about unemployment. It hides the starvation of the unemployed workers’ families. We must constantly expose the miserable treatment of families of the unemployed by the city governments and charity institutions, We must uncover all cases of starvation, un- dernourishment, sickness, We must pub- * lish these cases in our press, in the Daily Worker, in. Labor Unity, tell them at all workers’ meetings. Un- sent no rain. employed Councils should publish bulletins to inform all workers of 2 the starvation and misery of the oan’ — = s | By JORGE te. | ! Reversed Prayers Some people who think they are atheists give us a pain in the neck. “We are not jesting,” they y, in proposing that there be a “Blamegiving as against a “Thanksgiving Day.” Such is Day the bright idea of the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism. ‘There has been drouth, they say. Also un- employment. Quite true. They add: “The cropless farmers and jobless workers are not at fault.” True again. And certainly it is a mockery to set aside a day to “give thanks to God” .for “blgssings which they have not received.” But it is equally stupid to give thanks to God if they did receive them. So the mere basing | of atheist argument on the absence of “blessings” is a prayer turned wrong side out. And basically the whole proposal is a brilliant example of bourgeois stupidity posing as atheism. They say the “cropless” farmers are not to blame for their poverty. And that God is, because he This is a recognition, not a denial of God. And what about the farmers who got plenty of rain and harvested abundant crops, but cannot sell them? How do these bourgeois “atheists” allot the blame in this case? They don’t, They just dodge the question. If they were not soaked in bourgeois ignorance, they would know that the “drouth stricken” farmers were stricken year after year before the drouth came, by rack rents, by debts, by taxes, by monopoly control of everything they buy and sell. They would know that if it were not for these previous robberies, the farmers could have en- dured the drouth. That if it were not a require- ment of capitalist blood-sucking, that even with the drouth finding them as it did, already robbed and impoverished, the farmers would have been freely given all necessary relief, just as they are given it in the Soviet Union in such emergencies, Of course, the jobless workers “are not at fault.” But who is? These bourgeois atheists say it must be God—the God which they deny exists! And they “appeal to every lover of logic” to sup+ port this nonsense! Being bourgeois, they do not admit that the bourgeoisie is to blame. They ignore capitalist property relations, the wage slavery of capitalism and its inevitable result in unemployment for workers and impoverishment of toiling farmers, and return to religion; standing it on its head and calling it “logic!” As we said before, they are not atheists, but bourgeois; and they give us a pain in the neck. sie A Friend of the Veterans ‘ Mr. Adolph Ochs (pronounced “OX” and sis nifying “Bull”) is, quite appropriately, the owne er of the N. Y. Times. Being one of “The 59 who rule America,” yet, evidently among the “idle” which the New York | Times is always urging be put to work, Mr. Bull | —excuse us, Mr, Ochs—was passing the cold March weather in Hawaii. While there, reports the magazine “Time” of March 9, Mr. Ochs, “expressed himself” to the paper known as the “Honolulu Advertiser.” He really should have sent himself by freight, be- cause he spilt all the beans in the pot talking about the cash bonus for vets. For example, while his paper-makes a great fuss over the brave vets, who upheld their coun- try from being invaded by the “Hun” and whom it now calls on to save from the Reds, although it got off some nasty cracks at the vets who wanted the bonus paid, never slipped so far as its owner, Mr. Ochs, For in giving his reason against the cash | bonus, Mr. Ochs, owner of the N. Y. Times, said that if the vets got the money—“It would be a | feast for a short while and then famine again for a majority of the recipients. A fool and his money are soon parted.” . Do you understand this, vets? The owner of the N. Y. Times says that a majority of you are fools!’ And you surely will be if you follow the advice of the New York Times. 6 et On Things Cultural The organization of the John Reed Club 01 Detroit proceeds apace, we are told, and it ia added that all aspiring applicants who know on which side of the class struggle the writers, artists, and other cultural workers belong, should ring up or write to-Bob Cruden at 1799 Eason Ayenue. By the way, the Workers’ Laboratory Theatre (address 1313 West 28th St., New York), says it wants working class plays, short skits, and sO on. It seems that demands are coming in from various parts of this benighted land for revolu- tionary plays. The boys and girls that are called “intel- lJectuals” have a place in the revolutionary move- ment. But it's mostly an empty chair. They will have to shed the dirt of bohemianism (which is bourgeois dirt) and the taint of cynicism (which also comes from the bourgeoisie), Benighted land is right! Of course, there are reasons for it, but it’s high time that the Amer- ‘ican revolutionary movement was producing novels and plays and short stories reflecting what richness of struggle there is in the life of the American working class, both past and present. é Where are the writers who will give us tens® dramatic novels of the great battles of 1877, when the workers drove the soldiery out of Pittsburgh and St. Louis was ruled by the work= ers for ten days? af And what about a great novel of the strikes and 8-hour movement of 1886, which gave the world May First as a fighting day of the pro» letariat? Or even, one act skits on current events, let us say, Hoover in Puerta Rico. We will venture to state that some of the writers don’t even know what happened in 1877! ‘They are too self-opinionated to concede that they have anything to learn. They—not all, of course, but too many—take a lofty pride in the accusation that they are living “in ivory towers” when, as a matter of fact, they are living in a lavatory. ‘The movement needs writers, artists, all kinds of cultural workers, and while we hope they'll become Communists, that, certainly, is not @ requirement for joining the John Reed Club, which should welcome all who generally stand on the workers' side of the class struggle as John Reed did, ie But they shouldn't high-hat the workers and expect to have their “ivory ” mith awe. ane Rani Bere)