The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 22, 1931, Page 4

ah gy i} | jf ees nites panlll a if 1sth Page Four Address a If PanisHea BF the CoMprodany Paplisning Co., Ine. o veet, New York C N.Y. Telephone Algonquin 7956-7, except suuaay, at 50 mast Cable: “DALWORK.” mail all checks to tne Daily Werker, 50 East 18th Street, New York, N. ¥ Dall Orker Party USA) ._!BSCRIPTION RATES? By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, New York Ctly. Foreign: one year, $8+ six months. $4.50. ~ ORGANIZE FOR MAY FIRST! pe tor May 1| ORGANIZE FOR STRIKE ON PREPARE STRIKES, DEMONSTRATIONS AND MARCHES! By C. A. HATHAWAY. AY FIRST, this year, must reflect the ability of ths workers, hard pressed by the bosses’ vation offensive, to organize their forces for powerful counter-attack, Great mass parades and demonstrations are important, but only through organization can they be carried through, only through real organization in the shops and among the unemployed can these marches and demonstrations mark the beginning of effective struggles against the bosses. There is to be no let up in the hunger drive of the capitalists. There is no end of the crisis in sight. On the contrary the trend of the crisis is still downward; the drive of the bankers and manufacturers against the workers is proceeding with greater vigor and determination. The pious fakery of Hoover and Green about no wage cuts is exposed; the wage cutting cam- paign, now openly and brazenly carried on, is daily effecting thousands of workers in all industries Unemployment, now that slight spring sea- sonal improvement has passed again increases unwilling to bear even The greedy capitalists, the slightest crisis burden, are everywhere dis- continuing even their miserable charity relief, In the factories and mines, taking advantage of the growing unemployed army at the gates, the profit-hungry owners are everywhere in- creasing the speed-up and killing stretch-out heir war plans are likewise being rushed for- d at a feverish rate, directed chiefly against war Soviet Union, though alrea the imperial- are concentrating military and naval forces in the colonies, shooting down native: workers now in rebellion against vicious imperialist ex- ploitation and robbery; marine murders in Nica- ragua are only the immediate American expres- sion of the bloody war plans of the imperialists. In the United States, to prepare for these wars, and to force the workers to accept the hunger and misery resulting from wage cuts, un- employment and speed-up, the capitalists, with the aid of the government, the A. F. of L. and the “sociali: ’ have introduced an alarming terror campaign—imprisonment, deportations, beatings and lynchings. Against all this the laboring masses must strike and demonstrate on May Ist! These strikes and demonstrations must be really or- ganized! They must mean, not only the bring- ing of tens of thousands of workers into the streets; they must mean the beginning of the workers’ counter-offensive, the beginning of the workers’ fight to end hunger and starvation. In the first place emphasis must be placed on the necessity of groups in the factories and mines, May First Committees, which can prepare and carry through one-day strikes on May 1st and later become groups of the T. U. U. L. which can organize and lead the struggles of the workers against wage cuts and the speed-up. Unemployed Councils and special committees of unemployed workers at flop houses and bread- lines must be set up to rally the jobless workers on May First and to carry forward the struggle continuously after May First for immediate relief and for unemployment insurance. The League of Struggle for Negro Rights must be given a great impetus in the Scottsboro cases, rallying white and colored workers against the legal lynching of these 9 Negro boys and for participation in the May First marches and demonstrations which everywhere must ener- getically bring forward the demand for the im- mediate release of these innocent boys. All other workers’ organizations—the, I. L. D., F.S. U., W. L R., I. W. O,, locals of the A, F. of L., all leagues and unions of the T. U. U. L., workers’ fraternal bodies—must be rallied, and setting up committees and | in turn must rally their members and sympa- | thizers, for the May First demonstration. Finally all these organizations and groups— the workers from the shops, the unemployed workers, the members of the workers’ mass or- ganizations—must be brought together in a great revolutionary united front movement, all united- ly working to rally hundreds of thousands in the streets in well prepared, carefully organized marches and demonstrations on May First. Organization—this is requirement for May First! This must express the workers’ deter- mination to fight against the capitalists for the right to live! Seventh National Conference of Great Britain Unemployed By A. G. M. HE seventh annual conference of the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement, Britain's or ganized unemployed, took place on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, February 21, 22, and 23, 1931, in the industrial city of Bradford. In the Workingmen’s Teetotal Hall, well decorated with bright red banners and forceful slogans plus an interesting display of 120 photographs giving a vivid ten year history of the struggle of Britain's organized unemployed including many of its hunger marches, 123 delegates’ from England, Wales and Scotland listened keenly on Saturday afternoon to Comrade Elias, the chairman, who dealt with the problems confronting the N. U. W. M. and gave a fighting Jead to the confer- ence. After a technical report by Comrade Llewellyn, national secretary, growth of the movement since the 6th confer- ence, Comrade Hannington, the national organ- izer, gave the main report. Hannington referred to the twenty-five million world unemployed as @ positive sign of the break up of capitalist eco- nomy. He contrasted these conditions with those of the Soviet Union where the unempicymer:i problem had already been solved and an actual shortage of labor existed. After dealing with the fact that the workers’ standards of living were being forced down in all capitalist countries while the workers of the Soviet Union had re- ceived a 67 per cent wage increase above their 1914 standard, the report stated that only in Soviet Russia did the workers enjoy a 7-hour working day. Under capitalism the workers’ poverty increased with his powers of production. The report then dealt with the desperste strug- gle of the British bosses, who were helped by the British labor leaders and labor government, to force down the wages of the workers. The policy of Empire Tariffs, which was supported by many | abor leaders in Britain, merely meant higher ices and increased misery and poverty for the British colonial workers. The tariff scheme was a desperate effort of the British bosses to keep the already disintegrating British Empire, from final collapse. Britain’s main industries were in rapid de- cline. The resulting wage cuts and speed-up in industry, caused more long standing unem- ployment and threw an increasing number of better paid workers out of work. The one and a half million inerease in the number of the unemployed, since the advent of the labor gov- ernment, gave clear proof of the labor party’s hopeless inability to deal with these vital prob- lems. In Britain (where National Insurance exists) the’ bosses were driving down the relief standards of the unemployed as, well as the wages of the employed, while in U.S.A. unem- ployed workers were flung to charity. This all clearly proves the urgent need for mass demon- strations and mass mobilization of the unem- ployed. ‘The failure of many district sections of the N.U.W.M. to carry out effectively this mass work resulted in the poor success registered in many areas, the struggle for a definite na- tional standard of relief. In London and Brad- ford. two extremely important centers, where efficient. mass action had taken place, splendid results had been achieved. Emphasis was put upon the need for organizing the unemployed against the labor government policy of relief cuts and relief disallowances. It was of vital importance, the report declared, to combine the struggle of the employed and unemployed, under the leadership of the national minority move- ment, in a fight for a workers charter of de- mands. This was an appeal to all workers to struggle as @ class and fight for a new leader- ship against the trade union and labor bu- reaucrats and their boss partners. The rapid growth of unemployment in Britain had caused the bankruptcy of the national insurance fund, which, already showed a deficit of some $275,- 000,000. The labor government had set up a Labor Royal Commission to investigate matters and suggest plans for making the insurance fund solvent. This meant a further attack on relief, especially that of the lower paid workers. The need was seen here for special N.U.W.M. organ- ization among women and youths, whose scale of rplief was very low. Tho main be of the N.UWM Was stated bo be dealing with the | itself as the mass fighting organ of the un- employed in their daily struggle with their exploiters. The report of progress during the previous year was very encouraging. Early in 1930 the NUWM | had already forced the ministry of labor to recog- nize it as the official organization of Britains unemployed. This carried with it the right of the NUWM to send its representatives to local | government bodies and to fight the individual cases of its members against relief cuts, vic- timization antl disallowance of benefits, etc. The | N.U.W.M. legal department had fought no less than 812 cases in 1930, got 638 definite decisions, won outright 110 cases, with 170 decisions still to be declared. In Bradford city, where dem- onstrations sometimes 1,000 strong were held, the local council was forced to grant a free hall, rent free, with free gas light for unemployed meetings. In the Vale of Seven, another im- portant center, a paid up membership of 1034 did excellent work. In Barnsley, out of an ac- tive membership of 400, about 150 are women. Splendid reports were also registered in from Edenburgh, Tyreside, Dundee and other very important parts of Great Britain. During six weeks commencing December, 1930, no less than 32 new branches were formed which proved the organization to be in a solvent condition, while the high level of political discussion at the conference showed clearly the growth of class consciousness among Britain’s unemployed. Among the immediate decisions agreed upon were the following: To organize the unemployed in conjunction with the employed against wage and relief cuts. To demand for all unemployed work or maintenance at full wage rates, To fight against relief grievances, employed on government relief work. To raise the standards of relief. To oppose strongly the policy of forcing unemployed women into domestic service. To support the “Daily Worker” and the “Worker’ as useful organs in the workers’ strug- gle. To organize more branches in fresh parts of the country, especially among skilled workers unemployed because of recent rationalization. ‘To make special efforts to mobilize the active support of unemployed women and youth. To create a united front between employed and unemployed, get inter representation between their groups, and to rouse the unemployed against the peaceful toleration of poverty and educate them as a realization that only the complete destruction of capitalism and the con- quest of political and economic power by the workers will lead to the solution of unemployment. | with the ‘ ‘Daily” By CYRIL BRIGGS wos nine Negro workers being railroaded to the electric chair in Alabama, with five silk | strikers facing death in New Jersey, with for- eign born workers being arrested and deported illegally as is now admitted by Hoover's Com- mission on Law Enforcement. with scores of workers facing long prison sentences under the criminal syndicalist laws, with the boss terror against the working-class becoming greater day by day as the bosses intensify their efforts to smash the mass revolutionary struggle against starvation, the fight for cash relief for the un- employed, and the growing unity of Negro and white workers, it becomes more than ever neces- sary to mobilize the workers for resistance to | boss terror. In this situation the importance of getting the Daily Werker into the hands of the masses should be realized by every revolutionary worker. ‘The masses must be mobilized for the cam- paigns of the Party, for the May Day demon- strations, for the fight against lynching, against persecution of Negro and foreign born workers, for cash relief and unemployment insurance, for defense of the Soviet Union, for the fight to save the nine Negro youths in Alabama, the five New Jersey silk strikers, and the score of other workers facing death, imprisonment and deportation for their working-class activities, For an example of what can be done and is not being done we have only to turn to Har- Jem (N. Y.) where, within the past few days hundreds of copies of the Daily Worker could have been sold daily and their sale used to mobilize the white and Negro workers of Har- lem for defense of the Alabama victims of boss “justice” by acquainting them with the facts in the case which they are not getting through the capitalist press and the Negro reformist papers. These shortcomings must be overcome and every effort made to get the Daily Worker to the masses to mobilize them for May Dry and the struggle against starvation. Every revolu- tionary worker should appoint himself a com- mittee of one to push this work. Every Party unit and leading committee should overhaul its methods of handling the Daily Worker to see that more results are obtained. Get the Daily Worker into the hands of the workers! Mobilize the masses for May Day! PARTY LIFE Coriducted by the Organization Department of the Central Committee, Communist Party, U.S.A. Uniting Employed With Unemployed IN the Fisher Body Co. in Cleveland, the Party puts out a monthly shop paper called the “Spark Plug.” This paper has taken pains to convinee the workers in the shop of the neces- sity of solidarity between the employed and un- employed workers. In the February issue, the paper carries a statement by the Collinswood Unemployed Coun- | cil, which includes laid-off workers of the Fisher Body Co., encouraging the workers to strike against their wage-cuts, and assuring loyalty. The statement follows: Workers of Fisher Body: The bosses tell you that if you don’t like the wage cuts, you can get the hell out and they'll get the unemployed in your place. The bosses will get stung! We, the unemployed workers, are organized into the Fisher Body Unemployed Council, We fight for unemployed insurance. At the same time we in the council know that we cannot win either jobs or unemployed insur- ance unless the employed workers stick with us. We know that a victory for the 7-hour day will mean hundreds of jobs for the unemployed. We will not be used as scabs. If you strike we'll help you. We'll be on the picket lines. We will fight against the bosses. Organize! Don't, quit. Organize for a strike against wage cuts! The unemployed are with you! Signed: Fisher Body, Collinwood Unemployed Council. This is a concrete example of how to line up the shop workers in the struggle of the unem- ployed, and how to get the unemployed workers to show their solidarity with the employed. 8 6 Build Mass Organization | bier of carrying out the Party’s great task of building the revolutionary unions, are treated in the article, “Overcome Looseness in Our Mass Work,” by Jack Johnstone, who dis- cusses how to lessen the wide gap between the Party's political influence and the organizational strength of the workers under its influence. In this connection Party and trade union workers will find very useful the article on “How We Build the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition in Germany,” by F. Emmerich. Both of these articles are in the April Communist, Use This Map to Order May Day Editions Pick out your state on this map and order your May Day edition for the date indicated. Large bundles $8 a thousand. for individuals, etc, 1 cent per copy. must be paid for in advance or they wiil not be shipped. Small bundles Rush your orders. All bundles (Note:—District . %, Minnesota wil receive the Pacific Coast Edition, dated April 24.) ; By JOHN SCHMIES. MY DAY must bring in increased class battles; May Day, the international revolutionary holiday, must be made into a fighting day against the wage-cuts, speed-up and stagger program in the auto industry. Organize and strike against speed-up and wage cuts together with our struggle for unemployment insurance and this must be made into a real call and must get the attention of the masses to build a mass movement among the great masses of the auto- mobile workers, both employed and unemployed. Wage cuts in the auto industry is the order of the day. Increased unemployment and part- time is being intensified. The lies and mis- information, especially of Henry Ford, must be exposed. All for the purpose of actually laying the basis for a militant fighting union in the industry. ‘The following are some new facts of the wage- cutting campaign: Ford has cut and does cut wages. He does it in a way that other corpora- tions are beginning to use. He takes a worker who is receiving $7.40 a day and “transfers” him to another department where he gives him 40 | cents or 80 cents a day less, or he takes a worker | and fires him from a $7.40 job. He then hires | @ new worker for that job at $5 a day. Of course, Ford can say he didn’t cut the wages of the first worker. He only fired him! Or Ford may cut wages in still another way. He fires a worker making $7 and later hires the same worker again at $5. All this is old stuff at Fords. But workers now say that Ford not only resorts to these older methods, but that he also cuts hourly rates, For example, last month workers making more than $1 an hour at the | Lincoln plant were cut to that or less. | But the real big wage-cutting hits the work- er’s pay envelope through outright ‘unemploy- ment or part-time employment. Normally Ford employs 120,000 workers in the Detroit plants. A recent check-up by Federated Press showed barely 25,000 in those plants—not the 80,000 Ford mentions. The Detroit City charities estimate that they spend at the rate of about $8,000,000 a year to keep the jobless armies of Ford. Briggs: About a month ago the “Balloon Fin- MAY DAY! : ishers” started in again for the price of $2.75 per job—finishing roof-rail, door-pillars and. weld- seam on the backs, This price gave an average of _80 cents per hour. During the first week this price was cut to $2.60, then $2.50 the following morning and then again to $2.25 the same week. Now since March 3rd, “Balloons” are finished on conveyors and this under the worst condi- tions that have ever existed in an Auto Body Plant, Formerly the jobs were being finished on the 4th floor on benches and now on the first floor (Press Room), on a conveyor. This conveyor—the symbol of speed-up and modern slavery—is set up ina rotten, drafty and crowded space, where it is easy to contract pneumonia, as the job of a metal finisher means sweat to the bones and work under these conditions means ruin to the health of every worker. On top of this, with the introduction of the conveyor, the price again was cut from $2.25 to $1.40. These facts shown above hold true in prac- tically all other automobile plants. In addition to these wage cuts and speed-up, unemployment is increasing in spite of all the propaganda of the capitalist papers to the contra What Is To Be Done’ The dissatisfaction and mass discontent among the auto workers is increasing rapidly, and de- mands organization and leadership in order to lead this militancy into fighting channels, The Auto Workers’ Union is concentrating and be- ginning to apply the policy of the Trade Union Unity League in building elementary shop or- ganizations through the setting up of grievance committees and other shop organizations in the most strategic sections of the automobile plants. May Day is set as our immediate aim to develop a fighting movement and to organize strikes @gainst the increased wage cuts and speed-up. Mass distribution of leaflets as well as open air | factory gate meetings are part of the program for the purpose of setting up and developing shop organizations. Forward to gigantic class struggles! Organize and strike on May Day! Increase the building of Grievance Committees! Demand and fight for unemployment insurance! Rally to the International May Day movement! Build the official organ of the Trade Union Unity League—the Labor Unity. Bq GRACE HUTCHINS. ME: THOMAS TIPPETT, extension secretary of Brookwood Labor College, writes for the New Leader a review of Labor and Coal, by Anna | Rochester (International Publishers, $1) and says, quite frankly, that he doesn’t like the Na- tional Miners Union at all. Of course not. Why should he Didn’t the “progressives” have a little miners’ “union” of their own in Illinois a few weeks ago? Only it politely gave in to Mr. John L. Lewis, and then it wasn’t any more. ‘To make his point against the National Miners Union, Mr. Tippett says the Communists twisted facts about the Illinois strike of Dec., 1929-Jan., 1930, He lifts out of its context part of a sen- tence in Comrade Rochester's book and ignores the point of the sentence. She wrote: “In Southern Ilinois when some 10,000 mine workers struck under the NMU leadership in December, 1929, the Fishwick machine followed the same old Lewis tactics, sending thugs to attack the picket line, welcoming the state militia, and helping the operators to bring the strikers back to the mines. “The Illinois Miner” has kept up with the United Mine Workers Journal in spreading slanderous stories against the National Miners Union.” Mr, Tippett knows it was true that his pre- cious Fishwick union was scabbing and doing its best to break the Left Wing strike, but he doesn’t say anything about that. Instead he tries to say there wasn’t really any strike any- way: “. « « not one miner struck in Southern Illinois where the union’s strength was great- est; 2,000 miners came out in the Taylorville district when the Communist pickets appeared and after their own followers had failed to respond to their strike call. But many of the 2,000 were striking not with the Communists but because the militia had been brought into put down their strike... . That ended the Communist union in Mlinois.” And there he is quoting almost word for word what the Illinois Miner, organ of the Fishwick faction, was saying at the time. But a few eye witnesses, not Communists, were on the spot in Illinois in December, 1927, and they had a few things to say about that strike. A Federated Press reporter (not a Communist) from the strike district wrote the following ac- count, released Dec. 10, 1929: “The effectiveness of the strike call could not yet be gauged but the estimate of the stoppage runs all the way from 18,000 miners claimed by the National Miners Union to a mere 2,000 credited by the United Mine Work- er officials to the new union,” Again in the Federated Press of Dec. 13, 1929: “Arrest of the leaders as a means-of stop- ping the rapidly spreading strike of the Na- tional Miners Union in three districts of South- ern Iinois was tried by national guard of- ficers and the sheriffs of two counties. Free- man Thompson, NMU official who led the first walkout at Taylorville, was in military cus- tody. . ., Four other leaders were in the San- gamon county jail after being corraled by dep- uty sheriffs at the successful strike of the Au- burn miners near Springfield.” And from the same field reporter for Fed- trated Press, Dec. 16, 1929: “The first mine in the Belleville section to be affected by the NMU strike, one of the largest in the sub-district, was Lumaghi Coal Co. No. 2 Forty pickets of the new union threw a line about the mine and succeeded in turning back the whole force. The State officials of the NMU claim the Belleville ac- quisition brings the total striking miners to over 10,000.” In an Associated Press despatch to the New York Times of Dec, 13, 1929, we read: “Word came from a mass meeting of s\ ers; at Pany that mines at Bullpit and Nokomis were to he picketed. ... Deputies used tear bombs to disperse picket lines in the Coello “Field near ished sihyereid Liat Musteites Attack National Miners Union paper) of Jan. 19, 1930, we read of Fishwick’s ef- forts to break the Illinois strike: “Mine Union Will Break Strike Here,” says the headline, and the article reads: “SPRINGFIELD, Ul, Jan. 18 (A.P.).—Union miners from the La Salle, Peru coal fields will be sent to Peoria the first of the week to break the ‘strike’ which has crippled coal pro- duction in the mines of the Crescent Coal Co. in Peoria county since Wednesday, it was learn- ed through union officials here today.” And again in a Federated Press story by Carl Hessler, Jan. 29, 1930: “Activities of the National Miners Union, the radical dual organization, are still felt in Il- linois. Spokesmen of the older organization say they are growing less while those of the new union declare their recent strike is only a beginning of their strength in the state. In- fluence of the radicals in a number of local unions, particularly at Coello, are calling forth heated opposition from the regulars.” -.So, “that ended the Communist union in I- linois,” did it? Mr. Tippett says he has just been travelling in the state and no left wing miner talked to him at all! He reminds us of the Christian missionary in India who said he had never seen a tiger. Tigers don’t come around where the missionaries hold forth in their comfortable schools and churches. ‘The National Miners Union is. still in Ilinois. Mr. Tippett will find that out some day. And he will find out the truth of the closing sentence in Labor and Coal: “The Left Wing union will lead the mine workers in the United States, already driven to revolt by the tactics of the operators, to see their struggles against this world-wide back- ground of class conflict and to throw their great fighting power with the revolutionary forces of the working class.” Pamphlet on Young Workers Issued by Int'l Publishers Why, out of the 45 million children in the United States, are six million improperly nour- ished and one million sufferers from weak and damaged hearts? Why are nearly a million and a half children between 7 and 14 not in school at all; and of every 1,000 who enter the first grade, why do only 25 per cent graduate from high school? ‘These questions and others of vital importance to every, working class child, are answered in Grace Hutchins’ pamphlet “Youth in Industry,” just published by International Pamphlets, 799 Broadway, New York. This is No, 13 in the 10 cent series which already includes a number of popular and valuable little books. Over a million child workers, says Comrade Hutchins, are reported in the government census. But, she adds, “the census not only fails to in- clude seasonal workers in agriculture; it fails altogether to report on working children under ten years of age. “Youth in Industry,” illustrates the speed with which young and child workers are being brought into industry to replace, at lower wages, their own fathers; so materially decreasing the stand- ard of working class living. Child labor laws are analyzed to show how, by exceptions and non enforcement, they are made virtually in- operative, children as young as 14 being allowed to work legally at such dangerous tasks as handl- ing explosives, oiling moving machinery and working on railroads. “Youth in Industry” is a clear and readable statement of a subject the facts of which ecapi- talism makes every effort to conceal behind a barrage of useless laws and sentimental state- ments. The pamphtet, which can be secured from Workers’ Library, Publishers, 50 E, 13th St. New York, should be familiar to every work- ing see keel Discounts are ieee, = ———————— By JORGE Omoto-Kyo From the Hawaian “Hochi” of March 9, we Jearn the religious preference of the infamous cut-throat Russian White Guard Czarist Gen- eral Semenoff, whose butcheries in eastern Si- beria of the peasantry, and in Mongolia, sowed the land with dead.. And endeared him to the hearts of imperialism, particularly Japanese im- perialism. According to the “Hochi,” this bandit, the skulls of whose victims are today bleaching by thousands in a little valley just outside Ulan- Bator in Mongolia (readers who have seen the Sovkino film “Storm Over Asia’ should know that the sand pit executions were real mass murders), was some months ago in Kameoka, a country town near Kyoto, Japan—that Jand where Prince Takamotsu comes from. ‘When asked why the town was so “honored,” Semenoff replied that he was “seeking religion in quest of peace of mind.” More, he declared “most emphatically” that the Omoto-kyo “suited him best.” In this, Semenoff varies from his fellow mass murderer, Chiang Kai-shek of China, who em- braced Christianity recently. The “Hochi” says that the Omoto-kyo is a branch of Shintoism and “is noted for a prophecy of world conquest.” Omoto-kyo followers are to ‘dominate he earth” and Kameoko is to be the “world capital.” Mr. Fish, of course, doesn’t get alarmed about that, although he trembles all over when repeat- ing the lie that the Communists want to make Moscow “the world capital.” We will move it to the Empire State Building right here in New York with pleasure, but the Fish, always obstin- ate, objects to that, too. Anyhow, from Soviet sources, we hear that this Semenoff is now starting out again with Omoto-kyo ideas, and is again over in Man- churia, again trying to start trouble along the Chinese-Eastern Railway on this Soviet, fronticr. Undoubtedly, with Japanese support. Our guess is that it’s a long, long way to Moscow for this blackguard white guard, but a short way to hell if he gets in the way of the Red Army. Let the Red Army lads know on May First, that we're on their side! > on eas | Government by the Kluxers In the U. S. Supreme Court a brief was filed April 13, by attorneys for one William Rogers, a former K.K.K. member of Indiana. Rogers had originally sued Senator Watson of Indiana, one of Hoover's hot supporters, for $50,000. Be- cause Watson had said Rogers’ testimony in 1926, before a Senatorial Investigating Commit- tee, headed by Senator James Reed of Mis- souri, was “an infamous lie,” and has perse- cuted Rogers. Rogers had testified that D, C. Stephenson, Indiana Grand Dragon of the Klan, who was sent to life imprisonment for raping and mur- dering a white girl (take note of this you who mask your terrorism of Negroes behind babble about “rapists”!) sent him, Rogers, to Wash- ington to see Watson about a government job. Rogers showed Senator Watson his Klan card, and Watson exhibited one of his own. So Rogers testified. After this testimony, Rogers says he was persecuted and threatened. He was called to the Federal Building at Indianapolis and shown an affidavit with what was supposed to be, but was not, his signature, repudiating his testimony. The Federal District Attorney, when he re- fused to change his testimony, tried to have the’ grand jury indict him for perjury. But the grand jury refused. Rogers’ suit was dismissed by the Federal Court in Indiana, and his lawyers are asking on a petition of certiorari, the U. S. Supreme Court to take jurisdiction. The brief says that Rogers cannot get relief in the courts— “Because of the dominance of the political power of the defendants in the government of the United States, and especially in the De- partment of Justice.” Just chew over that, workers, ei ed Too Much Song A workers of Seattle, citing our Spark of April 5th complaining that “our movement has not learned to sing,” tells us that they spread it on thick in Seattle. “A certain speaker seems delighted to start a ‘Singing Marathon’ that lasts from 15 to 30 minutes. I confess that I love revolutionary songs, but when they murder them and try to sing the ones they know to death, then it gets monotonous and ridiculous.” Well, yes! The thing can be overdone, and certainly can be done badly. Our idea is that a bit of singing is an aid to the struggle. But if it is to be made a substitute for struggle, then we're against it. It should inspire revolutionary spirit, not depress it by an overdose. ‘The “certain speaker” should take note. But in the majority of localities, the movement could profit by a bit ities Well, That’s “Dear Jorge: Good! Speaking branch of the I.W.O. that is trying ever so hard to make a go of it, and give Eng- lish speaking audiences (and Scotch) an all- English, or American, program. “Well, we want new members. We would like to recruit all of the readers of your column as members, including yourself. You know the LW.O., its aims and ideals. Every worker, em- ployed and unemployed, should beleng to it. It is the only revolutionary working class fraternal organization in the country. And the English- speaking branch ought to become one of the biggest and most active units, “Will you help us grow? And if anyone can, come down to 108 East 14th St, (Jewish Workers’ Center), room 202, Thursday, April 30, 8.30 p. m. After our short business mecting Vern Smith will give a lecture on the Significance of May Day.—M. ©.” Sure we will help the LW.O. grow, not only in English but in all Jaunguages. And we are glad to learn that provision is made for the several (!) workers in New York who can savvy only English. But for ourselves; we are probe | ably a bad risk. peer salt in gee pledge 9 tion, RA “The only mention of the I.W.O. in your col- umn was some reference and criticism of a Jew- ish Branch that invited an English-speaking — audience, then gave an all-Jewish program. The rebuke you gave them was more than justified. “But Jorge, there is a struggling English-